If I had cable, I would totally liveblog Batman: The Brave and The Bold, which is probably the best show on television. Even better than 90210 and Dancing With The Stars, and I didn’t even think such a thingn was possible. But I don’t have cable. So I watch it o Cartoonnetwork.com a couple days later. So I guess this is, like, a delayed liveblogging of the latest episode…? I don’t know what you call it exactly. Anyway, I watched it, and typed some things while I did. And these are those things, if you’re interested…
—What’s this crazy flying house in Dr. Strange Land? Oh, the Library of Infinity, the flying guy in a cape announces helpfully. I hope he identifies himself in a similar fashion.
—He does. It’s Wotan.
—A glowing ankh means…sweet, Dr. Fate! He’s talking with an echo-y British voice. Kinda like the Justice League Unlimited version.
—I still sometimes have a hard time believing we live in a world where you can watch animated Dr. Fate on the TV.
—Where does Batman keep grenades the size of his fists?
—Holy shit, his utility belt also functions as a scabbard for some kinda crazy blue light saber? That is awesome. Have I said awesome too much already? I’m trying to mix it up, with some “sweet”s…..
—I’d say that the whole Escher stairs thing is totally played out now, but I’ve gotta admit, it still looks cool when people run around and get in magic swordfights in such a setting…
—Batman just destroys the fuck out of some magic fire guys, but it’s not actually killing if they’re made out of fire.
—Dr. Fate loses a magic-off against and then just lays out Wotan with a quartet of punches in the face. The message is supposedly that it’s not the tools, toys or equipment that makes the difference, but the person using them (Bats says something along the lines of “It’s not the helmet, it’s the man under it”). But I think the real takeaway here is that sometimes brute force and the application of violence will solve problems that special skills and knowledge can’t.
—And the show hasn’t even started yet! Now the title sequence begins. God I love this show.
—This episode is entitled “The Eyes of Despero.” I wonder who the villain will be?
—Comics writer J. M. DeMatteis wrote it this episode.
—Hey look Green Lantern fans, it’s the GL Corps! There’s your boyriend Hal Jordan, plus Kilowog, Tomar-Re the lizard chicken man, the cycloptic space cucumber with tentacles, the crystal guy who looks like a 20-sided die and has a Mohawk, the guy who’s just a big head with limbs growing out of it…
—“So this is the legendary Green Lantern Corps,” Despero says in a very goo villain-y voice. Shameful confession: I always pronounce “Corps” as corpse in my head while reading it, rather than core.
—What the fuck? Despero has eyes on his palms too? Now that’s just gross.
—More GLC cameos! Ch’pp! (sp?) Salaak! (sp?) Hal’s underage girlfriend! (Maybe. She’s wearing a GL costume instead of the white mini-dress from the comics)
—Meanwhile, on Earth, The Cavalier! That dude doesn’t get the panel-time he deserves in the comics. If I wrote comics for DC, I would have totally pitched a Club of Heroes book spinning out of “Batman R.I.P.” The second or third arc would have been a two-part Cavalier vs. Musketeer story.
—Ah ha, no more of that Hal Jordan bullshit, it looks like this episodes GL will be…Guy Gardner! And G’Nort?!
—The vocal work on Guy Gardner is just perfect. Just the right amount of annoying obnoxiousness.
—Huh. I always pronounced G’Nort guh-nort, but apparently the G and the apostrophe are both silent. I’m learning a bunch about pronunciation in this episode.
—I really like when Batman wears different costumes for different occasions, like this will-fueled Green Latern power suit the GLs whip up for them.
—I don’t care for Sinestro’s moustache in t his. It’s a little too sparse; I like it best when it’s either a John Waters, pencil-thin sort of affair, or a long, whip-like Snidely Whiplash sort of affair.
—G’Nort looks like he has the most comfortable of all the GL uniforms.
—Mogo? Really? Man, have DC and Time Warner ever gotten a lot of mileage out of that one throwaway Alan Moore story from 250 years ago…
—Oh no, it’s Tomar Re’s world! That egg-stroller that one of the space chicken lizard ladies is pushing looks familiar…wasn’t that on an episode of Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes….?
—“One punch!” Oh, DeMatteis, you scamp!
—Woah, Mogo’s fighting Guy “hand-to-hand”…using a mountain!
—Nice to see these GL’s making giant, green glowing objects to fight with. It seems like on Justice League/JLU John Stewart was always just doing boring things like laser beams and bubbles, rather than giant hammers and baseball bats and the like.
—Ha ha, Guy bites! Of course he bites!
—I like the fact that Batman’s version of telepathic combat involves head butts.
I've watched a couple of episodes of this show (including the one you reviewed here) and I just don't care for it. It's much goofier than I would like. The animation is clunky, it's hilariously over-the-top, and I think Diedrich Bader is miscast.
ReplyDeleteI understand that there's a place for kid's entertainment, but I don't like this one.
I'm enjoying the hell out of this goofy fun series. The opening bits that act as mini-sodes are a treat. Plastic Man and Elongated Man finally tangle? Two Blue Beetles in one episode? Kamandi? This is some good crazy. It hits some great comic book beats but shakes things up like focusing on Guy Gardner as a Lantern rather than John Stewart or Hal, or this over-the-top version of Aquaman that plays like he's channeling Adam West. Outstanding fun!
ReplyDeleteMore happens during this show than in most hour long tv shows. Pure awesome.
ReplyDeleteI've only watched the two episodes currently online, but man, I enjoyed this. I got into an argument with a friend of mine who's a big fan of Batman: The Animated Series (as am I) about how this new show is "a Saturday morning" cartoon. Which, it absolutely is.
ReplyDeleteBut I feel like the "One punch!" moment really captures what's great about The Brave and the Bold. It fits perfectly in the context of the scene while also providing a good hard laugh for someone who gets the reference. There's a reverence for the amazing storytelling potential of the DC Universe here that comes across despite, or maybe because of, the goofy, cartoonish tone.
I am SO GLAD DeMatteis is writing episodes for this series. He has an amazing ability to portray characters in a light vein without being insulting or TOO campy.
ReplyDeleteGawd, how I love the GL Corps! That magnificent, beautiful jerk Hal Jordan aside, where else can you find heroes that are lizard chicken men or sentient disco balls with mohawks? ;-)
It was sublime. Simply sublime. It's just so muc fun to watch a cartoon that seems to have been specifically designed to fit MY tastes. Where else can you actually see Fire, or the Gentleman Ghost, or the Cavalier or G'Nort?
ReplyDeleteG'Nort Esplanade G'Neesmacher to be precise. They actually said his full name. I almost swooned.
And then there was Guy.
*sigh*
I can't love anybody who doesn't love the Brave and the Bold.
ReplyDeleteI've caught less than a half-dozen episodes so far, but I've loved them all. Especially the two with Aquaman. Best Aquaman Ever...
ReplyDeleteLove the show, but this episode was a bit of a let-down over the last one.
ReplyDeleteI never thought Atom and Aquaman would make such a fun pairing.