GoFlash

Mike, About Luthor using Flash's power's better than Wally, I would put out a couple points. First, when we're talking speed, it's very much physics. Luthor would be able to intuit a lot of this easily given his intellect. Also, given a) his mindset and b) that Flash robbed him of ascension to godhood, it makes sense that he's been taking Flash more seriously than me probably did early in the League's history and building up a dossier of what he can do. As to the flying thing, to be honest, i think you're giving Luthor too much credit and selling Wally short. Wally was clearly a couple of thousand feet up in "I am Legion". He figured out a way to brake his fall, experimented until he got it right, and actually braked to a hover about 10-15 feet off the ground - all under a constant acceleration due to gravity (And while this was never mentioned in the DCAU, in the comics, he falls faster when using his speed - the same aura that protects him from friction decreases wind resistance, so he fell faster than most people would. This was a big factor in Flash 54, "Nobody Dies", where he jumped out of a hole in a plane to save a stewardess who'd been sucked out). Granted, he then lost his balance and fell, but he turned what may have been a mile-high plummet into a single story fall. Luthor, on the other hand, was in free fall. Given that both gasses and liquids are fluids, he had to figure out how to use his speed to move through a fluid medium. My 6 year old has been doing that for about 2 years. It's called swimming. Truly, he must have a dizzying intellect. Granted, it's harder to push against air; on the other hand, my daughter has to remember to hold her breath. Wally was able to balance against the force of gravity. As soon as Mr. Terrific turned the gravity back on - Luthor went down hard. So, if that was the main thing bothering you about this one, I wouldn't let it bother you. Chris

James made a comment about what Carter Hall claimed having been proven true. The facts of the Thanagarians in Egypt wasn't really contested. Were you claiming that his claims of reincarnation were proven true? I never really saw that as established. I thought they were always leaving it up in the air whether he and Shayera were really reincarnated, or whether her explanation of the Absorbacron was the correct one. Mike, about Batman's costume change at the end of "Shadow Of The Hawk" - Batman having a costume in the Javelin could be supported by going back to "The Terror Beyond". At one point, Superman's costume is torn. While he, WW, and Hawkgirl are traveling in the Javelin, we see him pulling on a spare costume tunic, so presumably Superman at least kept a spare in the Javelin. If Superman is that prepared, well... "To Another Shore" did call back to "Hawk & Dove", when J'onn was talking Diana through some of her frustration with humanity. Now, she's taking on the other role in that dynamic - after all, they're the two founders who had had the least experience with the outside world (Even at the beginning of JL, Hawkgirl had already been on Earth for several years, given that she had been on Earth for 5 years as of "Starcrossed".) Mike missed a great chance, though. Prince Jon is invulnerable to metal, wood, water, and fire. If he wanted to get to Valhalla, all he needed to do was get in a fight with someone who would HIT HIM WITH A ROCK! All he needs to do is piss off someone with a catapult (or a sling). It should be mentioned that among the other Flash moments in "Flash & Substance" was the only DCAU use of the costume ring. I love that after Flash uses it, Batman's taking a close look. You know he's trying to figure out how he can use this to fit more on his utility belt. Speaking of the Flash live-action show, Linda Park actually had a blink and you miss it appearance in the pilot. I have to say, every time I watch "Flash & Substance", I feel for her. Towards the end, she's thrown over the Flash's shoulder while he's fighting the Rogues at superspeed. You know that as soon as he put her down, she went and threw up. A lot. Chris

After all, the Greeks practiced throwing javelins extensively in military training, so she did play to her strengths. Chris

At the beginning of "A Better World, Part 1", the Justice Lords are watching the League fight Luthor on a monitor in the Batcave. One of them specifically commented that they had never had that fight, making it explicit that the Lords were a parallel universe, not a future timeline. Question may either have not known this or been concerned that things would continue to follow in this universe as in that one, hence the comment about Luthor is Luthor, regardless of what universe he calls home. As to the video, remember that Lords Batman decided to help the League after realizing that Thomas and Martha Wayne would not have approved of what the Lords had done. Presumably, they returned to the League Earth through the portal in the Lord Batcave. It's not unreasonable that Lords Batman gave them data on some of the key turning points that led the Lords to where they ended up - if the Waynes didn't approves of the Lords, he would want to make sure that another League didn't go down the same path. Certainly, a Luthor White House would have security cameras, and just as certainly, Batman would be able to get copies of the data from them. Only listened to the first episode before I got to work, but during the Captain Atom/Superman fight - did anyone else feel that Captain Atom was trying to put on a show of fighting Superman, more than trying to actually win? He can emit radiation, so uses red sun radiation to decrease Superman's power. If he really wanted to win, why not emit Kryptonite radiation and actively hurt Superman, rather than just reduce his power? Chris

I think the Watchtower would be at its weakest if, of the main members, it had Batman and Hawkgirl, and of the lesser members it had the majority of the heroes spotlighted in the episode and/or Hawk and Dove. Even then, it would suck to be on the receiving end of Hawkgirl's mace and Batman and the other non-superpowered superheroes would still put a good fight. Of course, Batman may have figured out what was going on faster - he is Batman after all. Who knows - they may have gotten the projected roster for the next month and this was the most lightly populated period for the foreseeable future. Numbers may be a factor, too. Sure, Gypsy, Vibe, Aztek, Booster, and the Crimson Stranger may not have Superman's power, but the more of them there are, the more likely it is that there will be an encounter with an alarm raised sooner rather than later. I know Clock King's not Mike's favorite, and I agree that timing Batman's punches does not mean you can go toe to toe with him like in BTAS. I like this portrayal, though. It seemed much more believable, and made him a credible threat.

I think it's up in the air whether the memory was created at the end of the episode, or whether that was meant to be an alternate timeline. From YoungBruce's perspective, however, since he never saw Terry's face or heard his name, and since the older version of himself did not remember traveling in the future, that means that what he saw was at best a possible future, and probably wouldn't dispose him any more kindly to this punk showing up and stealing the Batsuit. If anything, it might make him discourage him more strongly - Batman probably saw Terry drawn and quartered, even if the viewers didn't. If he suspects that that timeline is coming true, he'd probably try to force Terry to retire for his own good. I'm not sure I see what you see about the parallel between Andrea Beaumont and Helena Bertenelli. First, age 8 vs early 20s makes a huge difference in the impact. Second, I believe Andrea's mother died of natural causes. Finally, Helena's father was considerably more involved with the organization then Andrea's, and probably (in the words of "Chicago") "He had it comin'". As to exit strategy in Task Force X, although it wasn't stated outright, the fact that Flagg scrambled the destination codes on the teleporter suggests that this was at least an alternative plan, if not their primary goal. With the Clock King commenting about the League's weakness, I assumed that he was not suggesting that GL, J'onn, and Captain Atom were lightweights so much as saying that hitting the tower when only those three were present was better than hitting it when those three were joined by Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Dr. Fate, Supergirl...you get the point.

And now we come to the big 10... It will be interesting to see what the scores in the next 2 episodes of WFP are like compared to prior WFP episodes. The next 10 episodes are arguably the strongest run of episodes in the DCAU. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the 3rd season, Flash-centric episodes, but there's just not the sense of high drama in the last season as there is here. The biggest problem is the finale. Superman vs. Darkseid - and every other metahuman on the planet faces off against faceless mooks. No other named (or even speaking) antagonists appear in that last episode, which to some degree trivializes what all the other Leaguers are doing. Except for Flash. The parademon he fights is named Joe. Joe the Parademon. He hangs out with Bob, Agent of Hydra, and the stormtrooper who said "Look, sir! Droids!" (Mike the Stormtrooper) all the time. In fact, they're on a bowling team. So Flash, of course, fought someone significant.

The mind boggles at the bizarre possibilities THAT brings up...although there's probably stranger things in a fanfic somewhere. Chris

Last batch of notes - Granted, by that point, Chronos no longer cared about messing with the timestream, but he actually killed Chuckie without altering time. The Chicxulub crater in the Yucutan was caused by an impact estimated to be about 100,000,000 megatons of TNT (or 2 million times the power of the biggest nuclear bomb ever made). Safe to say that Chuckie was vaporized, so we don't have to worry about Vandal Savage finding his old light saber 30,000 years ago or anything. Jeremy Piven also voiced Elongated Man in "Greatest Story Never Told". I like the characterization of Waller & Eiling. Cadmus has always had a defensible moral position. Waller clearly believes that the League is a threat, but this clearly sets her up as an antagonist but not a bad guy. This sets up the end of this season, and some of next season, where she works with the League, even if they're not exchanging Christmas cards. Eiling, on the other hand, is being defined as morally questionable, not just in opposition to the League. My biggest gripe with "Doomsday Sanction" is what could have been. They really set up a believable motive for Cadmus, and Waller and Batman's discussions don't have a clear winner. Then at the end, where he feels that Superman went too far in banishing Doomsday on his own initiative, Batman is clearly looking at things from Cadmus' point of view. However, in future episodes, this never comes back. That would have been a great subplot - Batman working to curtail the League, working with Cadmus, or gosh, even compiling lists of ways to take down the Leaguers if he ever needs to. As to Doomsday's creation, it's not a complete contradiction. Cadmus took on its current mission following "A Better World". Later this season, though, we find that Hamilton turned away from Superman at the end of "Legacy" in STAS. After all, that was a fairly well publicized incident - it makes perfect sense that the government may have been working on an initiative to counter Superman between the end of STAS and "A Better World". Following the events of "A Better World", many of the individuals working on anti-Superman plans may have been folded into Cadmus. Chris

Jonathan Joss. He took over as John Redcorn in Season 2. (Per TV.com - I don't think I've every watched more than snatches of King of the Hill). Chris

Then "Brave & The Bold" has Alan Tudyk (Wash) as Barry Allen; "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" has Summer "River" Glau as Supergirl; everyone but Book, Kaylee, and Simon has been involved in DC properties. Chris

I love the line about "Your favorite movie is Old Yeller. You know exactly what he means." It does a lot in a few seconds. It calls back to the relationship between John & Shayera, because she couches things in terms of his favorite movie. It also calls back to that bit in "Hearts & Minds" when Flash and Kilowog are searching John's apartment for his battery. Finally, it lets them tell us that they are going to put Grundy down...well, like a rabid dog, clearly but without using words like kill or die that would trigger the censors. Also, just a quick bit of non-verbal characterization: When the car goes off the bridge and Shayera is swooping to save the mother and child, the mother unbuckles the child and hands her to Shayera first before making any move to get out herself. A lot of times, the hero just grabs all the civilians at once and pulls them away - I liked that little bit extra here. Great voice actors. Farrah Forke returned as Barda from "The Call". Adam Baldwin was great as Jonah Hex. Ben Browder really sold Farscape for me - it was great to hear him as Bat Lash (who seemed to be drawing a little from the old "Maverick" TV show with James Garner, and the movie with Mel Gibson). El Diablo was clearly an unbranded Zorro; of course, Zorro was a big inspiration (in and out of universe) for Batman. Nestor Carbonell, who voiced him, was the mayor in "The Dark Knight" and also played Batmanuel! on The Tick. The effects when the timeline were unraveling were very much like what we saw in "Crisis On Infinite Earths". Let's face it; trick arrows only get you so far in a league with power rings, Amazons, and Kryptonians. You have to use your brain, and it was good to see that from Green Arrow, especially considering that early on, he was essentially a re-themed Batman (played with more in "Batman: The Brave & The Bold"). There was also a callback to the first JLU episode. Batman wanted Arrow in the League to keep them grounded, and keep hubris from crippling the League. Granted that Wildcat didn't have any powers, but that's exactly what Arrow did in "The Cat & The Canary". I also liked that they made it clear that Canary is a very skilled fighter who also has her Canary Cry for backup, rather than the other way around. This is someone who, in the comics can challenge Lady Shiva, after all. I'm a bit torn about "Ties That Bind" I've been a Flash fan since my senior year of high school, when the TV show came out. It was great to see Flash finally return, and there were some fun bits. It's an easy episode to watch casually, but I just don't get drawn into it that much. It's a bit like "Speed Demons" in that regard. I did like J'onn's interrogation trick at the end, which was used all the time in Christopher Stasheff's "Warlock" series - tell someone what information you're trying to get out of them, and it's almost impossible for them not to think about it. If you're telepathic, it's an easy way to get information up to the surface of your target's mind, where's it's easier to read. Chris

So watching Dark Heart, I have to say, I wasn't that bothered by the fact that Atom defeated the master chip with violence instead of reprogramming. First, they led up to this when he was about to fix the nanochip in his lab, and ended up just punching it. Second, his core point still held true - this had to be dealt with on a microscopic, not macroscopic, level. As to the issue of one of the other units starting to crank out nanospiders, I assumed it was like a bee hive. Maybe, given time, one of the others will develop "queen" status - immediately upon destruction of the master unit, however, they lose coordination and more importantly, lose the continuous stream of reinforcements. The Leaguers didn't have any problems with the individual units, after all - it was the fact that they never stopped coming that made them so difficult to contain. I agree completely with the comments about Eiling, too. First, J.K. Simmons is great, but more importantly, he has a very legitimate concern about the League. It's no difficulty to understand why he might think them a threat, and as a military officer, he then feels it's his duty to stop them. That kind of characterization, where you can agree with the villains...excuse me, antagonists' perspective, makes for better stories. I did have one issue, though, Especially early on, why didn't GL, Fate, Stargirl, and whoever else can contribute just pick the damn thing up and throw it in the sun? Isn't that going to be a bit more effective than Superman flying past and SLOWING DOWN to hit individual spiders? Barring that, except for fanservice, why have WW carry Atom to the thing? Atom used to use a rubber band to catapult himself towards things - that would have been faster. In a bit of Teen Titans crossover, about the time Atom is choking the arteries, there's a brief shot of the original Starfire (Leonid Kovar, who later went by Red Star from Snowblind). Chris

Just an addendum to the bit about Giganta and Bizarro - in addition to bonding, that scene was probably there for the Superfriends homage. Samurai, Black Lightning, and the Wonder Twins never had any arch-nemeses, but Apache Chief and Giganta (for obvious reasons) were usually set up as counterparts, so that bit was a callback to their pairing. Also, about Bizarro - he not only got off Bizarro World (which was not, unfortunately, square), but went from broken speech to reversed meanings. He also seems to have a line across his forehead. I remember someone suggesting that he was brought back and lobotomized (possibly by Lex Luthor, who, yes, is putatively good at this point in the DCAU, but we don't know how long Bizarro has been back on Earth, and it's Lex flippin' Luthor, so we all knew he was just putting on a front anyways). Did anyone else hear that as something official, or just as speculation from a fan? Chris 4 more episodes, then the Flash is back!

Mordru (the villain in the backstory in Greatest Story Never Told) was a Legion villain. He was also one of the villains in the 1978 Legends Of The Superheroes live action special. He rode a jet-ski to the final battle. I kid you not. I actually thought the battle took place in Metropolis - when Booster sees the lab and flies to it, it kind of looked like the STAR in Metropolis. Without being able to point to anything and say "There. That's why." Robert Picardo did a great job of giving AMAZO an almost child-like quality vocally. The Atom cooling things down was great, and in character - but I still would have loved to see him channel Dr. Cox on Lex. Just for a minute. In response to what Mike was saying, I also always feel there's something missing about "The Return". Somehow I always want to say at the end "Yes...and? Shouldn't there be more here?" Oh, and "Seriously. You really think it's easier to move a planet than to put a bit of a curve in your flight path? No wonder you're asking Lex Flippin' Luthor for career advice. Dolt." As to Ultimatum...I don't know. There's plenty of parts I like (like the part with Bizarro & Giganta). I watched all of those Superfriends episodes (but no El Dorado). The Waller line is great - especially because she's pulling a total Batman move on Batman. I feel like I should like it, but...There's just something about the episode that doesn't click for me. Then again, I really like "Greatest Story" and it sounds like there's plenty of people for whom that one doesn't click. Different strokes, I guess. Chris