GoFlash

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  1. Ah, cold weather. I remember that. Those lovely 30 below mornings growing up in Minnesota, waiting to get into school - of course, now "cold" is defined as "any temperature below 60 degrees". I love Hawai'i. James, I salute you. Your "screen crawl" synopsis was truly brilliant. Of course, now we're going to want the same for epic episodes. Like all of Justice League. In regards to the line about not discussing the Joker in ROTJ, Mike, I always took that the same way as you did. Terry know plenty about the Joker - he just has noticed that Bruce never gives him the inside scoop as with the other members of the Arkham Country Club (Stay as long as you like! Leave whenever you like!) Couple points about "Untouchable" - As far as the subplot with Irene, she did tell Terry that the only thing that got through the field was sound, which ended up being a key plot point. So really, at least 2 to 3 seconds of that subplot was absolutely vital. Mike, I have to disagree about the point you made regarding Dr. Blades' reaction to Bruce Wayne. First, I wasn't suprised he didn't immediately recognize Wayne - do you think everyone at Enron recognized Kenneth Lay (I mean before the scandal)? As to the weapons, you're right, Wayne has never liked making weapons. He told Luthor that outright in World's Finest. But he hasn't been running the company much in the last 20 years. Derek Powers certainly had no moral qualms with making weapons, and he was running the company for most of Dr. Blades' time there. Sure, Wayne is reasserting his influence, but it's easy to see how Dr. Blades would view the Wayne-Powers management as looking for a way to make weapons - the fact that things have changed in the past year may not yet have filtered down to his department enough to alter his preconceptions based on the last 20 years. Chris
  2. So, I was thinking about this. Other than random amnesia, IS there any other way this is handled? I mean, there's variations on a theme, but unless the friend/family member who's suspicious either gets in on the secret or loses their memory, it's ALWAYS the double. Here's what I came up with instead of doing my paperwork... Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends - Sandman sees Peter change into Spidey - Firestar and Iceman dress up Flash Thompson and use him to fool Sandman. The Flash - When Julio was sure Barry was the Flash, Barry pointed down the street, and when Julio turned to look, raced down the street as the Flash, then changed back into civvies and was back beside Julio before he turned around. Lois & Clark - When a reporter working for Intergang revealed Clark's identity, his mother used a hologram to place Superman next to Clark at a press conference (because every Kansas farmwife has a hologram projector) Death Of Superman - Supergirl/Matrix pretended to be Clark Kent while Superman dug "him" out of the rubble. The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne - Dick Grayson dressed up as Batman while Bruce Wayne was present JLA Live Action Pilot - Martian Manhunter turned into Fire to prove that BeBe DaCosta wasn't her Just what I came up with over lunch - am I wrong? Is the response to this common plot really so limited? Chris
  3. I'm going to go with McGinnis vs Joker for several reasons. First is the drama - Batman's protege (and son) against his greatest foe occupying the body of another of his proteges. Joker knows Batman's tricks, and has Tim's knowlege to draw on. Second, the setting - they're basically in a cage match with a giant laser coming towards them. Third, the fight itself was really well down, and also knock-down brutal - this is definitely one of the more violent fights - blows to the groin, Joker laughing maniacally while he throttles Terry. Finally, the character development - Terry really establishes that he's not Bruce Wayne Jr (irony there) but is his own Batman. If'd he'd tried to do thing's Bruce's way, he probably wouldn't have won - but he did things his way and not only beat the Joker, but finally saved Tim. There's fights that are cooler visually, but there's so much in this fight scene - can't wait to hear Mike and James discuss it in a few episodes. Chris
  4. According to my scientific survey, neither I (at a Minnesota public school) nor my wife (at a private school in Hawaii) ever did the project. The funny thing is, that I graduated (ye gods) 18 years ago this spring, and I remember people in books and TV doing this for school projects, and thinking it was old fashioned then. As far as a few thoughts about the episodes... SNEAK PEEK: I agree, cool idea, but kind of lackluster to watch. Two things - as far as Bruce's response to Peek's please for help, 1) the help was part of a blackmail scheme, so some of this may be unwillingness to give in to blackmail, and 2) Peek did kill someone who worked for Bruce. I also wish that they would have come back to Terry's family's response - sure, they laughed at the time when he said he was Batman, but come on. Your son has a mysterious job and is gone most nights. Now there's an program about to expose Batman's identity, he's sweating, obviously freaked, and blurts out that he's Batman. That's got to make his mother wonder - it's too bad they didn't reapproach that issue. (Not that I'm a huge fan of the "get someone else to wear the costume so that she'll see us both together and completely stop being suspicious, despite all the evidence to the contrary" approach to such issues that usually happens, but I did feel that she deserved to be credited with enough intelligence to be more suspiscious). PLAGUE: I love the line "There are worse things than an honorable death." "Bet it's a short list." Overall, I thought that they did a pretty good job of keeping the two characters true to themselves, but yeah, just not as much oomph as it should have had. Of course, this was the first DCAU appearance of Kobra, who became a recurrent BB foe as time goes on. EGGBABY: Sure, it's a goofy plot. Yeah, it's kin of silly. It works. Go with it. Like someone said over on the Batman: Brave and the Bold thread, the DCAU Batman (Wayne) works well for comedy if he stays himself and the comedy is wrapped around him, like in "This Little Piggy" This is another one where Bruce being Bruce really adds to the comedy. Plus, you have the first and only time Batman ever sticks his tongue out at someone (when Carl throws the egg out the window, and Terry jets up to catch it and flies past the window with Carl). I did think that there were a couple parallels with Ma Mayhem - first, obviously, to Granny Goodness, but also (and some of this may have been because Kathleen Freeman voiced both characters) to the Fratellis. Granted that there was no hideously deformed third brother named Chunk watching Electric Company in the basement, but they still reminded me of the crooks in "The Goonies". I also liked the throwaway joke at the beginning when the butler calls the police to report the crime, then looks at the open vault and adds "and 50,000 credits" and pockets a wad of creds. Like I said, Hamlet it ain't but I can watch this and be entertained repeatedly. APRIL MOON: I actually thought that the song "April Moon" was a jazz standard, hence the jazz score. It was actually a pop song from 1990. This is one I'm mixed about - it's a good episode, but boy, is it depressing. PAYBACK: Mike, you're right - the linear thinking was spot on. It also made since that he was "helping" the kids - he wants to spend time with his dad because he likes his dad. His dad helps the kids, so he'll help the kids. I agree with James' point about pounding on the car, though - if anything, I'd think the fact that he's a kid would make him more likely to use that laser tool every time - cool thing, must use. Anyways, great episode, guys. Till next time... Chris
  5. After all, the original G.I. Joe action figures go back to what? the 40s? (Of course, the concept changed a bit since then...) A lot of the toys that we think about as from our childhoods probably go back a lot further than we think - they just keep getting reintroduced. How long has the Etch-A-Sketch been around? The Slinky?
  6. They seemed to be a group that worked together - a lot of them did work on the Silver Surfer and Avengers cartoons a few years later (and it is reaaaaaally obvious that they are the same actors). I'm pretty sure that the same actor voice Magneto in every episode, but I couldn't swear to it. George Buza, who voiced Beast, was actually the truck driver who gave Rogue a lift in the beginning of the first X-Men movie. (and actually, the actors who voiced Xavier and Jubilee from Evolution both had cameos in X2 - David Kaye was the host of the televised debate between Hank McCoy and Steven Trask and the woman who voiced Jubilee was the tour guide in the White House when Nightcrawler attacked). That actually sounds like a Marvelverse FOX TV show - "Tonight! They live among you, plotting! Tonight you see the deadly results...WHEN MUTANTS ATTACK!" Then Sean Hannity will point out that it's all due to liberals. (Like I said, Mike, I thought Evolution was a better show. That certainly doesn't mean I don't enjoy or watch or memorize meaningless details about the second X-Men series...because we all know that "Pryde Of The X-Men" was the first.) Chris
  7. HEY! I'm older than Mike and Dan! (Of course, if we were living in the DCAU, the forums probably WOULD explode. Everything makes a computer explode there. Maybe instead of custom built exploding Batarangs, Batman should just throw old Palm Pilots). Anyways, happy birthday, guys! Chris
  8. It's certainly still watchable, but I do think it has somes significant flaw - I posted my main thoughts in the Marvel Superheroes Cartoon Poll thread, so I won't reiterate... Chris
  9. It's probably the same reason that my 4 year old is teaching her classmates at preschool to play Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl, despite the fact that Wonder Girl hasn't been on TV for 30 years. We grow up, find that we have some money and can actually buy stuff that we couldn't have afforded when we were this age, and get our kids hooked on it. My daughter's watched everything from the original Teen Titans cartoons from the Aquaman show in the 60s, to the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman, Superfriends, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends - and most all of this was cancelled 20 years before she was born (Probably the same way I grew up listening to the Beatles and the Beach Boys). Chris
  10. I actually picked it up yesterday - really liked what I heard. Some of those songs I've been so used to hearing by soloists, that it's fun to hear some harmony - plus, I'm always a sucker for "Danny Boy", and the gent singing has the voice to sound like a da' sending his boy off to war. Thanks for the recommend. Chris
  11. I'm not saying he can't act (if I knock a Little Mermaid alum, I'll be in big trouble with the munchkin) - I guess I meant less the attitude than the berserk fury/flying into a murderous rage - (and the fact that Spidey went into a murderous rage enough for me to comment on the acting in it says something about the drama level) - it just seemed very forced. As far as the kids vs adults in X-Men, I can't speak to intent. In practice, I think that the original storylines used for the 90s series were very mature - but the fact that they did the mega-happy endings (not really, but you know what I mean) robs a lot of the impact. The storylines in Evolution may not have started out as deep, but the fact that they were more cohesive makes the end result much more watchable (at least to someone who read a lot of the original storylines from the 90s series) and therefore more appealing to adults. Granted, Evolution had younger characters and was set in a high school, but the fact that their characters were much more developed makes it much more engaging for me as an adult to watch - I'm not saying that the 90s series is bad, but having watched them both as an adult (I was 19 when the 1990s series premiered), I think that the shortcomings of the 90s series are much more apparent to an adult, while a child would just focus on the action and might not pick up on things like these(and would be much less likely to have read the original creepy as hell Brood storyline, which, I admit, was kind of resolved by a deus ex machina in the comics). Like I said, I have them all on DVD and formatted for my iPod, and still watch them, but I do prefer Evolution. 90s X-Men seemed like an attempt to do for X-Men what BTAS did for Bats, but without the panache, and they fell short. I would agree that they may have been aiming older than Evolution, but I think the fact that ignoring continuity and such, Evolution was the better show, so is more watchable for me. I know it's inconsistent for me to say let's ignore continuity after claiming that one of the problems with the 90s series was changing the story, but like I said, if you want to use the comics for storyboards, then keep the story. If you need to completely alter things to get the censor's approval, then maybe write a new story - otherwise, it seems both disrespectful to the original material as well as somewhat lazy. Of course, as a perspective check, the worst of these series? Still better than the best episode of Barney. Thank goodness I managed to shove that lizard back into the tarpit in this house. Chris
  12. People are complaining that you read? My mom was teasing me about asking for the same sort of things that I asked for in high school (well, except for DVDs. We didn't have those back then. I didn't even buy CDs until I went to college.) As I understood it, her thinking was that as a 35 year old physician, married to another physician, I should have loftier goals and desires. So really, I think she's complaining that I ask for cheap stuff, and not big, expensive things. Maybe next year I'll ask for that DeLorean I've been wanting since 1985... Oh, and since the other OTHER George W. declared Dec. 26 a federal holiday, I also got a 4 day weekend. That was nice... Chris
  13. I got: Joking complaints that I still mostly ask for DVDs and books, despite being in my 30s DVDs and books A digital picture frame and dark chocolate from my wife - plus she ordered some things that haven't come yet, which just makes Christmas last longer Money A card from my daughter Then I did traditional Dad things - put my daughter's presents together, put my wife's parents' presents together (we got them a DVD rack and new TV), and cooked dinner for 9 (and grossly overestimated amounts, like I always do, so if anyone's in Honolulu, we still have plenty of leftover roast) Chris
  14. About not giving the audio to Barbara in "The Last Resort"- That would have been such a simple solution. Bruce and Terry give the audio to Barbara. She now knows there's something going on, even if she doesn't have admissible evidence. But, as Commissioner, she can check it out through official channels, and GET official evidence, then everyone thinks, "Damn, the Commish has a nose for these things!" On the other hand, if the evidence Batman collects is inadmissible in court - well, that finally explains the revolving door at Arkham and Blackgate, doesn't it? Apparently, Janet Van Dorn in "Trial" was right - Batman really IS the problem. Chris
  15. Actually, there was one more that wasn't listed in the poll - I believe it was in 98 or 99. Silver Surfer ran for 13 episodes, was not in continuity with the 94-96 FF series (mark in its favor right there). Dealt more with the "cosmic" heros in the Marvel stable, with Thanos as the main villain. Ended on a cliffhanger, unfortunately. I actually thought the first season of the Hulk wasn't too bad. When he was a geek on the run, things worked better. When he was a free man in the second season, you wonder why he's still roaming the earth thing, the plots got worse and worse, She-Hulk got annoying (I liked Jennifer Hale in Season 1 better than Cree Summer in S2), and all of a sudden, they start drawing Banner handsome and all the women are falling for him. On behalf of geeks everywhere, I protest. Spider-Man was decent - Christopher Daniel Barnes, though, cannot portray rage to save his life. Every time Spidey loses his temper, I cringe. Iron Man and Fantastic Four - ok, I'll stop here and point out that I have all of these. I have all sorts of crap that I will glibly bash. Spider-Woman? Plastic Man? Gen13 movie? Generation X and JLA pilots? Legends of the Superheroes with Adam West and Burt Ward? The Wonder Woman pilot done as a followup to Batman? Got it all. Sure, most of it is dated, cheesy, even crap. So what? Anyways, Iron Man, Fantastic 4, Avengers - I'll watch them. None really stand out - although one does note that Avengers with the armor up sequences, and Spider-Man Unlimited with the new costume both came out after Batman Beyond was so successful... X-Men - Jubilee was obviously designed both to give younger viewer someone to whom they could relate, and also as a tool...to allow exposition. Same role that Kitty Pryde played in "Pryde of the X-Men" (yes, of course I have a copy). 2 main problems with this version. First is the dulling down of plot lines to get past censors. Proteus goes on a rampage - but has a reunion with Moira and his dad, and all's well! No. Colossus smashes him flat. Tell the story right, or make up your own. Jean Grey sacrifices herself on the moon, and the Phoenix Force resurrects her, no harm, no foul. And the less said about that pathetic attempt at the Brood, the better. If you're going to tell these stories, respect the source material. If you can't do it justice, don't try - go in a different direction, like X-Men Evolution did. Too many of the storylines felt like someone just grabbed stuff from the comics as close to verbatim as possible and adapted it for cartoons, but didn't really take the time to read or understand it as they did it. My other gripe - OK, I realize that TV is a 2 dimensional medium. Still, could we at least have some 2D characters? It would be a huge improvement over the 1D characters they used. Rogue, for example. She is either A) a good ol' Southern gal, or B) upset that she ca't touch anyone. She has no other response to situations. And she's one of the best developed characters. Why do Wolverine and Cyclops even care about Jean Grey? Evidently it's for her body, because she has no personality, and little mind to speak of. Nightcrawler is a joking swashbuckler, a medic, a leader, and a Catholic who tries to lead a very moral life. Nope, that's to hard. We'll just make him stereotypic Catholic...a monk!...and forget all of the rest of his character. I commented on another thread about the difference between X-Men and Evolution. Evolution, I thought, did a much better job of giving the characters more depth, and really, if you don't care about the characters, you're not going to care much about the show (Of course, if the plots suck, you're not likely to come back either, although the persistent popularity of soap operas might prove me wrong there). Chris
  16. Actually, I remember when "Universe Of Evil" aired in 78 or 79 with the alternate universe, evil Superfriends - I was about 7 and that was pretty creepy (Of course, I think that Dan and I may have been the only ones who actually saw it the first time through...damn that "First Time You Felt Old" thread.) I couldn't say if I saw it first run or not, but I remember that episode very well. We knew these Superfriends were eeeevil, because Aquaman had an eyepatch. An EEEEEVVILLLLLL eyepatch. Plus, I hear he didn't wash his hands after going to the bathroom. Because he's EVIL. That joke just never gets old.
  17. Actually, I remember when "Universe Of Evil" aired in 78 or 79 with the alternate universe, evil Superfriends - I was about 7 and that was pretty creepy (Of course, I think that Dan and I may have been the only ones who actually saw it the first time through...damn that "First Time You Felt Old" thread.) I couldn't say if I saw it first run or not, but I remember that episode very well. We knew these Superfriends were eeeevil, because Aquaman had an eyepatch. An EEEEEVVILLLLLL eyepatch. Plus, I hear he didn't wash his hands after going to the bathroom. Don't forget about Superman's Lobo eyes, or Robin's moustache.
  18. The main two others that I listen to are a bit off topic fro the E2 world. Both are by Dan Carlin - Common Sense is chiefly about politics, taking shots at both sides, and Hardcore History is, well, cool history stuff. Chris
  19. Wolverine: I don't know that I HATE him, I just never really saw the hype. Why is he so important? Why does he have to be retconned into every bit of history in the Marvel Universe, like some sort of short, grumpy Forrest Gump? There's so many X-Men that I find more interesting - by himself, I don't mind Wolverine, but given that everyone elevates him to near godhood - THAT irks me. I loved the scene in the first X-Men movie on the train where Wolverine asked Magneto why he wanted him, and Magneto gave him that look and said "My dear boy, who ever said I wanted you?" That sums up my attitude perfectly, Batman: Actually, much the same as Wolverine. I don't have a problem with the character, I just get frustrated when he always has to be better, know more, be the the one to solve problems, and show everyone else up. I know that around here, a lot of people will complain, and point out that he's BATMAN, for gosh sakes...blah blah blah...greatest detective...blah blah blah - see, you just proved that I'm on track. After all, this is supposed to be about what most people like. Most any sport - just don't see the appeal of watching other people exercise. Starbuck's - Don't get me started on calling your smallest cup of coffee "Tall". Small. Medium. Large. Simple and clear. Got it? Next, when you roast coffee, you have to take it out of the roaster at some point. They overroast their coffee so much that they don't even need to grind it - they just give it a stern look and it crumbles into ash, which they put into the filters. Hey, some of us actually like to taste coffee, OK? Try a light roast once in a while - there's no point in buying good coffee like Kona and then roasting it to the point where you can only taste the roast, not the coffee. In closing, and along the lines of not going along with hype, bonus points to anyone who a) can identify this quote and b) actually has the source (googling doesn't count): "But, you know, screw that. I also liked Winger better than Bon Jovi. I still do. I don't care what the critics say." Chris
  20. I'm getting ready to head into my afternoon meeting and then think about going home. Alaska is weird. Yeah - try the same time as Alaska, but it's probably going to be 80 on Christmas, and Santa's in an aloha shirt. Mele Kalikimaka.
  21. GoFlash

    Recast a famous movie

    Can't say I've seen it. In the Old West, not having seen Casablanca was a hanging offense. (The fact that it wouldn't be made for 60+ years was no excuse). And yes, Ilsa should have stayed with Rick. That goes without saying. Chris
  22. GoFlash

    Christmas lists

    May your children be rail thin and witty. Ah, yes, a traditional Irish blessing.
  23. Actually, I remember when "Universe Of Evil" aired in 78 or 79 with the alternate universe, evil Superfriends - I was about 7 and that was pretty creepy (Of course, I think that Dan and I may have been the only ones who actually saw it the first time through...damn that "First Time You Felt Old" thread.) Of course, for anyone who want's to complain about what a weakling Superman was in the first season of Justice League, there was also the "All New Superfriends Hour" segment called "Rampage" - Superman and Green Lantern have to stop a runaway elephant. Not a yellow kryptonite elephant, just a regular one. Superman. And Green Lantern. So, Erin, your cousin finds them lack-luster at times, huh? I'm shocked. Truly. (I'm rattling this off because I just converted all of the Superfriends episodes to iPod so my daughter can watch them when we're traveling - as long as it has Wonder Woman, she's excited. She asked the woman who cuts my wife's hair if she could have the wide bracelet the woman was wearing so she could be Wonder Woman). Chris
  24. Haven't listened to the whole episode yet (not much traffic on Christmas Eve, so only 30 minute drive to work, and that's when I listen), but I wanted to say a couple things. Mike, hope things went well with the last minute mall shopping. I can relate - my wife decided she needed to get something more for her niece - so of course, I had to go on Dec 22. On the bright side, I ran into Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife doing their last minute Christmas shopping, too. My excitement was somewhat tempered by the embarrassment I felt in actually immediately recognizing two people from a show I've never seen... On the computer issues, sorry to hear about your troubles, guys. I would offer this consolation, though - if you lived in the DCAU, your computers would have exploded by now. So it could be worse. I looked at "Eyewitness" kind of like the followup to "Over The Edge", with the hypnosis being used in place of the dream sequence. I side with James, that Barbara's reaction is in line with the no killing in the Bat-Family (except for when Tim Drake killed the Joker, but a) Tim wasn't himself and b) if anyone had it coming...). Additionally, by this point in her life, Barbara is very much a law-and-order, disapproves of vigilante justice kind of person and that has been well established, so it fits with her character. As to the issue of the last 2 Spellbinder episodes barely featuring him, I kind of like that. I think it makes him a much more intelligent villain - more working under the radar, manipulating things. I said on the forums about "Hooked Up" that that was one of the more practical supervillain plans out there, and that he'd probably be able to argue that he wasn't doing much illegal in court. This was another one - he's not jumping up and down, leaving riddles as clues or signing his crimes. He's operating very stealthily (well, as much as you can in an orange and black jumpsuit) and not drawing attention to himself because he's trying to accomplish his goals rather than get attention. I actually like this apprach, because there aren't many Batman villains that keep their egos under control to this degree. Chris
  25. Got mine yesterday as well - had to go through the track names and such to make sure everything was right before I transferred it to my iPod, but it sounds really good. I also liked the last track on Disk 2 - "Music Of The Bat", where it's a mix of explanation (I didn't look, but I assume it's Lolita Ritmanis, although it could have been something Shirley Walker recorded before she died). and going through the components of the theme and some of the ways they hooked different components together to evoke different moods. I'm so used to the orchestral, heavy brass version of the theme that the piano version is interesting - it really sounds very poignant at times, which fits Batman, but I guess I never picked that up as much on the orchestral version. "Batman Beyond" actually already got a soundtrack release (mostly first season) on Rhino Records (which I actually have a real version of), so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for Justice League next - I'd love to have a character by character montage of the main JL characters with the different variations of each character's theme. Green Lantern's and Wonder Woman's themes in particular always stood out for me. Chris