Episode 25


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First, Superman is introduced to several new adversaries in "Target" and "Mxyzpixilated," then a handful of powerful villains reemerge in "Action Figures," "Double Dose" and "Solar Power." Plus, while James and Mike sort through listener feedback, Mike reveals a big surprise. [ 1:59:34 || 54.7 MB ]

The above is from: http://www.worldsfinestpodcast.com/episodes/wfp_025.mp3

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Ok so I haven't been feeling well and than I found out some great news and posted it. It's been put into the "Comic Book Adaptation" section, go check it out. It does involve something in the DCAU.

Congrats on your Wii Bowling experience Mike, I've seen it posted, but since I have no Nintendo Wii, so it's like I'm teasing myself to read about others experience with Wii games.

I loved the last episode of "Legion of Super-Heroes" that was incredible. Wow, Corey Burton isn't the same Brainiac, but he still instills chills, like in his DCAU self, can't wait for the Series Finale. I'm sorry Mike, but the new Spider-Man series isn't the best. I just can't get into it. It'll never be better than the FOX Spider-Man series in the 1990's.

I hope that with the new PG-13: DC Animated Series, that Bruce Timm and Co. decide to adapt Justice League: Tower of Babel to their line of feature films. I still have to read the book, but from your escription of the story, it would be kick ass.

Is "The Nail" available on as a collected story? The Long Halloween being on Showtime or HBO, may be cool.

WHAT!!!! Jeremy Sisto was great. He's no Kevin Conroy, but still it was great.

Your welcome Mike on the backing up. You have to remember that Lex Luthor owns half of Metropolis, so perhaps, he kept her on the air. I love the shudder you gave James when saying The Justice League pilot, I guess you saw it, lol.

I LOVE THE SAW FILMS, well like them anyways.

Target, I could never get into this episode, this episode does introduce another DCAU created villain Edward Lightner(Luminus) and also introduces Detective Bowman, but that's about it. This episode seems to have no real reason to be made, except to teach Lois that she should treat everyone as equal(which she never does). Scooby-Doo is much better than this episode, but I do agree with your comparison. If you noticed that whole elevator sequence seemed to be more of a Superman II homage(in Superman II, Lois ends up in an elevator with a bomb and as the elevator is hurrying to the top, Superman stops it, saying "Lady, I believe this is your floor"). The character of Edward Lightner(Luminus)is boring, terrible and unnecessary.OMG, the laser beam sequence is annoying, if you notice the beams keep getting closer, but when we see Superman its not as close anymore, than she's squeezing in again. Annoying.... My score on this is 4 out of 10.

Mxyzpixilated, Ha, Ha...MY FAVORITE episode of S: TAS, my favorite villain too. Gilbert Gottfried is excellent as the voice of Mr. Mxyzpixilit(did I spell that right?). So cartoony, it fits so well with this series and really can appeal to both Kids and Adults. The animation is stellar, the voice acting is great. Kudas to Andrea Romano, for providing another great voice to the DCAU. This will get from me 10 out of 10, I just love it so much and can watch it over and over again and still laugh all the time.

Action Figures, great episode any episode with Malcolm McDowell as Metallo is great. In this episode, we see the good that Metallo does have inside him, even though he does have amnesia. You kind of feel bad, because he has made a relationship with the two kids and the kids do feel that he is good. The kids in the episode are great and because of them, you have someone closer to your age(when your a kid)to understand with. I give this 7 out of 10.

Double Dose, I actually like this episode. The Parasite isn't one of my favorite characters, but Livewire is a favorite of mine and they make an interesting team. The animation is pretty decent and the ending is just WOW, in terms of what happens to Parasite. My biggest gripe with this, is that even after all this, he still gets to keep his Cable TV. 5 out of 10

Solar Power, Okay, terrible, terrible episode. I just hate this character and the episodes he's put in are just..eww. The only thing that this episode gives us is one of the first indications on what is Superman's power source. I think even owning the sets, I watched this episode a total of 4 times(once when it first aired, 2nd during a rerun, 3 when I first bought the set and 4th when I watched it for this podcast). 2 out of 10.

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I'm sorry Mike, but the new Spider-Man series isn't the best. I just can't get into it. It'll never be better than the FOX Spider-Man series in the 1990's.

I don't believe I said it was the best Spider-Man cartoon. I simply said it's great.

Is "The Nail" available on as a collected story?

Yes. Both The Nail and its sequel, Another Nail, have been collected.

I LOVE THE SAW FILMS, well like them anyways.

:no:

If you noticed that whole elevator sequence seemed to be more of a Superman II homage(in Superman II, Lois ends up in an elevator with a bomb and as the elevator is hurrying to the top, Superman stops it, saying "Lady, I believe this is your floor").

It's been ages since I've seen seen Superman II, so I don't recall that.

Gilbert Gottfried is excellent as the voice of Mr. Mxyzpixilit(did I spell that right?).

Mr. Mxyzptlk.

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Mike, concerning the supposed battle between robot suit Mxyzptlk and Superman. I've always seen it that a battle never takes place. Mxyzptlk pops over to our dimension, sure that he's won this time, and without a single punch being thrown or laser being fired, Superman gets him to say his name backwards and all that hard work was for nothing.

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Pre-Episode Banter

Hooray on the 25th episode guys!

Right there with you on Brawl James. Only have fifteen or so more challenges to do.

Mike, I love your excitement on your perfect game of Wii Bowling.

I keep missing the new Spidey show, because I sleep in all the time, but I really need to see it. From the Youtube clips I've seen, the animation is awesome.

And the Fox show was pretty bad. The 'hear what the character is thinking at every given moment' just doesn't work, and it was just way too complicated, and even with the TMS animation, the designs and boarding wasn't very good at all.

E-Mails

Man, y'all's fan-base just seems to grow all the time.

Sorry if that was pretty harsh, James. And yeah, it's not perfect by any means, but I was just in an argumentative mood at the time.

I would love to play their little music game.

'The Nail' reminds me of 'Red Sun', with screwing with the Kents finding 'Kal-El'. I'd really love to read it.

In 'Justice League', instead of Lori Petti (sp?), it was Maria Canals who played Livewire.

And Jeremy Sisto was amazing. I wonder if this guy was mad that they didn't keep Clive Revill (sp?) for Alfred.

Episodes

Target- The epitome of an average S:TAS episode. Some really good suspense matched with some stiff animation and a predictable mystery story, so yeah, I'm pretty indifferent to it.

Oh yeah, we meet Bowman, who plays a MAJOR part in 'The Late Mr. Kent'.

Ha, forget about that sling moment. Great stuff.

Mike, you're starting to make me appreciate the mystery better.

Mxyzpixilated- Great episode, really funny, even has a few cool in-jokes. I don't think it's the best episode by any means, but it is really great stuff. Hey, see my username. And the reason he's always appealed to me is because I've always had a talent for saying words backwards.

'Downhill racing is so very existential' is definitely an homage to 'Calvin and Hobbes'. In the strip, Calvin and Hobbes would always go sledding, while Calvin would ponder philosophy; this line is a joke on that. Paul Dini (as Calvin) jumping out for Hobbes (or whoever) to die is the really funny part.

Gah, the more y'all talk about it, the more I love it. This episode may be the best showcasing for Tim Daly's voice acting, actually.

Action Figures- I really really like this one. It's definitely not incredible, but the Metallo development was awesome, and the fight scene was one of the best, if not the best, in the entire series. I like that it's really story-based and there's a lot of cliche-breaking that happens, the darkest moment being Metallo threatening to kill like it's nothing in front of the children. And the android Metallo design is awesome. And the animation is spectacular.

This is actually one of the best explanations you've ever given for why an episode is flawed, actually. Even though I LOVE the fighting, I do dislike the fact that the kids' story never really gets resolved.

Yeah, that punch is my favorite animated punch of all time, pretty much. It's just incredible.

Double Dose- Incredibly generic, but the innuendo and animation really make up for it. Really a whole lot of fun, as much as I hate Livewire.

But I really like your criticism of it, because Livewire really is my least favorite part.

Bruce Timm actually commented on Superman's body condom over at Toonzone.

Yes, James! The animation is incredible in this episode. Totally agreed.

Yeah, you're dead right about Parasite. By the time 'Justice League' rolls around he's just a generic bad guy. I will say that I feel that Parasite's being part of a duo doesn't contradict the whole 'being his own man' thing, because he was planning to backstab her the whole time.

Solar Power- Only the animation salvages this, in addition to some minor characterization moments, some cool bits with the rain and all that, and the introduction of the red solar wave stuff, but even then it's one of TMSs' weaker episodes. So yeah, pretty meh.

Double dipping? That's hilarious.

But yeah, really good points about this one. Really like the comparison between Jor-El and red-sun Superman.

Scores

Target: You- 4 and 5 / Me- 5

Mxyzpixilated: You- 9 / Me- 9

Action Figures: You- 6 / Me- 9

Double Dose: You- 2 and 3 / Me- 6

Solar Power: You- 3 and 2 / Me- 5

Great job, can't wait till next podcast!

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Finally got a chance to listen...

Mike, concerning the supposed battle between robot suit Mxyzptlk and Superman. I've always seen it that a battle never takes place. Mxyzptlk pops over to our dimension, sure that he's won this time, and without a single punch being thrown or laser being fired, Superman gets him to say his name backwards and all that hard work was for nothing.

This was always my reading, too. After all the build-up of the battlesuit (which has, of course, a fly), which was so long that it went from being funny to being overdone all the way back to funny again, Mxy cackles with glee at finally having the upper hand, and is gone for all of three seconds before he returns. He's barely gone long enough to say his name backwards, let alone anything resembling a fight. And, IMO, it's much, much funnier that way.

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Other Peoples fandom is truly the highest quality of inspiration for me to pick up a pencil, It could be on any subject be it history to smurfs, But If I find a video or a person who really conveys some true love for something I can't help but try to capture it all the best I can in drawings.

When I also find myself in the same fandom as a person well...just step back and watch me go..

Every Podcast I listen to get's a sketch.

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Well, there was an accident on H-1, so I ended up listening to over an hour of the episode instead of 35 minutes on my way in to work (I live on an island less than a hundred miles around, yet still have about 2 hours in the car a day - go figure). And...I made it through 1.5 STAS episodes. I think I'll start putting my comments up here rather than e-mailing to keep down the length - especially since brevity isn't my strong suit.

"Target" is a bit conflicting. I think the framework is great - there's multiple suspects, we focus more on the investigative side of Clark's skill set, a chance to develop Lois' character, and A SLING! It's just that the execution seems so disappointing...kind of blah. With Lytener, is it just me, or did anyone else think that he was hoping Lois would develop some romantic interest in him after he blew the whistle? I always kind of read things that way, and was a bit suprised that neither James nor Mike commented (although that may have been due to apathy about the episode), as they have frequently seen subtext that I didn't pick up on.

Mike, I was so glad to hear you comment on "Thinker" being hollow, like a cheap Easter bunny - that's bothered me since I first saw the episode, because bronzes are supposed to be cast in a single piece - aren't they?

Also, while we're on the subject of the many homages in this episode, I'll spout out about the shaving scene. Mike & James commented on the razor in the bathroom, while Clark shaves with his heat vision. This was actually an explicit scene in the Man Of Steel series by Byrne, when Clark turned on an electric razor for sound effects to fool Lois while he used heat vision to shave. He probably picked up a disposable razor years ago and just has it set out to look the part. He probably has an old pair of oven mitts for the same reason. (After all, not like he needs them - I still like the idea of a Javelin with the bumper sticker "INVULNERABILITY MEANS NEVER HAVING TO BUY BAND-AIDS.")

Chris

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We didn't mention it because there was no subtext. Lytener outright states that he wanted Lois to notice him. It was very clear what he meant.

Oops. Been a bit since I've watched the episode - I thought it was more subtextual than that. The overtness explains why I noticed it, then - I tend to the "A big smoking hole. Could be a clue." approach to things sometimes. Kind of goes with my point though. He liked Lois, blew the whistle and lost his job to get her to notice him and nothing. That sounds like a slam dunk for these guys to run with (so I'm mixing my sports metaphors) to make a believable, complex villain. Great framework, but just not executed like it should have been.

Chris

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In "Action Figures", James and Mike talked about how Metallo shreds the lead suit, while Ma Kent's sewing stands up to lava. Good old midwestern stitchery, folks. Plus, Superman's powers extend out about a millimeter from his skin, according to the comics - that's why Martha made it snug, because she noticed that tight clothes never tore on Clark when he was growing up. The lead suit, being bulkier, extends beyond that radius, and is on its own.

My other question for "Action Figures" has to do with the inconsistencies of power supply (although I made a comment about a back-up battery in an e-mail a couple episodes back). Metallo is a cyborg, right? I know we refer to him in the Robot Count , but there is still a human brain in there, isn't there? He's not some recording of John Corbin on digital media or something? Because if he's just a recording, hey, slag 'em. If he still has a brain, then isn't Superman risking killing him every time he rips out that hunk of kryptonite? If life support goes down, the brain will only have a few minutes to go...

I did like the loss of memory - even though they didn't say so, I assumed it was due to the sensory deprivation.

In "Double Dose", Mike griped about how Rudy keeps forgetting Superman's identity (presumably without a nudge from Zatanna) and James complained about his personality flip-flops. The irony is, if they didn't keep wiping Rudy's memory, they could even explain his personality changes. He keeps absorbing people's memories, and they fade, but he still has residuals. Over time, those echoes build up, gradually altering his personality both directly and indirectly (from the stress of dealing with all of these other personalities), which could lead to more unbalanced, irrational behavior. And before you ask, yes, I've been reading old Essential X-Men when Rogue was dealing with Carol Danvers' memories.

Finally, in "Solar Power", I want to point out that the tram was identified as the Truman Island tram, Metropolis's answer to the famous Roosevelt Island tram in NYC (My godparents used to live on Roosevelt Island, so I feel a bit possessive about it) - just a neat bit of parallelism.

Also, Mike, I have to contest a point you made about Superman getting excessively weak under red sunlight. You pointed out that it should just set him to baseline (true) and that Jor-El was a bad-ass under red sunlight (also true), so Superman shouldn't be acting weak and out of shape under red sunlight - except that Superman never grew up under red sunlight, so he never had to work to run, jump, lift, any of that. He's not weak so much as he is deconditioned - he hasn't trained in red sunlight, so he's out of shape for those conditions, just like an Nepalese athlete who trains all his life at sea level, then gets short of breath when trying to do the marathon in the Himalayas.

Chris

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Also, Mike, I have to contest a point you made about Superman getting excessively weak under red sunlight. You pointed out that it should just set him to baseline (true) and that Jor-El was a bad-ass under red sunlight (also true), so Superman shouldn't be acting weak and out of shape under red sunlight - except that Superman never grew up under red sunlight, so he never had to work to run, jump, lift, any of that. He's not weak so much as he is deconditioned - he hasn't trained in red sunlight, so he's out of shape for those conditions, just like an Nepalese athlete who trains all his life at sea level, then gets short of breath when trying to do the marathon in the Himalayas.

Except that in "Hereafter" in JL, Superman manages to survive for God knows how many days and nights in a post-cataclysmic Earth under a red sun, AND fashion a blade out of a shank of metal, AND become the leader of a pack of whatever the hell those wolf things were, AND find the destroyed Watchtower, AND defeat those gigantic roach creatures with Vandal Savage without any of the melodramatic whimpering he did in "Solar Power".

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