Donomark
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Posts posted by Donomark
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What a jackass. He throws the films under the bus for being predictable?? Even if we entertain the idea that he felt that way, you figure he had more class than that.
Concerning final lines, I agree with the Q nomination. I'd also throw in Elektra King as her's sums up the character perfectly for me.
"You wouldn't kill me. You'd miss me."
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AND HE OPENS THE CLOSET...
AND THERE'S A MAN, BUT THE MAN...
IS A MIDGET, MIDGET, MIDGET!!!!!!!!!
Maybe not my fav but one that comes to mind quite readily.
Haha yes!
Adham: "I like Madonna, I think she's cool."
Ian: "Really? I hate Madonna, I think she's a fool."
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For what it's worth, I agree with the original score. It's not great, but it's not bad. It's pretty campy in a fun way. To me it's bad enough where I can still like it.
The FYEO review was classic tho. The Moore jokes kill me every time.
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If he's Bond's nephew, why is he James Bond Jr.?
Also, this is the worst thing Corey Burton ever did.
Because James Bond slept with his brothers wife. The people who made the series know, but no-one ever told the kid.
That or his sister.
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Suggesting for Adham, I would pick OHMSS because I remember how torn he was with the final score. I would also suggest Goldeneye for him as well, because he seemed to really enjoy them film during the synopsis.
For you Ian, I would suggest the Living Daylights.
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I'll start with Ian mimicking the ludicrous nature of Carl Stromberg and his Swiss Bank Accounts.
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What's the number for voicemail?
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I really think Bond jollied his way through the Strawberry Fields twice. I mean looking at the scene again, why would he be kissing up her back post-coitus (
) and throwing her back onto the bed if they weren't gonna do anything? -
That OddJob design makes me cry.
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I'm currently listening, but as I do so, enjoy this picture of my brother Pandy cosplaying as Squirtle!
That should make me lose respect for him, but all I find myself being able to do is gain even more respect.
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Mike cracking up at Supes hugging Bats made me LOL.
It's never been established that Superman can breathe in space, unless its Earth-2 Superman. He can just hold his breath for super long amounts of time.
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Also you guys caught the Benny and Cecil reference and asked if BT and the crew were fans of Clampett. Actually, Bruce Timm used to be one of John K.'s slaves back when a re-vamped Benny and Cecil show was in production, so there's that explained away.
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Ok I just watched "A Knight of Shadows" again, taking everyone's points into consideration. One thing I must fully admit is the plot point of why the JL didn't destroy the stone in the first place. That's a very valid arguement, yet at the same time I can sort of excuse it in the context of the action. In other words, it made sense for J'onn to demolish it because it was so close in LeFay's grasp. But WW and Batman really should have inquired as to whether destroying the stone would do anything or not. I'll concede to that.
Another thing I'd like to point out is how awesome the animation is. Really, it's the best animation I think in the series up to that point, and the lighting and shadow effects really sell it all the way through.
But okay, the J'onn thing. Having watched the episode in its entirety in the past hour I still stand by my point that J'onn's action had every right to be carried out whether he was pining for his wife and children or succumbing to giving the stone to Morgan LeFay because that, like GoFlash said, is the conditions of her powers. We see right at the beginning how the same thing that happened to J'onn happened to Jason Blood at what it cost him. We see the effects of it at least. We see it being carried out with J'onn here in explicit detail, and I'm sorry but I still cannot fault him for what he does in the episode. What I feel is being overlooked is the fact that J'onn does try to fight the visions after being told that they are just that, visions. Etrigan is basically Mike and James, punching him around and chastising him for believing in what isn't real.
But J'onn doesn't see visions, he's sees his wife. His wife who has been dead for centuries. If J'onn started to ask how they were alive, THEN I would concede that he shouldn't have given into Lefay's power because his mind show subtle resistance by questioning the impossible. But he first sees his family and is overjoyed. The feeling he has is a feeling of being gone for a long time and being surrounded by familar settings. The first vision puts into context for J'onn juts how alone he truely feels on Earth. The depths of his despair are brought to the forefront upon being shown what he has been going without.
It's not as simple as everybody is making it out to be. J'onn doesn't simply see the visions and says "DUH OKAY HUNNY!" until the very end when Lefay fully claims her power over him when he's on the Watchtower. Here's the line I feel sums up all of what he feels in the show.
*To Batman*
"I hesitated in battle, and it nearly cost you your life. Perhaps Etrigan is right. Perhaps I really have been tainted by that Sorceress. I know what I experienced was a mere illusion, but it felt so real. The urge to embrace it was almost more than I could bear. Sometimes I believe I would do anything to embrace my loved ones again. You can't imagine how that feels."
So to an extent DCAUFan is right in that it almost is like a drug to J'onn. It's more than what we the audience experience because we aren't familar with his situation besides a flashback and exposition from "Secret Origins". But what does the title "A Knight of Shadows" refer to? Does it refer to Jason Blood, a hero who is forever marred by his past shame and the reasons for his supernatural abilities lie in a dark background? Does it refer to Mordred, a young boy who wants to rule his own kingdom at the cost of the planet?
No, it's about how J'onn comes out of the episode a greater hero than is initially assumed because he has been confronted with the one thing that could control, twist and turn him against the people he's fought alongside for, and came out on top saving the world. The shadows are his past, and how they potentially make him darker, but he's still coming out a knight-a warrior of nobility who will fight at any cost.
Again, some people may not like how it was done but I did. That's all I'm saying.
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i disagree with this. it offered a glimpse into the life of Kal-El within an idealized home environment, showing how Superman might act without being on guard or under certain pretenses.
Maybe so, but it was still more or less just a dream. At the end of the day we still see that Superman is a good guy who wants a family just like every Joe American and that to take it away from him, even if it was just a dream would make him really really angry. It's also the fact that even though he felt as though he experienced his life on Krypton, he didn't in reality. Nothing was lost, he was just messed with. It's different from, for example, Annie in Growing Pains who did exist, or Perchance to Dream where Bruce Wayne was confronted with a life w/o being Batman and what that said about him as a person. Superman was just teased an ideal life and told "Nah, just playin'" Again, I like that episode but it means virtually nothing at the end of the day.
i agree that the three are extremely different, but in the sense that J'onn is tempted by an idealized past in the most straightforward way possible that would offer a removal of a defining tragedy, he really is interchangeable with Superman and Batman. the temptation offered here is offered so seductively, straightforwardly, and non character-specifically (i agree with you, but the episode is so bad about convincingly conveying J'onn's inner tragedy that his wide-eyed drooling is so damn generic) that it really isn't any different from what the Black Mercy did to Superman or Batman in For the Man Who Has Everything.But he's not tempted by an idealized past persay, he's tempted with what he knew existed and people he lived with. It was a non-reality reminding him of a true reality, and one so deepy personal to him that no matter how much he pined for it and wanted it back it never takes away from what it is. It's still, to him, his lost family.
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I don't really care how much he loved his family (even if they are cardboard happy cut-outs in the visions), because the whole falling for seduction only to heroically overcome it at the end is generic by-the-numbers lazy storytelling and says nothing about J'onn except that a) he misses Mars and b) he's heroic, easy inferences to make already.
It's not necesserily lazy storytelling as it is a troupe of conventional sci-fi drama. That's like saying someone becomes a hero to A)Avenge the deaths of loved ones I.E. Batman or Spider-Man or B) Atone for past mistakes I.E. Iron Man, Dr. Strange or Spider-Man is lazy storytelling. It's just a typical convention.
So you can not like the story or how it shows J'onn's deep pain at the loss of his wife and children, but it doesn't make it any less valid in the slightest. Again, it's not like he lost a girlfriend or anything. His WIFE and CHILDREN. Even still, again at the end, he proved to be morally just enough to put his desires aside to save the day. It's fine if you don't like how they did it, but it doesn't invalidate the story in terms of whether or not it needed to be told.
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the thing with J'onn in Knight of Shadows is so awful and the fact that he keeps falling for the temptation is only part of the problem. the real problem is that you have a character as potentially rich as J'onn, and the only thing you can do to pose a conflict for him is to hypnotize him with memories of his past in the most cliched 'J'onn, oh J'onn, it's your wife and your kids! etc. etc.' that feels so strained and out of a bad movie. it provides nothing insightful about his character whatsoever, because it's such a cliched, predictable scenario that doesn't appeal to any specific facet of J'onn's character besides the fact of his tragic past, in which case he's interchangeable with Batman or Superman. i kind of see it as J'onn's Perchance to Dream or For the Man Who Has Everything, except those episodes were not only character-specific, but they had narrative and thematic depth. this was just an endless series of pretty fantasies repeating themselves over and over again and it's overbearing and unconvincing.
Okay, it's a fair point to say that the concept of a character to pine for his dead family has been done and done again. But it still doesn't make it invalid. That's still very much part of his character, the fact that he's a member of a dead race in which he came up and lived in.
I'll also agree that the episode doesn't reveal anything new about the character besides what we already knew unlike Perchance to Dream did for Batman( The JLU Superman episode, while good, revealed nothing new about him either) but does that have to be a bad thing really? I mean it's not like he spends every amount of screentime on the show talking about his family. All he knows on Earth is the Justice League, so when presented with vivid images of his family, real or not, it makes sense for him to want to do anything to see them again.
-Yes, he pined to see his family a lot in the episode. But that was due to Morgan Le'Fay's magic. It's not like he started doing it out of nowhere. That's the convention of the episode, to present J'onn with the ultimate deal with the devil in order to challenge him morally.
-Yes, he almost cost the planet. But he pulled through at the end. It's a journey, albiet very straightforward, that the character undertakes and completes by the episode's end and the point that he nearly destoryed the planet isn't ignored since he bluntly admits his mistake and offers to leave the Justice League.
And really, he's not that similar to Batman and Superman when it comes down to it. Batman has Mommy and Daddy issues due to the age he lost them and the way he lost them. Superman grew up on Earth, so his plight is little more than the conflict of any orphan who grows up in a foster home. J'onn knew his family. He knew his people. He saw them die and lived with it for many many years. He sees no purpose in life besides fighting alongside the league on a planet he's relatively new too. So when the very thing that defined his character and shaped who he was is shoved and dangled in his face, real or not, it's understandable for him to be tempted and nearly succumb. The point of the episode is that he didn't in the end, not that he almost did. In terms of the character's development, the ends justify the means.
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I bought J'onn's temptation the first time she dangled the carrot in front of him. It was all the subsequent times that got on my nerves. He knew it was fake. He knew she was manipulating him. He was told this several times, yet he kept falling into the same trap. It got tired.
This.
Okay then, we'll agree to disagree.
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I have to say I was dissapointed with the "Knight of Shadows" review. I may be a tad biased because it is a particular favorite of mine, but I don't see the point of moaning about J'onn wanting to see his family again. Mike said it was way over the top, and I ask exactly how? The context must be noted in that J'onn was a husband and father who lost his family to war over at least a century ago. Despite the length of time, there's been no indication at all that he's gotten over it and, unlike Superman, he's the last of his race who remembers his race. That pain is all the more visceral to him once he sees visions and images of his family beckoning him. I think the fact that Morgan Le'Fay was manipulating a psychic made him all the more susceptible, and even then he did try to fight it. But if you had lost your entire family, and saw the chance to reunite with them again, wouldn't you be tempted to taking that chance?
Not only that, but concerning the OUTRAGEOUS point of him nearly giving the stone to Le'Fay...I mean it's not like he killed the Demon or any of the League members. So he almost aided in destroying the world, so what? In the end he saved the world. If any of the other leaguers were in the same position, for example Superman, would your reaction be the same? And he did take full responisbility and attempt to resign, but again it's not like this couldn't happen to anyone else. If any of the other Leaguers were tempted, the result would most likely be the same, thus showing how strong morally each of them are. So the direction the climax was heading was pretty much foretold from the start. If you don't like it, blame the premise, which isn't the most original story but still I found it entertaining. Don't get all outraged when it goes through because what other path could it have gone down?
There were other points of the episode I personally really enjoyed such as the kickass animation near the end with tons of shadows, and J'onn using his abilites in ways we neevr saw before this episode. But I'm sorry, it just felt as though you guys were overeacting to something that was not worth getting upset about. The episode was about showing how strong a character J'onn J'onzz is morally by waving his greatest weakness right in front of him( his lost family, not necesserily fire) and having him overcome it and single handedly saving the day. The episode accentuates this by having him vocally express the pain of his survivor's guilt at the cost of his family, and using that to take out both of of DC's more powerful magic based characters as well as a powerful mystic. To complain about the fact that he was tempted, felt bad when he saw his dead loved ones for the first time in hundreds of years, and yelling for him to be kicked out of the league when he attempts to resign is completely missing the point.
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*Crosses fingers* Here's hoping you guys don't shit on Legends or A Knight of Shadows. Metamorphosis I could care less...
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Great stuff gentlemen, always good to have Pandy back. Although I was disheartened when Adham got the Vesper martini recipe wrong!
It's actually three measures of Gordon's, and one of Vodka, not the other way around.
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-Get over my recent breakup back in October
-Get significantly stronger. I go to the gym regularly, but this year I really wanna bulk up a bit.
-Procrastinate less and become better informed about things which are truly important.
-Parlay my writing skills and aspiring art talents into some sort of job relating to comics.
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LOL I imagine this one was very easy because of the birth and wealth of Moore age jokes, however who're the two asian dudes in blue? Must've missed that reference.
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BTAS Batman may have the same voice actor, but is a completely different character from the Batman of Justice League. He's not the same guy, at all. BTAS Batman made jokes, enjoyed time with Dick and Alfred. After the Gotham Knights redesign, the character became darker, (to throw him into sharper contrast with Superman, methinks), and by the time we reach JLU, Batman is almost entirely humorless, and pretty unlikeable.
I disagree. The JL/JLU version is not only my favorite Batman design in the DCAU but my favorite version. I don't contest that he got darker and less likable in Gotham Knights, but in Justice League, surrounded by all his contemporaries I feel he got lighter, then after ROTJ he gradually changed into the super-brooding Bruce Wayne of Batman Beyond. In JL/JLU he smiles and makes jokes at times. Specifically in the Secret Society episode.
Clayface: "You didn't think I;d come w/o reinforcements, didja?
Bats: "Wish I'd thought of that. *League bust down door* Oh wait, I DID."
*awesome*
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If we're talking merchandise, I request shirts that read "THE UNDERWATER *etc*" or at the risk of never getting a date again, "SHE HAD IT COMING"
) and throwing her back onto the bed if they weren't gonna do anything?
Episode 45
in Animezing Podcast
Posted
Haven't seen Pokemon in YEARS, so this was a great trip down memory lane, especially with the references to all thos episodes we all remember. I never heard of the theory of Ash in a coma, so that was...weird. LOL