Cartoons With Capes

Join me as I attempt to recap every episode of the many animated television series featuring be-caped protagonists (and even some that don't).

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Well, that sure was a hiatus, wasn’t it? Due to a combination of work overload (both mine and my students’), my computer finally ascending to that great electronic heap in the sky, and a general sense of feeling burnt out, I decided to put reviewing things on hold for a...

[cartoonswithcapes]

Hey, thanks, man!

[cartoonswithcapes]

And We're Back (sorta)!

Well, that sure was a hiatus, wasn’t it? Due to a combination of work overload (both mine and my students’), my computer finally ascending to that great electronic heap in the sky, and a general sense of feeling burnt out, I decided to put reviewing things on hold for a bit… and then a bit more… and time sorta got away from me at that point. But, if my followers are willing to give it another go, I am, too.

Rather than going back to Young Justice (and maybe I will one of these days), I’m switching off to a show that is a little more fresh to me because I didn’t watch it when it originally aired, Green Lantern: The Animated Series. The only change I’m making to the format is that there will be way fewer screen caps, as that was part if the reason I got so tired of doing the recaps. If I absolutely think you have to see a moment from the episodes, I’ll likely try to find it online and politely borrow it with proper credit.

So, with all that said, hopefully the first episode will be done later this week.

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Gravity Falls stop, this is genuinely scary.

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i fucking love this fucking show

[leadhoovesies]

It fucking scared the shit out of me when i saw it

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Yeah, this is what that thing said. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIj9308rcU8

[poinko]

haha jesus

[coelasquid]

It’s like a Stephen Gammell sampler pack

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Someone described this to me just yesterday (in an effort to get me to watch it) as "Twin Peaks meets X-Files, if they were hunting eldritch monsters instead of aliens. But, you know, for kids." I didn't realize how apt that description was.

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First hour with Beyond: Two Souls: I got a teenage girl high, made out with a stranger, almost went full Carrie on some bitches, and joined the CIA. This game is kinda weird, y’all.

[liberty-outlaw]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Theory time!

Phil Coulson is, in fact, dead. Who we see is a life model decoy with his memory. Notice how Maria Hill said “he can never know”. And how Coulson always describes Tahiti with the same adjective; magical. These are not coincidences. We had the theory that when he died in the Avengers it was a life model decoy, to give the team the push they needed. Now it seems that it is just the opposite.

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While this is more than likely the most probable theory and definitely the most prevalent I've been hearing, I'm really hoping that Coulson's references to Tahiti as "magical" have something to do with a certain character appearing in Avengers 2: Electric Boogaloo (or Age of Ultron, if you want to get technical). I'm also holding out hope that Coulson might be the Vision, given the aforementioned character and Ultron's upcoming appearances. Either way, it seems pretty clear from Hill and Not-Shepherd-Book's dialogue in the pilot that the Coulson from Phase One of the MCU is probably dead.

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x

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Young Justice: Alpha Male

There’s a lot to like about Alpha Male and for the most part, I really enjoy it. Captain Marvel, no matter which Lowe brother is voicing him, is an almost instant guarantee for a fun episode… and yet, there’s one line from one particular character that rankles my experience. But we’ll get there when we get there. This episode comes very close to returning to a group focus, but it just manages to stay on this side of an Aqualad episode.

We open in the jungles of India with a band of poachers out to nab themselves an Indian tiger. If only someone had told them all species of tiger are endangered (and that they’re assholes), they might have avoided their fate. Before the hunters can shoot the tiger, it is trapped in some sort of stasis field.

Poor kitty.

They have barely a second to celebrate their good luck when they are set-upon by a gorilla wielding a machine gun, which promptly opens fire.

Surprisingly, Grodd’s got nothing to do with this. Neither does the Ultra-Humanite. DC really has way too many intelligent-gorilla bad guys.

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[cartoonswithcapes]

Reblogging for the folks who keep normal hours.

[cartoonswithcapes]

Young Justice: Alpha Male

There’s a lot to like about Alpha Male and for the most part, I really enjoy it. Captain Marvel, no matter which Lowe brother is voicing him, is an almost instant guarantee for a fun episode… and yet, there’s one line from one particular character that rankles my experience. But we’ll get there when we get there. This episode comes very close to returning to a group focus, but it just manages to stay on this side of an Aqualad episode.

We open in the jungles of India with a band of poachers out to nab themselves an Indian tiger. If only someone had told them all species of tiger are endangered (and that they're assholes), they might have avoided their fate. Before the hunters can shoot the tiger, it is trapped in some sort of stasis field.

Poor kitty.

They have barely a second to celebrate their good luck when they are set-upon by a gorilla wielding a machine gun, which promptly opens fire.

Surprisingly, Grodd's got nothing to do with this. Neither does the Ultra-Humanite. DC really has way too many intelligent-gorilla bad guys.

He takes it about as well as he takes everything else.

Guys, you know he has super hearing. Do you really expect him to just stick to an honor code when you're discussing secrets? While Conner's fury extends mostly to the fact that Kaldur's secrecy put M'gann in danger (it put all of you in danger, but whatever), the rest of the team is just furious over being left out of the loop.

Batman puts an end to the squabbling and declares Tornado to be a League issue, meaning the team will not be going after him. They will, however, receive a new supervisor every few weeks, the first of which is Captain Marvel.

I can think of worse babysitters than magic Superman.

Voiced by Rob Lowe in this first appearance and younger brother Chad in subsequent episodes, Captain Marvel is an absolute delight, more so if you know his secret identity, but we'll get to that later. Batman sends Cap and the team to India to investigate the gorilla attack from the cold open.

Wait, that was the mayor? Hope the next election is in the near future.

Once boots are on the ground in India, the rest of the team continues to be, frankly, shit-heads to Aqualad. Robin and Kid Flash take off together, declaring that they don't need Aqualad's orders for a recon mission. Conner gets possessive of M'gann, declaring that he will protect her, but she's not having his shit.

Well, praise baby jesus, it's about time the writers gave her a spine.

Look, I have said that I really dislike M'gann's behavior when it comes to her relationship with Conner and I came down harder on her half of it because she put other members of the team in danger as well as herself. However, that doesn't mean I think Conner is the perfect boyfriend and here is an ideal example of that. He doesn't put the safety of the other team members at risk, but this far from acceptable behavior. The two are, objectively, the most powerful members of the team and M'gann most definitely doesn't need Conner to protect her, and I love that she finally gets a chance to show some independence. She splits off with Artemis and Conner heads off alone after blaming Kaldur for their departure. Cap innocently points out that he still hasn't heard the plan, and he and Aqualad go off together.

The jungle seems fairly quiet, though there is a lot of animal activity. The silence doesn't last long, though: as Kaldur begins to express his doubts to Cap about keeping his information regarding the mole to himself, the ground begins to rumble. 

Damn. Looks like that elephant got into some Kobra Venom.

While Cap and Aqualad are dealing with the problematic pachyderms, M'gann and Artemis have their own troubles. Before you can say, "See you later, alligator," the two are attacked by massive crocodiles, one of which latches onto Artemis' quiver and begins to death roll.

Fortunately for her sake, M'gann is still a bit miffed with both Conner and Kaldur, and now she has something to take it out on. She takes care of her croc and heads into the water after Artemis. She frees her friend from the quiver strap and flings the giant reptile out of the water.

Holy shit, did she throw that crocodile to the moon?!

No, seriously; we never see that thing come back down. Meanwhile, Robin and Wally are dealing with some giant vultures who clearly prefer their prey a little more lively than most. However, they don't give our heroes too much trouble.

I've mentioned that I love Wally's acrobatic fighting style, right?

And Conner is finding out that not all four-legged critters with waggy tails want to be man's best friend.

Bad dog!

Kaldur realizes that the inhibitor collars (similar to the ones placed on the Belle Reve prisoners back in Terrors) are controlling the animals, and he and Cap work together to free the elephants. He tries to get in touch with the rest of the team, but their comm signal is being blocked and the team split before M'gann had a chance to set up a mental link, which Cap is quick to point out. He also notes that, back at the Cave, Batman was able to shut everyone up with a single word. Kaldur realizes that he has to follow Batman's lead and seize command of the team; the others might be his friends, but he is also their leader. M'gann checks in to report that she and Artemis were attacked by the crocodiles, and Kaldur has her establish a link between the team members.

While Aqualad tries to get a hold of the team, Captain Marvel spots the tiger from the opening of the episode and goes after it to remove its collar. The cat is manipulated, through electrical shocks from the collar, into leading Cap into the same kind of trap that caught it. Monsieur Mallah (the gorilla with the machine gun), sporting his beret this time, arrives to haul him away.

Kitty, no!

Kaldur follows Cap while the rest of the team (sans Conner, as he's still wrasslin' with the wolf) bickers and needles about his secret-keeping in his head. Kaldur comes across the the pylons of the trap, notices the drag marks and Mallah's footprints, and decides he is 1000 percent done with their ungrateful bullshit. He points out that the team elected him leader and they will follow his orders until the mission is over, and then if they want someone else in charge, he will step aside. Having laid down the law, he rounds up the team to go save their erstwhile temporary den mother.

Captain Marvel awakens in a laboratory with an inhibitor collar around his neck, rendering him immobile. Someone with the voice of Corey Burton doing a French accent declares that he had Mallah capture Cap in order to pick his brain (literally) and learn how his powers affect his mind, specifically what parts of Cap's mind react to the Wisdom of Solomon part of his powers. French villain also brings Mallah in on the surgery, because gorilla hands (regardless of how intelligent the owner is) are perfect for delicate cutting.

Not a lot of dignity left, huh, Mallah?

The team arrives outside the laboratory, which is protected by a large force field. Artemis spots the controls on the outside of the building and Aqualad warns the team to be ready. He disrupts the field with his electrical abilities, opening a hole big enough for Artemis to shoot and arrow through and hit the control panel. The field is shut down, but the team still loses the element of surprise when a pack of baboons keeping watch from the roof set off the alarm and attack.

Frenchie sends Mallah out to deal with the intrusion, saying he can handle the surgery on his own (why did you have him scrub-in in the first place, then?), and rolls into the light to reveal himself as the Brain. Yep, the same guy from number 2 on this list. Comics... comics can get a little weird, y'all.

So, not really a surprise since we've seen Mallah running around the entire episode.

The tiger has decided he's had about enough of this horseshit and attacks Brain, saving Cap from having his head sliced open. 

Good kitty!

All he gets in return in a debilitating shock from the his collar, and Cap is still powerless to help him. Outside, the team fends off the baboons as Mallah heads out to join the fray. M'gann tries to slip around him and into the lab while invisible, but he catches her (heightened sense of smell and hearing probably helped). This turns out to be a bad idea as she puts him through a wall, providing entry for the rest of the team.

Brain has Mallah capture the team in another stasis field, but M'gann telekinetically steals the remote from the gorilla and turns the field off as Conner and new furry friend burst in from the other side of the lab. The team distracts Mallah while Kaldur frees Captain Marvel, who then snaps the tiger's collar. With the odds now nine against two, Brain decides to step up his game and prepare for his final move.

This isn't even my final form.

Which turns out to be turning out the lights so that he and Mallah can escape under the cover of darkness. They can't all be winners. The team prepares to leave and Captain Marvel has a brief conversation with the tiger (because I guess he can understand human speech now. I assume he was exposed to the Kobra Venom, but he doesn't have bone spurs or exposed muscle like the rest of the enhanced animals do), who assures Cap he will look after the rest of the animals. Cap decides he'll call the cat Mr. Tawny... Wait, wait, wait. That was supposed to be Tawky Tawny? Actually, I probably should have realized that before now.

Instead of remaining with the other wolves on the island, it looks like Conner will be bringing home a new pet. Wally suggests Krypto has a name, which neither Conner nor the wolf really take to, and M'gann points out that it's already taken (so now we know the Superpup exists on Earth-16). Conner, being less than imaginative, ends up calling the wolf... Wolf.

I hope he's house-broken.

He also apologizes to M'gann for his earlier attitude, admitting he was just concerned for her. She acknowledges that it was sweet of him and then follows it up with this line: "But on a mission, I'm your teammate. Not your girlfriend, okay?"

...

ಠ_ಠ

I'm... I'm just not, except to say that is grossly hypocritical, writers. Robin asks Aqualad why he hid the the fact that a mole might be on the team, and Kaldur reveals that the information came from Sportsmaster and he wasn't sure if he could trust it. If it was true, he didn't want to tip his hand, but it could also have been a lie designed to turn the team against each other. Which it very nearly did. Realizing what was obvious to the audience from the word go, the team elects to keep Aqualad as leader.

Captain Marvel bids the team farewell and takes off on his own, heading back to the apartment of an older man in Fawcett City. Cap excitedly tells the man about his adventure with the team, descending into almost child-like glee. The man, Dudley Batson, tells Cap he's glad he had a good time and to get ready for bed. Cap acquiesces and with his trademark cry of "SHAZAM!" - 

I bet the neighbors hate this.

- he transforms back into his alter ego, ten year old Billy Batson.

Aw, he's adorable.

Final Thoughts

"Hello, Megan!" count: 0

Seventh souvenir: Mallah's beret

Robin's altered word: "Nonchalant" to "Chalant"

Khary Payton's read on "Hey, speed of Mercury," is almost closer to Cyborg's voice than it is to Kaldur's

The title of this episode is clearly referring to the position Kaldur has to reclaim on the team, but I think it could also hint at Conner's behavior. He wants to protect M'gann and his instincts drive him to lengths that end up being socially unacceptable. He has to learn that his role isn't that of alpha male, either on the team or in M'gann's life. Seems like very... human instincts for a Kryptonian to have, though

Why, yes, there is an obligatory Planet of the Apes joke in this and it is the one you're thinking of

When you know Captain Marvel's secret identity, it puts a lot of his earlier dialogue into a new light, and it is just adorable

[4gifs]

S’mores dip. [video]

[cartoonswithcapes]

Have mercy.

[cartoonswithcapes]

Danny Phantom: Mystery Meat

Oh, lawd, I forgot how goofy this show was. I’ll have to shift from serious back to silly and that gear sometimes sticks, so bear with me.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I don’t own this and I don’t make money off of it. All rights and material belongs to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. These recaps are purely for entertainment purposes.

Like Young Justice, Danny Phantom is fond of cold opens, but I’m going to start recaps with the title cards, because look.

The title cards are always the best.

Read More

[cartoonswithcapes]

Reblogging for the day crew, since it went up so late.

[cartoonswithcapes]

Danny Phantom: Mystery Meat

Oh, lawd, I forgot how goofy this show was. I’ll have to shift from serious back to silly and that gear sometimes sticks, so bear with me.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I don’t own this and I don’t make money off of it. All rights and material belongs to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. These recaps are purely for entertainment purposes.

Like Young Justice, Danny Phantom is fond of cold opens, but I’m going to start recaps with the title cards, because look.

The title cards are always the best.

Goes about as well as you’d expect.

Get used to the lab setting. Outside of the high school, it’s probably the most used set piece throughout the first season, if not the entire series. Behind Jack, we have the first featured (and most problematic) invention, the Fenton Portal, which functions as a bridge between the “real” world and the ghost world (which will later come to be known as the Ghost Zone). I say problematic because it has a tendency to let things through, like -

Ectopusses. They’re sort of the grunt enemy of the show.

Truthfully, these things have always baffled me. Are they ghosts who don’t have enough… presence, strength, whatever… to keep their physical form in death or just dead cephalopods? A couple of these critters swoop in and snatch up Sam and Tucker while Jack’s back is turned (because the oblivious/inept parent trope is on full display in this show), leaving Danny to save his friends. The show is a bit of tease here, as it doesn’t let the viewer see any of Danny’s powers right away.

Sam and Tucker are saved, the ectopusses are sent scurrying back to the Ghost Zone, and Jack is none the wiser (mainly because he’s an idiot). During his ramblings, he does hand over our second invention, the Fenton Thermos (recall what I said in the intro post about the show having a pretty well-tread premise, but lots of original content? Perfect example).

Most useful invention in the entire show.

No, seriously. That thing is responsible for most of the captured ghosts throughout the show’s run. After the cold open, we have the opening theme, performed by Guy Moon (responsible for most of the music in the show) and Deric Battiste, which gives the origin story in a nice condensed, catchy version. Then we get a look at the outer facade of the Fenton home and holy shit, you guys.

So, they have to be at least somewhat well off, right?

There’s one of those “money goes to your head” episodes in a later season where they really are rich, but I mean, really. Both parents are professional ghost hunters; where does the money come from? Yeah, they’re inventors, too, but rarely do they come up with something that works even half the time (without one of the kids’ intervention, anyway). As Danny says later in the episode, though, they do “have their moments.” Case in point: the Fenton Finder. Designed to use satellite signals to track ghosts, it actually manages to zero in on the nearest thing to one, even catching him mid-phase.

He’s transparent for a good two seconds here, for crying out loud.

But again, thanks to being permanently attached to the stupid ball, neither of his parents notices. I’m not entirely sure if the show is playing this trope straight or not, as the writers are very fond of making the characters aware of how silly the tropes are. Por que no las dos, I suppose.

Danny nearly fesses up to his parents, but he’s saved by the timely butting-in of his overbearing, but well-meaning older sister, Jazz (who is pretty much swimming in the teenager with the pseudo mind-set of an adult trope). She blames Danny’s odd behavior of late on their parents’ fixation with ghosts (and let’s face it, she’s probably not wrong) and offers to drive him to school. Naturally, this leads Jack to believe that she’s a ghost because she’s never offered to drive him to school. Of course.

Little on the nose.

The town the show is set in, though not named in this episode, is Amity Park, an obvious reference to the Amityville Horror. This leads me to believe the show is probably set in New York, maybe up state, but that’s just my assumption. Sam and Tucker reenter the scene as Danny catches the viewer up on events: it’s been a month since the accident that gave him his powers and he’s still having trouble getting them under control. He fears that if his secret gets out, he’ll be pushed from the outskirts of society to complete ostracization. Sam rebukes this, believing it’s a good thing that his powers set him apart from the norm, and she likens it to her extreme veganism (sorry, “Ultra-Recyclo Vegetarianism,” as per the show). This also sets her opposite Tucker, who is a meat fanatic, and I’m sure that won’t come up in the plot of the episode at all.

Oops, I lied. Sam reveals that she has managed to convince the school board to switch the lunch menu to an all vegan diet for the week, much to Tucker’s dismay. Then they get to the cafeteria and it looks like this.

Okay, no.

All right, first, school boards are not in charge of the menu (as far what foods must be represented, anyway); that’s a federal thing, but I’ll give the show a pass since its target audience isn’t likely to know that. And B, loathe as I am to defend vegans (kidding!), this is a little over the top. The show, of course, acknowledges this, and plays it mostly for a joke.

Back at Fenton Works, the change in menu has caught the attention of a not-so-tolerant specter.

Ah, the lunch lady stereotype. Even death has no power over it.

No, but seriously. Forget a month, I would have shut this thing down after two days; it’s so not worth the trouble. Lunch Lady Ghost is voiced by Patricia Heaton, best known for playing Ray’s wife Debra on Everybody Loves Raymond. Her arrival and departure is completely unnoticed by Jack and Maddy, who (although being in the same room) are busy working on the Fenton Extractor (for all intents and purposes, a vacuum).

At Casper High, Sam is faux-congratulated on her successful high-jacking of the cafeteria by Mr. Lancer, who is, hands down, my favorite secondary character. Why?

Ron-Motherfucking-Perlman.

Lancer ducks out of the scene pretty quick as he tries to cover the all-steak buffet the teachers are getting for lunch, which Tucker manages to sniff out (literally). Meanwhile, Danny’s ghost sense goes off, altering the three to the arrival of the Lunch Lady Ghost.

Love it as an early warning system, but not too fond of what it eventually becomes.

Also, it turns out that Sam has managed to aggravate not just her friends with the compost diet. Forget ghosts for a second. Let’s introduce the more common enemy of pop culture teenagers: the nearly brain-dead douche bag jock.

Let me be clear: I am only poking fun at the trope, not actual jocks, so please don’t take that personal. Our quarterback with a brain of liquid concrete is Dash Baxter (voiced by S. Scott Bullock), and if that name sounds familiar, you’re probably seeing where some of the inspiration came from. Dash is rather furious that the dessert he ordered turned out to be actual mud-pies and he blames Danny and his “girlfriend.” Yeah, the show is about a subtle as a brick through a window when it comes to the Danny/Sam relationship, but I’ll save that until it gets a bit more relevant.

In an effort to escape the situation and get to the real danger, Danny instigates a “garbage” fight and he, Sam, and Tucker make for the kitchen. Underestimating the LLG on her initial appearance, Tucker throws Sam under the bus and reveals she is responsible for the menu change. The ghost doesn’t take it well.

Really, shouldn’t we be blaming the school board?

This is a good a cue as any superhero is going to get and we get Danny’s first on-screen transformation into Danny Phantom.

I went on a quest across Google to find a gif of the transformation sequence, but I returned empty-handed. If you’re interested, head over to Youtube.

Danny proceeds to do culinary battle with the LLG, complete with flying dishware and possessed stoves.

"Well, if this superhero thing doesn’t work out, I could have an exciting career as a busboy." I FORGOT ABOUT THE QUIPS!

I think the contact intangibility think only looks like this for a couple of episodes.

For the safety of his friends, Danny eventually has to take the battle to the hallway, where the LLG summons the steak from the teachers’ lounge and turns herself into a giant meat monster. Danny’s powers fail him and he changes back, and the LLG slaps him aside, kidnapping Sam. Before Tucker and Danny can go after them, Lancer apprehends them for starting the “food” fight.

Aw, busted.

Danny tries to point out that Dash was the one who started the fight, but Lancer whips out the “quarterback is Jesus” trope and orders the two to clean the cafeteria. He and Dash leave to go get mops, and Tucker admits that he feels responsible for Sam getting captured (which he is and Danny calls him on it). His super schnoz tells him the meat the LLG stole is still in the building and Danny spots a greasy sheen on one of the security monitors in the office. He goes ghost, and he and Tucker follow the trail down to the basement, where the LLG is keeping Sam prisoner in a pile of meat.

Ew, how greasy would that shit be?

One more fight later, and Danny again has to phase his friends out of harm’s way. The toll proves too much (I think it’s safe to assume this is probably the most use he’s gotten out of his powers since the accident) and he passes out. Sam and Danny carry him home (holy shit, good friends), where they have a spat over who’s more superior, meat-eaters or vegetarians. Also, Jazz comes home and Jack and Maddy sick the Extractor on her. As it is little more than a vacuum cleaner, it just sucks up her hair.

The next day, Sam and Tucker have managed to each set up a rather massive rally for their causes.

I… I - just…

Sometimes this show.

Good rule of thumb for the show: Sam and Tucker will very rarely agree on anything unless they’re both mad at Danny. They try to make him choose a side, but are interrupted by the return of the Lunch Lady Ghost.

Turns out having a meat rally while a ghost that can control meat is on the loose was a bad idea. How about that.

Using Sam and Tucker hugging as a cover (although I don’t know if they’re hugging around him or in front of him), Danny changes back into Danny Phantom and launches into a third fight against the now kaiju-sized Meat Monster. Meanwhile, Jack and Maddy, still strangely convinced that Jazz is a ghost, nab her in the the Fenton Grappler. After they catch her in it, Maddy wonders why she didn’t phase through the net.

It’s designed to capture ghosts. Even if she were one, wouldn’t she not be able to phase out of it?

Faced with the truth that he’s been wrong twice, Jack decides to give up ghost hunting, all while this is going on behind him.

Danny manages to separate the meat from the LLG, but she still has control over the stuff and creates a few constructs.

Mini-meats!

Danny’s powers short-circuit again, giving the mini-meats a chance to fling him up in the air. Jack, still intent on giving up the ghost (so to speak), tosses the Thermos away and Danny manages to catch it. The mini-meats drop him, but he manages to reactivate his powers before splatting into the ground face-first. He phases past his parents, renewing Jack’s faith in the supernatural.

Facing off against the LLG again, Danny manages to channel enough energy into the Thermos to make it work, and he sucks the LLG into the device.

I don’t understand the physics of this.

Did the Thermos just require energy of any sort to power it, or did it need spectral energy specifically? Because that seems counter-intuitive. Also, in later episodes, there’s more than one Thermos, so did Danny have activate all of them?

Anyway, the day is saved, and Danny decides to keep his secret from his parents and use his powers for good (mostly). There’s another joke with the Fenton Finder, but it’s basically a retread of the earlier usage. Unfortunately for our heroes, Lancer blames them for the mess and forces them to clean it up. Dash is also hanging around (for whatever reason) and Danny gets a little revenge by turning the dumpster intangible and dumping the meat on Dash.

You do know you’re just going to have to pick that up again.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes I just can’t even with this show. This is one of those times.

I forgot the art was a little rough in the first season. Danny’s eyes, specifically, are a little too big for his face in some episodes. In later seasons, I recall them being scaled down and it looked much more polished. The coloring is a bit off in the earlier episodes, too. In some scenes, the characters are so pale they appear washed out and Danny’s skin as Danny Phantom is several shades darker in later seasons. The effects of some of the powers, especially the contact intangibility, got changed pretty quickly, too

I also forgot that this show hates quiet moments. There’s a musical riff or cue playing at all times

So, are Danny’s acrobatic and fighting skills part of his ghost powers? Because that makes no sense

You can probably tell that Danny has a lot of Peter Parker in him. He’s nerdy and bullied, but has a powerful alter-ego. He quips during fights and his bully’s name is “Dash.”

I do appreciate that the writers didn’t give Danny immediate mastery over his powers, and we get to experience the journey along with him, something Young Justice skipped over.

Let’s make a new game. Lancer, an English teacher, often uses the titles of books as exclamations. This episode: Paradise Lost.

[cartoonswithcapes]

Now for something... well, not completely different

Well, since I’ve clearly lost my mind and decided to slowly kill myself by recapping dos superhero series, let’s continue the “shows canceled before their time” train ride with Danny Phantom.

Read More

[cartoonswithcapes]

Reblogging for the day crew.

[cartoonswithcapes]

Now for something... well, not completely different

Well, since I've clearly lost my mind and decided to slowly kill myself by recapping dos superhero series, let’s continue the “shows canceled before their time” train ride with Danny Phantom.

The show features a roster of pretty well-known voice actors for its main cast:

David Kaufman (Johnny Storm - Ultimate Spider-Man, Dexter Douglas - Freakazoid! and a kind of legitimately scary character in the upcoming Broken Age) as Danny Fenton/Phantom

Grey DeLisle (Azula - Avatar: The Last Airbender, Catwoman/Vickie Vale - Batman: Arkham City, Black Canary - Batman: Brave and The Bold, Vicky - Fairly OddParents, Kitty Katswell - T.U.F.F. Puppy, and about a billion other things) as Samantha “Sam” Manson

Ricky D’Shon Collins (Vince LaSalle - Recess) as Tucker Foley

Colleen O’Shaughnessey (Sora - Digimon Adventure/Adventure 02 and Jan Van Dyne - Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes) as Jasmine “Jazz” Fenton

The needs-no-introduction Rob Paulsen and Kath Soucie as Jack and Madeline “Maddie” Fenton

Other prominent VOs, such as Tara Strong, Maria Canals Barrera, S. Scott Bullock, Dee Bradley Baker, Kevin Michael Richardson, James Arnold Taylor, April Stewart, Bob Joles, and Cree Summer make up a lot of the secondary characters as well as some of the villains. The show also utilizes quite a few stars more known for their screen performances (most, but not all, for guest spots), like Will Arnett, Martin Mull, Ron Perlman, Dat Phan, AnnaSophia Robb, David Carradine, Jon Cryer, Taylor Lautner (yes, the same one), Mark Hamill, Mathew St. Patrick, Peter MacNicol, Brian Cox, Patricia Heaton, William Baldwin, Michael Dorn, Peri Gilpin, and Eric Roberts.

For those who’ve never seen the show before (all three of you), there’s something you should know up front: it is tropey as all hell. Here, let me show you:

Female best friend: check

Best friend who is a person of color: check. As an added bonus, he’s also the nerdy friend

Female best friend has several characteristics that mark her as “different from the norm: check. Sam is a Jewish, goth vegan with a slightly-more-than-healthy disregard for authority. If she had been made the non-white friend, the lines she was drawn with would sag under trope-weight

Female best friend has crush on main character, who feels the same, but neither wants to admit it/are fully aware of it: check

Male best friend has at least one episode where his subconscious jealousy toward main character’s power/fame comes to the surface: check

One of the friends becomes evil for an episode: check. This happens twice.

One of the friends causes the main character to lose his powers: check

Main character is average physically and academically before receiving powers: check

There’s an evil version of the main character: check

Jock bully with all the intelligence of a brain damaged turkey: check

Shallow, self-absorbed cheerleader whom main character has an attraction to: check

There’s a time travel episode: check. There are actually two

I could keep going, but you get the idea. If you’ve read more than one issue of The Runaways, Young Avengers, Young Justice, any iteration of Teen Titans, or any other comic series/book focusing on or featuring a teenage superhero/heroes, you can predict 75% of the plots and actions on Danny Phantom. Hell, if you seen any show featuring teenagers as main characters, you could probably guess at half of it.

And you know what? I honestly don’t care. Yeah, aspects of the show might be unoriginal, but they’re familiar and they provide the audience with a baseline to use in reacting to plots and characters. It also adds (very intentionally, I’m sure) to the comic book feel of the series. Basically, either the tropes will wear on you or you’ll embrace them for their familiarity.To the show’s credit, it balances out all the things you’ve seen before with original content, especially when it comes to the spectral denizens. There is a werewolf ghost that speaks Esperanto. If you say you’ve seen that before, you’re lying.

The biggest nitpick I have about the series is its inability to clarify the progression of time. Let me explain: I know it’s sort of customary for animated characters to remain the same age regardless of how long their show is on the air (Stewie Griffin has been one for fourteen years now), but Danny Phantom has a special “whaa?”-inducing sense of time. There are two summer vacations, and I don’t know if that means the main characters are juniors after the second one or the writers just needed an excuse to get the kids out of class. I’m fairly certain the second one can be chalked up to time constraints due to impending cancellation, but it’s always confounded me. If anyone has an explanation they can support regarding the time progression, I’d love to hear it.

The art style is, naturally, nearly identical to OddParents, especially when it comes to facial shapes: pointed noses, pointed chins or rounded chins (on average), big eyes, inconsistency with pupils, etc. Of course, not every character conforms to this, but most of the teenage characters follow this template.

All right, I believe that’s all you need to know if you haven’t see the show before (and I hope it was a nice refresher if you have). Next time, we’ll take a look at the pilot, Mystery Meat.

[cartoonswithcapes]

Update for the rest of September and October

So, I’m about to do a dumb, but I really don’t want to push the next show back to November or (Hay-Zeus Kree’s toe forbid) December. I also feel like I’m getting a touch burnt out with Young Justice and I could use something fresh to alleviate the monotony, so I’m going to do this dumb all the way and recap both shows. Young Justice is going to stay on the weekends and maybe I’ll be able to live up to that “get more than one out per weekend” goal, and the new show is going to Tuesdays, as I only have to work a couple of hours that day.

Intro post for show numero dos will go up later today and the recap of the first episode will be up tomorrow with subsequent recaps on Tuesdays. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go pray to the Elder Gods for strength.

[brianmichaelbendis]

I understand trying to make comics female friendly, but aren't you guys worried that you're going to lose your core audience which is male? In the X-books you've had more focus on the likes on these females like jean and kitty while it should be Cyclops who has been the star of the X-Men comics for years. What warrants these characters more page time than him? Jean and kitty are secondary characters. You guys listen too much to women bitching. They cause so much freakin drama in comicdom.

Wow.  you are the first person who I am kind of glad asked your question anonymously because I don’t want to know you.  

 as a reader of my work I want you to listen to me very carefully: you have major major issues. almost every line of your question reeks of complete misunderstanding of yourself as a man and of women in general.

 it’s okay to find yourself more interested in something than others, of course it is,  it’s okay to like Cyclops more than Jean Grey, but for you to draw the line at women characters not being interesting to you because you are a man or that you think I am being manipulated by some bitching women is really out there.

 and as a reader of the X-Men whose entire philosophy is about tolerance and understanding… you are missing the point.

[cartoonswithcapes]

And my respect for Bendis grew three sizes that day.

[cartoonswithcapes]

Young Justice: Homefront

Or as I like to call it, “Super powers ain’t shit.” This is primarily an Artemis episode, although Robin pals around with her for a good chunk of it.

We open in Artemis and Paula’s apartment, and we see that there are two beds in Artemis’ room, with an Alice in Wonderland poster above the empty one.

I wonder who it could belong to?

Well, hey, thanks for that, flashback!

Paula interrupts Artemis’ stroll down memory lane, telling her to get ready for school. There's another first day at school bit, but thankfully it’s quite a bit more truncated than Conner and M’gann’s. This scene also features a couple of cameos that might please fans of the Bat family. Artemis’ student liaison is one Ms. Bette Kane.

Original recipe Batgirl (although that was retconned) and, later, Flamebird.

Dick appears and snaps a picture of himself with Artemis, telling her they’ll “laugh about this later,” and then batmans away in public. Not the smartest move. His actions draw the ire of Barbara Gordon, but he assures her he’s just having harmless fun.

And current flavor.

Fun fact: both Bette and Babs are voiced by Alyson Stoner (one of the kids in the more recent Cheaper by the Dozen film and its sequel, and Isabella from Phineas and Ferb).

Back at the Cave, Conner and M'gann are interrupted mid-face suck by Sphere. M'gann assumes it's jealous, but it turns out it was actually warning them of Wally's approach. He notes M'gann has been spending a lot of time with Conner working on his motorcycle, but continues to flirt with her, because he's an idiot. He does offer to lend a hand with the bike, though.

Aqualad confides in Red Tornado regarding his suspicions about the mole on the team and wonders if he should mention it to Batman. Tornado shoots that down, saying Batman expects the team to handle its own problems (although I'm pretty sure a possible spy is something Bruce would want to hear about). He bids Kaldur good day, as he is off to the Watchtower to cover Green Arrow's monitor duty, so Ollie can go on a date with Dinah. 

Hearing robot Jeff Bennett say "Hot date," is indescribably giggle-worthy.

Robin catches up with Artemis outside the out of order phone booth/zeta tube in her part of Gotham and pointedly asks why she's there and not in Star City with Green Arrow. She again shows off her blindingly terrible ability to lie on her feet and fabricates a visit to a cousin competing in a spelling bee, Then she and Robin have a five second conversation where they spell out words and it's kind of dumb. He goes on ahead and Artemis follows, only to be met with a not-so-friendly fireball.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think something might have gone down.

She and Robin attempt to fend off their attackers, but due to the smoke and constant barrage of fireballs, they're barely able to see the invaders, let alone fight them. We do get a shot of their silhouettes and we can see that we have two villains, one male and one female.

Robin and Artemis flee further into the Cave to put more space between them and the infiltrators, but they are battered about by a sudden deluge and pursued by - 

Firenado, nature's most dangerous predator.

They escape into the gym and turn on the showers to combat the flame vortex, all the while trying to contact the rest of the team or the League. Unfortunately, it appears communications and M'gann's mental link are both down. Another rush of rogue water comes through the pipes, flooding the showers. With nowhere to run (as the firenado is blocking the exit), Robin uses one of his bombs to blow a hole in the one of the shower walls, depositing our heroes in the hallway leading to the kitchen.

The two escape into the ventilation shafts after Robin downloads schematics of the Cave's layout, and they work their way down into the basement, where there are a bunch of machines I'm sure are vital to the inner workings of the hideout. The fire-slinging lady of the duo tracks them down and sets the room on fire, which, surprise, surprise, is detrimental to the sensitive machinery.

Actual episode dialogue: "That's not good." Clearly, Bats should hand over that title of "World's Greatest Detective" to Dick, post haste.

Robin attempts to take out the female attacker by blowing up one of the machines, which goes about as well as you expect, and he and Artemis bolt into a nearby access tunnel. He shuts down the Cave's motion and heat monitors, and he brings up the security footage of the hanger bay to discover how their new friends got in. There's a brief scene of Aqualad asking the others how they're getting on with balancing their school lives and duties to the team. He also muses, rather pointedly, how Artemis will deal with the added responsibilities, as she is still the main suspect regarding the mole at this point.

So, we didn't get rid of Wally's mechanic trait altogether.

Wally also calls M'gann "Green Cheeks" in the scene and I blacked out for a couple seconds from the dumb of that line. Shortly after this, all four cameras in the hanger are destroyed, leaving their fate unknown. Robin and Artemis head down to the library, where he reveals there is a secret passage to the hanger behind one of the bookcases. Before they can find it, one of their pursuers appears to be closing in on them. The two duck behind a bookshelf, ready to defend themselves, when their names are called out in Tornado's voice. Relieved, Artemis emerges out of hiding to greet their den mother and - 

Nope, not Tornado!

Robin pulls her out of the way before not-Tornado can smush her face, but their escape is cut off by the female of the pair, also (unsurprisingly) revealed to be a Tornado-esque robot.

Their names aren't mentioned, but these two are Red Torpedo and Red Inferno, though their "sexes" have been perplexingly swapped from their comic book counterparts. Their origins are going to be expounded on in a later episode, so I'll leave it there for now. Robin finds the book that opens the secret passage (The Mysteries of Udolpho, not that it appears to have any significance to the episode), and he and Artemis evade the Reds again. The robots briefly give up the chase and inform the two they have ten minutes to surrender or the rest of the team will die.

So, at least the other four kids are alive, but they're not in the best way. Kaldur and M'gann are trapped in a fiery cage of Inferno's making, and M'gann has passed out from the heat.

Meanwhile, Wally and Conner are trapped in the warped metal of the hanger floor.

The Reds return to the hanger and continue to count down the clock, as Torpedo makes water flood the hanger and Inferno turns up the heat on her cage.

Artemis and Robin head for the hanger, but I guess Torpedo got bored, because he floods the corridor they're running down and swims after them. Robin fends him off with one of Artemis' arrows to the eye and a few exploding Birdarangs. He and Artemis surface in the hanger and attempt to rescue Kaldur and M'gann before they are caught between Torpedo and Inferno. Robin has Artemis distract Inferno with an exploding arrow, while he whips a couple of Birdarangs at Torpedo. Both glance off and one nearly knocks the team down to five (six if you want to count Roy).

Missed it by that much.

I kid, I kid. It's actually part of Robin's plan. He and Artemis escape back through the flooded access tunnels, and while trying to calm an understandably terrified Artemis, he has the idea to build an EMP to disable the Reds. He needs Wally's know-how to do it. though, so it's a good thing that Birdarang has a two-way radio built in. Wally walks them through it, which involves a lot of technobabble (which I honestly tuned out) and a vircator (for the curious) from the x-ray machine in the medical bay. In order to generate enough power, the vircator will have to be connected to the Cave's main generator. Take a wild guess at where it's located.

With the DIY EMP in tow, Robin has Wally and Conner distract the Reds,while he hooks it up to the generator, and... whoo boy, I don't know if the writers were having an off day or they let North and Spisak ad-lib here, but they're yelling out such gems as, "Hey, Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend? Red Onion?!" and "You can't drown a kryptonian, dumb-bots. We don't breathe air!" I know it doesn't have to make sense or be pithy since they're just trying to get the robots to pay attention to them, but come on.

Robin makes it to the generator and installs the vircator, but it doesn't fit and there's a small gap beneath the bottom prongs. Before he can find a conductor to jerry-rig into place, Torpedo washes him into the water filling the hanger. Great distraction, guys.

Good thing this is a kids' show, or he'd be dead as shit.

Left on her own, Artemis filps her shit and flees back into the access tunnels, where she promptly has a mini-breakdown.

Regardless of how much fun I poke at the dialogue, I am honestly thrilled at how the writers handled this. Artemis is a fifteen year old with no superpowers who has been doing this superhero thing, legitimately, for about a month. Now, she finds herself standing alone against two unfeeling, unreasoning, incredibly powerful machines, which have taken out not only her super powered teammates, but the member of the team that's been fighting crime the longest. She should be terrified and she should fear for her own safety. She's only human.

Instead of running out and making some grand last stand against the Reds, Artemis reasons that if she can escape the Cave, she can find help. She loses her footing in the tunnels and falls into Wally's trophy room as Torpedo announces she has three minutes to give herself up. Artemis faces the truth that, realistically, she won't be able to find a way out, especially before the Reds kill her friends. She considers trying to hide until the League eventually comes to check things out and picks up Cheshire's mask, acknowledging that would be the course of action her sister would take.

The flashback from the beginning of the episode continues, revealing that Artemis didn't leave with Cheshire because she wanted to be there for Paula when she got out of jail. Cheshire scoffs at that and warns her that, in their family, it's everyone for themselves. In the present, Artemis realizes that she can't do that, because she's not her sister and in this new "family," everyone looks out for each other. Before leaving, she grabs her arrow Wally kept as a souvenir.

With a minute to spare, Artemis "surrenders" to the Reds, giving her a chance to shoot the arrow at the vircator, using the head to complete the connection. The pulse knocks out the Reds, allowing the water level to go back to normal and dissipating the fire cage.

Technically, that arrow has saved Wally's life twice now.

Danger neutralized, Kaldur and Artemis ascertain that M'gann and Robin are, in fact, not dead. Unfortunately for Wally and Conner, the EMP knocked out all tech in the Cave, so they can't be cut out. Tornado arrives, saying he got suspicious (well, as suspicious as a machine can get) when the Cave's communications and zeta tubes were shut off. Artemis and Robin demand answers about the Reds, but Tornado admits he had no knowledge of the existence of the other two robots. As he goes over to investigate, Sphere begins to move and frees itself, and the kids realize the EMP has worn off.

To quote the Boy Wonder, "That's not good."

Tornado's eyes glow the same red as Torpedo and Inferno's, and he creates a vacuum, sucking out all the air in the room and causing the teens to pass out from oxygen deprivation (How about that? I guess kryptionians do need air). Artemis is later woken up by Superman, who I guess just decided to wait until she was awake to ask what happened. The other mentors are also present, as well as Captain Atom and Black Canary.

Something looks out of place here... Can't quite put my finger on it...

Funny, I'm pretty sure Superman has heat vision, so why did they even need to bring Nate? No, seriously. All the other mentors are with their proteges, including Bats and Green Arrow just off shot. Guess there is some truth to the Superdickery trope, after all. Artemis asks where the Reds have gone and Robin replies that they don't know, but wherever they are, Tornado went with them.

Final Thoughts

"Hello, Megan!" count: 0

We don't gain a souvenir this episode, but please join me in a moment of silence for Artemis' arrow from Schooled. It will be missed

Robin's altered word: "Distraught" to "Traught"

I really like the message of the title as it relates to Artemis. She's never had a "home" or a "family" she could protect before, due to her age and inability to fight, not to mention the members of her biological family as less than paragons of morality. Now that she does, she finds herself unable to run, as Cheshire did, or stick to her initial plan of hiding until the League came to check things out

I believe this episode has the longest cold open so far, clocking in at nearly four minutes before the title screen appears

[cartoonswithcapes]

Ugggghhhh

Had a teeny bit of free time, so I wrote the intro post for the next series. Now that’s all I want to focus on. YJ, why must you feel so long?