Ooof, all right, that last batch finished off the last of the DC live-action stuff for sure.
(Oh, fine, I left out Shazam!, and Isis, but..screw it)
So, now, it's on to the animateds.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
The film-
Fuckin' great.
Y'know, I said once somewhere, that although some great actors have portrayed him, Batman has yet to have his Christopher Reeve.
Well, nah, screw that, I was wrong, it's Kevin Conroy.
Kevin Conroy IS Batman for a generation.
Oh, don't get me wrong, Christian Bale is great n' all, but...y'know..
Anyway, the film...
Well, it's pretty much a ripoff of "Batman: Year Two", innit?
Except with a different twist at the end...which I won't spoil.
Also, a pre-Harley Quinne relationship Hamill-Joker is on hand for some mischief.
This was the only one of these to be released in theaters.
History-
I love the soundtrack on this one.
Here, a couple goodies...
Theme.
End credits.
(Say, whatever happened to Tia Carrere anyway?)
Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero
The film-
Erm, pretty much a long episode.
Eh, s'okay...
Kicks ass all over "Batman & Robin", though.
Which, I think was probably the point.
The history-
*Shrug* bought the DVD to round out the (then) trilogy.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
The film-
Fucking awesome.
Not only one of the best animated Batmans, but one of the best Batman films period.
Hmm, no, I'd even put it up there with best Batman stories period.
Yeah, that pantheon.
Killing Joke, Long Halloween, stuff like that.
Definitely Hamill's greatest moment in the sun with the (Joker) role.
It's a must to get the uncut version though.
The history-
Grabbed this on DVD along with the above two.
Nothing fancy to report.
But, I recommend you do the same.
Well, with the possible exception of Sub-Zero.
Although, I have yet to see the animated's replacement fill-in for the trilogy.
Batman :Mystery of the Batwoman
The film-
Ehh...another long episode.
Still not up there with Phantasm, or Return Of The Joker.
Possibly a bit better than SubZero.
Nothing to write home about.
Watch it, and forget it.
The history-
N/A
The Batman vs. Dracula
See here.
Superman: Brainiac Attacks
The film-
Another long episode.
Oh, it's good, but....well, see the history segment...
Um, right, so, Brainiac is "killed", in the first few minutes, rebuilds himself as...a Transformer, essentially, and him and Supes Godzilla-fight a whole bunch to the point it's almost annoying.
There's a B-plot of Supes needing to cure Lois of Kryptonite blood poisoning, and a C-plot of Jimmy having a hardon for Lex's henchwoman.
Everything wraps up as neat as an episode of the old George Reeves show.
Meh.
The history-
Tch...I could swear I saw on Cartoon Network, an animated film with Superman, and Luthor, and Brainiac, done in a more realistic style, and more edgy and adult, where Luthor bonds with Brainiac....and stuff...
Wikipedia has no record of it ever existing, and neither does Google.
Am I a dimension traveler in my sleep?
This isn't the first time a phantom movie or comic has slithered out of reality on me.
I remember watching the thing, I remember going "that was fucking awesome! What was that? ".
I remember looking it up on the TV Guide site, and learning the name...
Now it's gone.
Could I have dreamt it?
No, I'm not that good a writer, at ALL, this thing was really good...
WTF?
Where'd it go?
Shit, this'll drive me nuts...
Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo
Another long episode.
Arcs of the show were better than this.
Way better.
Nothing major happens, no one dies, fucks, quits, reveals a secret, marries, gives birth, learns a life altering lesson, comes to terms with themselves, changes, no new character shows up to join the cast, the story doesn't get shaken up in any way.
Forgettable moosh just on the safe side of "watchable".
Kids might like it.
Dumb little ones too young to even watch this, and care.
*Shrug*
The history-
Meh.
Collect the old 80's comics.
That's got the real meat on these characters.
If you were 10-12 when this show premiered, you're old enough now for the sex and violence.
Dooo eeet.
Aaaand, boom, that's the first batch of these ones.
Up next, more of these.
(BTW, this goes between this, and this)
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9 comments:
Mask Of The Phantasm. I saw that in the theaters, which isn't something you can say for most of these. I think the last time I saw a kick-ass, not strictly for little kids animated feature in theaters it was Transformers The Movie.
(Well, okay, Nightmare Before Christmas, but I was talking traditional cel animation)
And, much like the Transformers foray into a theatrical feature, Bats got to slip the chains of kids TV censorship a little. Nobody said 'shit' (in TF:TM--Spike SAID it, I was THERE, scrubbed up VHS & DVD releases be damned!) but it was way darker and scarier, and the violence was far more brutal, including the Joker getting a tooth bloodily knocked out. And I think he cut Bats once or twice.
C'mon TV-land, kids can handle that! I saw Watership Down on TV when I was wee, ferchrissakes, and that had bunny rabbits ripping bloody chunks out of each other!
Oh, yes, Phantasm has an edge, for sure, but you ain't seen nothing until you've seen uncensored ROTJ.
What they SHOW is messed up, but the subtext is VILE.
Joker is "a death in the family", level evil in that.
Oh, and as far as I know, "oh, shit!", and "open..dammit..open!", are back on the 25th anniversary TFM DVD.
Hmm. I got that sucker (TF:TM 25th anniversary ed) . . . Maybe I need to check it again.
I just remember that the VHS didn't have that stuff at all, and I was outraged.
Oh, and I've seen ROTJ, although it was on Cartoon Network, I think.
So, censored, but it was still pretty sick; I assume you're referring to 'what happened to Robin'.
Icky.
Re: ROTJ. Yup.
DVD takes it a little further.
A lot of little nip and tucks too, like Joker killing henchmen, bloody mouths from punches, stuff like that.
Yeah, they loosened up with stuff like that on the WB shows, as opposed to back when Bats was on Fox.
I remember the first WB Animated Bats ep I saw: it was Scarecrow, looking pretty warped, and there was a bit with fear-rattled Bats having to fight a bunch of gators or something . . . and he kills them . . . and there's blood on him.
On a kids show. YAYY!
But, I didn't get to see any of the WB shows until after I moved to Boston back in the day (they had it as a basic, non-cable station--bastids!)
Yeah, we finally got WB over here, but not until Superman, and Batman-Beyond had run their course.
(Now, it's CW)
I seem to recall seeing some BB...maybe CN reran some of it.
I think it was they played the pilot as a movie.
Well, can't stay and chat, lotta "homework", to cram in...
Yep, ditto.
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