Legion torrents and flight rings

Not surprisingly, my normal daily hit count tripled yesterday after the Legion episode of "Smallville" aired.

What was surprising, though, was the number of queries for flight rings. Sadly, there are none on ebay at the moment, though the first wave of Legion action figures from DC Direct in 2001 each came with a plastic flight ring. Chris at Atlas Comics might have some, but the official ones are hard to come by. Here's a closer look at my ring.

A number of people are also looking for torrents (keywords S08E11 or 8x11) to download the show: you can find a standard def version (350 MB) and a high-def version (720p, 1.09 GB) at these and other places.

Episode 2.05 "Karate Kid"

You may recall last spring when I mentioned Wil "Cosmic Boy" Wheaton was doing voices for some of the episodes. In late March, Wil was apparently working on this episode, where he mentioned the "It's a trap!" line from early in the show. Later, he wrote of this episode:

Legion was awesome today, and in a cruel twist of fate, I'd really like to write all about the various jokes we made, the outrageously talented guest stars I got to work with, and how fucking awesome the show is . . . but it would reveal way too much that Warner Brothers wants to keep secret (and spoil the show for the audience, which sucks) so I'll just have to file those notes away and use them when this episode airs. And no, I can't even say the title, because that would give too much away.

I've asked him to unfile those notes, we'll see what happens.

I saw the ending as soon as they showed how Nemesis Kid's powers worked. However, I anticipated that it would be Karate Kid vs Nemesis Kid, of course, not Karate Kid vs Grimbor using a weapon to simulate Nemesis Kid's powers. Up until the very last minute, I thought for sure Nemesis Kid was going to reveal that he was working for Imperiex, the Dominators, or Grimbor.

Torrent: via Torrent Portal
Legion Wiki: The Karate Kid

• Occasional Superheroine:
  

  This episode was the most mind-bogglingly patronizing thing I've ever seen since viewing the silent movie "Shadows". In that movie, Lon Chaney takes the role of the wise, stomach-churningly humble, hardworking Asian laundryman. The fact that around 80 years have passed since that film & this cartoon but the Asian protagonist has been portrayed so very similar is troubling.

  
  Some good discussion as well as some good trackbacks.
  
  
• Legion Abstract:
  

  But unfortunately the thing that struck me the most about this episode was the scene where they made Karate Kid do laundry. It was not the most racially sensitive thing I've ever seen. Now, I'm not accusing anyone of anything, and I know there was the other scene at the end where Nemesis Kid made nice, but... are we really sure that this scene was such a hot idea?
  
  I'm kind of getting sick of this characterization of Cosmic Boy. Maybe it's useful in the story, but it's not what the character's like. And I don't mean it's not what he's like in the comic books--he wasn't like this in Season 1 either. On the other hand, we're seeing more of Superman's greater experience: he's now showing Legionnaires what being a superhero is all about.

  
  
• Superman Home Page:
  

  What a complete and utter mess.
  
  Characters are forced to do and say things they wouldn't simply to move the story forward, and don't do or say the things they should. I speak chiefly of Superman, and that is never going to sit well with me.
  
  ...Superman then brings Karate Kid back and introduces him as a Legion member... and nobody accepts it and assigns him to laundry duty?! Okay, if Nemesis Kid had done that, I'd expect that response, because he's new and they don't know him very well. But this is SUPERMAN. The best there is, even by Legion standards. They went into the past just to get HIM and revere him and they don't listen to him when he says Karate Kid is worth being a Legionnaire?
  
  I don't buy that. Not at all.
  
  And does Superman stand up for Karate Kid? No. Nah. Why would he? He only found him and believes in him and brought him to the Legion. But they want to act like he's worthless and make him do laundry? Well, that's okay by Superman!
  
  Not any Superman *I* know, actually. That angered me more than anything else in the episode. Superman should have told them Karate Kid deserved a fair shot and should have seen to it that he got it. But Superman did none of those things and that's just incredibly out of character.

  
  
• Luagha's LJ:
  

  The best definition of Karate Kid's power is 'good enough at martial arts to beat Superman if Superman doesn't use super-speed, or just fly away and eyebeam/cold-breath him for a few hours until he gets too tired to dodge.' And here he is basically weak and pointless except for spirit and determination and happening to have the right (lack of) powers for this particular episode.
  
  ...This was a classic example of the 'fight that Cosmic Boy should have won before he walked in the door so he should have been left out of this episode' but they needed him to be the harsh taskmaster so they kept him in. I mean, Grimbor uses metal chains, metal nets, and explosives attached to metal chains and metal nets... which Cosmic Boy shows the demonstrated ability to control so he should never be hit by them, affected by them, he should be able to tie Grimbor up with his own chains or at least rip off all his metal technological equipment.

  
  
• Talkbacks on the ToonZone, Legion World, and DC Comics message boards.
  

Episode 2.04: Chained Lightning

First, I want to say that I love Shrinking Violet in this episode. Her little "snort" at the end of her laugh is very endearing, though I'm sure some will hate it. She had one of the best lines of the show, talking about Lightning Lad's new arm: "It fires explosive charges, lasers, and of course lightning, all powered and amplified by his own bioelectrical energy. In other words, it makes things go boom. Ha ha [snort]."

Of course, by far the most important thing we found out in this episode is that the people who have been pronouncing "Ayla" as "eye-la" like "Delilah" have been wrong all these years, and those who, like me, pronounce it as rhyming with "Layla" (as in the Eric Clapton song) have been right all along. HA!

Two interlac sightings this week. Scrolling interlac is hard to make out, even when I've got a TiVo, but I managed to get almost all of it. In one scene where the trio were approaching Korbal in flashback, the computer reads in Interlac (in part) "... BASED LIFE NON SENTIENT ENERGY FIELD ..." with pictures of a Lightning Beast on it. In another scene, as Lightning Lad stares at a map of the cloud, text reads "LIGHTNING BEAST STRIKE".

Here's the Legion Wiki article I wrote up, the torrent, and a page to download all season 2 episodes via Rapidshare.

Review roundup:

• Legion Abstract:
  

  Mixed results on characterization. Shrinking Violet gets her first full speaking part in this episode, and is a breath of fresh air... but Lightning Lad adjusts to his new arm a little too quickly, and the writers seem to have taken their hands off the steering wheel when it comes to Superman-X's personality. In the first two episodes, he was all business, with no time for friendship or civility or even for simple tactics: it was all stuff that interfered with his Imperiex-fighting time. Since then, he's been callous when it's convenient for the plot that he's callous, and sympathetic when it's convenient for the plot that he be sympathetic. I was expecting Superman-X's emotional education as a hero to be the main arc of this season, but so far it's all been circumstantially driven.

  
  
  
• Adventures in Comic Book Land:
  

  This week’s episode of Legion of Super-Heroes managed to recaptured some of that je ne sais quoi that was notably absent in last week’s Timber Wolf episode. It played the emotions of the audience well, and the writing was probably the best it’s been this season. That’s impressive, as this season hasn’t exactly been a downer.
  
  I couldn’t listen to anything [Violet] was saying because I just wanted her talking to be over. Other than that personal quirk of mine, it was difficult to get onboard with it because Vi came across as being desperately competitive, like rather than just being intelligent she craved proving it and being put on equal footing with Brainy. In the realm of Level 12 intelligence, equal footing is kind of a myth. So, I didn’t like that.

  
  
• Fortress of Fandom:
  

  Brainy still has it bad for ‘our’ Clark. ;) He was dissing Shrinking Violet since she was taking the place of Superman during the latest mission. He learned, poor boy, he learned! J
  
  Kell-El grows on you. He’s all tough and “You’re not crying, are you?” but he was moved by the family reunion.
  
  This was a very interesting story. Mekt finally allowed his feelings for his family to trump his lust for power. Even when he flew away after Garth had been terribly hurt, he was upset and angry that Imperius had done such a thing, cloaking it “It was my fight”. Their sister was the bond between them, and I’m a sucker for redemption fic. J

  
  
• Darklore Circus:
  

  I just have to say this morning that today's Legion of Superheroes was probably the best piece of American animation I've seen for quite some time. It had everything: siblings, limb loss, sexual tension, Superman being all Heero Yuy, monsters, electricity... it was really pretty good. I liked the whole thing with the brothers and Mekt's redemption, and the Braniac 5/Shrinking Violet thing was cute (he's still a creepy little dude, though).

  
  
• Spandex Justice:
  

  The four episode, though, was terrific. "Chained Lightning" gave us the origin of Lightning Lad and his brother Mekt, while also updating the story of their sister, Ayla. It was both exciting and poignant. Plus, Shrinking Violet snorting when amused is just about the cutest thing I’ve seen so far this season. Her interactions with Brainiac 5 were also great fun.
  
  They really need to do a Legion Espionage Squad episode, now that they have Chameleon Boy and Shrinking Violet around.
  
  Overall, I am enjoying the new season, but the immediacy of Imperiex’s invasion seems to have waned quite a lot, and the new Superman seems more wishy-washy every time he appears (one week, he’s "We have to get Imperiex" and the next episode, Imperiex can wait. But I’ll keep watching.

  
  
• Plus commentary from the LegionWorld, ToonZone, and ComicBloc forums.
  

Plus: some bonus pictures sent out by WB.

Episode 2.03: Cry Wolf

So, a change of pace episode to give us a breather before the next big Imperiex episode. Interestingly, this is the first episode that was directed by the series Producer, James Tucker. And it was written by J. M. DeMatteis, veteran DC Animated Universe writer who also wrote a couple of the most ummm, unique, Legion stories (LSH v2 #265 "The Brigadoon Syndrome" and LSH v2 #268 with Dr. Mayavale) way back in 1980.

This episode apparently works on two other ongoing storylines for this season: one we already knew about, as Lightning Lad, Bouncing Boy, and Brainiac 5 were off fighting the Dominators; and the other is a new one, with Dr. Mar Londo aligning with certain people who share his vision of how the galaxy should be. Do those others include Imperiex, or is this a third subplot?

Matthew pointed out that Kell-El must have joined the Legion between last episode, when he said he didn't want to be part of the team, and this episode, where he had a vote on whether or not to convict Timber Wolf. Not sure if Cosmic Boy is back running the team (after Bouncing Boy was elected late last season), but his by-the-book demeanor this episode would never have allowed Kell-El to vote if he wasn't a Legionnaire.

The return of Interlac! When Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy accompany Timber Wolf onto Heisenberg-7, outside the convention center with the Science Police was some police tape that said "CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS" in scrolling Interlac. Yay animators!

According to the closed-captioning, the little guy working with Mar Londo was "Yin Des Neerg". If you spell it backwards you get something like "Sidney Green". There was a Sid Greene who was a Silver Age inker, but that doesn't really make sense in this context. Wonder if it's a production in-joke?

Couple of homages to the Silver Age: Timber Wolf was expelled from the Legion (Adventure 342) for killing after a vote by the Legionaires, as was Star Boy. However, Star Boy was not sent to Takron-Galtos, presumably because of the murder/self-defense angle. And Timber Wolf sought refuge from humanity here as in his first story (Adventure 327), only then it was because he thought he was an android and now because he thought he was too bestial.

Here's your episode Legion Wiki link, and your torrent file. Now for the roundup:

• The Legion Abstract:
  

  It was an all right episode. There were continuity bits for people who like that stuff, there was atmosphere, there was action, there was a serviceable story with some character moments... the problem for me is that I don't care for the subject matter. I don't like this feral Timber Wolf. I don't think he should be an animalistic character; I'm just not interested in that angle. To me, the difference between Basic Original Timber Wolf and Extreme Feral Timber Wolf is like the difference between Batman and Man-Bat. And, "Now I do what I do best"? That little reference was neither necessary nor desireable. I think Blok said it best when he said, "Plaugh."
  
  The scientific conference took place on the planet Heisenberg 7. I guess all the scientists who were there must have been unaware of how fast the planet was going.

  
  Ha! Science humor.
  
  
• The Daily P.O.P.:
  

  A cartoon directed at a younger audience, Legion episodes stress themes of cooperation, friendship and teamwork. Given that this is the case, DeMatteis’s script surpasses the saccharin sweetness of children’s entertainment with a glimpse of seedy city streets and neo-futurist city skylines of future Metropolis that hearkened back to the days of the Batman cartoon from the 1990’s and an unexpected narrative from Timber Wolf himself.
  
  A larger star of this week’s episode than I expected was newcomer to the Legion cartoon, Chameleon Boy. Once again, I hope that kids are watching this series since it is such a fun cartoon and Cham perfectly encapsulates its youthful energy.

  
  
• Forum talkback at the Legion World, Toon Zone, and DC Universe message boards.
  

More when I find them.

Episode 2.02: Man from the Edge of Tomorrow (part 2)

Wow, a lot happened in that episode! I'm kind of disappointed that Saturn Girl is out for a while. Rumor has it that she was removed due to focus group testing, but I'll see if I can dig that one up. But I've always loved the huge "everybody fight" scenes - although we didn't see everyone, there were 19 Legionnaires (every single one that we saw last season, plus Chameleon Boy who recently joined, and plus Superman-X) and 11 villains.

Cosmic Boy's not out for good, remember that Wil Wheaton did voices for several episodes, and there's a clip in the opening sequence that's not from either of these two episodes so far.

Here's a quote that Superman said to his clone. Can you tell who he's talking about?

"I know we're supposed to be related, but you remind me more of a friend of mine. Strong-willed, a bit of a loner, and when the time came for him to be part of a team, he resisted, and while he never liked it, he'll tell you he did far more good as a member of that group than he ever could alone. It just took learning how to compromise."

Alexis Luthor escaped, by the way, and wasn't recaptured. She was shown with the other villains leaving their cells.

Lightning Lord wasn't in this episode, I guess he left the Light Speed Vanguard/Legion of Super-Villains. There's a lightning-related episode coming up in two weeks, I expect to see Mekt there (and hopefully Ayla too).

Here's your Legion Wiki link and your regular-def torrent (doesn't look like they're doing the hi-def ones yet).

As for the torrents, they seem to be in different formats this time. One is formatted in .mkv which is a new open-source format, but it needs either new codecs or a new player. You may need a new video player called VLC (which is free). Read about .mkv files here. The other one is when the file is compressed and broken into chunks, you need to combine the chunks before you extract the file. These are in .rar compression. I don't know what decoders other than WinRAR work, but it's fairly easy. Then, once you "un-RAR" them, I don't know what format the file is in. Here's the MiniNova page where you can find all of the torrents for this and last season.

I'm sorry that the torrenting is not as easy as it was last season!

On to some reviews:

• Legion Abstract:
  

  I wonder if there's something about the process of writing for television that forces the writers more rigourously to build or portray scenes which should logically happen, in a way that comic books can get away with not doing. Comic books, for instance, never gave us anything like the Brainiac-Superman friendship that exists in this series, despite that many of its ingredients were always there to be used. This episode's example: Matter-Eater Lad chomping into the Emerald Eye like it's a big cocktail onion. Why did that never happen in the comic book? It's perfect!
  
  One thing I did not like. This whole subplot with Lightning Lad going all Charles Bronson on Esper because she put Saturn Girl in the hospital? Trite. We have seen this a thousand times before. And it always ends the same way. "If you kill her, you'll be as bad as they are!" Except, in this case, Phantom Girl's exact words were, "She wouldn't want you to go down this path." What, are we lost in the woods here? Eesh. I could have done without that whole thing. We need a moratorium on this particular plot element.

  
  
• Adventures in Comic Book Land:
  

  Legion of Super-Heroes was, as usual, awesome. There was some crazy drama. Triplicate Girl is now Duo Damsel because last week, she lost one of her bodies in the future. She might get it back, she might not; either way it’s good story-telling. It’s been good to see Matter-Eater Lad pulling his weight and chewing on random objects again. That’s what he does and he should be doing it. He chowed down on the Emerald Eye of Ekron and fried his brain, but Matter-Eater Lad was never relied upon for his keen intellectual skills.
  
  Lightning Lad and 41st Century Superman should start an angst club, they can sit around plotting overtly-violent vengeance that they’ll never truly seek out. I think it would be nice from both of them to have a group like that.

  
  
• Bradygirl12:
  

  Green-eyed Superman is learning. The poor guy has only known fighting his entire life, though we saw his grief over his robot parents being destroyed in the first episode. While coming back to save the Legion on the prison planet was no doubt inspired by his need of allies against Imperius, I do believe he was also doing the right thing, even if he couldn’t admit it to himself.
  
  IMO, the Legion was a better episode this week with hope mixed in with all the death and destruction. Looking forward to next week!

  
  
• Also, some discussion over at LegionWorld, ToonZone and Television Without Pity boards.
  

I'm sure I missed some, please point them out to me if you see any more.

Episode 2.01: Man from the Edge of Tomorrow (part 1)

So the long wait is over, Season 2 of "Legion of Super Heroes" premiered today.

I was concerned when I learned that for some reason, they did a housecleaning on the staff in the off-season: co-Producer Linda Steiner, Associate Producer A. J. Vargas, Story Editor Rob Hoegee, all three directors (Ben Jones, Tim Maltby, Lauren Montgomery), casting and voice director Kelly Ward, and probably others. The only top guy left is Producer James Tucker.

I don't have a clue what happened behind the scenes. We had what was apparently a high-rated show, with a high-profile toy tie-in at McDonalds... and not only do you clean house of the staff but you darken the series and jump a couple years in the future? What's up with that?

TiVoing through the opening credits, almost all of the footage was from this episode (with a bit from the next). At the very end during the roll call, there was a blink-and-you-miss-it shot of Karate Kid in his Grell-era costume. Based on the spotlighted characters in the credits, the core team this season will be Brainiac 5, Lightning Lad, Timber Wolf, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy, Duo Damsel, and Chameleon Boy (plus, of course, both Supermen). Shockingly, Saturn Girl doesn't look like a main character this season - she was only seen briefly in the opening credits.

Given all that - I thought the episode was pretty cool. Good story by new Story Editor Michael Jelenic; the fight scenes were unbelievable, some interesting storylines to be developed (what happens to Brainiac 5 in his future?). The red anti-matter bubbles are right out of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and I was shocked to see Lu-White get Kid Psycho'd - I sure expected Computo to be responsible for that. I was disappointed to not see Bouncing Boy (outside of that cameo), Saturn Girl, or Phantom Girl, though.

So that leaves Kell-El/Superman-X in the 31st century, the last survivor from his home world/timeline; Triplicate Girl reduced to Duo Damsel (according to the credits); and we're waiting for the return of Superman.

LegionWiki link to the episode here, and here's the discussion at TV.com.

I've got your regular-def torrent right here, but nothing yet on the high-def one.

Reviews:

• The Legion Abstract:
  

  Why another Superman? I just don't get why this is something that they want to do. I mean, I know that the real Superman is going to show up at some point, but I don't get what they want Superman-X around for. I don't get why this is something they want to explore. We've had the naive inexperienced Superman, now... a pragmatic warrior Superman? Perhaps it will become clearer later.
  
  It all adds up to quite an intriguing and energetic season premiere. It's all very well done, but I'm unsure about the overall direction. Some of these new developments seem a little too extreme and proactive and totally in my face. We'll see.
  
  Promo images, the opening sequence, and the cast of this episode suggest that Bouncing Boy, Phantom Girl and especially Saturn Girl are going to play a reduced role this season. This sort of goes along with that thing I read, I assume on the Legion Omnicom, about how a focus group of eight-year-old boys advised the show's creators that there were too many female characters. To which I say, shove it, eight-year-old boys; Saturn Girl's awesome.

  
  I don't think I wrote about the focus groups here, that must have been somewhere else.
  
  
• Some discussion over at J. Torres' forum on Comicbloc. He says that the "Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century" picks up with the new season starting in issue 11.
  
  
• The Superman Homepage:
  

  So many of these Legion episodes focus on a small handful of the members, and that's the way it has to be on a team with so many people. But when you tell a story that plays up the threat THIS big, how can you not bring the entire team in on it? They wouldn't have even needed lines, but they should have been there, going through the portal and whupping some Imperiex drone behind. It would have been impressive, it would have leant a lot of credence to the threat level of Imperiex and it would have made logical story sense. "We need reinforcements! We need the Legion!" Well, Superman X, why didn't you get them then? Five people does not a "legion" make. They could use many team members for a Sun Eater, but not for this?
  
  I don't buy it.
  
  Off to a decent start, and I'm enjoying the more mature angle to the story (even if Chameleon is full of one-liners... that will at least keep the youngest of watchers amused), but still lacking some story elements that would really take it to the next level.

  
  
• Commentary over at Toon Zone.
  
  

Episode 1.12: Sundown, part 1

Another late review for part 1 of the season-ending two-parter.

While I thought some of the subtext was a little heavy-handed - "The Sun-Eater was supposed to be the weapon that stopped war, everyone would be afraid to use it, it was only used twice in wartime and then it was too dangerous to have around" - but aside from that, what a great episode. Fun, action-oriented, even character-driven as Bouncing Boy learns to be a leader. Ferro Lad feels responsible, even though he was hardly the only one to fail. What will happen next week? We think we know, but are they going to play to our expectations or will something else happen (much as the post-Zero Hour Ferro didn't die against the Sun-Eater during "Final Night").

The hi-def torrent doesn't seem to be available yet, but here's the regular torrent.

A few reviews:

• Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
  

  Best episode yet, and that's saying something (especially considering it didn't have an ending). The cast of the series seems to have been expanded in the last few episodes, and the tone has become more serious; both of those things contribute to the impression that this is an important episode.

  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at Superman Homepage:
  

  ...[I]t was nice to see more of the team included and especially so considering the teamwork and different power combinations used to varying effect.
  
  Still, this episode was energetic and exciting, even if it was mostly set-up for the big season finale in the next episode. Here's hoping the Fatal Five (in more than just holographic form) and/or Alexis Luthor and/or Mekt are involved somehow.

  
  
• Discussions over at ToonZone (whose general mood is "I still can't believe they cancelled Teen Titans for this") and ComicBloc (at J. Torres' forum there).
  

Hmmm, where are the other reviews? Did I miss them all? Or did everyone forget it was on?

Animated Stuff

Now that we've got 11 of the 13 episodes shown, I'm belatedly seeing a pattern in the directing. The three directors (Ben Jones, Lauren Montgomery, and Tim Maltby) simply rotate every three episodes, going by production number. So Ben did episodes 1, 4, 7, and 10 ("Man of Tomorrow", "Fear Factory", "Child's Play", and "The Substitutes"), Lauren did episodes 2, 5, 8, and 11 ("Timber Wolf", "Champions", "Lightning Storm", and "Chain of Command"), while Tim did episodes 3, 6, and 9 ("Legacy", "Phantoms", and "Brain Drain"). Thus, Tim and Ben should do the last two of the season, assuming this pattern holds up. It must have been because they were aired out of order that prevented me from seeing this.

Anyway, here are a number of items that might warrant some attention, related to the TV show:

• Among the Emmy nominees was Mark Keefer, who you may recall me bringing up here from last summer. He was one of the nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Live Action and Animation. On his own site, he reacts to his nomination.
  
  
• Wil "Cosmic Boy" Wheaton was in the studio recording again on Friday and conjured up the spirit of Admiral Ackbar. Later, he recapped the session (as much as he could) with kudos to the rest of the guest cast and wishing he could reveal the episode title (which itself is a spoiler). This is at least his second episode.
  
  
• DCAUYojimbo reviews the series to date, episodes 1-11.
  
  
• Furdell thinks he/she may have underestimated the show, based on seeing the most recent episode "Chain of Command". On the other hand, Andy at the Beetle's Nest thinks that based on that episode, Lightning Lad was being a dick. Quote of the day: "I think this really would be a better show if it were called Brainiac 5 and the Legion of Idiots He Courageously Deals With".
  
  
• I went to Cartoon Palace, who produces the torrents for download, to ask why we never saw the hi-def version of the torrent for "Substitutes". One of the guys there said "oops, we had it here all the time and forgot to put it out for everyone." So now it's available, and you can complete your collection.
  
  
• It's been several days and still nobody has the torrents of the season finale online yet, from the UK airing. Come on, internet, what's your problem?
  

Episode 1.11: Chain of Command

Wow, a really strong episode. I certainly didn't see that ending coming!

This is director Lauren Montgomery's fourth episode of the season, after episodes 2, 5, and 8 ("Timber Wolf", "Champions", "Lightning Storm"). I think her episodes have gotten stronger and better as the season has progressed. How much of that can be attributed to the episode writer (JLU writer/story editor Matt Wayne on the first two, then JLU/Batman veteran Stan Berkowitz, then Teen Titans veteran Amy Wolfram on this one) and how much to the director, I have no idea, so we'll leave that for discussion after the season's done.

Here's the regular and hi-def torrents.

A review roundup:

• From the "Blast from the Past" department, I'll leave our first quote to Mike Chary, which will make sense to about 5 people out there reading this.
  

  The Chuck Taine Anti-Defamation League and Glee Club heartily approves of the new Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon episode.

  
  
• Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
  

  Dashed good episode. There's no villain this time, and that's okay, because a villain would just get in the way of all the conflict. The episode title is 'Chain of Command', and appropriately so: while the Legionnaires are outwardly trying to cope with Winath's Perfect Storm, inwardly they're trying to cope with a team dynamic that's breaking down along a couple of different lines. On the one hand, Cosmic Boy shows up and expects to continue leading the team like he did before, without taking into account the changed nature of the team, and that people like Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl have been running the Legion just fine in his absence. On the other hand, Lightning Lad is fighting for his home planet, and that's not helping him see the big picture.
  
  ...Only when Bouncing Boy comes up with a plan and gets everyone to listen and obey does the Legion get control of things, and that's why he gets elected leader in the end. Teamwork has always been a theme not only of the Legion but of Saturday morning cartoons in general and it's not surprising to see it show up as an episode theme.

  
  
• Rokk's Comic Book Revolution:
  

  Seeing Chuck take command and bark at his teammates was surprising. I dig that Bouncing Boy finally stood up for himself rather than constantly letting his teammates dismiss his ideas. And it is great to see the technically least powerful Legionnaire be the one who saved the day. It just goes to show that without a smart mind, all the impressive powers in the world are totally useless.
  
  Just one complaint. It is absolutely ridiculous that Cosmic Boy is not a core character for this animated series. Cosmic Boy is one of the three founding members of the Legion and was the first leader of the Legion. To not have Cosmic Boy as a re-occurring character on this cartoon is absurd.
  
  “Chain of Command” was another excellent episode. The creative team has done a fabulous job on the Legion of Super Heroes Animated Series. This cartoon is vastly exceeded my initial expectations. I love that the animators took the time to research the Legion’s history and take the essence of the Legion and give us a wonderful modern version for the kids of today.

  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at Superman Homepage:
  

  This was a great all-around episode. Initially I was worried that Cosmic Boy's appearance would just be handled as if he'd been around but off-screen the entire time, and I'm glad to see that they didn't take the audience for granted there.
  
  Then I was worried it'd simply be a case of Lightning Lad having to learn he can't always be the boss, so I was surprised again when they showed Cosmic Boy to be a less-than-perfect leader.
  
  These are happy, happy surprises.

  
  
• Talkback at the LegionWorld (with some interesting theories on the possible fates of several Legionnaires in the season finale), ToonZone, and ComicBloc forums.
  

Episode 1.07: Child's Play

Chronologically, this actually takes place prior to "Lightning Storm" (episode 1.08), and was referenced in "Brain Drain" (episode 1.09) when Superman said that he thought only magic could take away his powers.

A visual treat this time: Here are some storyboards for the episode that artist Barry Crain provided on his site.

At the Comics Continuum earlier this week, producer James Tucker is quoted as saying "We're trying to do a lot of episodes that were Superman-esque, without having access to Superman's characters. So this is probably the closest we'll have to a Mxyzptlk-type episode. It's pretty funny. And Phantom Girl is the featured star of it."

Two items - first, it's nice to see that they remember that Drax's pets were still running around loose after the "Phantoms" episode. But it took the Science Police a week to catch them, yet Superman and Saturn Girl took them down in seconds? They didn't have as easy a time with the beasts last time. Second, he was credited as "Evil Wizard" at the end, but there's only one bearded guy with a purple shirt and green winged hat who's also a sorceror... Mordru! Did you catch him sitting at the Council on Zarok?

Torrents: Hi-Def and Regular, get 'em while they're hot!

Review roundup:

• Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
  

  It's hard for me to review the episodes that are just trifles, like this one. This series has little that resembles an ongoing storyline, and its episode plots are straightforward and simple. Sometimes the characterization is complex enough to provoke discussion, as in the cases of Brainiac 5 and Lightning Lad, but more often it's not. Sometimes the episodes feature the kind of Legion lore that demands notice from longtime fans, but not always. And when we get episodes like this, I just have to remember that it's a show for little kids, not for me, and it doesn't have to be anything other than enjoyable and Legionesque, and it is both those things.

  
  
• Rokk at the Comic Book Revolution:
  

  “Child’s Play” was not as fantastic as the past two episodes, but it was still quite good. The only reason I didn’t like this episode as much as the past two was because it was not loaded down with cameo appearances....
  
  We got plenty of quality action and humor in this episode. This was a quick paced episode that kept the viewers attention from start to finish. The creative team continues to impress me with the nice character development with each Legionnaire. Every character is fully developed and has their own unique personality. The creative team also creates good chemistry between the various Legionnaires.
  
  The Animated Legion continues to evoke the same positive and fun feel of the Adventure era Legion without being a retro cartoon. The creative team has given us a thoroughly modern Legion that retains the essence if its roots in the Adventure era.

  
  
• Over at Toonzone, one poster noted that Zyx's helmet reminded him of The Master, who was a mind-control villain in Superboy 205. I recognized it as being very close to the JLA villain Brain Storm, but I forgot about The Master. The LegionWorlders caught all the Easter Eggs too.
  

Episode 1.10: The Substitutes

This episode (OK, I'm late, so sue me) brought out the smiling Legion fanboy in me (yeah, like writing this blog doesn't!). It wasn't just the "spot the cameos" but the whole thing was just fun. And it showed that even with not-so-great powers still comes great responsibility. (I thought a great gag that was missed was Fire Lad being accidentally affected by Infectious Lass and sneezing a huge flame that toasts someone.). Did anyone else hear Infectious Lass channeling the spirit of Lisa Loopner?

Here's the regular torrent. For some reason the hi-def version doesn't seem to be around. I'll link to it later if/when I find it.


It's interesting how this series can pick and choose images, events, characters, and characterizations from all the different Legion stories and continuities over the years. In this one alone, we had a Starfinger with powers like the first one (1965), a costume like the second one (1987), and a personality that was new. The Subs' first adventure in the show was based on their first appearance in Adventure (1963), while their appearances and personalities came from the v2-era Levitz/Giffen stories (1985). Matter-Eater Lad's image and personality are from the TMK Legion (1993), and Star Boy is from the current version (2005).

We even got cameos of Blok, Sun Boy, Element Lad, Tyroc, and even Shrinking Violet. That makes a total of 17 Legionnaires we've seen in some fashion this season.

On to the review roundup:

• Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
  

  Fun episode. Like last week's, a lot of the appeal comes from seeing old friends for the first or second time, but some of the characters were characterized in a particularly enjoyable way...
  
  There's no significant character development here, as most of our time is being spent with characters who have just freshly been introduced. The action scenes are up to their usual standards, but that doesn't mean much because Starfinger and the Subs are both kind of incompetent, so there aren't a lot of cool things to show in the first place. It was a good episode, but it doesn't leave me with a lot to analyze.

  
  
• Rokk's Comic Book Revolution:
  

  This was another excellent episode. Last week’s episode on this one are the best back to back episodes that we have gotten on this series. I knew I’d love this episode because of the Legion auditions. And I was certainly not disappointed...
  
  I liked the character designs that the animators gave the Legion of Substitute Heroes. They retained enough of the original costume designs, but gave each character a more updated look for the cartoon. What was neat was that the animators used the fat Chlorophyll Kid from Giffen’s Substitute Heroes rather than the skinny Silver Age version.
  
  This episode captured the playful essence of the original Legion. The Adventure Era Legion offered up plenty of silly heroes and villains. And we also got treated to a Legion comprised of optimistic teen heroes who through teamwork, heart and courage were able to defeat any evil no matter how powerful. The creators of this Animated Series have clearly done their research and are delivering an incredible modern version of the Adventure Era Legion.

  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at Superman Homepage:
  

  I don't say this often, because I personally find shows that don't tie into a mythology or over-arcing story to be something of throwaway episodes. But if they were all this good, I wouldn't mind as much.
  
  This episode was everything I love about this show even though it didn't touch on Mekt, The Fatal Five or Alexis Luthor. There was a lot of good comedy here, a lot of imaginative, light-hearted action, and Starfinger may be the best character I've seen in a cartoon in a long, long time. He's comedy gold.

  
  
• The Third Estate Sunday Review:
  

  On the most recently aired episode, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Bouncing Boy, Timber Wolf, Superboy, and Braniac 5 played like Randy, Simon and Paula as they auditioned Legionairre wanna bes. Five didn't make the cut. Like the five judges, the five contained four males and one female. The five rejects decided to prove that they were worthy. A storyline that played out about as interesting as a Super Friends subplot involving the Wonder Twins finally merged in the last minutes with the main battle going on in outer space where the characters floated around and Lightning Lad shot bolts of lightening while Clark Kent's character punched a lot. Humor was supposed to be in abundance but we'd argue when you're relying on the very tired line "Tastes like chicken," you're neither as funny nor as original as you think you are.

  
  
• Read the reviews in the Superman Homepage, Toon Zone, and Legion World forums. Ironically, some of the posters (except those on LegionWorld, of course) accuse the Legion of ripping off things like "Mystery Men" and "The Tick", without realizing that open tryouts have been a Legion staple since 1962.
  

SuperDickery hosts this page from the original Subs story. Who knew that the Subs had their own oath?

"I take oath that this super-power that I am now using will be used only for the good of all peoples of Earth and the Universe! And that I will always try to help the Legion of Super-Heroes in their great deeds!"

Episode 1.08: Lightning Storm

One of the best episodes yet. It was exciting from a fight standpoint, and it had the highest geek quotient so far due to all of the Legion applicants. The best thing about the episode: finding out that I was right all along about how "Ayla" is pronounced. Take that, all you "Eye-la" pronouncers!

If you haven't seen the episode yet, here are the torrents in hi-def and regular.

A quick look at the reviews:

• From Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
  

  The most obvious ongoing plotline of this series so far has been the Superman/Brainiac 5 friendship, and certainly it's what I've taken the most notice of. Just as good, though, is the character of Lightning Lad. From the beginning it's been obvious that he's a guy who can be a bit of a jerk. But, also from the beginning, he's also been a guy who has never compromised his heroism. ... It's important to understand: he's not like a Dan Fielding or Reggie Mantle who needs to be shamed into doing the right thing. He's not an antihero or a reluctant hero. He's the real thing... but he happens to have an unpleasant side to his personality. His portrayal is one of the best things about the show.

  
  
• Duke at Blog 9 from Outer Space:
  

  Simply the best episode of the Legion cartoon so far. Cool fights, competing super-teams, family feuds, teen-aged romance, and Legion applicants. This one had it all, and did it all well. Yes, THIS, is what I had most hoped for in a Legion cartoon.

  
  
• Eldarwannabe on LiveJournal:
  

  FANSQUEEE!!
  Latest Legion of Super Heroes episode, Lighting Storm.
  
  It seems the show is focusing more on Lighting Lad then any of the other characters. And despite the monster-of-the-week approach, I'm really enjoying the show so far. I would like it if they went deeper, with longer, more mature storyline. But the cameos are keeping me happy so far. (Although I might die of fan-overload if Ayla actually showed up at this point.)

  
  
• Rokk at the Comic Book Revolution:
  

  This was a great episode. Probably my favorite episode so far. It had everything that I want from a Legion cartoon. It had action, drama and plenty of very cool cameo appearances. “Lightning Storm” really captured the spirit of the Legion. That the Legion is not just a team. It is a family...
  
  I also loved this episode because of all of the various potential applicants for the Legion tryouts. I always loved issues that centered on Legion auditions. It was always entertaining to see the various oddball characters that would try and get into the Legion.

  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at Superman Homepage:
  

  It was good to see a wider variety of Legion members, with Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl finally getting some more screen time and with the (albeit brief) introduction of Colossal Boy.
  
  And as always, and as I've now come to expect, the action sequences were the absolute highlight of the episode. This one wasn't quite as creative as some of the past ones have been, but it was still a highly entertaining battle and just what you'd hope for from a superhero battle (including getting to see Superman kind of cut loose on an opponent of roughly equal strength).

  
  
• There's also talk on the LegionWorld forum, the ToonZone forum, the ComicBloc forum.
  

Episode 1.09: Brain Drain

Update Sunday night: added torrent links and the last three reviews at the bottom.

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A neat little episode. I liked Brainy going nuts. "I feel like dancing!" Ha!

Intrepid reader Brad Parnell noticed something:

When Brainy's going nutso he says: "I alone am Brainiac 5!" I instantly recognized it as coming from the Super Starlag of Space. A quick reference verified trhat it was from Adventure 344 page 10. And I'm probably not the first Legion geek to notify you either.

Actually, I wouldn't have caught that if Brad hadn't brought it to my attention.

Next week: the Legion of Super-Villains Light Speed Vanguard! And from the preview, it looks like we'll see Colossal Boy and Triplicate Girl, and the guy previously identified as Ronn-Karr appears to be a shapeshifter. There's an extended preview at the KidsWB site, and the regular preview on another page there.

It would really be nice if they ran these in the proper order, or at least put something in the closing credits to say which episodes they are. We've got reviews and torrents giving different episode numbers based on either air date (in which case this is 1.07) or "official" production number (which would make this 1.09). We saw in this one that it's definitely out of order, as Superman refers to an encounter with a magician that we haven't seen yet. That event takes place in "Child's Play", production 1.07/airdate 1.10 on Feb. 24th.

Torrent links: Hi-def and regular.

Review roundup:

• ToonZone forum talkback:
  

  I'm glad to see they have Clark being stupid occassionally. He needs to learn responsibility at seeking out his potential, yet he's been satisified with what he's done so far, and that is why Brainy needs to continue withholding information.
  
  I'm also glad Timber Wolf finally got some screen time. He's basically been non-exsistant since they rescued him. It's about time he got to strut some of his stuff.

  
  
• Rokk at the Comic Book Revolution:
  

  I like how the writers are handling the relationship between Superman and the descendant of one of Superman’s greatest enemies in Brainiac 5. Brainy has the benefit of knowing all about Superman’s future battles with Brainiac and it certainly puts out green hero in an uncomfortable position. I like that the writers have made Superman so close to Brainy while still giving the viewer the uneasy feeling that Brainy isn’t being totally truthful with Superman.

  
  
• LegionWorld forum talkback:
  

  Basically, Brainy let Superman know that he won't be able to tell him the details about his life (like the fact that his powers won't work unless he's under a red sun), that he needs to find things out on his own. Imagine what that must feel like, to know someone who knows your future, but won't tell you. That'd surely be a reason to keep one's distance, just because of the aggravation. IMO.

  
  
• Duke Harrington at Blog 9 From Outer Space:
  

  "Brain Drain" does have a few lapses of logic along the way, but that's to be expected, I guess, in an episode that focuses on Brainic 5's sometimes tenuous grasp on reality. Overall, the sheer fun of insane Brainy, coupled with the gosh-wow visual delights of Timber Wolf in action, make up for any shortcomings this episode may have.

  
  
• Matthew E at the Legion Abstract:
  

  If there's one thing about this show that's turned some people off, it's the portrayal of Brainy as a robot. And I can't say I was nuts about it either. But with this episode, and the plot point about it at the end of the nightmares episode, it's clear that at least the writers are getting some use out of his robotic form. It wasn't done just for the sake of making change; it actually serves a purpose.
  
  (Which is not true of the whole Rahl/Zuun legerdemain when it comes to Timber Wolf's origins. I mean, it's not important, and I don't care, but the writers implied in interviews that there was some kind of reason why the Legion met Timber Wolf on Rahl instead of Zuun. Well, if the reason was this episode, they didn't have to do it that way. It's fine that they did, but they could have switched the names of the two planets easily and it would have worked just as well.)

  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at Superman Homepage:
  

  I think the Superman moments were what saved this episode for me, though, as without them it would have seemed like just another throwaway episode. But the Superman moments were there, and some of Brainy's dementia actually made me chuckle and so I've got no real complaints... so long as we don't have to wait ten weeks for the next new episode.

  
  

Episode 1.04: Fear Factory

Yes, they did run episodes 1.04 (Fear Factory) and 1.06 (Phantoms) out of production order. However, most people don't care and call them by broadcast number instead of production order. Sigh.

Why they ran this episode a week before Thanksgiving instead of around Halloween is beyond me. This was a perfect Halloween haunted house episode with everyone facing their fears. I'm far from the only person who thought that.

Your torrents du jour: hi-def and regular.

Anyway, here's my wrapup.

• Rokk's Comic Book Revolution:
  

  We also got some drama to balance out the comedy with the relationship between Superman and Brainiac 5. I really like the chemistry between these two characters. Clearly, Brainiac 5 has some deep rooted guilt of being the decedent of one of Superman’s biggest villains: Brainiac. It was interesting to see how Brainiac 5 is determined to make Superman face his own fears so that he may become the hero that the world needs Superman to be.
  ...
  All in all, “Fear Factory” was another fine episode. The Legion of Super Heroes Animated Series has been an absolute blast. There is plenty of humor, action and themes about friendship in each episode. The Legion of Super Heroes Animated Series is obviously designed for kids, but I think the creators have done a nice job making these episodes entertaining for older Legion fans as well. Personally, I love the “young” and “bright” feel to the animated Legion. After being forced to read the TMK Legion and the DnA Legion, I have had enough of the dark and grim Legion to last me a life time.

  
  
• Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
  

  The thing about this episode is that there's really nothing about it that required it to be a Legion episode. The main theme was that heroes need to be able to overcome their fears, which is perfectly standard not only for superheroes but for any adventure genre (and therefore quite appropriate as a plot for a kids' show). I thought we were going to delve a little more deeply into the complicated Brainiac 5/Superman friendship.... But it didn't happen. What we got instead was Brainy keeping information from Superman (again!) so that Superman would have to face his fears (in this case, fear of killing Brainy when he brought down the station's computers; if Brainy had told him that the disc he gave him was a backup disc of Brainy's self, he wouldn't have worried). Which actually supports Your Obedient Serpent's theory that Brainy recruited Young Clark instead of Veteran Superman in an effort to train him up so he'll better be able to deal with Brainiac back in the 21st century.

  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at the Superman Homepage:
  

  This felt like a Halloween episode, and according to the production schedule it was the fourth episode produced but the sixth one aired (had it aired in production order, it would have come out on Nov. 4). Clearly it was intended to be a Halloween episode, so why Kids WB chose to air it now instead of Nov. 4 makes absolutely no sense.
  
  And I'm sure, for little kids, this would have been a spooky Halloween episode. But the whole "it's a haunted mansion!" where we're supposed to believe that superheroes who regularly fly all over the place and battle aliens would be scared of roller coasters and... aliens is pushing things a bit.

  
  
• Darren Kramble, apparently watching via download in England, at Nerdsville:
  

  Hooray! New Legion episode! The thing that I really like about the animated LSH series is how much it resembles a sixties 'Adventure Comics' story brought to life. There is just something about the bonkers nature of these old stories that lend themselves to a twenty-first century kids cartoon show. The necessary lack of depth (or maybe more accurately, hyper-depth) is a Legion tradition....
  
  But 'Fear Factory' (Adventure Comics title: The Haunted House of Space) was another enjoyable episode. The episodes early flirtation with sub-Scooby Doo haunted house cartoons was nicely subverted as the episode progressed, looking at each character's hidden fears. That being said, I don't believe that Saturn Girl's greatest fear is a roller coaster, nor that she is not mentally strong enough to resist Quavermass' powers. Doesn't Super Thought Casting count for anything?

  
  
• From Cat-Scratched-Victim:
  

  The production team does appear to be taking the original “feel” of the old stories into play for this series. This latest episode, Fear Factory, seems to have fit in with Halloween, it being about a haunted house and our heroes having to stay there for the night, but it seemed to have come late instead. Oh well. It was cute episode that could have been an old story from the days when the Legion comic was being drawn by the late Curt Swan or perhaps even during the Cockrum era. It was nice to see that.

  
  
• Lizard_SF at Bowling With Sisyphus:
  

  his is a difficult episode to review; when it was good, it was very good, and when it was bad, it was seriously cringeworthy.
  
  The bad: The Legionnaires broke down way too fast. These are heroes, after all, and should be able to confront the fairly trivial fears presented with a lot more gusto. A chance for interesting psychological examination (what scares a hero) was squandered badly in this episode.
  ...
  IMO, this episode was a misstep and a missed opportunity. Not utterly unwatchable, but it reeks of wasted potential.

  
  
• Vincent J. Murphy at Spandex Justice:
  

  ...For the second week in a row, we get the "If I do this, I might die" speech (last week, it was Phantom Girl, this week, Brainiac 5). It starts to ring a little hollow when they play that card too often. That, combined with the rather pedestrian plot (and the solution, which is basically "wreck things"), didn’t thrill me. The episode was a clunker.

  
  

And now a dissenting review, from Ryu I's World of Inanity:

After prying myself away from FFXII I decided to download the first episode of the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon because it looked so incredibly, horribly bad that I figured it had nowhere to go but up (and I was cleaning; needed something to look forward to).

E. Gads.

They PAY people to design art like this?!

Brainiac 5 is a transformer?! (Dude, like...he turns into a Gundam)

Okay, really? Brainy is Data. Data who turns into a Gundam. And is really, really short.

And the themesong is so disco!

It's HORRIBLE! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

But really, so incredibly awful that it amused me somewhat. Hey, at least Clark's personality was all geeky and adorable.

Episode 1.05: Champions

Update 11/13: Added Jeffrey Bridges' and Reed Solomon's reviews at the bottom

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Another fun episode. This was Matt Wayne's second episode (he also wrote "Timber Wolf", episode 1.02). Lots of nice visual touches, from the use of interlac to Jo Nah's wink at the end to Validus being disguised as a dwarf.

Speaking of interlac, for those of us TiVoing the show so we can pause on those shots to translate, we had a sign reading "bat man lives" during one scene. After the Filament Jump podrace, the leader board read "Lightning Lad, Mekt Ranzz, Tarl, Jo Nah, Drake Burroughs, Mota, Tenzil Kem". Now it's clear who Tenzil was supposed to be, but why did they call him Camden Mismullion several times? Left unclear was whether Jo, Tenzil, and Zzok are now affiliated with the Legion, but we'll see.

Update Sunday night: OK, I'm an idiot. "Camden Mismullion" is bad closed-captioning for "Kem the Bismollian".

Continuity: last week's show was production #1.06, but it aired as 1.04. After seeing this week, it makes sense now to do it that way since in "Phantoms" the Science Police didn't like the Legion, and this week the UP President proclaims how helpful they are.

Oh, and the closed captioning referred to the "Khuns" (misspelled or deliberate?). Were the Fatal Five working with them to destroy the UP dignitaries? I guess we'll see.

I loved the commercial for Little Deepzorg, and I loved how the announcers worked it in to the action. "And Lightning Lad's down! That's another notch on the Persuader's axe. Waiting for Lightning Lad to get up, our coverage of this attack is brought to you by Little Deepzorg Snack Cakes. Little Deepzorg, the snack that made Deepzorg famous."

Best line of the show: Superman (looking at buffet table): "Mmm. Hey, crab legs!" Ambassador (who looks like a plate of crab legs): "Hey, monkey face!"

Here are the torrents for the normal and hi-def versions of the episode.

For a full detailed review, see my LegionWiki episode writeup.

On to the reviews...

• Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
  

  Perfectly good episode. Continues the pattern of having a *lot* of action packed into a short period of time, and yet still getting a lot of story handled. ... The most important thing about this episode was how it put Lightning Lad on display. ... One thing I didn't like was the subplot about Phantom Girl not getting along with her mother. It was cliche from start to finish, it wasn't funny, it was all over the place in terms of characterization and I would rather it had been left out entirely.

  
  As I mentioned in a comment there, I didn't see it as Tinya not getting along with her mom. I saw it as a typical teenager with a mom who keeps embarrassing their kid (like every teenager's parents) and making sure her daughter meets a nice boy (like every teenage girl's parents). That would be keeping more in line with the tone of the show.
  
  
• Rokk's Comic Book Revolution liveblogged it again.
  

  What has really impressed me about this animated series has been the creative team’s knowledge and appreciation for the Legion’s history. In fact, it seems the animated series creative team seems to have more respect for the Legion’s history than the comic book creative team. (Damn it, I took another shot at the comic. Sorry. Sometime I can’t help myself.)
  
  All in all Episode #5 was another great episode. The creative team is doing an excellent job and I thought that “Champions” was a fun story. You had plenty of action and adventure for the young viewers and several nice references in the story for the older long time Legion fans. This Legion of Super Hero Animated Series continues to impress me with each and every episode. It is rare that I find a cartoon superior to its comic book counterpart, but that is certainly the case in this situation.

  
  
• Commenters at the ToonZone message board were all over the place:
  One person wrote
  

  I did'nt like it. This was a waste of an episode. I hate "cliche" episodes...something dating back all the way the "Superfriends/Wonder-Twins" hour. It was an episode designed to teach kiddies good sportsmanship. BORING/TIRED. Its been done 12849815387125871256 times already in the toon world, we didn't need another one.

  
  While another wrote:
  

  I liked this episode... yeah, we've seen "the characters get involved in an Olypmic games" stuff before, but this was still entertaining. Plus it's a followup to last week's throwaway line about Phantom Girl's mom being the president...
  
  Best parts for me:
  - the bits between Phantom Girl and her mother, and with the crowd
  - seeing some DC comic references (the Khunds, etc.), including seeing Matter Eater Lad showing up.
  - seeing Ultra Boy show up... because, well, Ultra Boy's handsome. (Hey, if I get to see a zillion posts commenting on how "hot" Catwoman/Lois Lane/Harley Quinn/etc. are, I figure stating this is fair game... ) :-) Though seemed kind of vague about whether or not he'll become a Legionnaire from the ending...

  
  
• Over at the tivocommunity message board:
  

  I like how they've made Phantom Girl a very skilled fighter, phasing in and out and giving the Persuader a tough time as well as rescuing her mother the President. So far she's the female character with the most personality. The writers must be fond of her.

  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at Superman Homepage:
  

  This episode felt mostly like a jumble. Until the Fatal Five showed up it had no real lasting bearing on anything, and I surmise the only reason the Fatal Five is going to prison is so that they can meet up with Alexis Luthor.
  ...
  On the whole, the writing here was the weakest of the season, just barely above the second episode only because it somewhat advanced the story with the Fatal Five.
  
  The action scenes are still the highlight of the show, however. I've never found super-powered battles so much fun to watch on any show before.
  
  But really guys, try a little harder with the writing unless you only want the very youngest of your audience to stick around for the whole season.

  
  
• Reed Solomon's Zone of Surly Geekery:
  

  This episode could easily have fallen into cliche, but a few things kept that from happening. The fact that this was not only an olympics type event but also included aliens prominently made it amusing. I liked the announcers who managed to comment on everything that happened and even worked the commercials into the story (I need to get some Little Deepzorg snack cakes..) The episode was watchable all the way through. And had a lot of nice touches (Like Tinya and Jo Nah's first meeting) .. plus you can't go wrong with having a bismollian in an episode.
  ...
  You know, if the remaining episodes turn out like this or better I might just buy the DVD's.

  
  

I'll be adding more as they show up in my searches (or leave comments).

Episode 1.06: Phantoms

Here's my weekly review roundup. It's nice to have another new episode, since we just had the third airing of "Timber Wolf" in reruns. It's the first of three all-new episodes (these three will air in reverse production order, so this was production episode 1.06 but the 4th to air).

That Drax was creepy with a capital KREE. A number of people are suggesting he's involved somehow with General Zod from the Phantom Zone; we did see someone there who looked somewhat like him (as well as Doomsday and Faora) but nobody came out and said it for certain.

Lots of interesting items in the script, stuff that the target audience (6-11) would get but stuff that we do:
1. Why does Brainy keep a lead sphere with kryptonite handy? Is he expecting something?
2. What happened to Drax's monsters at the end? Drax went back to the Phantom Zone, but one monster was last seen tied up by Timber Wolf and Phantom Girl, the other was toying with Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad.
3. Computo is the name of the computer system running the LSH HQ. Nope, nothing wrong with that name!
4. Was Drax "born" in the human sense (mom and dad, baby growing up) or was he created? He said he was born in the Zone but time doesn't really move for those in the Zone.
5. Drax is nearly identical genetically to Superman - they're related? Drax is a clone?

Here are the torrents for the hi-def and regular versions of the episode.

On to this week's commentaries:

• Rokk Krinn of the Comic Book Revolution, who liveblogged the episode again:
  

  All right, this was another great episode. This was a nicely paced action packed episode. Plus, we got a little more insight into Phantom Girl’s character as this episode fleshed out her personality a bit more. I really dig Phantom Girl’s character. She reminds me of Summer Roberts from the O.C.
  ...
  I only have two very minor complaints. One, that I hope we see are more Legionnaires. ... The second is where in the world was Chuck?

  
  
• Posters at the ToonZone forum have some interesting points and commentary. Apparently the Phantom Zone projector from an episode of Superman: The Animated Series looks just like the one from this episode, and Drax's pet monsters bear more than a passing resemblance to Bizarro's "pet" in another episode. Also some speculation that Drax might be a brainwashed Mon-el (immunity to kryptonite), or a cross between Bizarro and General Zod.
  
  
• Matthew at the Legion Abstract raises some very interesting and complex questions about Brainiac 5.
  

  But [the kryptonite is] another indicator that Brainy's done a lot of thinking about his relationship with Superman. This is something I don't recall being explored in any depth in any other versions of the Legion. Clearly Brainy wants the two of them to be friends--he is, after all, relieved that the Kryptonite got sucked into the Phantom Zone with Drax. But he also thought it necessary to have it in the first place.

  
  He analyzes Brainy's behavior over the last few episodes and offers a suggestion as to why he specifically targeted the point in time where they met Superman:
  

  Brainy intentionally set the Legion's encounter with Superman at a point in history when there was no way that Superman would recognize the name 'Brainiac'. He didn't want things ruined by Superman's experience with his evil ancestor. And it worked. But that's a tricky thing to keep not only from Superman, but also from the rest of the Legion, and I'd be shocked if this didn't all come out in a future episode.

  
  Matthew was also the first one that I noticed who pointed out that the hellhounds were never both taken into custody, since Drax left without them.
  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at Superman Homepage:
  

  On the whole this was a pretty good episode.
  
  Again the absolute highlight was the action and battle sequences, which probably made up 75% or more of the episode. I can't say enough how creative and fun to watch they are. They're still the best part about the show, I think.
  
  The story was good, if sparse, but there's a lot of unanswered questions. I'm guessing this is because Drax, and whoever he was talking to (Zod? He *did* have a "Z" on his chest, after all) will appear again in a later episode.
  
  If so then I have no problems with it, but if we never see or hear from Drax again I'll have to revise my stance on that.
  ...
  Regardless, it was still a lot of fun to watch and as long as they continue the Drax story in a future episode I'll be quite pleased.
  
  Just leave the deus ex machina endings in the Phantom Zone, okay guys?

  
  
• Lizard_SF's Xanga review:
  

  [Drax is] apparently the child of Phantom Zone criminals, born in the Zone, which opens up a whole can of worms which will never be addressed on a kids TV show, such as, "How do phantoms have sex?" and "If you could live forever and there was nothing to do but have sex and all the available women were Kryptonian dominatrix uber-hotties, what kind of hideous crime would you commit in order to get that sort of 'punishment'?"
  ...
  Overall, a solid episode, and evidence that this series is strongest when telling their own stories.

  
  
• James You Ignorant Scut's LJ page:
  

  Okay, this on was pretty good, although why "Drax" was running around with a big Z on his chest is beyond me. ... I can’t say that I was happy to see that the Science Police don’t like the Legion as I think this should have been part of the basic set-up and introduced well before now. It was a jarring aspect of the story and didn’t wring true. I still think that the animation could be better, although I can get past it as long as the quality of the writing holds true. ... And it would be really nice if they were to start cycling in some of the other team members as well.

  
  

Episode 1.03: Legacy

Another good episode from Tucker & Co. This one was written by Scott Sonneborn and directed by Tim Maltby, the first by each in this series.

Interestingly, the very last scene in the episode showed Alexis in prison, tinkering with the head of her robot. Anyone who can read Interlac knows what the name on her prison outfit said. Does the fact that the logo on the side of the Aart Cloud satellite looked like a double L trigger anything in your memory? Or that here's a red-headed contemporary of Clark's who wanted to be friends with Superboy but something happened to push them towards evil, in the process causing them to lose their hair? Sound familiar? Maybe the name "Alexis" itself? I called it back when the episode descriptions first came out, though I figured it would just be a coincidence. Apparently you couldn't have a Superman without one of these family members. Nice job! You don't have to have seen the name, the episode works just fine without it, but it's a clever touch.

On the face of it - as written for the target 6-11 year old audience - it's about a spoiled rich kid who throws a hissy fit when she doesn't get what she wants. But for the rest of us (those of us over the age of 11), it's a surprisingly complex story interweaving the Legacy aspect of Superman, Alexis, and Brainiac 5. All of them have direct or ancestral ties to the present-day DC Universe, and each of them is affected in some way by the past. Superman has to live up to the reputation he'll acquire in his future but the Legion's past, Brainy has to live with the reputation his robotic ancestor created in the past, while Alexis apparently has no idea of her ancestral legacy while inadvertantly recreating the circumstances which led to that legacy.

Can you imagine Paris Hilton as a super-villain?

First things first: here's an Interlac translation table at Wikipedia. Looks like you might need it for future episodes! There is a link on the page to download freeware fonts.

More downloadables: the hi-def widescreen torrent and the normal fullscreen torrent.

Some video clips at LegionWorld.

Reviews:

• Rokk Krinn at Comic Book Revolutions
  

  This was another great episode! I am really digging this show. They have really done a great job with developing the personalities of the various Legionnaires. The chemistry between the Legionnaires is well done. We get plenty of excellent dialogue.

  
  
• Matthew at Legion Abstract
  

  The first thing you have to know is that this episode, perhaps the entire series, was created specifically to appeal to me personally. I don't know how the show people got to know me so well, or why they decided that I was the most important part of their audience, but I certainly don't quibble with their decision.

  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at Superman Homepage
  

  Now we're talking.
  
  I still feel that the Timber Wolf episode was a bit of a misfire, but for all the ways that episode let me down this one made up for it.

  
  
• Luagha liveblogs the episode, the first of the series that she's watched.
  

  You know, while I liked the episode, and I got the messages and all of that... it requires a very young Superman who makes childish mistakes, and that is okay. Just like I often beg for characters to do something smart in movies, I was begging for Superman to invite Alexis along to fight the Scavengers. ...If you're complaining about having no friends, make some. Be inclusive. Or if you can't, explain why .

  
  
• David Alexander McDonald at wyldemusick thinks they've jumped the shark already with this episode.
  

  While it isn't what I'd consider an ideal version, I've been willing to allow Legion Of Superheroes a certain degree of leeway in the hopes that it will grow into something exceptional ... That series of thuds was an anvil dropping, hitting a teeter board, flipping the show up and over, and right across the snout of Bruce The Shark.

  
  
• Van at Van's Universe
  

  The third episode deals with responsibility and the legacies that 3 characters in the show carry. Superman will one day become the greatest superhero of all time... But he's really caught in a tug-of-war between Alexis and Brainiac 5 as a nod to the triangle between Superman, Lex Luthor, and Brainiac.

  
  
• The FortressKeeper at the Fortress of Fortitude
  

  The Keeper is adding his voice to those praising the new Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon.
  
  Like the late, lamented Teen Titans, the LoSH have been updated for a new generation yet retain the sense of fun - and much of the history, surprisingly - of the classic DC comics characters.

  
  
• PDG at Serenity
  

  You’d think that 1000 years later, Alexis would maybe know about her ancestor’s relationship to the Man of Steel, no?

  
  

Forum Reviews:
LegionWorld, ToonZone

Episode 1.02: Timber Wolf

Update 10/3: Lots of new stuff, after the cut.

Whew! A new issue and a new episode makes for a lot of Legion links. Let's get to them, starting with episode 1.02 of the animated show. This one introduced Timber Wolf. My favorite moment: after Saturn Girl wakes up from unconsciousness, she berates Lightning Lad for making a mess of the rescue. "It wasn't going to hurt me. If you hadn't charged in (her eyes go wide and her hands start flailing) fists a-zapping, I would have told you that!"

First up: some words and pictures from some of the crew.

• Shawn Harrison, the voice of Timber Wolf, provides a couple of clips at his blog, the opening credits and his rendition of the Legion Pledge. Shawn also plugs the show at his Myspace page.
  
• Ben Jones, director of the first episode (and most likely some others) is putting some videos on his page. For some reason the videos take a while to load, so be patient.
  
  Next:
  
• Of course the episodes are online already as torrents. Here are links to the hi-def widescreen version (214 MB) and the regular full-screen version (175 MB).
  
• Some good screen shots at the Legionaire message board.
  
  Finally, the reviews:
  
• The Washington Post briefly discusses the CW's morning lineup, calling the Legion show "the most interesting" one.
  
• Forum reviews: LegionWorld, ToonZone, Television Without Pity, Legions of Gotham
  
• Individual reviews: Rokk Krinn's liveblog of the episode at Comic Book Revolution, the Johnny Bacardi Show, Matthew at the Legion Abstract, Van at Van's Universe, Gina DC at Armed and Clever, Terence Chua at KhaosWorks, and Hercules at Ain't It Cool News.
  

Next week: episode 3, Legacy. After that, it's three weeks of reruns (the pilot episode Man of Tomorrow, followed by two reruns of Timber Wolf).

---

Update 10/3
Interestingly, my hit count stats spike up on Saturday and drift downwards the rest of the week, hitting the low point (my normal readership) on Friday. Then another spike. Gee, you think the animated show might have something to do with that?

• Comments from thtadthtshldntb at the comiXtreme forum ("I wish Mark Waid would watch it. It is so far truer to the pre Crisis LoSH than anything he has managed to put out yet."), Lyle Masaki at Crocodile Caucus ("Based on one episode, I worry that the Legion’s first venture outside of comics doesn’t have a key part of the concept."), Jeffrey Bridges at SupermanHomePage ("Kids wouldn't have noticed the problems I did, but as an adult who expects coherent storylines ... it just failed to deliver for me."), thecomicman ("more to the point, lets talk about what they did wrong, in no particular order."), Reed Solomon's Zone of Surly Geekery ("As the founder and corrupt chief financial executive of the Cosmic Boy death league, I was pleased to find that he won't be a major character in the series."), Kristian, showing off his Legion tattoo ("I get chills when I watch the Legion roll call at the bottom of the screen in the opening.") and Arune Singh ("it’s just a fun show for anyone who likes superheroes").
  
  
• Some more forum reviews at rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh on Usenet, Andy at GamersCircle ("for a person of my “seasoning”, this WB adaptation is just a little to young for me.") and ClassicX on the tivocommunity forum ("Not ground breaking, but a good way to waste time while I wait for my wife to shower.").
  
  
• The best reviews written by a stuffed bull can be found at Bully's Comics. In this edition, he reveals Seven and a half things Very Good Things about the new Legion cartoon.
  
  
• Finally, here's one by El Scoob ("Pretty enjoyable, if not an actual home run. I think I might really enjoy this show.") that I missed the first time around. I have several automated scripts that do searches for me and present the results in an RSS feed, that's how I get all sorts of wacky stuff here. But for whatever reason, either I missed El's review or it never showed up in any of my feeds. But don't worry, I didn't neglect you!
  

Tomorrow: reviews of the new issue.