Review – Green Lantern: The Animated Series Episode 1

At the furthest edge of the universe, the Red Lantern Corpsare on a mission to hunt down and kill every Green Lantern they encounter.

The premiere of GreenLantern: The Animated Series was everything I hoped and expected it tobe.  Not only weren’t we bogged down byan overdone and pointless back story, the story we did get was exciting andaction packed.  This was the GreenLantern I was hoping the live action movie was going to be.

At the edge of the universe known as Frontier Space, theGreen Lanterns chosen to protect these far off sectors have received little tono training that their other Lantern brothers take for granted.  They are virtually on their own, with theclosest help nearly eighteen months away. When four Lanterns are killed by a mysterious new enemy, it quicklycomes to the attention of the Guardians of the Universe that something is wrong.

While on Oa facing disciplinary actions, Green Lantern ofsector 2814, Hal Jordan is made aware of the newest threat to the Corps.  Hal is determined to find out who isresponsible for the murder of his fellow Lanterns.  The Guardians forbid him from investigatingthe situation and that they need further information before acting on it.  In true Guardian fashion, they deny theexistence of the possible “Lantern killers”.

But one Guardian, a more open minded and free thinkingGanthet discreetly shows Hal and fellow Green Lantern, Kilowog a new ship capable of making thejourney to Frontier Space in a fraction of the time it would normallytake.  This new interceptor is powered bya Green Lantern power battery and come equipped with an A.I. intelligencenavigation system.

Never one to pass up a good opportunity, Hal decides toborrow (steal) the prototype ship and take it to Frontier Space to hunt downthe Lantern killers.  However Kilowogknows Hal far too well and is waiting for him in the hangar with the intentionof going along, for nothing else but to make sure Hal doesn’t get himselfkilled.

The journey to Frontier Space doesn’t go as smoothly as Halhoped it would.  Their hasty departurefrom Oa caused their warp field to become unstable and they have to make quickadjustments before the ship is torn apart. Upon arriving, they are immediately alerted to a Lantern under attack,Hal and Kilowog rush to the rescue and are viciously attacked by the two“Lantern Killers”.  It takes all theirskill and tricks to fight off the incredibly violent attackers and rescue theirfellow Lantern.

And thus a struggle begins that will determine the fate ofan entire planet as well as the Green Lantern Corps itself.  Hal and Kilowog discover the identities oftheir attackers and the danger is worse than they feared.  Trapped in Frontier Space with any hopes ofreinforcements over a year away, it is up to Hal Jordan and Kilowog to makecertain this evil never makes it to Oa.

This premiere episode of GreenLantern: The Animated Series gives us another brief glimpse into Cartoon Network’s new block of programmed called DC Nation.  This is the first of several new seriescoming from the DC universe.  Even thoughI have gone on record with my dislike for the CG animation style that is theall the rage recently, I will admit that I liked this episode in spite of thedistaste for the animation.

It was a relief to see that this series didn’t disappointthe way the big screen version did.  Iimagine you have to know your core audience and adding Green Lantern to the block of other DC shows was certainly the bestidea.  In addition, this proves that GreenLantern isn’t some obscure character that no one cares about; he has a loyalfollowing.

I truly enjoyed how Hal Jordan was portrayed but was alittle disappointed in Kilowog.  I wishhe would have been played more like Michael Madsen did in Green Lantern: FirstFlight.  The biggest surprise was theGuardians.  They were as arrogant andcerebral as you’d come to expect; and I loved how Ganthet stood out as the“rogue” element on the Guardian council.

I was sad to find out that Green Lantern wasn’t in next week’s lineup of programming onCartoon Network but I am eagerly awaiting more episodes of the series.  One quick note to Cartoon Network, it mightbring in more viewers if you lined up encore airings of this episode.

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DC Nation Promo Trailer

Hello Word fans, time for a slice of geek heaven! Last Friday Cartoon Network aired a special preview for Green Lantern: The Animated Series. If you are like me and missed it or do not watch commercials due to the wonder of DVR, again something I am guilty of, then you may have missed their sneak peak at DC Nation coming 2012. DC Nation will be a block of programming dedicated to all things DC and is produced by Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment.

We already know that new shows like Young Justice and Green Lantern will be aired during this time, as well as the upcoming Beware the Batman, but we also get a glimpse in the trailer of some awesome shorts. The shorts include a stop motion Batman done by Wallace and Gromit’s Aardman Animations, Lego Batman, Plastic Man and Teen Titans. It all looks awesome, and if successful could easily translate to more great DC content. Young Justice is already a hit and possible the best animated take on the DCU since Batman: The Animated Series. I for one am excited are you?

I also thought I would throw in this little bit of fun. Done by YouTube user TyphoonMovies it is a piece of fan made work that sets Rocksteady Games’ Arkham City to Danny Elfman’s Batman: The Animated Series theme music. If this does not bring a smile to your face nothing will.

Review – ThunderCats – Episode 7: Legacy

Secrets of the past are revealed.  The ThunderCats have found the Book of Omensand Lion-O must relive the past in order to understand his future.

Lion-O (Will Friedle) is accidently transported into the Book ofOmens.  Within the book, he is reunitedwith Jaga (Corey Burton) who tells him that his future is tied to the past.  He must relive the events that led them toThird Earth to understand how their struggle with Mumm-Ra (Robin Atkin Downes) began.  He also must succeed as his ThunderCatancestor did or the Book of Omens will be closed to him forever.

Lion-O goes back to a time when the cats served Mumm-Ra andthe other animals were slaves.  Lion-O isnow Leo, commander of the cat forces that Mumm-Ra uses as enforcers to keep theother animals enslaved and as soldiers in his army.

Mumm-Ra’s forces are closing in on the Warstone, a powerfulartifact that he intends to use to empower a weapon of unbelieveablepower.  The cats have other plans andwith the aid of the other animals are preparing to rebel against their evilmaster.  The plans depends on them gettingtheir hands on the Warstone before Mumm-Ra does.

Leo is able to get the Warstone and uses it to empower hisown weapon, the Sword of Omens.  Heconfronts Mumm-Ra on the bridge of his ship. But Leo quickly finds he is outmatched. The Warstone is only one of four powerful gems that Mumm-Ra has beensearching for.  With three of the stonesalready in his possession, he intends on stopping the uprising before it getsgoing.

Mumm-Ra and Leo fight for control of the stones; but Mumm-Raknows exactly what they are capable of and how to use them.  Leo’s luck holds and he is able to get one ofthe stone away from Mumm-Ra.  With theodds now even, the two fight a pitched battle, but Leo suddenly realizes how tocontrol the two stones and he quickly overpowers Mumm-Ra.

With all four stones now powering Leo’s weapons, victory isall but certain; but that victory may only be temporary.  Their battle has damaged the ship and it isnow plunging out of orbit to the planet’s surface.  It is then that Lion-O is back with Jaga whoexplains to him that once the ship crashed the three other stones were lostsomewhere on the planet.  He must nowfind them before Mumm-Ra does or else the Sword of Omens will be no match forhim.

This was the episode of ThunderCats I’ve been waiting for.  It was action packed which is something mostprevious episodes have lacked.  But italso gave us some great backstory of the history of the ThunderCats and howthey came to be on Third Earth.  Thisseries continues to surprise and exceed my expectations.  This episode is another find example of howthis series far exceeds the original.

For those of you who have not seen any of this series todate thinking it might not be as true to the first series, you really owe it toyourself to catch it now.  I’ve also beenquite pleased with the superb voice acting and amazing animation.  Since CGI animation is becoming the norm inmost animated series, it’s nice to see that traditional animation can still bedone well.

The Nerd gives this episode of ThunderCats – 5 out of 5.

One interesting thing to note from this episode, in onescene when Mumm-Ra is looking at one of the monitors we see a few views of thedifferent animal species that are enslaved on the ship.  One of them looks suspiciously like Mon*Starfrom SilverHawks.

Screencaps source

Review – ThunderCats – Episode 6: Journey to the Tower of Omens

The evil Mumm-Ra (Robert Atkin Downes) looks watches Lion-O (Will Friedle) as he struggles with the Sword of Omens to find a way to the Book of Omens.  He recalls the day when he commanded the armies of the ThunderCats and he seized the War Stone that would become the Eye of Thundera.

Just as Lion-O is about to lose hope, Cheetara (Emmanuelle Chriqui) tells him about when the Book of Omens was written and hidden away by the clerics in the Tower of Omens.  Snarf accidentally stumbles upon the entrance to some type of temple.  With the help of WilyKat (Eamon Pirruccello) and WilyKit (Madeleine Hall), they make it inside, but the temple is is protected by boobie traps.

General Slythe (Dee Bradley Baker) and the lizard army are hot on the ThunderCat’s trail.  They are forcing Jaga (Corey Burton), who’s soul is trapped in a lantern type device, into showing them the way to the Tower of Omens.  Mumm-Ra arrives and strikes out on his own to follow Lion-O and the others to the temple.

Using their own unique skills and abilities, the ThunderCats are able to traverse each trap and obstacle to find their way into the Tower of Omens.  But Mumm-Ra has found them and with no futher use for Jaga, tosses the lantern aside to his death.  Cheetra uses her super speed to catch the lantern before it shatters.  Panthro (Kevin Michael Richardson) holds Mumm-Ra off while Lion-O and Tygra (Matthew Mercer) go to find the Book of Omens.

Mumm-Ra easily defeats each of the ThunderCats and is about to destroy Lion-O when Jaga, still imprisoned in the lantern forces him away.  In his last act, Jaga reveals the Book of Omens to Lion-O and the others.  Believing that their quest is over, Lion-O discovers that the Book of Omens is blank on the inside.  Their journey is not yet finished.

This was a pretty satisfying episode.  The writers are keeping the story moving along well and revealing details at an agreeable pace.  Instead of dragging out key plot lines, we are given just enough to make each episode gratifying and are spared the maddening cliffhanger endings. 

The usual life lesson buried in each episode wasn’t hard to pick out, but was cleverly hidden.  The ThunderCats had to work together both as a team and as individuals to make it through each trap set in front of them.  Only by believing in themselves and each other were they able to overcome great challenges.  I can’t wait to see next week’s episode.

4 out of 5

Review – ThunderCats Episode 5: Old Friends

This new ThunderCats series just keeps getting better.  I know I have said this in previous reviews of this series, but this isn’t the ThunderCats I remember as a kid.  This series is very well thought out with genuine stories and great voice acting.  If I only had one complaint it would be Will Friedle and this is my off handed attempt at an off handed complement.  For those of you not familiar with Will Friedle, he was the voice of Terry McGinnis/Batman in Batman Beyond.  Will is the voice of Lion-O but whenever I hear him talk I always think of Batman Beyond.  Probably not what the creators of this series wanted; the viewers reminded of a different show, but it isn’t a bad thing in this case because however much I liked the original ThunderCats, I like this new series that much more.

Grune’s (Clancy Brown) tale of Panthro’s (Kevin Michael Richardson) demise has turned out to be false.  After coming to the ThunderCat’s aid with his ThunderTank, Panthro attempts to make repairs to the vehicle.  But the ThunderTank is out of Thundrillium and they must risk finding more in the Cloud Peak Mine.  Grune and the lizards are already in the mine gathering massive amounts of the Thundrillium ore for Mumm-Ra’s (Robin Atkin Downes) army of machines.

Panthro recalls the day he and Grune met as young cats on the battlefield.  The two make an impressive pair and quickly rise through the ranks of the ThunderCat army to become two of its greatest generals.  They are tasked by King Claudus to locate the Book of Omens and set out to find the mythical book.  But Grune’s lust for power and desire to be king blinds him from his duties.  He hears Mumm-Ra’s call and ventures deep into the desert to Mumm-Ra’s pyramid.

Grune frees Mumm-Ra from his coffin in spite of Panthro’s objections.  Mumm-Ra promises him all the power he craves if Grune can return the Sword of Omens to him.  Panthro sees Grune’s plans as treachery and the two friends fight.  Grune forces Panthro to fall into a deep chasm and believes him to be dead.

In the present, Panthro and Lion-O grapple over who’s in charge.  He ignores Panthro’s years of experience and acts alone, foolishly taking on the lizards at the entrance to the Thundrillium mine.  Lion-O is hopelessly outnumbered and Panthro has to intervene to save him from capture.  The group encounters Grune inside the mine and he is surprised to see his old friend Panthro still alive.

Using Driller one of Mumm-Ra’s evil machines as a distraction, Grune escapes while the ThunderCats fight it off.  Panthro is impressed with Lion-O’s bravery as he wields the Sword of Omens and defeats Driller.  But the battle has caused the mine to become unstable and starts to cave in.  The ThunderCats quickly escape but not before obtaining a small amount of Thundrillium.

This was another great episode of ThunderCats and is a little more action and less life lesson than the other episodes so far.  Now that the group is now complete, I am eager to see how future episodes progress.  ThunderCats is just a fun show to watch.  I have yet to be disappointed in any episode.  All the old elements that made the original series good are all present and have been improved upon.

4 out of 5

Trailer – The Clone Wars Season 4

Star Wars: The Clones Wars has quickly become (in my opinion) one of the best animated series on television these days.  Having premiered as a feature length movie, the series has only gotten better.  Now that the fourth season is gearing up, I would expect more of the same.  It’s nice to see that one good thing has come out of the Star Wars prequel movies.  The sad part is that we know how it all ends and the eventual end of the series will probably come soon.  For an animated series of this type, four seasons is a milestone.  Check out the season four trailer below.

Review – ThunderCats – Episode 4: Song of the Petalars

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Slythe and his lizard army are closing in fast on the ThunderCats.  Tygra urges Lion-O to stand their ground and fight the lizards, but Lion-O chooses to run instead of fighting.  They take refuge in a heavily thicketed forest where they encounter the Petalars, a race of living sentient flowers.

The Petalars are trying to find their way back home.  Lion-O offers to help them find their way out of the forest.  One of the young Petalars takes a shine to Lion-O and follows his every move.  Cheetara soon realizes that the Petalars live their entire lifetime in a single day.

As Lion-O watches his Petalar friend grow up he sees a lot of himself in him.  But as they close to reaching the end of their journey, some of the lizards catch up and capture the ThunderCats.  The Petalars seeing their friends in need come to their rescue and help Lion-O and the others fight off the lizards.

General Slythe grows impatient and orders the forest set on fire to drive the ThunderCats out.  The Petalars quickly realize that the fire is their way out of the forest.  Using the updrafts from the fire, the Petalars are carried up and out of the forest.  As the others are being carried away by the winds, Lion-O Petalar friend reaches the end of his life and dies in Lion-O’s arms.

It is then that Lion-O learns the greatest lesson, never to give up hope.  Watching his Petalar friend live and die teaches him about himself and growing up.  Lion-O orders the ThunderCats to stand and face the lizards instead of retreating.  They bravely confront the lizards, but there are too many.  Just when all seems hopeless, an unfamiliar armored vehicle comes to the ThunderCat’s rescue.  Their mysterious savoir then reveals himself, Panthro has returned.

This was a really great episode.  Not only did it tell a life lesson story which seems to be the theme for the ThunderCats, it was the perfect mix of story and action.  It was rather sad when Lion-O’s Petalar friend died toward the end of the episode, but the lesson behind was one that touch even the most seasoned adult.  Another great event in this episode was the fact that Panthro has been found, or rather he has found the other ThunderCats.  The old gang has finally been united together.  I am hoping this bodes well for the rest of the season.

5 out of 5

Review – ThunderCats Episode 2 – Ramlak Rising

After the amazing first episode of the new ThunderCats, I was extremely eager to see more.  Even though this latest episode had a very familiar theme, it was gratifying nonetheless.  It seems to me that these first two episodes were over before I knew it, which I take as a good sign that I’m enjoying them.

As Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara mourn the death of Claudus, the remaining lizard forces pillage Thundra.  Wiley Kat and Wiley Kit meet up with Lion-O and the others as they set out across Third Earth in search of Mumm-Ra and his army.  The group find the edge of the sand sea are a soon captured by Whiskers.  Just as the Whiskers are about to cut the ThunderCats for dinner, Ramlak, a tentacled beast of the sand sea attacks.  Lion-O and the other escape during the attack and join with the Whiskers to battle the monster.

The Whisker captain takes on the ThunderCats as part of his crew and explains to Lion-O of his quest to track down and kill the Ramlak for taking his leg and destroying his home.  Lion-O understands the captain’s quest for vengeance and also becomes obsessed with the captain’s bitter hatred of the Ramlak.  Tygra and Cheetara try to warn Lion-O and the captain as they chase the Ramlak into a violent storm but Lion-O ignores their warnings as the battle against the Ramlak rages on.

The Ramlak all but destroys the ship and as the crew fall overboard, Lion-O soon realizes that the captain is will to make any sacrifice to kill the beast.  As the captain goes down fighting the monster, Lion-O rescues the others but the Ramlak strikes again taking Lion-O.  The others watch in disbelief as Lion-O kills the beast from inside, spilling the water it consumed giving the Whiskers their home back.  In gratitude, the remaining crew give the ThunderCats a boat and they head off in search of the Book of Omens.

In Mumm-Ra’s pyramid, he and Grune torture Jaga for the location of the Book of Omens.  Using his dark magic, Mumm-Ra forces Jaga to reveal a possible location of the book.  The race is on for Lion-O and the other ThunderCats to find the Book of Omens before Mumm-Ra and Grune.

This episode reminded me of the original ThunderCats series.  Their take on the Moby Dick theme and the life lesson learned by Lion-O by foolishly following the captain on a mindless quest for revenge was well done in spite of having been done dozens of times before.  This episode had a good mix of story and action and was suitable for kids.  It was meaningful like the original series without being too corny.  Enjoyable for both kids and adults without too much violence.

4 out of 5

Batgirl: The Animated Series?

In a recent episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, there was a teaser video for a Batgirl series.  No one really knows for sure if it was real or just done for the show.  There has been some chatter on the DC message boards about it, but nothing solid.  I for one would welcome a Batgirl series.  I’ve been an on again, off again reader of the comic book for years.  The video is CG animated which kind of leads me to think it’s possible Cartoon Network might be considering it.  I guess only time will tell for sure whether we see Batgirl get the recognition she deserves. 

So how about it Bat-Fans out there.  What do you think of a Batgirl animated series?  Enjoy the video below and leave your comments.  I’m interested to know what you think.

Review – ThunderCats

At first I was a bit skeptical about the new ThunderCats series.  As the first episode began it was quickly established that there are some differences between the new and the old.  All the characters are represented and the basic story points are present, but they are slightly different.  A little over half way through the first episode, I was no longer a skeptic.  This new ThunderCats rocks!

Thundera is a city on the planet of Third Earth inhabited by a race of cat-like people and ruled by the royal ThunderCats.  The cats are at the top of the society hierarchy on Third Earth and other animals are looked down upon and enslaved by the cats.  Technology is only a myth on Third Earth, sought by black market dealers as ancient artifacts.

We are introduced to Lion-O (Will Friedle), prince of Thundera.  He and his older brother Tygra (Matthew Mercer) are only sons of the king,  Claudus, voiced by Larry Kenney who provided the voice of Lion-O in the original 80s series.  Lion-O is in line to inherit the crown from his father, but is reckless and irresponsible in Claudus’ eyes.  Lion-O is a dreamer and a thinker and believes that his worthiness to be king shouldn’t be based on his ability to wield a sword.

The ThunderCats are betrayed by one of their greatest generals, Grune (Clancy Brown) who leads an army of lizards to attack Thundera.  The lizards led by General Slythe (Dee Bradley Baker) have embraced technology and quickly overwhelm the ThunderCat army.  It is then when their greatest nightmare soon becomes a reality.  Mumm-Ra (Robin Atkin Downes), the embodiment of evil has returned but not even Jaga (Corey Burton) and his clerics, The Protectors of the Crown are able to stop him.  Lion-O and Tygra escape with the help of Cheetara (Emmanuelle Chriqui), one of Jaga’s clerics.

The first episode just flew by even though it was a hour long.  Although the storyline was changed from the original, I really liked it.  I wasn’t too keen on the idea of Lion-O and Tygra being brothers, but somehow it works.  There is a lot of sibling rivalry between the two which should make for some interesting conflict as the series progresses.  Wiley Cat and Wiley Kit are seen briefly in the first episode, but they are orphans living on their own on the streets of Thundera.  I’m sure that the will team up with the other cats soon enough.

Much to my dismay, Snarf also made it into this retelling.  He provides the typical comic relief in the series, but for now fortunately he doesn’t talk.  He sounds more like a Pikachu, making cat-like noises and getting in the way of things.  The one disappointment is that we didn’t get to see much of Panthro but it is explained why he is mostly absent from the first episode.

For kids just now being introduced to ThunderCats, this is a great introduction.  The cheesiness of the original has been replaced with a lot of action and characters you can actually care about.  It’s a fresh revamp of the original that so far has surpassed my expectations.  Plus it was great to hear the voice of the original Lion-O give us the old “ThunderCats Ho” one more time.

4 out of 5