It was 76 seconds of pure concentrated AWESOME.

It makes me wish for magical troll/fairies to throw they’re gold at producers until they award us all with 9 seasons of 26 half hour episodes of these three girl’s just screwing around all day. WANT MOAR.

Now I’m not being an instigator here. I just think its pretty rad coincidence that both works have very similar looks on Babs. Now of course this isn’t the only time someone has used the purple Y’vonne Craig Batgirl look so again I’m not instigating anything.

I just hope the new show is as entertaining as Maihack’s hilariously awesome comic pages he’s been doing:

http://mikemaihack.deviantart.com/art/Supergirl-Batgirl-Comic-256351755

http://mikemaihack.deviantart.com/art/Supergirl-Batgirl-Comic-2-272648591

http://mikemaihack.deviantart.com/art/Merry-Christmas-from-Batgirl-and-Supergirl-274890866

It’s far too early to tell the quality of this project but there’s things I like and things that are sketchy for the moment. I’m not a super-fan of the animation for this OR the new Green Lantern toon. It feels so much like a Video Game cut scene like SW: The Clone Wars. But on the positive I am a Katana fan and its good to see her getting some recognition in this and DC’s BoP reboot. And producer Sam Register (co-producer of Teen Titans and Ben 10) has a good track record so basically I’ll wait for this one to air before I give real judgements.

But after two paragraphs of being wishy-washy it’s time to talk about what I’m actually excited for and that’s the announcement of a line up of DC Animated Short Cartoons! Most notably a series of shorts staring Supergirl Wonder Girl and Batgirl titled “Super Best Friends Forever” created by Animation Superstar Lauren Faust!  Faust is one of the creative minds behind such favorites as Powerpuff Girls, Fauster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and the new hit sensation My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The last of which is so “meme’d” I’d be shocked if you hadn’t heard about it.

While the main announcement has me left a little cold and undecided this sub-announcement is far more interesting (and fanboy pleasing) to hear. Taking the three most notable girl sidekicks in comics and giving them to an animation legend who is now well known for producing fun, energetic, likable and endearing female leads sounds like a match made in animated heaven. The only negative I can take from this is that its a series of SHORTS and not a fully produced show. But its hardly anything to complain about so I’m officially fanboying over it at this point.

Another notable project they announced is a Doom Patrol series which I love the sound of but there’s little to go on at this point apart from a screenshot of Robotman on the far right up there (see image). All-in-all a good set of announcements. Batman is still kicking, a low level DC character is getting a shot at the mainstream, Doom Patrol getting some recognition and Lauren Faust has a new set of “Powerpuff Girls” to beam into our living rooms!

I look forward to further developments.

JousterRed

The team encounters a race of small plant-like creatures called the Petalars. The story seems extremely basic until you realize the main plot point that these creatures live a lifespan of only 24 hours. This in itself is interesting but when Lion-O befriends a young boy of the race that grows quickly into a teenager, a young man, and eventually an older wise leader of his people thanking Lion-O for teaching him all his life on the groups pilgrimage.

The relationship goes through a variety of tones including, humor, shock and ends in a very touching manor. It also serves as a lesson of hope for the young lord after the adventure is over. This felt like a modern touch on the old shows tradition of Lion-O learning a life’s lesson at the end of the episode.

If that wasn’t enough to cap it off, we get a sweet sweet action scene at the end that is sure to satisfy all the fans of the original show. The group takes on Slythe and his battalion of troops and mechs only to nearly get over run. That is until THE MAN shows up in a familiar ride!

Yeah that’s right. Panthro’s back. And what a way to bring him on. I look forward to more before the inevitable year of re-runs over takes this show!

Of course this news comes right off the heels of the craptacular M Night Last Airbender Movie restoring hope for fans of the series that this martial arts elemental controlling universe CAN survive. The 70 years later story plot is a nice touch and the steampunk society makes sense. The Fire Nation being a more giving inclusive society the steam tech would be shared throughout the world. I only question the new threats that face the world and the New Avatar. There’s certainly some things to consider. In my own fan-fictiony head I see the Dai Li as an underground conspiracy to bring “Order” to the world much like the Fire Nation tried to do but in a more covert and undertone way. That’d be fun.

Regardless I await Avatar: The Legend of Korra with bated breath. The release has been set for 2011.

The Batman and Robin and Dark Knight trailers prior to the movie really set the mood for an entertaining night.  But what a treat it was to see this movie on the big screen again since I was a wee lad.  Seeing the cornier bits along with the still upholding epic parts was awesome through and through.  My brother and I were giddy as school kids even though we’d seen this movie a billion times before as kids and even a few times in our young adult years now.

Watching this flick in a room of like-minded nostalgia sick people who clearly remembered watching this thing back in the day added an extra ambiance to the room.  You could practically FEEL everyone waiting for the Joker’s arrival on screen.  It reminded me just how much better the movie got once Mark Hamil started giggling and shooting things.  His presence in this thing is so energetic you can’t help but cheer along. It was also nice to laugh at the unintentionally funny parts and cheer when Bruce takes out the motorcycle gang. Everybody was just enjoying the hell out of if like we were all kids again and not young adult geeks! Though I’m proud to be the latter.

A serious classic, fun, epic film that still holds up in entertainment value.  Especially on the big screen.  Thanks to Baxter Ave. Theater and Apex for bringing this one back for a fun night indeed.

Honestly this pilot is better than about 80% of what’s on the air today. The animation by Madhouse is superb. I know it’s probably not fair to compare a fully mass produced cartoon to a one shot pilot but Madhouse’s reputation merits that the rest of the show would be just as good if not close to this quality.  The designs of the characters and world are eye-catching for something that would air on Nickelodeon. It also sets an aeronautic dominated atmosphere as the standard way of life for the people in the city.

In other aspects the characters actually feel alive with even the limited presentation given. The dialog is really organic and establishes character in a short amount of time. The way Amanda talks over her father and vice-versa feels very genuine as a conversation. The voice acting is good too and pulls off the dramatic points equally as well as the humorous delivery.

There’s not a whole lot here when it comes to plot, it’s a standard action hero vs. evil brother story but the tiny injections here and there set up a real lore about the people we’re seeing. The passed away mother, the fame of Doc Payne, and the (non-overbearing) exposition on his absent mindedness and life style interfering with Amanda’s normal day.

This show really could have gone somewhere and according to it’s creator the test audiences loved it, both boys and girls alike (something hard to pull off in the eyes of TV execs) but the show was ultimately shelved after the dramatic events of 9/11. Nick no longer had an interest in running a high impact action show, especially one where the main character’s mother was killed by terrorists.

The creator and Nickelodeon have sense moved on so its a sad truth that we likely will never see this show come to fruition even with Nicktoons Network’s existence. It’s a shame too because the quality is on a higher par than most shows that get picked up on a regular basis, especially on Nick.