Producer James Tucker Discusses New “Batman: The Brave And The Bold” Episode
The World’s Finest caught up with Batman: The Brave and The Bold Producer James Tucker to discuss the latest episode of the acclaimed animated series, “Scorn of the Star Sapphire!” The all-new episode debuts Friday, September 16th, 2011 at 6:00pm (ET) on Cartoon Network. Continue below for the all-new Batman: The Brave and The Bold Q & A, along with a new production image from the series.
The World’s Finest: First off, can you give us a rundown of what we can expect in the episode “Scorn of the Star Sapphire!,” debuting this week on Cartoon Network!
James Tucker: “Scorn of the Star Sapphire” is our Green Lantern showcase for this season. As you can guess, the villainess is Star Sapphire and will also include some cameos from some old and more recent Green Lantern villains. We havent used Hal Jordan much on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, so we thought it was time to give him a spotlight. I really wanted to do a Green Lantern story that didnt focus on OA or the space opera aspects of GLs mythos as much. With Hal, theres his whole life on earth that usually gets ignored when it comes to non-comic related representations, so I really wanted this to be an earth-bound Green Lantern story with none of the Guardians or other Green Lanterns around that dealt specifically with Hal Jordans personal life and his relationship to Carol Ferris. This was a far more psychological story than we usually do and I think, especially for those not familiar with all things Green Lantern, that there are some nice revelations into his character. J.M. DeMatteis did his usual stellar job on the script as well.
The highlight of this episode for me though, was the teaser which features the first official appearance of Wonder Woman. She had a cameo in one episode that we snuck in but this one will be the one old school Wonder Woman fans will have been waiting for. I personally storyboarded this teaser because Im a huge Wonder Woman fan, so it was a lot of fun and one of the perks of being the producer! I tried to cram as much Wonder Woman-centric stuff into the teaser as possible including some very nostalgic references to the old TV series.
WF: This series has used Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan on a fairly regular basis, moreso Guy than Hal. What do you find engaging about these two Lanterns? Would you have ever considered bringing in John Stewart or Kyle Rayner, like Justice League Unlimited?
JT: The challenge of this show was always deciding which version to use of the multiple versions of heroes who share the same name that exist in the DC Universe. The thing I love about DC is that DC characters tend to be about family and legacy, so the mantels (I hate that word, by the way) tend to get passed along from person to person, parent to offspring, etc. This is very cool for a kid reading about the history of these characters and its great playing connect the dots and trying to figure out the history of DCs characters, but to make it understandable for a casual viewer has always been a challenge. Its just not possible to use every version of a character that exists and not hopeless confuse the audience that isnt in the know. Having said that, we regularly pushed the boundaries of that in our episodes and I think by and large we embraced the whole of what DC comics is and tried to make it accessible and enjoyable to fans who only had passing knowledge of the comics as well as enjoyable to long time fans. Anyway, its my feeling that the earth based Green Lantern situation is just one of those things thats just too confusing to lay people and having two earth based Green Lanterns in one show is pushing it. So, since we used Kyle and John very prominently in the earlier DCUA series, I wanted to stick with Guy and Hal. Mainly Guy, since he has a very strong personality that creates sparks when hes bouncing off other heroes. Hal as a Green Lantern is fine, but its his private life as Hal and the complications he has with his interpersonal relationships that make him interesting for me.
WF: The classic villainess Star Sapphire gets plenty of screentime in this new episode. Given her infamous barely there costume and sometimes conflicting origin, was she a hard character to adapt? Is there any other GL villain you wouldve liked to have used? Perhaps Hector Hammond? Maybe even Black Hand?
JT: I really wanted to do a Star Sapphire focused story because shes got a great origin and complicated relationship to Green Lantern that weve never been able to touch on in animation. Mainly because we used John Stewart on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and also the default villain mode with Green Lantern is always Sinestro. So Im glad we got to use Sapphire and give her a decent showcase. I wasnt as interested in Hector Hammond because weve already used The Misfit as a reoccurring villain, and you dont need more than one huge headed mega genius villain in any given series, in my opinion. I never got Black Hand to be honest, but its kind of moot since we knew wed probably only do one Green Lantern related story in our last season.
WF: Green Lantern is a character with considerable powers. How do you balance having him and Batman share an adventure, or fight a villain, and making sure both heroes are on equal footing?
JT: Batman doesnt have to do much to hold his own with other heroes. People root for him because hes the only one usually without superpowers, and he does tend to be the smartest person in the room. The fact that Batman isnt afraid of anything helps the audience buy that, even when hes on another planet surrounded by Para Demons, all he needs is a couple of batarangs to handle the situation. The force of his personality is enough for the audience to believe that he can stand shoulder to shoulder with these other god-like beings.
WF: Any final hints, perhaps an inside joke or easter eggs, that fans should keep an eye out for when watching the new episode “Scorn of the Star Sapphire!,” debuting this week?
JT: Given that we finished these episodes almost a year ago, the memory fails, but expect a lot of nostalgic shout outs to Wonder Woman history in the teaser and a lot of Green Lantern references in the main story. The teaser especially was a labor of love for me to produce!
The all-new Batman: The Brave and The Bold episode “Scorn of the Star Sapphire!” debuts Friday, September 16th, 2011 at 6:00pm (ET) on Cartoon Network. Continue to the Batman: The Brave and The Bold subsite for further details and media for this episode, including hi-res images and clips. Batman: The Brave and The Bold airs on Cartoon Network every Friday at 6:00pm (ET).
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