Secret Origins
Episode #01 - Secret Origins, Part 1
Original Airdate - November 17th, 2001 - Series Premiere
As Batman tracks down hostile aliens tampering with deep-space monitors,
Superman is disarming the world's missiles. Aliens invade the Earth and
wreak havoc in many major cities, and neither Batman or Superman are
able to stop them. They later discover and free the imprisoned J'onn
J'onzz, but are confronted by an alien army.
Episode #02 - Secret Origins, Part 2
Original Airdate - November 17th, 2001 - Series Premiere
The seven Justice Leaguers come together for the first time in an
attempt to repel the alien invaders.
Episode #03 - Secret Origins, Part 3
Original Airdate - November 17th, 2001 - Series Premiere
The heroes defeats the alien invaders, and officially form the Justice
League.
Media by Bird Boy
Review by The Flash |
Credits:
Written by Rich Fogel
Directed by Dan Riba and Butch Lukic
Music by Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion and Lolita
Ritmanis
Animation Services by Koko Enterprise C.O., LTD.
Voices:
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Maria Canals as Hawkgirl
Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman
Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern
Carl Lumby as J'onn J'onzz
George Newbern as Superman
Michael Rosenbaum as Flash
Gary Cole as J. Allen Carter
Jason Marsden as Snapper Carr
Susan Sullivan as Hippolyta
Max Brooks as Howie
Corey Burton as Bald Tech
Wanda Christine as Female Tech
Clyde Kusatsu as Japanese Ambassador
Kevin Michael Richardson as General Wells
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Review
Plot / Story: The first part of the story when the aliens started
attacking it came a tad bit like War of the Worlds. The whole Batman
being dead thing was kinda funny. Oh yeah, Batman is going to die in the
very first episode, riiiiiiight! Snapper Carr got annoying. Was he the
ONLY reporter covering the story? He never said, "Back to you, ____," or
anything of that nature. I hope they work on this in future episodes. I
guess they just added Snapper to move the story along faster, and I can
understand that. When I read that Hawkgirl was going to be in the show,
I'll admit, I scrunched my nose but, she was very good in this story.
Her tough attitude about everything is very well done. It's too bad she
hardly ever talked. She sure does grunt a lot!
Dialogue: This was a very strongpoint. Originally, I gave this rating
****3/4 stars because of Wonder Woman saying, Hera this and Hera that
too often. But I got to thinking, hey it's Wonder Woman she's gunna say
that! Flash's dialogue was great. The way he and Green Lantern
interacted was done beautifully. The friction between Green Lantern and
Wonder Woman was also a nice touch.
Voices: George Newbern as Superman did much better then I thought he
would. He's not as good as Tim Daily but he's sure not horrible either.
Kevin Conroy was perfect, as always Michael Rosenbaum as Flash really
lit up the character. Maria Canals as Hawkgirl was a perfect choice for
this hard charging character. Carl Lumby as Martian Manhunter was GREAT!
My hats off to him and Andrea Romano and Leslie Lamers for casting him.
Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman was greatas well. Phil Lamar was pretty
good but there is still something missing. It's almost as if he is
trying too hard. Jason Marsden as Snapper Carr was good; too bad the
character he is playing is a tad on the annoying side.
Animation: For the most part, it was excellent. They sure weren't afraid
to get violent with it at times. We all know that Kid's WB! would have
never let them get away with half that stuff, THANK YOU Cartoon Network!
The glare from light being shone directly at the viewer looked really
good. In spots the characters movements were really jerky, kind of like
The Zeta Project. A few times when Wonder Woman would grunt or yell her
mouth would either not match with what she was saying, or it wouldn't
move at all. Looked sorta screwy. The way the aliens were drawn was
cool; no black lines around them. They looked like the way Samurai Jack
is drawn except with much more detail. The way Superman flies now is a
big improvement over the way he flew on Superman : The Animated Series.
I like how the speed of it was very increased. The way Flash runs is a
massive improvement over the STAS episode: Speed Demons. Especially on
water! On the STAS episode it always looked like he was running in slow
motion. Plus, those blur lines sure look cool. Batman's head was
inconsistently drawn. It tended to vary in size and shape. As mentioned
before, in other people's reviews Superman's chest symbol was very
inconsistent, and was one of the main reasons why I gave it four stars
instead of five. I really wanted to give it 5 because for the most part
it was great, but these little things just about forced me to take a
star off.
Music: This I was disappointed with.90% of the time it was just fine,
but for the other 10% it came off slightly cheesy. It's not horrible but
does need some work. Of course, I know nothing about writing music. I
just criticize it.
Too sum it all up: It sure is nice to finally have a Justice League show
done by Bruce Timm and staff. Very solid story and great character
interaction were it's high points. The animation was very good except
for the things mentioned above. The music needs some work but it is a
very good start to a great series. Now where are those Justice League
figures?
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