JLU:"The Return"

[Slayven]

Only saw the last 15 minutes. thought ti was ho hum except for luthor and Fate's other guest

[foxfire]

Only saw the last 15 minutes. thought ti was ho hum except for luthor and Fate's other guest

Ho hum? You must have missed the big fight scenes.... I mean take just about every powerhouse DC character imaginable and put them up against a near-omnipitent android.... :)

[Slayven]

Ho hum? You must have missed the big fight scenes.... I mean take just about every powerhouse DC character imaginable and put them up against a near-omnipitent android.... :)
I will catch it again tomorrow. maybe i ened to watch the whole thing. But i am more siked about hawkgirl being back

[MatthewC]

I enjoyed the bit with the Guardians at the beginning. I thought it nailed them perfectly. Arrogant, controlling, seemingly unsympathetic to even their own Green Lanterns... and then there's a hint that underneath it all, they do really do care, in their way.

I also liked Lex Luthor. It's obvious he's still arrogant, still unconcerned with the feelings of others, still jealous of the power of superhumans. But does he really mean any of his talk of reform? Maybe, maybe not. It's left ambiguous.

[foxfire]

I don't think there's any chance Luthor is "reformed." He may have been the voice behind the "Fearful Symmetry" shutdown after all.

[StoneGold]

Little things I noticed: Steel's voice changed. That definitely wasn't Michael Dorn. Episode was homage heavy. The barber shop was an old SHIELD gimmick, followed by a Get Smart! gag. A lot of the visuals were very Robotech-inspired, right down to Rocket Red firing his missiles. Also, notice a bunch of DeMatties (who wrote the episode) era Leaguers being used, such as Fire, Ice and Red. Speaking of DeMatties, the whole wonky metaphysical stuff at the end was straight up his alley. The other thing, and this always bugged me when it happened on GI Joe as well, when everyone gets together, and only one or two people talk. Oh well, at least Fire got a couple of grunts out. I couldn't tell if she had an accent or not.

[Deathstroke]

I loved the episode!

The visuals for Dr. Fate's transporting and the Atom's shrinking and enlarging were great.

Awesome battle scenes with a variety of awesome hero cameos.

And HOLY CRAP!

What a great freaking ending!

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We now know where Shayera went! It was way cool! Now I wonder how long it will be before they expand on that little surprise.

[johnny mo]

Liked it quite a bit. Impressed by the jacked up Amazo. Man, they couldn't stop that guy for nothing. I honestly couldn't see that ending coming. Good episode.

[Tuan]

I thought it was really nice to see a bunch of characters in one episode.

What was up with those clips during the end credits? Was that for the next episode?

[mgs]

I loved the episode!

The visuals for Dr. Fate's transporting and the Atom's shrinking and enlarging were great.damn. I missed most of this too, but I really enjoyed even the sound effects that were added to Fate's transporting! I thought that was some cool audio as well and visual!! :D

[Slayven]

I thought it was really nice to see a bunch of characters in one episode.

What was up with those clips during the end credits? Was that for the next episode?
Yeah teh aquaman stuff adn bizarro? yeah i wanted to see that more

[Spiff]

Fun episode, but Hawkgirl now has more speaking lines than Flash. Why the Flash hate? And who's paying the bill for all those busted spaceships?

[Arune Singh]

Fun episode, but Hawkgirl now has more speaking lines than Flash. Why the Flash hate? And who's paying the bill for all those busted spaceships?

That is weird considering kids love the guy. You'd think he'd the be the lead "core" member in at least one episode, though I am happy to see WW getting more time.

This was a great episode because in 22 minutes they made the JL and Luthor more exciting than, IMO, the last ten years of the comics.

Why?

They kept it about the core of the characters and didn't try to create a mega event out of this. They brought in the cool tertiary characters (though I wish there was a nod to RT being an Ivo creation and maybe not having died in this episode), but the focus was kept on the more exciting parts like Luthor & Atom's struggle, or John's rage. The end foreshadows events nicely- could Fate have his own "league" of extraordinary individuals?

This show constantly excites me more than the comics because it is all about the fun and coolness of super powers. Are there conflicts? Yup, but it shows the interesting blacks, white and grays without being preachy. Is there sacrifice? Yup. Is there character introspection or development? Yup, but I do realize that doing 13 episodes a year (or whatever the count is) must be easier than having a gazillion titles with Superman or Batman to keep "fun" and "fresh."

Still... this is the way I like my superheroes.

[DrewTheXenocide]

Quick question, was this the season finale? If it was, whoa, was it a great one. I loved all the visuals and the battle of morals between the GL Corps. and Dr.FAte.

[Sean Walsh]

Quick question, was this the season finale? If it was, whoa, was it a great one. I loved all the visuals and the battle of morals between the GL Corps. and Dr.FAte.

Season finale's in about a month or so, I believe. That'll be a 2 (or 3?) parter where they go back and forth in time: guest-stars will include Batman Beyond, Static and Jonah Hex.

[Santanico]

Jonah Hex?! Really? Wow. There's a blast from the past. (Like, literally, from the past.)

[foxfire]

I like how this sorta had a OWAW or some other epic vibe to it. This was one of the first real universe-level enemies the JL has fought, isn't it?

[Sean Walsh]

Jonah Hex?! Really? Wow. There's a blast from the past. (Like, literally, from the past.)

A few other western heroes are showing up too, I believe. But I haven't heard if they're traveling to other points in the past or future, though, besides those 2.

I'd cry if Merlin, OMAC and Kamandi showed up. Seriously.

[Gorthaur]

Season finale's in about a month or so, I believe. If the TV Tome (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-3914/) is to be trusted, we'll have to do without the weekly JLU fix for October. The next episode airs in early November, and the season finale near the end of the month.

[Sean Walsh]

If the TV Tome (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-3914/) is to be trusted, we'll have to do without the weekly JLU fix for October. The next episode airs in early November, and the season finale near the end of the month.

Well, Cartoon Network's site confirms there's no new episode next week or the week after. Grr, argh...

[Tuan]

It's due to November sweeps I believe. They want to save it. But then again it's on Saturdays. Nothing's really on Saturdays.

Was anyone else reminded of Doomsday coming to Earth and dismantling the Justice League before reaching Superman during this episode?

[StoneGold]

It's due to November sweeps I believe. They want to save it. But then again it's on Saturdays. Nothing's really on Saturdays.

Was anyone else reminded of Doomsday coming to Earth and dismantling the Justice League before reaching Superman during this episode?
I think some of the images of the heroes lying prone in front of the barbershop were swiped from the Superman issues.

[Sanagi]

I thought it was kind of disappointing... I guess because I've been looking forward to it since the news came out that Amazo would return. I was expecting to see him copy the powers of lots more heroes, but instead he's just incredibly powerful and smashes everybody in a series of short and totally one-sided battles. Doesn't really compare to the episode that introduced him.

Don't get me wrong, though, it was a very good episode. It was great to see The Atom. Oa disappearing was a shock. The GL Corps was cooler in this episode than either of their previous appearances, even if they didn't do a whole lot. Salaak was there! Nice. CN, What do we have to do to get a GL Corps cartoon?

"What do you mean, we?"

[Gorthaur]

I liked the way they handled Amazo. Heck, it would've been both disappointing and inconsistent if Amazo had still needed to copy the powers of second string Leaguers.

[DrewTheXenocide]

THis show never ceases to surprise me. I mean, in a 22 minute episode, they not only had some great action, but supreme characterization of Lex, Dr.Fate, J'onn, John Stewart, Amazo, The Atom, Kyle freaking RAyner, Those blue thingies that rule Oa and a buttload more.

[B. Herren]

Fun episode, but Hawkgirl now has more speaking lines than Flash. Why the Flash hate? And who's paying the bill for all those busted spaceships?

I'm guessing that with Michael Rosenbaum's popularity growing as Lex Luthor on Smallville and getting some movie work that maybe he didn't have as much time to lend to do voicework for the Flash. Just a guess. Or there's the matter that maybe the show's producers wanted to downplay his character to focus on the secondary characters coming on this season.

Either way it's a big oversight I think. Just a couple of lines here or there for the Flash would have been much better (and consistent) than a few brief onscreen cameos.

[LtMarvel]

Keep in mind that the Flash is one of those "too powerful" characters. A real life Flash could beat oh, just about everybody since he moves faster than people think, let alone react.

Think about the great battle we would've seen if Amazo used his Flash speed... Yep Heroes are ready for battle, now lie defeated in an instant.

[B. Herren]

Superman is also shown to have super speed at least comparable to the Flash. So there's the same problem there and Superman has even more powers to work with.

I don't know why writers want to power the Flash up to the point of breaking the time barrier in the comics. I agree, it only makes the character more implausible, not impressive. For the most part on the cartoon Flash has been shown having a more reasonable level of super speed (like in the earlier issues of Wally West being the Flash). The only time I can remember the writers even hinting at his going lightspeed levels was on the Eclipsed ep. where he raced on Green Lantern's ringbeam toward the sun.

[Inkthinker]

What I'm curious about is, did they REALLY off the Red Tornado? 'Cause I'm not too familiar with the character, but getting sliced in half and the two parts exploding seemed pretty definite to me.

[Slayven]

Superman is also shown to have super speed at least comparable to the Flash. So there's the same problem there and Superman has even more powers to work with.

I don't know why writers want to power the Flash up to the point of breaking the time barrier in the comics. I agree, it only makes the character more implausible, not impressive. For the most part on the cartoon Flash has been shown having a more reasonable level of super speed (like in the earlier issues of Wally West being the Flash). The only time I can remember the writers even hinting at his going lightspeed levels was on the Eclipsed ep. where he raced on Green Lantern's ringbeam toward the sun.
and MM has all of Superman's powers and then some

[Sanagi]

What I'm curious about is, did they REALLY off the Red Tornado? 'Cause I'm not too familiar with the character, but getting sliced in half and the two parts exploding seemed pretty definite to me.
I suppose if they need to the writers can come up with a way to fix him. It makes me wonder if Amazo considered Red Tornado a life form.

[Gorthaur]

Unless the new Javelins are remote controlled, he also killed a whole bunch of pilots when breaking through the JLU's first line of defence.

[Gorthaur]

I'm guessing that with Michael Rosenbaum's popularity growing as Lex Luthor on Smallville and getting some movie work that maybe he didn't have as much time to lend to do voicework for the Flash. Just a guess.Well, he does seem to have time to do the voice of Drago on Jackie Chan Adventures. Which, I think, isn't quite as high profile a cartoon as JLU.

[LtMarvel]

What I'm curious about is, did they REALLY off the Red Tornado? 'Cause I'm not too familiar with the character, but getting sliced in half and the two parts exploding seemed pretty definite to me.
The comic book Red Tornado was an android built to sneak into the JSA/JLA. Before activation, the android became possessed by an elemental force called the Tornado Champion that idolized the JLA. Destroying the android tends to only release the Tornado Champion.

I was never clear how much of Red Tornado's personality came from the TC and how much came from the android.

Like the animated Captain Wildfire...I mean Captain Atom, Red Tornado can be rebuilt.

[Zun Liako]

Read on Toonzone the writers love the Flash, but having to keep him busy on screen, like its a hard to utilize him right all the time because he should be zipping around fighting people but when its not its hard to find something for him to do.

[foxfire]

Unless the new Javelins are remote controlled, he also killed a whole bunch of pilots when breaking through the JLU's first line of defence.

Yeah, i noticed the same thing. At first i thought it was an interstellar army or something, with guys like Orion's group.

[foxfire]

Was anyone else reminded of Doomsday coming to Earth and dismantling the Justice League before reaching Superman during this episode?

Funny thing is, I thought it WAS Doomsday because i didn't know Amazo was in this ep. But they've already showed Doomsday, so i don't think he'll be back anytime (but they did waste his appearance in my opinion).

[artemisboy]

I thought the episode was totally awesome! Seeing so many heroes go up against a powerful foe was pretty great to see. It's kind of like seeing the actual fight with Modred from the 'Greatest Story Never Told' episode, but with Amazo. And Kyle Rayner! Yeah! Da boy's got it going on. The comment about Kyle and John trading spaces for a while kind of got me excited, especially when Kyle said he was home-sick, but I got let down when the Guardian said no. Oh well... Question: Who was the Green Lantern in the cheerleader outfit?

I always did wonder if Amazo could absorb the abilities of a magic user. That has to be taught, not gained through genetic inheritance. (At least for most people) It seems that now Amazo will be taught mystic arts after all though. It does make me wonder though if Hawk Girl has gained any magical knowledge during her time with the Fate family.

Supergirl's impact with Amazo was kinda too reminicent of her impact with the meteor in the second part of 'Little Girl Lost'. Seeing her flying beside Steel was pretty sweet though.

- Peter

[Sanagi]

Question: Who was the Green Lantern in the cheerleader outfit?
Probably Arisia, though I don't remember if there was a close enough view of her to say for sure.

[artemisboy]

Probably Arisia, though I don't remember if there was a close enough view of her to say for sure.

She was the only one out of the standard black and green outfits. She had blonde hair I believe.

- Peter

[B. Herren]

and MM has all of Superman's powers and then some

Well, based on the comic, but on the cartoon they have made an effort to make his powers more distinctive. He primarily shapeshifts, has superstrength, uses intangibility, and communicates telepathically. Have they shown J'onn to have super speed yet?

[B. Herren]

Well, he does seem to have time to do the voice of Drago on Jackie Chan Adventures. Which, I think, isn't quite as high profile a cartoon as JLU.

Are they still making new Jackie Chan cartoons or is just that older work? I thought that animation team was making 'The Batman' cartoon now.

[Tuan]

Yes, Jackie Chan is still on.

[Slayven]

Yes, Jackie Chan is still on.
And doing quite well

[Gorthaur]

Are they still making new Jackie Chan cartoons or is just that older work? I thought that animation team was making 'The Batman' cartoon now.The fifth season premiered at the same time with The Batman. Michael Rosenbaum is voicing the new season's main bad guy, who, if the trend continues, will probably appear in most every episode.

[Slayven]

IStill kind of blah about teh epsidoe but seeing the russian Starfire and Hawkgirl again is too cool

[Peter]

The Australian Cartoon Network is *so* airing these episodes out of order. I expected the Booster Gold story this week...

Anyway, on "The Return" --

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was nowhere near the level of coolness of the first Amazo two-parter, heck, I can't actually remember much of a fight scene at all. It was just, the Leaguers bounce off Amazo ineffectually for 30 minutes while he goes after Luthor. No real action, and that's the one thing I was really looking forward to.

On the othe hand, however... Atom! Red Tornado! (he's a robot, though, so he'll probably show up again sometime) Fire and Ice! Red Rocket! Steel! Supergirl! And freaking Kyle freaking Raynor :D. And Hawkgirl's cameo at the end was really cool too. And it's always great to see Dr Fate.

Plus, although it was a little anti-climactic, it was nice that this was a *big* episode. "Amazo's back -- get everyone." And I really did like that Atom was a major player. Putting him alongside Luthor was a neat touch as well, to show off these two genius scientists fighting over the mechanics :).

And did I mention Kyle freakin' Raynor?

All we need is an episode that pairs Wally and Kyle, and I think I could die happy.

So, not as great as I'd hoped, but still a good episode.

Can't wait for Booster Gold, at that :D.