Justice League Unlimited: Onto Season 3 /  by Mark

After the events closing out Season 2 of the Justice League animated series (Watchtower destroyed, Hawkgirl quits), the show gets a major reset (note the new name of the show above). DC finally gives WB Animation access to all the crayons in the box--they can essentially use any DCU character. The cast explodes--you see obscure characters like Vibe and Crimson Avenger walking down a hallway of the expanded Watchtower. For a comics fan, this is like crack.

  • Green Arrow (Kin Shriner) stars in "Initiation"
    • Bringing in GA first only makes sense, since he was the first addition to the original JLA team in the comics
    • We get an initial shot of at least some of the team--I had to hit the pause button to get the list: Shining Knight, Dr. Light, Nuklon, Hourman, Red Tornado, Obsidian, Starman, Vigilante, Mister Terrific, Gypsy, Johnny Thunder, Fire, Ice, Hawk, Dove, Elongated Man, Vixen, Huntress, Metamorpho, B'wana Best, Steel, Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., Waverider, Booster Gold, Rocket Red, Aztek, The Question--plus a few I don't even recognize. Keep in mind--this is all before the new opening credits (think wailing guitar to the EXTREME!) 
    • Supes gives the initial pep talk (and exposition) to the team. Jonn's going to be the dispatcher, sending teams out as needed.
    • There's a lot more CGI on this series--necessary since the new Watchtower is IMMENSE
    • Captain Atom (George Eads) and Supergirl (Nicholle Tom) join up with GL (with GA tagging along) to check out a radiation problem in China
    • It turns out to be a nuclear-based monster--an experiment that went out of control. Captain Atom tries to drain it, but no dice (he's another experiment--a living nuclear pile held together in a containment suit).
    • None of the big guys have much luck--it takes GA shooting carbon rod arrows into in the monster to shut it down
    • At the end, GA joins the League--once he sees Black Canary for the first time
  • "For the Man Who Has Everything" is a retelling of the most beloved DC stories of the 1980's from Alan Moore.
    • They stay very close to the original story--Batman and WW come to the Fortress of Solitude to give Superman birthday presents, only to find him catatonic with a strange plant connected to him
    • The plant is a "Black Mercy" which puts you in a dream state that you never want to leave. Kal's living his fondest desire--Krypton survived, and he has a normal life and family there. A wife (played by Dana Delany--Lois Lane on his series), a son, even Krypto the dog.
    • The plant is a "gift" from Mongul (Eric Roberts)--a big time baddie. Bats and WW try their best to fight him, but don't do well.
    • Meanwhile, Kal and son goes to see Grandpa Jor-El (Christopher McDonald). He starts to figure out that "it's not right". He remembers an entire history that never happened. Krypton explodes around him, and he's back.
    • However, the plant is now on Bruce--we're in Crime Alley, but Thomas Wayne stops Joe Chill--his parents are never killed
    • Superman takes on Mongul with lethal force while Diana pulls the plant off Bruce and onto Mongul--putting him in his own fantasy of ruling the universe
  • Hawk and Dove, the "war and peace" superhero brothers, star in, well, "Hawk and Dove".
    • Fred Savage plays the warlike Hawk, while Jason Hervey plays the peacenik Dove.  They give Diana a hand fighting the god Ares (Michael York) and an enchanted war suit.
    • Diana's having a bad day--she's become more and more aggressive. Now she has to pick up the boys on the way to Kasnia/Kosovo. This will become a theme on the show--a "core" League member mentoring the younger members.
    • Diana checks in with Hephaestus (Ed Asner) while Dove tries to get the warring parties to talk
    • We get lots of great modern warfare footage
    • We finally learn the war suit is run by rage--so when they drop their weapons, the suit shuts down
  • Supergirl has some bad dreams--or are they?--in "Fearful Symmetry". She asks Green Arrow and The Question (Jeffrey Combs) for help.
    • Kara and GA have a chat in the Watchtower commissary. We get a cameo by Wildcat in the background.
    • The Question, understandably, is a conspiracy nut. When he mentions what Kara had for dinner last night, she asks if he went through her trash. His response: "Please! I go through everyone's trash"
    • Their investigation leads them to Cadmus, a DC "mad scientist" lab, where she was recently patched up. They get attacked by black helicopters (of course), drones, and soldiers.
    • They also find Gen. Hardcastle, a recurring bad guy on the various animated series. He's retired, but knows too much, so another super girl (who looks a lot like Power Girl) takes him out.
    • She's Galatea--Supergirl's older clone. She pulls our heroes into a holographic training program, and the super-battle is on.
    • Fun fact--The Question loves teen pop music
    • There's a psychic link between Kara and Galatea--this is where the "dreams" came from. In the end, the mysterious overlords stop the fight and Galatea disappears.

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Justice League Animated: Rounding Out Season 2 /  by Mark

The season wraps up with:

  • ...another teamup. This time, it's the Superman Revenge Squad in "Hereafter". It's basically "The Death of Superman" storyline.
    • The team is Toyman (Corey Burton), Live Wire, Weather Wizard (Burton again), Kalibak (Michael Dorn), and Metallo (Burton yet again)
    • There's a big fight, and it appears that Superman sacrifices himself to save the rest of the League (Batman doesn't believe it)
    • The funeral is a huge event, of course. We get cameos from Alfred (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) and Lois Lane (Dana Delany), as well as Jimmy, Perry, Ma and Pa Kent, Barbara Gordon, every hero we've seen on the series, and Supergirl in disguise. We get the black armbands. Lex says he will miss the big guy. Bruce even says a few words. It's all very well done. 
    • Lobo (Brad Garrett) comes in to join the League, and is refused. Meanwhile, the villains try to take over--many of whom just say "arrgh" so they don't have to bring in the voice actors. Lobo gets to "help out".
    • Of course, Supes isn't dead--just sent to the far future where there's a red sun--so he's powerless. He takes a car (which was also transported), does some driving, and spends a long time there (he now has a beard). Actually, he does quite well.
    • Finally, he finds the crashed Watchtower and runs into Vandal Savage--he lived all this time. He was the one who ended civilization. The two of them finish a  time machine and Supes goes back to stop Savage.
    • There's a reference to "white dwarf matter" and Ray Palmer (The Silver Age Atom), whom Supes has to save.
    • The last shot is a future society fading into view in front of Savage.
  • ...a Christmas break for the team in "Comfort and Joy".
    • It's what you would call a "very special episode"
    •  GL and Hawkgirl have a snowball fight on another world, then visit her favorite alien bar. Of course, she starts a fight there, just for fun.
    • Flash helps out some orphan kids find a special toy. Unfortunately, he runs into Ultra-Humanite (Ian Buchanan). The villain calls a truce for the holiday, and they go back to the orphanage with the toy.
    • Clark and J'onn hang out with the Kents (Mike Farrell and Shelley Fabares), who explain they had to wrap little Clark's presents in lead foil (they still do).
    • J'onn learns the true spirit of Christmas--Oreos! Oh yeah, and good will to men...
  • ...a trip to Vegas in "Wild Cards". Joker's running a reality show with lives literally at stake.
    • Joker is the host of course, and Harley Quinn (Arleen Sorkin) is the sideline reporter
    • The Royal Flush Gang, a classic DC villain team with a playing card theme, keep the League's hands busy. We even get an "up close and personal" origin story for them.
    • We see a number of "theme" hotels on the Vegas strip, all with bombs in them, which the team has to defuse. One of the hotels is the "Amos Fortune" resort (a reference to yet another JL villain).
    • Joker's has an ace in the hole - "Ace" (Hynden Walch) can broadcast insanity over the airwaves, and the big Vegas fight gave her a huge television audience. Even the League can't resist her. Of course, Joker is immune since he's already insane.
    • Batman saves the day, turning Ace against the villain--he ends up catatonic
    • We FINALLY come to some closure on the GL/Hawkgirl flirtation
  • ...an epic alien battle in "Starcrossed". Thanagarians--Hawkgirl's race--show up to help when other generic aliens attack Earth.
    • The theme of the warlike Thanagarians has shown up in the DCU since the 1980's
    • We learn that Hawkgirl was a spy for them, and that she's betrothed  to their leader (Victor Rivers), who offers Earth their help
    • The other heroes try to help GL through all of this--Batman's not the best at a heart to heart
    • Batman also figures out the aliens who attacked first were actually DOA--it's a double cross! 
    • The Thanagarians quickly take over the planet
    • The League has to go incognito--as their secret identities. Flash argues against this, since they haven't exposed themselves to each other yet. Batman's response: "Wally West, Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne".
    • There's a great scene when Bruce and Diana have to kiss in order to blend in. Diana: "Sorry" Bruce: "Don't be"
    • Hawkgirl finally switches sides, giving the team secret plans at the Batcave
    • After battles aplenty, Batman rams the the Watchtower into the bad guy's super-weapon on Earth and blows it up
    • In the end, Hawkgirl quits the League before they vote to kick her out--and leaves GL behind (sniff!)

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Star Trek TNG: Season 7 Continues /  by Mark

The final season rolls on...

  • Ugh--another two-parter. In "Gambit", Picard is kidnapped (the Federation think he's dead), so Riker asks Starfleet to take the ship on a vendetta--and they OK it(?!?) He gets captured too, of course. It turns out that members of an 80's hair band are looking for a Romulan artifact, and Picard has their confidence--Riker plays up a Starfleet guy gone bad. There really isn't enough plot here for two episodes--perhaps they had to amortize the cost of the extra sets and location shoots. Robin Curtis (Saavik in ST III) played a Vulcan separatist, and NBA star James Worthy played a big Klingon.
  • It's more of Data's trippy dreams in "Phantasms". Now he's having android nightmares--Troi as a cake, Crusher sipping out of Riker's head, an old fashioned telephone in his own chest. When he goes to "sleep", he gets under the covers on his bed (approximating human actions), but still wears his uniform--why? Wouldn't he gets his jammies on first? The real problem turns out to be technobabble thingies hooked up to the crew, so they bring up Data's dreams on the holodeck in order to fix things. In the B-stories, LaForge has to deal with a junior officer with a crush, and Picard manages to get out of a boring Admirals' dinner.
  • "Dark Page" brings back Lwaxana Troi, who's become a more dramatic character--in fact, she's in a coma, caused by her interaction with a telepathic race. There's a lot of Betazed mumbo-jumbo about "metaconscience" and telepathic-babble. We end up Lwaxana' s mind which is like a darker version of Data's dream Enterprise--lots of fish eye lenses and a wolf chasing her doc n the hallway, followed by a cameo by Deanna's father (Amick Byram). There's also a small telepathic girl involved, who happens to be Kirsten Dunst in an early role. Finally, we learn that Deanna had a sister Kestra who accidentally died when Deanna was a baby--Lwaxana had tried to block it out.
  • In the next episode, we learn how Picard and Crusher are "Attached". They get transporter-napped (why is Worf running the transporters anyway?), and get chipped by aliens. Speaking of them, the aliens (dressed like Mummenschanz) show up, give some exposition, then leave  for no apperent reason. Our heroes escape, then begin to read each other's thoughts. The aliens set up shop on the ship and apparently ransack a Sharper Image of security gadgetry. Picard and Crusher have some telepathically intimate moments before Riker is able to work out a deal.
  • "Force of Nature" seems like an attempt to reign in the show--literally. It's also a "message" story referencing global warming. The Enterprise has to go through a technobabble corridor--kind of a space Bermuda Triangle--in order to find a missing ship. There's a long sequence about training Data's cat--seems like "episode helper" to me. Alien scientists shut down their ship and come on board--they are there to get the Federation to listen to them: warp drive tech is destroying the fabric of space. They're like Greenpeace--IN SPACE! There's technobabble aplenty throughout the episode. They save the other ship, doing some space "surfing" while doing so. The Federation decides to be better safe than sorry--all ships are now limited to Warp 5 unless there's an emergency.
  • Now Data has a mother? Who's next, his nephew? "Inheritence" brings us Juliana Tainer (Fionnula Flanagan), who says she worked with Dr. Soong--and was his wife. She plays the stereotypical mother--embarrassing him in front of his friends, endless stories about his "childhood"--while Data plays the dutiful son. This is a very talky and schmaltzy episode. We keep seeing the Enterprise crew at concerts on the show--don't they have work to do? Of course, "Mom" turns out to be an android as well--Soong wanted a wife, so he made one. Even she doesn't know she's an android. Soong included a hologram chip in her so we meet him (Brent Spiner, of course) again.       

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on Netflix--more to come!

Justice League Animated: More of Season 2 /  by Mark

Sorry for the lack of entries lately--life got in the way for awhile, plus the new TV season began, so time has been limited.  We're at the halfway point of the second season...
  • If it's a black diamond, Eclipso can't be far behind. The classic DC villain stars in "Eclipsed". He has the ability to invade minds and take them over.
    • In this case, an army unit finds the diamond, and one of them is quickly taken over. He goes rogue and tries to take over some nukes--then it takes over a general. He's got a lot of power--but the Justice League looks like a better weapon for Eclipso.
    • We get a great Flash Rogue cameo, with Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, and Heat Wave (yeah, I know the names are goofy--it was the Silver Age). However, it's an ad for "Lightspeed Energy Bar"--Flash is cashing in. Brian Doyle Murray plays his agent. He's even got a van (why does the Fastest Man on Earth need a van?). He also makes a Hard-Traveling Heroes reference (GL and Green Arrow did a "discover America" drive in the 70's).
    • We also see Glorious Godfrey (Enrico Colantoni) as a political commentator a la Fox News. Wally gets sucked in, as you would expect. He also has a special guest--Dr. Frederic, the author of "The Innocent Seduced" (Dr. Frederic Wertham was the instigator of Senate hearing on comics books in the 50's, which just about shut down the industry).
    • Classic line from WW: "What's wrong with the way I dress?"
    • Speaking of Diana--she's the first of the team to be Eclipsed, and soon they don't know whom to trust. Unbelievably, Flash saves the day.
    • There's some lovely animation (CGI?) as they jumpstart the Sun.
  • Aquaman, Grundy, and Dr. Fate(Oded Fehr)? It's "The Terror Beyond".
    • Fate needs Grundy for an incantation to save Atlantis, and Grundy wants his soul back in return 
    • We also meet Inza, Dr. Fate's wife, played by Jennifer Hale.
    • The League wants answers, but it doesn't go well. Fate sends Grundy and Supes to Egypt, while WW and Aquaman end up on Easter Island, while he fights Hawkgirl. Battles ensue, and they all return to see Fate again.
    • Unfortunately, all this delay has stopped Fate from Cthulhu entering their world
    • We get both Atlantean and Thanagarian history, and then a debate on whether Grundy is competent
    • The whole group (minus Aquaman, who goes to fight for his kingdom) go to the the Cthulhu dimension
    • Grundy gets quite the sympathetic role as joins the heroes, then dies fighting for his soul
  • We've got a new "Secret Society" of Super-Villains
    • The new group includes Sinestro (Ted Levine), Giganta (Jennifer Hale), Parasite (Brian George), Shade (Stephen McHattie), Gorilla Grodd (Powers Boothe), Clayface (Ron Perlman), and Killer Frost (Jennifer Hale again)
    • They're training together, as are the League (they both apparently have "Danger Rooms"). Batman balks at training, of course.
    • They end up in a big fight, and the League does a lousy job. The Society is actually quite impressive.
    • The League does a lot of bickering afterwards, and the group disbands! It turns out Grodd's been influencing them.
    • They all end up in another fight in the League's Danger Room, and the Society prevails
    • The Society decides to finish them off at the Super Bowl halftime show, but Martian Manhunter saves the day. We get yet another fight, and apparently the League needed a crowd to win. They all make up and move on.

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Justice League Animated: Season Two Continues /  by Mark

Moving on...

  • Wonder Woman stars in "Maid of Honor" (although Batman lends a hand)
    • The episode begins with WW at a Paris party (she's trying to get out more), and who shows up? Bruce Wayne, in town for some "business".
    • She runs into another princess--Audrey of real-sounding county Kasnia (Dorie Barton). She's a party girl, and shows Diana a few things (think clean thoughts). 
    • Audrey is sowing her last wild oats before she marries--Vandal Savage? In this continuity, the League doesn't know he's immortal, so he passes himself off as the Nazi war criminal's grandson. We do get his origin story, though (it involves a Cro-Magnon and a meteor).
    • There's a whole plotline about stolen weapons and a takeover of the International Space Station (Kasnia is funding part of it)
    • There's also a new villain General Vox (Larry Drake) who can throw out sound wave blasts
    • There's a wonderful scene with Bats and WW breaking through resistance to stop the wedding, while all we hear is the wedding ceremony going on
    • Yet again, we have heroes who can fly unassisted in space (GL, J'onn), and yet attack the space station (now with a rail gun) in the Javelin ship
  • The GL Corps is back in "Hearts and Minds" fighting alien despot Despero (Keith David)--yet another classic JLA villain. He's got a third eye that controls minds.
    • John Stewart goes off to save his old mentor, Katma Tui (Kim Mai Guest). Since he and Hawkgirl are becoming something of an item (even Flash sees it), that's going to be a problem.
    • Huge alien GL Kilowog (Dennis Haysbert) and Flash make quite the comedy team
    • We get a precedent for the "Crayola Lanterns" in the current comic storylines--different colors based on different emotions. Here, a purple light means hate. 
    • GL ends up leading the resistance, with Katma Tui undercover in Despero's harem
    • There's a reference to "that Rayner kid" sent to be trained by Katma Tui. Kyle Rayner is yet another GL.
    • We end the episode with an inexplicable Earth Day message--the planet's life force was being controlled by the bad guy
  • Superman crosses the line in "A Batter World", creating an alternate reality where the League takes over the planet
    • There's a very creepy opening where President Luthor is vaporized by Superman in the Oval Office (Luthor was briefly President in the comics around that time)
    • They become "The Justice Lords" and start wearing dark clothing--it's not clear why the rest of the team just goes along with it
    • Lois and Lord Superman have become a bickering couple
    • Lord Flash was killed in the alternate reality---so their team lost their conscience
    • Lord Batman manages to find the normal dimension, and proposes they go "help" our normal heroes by replacing them
    • We get an alternate version of the Superman/Doomsday battle (you know, where Superman died)--in this case, Kal lobotomizes the monster
    • Our Flash manages to outwit Lord Batman--who would've though it?
    • We see an Arkham with a lobotomized Rogue's Gallery--Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy--and a group of Superman robots that quote the namby-pamby Superman from Season One
    • The two Batmen fight--and Lord Batman seems to convince Batman by saying "no 8 year old should lose their parents", but it's just a ruse
    • We get a great matched hero/Lord battle--and our Flash turns the tide with Kal vs. Kal
    • In the end, our Superman crosses the line--by making a deal with Luthor to help out in exchange for a pardon. Think this will come back to bite him later?
    • Was the whole episode is a commentary on post-9/11 America, with the loss of civil liberties? Well, they were editing this episode just before the US invaded Iraq...
    • The storyline in the alternate reality will be referenced quite a bit over the next several episodes

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Justice League Animated: Season Two Begins /  by Mark

Moving onto the second season...

  • "Twilight" brings in the whole New Gods continuity to the series. Brainiac (Corey Burton) attacks Apokopils, and the League is forced to ally themselves with Darkseid (Michael Ironside).
    • I guess the producers decided to toughen up Superman--at first, he wants the League to write off Apokolips
    • Force fields, laser guns, sci-fi battles, a massive head-shaped asteroid--this episode has everything
    • Again--why does Superman need to fly in the Javelin ship?
    • Of course, Darkseid double-crosses the good guys (he allies with Brainiac) and the bad guys (he double-double-crosses Brainiac)
    • Classic line: Batman: "Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me--real hard!"
    • Classic line 2: Superman: "You know something, Bruce--you're not always right!"
    • We get some cameos from the Forever People and Mister Miracle
  • Luthor (Clancy Brown) brings us the classic JLA villain Amazo (an android with all the powers of the League, played by Robert Ricardo) in "Tabula Rasa"
    • We get a great appearance from Lisa Edelstein as Luthor's chauffeur/assistant Mercy Graves
    • There's a great visual when J'onn does a psychic sweep of the city to find Luthor
    • Another great effect is how Amazo's form changes as he duplicates the League's powers
    • As usual, Batman is the most effective hero--it helps when you carry a piece of kryptonite with you (when Amazo duplicates powers, he also duplicates weaknesses)
    • There's a "very special" B-story with Martian Manhunter, who learns how great humanity is
  • "Only a Dream" brings us yet another classic JLA villain--Doctor Destiny (William Atherton), who can control dreams.
    • BTW - Doctor Destiny predates Nightmare on Elm Street, with his first appearance in 1961
    • A minor convict is used in ESP experiments, and gets the powers during a jailbreak
    • The jailbreak also includes mainstays Solomon Grundy and Coperhead, along with villains Volcana (Peri Gilpin) and Luminus (Nicholas Guest) from the Superman animated series and Firefly (Mark Rolston) from the Batman animated series (he's a classic Batman villain as well)
    • Destiny takes over the League's dreams
      • Flash is stuck in a world where everyone is frozen
      • GL is stuck in a world where no one can understand him--language has become gibberish
      • Superman can't control his powers, torches Lois Lane, and crushes Jimmy Olsen (Dana Delany and David Kaufman, reprising their roles from the Superman animated series)
      • Hawkgirl gets her wings clipped and she falls into a casket (she's claustrophobic, we learn)
    • Martian Manhunter goes into their dreams to save them
    • Batman takes down Destiny by concentrating on a children's song

 JL biography: Flash

  • aka Wally West, the Scarlet Speedster 
  • 1st appearance in the comics: Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (1986
  • Nephew of the Silver Age Flash (Barry Allen)
  • Got his powers from lightning striking a shelf of chemicals in front of him (just as it had his uncle)
  • A later retcon (retoractive continuity) gave him the power from the mystic Speed Force
  • Powers: Near infinite speed, wackiness
  • Voice Actor: Michael Rosenbaum (who also played Luthor on Smallvilla)
  • Main events in the comics while the series was on the air (2001-04)

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Justice League Animated: Finishing Out Season One /  by Mark

Let's discuss the final episodes of the first season...

  • "A Knight of Shadows" introduces the "dark ages" DC characters, such as Jack Kirby's Etrigan (Michael T. Weiss) and Morgaine Le Fay (Olivia d'Abo)
    • DC always took the Arthurian legend mixed with ideas of their own--Le Fay living into the modern age, Merlin cursing Jason Blood with the rhyming demon Etrigan
    • In a recurring theme on the series, Martian Manhunter gets whammied  when he tries to read the bad guys' mind. I guess if they didn't do this, it would be easy for J'onn J'onzz to win every time.
    • There's a great scene at a masquerade party at a faux Playboy mansion (Dave Thomas does his Bob Hope impression as the quasi-Hefner). There's also a number of poor DC hero costumes in the crowd. 
  • Next is "Metamorphosis", where we meet Metamorpho, the Element Man (Tom Sizemore). Basically, he's a guy who can change himself into any element.
    • He's got his own supporting cast--Simon Stagg, the wealthy and deceitful industrialist who creates the aforementioned hero (Earl Boen); Java, Stagg's huge bodyguard (Richard Moll); Sapphire, Stagg's daughter and our hero's love interest (Danica McKellar).
    • There's a great train crash scene with GL trying to stop it--very dynamic. GL and Metamorpho are old Marine buddies.
    • The local police have rocket launchers in the car? I guess you would need it in the DCU.
    • In a nod to another DC character, Stagg accidentally creates a synthetic green monster that looks a lot like Chemo
  • "The Savage Time" takes us into alternate history--where the Nazis win WW2. Of course, immortal villain Vandal Savage (Phil Morris) is the cause.
    • The "Nazis win WW2" bit is old hat to DC - they even had a separate Earth for it at one time
    • I guess they weren't allowed to have swastikas in the episode--they used a lightning bolt instead
    • Classic dialogue: Hawkgirl: "Who's hand is that?" Flash: "Sorry"
    • In this alternate timeline, Batman runs the resistance
    • To fix things, they go back to WW2, where we get a lot of great battle footage, on land and in the air--and cool mega-weapons created by Savage
    • In a great shot, we get - Hitler On Ice!
    • DC war heroes Sgt. Rock (Fred Dwyer) and Blackhawk (Robert Picardo) have cameos
    • We also meet Steve Trevor (Patrick Duffy), whom Wonder Woman saves and then falls in love, of course. After all is set right and they return to the present, she visits an old age home to meet Trevor again.
    • Of course, "setting things right" is relative, since Vandal Savage still was Fuehrer in WW2--at least for a while. Wouldn't someone in Germany had studied the fantastical weapons and duplicated them?

 JL biography: Green Lantern

  • aka John Stewart, the Emerald Warrior 
  • 1st appearance in the comics: Green Lantern #87 (1971)
  • Ex-marine, architect
  • Guardians of the Universe choose him as Hal Jordan's backup GL
  • Powers: Magic ring lets him create green physical constructs and force fields, communicate with others, get info from a galactic database
  • Voice Actor: Phil LaMarr
  • Main events in the comics while the series was on the air (2001-04)
    • Member of JLA until it's dissolved due to the events in Identity Crisis
    • Shares GL duties patrolling Earth's sector with Hal Jordan

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Justice League Animated: More of Season One /  by Mark

Moving on...

  • "The Brave and the Bold" teams up Flash and Green Lantern against Gorilla Grodd (played by Powers Boothe, a super-intelligent ape from a futuristic gorilla society--yeah, I know--it's comics)
    • We get a really great scene showcasing Flash's origin, his powers--and his wackiness. There's a huge number of Silver Age Flash comic book references included.
    • Flash is framed for a crime by Grodd, and GL tries to clear his name
    • The security chief of "Gorilla City" is Solovar (voiced by David Odgen Stiers), who helps out as well
    • Grodd takes over Central City (Flash's HQ) with his mind control, and threatens the Earth with nuclear weapons. In the end, Flash takes down Grodd, and the rest of the team takes out the weapons
    • Favorite line - "Flash--don't heckle the super-villain!"
  • In "Fury", renegade Amazon Aresia (voiced by Julie Bowen) brings together a group of villains (Copperhead, Solomon Grundy, Shade, Star Sapphire, and Tsurkuri--created for the series) on a crime spree
    • There's a great scene with Diana in a mall, trying to figure out "man's world", then helping a woman out of a traffic problem
    • The crime spree is a ruse--she's getting components to build a "bio-weapon" to kill all men--the male League members are affected, so the gals take over
    • There's a Kosovo-type origin for the Amazon villain, which is why she's a manhater
    • Hawkgirl does some reconnaissance on Paradise Island, gets captured for her trouble, then teams up with them
    • Of course, the episode climaxes with a fight between Diana and Aresia
  • In my favorite storyline from the first series, "Legends" sends four Leaguers into an alternate dimension--essentially Earth 2 from the comic books, where the Golden Age heroes form the 1940's live.
    • It's very bucolic--too bucolic...
    • There are too many Golden Age comic references to cover, but here goes...
      • We meet Tom Turbine, Green Guardsman, Streak, Catman, and Black Siren--The Justice Guild. They are from comic books John Stewart read as a kid.
      •  We also meet the bad guys--Music Master, Sportsman, Sir Swami, and Dr. Blizzard--The Injustice Guild
      • The reference to different Earths "vibrating at different speeds"
      • Sgt. O'Shaunessey is the local cop
      • They have a kid sidekick/mascot (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris)
      • The Leaguers are given Justice Guild decoder rings
      • The heroes break up into teams from both groups--just like the JLA/JSA team-ups
      • A villain disappears via a phone booth
      • "Holy Hijacking, Catman!" "I've got you, old chum"
      • Green Guardsman's ring has no power over aluminum
      • A bus full of nuns vs. a truck filled with TNT
      • A hot phone under glass
      • Puns, puns, puns
    • It turns out that the sidekick is a mutant who can control reality--the world was actually destroyed in a war. Rather like the Billy Mumy Twilight Zone episode where he wished people into the cornfield.
    • The Justice Guild gives their lives (again) to stop him. After a wacky episode, the end is rather poignant.
    • The episode was dedicated to Gardner Fox, the creator of the JSA and later the JLA

 

JL biography: Wonder Woman

  • aka Diana Prince, Princess Diana, the Amazon Princess, 
  • 1st appearance in the comics: All Star Comics #8, 1941
  • Amazon queen makes figure out of clay, infused with powers of the Gods, puts on swimsuit to fight crime
  • Powers: Powers of the Greek Gods, magic lasso, sex appeal
  • Voice Actor: Susan Eisenberg
  • Main events in the comics while the series was on the air (2001-04)
    • Diana visits Batman's city in "Gods of Gotham"
    • She goes for short hair in 2003--it doesn't last

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Justice League Animated: Season One Continues /  by Mark

For some reason, the Justice League DVD box set does not go precisely in series order--we'll go with the DVD order.

  • It didn't take long to get to the Legion of Doom--"Injustice for All" brings us Lex Luthor and a whole group of bad guys
    • Lex is dying from cancer (he's been hanging on to kryptonite too long)
    • So he brings together Ultra-Humanite, Cheetah, Copperhead, Solomon Grundy, Shade, and Star Sapphire to destroy the League--Joker even joins in, who manages to take down Batman. I love Mark Hamill's Joker.
    • Even while tied up, Batman manages to get the bad guys to fight among each other, he seduces Cheetah, and pays off Ultra-Humanite to double-cross them
    • There's a Wonder Twins reference during a big fight
    • In the end, Luthor gets his battle suit which saves his life
  • "Paradise Lost" showcases Wonder Woman, as she returns to Paradise Island.
    • Classic JL foe Felix Faust (voiced by Robert Englund) attacks, turning her Amazon sisters into stone. Per his modus operandi, he forces her to find magic trinkets.   
    • The intro includes a reference to "Hurricane Gardner" - ha!
    • The League forms small teams to collect the trinkets
    • Batman figures out the deal about Faust. There's a great shot where Flash plays with a trinket that explodes, Batman warns him to put it down, and the others quickly put back other items
    • We get a hieroglyphic-based history of the Amazons
    • Faust is double-crossed by Lord Hades (John Rhys-Davies), who does the same to him
    • In the end, WW is kicked out since she brought men to the island
  • Superman and Martian Manhunter are taken prisoner on "War World"
    • Mongul, a 90's DC villain (played by Eric Roberts) is in charge, and runs gladiatorial games with the prisoners that are rather like a reality show--it's all scripted. It's the whole "bread and circuses" thing.
    • There's a B-story about GL and Hawkgirl searching for them, with a "good cop-bad cop" bit. There's also foreshadowing to their future relationship
    • Our heroes powers are being affected by the atmosphere there--this was an issue for Superman in the comics at the time, and considering how wimpy he is in this series, it's particularly bad
    • This is a "big message" episode about honor and heroism

 

JL biography: Batman

  • aka Bruce Wayne, the Caped Crusader, The Dark Knight
  • 1st appearance in the comics: Detective Comics #27, 1939
  • Parents murdered, vows to avenge their deaths, buys lots of gadgets, builds a cool cave
  • Powers: Money, paranoia, grimness
  • Voice Actor: Kevin Conroy, who played the character from 1995 to today
  • Main events in the comics while the series was on the air (2001-04)

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Justice League Animated: The Series Begins /  by Mark

We're covering the first episodes of the Justice League animated series...

  • We start with "Secret Origins". This is a pastiche of two DC stories (White Martians and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace) with a dash of War of the Worlds, intended to introduce the team.
    • Love the "Snapper Carr" reference - he was the "mascot" of the original Silver Age JLA. Jason Marsden voiced the character.
    • It's established that the Martian menace is bigger than the World's Finest team can handle
    • Like most JL stories, the group splits up into teams to take out the bad guys. This never works--the teams get their butts kicked.
    • However, once the team is reunited, they take out the alien menace
    • We are also introduced to the JL Watchtower--the orbiting satellite HQ. It had already been used in the comics (JLA #4, 1997) as a base on the dark side of the moon, and a satellite predecessor goes back to the Silver Age (Justice League of America #78, 1970).
  • "In Blackest Night" continues the cosmic theme you'll see a lot in the series. Green Lantern is captured by the Manhunters (big robots that predated the GL Corps--think space cops--in the comics) for the crime of destruction of a world.
    • This is a take on a large John Stewart story where he actually caused the destruction a world (Cosmic Odyssey).
    • Of course, it's a scam from classic JL villain Kanjar Ro (voiced by Rene Auberjonois).
    • We get a view of various GL Corps members--this may the first time we see them in animation
    • We also get the first appearance of the Javelin--their plane/spaceship, necessary since at least some of the members couldn't fly
    • The Guardians also appear--they're the GL Corps' bosses and immortal blue midgets
    • The Manhunters rebel as expected, but the League stops them in the end
  • "The Enemy Below" introduces Aquaman (voiced by Scott Rummel) to the continuity. As in the comics at the time, he's essentially an eco-terrorist fighting the rest of the world. 
    • Superman seems to spend a lot of time on the series hanging out in the Javelin--why is he inside? It's like when he had the Supermobile.
    • Meanwhile, we see Batman--the only one without powers--showing up the rest of the team. Keep in mind Batman was the most popular character at the time (and arguably still is).
    • We also get an appearance by Deadshot, DC's sniper vigilante, voiced by Michael Rosenbaum (who also played the Flash). He takes the League on a merry chase. 
    • Aquaman is Mr. Hubris--he's duped by his brother Orm (this happens on a regular basis). We even get Aquaman chopping his hand off to save his son (I'm surprised he has any limbs left in the comics).

 

JL biography: Superman

  • aka Kal-El, Clark Kent, Man of Steel, Man of Tomorrow, the Action Ace 
  • 1st appearance in the comics: Action Comics #1, 1938
  • Considered to be the start of the Golden Age
  • A copy was sold in 2001 for $2.16M
  • Last survivor of the planet Krypton (at least until Supergirl, Krypto, et al)
  • Powers: Just about any with "Super" in front of it
  • Voice Actor: George Newbern
  • Main events in the comics while the series was on the air (2001-04)

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Justice League Animated - Introduction /  by Mark

I've decided to go back to animation, and I just happened upon a great deal on Amazon for the Justice League complete series.

I previously covered Filmation's Aquaman in this blog. There were a few JL shorts during Aquaman and the New Adventures of Superman, but with the short length of the segments, you only got a few seconds with each hero. Oh, and the stories were insipid.

The 70's brought us Super-Friends (apparently, Hanna-Barbera thought Justice League was too complex a concept for kids to understand). It spawned several series into the 80's. I don't know if I can take that much Gleek and Marvin the Boy Wonder, so we'll skip that for now.

Warner Bros made a major push into doing their own television animation in the mid-80's, mostly due to their creation of Cartoon Network. Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995) was introduced to capitalize on the huge success of the Tim Burton franchise, and several sequels followed. Once Superman: The Animated Series was introduced, it was only a matter of time before they would tackle the whole team. The new JL series was done in the same streamlined style that Bruce Timm introduced. Superman and Batman had already met in the continuity, but this was the first big teamup--and the first animated appearance for some of the heroes.

The initial team--we'll cover each in detail as we go:

  • "The Trinity" - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman
  • Flash (Wally West)
  • Green Lantern (John Stewart)
  • Hawkgirl
  • Martian Manhunter

They really went all out on this show--impressive animation (at least at the time), great voice talent, intricate stories, and a generally somber mood--this is not your parent's Super-Friends.

We’ll cover both the JL series and Justice League Unlimited, where DC allowed WB Animation access to all the crayons in the box--the whole DC universe.

Unfortunately, Justice League is not on Netflix or Hulu, but the DVD box set is available on Amazon. 

Star Trek TNG: From Season 6 to Season 7 /  by Mark

Let's "make it so"...

  • Season 6 ends with another cliffhanger--"Descent". The Borg are back, but now they're not a collective--they are acting alone. Also, Data is exhibiting emotions--in this case, anger. The nexus for both of these events? Lore's back, and running his own Borg army. The situation is desperate enough to put Crusher in the big chair. It's a psychological drama more than a war story, with Data being swayed by the Borg and allying himself with Lore. There was also some audio problems with the episode on Netflix--sounded like a warped record.
  • The cliffhanger is completed in the Season 7 premiere. Riker and Worf run into Hugh, the Borg Picard let go in an earlier episode--he's started a resistance movement against Lore. Crusher has her hands full with a Borg ship, and Data (under Lore's control) is about to experiment on LaForge. Of course, it's all resolved in the end, and Data gets the emotion chip--but doesn't want it (at least until we get to the TNG films). The two-parter includes an interesting cameo--Stephen Hawking as a hologram of himself playing poker.
  • Picard on a shuttle? That never goes well. In "Liasions", the Enterprise is running an exchange program with an alien race. The shuttle taking Picard to the alien's world crashes, and a mysterious woman (Barbara Williams) saves him. Unfortunately, it turns into the TNG equivalent of "Misery", but ends up being an alien experiment. There's also a wacky B-story about how Troi and Worf handle their exchange partners on the ship. They must have needed a cheaper episode after the two parter--the planet surface is "Planet Hell", a set they rarely used in later seasons since it looks like paper-mache and styrofoam.
  • Geordi is experimenting with a teleprescence probe to be used in dangerous situations, and ends up in an "Interface" with his missing mother. Is he seeing her or not? Of course, it ends up being an alien trying to return to their home. Lots of technobabble in this episode. Ben Vereen cameos as Geordi's father.

We'll continue with the final season of TNG next time. Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on Netflix.

Star Trek TNG: Even More Season 6 /  by Mark

Let's go...

  • In "Lessons", Picard falls in love with the ship's new stellar cartographer (Wendy Hughes). Most of the episode is "slice of life" until he's forced to put her in danger as part of an away mission. It's strange that we never heard of stellar cartography or who worked there until this episode--and I doubt we'll hear of it (or her) again. "No beach to walk on..."
  • Picard's archaeology "hobby" is put to the test in "The Chase". His old professor shows up and is then murdered, so the Enterprise continues his mysterious mission. They find a message from an ancient civilization, including a sci-fi audition scene for young actors.
  • In "Frame of Mind", Riker is in a play about being an insane murderer, then he is an insane murderer in an alien asylum, then he's back on the ship. It's like TNG meets Inception. Frakes really gets a chance to do some ACTING in this episode. Doesn't Crusher have some medical stuff to do, instead of directing plays?
  • Speaking of Crusher, she gets a chance to lead an episode in "Suspicions". It's all a flashback to a murder mystery that strips her of her medical career--of course, it all turns out OK in the end. There's a lot of voiceover from McFadden in the episode. It seemed like an old fashioned TV drama--not a very modern writing technique.
  • More Klingon mumbo-jumbo in "Rightful Heir". Worf has a crisis of faith in Kahless, until he meets him in person. Alan Oppenheimer plays one of the Klingons--his resume goes back to 1961, and has guested on too many series to list. He's also prolific in voiceovers--you know him as Skeletor on He-Man.
  • "Because they're Rikers...identical Rikers all the way...". We've made it to the inevitable "twin" episode "Second Chances"--in this case, a transporter technobabble accident creates two Rikers, one of which was trapped on a planet for 8 years. Lt. Riker is still in love with Troi (as if Cmdr. Riker isn't). I love how the producers showed off how the RIkers could interact--no more obvious line in the background.
  • Things get what The Doctor would call "timey-wimey" for Picard, LaForge, Data, and Troi in "Timescape". Time freezes, goes backward, slows down, and there's technobabble aplenty. The ship's shuttle appears to be infected by the TARDIS--it's a lot bigger on the inside than the exterior would indicate.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on Netflix--more to come!

Star Trek TNG: More Season Six /  by Mark

Onward...

  • More holodeck hijinks in "Ship in a Bottle".  Moriarty is back--he leaves holo-London and walks on the ship. Barclay let him out--has anyone in the 24th century ever heard of passwords? The whole episode becomes a matrushka doll of holodecks within holodecks.
  • We get a weird film noir / creepy alien hybrid in "Aquiel". There's been a murder on a remote station, and Geordi gets romantically involved with the main suspect (Renee Jones). The actual murderer is a blobby alien that takes the form is whatever it touches. Geordi--will you ever learn?
  • Troi is in a tough spot in "Face of the Enemy"--she's been kidnapped, altered to look Romulan, and is acting as an intelligence officer on a Romulan ship. She doesn't know whom to trust. Then the Enterprise gets involved. We learn a bit more about Romulan society in the episode, but it seems to end very abruptly.
  • Picard plays Quantum Leap in "Tapestry". He get a chance (via Q) to relive the event that gave him an artificial heart. The critical event surrounds a 24th century bumper pool game--I love how the designers come up with concepts like this. Picard keeps his heart, but is now a lieutenant--he ended up playing it too safe. Q lets him do a reset.
  • We complete the Klingon saga with the two-part "Birthright". As always, Klingon stories are very complicated, so I won't go into detail. Basically, Worf learns that his father may be alive on a prison planet and goes there to find out. Blah-blah-blah, honor, duty, family, repeat. The more interesting story involves the first crossover with DS9 (apart from the other show's pilot). Data, Geordi, and Dr. Bashir run an experiment that accidentally causes Data to "dream", so he goes in search of its meaning. It gets really trippy--Spiner get a chance to do some real ACTING. We also get some pretty shots of the Enterprise inside and out during his "dreams'.
  • Picard has quite the adventure during otherwise routine maintenance of the ship in "Starship Mine". The Enterprise is evacuated during a radiation sweep, but there's terrorists, and he's on his own. It's very much like a standard action movie--Die Hard with Earl Grey Hot! There's also a great B-story with Data outdoing an annoying official at a reception--Spiner really milks the part. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on Netflix--more to come!

Hogan's Heroes - Part 25: The Conclusion /  by Mark

We've made it to the finish line--here are the final six episodes!

  • It's "Klink for the Defense"--his first case involves a Nazi traitor with secret plans, and Hogan wants them. The opposing council is Burkhalter, so that won't go well. I noticed that Dawson's role in the final season has really been beefed up--he's getting a lot of screen time.
  • Nita Talbot makes her last appearance as Russian spy Marya in "The Kamikases are Coming". She shows up with a new rocket, and wants Hogan to steal it for her. They wheel the rocket on a cart through the camp (?!?), then fire it out of the recreation hall (?!?!?!?). The actual firing looks like it came out of a HO scale train set. 
  • Yet another general parachutes near Stalag 13--this time played by Johnny Haymer--and the boys have to get him out. Meanwhile, Burkhalter's sister Gertrude (Kathleen Freeman) is back, this time with a fiancee (Lee Bergere), who's going to be Klink's adjutant. There's also Klink's "girlfriend" (actually an underground agent) played by Leslie Parrish. In the end, the agent stops the wedding, the general is sent off, and "Kommandant Gertrude" is hooked up with Klink again.
  • Have the Gestapo finally caught up to Hogan? A rogue officer (Malachi Throne) is convinced of Hogan's guilt, so Hogan has to throw him off the track. A party in town, a disguise, and a Field Marshall (John Hoyt) does the trick in "Hogan's Double Life".
  • It's wintertime at Stalag 13, and the boys are conscripted to shovel snow. If they succeed, Nazi tanks will take out an Allied offensive. The other choice--cause an avalanche to block the pass. How? The boys have a jam session in "Look at the Pretty Snowflakes". Crane was a drummer in real life, so it seems like the episode was written around him.
  • We wind up the series with "Rockets or Romance". There's a rocket launcher being stationed in Stalag 13 (again?), so Hogan partners with a beautiful agent (Marlyn Mason, in her second appearance) to take it out. They hang out at a cabin while the boys use an electromagnet to take out out the rocket.

Well, that's it--this turned into quite a slog near the end. Coming up next, we're going back to animation. 

I hope you played along! If not, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.

Hogan's Heroes - Part 24 /  by Mark

We're close to the finish line...

  • LaBeau in one of his many former lives was a fortune teller--or at least that's the scam in "The Gypsy". There's a scene in the barracks with a fake rainstorm outside--it sounds like they had to "loop" all the dialogue.
  • German scientists become "The Dropouts" so they can escape to England. Semi-regulars John Stephenson and Ben Wright play the scientists. Hogan and the boys give them a hand, along with Hochstedder (unknowingly, via his car trunk). I love how the cast knows a lot about atomic bombs prior to the end of the war.
  • Burkhalter gets Hogan to steal a P-51 fighter-bomber from England for $1M in "Easy Come, Easy Go". It starts with a party including Cynthia Lynn (Klink's first secretary in a cameo), and ends with the capture of Nazi spies. Klink goes along for the ride. There's a great process shot through a window--it's like they're showing The History Channel outside.
  • For the five hundredth time, a spy comes into Stalag 13 as a supposed prisoner. This time, Hogan and the boys double-cross him, take his place at a big Nazi meeting, then scam him into thinking he's in Berlin, so he can divulge his contact there. There's a great bit from Dawson and Hovis playing a German family on the phone, and another where they play Hitler and his secretary. It's all in "The Meister Spy".
  • An master spy for the Allies needs penicillin to save his life, so what can Hogan and the boys do? Have Newkirk dress as a woman and go to a Nazi tea party, of course. They use him as a courier to get the penicillin out--"That's No Lady, That's My Spy".  We finally get to meet Mrs. Burkhalter (Diana Chesney), while 60's TV mainstay Alice Ghostley plays another of the women.
  • Ruta Lee makes her third Hogan appearance--this time as a spy. A Nazi wanting to get out of the Russian Front blackmails Hogan, so he brings her in to convince Klink to swap places, so that the boys can take a peek at secret papers. Of course, they also double-cross the Nazi. That complicated enough for you? It's "To Russia Without Love". There's a crash scene that's practically "F-Troopian". 

Remember, you can play along! The DVD box set is available on Amazon.

QISE Review - Day 16 /  by Mark

The final total for hours recorded on my Tivo, starting with the Opening ceremony through the Closing Ceremony - 446 hours of QISE coverage. 

  • Usain Bolt looked like he had to actually push to win the anchor leg of the 4x100m relay. Previously, he seemed to coast at the end.
  • What in the world is the women's modern pentathlon? Well, it's pistol shooting, fencing, freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a cross-country run. Sounds like good training for the CIA or MI6. "Modern" is relative--it was first run in 1912. The big change is that the running and shooting are done together--a snowless biathlon.
  • NBC has really taken advantage of the graphic overlay tech first designed for football. An example is the Javelin--they show where the current gold/silver/bronze distances are, along with QISE/world record distances.
  • Sunday seems to be rerun day--like the men's Basketball "victory"
  • They also had time tonight to air a 90-minute review show prior to the Closing Ceremony, which pushes the Closing Ceremony back past 11a EST.
  • Speaking of that--The Closing Ceremony has become this weird hybrid of pop concert/fashion show/moshpit/light show/Cirque de Soleil event. It's like the Super Bowl halftime show on crack.
    • I suspect I would enjoy it far more if I was on powerful hallucinogens
    • Winston Churchhill as a Laugh-In character, popping out of a building--huh
    • Batman and Robin an exploding car--double huh
    • The Pet Shop Boys, dressed like--erasers? origami? traffic cones?
    • Ladies and gentlemen--STOMP!
    • Guys in blue with light bulbs on their heads--a TARDIS tribute?
    • Russell Brand is no singer--and he's in the wrong key
    • A phrase I never thought I'd say--"Oh no, the Rolls Royce is going to back into the inflatable octopus!"
    • The worst kept secret was the Spice Girls reunion--looked like 5 soccer moms on top of taxis
    • Finally, after 16 days, the UK's greatest accomplishment: a Monty Python tribute. Eric Idle and a cast of thousands singing "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life"
    • A writhing half-naked woman screaming on stage, followed by the national anthem of Greece--sounds about right
    • After the flag handoff, we get the Rio presentation with all the Brazilian celebrities like--um--that guy and the girl with the hair. Oh, and Pele.
    • What describes the QISE spirit better than The Who singing "Teenage Wasteland"? 
  • Final thoughts--
    • Overall, I think Kabletown did a decent job. I know there was a lot of criticism about the tape delays, but I'm not sure what else they could do with the time difference. If you wanted to see events live, they were all available via online/mobile (assuming you had cable). You got far more coverage than ever before, even without the online component. If I had more tuners in the DVR, I could have generated a much higher number of hours.
    • Speaking of online, the site and video quality were excellent, even on mobile. This also shows that YouTube (the actual tech behind it) is ready from a technical standpoint to provide a pseudo-cable experience (of course, the content providers won't want to annoy their cable overlords and/or actual owners, so it will never happen).
    • As always, NBC is too jingoistic with all the "USA! USA!" stuff. If you wanted a more balanced view, watch the online coverage.

That wraps it up--hope you enjoyed my comments and QISE in general.  I'll do this again for Sochi and Rio (hopefully with a better DVR setup).

QISE Review - Day 15 /  by Mark

Running total hours recorded on my Tivo, starting with the Opening ceremony through midnight Saturday--418 hours so far.

  • The 4x400m relay had two big stories:
    • The US losing for the first time in 60 years, partly due to Manteo Mitchell's injury--a broken leg--during the previous round
    • Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee from South Africa, running in the final
  • What's the deal with bringing Jimmy Fallon into QISE coverage, just so he can do a bit?  I don't see Leno doing Headlines in London.
  • Controversy in the women's Hammer Throw--Germany's Betty Heidler was given an eighth place finish based on a faulty measurement, but was eventually given the bronze when the judge figured out the mistake. The difference was in terms of several feet--how do you make that big a mistake in front of the world stage?
  • Race-walking is Britain's tribute to Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks.
  • Is the penultimate night of the QISE quiet? Well, they had time to show a Tom Brokaw tribute to the British Greatest Generation. I thought I tuned into the History Channel.

The final day of QISE is yet to come.

QISE Review - Day 14 /  by Mark

Running total hours recorded on my Tivo, starting with the Opening ceremony through midnight Friday--393 hours so far. 

  • If you were wondering what high tech method NBC uses to show the diving events--a guy drops a camera down a track at the same time the diver drops. 
  • The BMX Cycling event is not just EXTREME, it's insane--8 bikes going down the same narrow track at once. It's like NASCAR with bicycles--you're watching it for the crashes. I assume this event will be pulled off the QISE schedule when someone is killed.
  • Savannah Guthrie on the Today Show--"Explain the difference between the Triple Jump and the Long Jump". Well, I believe there are 3 jumps involved.
  • Ryan Seacrest is going to co-host the Closing Ceremony with Costas? It's the battle of the midgets.
  • Oh boy, the US Basketball team is going to the gold medal match. The millionaire professionals are beating the poor amateur players--they must be very proud.
  • I'm glad the volleyball audience is taking the event so seriously. In attendance were Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Buzz Lightyear, Mr. Incredible, and a gorilla. Someone cleaned out a London costume shop.

More to come.

QISE Review - Day 13 /  by Mark

Running total hours recorded on my Tivo, starting with the Opening ceremony through midnight Thursday--370 hours so far.

  • How do you make a 10 second event like the 100m hurdles last 10 minutes? Include an "up close and personal" report on the American plus an interview afterwards.
  • I didn't see why there was such excitement about the beach volleyball win for Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings--the expected winners won.  Woo?
  • The Synchronized Swimming team competition seems particularly silly--it's like a parody of itself. A competitor at some point decided that smiling during the routine was a good idea--now they all have to plaster ghastly grins on their faces. It's like they released Joker venom into the water.

 More to come.