Title:
Justice League Unlimited: Cartoon Network Original Series Premiere:
"Initiation"
Featuring The Voice Talent Of: Kevin Conroy, Phil LaMarr, Carl Lumbly, George
Newborn, Kin Shiner, Nicholle Tom, George Eads, James Sie, and Lex Lang
Writer: Stan Berkowitz
Based On Characters In DC Comics
Director Joaquin Dos Santos
Producers: Dwaine McDuffie, Bruce Timm, and James Tucker
Executive Producer: Sander Schwartz
Series Premiere: Saturday, July 31, 2004, at 8:30PM (ET/PT)
TV Rating: Not Available At Time Of Review
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
In the wake of the events that occurred in the series finale of "Justice
League," the remaining founding members, The Flash, Green Lantern, Batman,
Superman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter have come to realize that even
with their combined strengths, the problems that plague the Earth alone are not
enough for the League to handle unless they expand their ranks and coordinate
their efforts. With Martian Manhunter monitoring the events going on across the
known universe within the League's Watchtower orbiting space station, an
impressive array of heroes that include Supergirl, Captain Atom, Hawk &
Dove, B'wana Beast, Booster Gold, Zantanna, and Green Arrow are assembled.
In the series premiere episode "Initiation," a reluctant Green Arrow is asked to join the Justice League and despite his refusal, he accompanies Green Lantern, Supergirl, and Captain Atom to an Asian country where a mechanical nuclear monster is rampaging. Despite their miraculous powers, the job falls to Green Arrow to use his singular archery skills to take down the machine.
The series premiere of "Justice League: Unlimited" was a bit of a disappointment to me, especially after the spectacular series finale episode "Star-crossed" wrapped up the original series while paving the way for this new one. First off the series premiere should have been a full hour instead of a half hour because even with the economic use of storytelling techniques to get facts across, I found myself not really caring about these new heroes. Some of them appear so obscure that only comic fans familiar with the characters will appreciate their cameos. The nuclear rampaging robot running loose in some fictional Asian country seems a little stereotypical as well given the obvious comparisons to the Japanese monster pictures that areas much a part of American pop culture as they are apart of Eastern pop culture. I think the writer was trying to draw a parallel to the nuclear testing that has occurred in North Korea, which would get across the fact that we live in a world that is not as safe as we would like it to be. However that gets lost when you see a big flaming robot mindlessly blasting things to bits.
The animation quality while still good seems to have dropped a notch too. I
think "Justice League" was a far more polished looking show. The
quality reminds me of the early "Batman" animated episodes from the
first season that Bruce Timm produced. Hopefully the quality will improve. The
CGI is also very rough and does not match the cell animation very well at all. I
think they would be better off not using it if there is not enough time to
really make it match well. Supergirl looks like a bimbo cheerleader too.
Future episodes will feature some classic super villains like Lex Luthor,
Solomon Grundy, and Mongul. It may take some time to iron out the kinks and I
have no doubt the series will get better as the writers develop stories from the
comics, but this season premiere was a real disappointment. "Justice League
Unlimited: Initiations" will premiere on Saturday, July 31, 2004, at 8:30
PM (ET/PT) with no episodes following n this weekly pattern thereafter.
(C) Copyright 2004 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.