Plot summary: Batman and Superman’s paths cross once again as an alien invasion gradually reveals itself in Metropolis… and then the world!
For background on the creation of Justice League and info about how I’ll be covering it, check out the Series Primer.
Notes and Trivia
Episode: 1 (S1.E1)
Original Air Date: November 17th, 2001
Directed: Dan Riba (1)
Written: Rich Fogel (1)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (1)
Music: Michael McCuistion (1)
Koko & Dong Yang have teamed up to provide animation services for quite some time now after Dong Yang originally flew solo on BTAS, but this is the first time we’re seeing Koko on their own.
It is confirmed the show takes place 2 years after the end of STAS, with Superman’s mission to regain humanity’s trust not fully complete yet.
Superman also tried to destroy the world’s supply of nuclear weapons in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
There is a lot of general homage to various sci-fi, with the Imperium taking some inspiration from the aliens of War of the Worlds, and the astronaut J. Allen Carter named for John Carter of Mars, while drawn to look like a bit like The Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin.
Lucas ‘Snapper’ Carr appears here as a TV news reporter. In the comics he was your Rick Jones style teenage honourary member of the team who had no powers. No junior members, remember?
Recap
On Mars an astronaut triggers a cave-in and gets separated from his crew. Uncovering an enormous door covered in alien scripture, the astronaut forces it open, only to be attacked by… something…
Two years later Batman infiltrates a Metropolis research station, where a trio of scientists begin speaking an unintelligible language when nobody is around…
Following them to the roof, Batman strikes when they make modifications to a satellite dish. Despite appearances they exhibit superhuman abilities, attracting Superman to lend a hand.
Unfortunately Clark is taken down by a psychic vision almost instantly, requiring Batman to save him when the scientists blow up the dish and escape.
Bruce sneaks into a STAR Labs facility and discovers the real scientists inside bizarre alien pods. He’s attacked by a dog… which turns out to be an alien too, and it messes him up badly enough for him to summon Superman for help.
Clark gets him to safety but has to immediately turn his attention to a meteor which produces giant alien creatures strong enough to take him down. Batman and the military try their luck and fare no better.
Despite the global invasion, Superman flies away after another psychic blast with Batman following to a government facility where a green alien is kept in stasis.
Clark frees the alien, who takes on a more humanoid appearance and introduces himself as J’onn J’onzz, wishing to help against the invasion. Unfortunately the aggressive aliens arrive and surround them….
To be continued…
Best Performance
Kevin Conroy spent 2 years rising to the challenge of aging himself up as the elderly Bruce Wayne of Batman Beyond, but frustratingly didn’t get as many lines as you might hope. He’s back as a feature player here and doesn’t miss a beat, able to easily coast to the honours in our first episode without even trying very hard. His trademark brand of deadpan quips and dry sarcasm toward Superman are plenty to carry him to the gold.
It’s obvious how George Newbern won the role of Superman, sounding just enough like Tim Daly to pass for simply being a bit more weathered (to match that aged-up character redesign). He’s a smidge less warm and farm-boy naïve though.
Gary Cole has made a number of appearances in the DCAU before, but his monologue in the UN meeting might be his best stint of acting to date. Carl Lumbly is immediately magnetic but it’s such a short appearance.
Episode Ranking
When you have three whole parts to play with you can afford to devote the opening three minutes of your exciting new show to setting the scene with a bumbling astronaut fucking around with alien ruins. This is a good thing, and I think justifies their call to make every episode at least a two-parter to give everything room to breathe. However even with that I think there may be sliiiightly too much going on in this first part.
It made sense to kick things off with a simple Batman/Superman team-up as we’ve seen a few of those in STAS already, rather than going straight to all seven members of the team in different corners of the story. Flash gets his 30 seconds via a TV interview, just to remind you he exists, while Martian Manhunter gets the big cliffhanger introduction. I don’t know about Diana debuting so late in the episode when there was already so much going on, and I may have moved her into the beginning of the next part instead. I think two feature players, a small cameo and one debut would have been plenty. Especially as J’onn is such an intense character to convey to the audience, changing appearance almost instantly and having to shift from the source of Superman’s psychic headaches to forming an impromptu trio with The World’s Finest in like 30 seconds. Honestly, I might have ended it with just revealing J’onn chained up in the government facility.
I’m not saying it’s bad or anything, as an alien invasion is an exciting opening salvo for a team-up show and justifies why they need to assemble this team in the first place. They ground things in familiar Batman style action, with a little Superman for good measure, but neither ends up being very effective whatsoever. I like how Bruce learns from his unsuccessful opening encounter with the aliens by keeping his distance in favour of stealth when he faces them again. Plus the whole ‘Batman wakes up just as someone is about to unmask him’ thing always works. They take this to the next level by having him grapple to the rooftops directly from a gurney while the EMT isn’t looking. He and Clark failing to even damage ONE of the aliens is a strong statement, and even more so when Superman fleeing the scene in humanity’s darkest hour when he’s spent years trying to rebuild trust.
Visually we’re obviously in a whole new era, having left STAS firmly behind and with Batman Beyond about to finish airing. On that front I’d say it’s a pretty natural progression of what had come before, with each new show getting that little beat cleaner and crisper, though at the expense of some of the swings BTAS tried to take almost a decade earlier. The charming somewhat anachronistic art design of BTAS and STAS (and the futuristic world of Beyond) is gone too, as we’re shooting relatively straight when it comes to backgrounds and locations. I won’t harp on about it too much, but personally I prefer the ambition and specificity of those first two shows and would rather put up with the jank that came with it versus this extremely smooth but cold new world. The character designs are still great, obviously, and they’re going to be able to do more with lighting and action scenes than ever before, but I miss what they were able to achieve through innovative ‘art through struggle’ circumstances. To put it another way I think the animation has improved over time but the art design has gotten a little worse.
Thankfully both the creature and relic design of The Imperium are suitably bizarre to pick up some of that slack, and of course Batman in the shadows is ALWAYS safe money. So naturally my favourite sequence in the episode was Bruce sneaking around STAR Labs and unveiling the grotesque alien pods with nothing more than torchlight. Speaking of grotesque, Superman’s psychic flashes include some solid horror imagery, albeit blink-and-you’ll miss it fast. The simplified art design means these kinds of strong visuals really stand out when they do deploy them. Seriously, click through some of the images above!
All in all I think they had plenty to draw audiences in but potentially tried to take things too far too soon. One too many characters. A few too many big reveals at the end of the episode. I think the sheer overwhelming force of the aliens (who end up being the strength of the episode) and Superman ostensibly running away from them was more than enough. Still, as the debut episode it gets to go straight to number one and there’s nothing the next two parts can do to change that placement. I will need them to reign things in pacing-wise in Parts II and III if it’s going to end the season with a high spot though.
- Secret Origins (NEW ENTRY)
Rogues Roundup
The Imperium (Corey Burton/Wanda Christine/Clyde Kusatsu) (first appearance)
When you’re eschewing a charismatic figurehead who talks directly to other characters and instead going with the ‘they’re everywhere’ thing, it’s important to instil as much quirky charm as you can. By having the first trio of Imperium agents posing as unassuming scientists who proceed to easily fight off Batman you instantly give them a twin sense of comedy and mystery. They double down on these by having them exhibit some off-putting shapeshifting in the wake of the explosion, and then having one of them do a click and finger gun at Batman while they walk away. It’s not a full personality, but it is strong character work without any dialogue.
After that we’re treated to the fucked up little alien dog design, which is pretty cool. Having the creatures share some visual elements with their tech and the bio-stasis-pods is a nice touch. Plus the dog totally wrecks Batman, so that’s quite a statement.
Then in the third act they introduce the heaviest hitter: the giant tripod laser tank… things. Just one being able to take Superman down is a good display of power, though they do make sure to have Clark briefly do some heavy damage despite the Batwing’s heavy artillery not leaving a scratch, so it’s not all Superman getting beaten up. But then of course they deploy the ‘there are more of them!’ trick like with the killer robots from ‘World’s Finest‘. I really like the tendency of these things to stand still and absorb a huge impact and then after a couple of seconds’ delay, fire lasers back. Like they’re mentally processing what just happened to them.
- The Imperium (NEW ENTRY)
The Matt Signal 
Leave a comment