Plot summary: Wonder Woman befriends a Kasnian princess hellbent on having one last night of freedom before her arranged marriage to a disturbingly familiar face…
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: 33 (S2.E7)
Original Air Date: October 18th, 2003
Directed: Dan Riba (17)
Written: Dwayne McDuffie (7)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (29)
Music: Kristopher Carter (13)
In ‘Spellbound‘ a fashion mogul is particularly protective of the Princess Audrey collection, with the character retroactively debuting here. She was inspired by Audrey Hepburn’s character in Roman Holiday.
Audrey makes a joke about Diana having feet of clay. One of Wonder Woman’s origin stories is that Hippolyta moulded her from clay. This will later be confirmed as her DCAU origin, despite any implications by Hades in ‘Paradise Lost‘.
Superman appeared as Clark Kent for the first time in the last two-parter, and now Bruce Wayne makes his debut in the series. Hey remember how some of these folks have secret identities?
The club Diana and Audrey go to was reused in Superman: Doomsday.
Recap
Diana attends a fancy Parisian soiree where she’s mobbed by Wonder Woman-related questions, but is rescued and charmed by billionaire Bruce Wayne, blissfully unaware he’s Batman.
The mood is profoundly killed when a freedom fighter militia burst in and try to kidnap Princess Audrey of Kaznia, but Diana effortlessly slips into superhero mode and takes them all down.
Princess Audrey is reluctant to share details with Wonder Woman, instead dragging her out shopping and clubbing, but does eventually reveal it’s due to Kaznia’s involvement with the international space station.
Following intel from Batman, Diana grills Audrey about Kasnia’s connection to a series of thefts of highly advanced tech. The Princess brushes off any possible involvement by her father.
Audrey finally introduces Diana to her fiancé… Vandal Savage! He claims to be the innocent grandson of the man she met in World War II, but Wonder Woman is dubious.
And she’s immediately proven right, as he has The King poisoned and Kasnian astronauts seize control of the space station with advanced weaponry.
Savage and Audrey fly home so she can be with her comatose father, with his wacky henchman Colonel Vox fending off pursuit by Wonder Woman.
Audrey endeavours to provide stability to the populace by assuming the throne in her father’s absence, telling Savage they are to get married immediately.
To Be Continued…
Best Performance
Pretty good run of episodes for Kevin Conroy. The reveal Batman speaks Kaznian as he interrogates one of the soldiers is one of the all-time moments for this (or any) version of Batman. But it’s him finally getting to cut loose as the cheekier playboy Bruce persona that really charmed me in this episode, especially as Bruce Timm ordered him to bring the two voices closer together in TNBA.
Susan Eisenberg is great too, matching Conroy beat for beat in the outrageous flirty banter department, as well as delivering the phenomenal deadpan about it being the first time she’s broken a helicopter.
If you’re going to hire someone to do a generic vague Eastern European accent, you can do a hell of a lot worse than Alfred Molina as The King of Kasnia. Phil Morris continues to make Vandal Savage more compelling than the scripts have to date, as they’re intentionally holding back on his best material.
Episode Ranking
Oh hey look, another solid proof of concept for a ‘Wonder Woman: The Animated Series’. The opening sequence in particular goes out of its way to make her look her effortlessly badass, as she flies around fighting off a dozen armed soldiers. The sarcastic knock on the helicopter windshield is a perfect capper. Every so often they remind you of the notion of The Trinity, which makes it all the more irritating when she’s functionally benched in other episodes.
The continuation of the Bruce/Diana romance – built off the back of a throwaway moment Bruce Timm wanted to cut in Season One – is predicated on the fact they never really bothered to delve into any of the characters’ civilian lives, and that none of the team know Batman’s alter ego. Well, Superman does of course, but he’s honoured Bruce’s trust to date, and there have been subtle nods here and there to the fact the others are oblivious. Suddenly hanging a large plot point on that fact makes me wonder why they didn’t bother engaging with any of this up to now, but it’s fun and that’s all that matters. Diana being charmed by Bruce Wayne while also flirting a little with Batman, unaware they’re the same person is secret identity 101 stuff, and I loved the moment where they each excuse themselves from their dance to deal with the soldiers, only for Bruce to realise Diana’s able to handle it solo, so instead stands back to watch and smile. Plus the larger B-Story is Diana trying to have more of a life outside of her superhero antics, which is happening around a year after she joined the team. Glad they’re doing this stuff, but again, why so late? Also not for nothing, but a braver show would have acknowledged the sexual tension between Diana and Audrey.
There is an awkward moment where Bruce and Diana have to explain the plot to each other over the phone, as the events of the episode aren’t 100% clear. We know Vandal Savage is up to no good, stealing tech and doing something shady with the space station, but how these things connect to each other or the rebel attack in the opener isn’t exactly the most organic fit. It’s the nature of two-parters to keep some cards close to your chest in ‘Part I’, but it’s difficult to grasp what exactly the whole deal with the space station is in particular.
Kristopher Carter is having the time of his life here, between the espionage music during the break-in, and the ‘Big Night in Paris’ sequence when Audrey and Diana ditch the bodyguards (loved Audrey hailing two cabs to give them the slip) and the Eurotrash techno when they go clubbing.
Overall this is simply too messy to be considered good, but it has a lot of fun little moments along the way for Bruce and Diana, together and separately. Narrowing the cast down to just those two helps facilitate that, but there’s also just no way they had room for any more characters when the central premise is so convoluted. This has unfortunately been common in Dwayne McDuffie’s scripts to date. I want to vibe with what he’s shooting for – Wonder Woman cutting loose on a European adventure, Vandal Savage secretly enacting a Bond movie, and some more of the juicy Bruce/Diana romance – but in its enthusiasm for these elements it fails to see the wood for the trees.
- The Savage Time
- Legends
- Only a Dream
- Twilight
- Injustice for All
- Paradise Lost
- In Blackest Night
- Tabula Rasa
- The Enemy Below
- Secret Origins
- A Knight of Shadows
- Fury
- War World
- Maid of Honor (NEW ENTRY)
- Metamorphosis
- The Bold and the Brave
Rogues Roundup
Vandal Savage (Phil Morris) (fourth appearance)
They’re still edging us with the reveal of Savage’s ‘deal’, but what’s clear from this episode is he’s conniving, talking his way into an arranged marriage with the Kasnian princess and then seizing the throne. Audrey states the space station plan is all his idea, and despite the muddy scripting, we know the locals are displeased with it.
I have faith in their ability to make more of him when they do the full reveal next episode, so he can keep his placement on the list for now.
Colonel Vox (Larry Drake) (first appearance)
It’s so important to have purely fun henchmen/mini-bosses in this stuff, yet the Big Sexy Villains tend to hog all the limelight. Vox has a fun design, with his advanced throat/lower jaw prosthetic he speaks through. And that’s before we learn he can fire Black Canary/Banshee style sonic energy blasts from it!
It’s undeniably pretty cool to see him flying around trying to murder Wonder Woman, at one point slamming her face into the ground and dragging her along. No blood, of course. This is 100% a Bond villain, albeit one you’d never actually see in a Bond film, and I’m here for it.
- Lex Luthor
- Darkseid
- Dr. Destiny
- The Joker
- The Injustice Guild (and Brainwave!)
- Vandal Savage (–)
- Amazo
- The Injustice Gang
- The Imperium
- Brainiac
- Hades
- Draaga
- Aresia
- Deadshot
- Orm
- Simon Stagg (and Java!)
- Colonel Vox (NEW ENTRY)
- Felix Faust
- Morgaine le Fey
- The Manhunters
- Kanjar-Ro
- Mongul
- Gorilla Grodd
The Matt Signal 
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