Starcrossed: Part I

Plot summary: Hawkgirl is delighted to be reunited with her fellow Thangarians, arriving on Earth to help protect against an alien invasion… or so they claim!

For background on the creation of Justice League and info about how I’ll be covering it, check out the Series Primer.

  1. Notes and Trivia
  2. Recap
  3. Best Performance
  4. Episode Ranking
  5. Rogues Roundup

Notes and Trivia

Episode: 50 (S2.E24)

Original Air Date: May 29th, 2004

Directed: Butch Lukic (26)

Written: Rich Fogel (8)

Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (38) & Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (2)

Music: Michael McCuistion (21)

When making this three-part finale the creative team didn’t know if they’d get a third season, so went all-out just in case this was the end of the DCAU. They’d of course be given a sequel series, Justice League Unlimited.

Maria Canals-Barrera’s hispanic accent informed the casting/voice direction of the rest of the Thanagarians.

Hro Talak is an anagram of Katar Hol, the real name of Hawkman, the originally planned villain. DC Editorial nixed these plans, not wishing to paint a hero in a negative light. Boooo.

Bruce’s infiltration of the Thanagarian ship has him dress like and do an impression of Alan Napier, who played Alfred in Batman ’66.

Another piece of subtle evidence for ‘Green Lanterns are weak to the colour yellow in the DCAU’ as a yellow beam of energy easily breaks John’s shield.

These episodes reveal a lot about Hawkgirl’s past comments:

Recap

An alien ship appears over Washington D.C., which Hawkgirl identifies as ‘Gordanian’. The League prove utterly ineffective against it, but then an even bigger alien ship shoots it down.

Superman prepares for battle, but Hawkgirl tells them all to stand down. A smaller shuttle lands and out steps… some kind of… Hawk… Man! (For legal reasons this is not Hawkman)

Shayera welcomes her commander, Hro Talak, who demands an audience with the U.N. He reveals Hawkgirl was sent ahead to assess Earth’s defences, which have been deemed lacking.

He claims that Thanagarians are the planet’s only hope against the Gordanian threat. Worse than that, it turns out Hro and Shayera have been engaged this whole time, naturally upsetting John Stewart.

The world leaders accept Thanagar’s offer, so they get to work building a massive shield generator with help from The League… except Batman, who tells Wonder Woman he believes this is all a ruse.

Thus Bruce sneaks aboard the Thanagarian mothership, learning the Gordanians are a long way from Earth before being discovered and eventually captured.

Rumbled, the Thanagarians unleash a full invasion, capturing the Watchtower, wrecking the US military, and eventually overwhelming The League too.

Shayera asks John to trust her… but then knocks him the fuck out with her mace and stands tall next to Hro!

To Be Continued…

Best Performance

Victor Rivers is a very bad voice actor. Just… so painfully wooden. That would be fine if not for the fact he arguably has the most important role in this first episode. He’s shooting for commanding in a simultaneously heroic and slightly edgy way… but just missing it entirely in my opinion. You get better stuff from his lieutenants, Hector Elizondo and Elizabeth Pena, but they have comparatively few lines.

Thus it falls to our main cast to come to the rescue. Unfortunately it’s not really a tour de force from them either, likely because there’s so much to establish and the dialogue is somewhat utilitarian and split very evenly, so it’s hard for anyone to stand out.

Kevin Conroy, Phil LaMarr and Maria Canals-Barrera are our true contenders here. I think I’d lean towards Maria, as she does a solid job trying to convey the character’s conflicting emotions. She’s legitimately psyched to eat her favourite foods and see her people again after all this time, while also feeling guilty about betraying her found family. I expect her to do even more with this in future parts, but with so little competition here, I’d say she takes it. The pained “Don’t you know?” sealed it.

Episode Ranking

To me this is an extremely bitty episode that could retroactively feel like a great work of set-up… or too chaotic to be good.

The most obvious thing to talk about is finally learning the truth about Hawkgirl, who has always been the most mysterious member of The League, with a number of great little hints throughout the series for those that knew the truth already, without totally giving the game away. Revealing she was a spy all along, and that she is betrothed to the leader of the Thanagarian invasion fleet – two episodes after she and John finally got together no less – was all super compelling. Though I suppose the real praise should go to their episodic pacing, rather than the events of ‘Part I’ in a bubble. She seems legitimately torn, looking extremely guilty, preventing Paran from attacking her friends, and asking John to trust her at the end. Also it was super cute getting to see her experience the food and drink of her homeworld after five years away, even with the greater context of her betrayal.

While the bare bones of this are compelling, we obviously don’t really know the full extent of what’s going on, such is the nature of a ‘Part I’. That’s partially good, as we have plenty more to play with in the next two episodes, but they also could have taken some steps to tidy things up a little. The scene where Bruce ‘learns the truth’ isn’t actually as damning as he claims. The Gordanians are nowhere near Earth, sure, but does that actually prove they pose no danger, or that the Thanagarians are malicious? I know Batman is suspicious by nature so any kind of lie is enough for him to accuse them, but could he not have learned something slightly more inflammatory? Conversely, I really enjoyed Paran Dul trying to patronise J’onn about Nth Metal, only to look worried when he appeared to understand more than she’d like. I wish Batman’s discovery had been more in this vein.

Speaking of Batman, it was a nice idea to very briefly pair Bruce and Diana for the alien autopsy, turning to the show’s ‘other’ couple in a story so overtly about John and Shayera. Much funnier to see him sneaking around an alien ship dressed as Alfred from Batman ’66. Funnier still was him doing action sequences looking this way. That almost saves the scene I was just complaining about. Oh, also, who had Batman on their bingo card for the role of offering John some comforting words about matters of the heart?

It is a very nice looking episode though. From the size and scale of the Thanagarians, to their general costume designs (more on that below, but love their grizzled high council elder), to the exposition about their war against the Gordanians, and then of course all the fight scenes. Lots to like from an art and animation standpoint.

Finally, I’m a little confused why they opted to start the episode with The League in the middle of a stakeout mission that would never come to fruition, but I guess they were keen to get in one last cute little moment with Green Lantern and Hawkgirl before the big surprise. I can respect that, as they’re such a new couple and they really wanted to drive that home before blowing it all up.

So yeah, as I say, a bitty episode, which is to say it’s kind of all over the place. They have the entire team in play and it’s the first of a three parter, so there’s a lot to cover. They did set the table really nicely for the rest of the story, so just because I’m starting it off lower than many would like, there’s no reason to think it couldn’t rise a lot by the time all is said and done.

  1. Wild Cards
  2. The Savage Time
  3. Legends
  4. Hereafter
  5. Only a Dream
  6. Twilight
  7. Hearts and Minds
  8. Injustice for All
  9. Paradise Lost
  10. In Blackest Night
  11. Tabula Rasa
  12. The Terror Beyond
  13. The Enemy Below
  14. Starcrossed (NEW ENTRY)
  15. Secret Origins
  16. A Knight of Shadows
  17. A Better World
  18. Fury
  19. Maid of Honor
  20. Comfort and Joy
  21. Secret Society
  22. Eclipsed
  23. War World
  24. Metamorphosis
  25. The Bold and the Brave

Rogues Roundup

The Thanagarians (Victor Rivers/Hector Elizondo/Elizabeth Pena) (first appearance)

I guess we’re talking about the entire armada here in many ways. They have a billion ships, advanced technology, and all look really cool, with a solid armour design that keeps with Hawkgirl’s general aesthetic and builds upon it.

Kragger is your classic snivelling weasel right hand man. Paran Dul is a solid tertiary character, getting her own all-white design to stand out.

Hro Talak is the main event here though. What a beefcake! I still think they’re cowards for not just making this Hawkman, but whatever. Voice acting aside, this is a solid character with a lot of promise. Hawkgirl has been sneakily portrayed as one of the strongest members of The League, so a larger, evil version of her with an army at his disposal is a fitting adversary for the end of the show. Speaking of which, I love that his colour scheme matches hers to symbolise their bond.

As a complete package they’re solid, but we have two more parts to go and will have to see if they can make good on the promise presented here.

  1. The Joker
  2. Darkseid
  3. Dr. Destiny
  4. Lex Luthor
  5. Despero
  6. Vandal Savage
  7. The Injustice Guild (and Brainwave!)
  8. Amazo
  9. Solomon Grundy
  10. The Injustice Gang
  11. The Imperium
  12. The Royal Flush Gang
  13. Brainiac
  14. Hades
  15. Draaga
  16. The Ultra-Humanite
  17. The Thangarians (NEW ENTRY)
  18. Aresia
  19. The Superman Revenge Squad
  20. Deadshot
  21. Gorilla Grodd
  22. Harley Quinn
  23. Orm
  24. Simon Stagg (and Java!)
  25. Colonel Vox
  26. The Secret Society
  27. Felix Faust
  28. Ichultu
  29. Eclipso
  30. Morgaine le Fey
  31. The Manhunters
  32. The Justice Lords
  33. Kanjar-Ro
  34. Mongul
  35. Doomsday

Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑