Legion of Super Heroes

I could never understand it, what went wrong? What did Batman: TAS and Justice League/unlimited both have in common? A respective display of teamwork, good dialogue and visual display of characters that made the show look it was aiming to reach more than just children. Both of the two shows excelled in art and a respectable script. The legion of super heroes is a blatant attempt to cash in on the teen Titans. And I only liked that show because at the start of the season its episodes were telling but it went downhill, all too willing to settle for melodramatic one shot story episodes in later seasons. It was still good though, Slade helped add the serious tone and each character actually had character development.

The legion of superheroes falls flat for two key reasons: The first is that the legion was poorly depicted in JLU anyway and that many like me expected supergirl to appear in the legion series as to continue from the JLU.

The second, that with other then the name of bouncing boy being really lame, it's not really about the legion but a shameless hero worship and let's all relay on superman/teen or whatever. There is no real foe or a villain worthy enough to be superman's rival, given superman: TAS and JLU gave us darkseid, one can only imagine who could fill the next big villain boots. Answer? No one.

The animation is awful, whatever happened to shows that made decent attempts in detailed drawings? Surely the legion has more talented heroes then the names already given, a lot of the characters are very generic, no defining element? Thin bodied and all big heads? That's the art style as a whole with powers and such that you would have already seen it all before and kids would have as well. Again it doesn't help when it's all about superman, if DC wants to expand with their media then they have to do more, not just focus on lesser characters but give those the characters the decent animation drawings, plot and script they need.

With the cancellation of the "Teen Titans" and issuance of the hideously awful "Superman: Brainiac Attacks" simultaneously in 2006, I was sure I was witnessing the final end of the glorious reign of the intelligently-written and superbly-drawn and -scored sequence of DC superhero cartoons beginning in 1991 with Bruce Timm's Batman, and continuing on through the 1990s and 2000s with Superman, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, The Zeta Project, Justice League, and the "high anime" Titans. But just as I was about to curl up in a fetal position shaking from withdrawal, along comes the thoroughly delightful "Leagion of Super-Heroes" which pushes all the right buttons. From the look of especially the second episode, plots are going to be quite adventurous compared to the usually Earth-bound shows of the other series.

Animation style: I would describe the designs of the various characters as being between those of "New Batman" or Superman and those of the "Teen Titans", but closer to the former (and young Clark Kent wouldn't look at all out of place if he were appearing in a time-traveling episode of Justice League). ***There is NO "high anime" "mugging the camera" -- so "purists" and "fanboys" can take heart.*** The show appears to have a decent budget at least on par with Justice League (or a lesser one more frugally spent) to permit a good score and higher frame-rate polished-up animation which avoids any "only the lips are moving" or "clunky CGI" feelings. There's a noticeable amount of cheap "bouncing cut-outs" in the first episode (I'm guessing Ep1 is partly cobbled from recycled in-house promotional materials) -- but the second episode is a knock-out.

Target audience is children, but the writing isn't forcibly "dumbed-down" or insulting to the intelligence. If you're hoping to see blood or evil malevolences like Darkseid laying waste to the countryside with omega-beams, you can forget it -- but if you can put your "TV-14+ rating" preferences aside, you'll find you can have a good time on the couch alongside a grade-school kid. Rest-assured: Clark will get blasted, fried, squished, stomped into the concrete, you name it -- all in the very first episode. In short, whole lotta butt-whoopin' just the way there should be in a DC cartoon. The second episode demonstrates that, while red ink won't be overflowing the bathtubs, the series will be capable of creepy and mysterious scripts that'll definitely have little tykes freaked and cartoon-buff adults glued.

In my opinion, "Legion" is going to be a huge winner -- the creators have obviously done their homework.

Geek stuff: Care has been taken to not disrupt the "continuity" of the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini "universe" by having the Legion "borrow" Clark Kent as a young man (big teenager?) prior to his even thinking of becoming Superman, and literally promise to bring him right back to the moment after they've left (hopefully after at least fifty episodes!) -- so nothing is "screwed up" by the basic premise. Nifty treat: The reason why Superman's cape is so indestructible may be finally answered. A continuity non-carryover I'm willing to put up with: Superman doesn't need a suit to survive in space.

I don't know what times this show airs (I've watched episodes online), but man, it feels like the older Saturday-Morning Cartoons. Right from the flashy, Incredibles-ish theme music, to the often times corny Superhero dialogue.

And I love every second of it!

After Teen Titans went off, I'd hoped to find another really good superhero show. This is it! If you are expecting Teen Titans, though, this is not it. A different animation style, different feel, basically everything is different. But different is not a bad thing. Whereas Teen Titans had both its very dark story lines (at times) and its uber-comedic moments, Legion sticks to a straight-forward classic superhero feel. Save the world (or rather, the galaxy).

Throw into this whole scenario of nostalgia, a bunch of easter eggs/homages for fans of all things DC (especially Superman). Very rich girl named A-LEX-is, who has a special interest in Superman, and later gets her whole head of hair burnt off (not permanently, mind). Hmm...wonder who that could be. On an episode where a being called Drax gets out of the Phantom Zone, he pulls out some unexplained weakness of Clark's (a green rock of some kind) and answers to some supreme being that appears to want out of the Phantom Zone. Could it be...nah....

I had my doubts at the first episode, I will admit, although I stuck through. First episodes usually leave me in doubt. I don't think I've met a cartoon yet that I've loved since Episode I. But most cartoons that I've actually wanted to check out, I've been happy after the first episode. Legion is no exception. LONG LIVE THE LEGION!

(Oh, by the way, the first season finale was AWESOME, and season 2 looks like it could be just as much a winner.)

Originally titled, "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes," the "Boy" became Superman, reportedly due to the recent verdict in the "Superboy" rights case between DC and the Siegel estate. With that in mind, they did a great job of explaining who the Legion is, without an origin story, and while it's not exactly "Adventure" #247, the spirit is all there. The design of the Fatal Five was great, and they're all used effectively, as are the Legionnaires. Triplicate Girl's "tri-jitsu" really comes alive, and Bouncing Boy was made for animation! The psychic rings of Saturn, emanating latitudinally from Imra's head is a great visual, and while I'd not have taken Brainiac 5 in this route, being a "transformer" who may be an up-grade of the original Braniac, turned good works really well here. I'd have liked to have seen more Legionnaires, but there are more in the opening, and the Mission Monitor Board symbols suggest that we can, and hopefully will, see any of the others, at any time.

Now if IMDb can just get the credits for the show updated!!!

Although fans will still be able to get their fix for animation from the DC universe, this show has truly fallen short of expectations.

There's too many inconsistencies with original story lines... even from the recent episode from Justice League on this team just less than a year ago. One MAJOR one is that Braniac 5 is supposed to be the futuristic organic descendant of Brainiac, and instead he's cybernetic like his predecessor! Aside for the new style, the loss of Legion of Superheros consistencies and the ridiculous amount of reruns so soon in the season, at least we have something we have something from the DC universe we can watch.

Additionally, the story lines are silly and child-like focusing on reincarnations of old DC characters, like "Alexa" a female teenage version of Lex Luthor in the future.

Bah, bring back Unlimited!