James Harvey
11-03-2001, 12:06 AM
Hey Gang!
I received my press kit today, and with that came a copy of the three episode series pilot, aka Secret Origins. Within five minutes of getting the press kit, I had the tape already playing in the VCR and myself snuggled on my favorite leather couch, ready to partake in being one of the first people to see the pilot before it hits the air on November 17th. This review will be spoiler free and will be a couple paragraphs of my thoughts. This will not be the review I will be putting online within the next two weeks.
Well....here are my thoughts...
The series opener for Justice League was an enjoyable three part epic series. The visuals were stunning and the designs were pretty good. The voice acting by Kevin Conroy and Micheal Rosenbaum were absolutely flawless. The animation on those characters, as well, was amazing. I love how the animation used a new technique, and even sounds, for Batman. His moviements are quickened a bit and his gadgets (and cape!) make a whole new sound (which'll sound awesome on 5.1 DVD Audio). The Flash was portrayed great. I found him to be my second favorite charcter on the series, behind Batman. Batman and Flash were two characters who almost seemed to be linchpins in the series. We still get Batman's anti-social behaviour yet they also make him a believable team player.
But for all the praises, I have some complaints. First of all - the animation on Superman was really lacking. It seemed during the whole pilot the animators just couldn't animated Superman. Whether it be his face or his sheild. There were scenes where Superman's faced looked awful, sometimes ridiculous. The animators seem to have a difficult time animating the lines on his face. And his "S" sheild was constantly chaging throughout the pilot. On S:TAS you could nitce tweaks and changes now and again on his sheild, but here it was close to distraction! As for the voice - there were times were it seemed like Daly was voicing it! The grunts sound exactly the same and there were scenes when Neubeurn sounded exactly like Daly. Then...there were the painfully obvious times where the new voice just didn't work. The voice will take some getting used to, and was very uneven in the pilot.
Also, the voices for Wonder Woman and Green Lantern also felt odd. Wonder Woman's voice was flat and sometimes devoid of emotions. Not only that, but she said "Hera" at least 4 or 5 times, which quickly grew annoying. There were scenes where Wonder Woman was performing great feets of strenght, yet the voice actress made it sound like she was just lifting a shopping bag. Her screens sometimes didn't work as well. She definatly needs some work. As for Green Lantern - his voice sounded so "Shaft" I was waiting for his "GL's a dirty -- SHUT YO' MOUTH!" theme to start playing behind him. All he was missing was the cliched dialogue. I will admit that there was some great dialogue written for GL, which the Flash played off perfectly.
It's hard to review Hawkgirl becuase she barely spoke. She maybe said twenty words. That's it. But I loved her ferocity. She was brutal and quick. She plowed through villians like nobody's business! I ma gonna definatly like this character. Martian Manhunter was also well done. The voice acting was mostly good, although he seemed to be stuck with some hokey dialogue.
And now the dialogue...well...it was good. I wasn't expecting this show to be the same level of B:TAS or even S:TAS - but the dialogue just seemed groan inducxing from time to time. I found myself actually groaning during random scenes. There's one scene where Batman says "That was close" so off character you'd think it was a different character. The story was good. The villian seemed to lack and real depth. I can't say anything else but you'll see when the pilot airs.
The animation was good, especially on Batman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, and Green Lantern. Dong Yang (KOKO) seemd to really shine on those characters. They made Batman so smoothe and creepy. The way they animated the Flash was ingenious and provided some nice eye candy. Martian Mnahunter just looked awesome. No doubt about it. He just had that creepy sense around him. And GL looked cool as well. The backgrounds were odd from time to time. The computer colored series was overly bright at times, but not as bad as some of the early computer colored Batman Beyond episodes.
So overall I give the pilot a B. There's need for improvement, but the show is off to a great start. The three part opener is not as good as Superman's Last Son Of Krypton, but it is still a great ride. The last twenty minutes are intense!
So...I've rambled on longer than expected...
I received my press kit today, and with that came a copy of the three episode series pilot, aka Secret Origins. Within five minutes of getting the press kit, I had the tape already playing in the VCR and myself snuggled on my favorite leather couch, ready to partake in being one of the first people to see the pilot before it hits the air on November 17th. This review will be spoiler free and will be a couple paragraphs of my thoughts. This will not be the review I will be putting online within the next two weeks.
Well....here are my thoughts...
The series opener for Justice League was an enjoyable three part epic series. The visuals were stunning and the designs were pretty good. The voice acting by Kevin Conroy and Micheal Rosenbaum were absolutely flawless. The animation on those characters, as well, was amazing. I love how the animation used a new technique, and even sounds, for Batman. His moviements are quickened a bit and his gadgets (and cape!) make a whole new sound (which'll sound awesome on 5.1 DVD Audio). The Flash was portrayed great. I found him to be my second favorite charcter on the series, behind Batman. Batman and Flash were two characters who almost seemed to be linchpins in the series. We still get Batman's anti-social behaviour yet they also make him a believable team player.
But for all the praises, I have some complaints. First of all - the animation on Superman was really lacking. It seemed during the whole pilot the animators just couldn't animated Superman. Whether it be his face or his sheild. There were scenes where Superman's faced looked awful, sometimes ridiculous. The animators seem to have a difficult time animating the lines on his face. And his "S" sheild was constantly chaging throughout the pilot. On S:TAS you could nitce tweaks and changes now and again on his sheild, but here it was close to distraction! As for the voice - there were times were it seemed like Daly was voicing it! The grunts sound exactly the same and there were scenes when Neubeurn sounded exactly like Daly. Then...there were the painfully obvious times where the new voice just didn't work. The voice will take some getting used to, and was very uneven in the pilot.
Also, the voices for Wonder Woman and Green Lantern also felt odd. Wonder Woman's voice was flat and sometimes devoid of emotions. Not only that, but she said "Hera" at least 4 or 5 times, which quickly grew annoying. There were scenes where Wonder Woman was performing great feets of strenght, yet the voice actress made it sound like she was just lifting a shopping bag. Her screens sometimes didn't work as well. She definatly needs some work. As for Green Lantern - his voice sounded so "Shaft" I was waiting for his "GL's a dirty -- SHUT YO' MOUTH!" theme to start playing behind him. All he was missing was the cliched dialogue. I will admit that there was some great dialogue written for GL, which the Flash played off perfectly.
It's hard to review Hawkgirl becuase she barely spoke. She maybe said twenty words. That's it. But I loved her ferocity. She was brutal and quick. She plowed through villians like nobody's business! I ma gonna definatly like this character. Martian Manhunter was also well done. The voice acting was mostly good, although he seemed to be stuck with some hokey dialogue.
And now the dialogue...well...it was good. I wasn't expecting this show to be the same level of B:TAS or even S:TAS - but the dialogue just seemed groan inducxing from time to time. I found myself actually groaning during random scenes. There's one scene where Batman says "That was close" so off character you'd think it was a different character. The story was good. The villian seemed to lack and real depth. I can't say anything else but you'll see when the pilot airs.
The animation was good, especially on Batman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, and Green Lantern. Dong Yang (KOKO) seemd to really shine on those characters. They made Batman so smoothe and creepy. The way they animated the Flash was ingenious and provided some nice eye candy. Martian Mnahunter just looked awesome. No doubt about it. He just had that creepy sense around him. And GL looked cool as well. The backgrounds were odd from time to time. The computer colored series was overly bright at times, but not as bad as some of the early computer colored Batman Beyond episodes.
So overall I give the pilot a B. There's need for improvement, but the show is off to a great start. The three part opener is not as good as Superman's Last Son Of Krypton, but it is still a great ride. The last twenty minutes are intense!
So...I've rambled on longer than expected...