BT retrospective at the Egyptian (possible spoilers)

[Devils_Advocate]

I just returned home from the BT retrospective at the Egyptian theatres. It ended about 20 minutes ago.

4 Episodes were shown

1) Over the Edge from Batman: TAS (New Adventures)
2) Splicers from Batman Beyond (this one appeared to give BT a creative outlet from his apparent fascination with the big “B”.
3) My Girl from Superman (this happens to be my favorite Superman epi…so far anyway as I have yet to see the epis that will appear on Vol. 3)
4) Patriot Act from JLU. It was a treat to see an epi yet to be shown in the U.S.

After the epis, there was a question/answer session.

Someone in the audience asked about whether JLU has been cancelled. He could not confirm nor deny but he did state that there is no production since the last 13 epis. It was unlikely but there is always a remote chance. He said that if it did not come back, he was not too disappointed, it was getting harder to come up with new stories that were not redundant. He did state that he is not retiring (being too young and all) and he is working on some ideas for DTV. It appears some which will be new product.

Someone asked about whether the American market would ever be ready for an adult super hero cartoon. He was not certain on this but did not think it was not necessarily needed as language and sexiness was not necessary. All I can say is that the sexiness is already in place and I can not imagine what an adult orient cartoon could add but nudity on this part. When I dressed up as Huntress for Halloween and showed my parents, my father asked if I was going for a new career as a street walker. Also I shocked the people at work, they weren’t used to seeing the general counsel in anything remotely risqué (won best costume though).

It was overall a fun evening and I enjoyed seeing the epis on large screen. Now if only I can have the one burning question answered: Why aren't the episodes of JLU done in surround sound????.

D_A

[Crow]

What were some of the other questions unrelated to JLU seasons?

[Brainiac]

I also just got back from the Bruce Timm A-Go-Go tribute at the Egyptian--it was pretty damn awesome.

It was a pretty intimate crowd (not to say that there weren't a lot of people), and if you scanned the left side of the room it was pretty much a who's who of DCAU production including Dwayne McDuffie, James Tucker, Dan Riba, Glen Murakami...not to mention Bruce Timm's wife! Apparently Chris Carter and another composer from DCAU (I'm blanking on his/her name right now...not Shirley Walker) were in the crowd, as well.

The screenings were a lot of fun, and after the four episodes we got a really special treat: a scene from "Joker's Favor" where the Joker confronts Charlie in the woods at the beginning of the episode. The treat? It was with the original Tim Curry voiceover. It was certainly...different. I can see why they switched voice actors. Still, really awesome to see something like that.

Most of the questions were pretty basic and most of the answers were things we've all heard before in some form or another ("Tell us why you changed the character models!" etc.)

One random/interesting question had to do with how they chose to cast Ed Asner as Granny Goodness. Timm said that originally they had Bea Arthur (!) in mind, but they thought they couldn't get her. After seeing an episode of "The Man From UNCLE" with an elderly cross-dressing Boris Karloff, he had the idea of casting a man...and Asner jumped at it when offered.

Other than that, Justice League is pretty much cancelled without officially being cancelled (no suprise there, sadly). Otherwise, he said that the JL team is split up working on new TV properties and DTV's that are new properties (i.e. not anything with characters used before).

I got to briefly meet good ol' B.T. afterwards and got him to sign my Batman Animated book (he even drew a little Batman, what a cool guy).

It was a really great night, and I'm glad I was lucky enough to attend.

-Brainiac

[Devils_Advocate]

What were some of the other questions unrelated to JLU seasons?

Someone asked what does BT use for motivation when he lacks inspiration. BT stated that he was inspired by the Grant Morrison run of X-men and the Authority. I can’t remember the name of the writer that he mentioned for the Authority. He then raved about Joss Whedon and that the discovery of the Buffy DVDs was inspirational. Nothing is untouchable for Whedon. This is something we all know to be true.

The first comic that he states started his love for comics was a Spiderman comic. He remembers how dark the costume was. He does not remember the issue. It was his older bros comic. Comics were a luxury in his home and there were not many.

He was asked if the directors and animation studios were arbitrary. The answer basically was yes. If there were a couple epis done at the same time, the better epi, he would send to the better animation studio. With respect to directors, the exception was Kevin Alterie loves Ras Al Ghul. He therefore was given the Ras Al Ghul epis to direct as he begged for them.

Someone mentioned Balzac and vengeance and if the concept of Vigilantism was a constant concept influencing the shows. BT stated that the cartoons generally can not be taken that seriously. After all, the characters wear their underwear on the outside.

These are the only ones I can think of at the moment.

D_A

[Crow]

Thanks DA. I should realise how annoying it is when you just walk out of something like this and people start probing you for info, it's hard to recall of it so soon. Sorry!

[John Cage]

The screenings were a lot of fun, and after the four episodes we got a really special treat: a scene from "Joker's Favor" where the Joker confronts Charlie in the woods at the beginning of the episode. The treat? It was with the original Tim Curry voiceover. It was certainly...different. I can see why they switched voice actors. Still, really awesome to see something like that.

Wow. That sounds like such a weird, cool thing to see. I wish they could've put something like that on a DVD. Sounds like it was great.

Have a good day.
John Cage

[Revelator]

Bea Arthur sounds like a logical choice for Granny Goodness. Asner was an inspired substitute. And those new properties with new characters sound tantalizing. Will Timm and company be moving out of the DC universe? Sounds like it. Part of me hopes that since JLU seems dead for now, perhaps it will simply go into hibernation and then be resurrected a few years later in a slightly tweaked format, as in the case of BTAS transforming into TNBA. Unlikely, but we could always hope. I can understand the difficulty of coming up with non-redundant storylines, but the show could always revert to an Adventures in the DC Universe anthology format, where the actual league took a very distant backseat to profiles of individual heroes.

[I.R Joey]

So wait am I to assume that there were no episodes from the original B:TAS run on Fox kids? Not even critically applauded stuff like "Heart of Ice?"

[Brainiac]

So wait am I to assume that there were no episodes from the original B:TAS run on Fox kids? Not even critically applauded stuff like "Heart of Ice?"

Nope--it was just one episode per each series (grouping BTAS/TNBA and JL/JLU in the same boat).

I think they chose "Over the Edge" instead of something like "Heart of Ice" mostly so the four episodes had some sort of flow. The visual style of TNBA through JL(U) is very consistent even though it changes slightly here and there in terms of detail.

BTAS just looks a whole lot different than the other shows, and since they only had the time for 4 episodes, I think TNBA fit the bill in terms of making a smooth transition between shows. Plus, that episode is one hell of a way to kick off an event.

-Brainiac

[Silly McGooses]

Were there a lot of people?
Sounded like fun! I wish I could've gone!