A thought about "The Enemy Below"

[stwasm]

I was driving to work this morning and something hit me about "The Enemy Below." While we all agree that it was a great episode and, in my mind, one of the best episodes of Justice League to date, in the scene where Aquaman and his son were plunging to their deaths, instead of cutting off his hand, couldn't he have summoned a whale to possibly move them out of harm's way? In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize he hardly used his aquatic telepathy in that episode, save the for the battle against that army.

Any thoughts?

[Joe Wagner]

I'm sure he could have summoned a whale or another sea creature but at the same time it would have been difficult to calculate how long it would take for them to come to their rescue - any time he wasted trying to summon a creature would have been time lost to breaking free.

Another possibility is this - Aquaman has shown that he doesn't like asking for help so it's a possibility that his own arrogance drove him to save his son by himself.

-Joe!

[Martianman606]

I'm with JJWSpider on that one. I think that Aquaman knew that it would take way long to get help from a whale or somethin. He had to do it himself.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

One other thing to consider is that Aquaman is usually reluctant to jeopardize sea life for his own benefit. I don't think he'd have summoned anything to get that close to an open fault line in the ocean.

-- Ed/Ace

[Bleu Unicorn]

I have to agree with everyone here -- first he wouldn't have any idea how long it would take for a sea creature to get to him to save himself and his son. Second is the fact he doesn't want to endanger anyone within his kingdom, sea life is very important to Aquaman, but I have to say that probably the biggest reason is Aquaman's own arrogance. Not that it is a bad thing, per se. But asking for help is a hard thing -- many of our well-known heroes have a serious issue with that one, especially if it entails the help of another hero! Anyway, the scene, obviously, wouldn't have the same impact had he not saved his son himself by sacrifising his hand.

[stwasm]

All of your points are well taken. Believe me, I'm not trying to put down the episode in any way, shape or form. IT was great and intense. It was just something that hit me.

Thanks, everybody!

[Simpler Simon]

something else i noticed about that scene, when Aquaman is talking to Orm, he yanks on the chain, and we see a shot of the bolts prying loose from where it is bolted to the rock. Later, when Aquaman frees himself, the chain snaps at the point where it connects to his wrist. Odd.

[DarkLantern]

Originally posted by CaptainJustice
something else i noticed about that scene, when Aquaman is talking to Orm, he yanks on the chain, and we see a shot of the bolts prying loose from where it is bolted to the rock. Later, when Aquaman frees himself, the chain snaps at the point where it connects to his wrist. Odd.

Actually, you will see that the plate he loosened is fastened back to the rock -- it was one of my many "double takes" on the show (which hopefully will reappear with the new World's Finest page)...

The Dark Lantern
Master of the Double Take

[pseudowudo]

While this is a very interesting observation, here's another, at the very beginning of 'The Enemy Below: Part 1' the nuclear sub that was attacked bore the name:'US.S. Defiant' , which was commanded by an Afro-American Captain. To me, this was a jab at 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (and a very funny one too :D :D ) What do you think?

[stwasm]

Originally posted by pseudowudo
While this is a very interesting observation, here's another, at the very beginning of 'The Enemy Below: Part 1' the nuclear sub that was attacked bore the name:'US.S. Defiant' , which was commanded by an Afro-American Captain. To me, this was a jab at 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (and a very funny one too :D :D ) What do you think?

My goodness, you're right! In fact, his voice was similar to Avery Brooks'! I never thought of that. Good eyes!

[I.R Joey]

I have another question from that same episode regarding J'onn's powers. It seemed that he was perfectly okay swimming outside in the ocean without a face mask, but when he was captured he was endanger of drowning. It's pretty weird that someone can live on a planet like mars for most of their life and then be endanger of drowning.

Does he or doesn't he need an atmosphere?

[Squall]

Yeah, Martian Manhunter needs an atmosphere to breathe, but doesn't require as thick as an atmosphere as Earth has (so he can breathe in places where the atmosphere is too thin for Humans). He would eventually drown, just like the other JL members (he and Superman would last the longest and would be the last two to drown).

As for Aquaman's imprisonment on the cliff, I'm sure that as "the born ruler of Atlantis" his ability to summon marine life was common knowledge to all Atlantians, and Orm took this ability into account when choosing the place he would chain Aquaman up. I don't think there was any marine life around to summon! (I think his telepathy has a range).

[murmur]

The drowning scene is more troubling me for other reasons. I can take for granted that they have a lethal chamber designed especially for surface dwellers (impractical, but we all know how paranoid they are about that). I cannot, however, fathom how they have technology that knocks out the nervous system in such a way that four extremely unique individuals lose the ability to use their superhuman powers. I'm sure they could have come up with something better than "synaptic discharge." Tylenol can affect your synapses too.

It's probably the only thing that really bugged me.

[Robyn]

also that scene played that way gives an excuse for aquaman to get his hook