"Legion of Super-Heroes" UK Airing Talkback (Spoilers)

[ShadowStar]

A great, exciting beginning to the two part finale. Can't wait to catch part two tomorrow at 6pm.

SPOILERS

The episode opens with the Legionairres in the middle of an intense space battle with the Fatal Five. Bouncing Boy monitors the fight from the cruiser, clearly struggling with their demands for orders. He caves in and asks Brainiac 5 to attack one of the Five head on, but the villains have anticipated this and attack Brainy with all their wrath; Saturn Girl rushes to his aid, but the one with the disintegrating touch gets to her first, and both B5 and SG appear on the cruiser screen as terminated. Bouncing Boy urges Triplicate Girl, who's helping him in the ship (as always) to take action and prepare the weaponry elsewhere in the cruiser, but a devestating blast penetrates the walls and eliminates her. Outside, Lightning Lad and the others gradually fall before the Five. Even Superman is taken out, and he falls helplessly, unconscious and dying, through space. The Fatal Five then break into the cruiser and attack the horrified Bouncing Boy. (Opening credits) Before the Five can do him any harm, the simulation ends (that's right, it was a simulation) and Bouncing Boy apologises for his failings. Cosmic Boy and Phantom Girl, who were watching the simulation, resolve to help in the next practice run, and for a moment they all get caught up in a war of words over who has mastered it the most number of times. Bouncing Boy escapes outside while this is going on, and bemoans himself, but Triplicate Girl appears in her three forms to encourage him and mention how he didn't have trouble on their last mission ("Chain of Command"). She tells him that he'll improve in time, and just afterwards, the voice of Brainiac 5 sounds everywhere around them, informing Bouncing Boy that it's time for his first mission as leader.

They all group together and learn that a distress signal has come from a red dwarf planet, since the native moon harbouring incredibly powerful weapons of mass destruction left over from the Great Crisis is experiencing a "break out" of sorts, with one classified weapon on the move inside the complex. Superman remarks that the red dwarf could cause problems for his powers, so Brainiac 5 unveils a special super suit that can protect him from its powerful rays. Arriving on the moon, Bouncing Boy instructs Brainiac 5 to get them past the guard robots, who won't let unauthorise personnel in. Brainy simply powers up, and the robots immediately let them through. Descending down each level of the complex and discovering that they are now locked in, Bouncing Boy instructs different members to patrol different levels of the complex, in order to single the object out. It's not long before a mysterious mechanical probe is soon sighted bypassing each of them, too fast for any of them to stop, growing in size and tearing through every wall. Once it reaches the utmost level, all the Legionnaires group together and a horrified Brainiac 5 stops dead, recognising what it is and instructing the others not to let it reach space. Bouncing Boy orders everyone to attack, but the object unleashes a collection of blasts at once and ascends into space while the Legion recover. Braiiac 5 tells the interested that's it's a Sun Eater, the most powerful weapon in the cosmos.

The Legion pursue it in the cruiser, with Brainia 5 explaining that it has a solid core and molten exterior (or something along those lines). It's heading for the red dwarf that sent the distress signal; Brainy explains some of its history, that it was created by the Controllers as a means of defence that was expected to frighten others into interplanetary peace. But instead, it ended up being used twice, and was deemed too dangerous. They couldn't destroy it, so they had it locked away. During all of this, Ferro Lad looks oddly focused and insists that they must get at it. It emerges that the Sun Eater is solar powered, so the closer it gets to the star, the more powerful it will be, and once it absorbs something and reaches full power, it will be unstoppable. With everyone ready to fight, Bouncing Boy tries to calm his fears, knowing that everything is in his hands. He tells them to attack, but they are all surprised when the Sun Eater starts shooting back at them, since they thought there was nothing inside. The blasts emerging from the Sun-Eaters' outer cloud successfully reach the cruiser, and Triplicate Girl tells Bouncing Boy that they can't propel it any more. As the others strive to shoot at the core, their every effort is thwarted by the blasts coming out of the Sun Eater. Superman uses his x-ray vision to see through the outer cloud, and homes in on the device, but a blast from the Sun Eater disintegrates his costume, and the red radiation removes his powers. As he struggles to breathe, Brainiac 5 rushes over and provides him with an oxygen tank. They all retreat.

Back in the cruiser, Brainiac 5 tells Superman that his powers need to recharge under the light of the regular yellow sun before he can return to the battlefield. Realising that one of the Controllers must be behind the Sun Eater and its attack, the Legionnaires speculate as to why one of the race that had it locked up would want it loose again. Brainiac 5 explains that the Controllers have blurred motives (or something like that). Bouncing Boy instructs the others to make repairs and mount and offensive against the Sun Eater, and everyone simply stares at him. Superman tells him that they should be looking to find out about the Controllers (something like that), and while the others try to sway Bouncing Boy, Triplicate Girl hands Superman a screwdriver and instructs him to make repairs several floors down; he insists that he donesn't know anything that would help, but she is adamant that the screwdriver is all he needs. While down there, Superman notices an unusual presence nearby and grabs a weapon, pursuing a creature protected by a cloaking device into a huge chamber. He attacks it, and the creature unshields itself. It is a mechanical being, which he is useless against due to his removed powers. Beofe it can finish him off, Brainiac 5 stops it in its tracks and tells him that they were able to find him because Bouncing Boy listened to his protests and had them run a full scan of the ship in case the Sun Eater had released any other cloaked weapons against them; thereby, they were able to locate him in time.

It also turns out that Ferro Lad has a plan for how to stop the Sun Eater. With repairs made and the creature determined to be a Controller drone, the Legionnaires catch up with the Sun Eater and prepare to attack, having summoned every member we've seen up to now to their aid. However, it has expanded in size and once they come close to it, dozens of drones unshield themselves and start attacking the Legionnaires in space. Staurn Girl links her mind up with Brainiac 5, who channels it into the core of the Sun Eater and convinces it that the red dwarf has vanished. The Sun Eater then starts moving towards Sun Boy, and while Phantom Girl phases herself through the outer cloud and stops on top of the core; she operates her belt and tells them to lock on to her, so that they can shoot the core. On the roof of the cruiser, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy attempt to channell all their power into Ferro Lad, who plans to channel both lots at once at the core of the Sun Eater. But he absorbs too much power at once and misses the core narrowly, stumbling under the stress after taking aim. Blaming himself for the failure, there is hardly any time to react before the Sun Eater collides with the red dwarf, absorbing it completely before eveyones eyes and knocking everyone flat with an enormous wave of radiation. When power comes back online, they contemplate what they can do next, and Brainiac 5 reveals that the Sun Eater is now on a collision course with Earth.

END SPOILERS

[Jack Frenzy]

Thanks for the spoilers -- I can't wait to see it!

So, I take it Bouncing Boy's having some trouble adjusting to his new leadership role? I hope they aren't setting him up for a fall. The fact that he listened to Brainy's "protests" suggests that he's smart enough to listen.

I'm a little fuzzy on your description of the Sun-Eater. Does it appear as a cloud, like in the comics, or as a mechanical device with a cloud-like halo?

[CapdCrusader376]

Thanks for the review and the spoilers, cant wait for your review on Part 2

[shining knight]

I'm a little fuzzy on your description of the Sun-Eater. Does it appear as a cloud, like in the comics, or as a mechanical device with a cloud-like halo?

Its a mechanical device with a cloud like outer halo.

Part two was just on with a shocking ending...unless you are familiar with the comics.

[Jack Frenzy]

Originally Posted by shining knight

Part two was just on with a shocking ending...unless you are familiar with the comics.

They actually did it? I was hoping they would, but I expected the censors to block it. Did we get any backstory on Ferro Lad?

[shining knight]

Yes they actually did it but there was no backstory on ferro lad.

Apeearances from shrinking violet, blok, ultra boy, the substitutes, star boy, matter eater lad, dream girl and possibly others as well

[ShadowStar]

Wow. An excellent finish. Maybe the best episode yet.

SPOILERS

The episode opens with a recap of part 1, along with dialogue from "Man of Tomorrow" (regarding the Fatal Five) and clips from "Chain of Command". We then see the Legionnaires in the cruiser wondering what they're going to do next; all of their resources have been exhausted and even with the entire Legion at their disposal, they're useless when it comes to stopping the Sun Eater. But Bouncing Boy has a suggestion. We next see Superman, Phantom Girl and Saturn Girl breaking into a prison planet. When they come to a stop at some monitors, they see each of the Fatal Five in isolated cells, and wonder how it has come to this. (Opening credits) Shrinking Violet helps them disable the security system, and they rush past countless cells. Superman stops dead in front of one, and he is looking at none other than Alexis; she says nothing, merely sticking her tongue out at him. He then leaves her. The three find and negotiate with Emerald Empress, who tells them that they'll help as long as they can have their weapons too. However, once freed and in possession of their weapons, the Five look as though they'll turn on the Legion. It's only one freeing another from his shackles though, and Empress reminds her teammates that it's a temporary truce; one of the others is quick to remind the Legion that all bets are off afterwards, but Phantom Girl persists that when that happens, they'll have them imprisoned again.

The Legion and the Five all group together in what appears to be the hanger of the cruiser, and tensions are running high. But Bouncing Boy appears with Brainiac 5 to explain the plan and keep them in check. Brainy explains that they need to make a solar transducer, which will cause the Sun Eater to eat away at itself if they can feed it into the core. Members of the Five are skeptical and tell that making one of them would take months, but Brainy insists that by all working together, they can make one in time. Bouncing Boy then separates them all into groups and sends them all to different places in the galaxy with different objectives, in order to gather the necessary materials. Supermans task comes last, and Bouncing Boy tells him that it's the hardest of all. His task is to find the Controller behind the Sun Eater, and stop him. Setting off in a smaller cruiser, Superman travels away with various devices that will lead him to the Controller in his possession. Talking to him via a hologram, Brainiac 5 tells him that he has included a time travel bubble for Superman to return home, in case the Legion fail. Superman persists that won't need it, and eventually abandons the ship to search the void of space with his infra-red vision. Sure enough, he quickly finds a lone space ship moving along by itself, and goes to investigate. Inside the Controllers ship, he notices that Superman is approaching and appears unthreatened, remarking that his kind have always been trouble.

Elsewhere, the work on the solar transfuser is going well, despite the Five telling the Legionnaires that they're facing certain destruction, amongst other things. When it is completed, they all gather in their positions chosen by Bouncing Boy, and they attack in formation, with the Empress holding back the cloud while several others descend onto the core and begin working away at it. The list of characters attacking in certain ways is endless, so I won't even try to describe it all. However, the drones have multiplied and are attacking dozens of the Legionnaires. Eventually, they are unable to hold them back and the Empress is distracted, so she is no longer able to hold back the cloud and the members working on destroying the core within are bloacked off. With the core successfully rewired by the designated characters (like Matter Eater Lad), Brainiac 5 releases the fully charged solar transfuser. The members stuck between the cloud and the core are rescued in time by Timber Wolf, who's in a cruiser. As everyone watches to see what happens next, Saturn Girl catches a telepathic glimpse of the dozens of Legionnaires in space captured in a green glow, just in time for the Fatal Five to descend and betray them. They explain that they plan to steal the cruiser to get themselves as far away as possible, leaving the Legionnaires to die in the solar explosion. But suddenly the Empress' giant eye malfunctions and Shrinking Violet jumps out of it. Then a force field descends on the Five, trapping them, and Bouncing Boy reveals that he was prepared for this scenario. He's a fine leader after all. Just then, the solar transducer connects with the Sun Eater, but nothing happens. Brainiac 5 realises that the problem was a design fault.

On the Controllers cruise ship, the door opens automatically for Superman, who enters and sees a holographic simulation. The Controller immediately drops the act and reveals himself, explaining that Superman should be honoured to see the inside of the craft. The Controller explains that he doesn't like the United Planets, and he hates the peace that the rest of his people promote, preferring chaos instead. He persists that true order will be achieved when the Sun Eater destroys the solar system with Earth in it. He then drops his force field, deciding to entertain Supermans' "primitive" choice of fighting. He dons an enormous suit of armour, and immediately begins fighting, appearing to take an early lead in the fight. The Controller boasts that he and his weapon can't be stopped, so Superman destroys the ship from within, blowing up nearly every monitor while the Controller screams at him to stop.

Back in the cruiser, Ferro Lad sneaks out while the others are trying to work out their next move. He begins to fly towards the Sun Eater, having heard that the problem can only be amended by a replacement conductor. The others spot him soaring towards it on the monitor and try to reason with him over intercom, but he persists that he knows what he's doing and won't fail again. Fighting his way to the core, past countless drones, Ferro Lad reaches inside the gap the others created and, having turned himself metal, grabs the loose cords, saying "Long live the Legion". As everyone watches helplessly, the Sun Eater explodes a shocking distance from the Sun.

In the Controllers ship, the villain tells Superman that although he lost his weapon, they lost a friend. Superman attacks him with renewed ferocity and removes the armour from the villain by hand. The Controller desperately starts pressing emergency switches, and after a string of failed escape attempts, he successfully activates a portal. He tells Superman that they have impressed him, but as he jumps through, Superman grabs him and tells him that if he ever returns, they'll finish their business. He then throws the Controller through the portal, and as the cruiser blows up, he flies away. Back at Legion HQ, he gives a speech in memory of Ferro Lad to all the Legionnaires, then later activates the time bubble Brainiac 5 gave him earlier in front of the few he knew from the beginning and they bid him farewell, wishing hime luck with his Metropolis job; he hints that he may come back at the exact moment he left, thus showing that he can return of his own free will. Stepping through, he arrives in the house in time to hear his mother calling him for dinner, and he recites Bouncing Boys line from "Man of Tomorrow", changing back to Kent and going downstairs, while the Legion ring rests on top of the open suitcase, and glistens in the light.

END SPOILERS