Tuesday, January 31, 2006

So apparently it's highly likely that JLU has been cancelled. Part of me feels shorted that JLU didn't get the average animated episode count of 52 episodes, while the other part of me feels like when the writers thought that last season was the end, they gave us the perfect finish, and the 13 new episodes this season are just icing on the cake. There are 5 more episodes this season, that I've yet to see, and they all sound awesome.

Ok, I'm back to feeling shorted. The show is apparently ending because of a series of character embargos that have been placed on the series over the years. When Justice League first aired, they were able to bring on just about any character that they wanted to, and did. As the show progressed, and JLU began, things began to change. They had to stop using Batman's villains & Batgirl was fobidden because of "The Batman" & "Batman Begins"; they couldn't use Robin because of "Teen Titans"; they had to stop using Aquaman because of his appearance in "Smallville", and a proposed film, which will has since morphed into a new CW TV Series. They were somehow still able to use Batman himself; possibly because the JLU Batman is a continuation of the '92 animated Batman who is widely sited as the best representation of the character, ever. But with "The Batman" & and new a Batman movie in the works, plus "Superman Returns" & a new Joss directed Wonder Woman movie, it would appear that the once unlimited number of characters they could use on JLU is beginning to dwindle. This is really, really sad, as JL/JLU has proven to be the hub of the DCAU. It has featured crossovers with "Batman", "Superman", "Lobo", "Static Shock", & "Batman Beyond", while referencing "The Zeta Project" & "Gotham Girls". Plus the sheer number of D.C. characters they were able to portray as part of the League was astonishing, and had the potential of becoming a kind of DCAU variety show with stories that were/are unlikely to be told in any other series/film. erg. I'm so bummed.

There is a new Legion of Superheroes series in the works, but it's unknown at this time, if it's part of the DCAU, or something like "The Batman" or "Teen Titans" - which are both D.C. properties, that don't seem to take place in the same universe as JLU. I hope it's a continuation of the DCAU as we know it. There was a LOSH episode of Superman ("New Kids In Town"), and there will be a new LOSH episode among the last 4 of JLU ("Far From Home"); it would seem like a perfect springboard for a new animated series - a series set so far in the future, and with characters that few people in the mainstream even know about that the possibility of character embargos would be slim to none.

Anyways...blah. Most animated universes don't get to live this long I suppose, and I should be grateful but I'm selfish, and I don't want it to end! It breaks down, something like this:

91 episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.
that includes Mask of the Phantasm & Subzero as 3 part episodes of the series.

28 episodes of The New Batman Adventures.
that includes Mystery of the Batwoman as a 3 part episode of the series, + the Catwoman short "Chase Me".

54 episodes of Superman: The Anmated Series. There's a new Superman DTV in the works called Superman: Brainiac Attacks, and though it features the character designs from the the original series, and the voice actors for Superman & Lois, it's unknown how this will actualy fit in with the rest of the series - if it does fit in, then that would bring the series total to 57 episodes (to my way of thinking of it).

52 Episodes of Static Shock.
55 episodes of Batman Beyond.
that includes Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" as a 3 part episode of the series.

15 Lobe Webisodes.
30 Gotham Girls Webisodes.
52 Justice League Episodes.
39 Justice League Unlimited Episodes.

That's 416 episodes. (or 419 if the Superman DTV fits in). I like to think there will be at least one more DCAU DTV from these combined series. And hopefully the new Legion show, or some other spin-off will continue to expand this universe of possibilities.

   posted by Bald Jason at 06:59 AM
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Just got done watching the new JLU. It was awesome! Not only was there a continuation of the Legion of Doom plot, but there were returning characters Vixen, Fire, Black Canary, Question, Huntress, & Roulette! Plus we got to meet a LOD guy named Sonar, that I'd never even heard of before, though he's been seen a couple of times. There were tons of amazing things in this episode, but the one that made me scream like a little girl, and then call people to tell them about was the location of the new Metabrawl: it was in Bludhaven(!?!) and there was a shot of fricking NIGHTWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a shame that the show is ending, when a new season could have possibly given us the real Nightwing episode of the DCAU I've been dying to see since the multiple references to him in Batman Beyond. Wow. I'm super-geeked, and there are still 4 more episodes to go; the next one features the Legion of Superheroes, and looks stunning; the one after that would seem to wrapup the GL/Vixen/Shayera/Hawkman thing, which is HUGE, and the final 2 wrap up the LOD storyline. Grrrrr. These last 4 episodes will probably be aired in the UK within the next 2 weeks. Hopefully they end the series with the big finish that it deserves (and actually got last season).

   posted by Bald Jason at 09:24 AM
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