Justice League Season Two on DVD

It comes just in time for “Superman Returns,” the long awaited theatrical icon flying on the big screens. It’s no surprise that the excellent cartoon series “Justice League” makes it to a 4-DVD collection on June20.

I used to have the Cartoon Network a few years ago when they were regularly showed Justice League. I stopped. Not because I got bored. Not because I turned to something else on TV. Cable was getting too costly. I hate expenses.

So I didn’t get to see Justice League season two. I missed out a lot. It’s good to have DVDs. I had some some catching up to do. Twenty-six episodes in fact.

Season two picks up where the previous chapter left off. Some subtle differences. The stories are tighter, the characters more driven. The animation is... amazing. Computer graphics mesh with the usual animation in a visual treat. Season two of Justice League blows open the doors.

I really like this stuff. It makes me care about the characters again. It’s difficult when you get seven different iconic heroes, each different from the other, but this show manages to bring each into the spotlight. Over and over again. Everyone has their own story arcs which follows with plot twists. You learn something about these characters. And the problems that arise which makes them superheroes.

I follow these cartoons mainly for one thing… the Batman. His dark, mysterious persona, against the backdrop of a lonely life, sets the mood for the series. Kevin Conroy provides the voice here. Which I like. He’s got a grainy, authoritative tone that is like crushed glass. His voice recognizable.

Kevin Conroy is Batman. He’s given the character a life throughout the “Batman Animated series” during the 90s and as the aging, bitter Bruce Wayne in “Batman Beyond.” He’s probably done at least ten seasons worth. There’s a consistency. No one else can do the voice. Conroy owns it.

The problem with the previous season (and my only complaint) is that Superman seems to a bit weak. He’s supposed to be, well… Superman. Yet this season two shows a more powerful Superman. He kicks ass here. He even headbutts someone… which is usually Batman’s move. Superman excels as the one hero who is a symbol… bigger, grander than everything… he represents America. Not bad for a boy who grew up on a farm in Kansas.

There’s an interesting story about the Green Lantern Corps in “Hearts and Minds”… you learn more about the Lantern history which stretches far back. And there are other Lanterns who give their own lives to make good just as John Stewart would. They're a military group very much like Hawkgirl’s species. A favorite episode of mine is “Maid of Honor” which continues to explore the relationship between Batman and Wonder Woman. I really like those scenes which revolve around Bruce Wayne… seeing Batman outside of the suit brings an earthly quality to the series.

The animation is well done throughout… which is obviously inspired by Japanese animation. The drawings are sleeker, finer, with plenty of shadows to define their features. They’re well matched with the strong stories… much bigger stories. Often they bring back the muli-pieced Injustice League led by mastermind Lex Luthor. Even he has his many moments… such as “Tabula Rasa” and also he brings a moment of comfort to Lois after learning Superman’s apparent death. These confined moments make the series thrive. The writing makes it worth seeing.

And continue on for the last episode “Starcrossed” which could very easily end the series as a Justice League member leaves on bad terms. I won’t tell you which one. But it could make for a good final chapter, a memorable story. But the series hits its target every time with excellent quality. A super addition to any cartoon enthusiast’s collection.

Westerns and Spies

On my way back home to Oshkosh via highway 41, I stopped by Wal-Mart Saturday night to take a look around. (Yeah, I’m feeling un-American buying something from that pithole). But buy I did.

Last Tuesday was the release date for the first season of the classic series Wild, Wild West. I’m not talking about the crappy movie version with Will Smith and Kevin Klein. Nope. This is the real deal.

I didn’t know about its release at the time. I pried it out of the Wal-Mart shelves for a hefty price of $31.

This is the best of the best in classic science-fiction during the 1960s. The first season was filmed entirely in B&W. But don’t let that bother you. The stories are the strongest here. Every episode is well-crafted with a solid plot and a memorial villain. There’s plenty of horses, stagecoaches and gunfights.

The real twist are the gadgets they used in the series… clever things. It could be a fold-up derringer or smoke bombs. Taking the trend of 007 Bond movies, the series mixes it up with a western setting during the Reconstruction era.

The United States was still a young country. It was trailing behind the heels of the recent assassination of a Civil War president. The secret service had a job of protecting the current president.

The series, especially its first year, sets up the tone. Espionage plays a huge part in some government conspiracies--usually someone wanting to take over part of the United States. It was a gimmick that paid off. The villians were memorial. The stories took a strange life of their own.

It’s hard to choose which episodes jump out and grab you. All 28 episodes excels. “Night of the Red-Eyed Madman” was a pretty good one with Martin Landau as the crazed secret society leader. “Night of the Human Trigger” has Burgess Meredith as a scientist creating earthquakes from explosives. One of my all-time favorites is “Night of the Burning Diamond”--where the culprit discovers a way to slow down time by taking a formula. Another one called “The Night of a Thousand Eyes” was about a former ship captain, blind from an accident, who uses his agents as “eyes” to take control of the Mississippi river. The ideas are fantastic, getting more bizzare. The series worked with its creative surge of stories.

No one can forget the diminutive Dr. Loveless and his larger-than-life conquest of the States. His bombastic point-of-view was always a great contrast to the reasonable James West.

What also helps are the two leads. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin are terrific as secret service agents James West and Artemus Gordon working for President Ulysses S. Grant. Their on-screen chemistry is always on target.

Conrad does his own stunts which strikes up the show’s believability. It brings in a huge portion of action. Not very many TV shows at its time starts off with a real puncher like “…Red-Eyed Madman.” The series makes its own distinctive style. Conrad was a black belt martial arts expert… watch as Conrad jumps into a stance in his fights as he composes himself.

The role of Artemus Gordon was specifically written for Ross Martin. Because of his poor heart condition, he was never up for a lead role in any movies or TV spots. The series gave Martin a chance to shine as the man of disguise. Martin was very intelligent as he once studied law practice and decided to become an actor. He had a 160 IQ and was an accomplished violist. He was also fluent in a dozen languages. His talents were endless.

He was more than a sidewalk. He was an equal to West.

If this is going to be the only DVD set of the Wild, Wild West to come out, I would be happy with it. The B&W season is a welcome foray into the science-fiction realm as it broke new grounds for television. I’d like to see more of the series come out… people need to be aware that there’s still some good television. Wild, Wild West is a shoot-em-up classic.

Doctor Who Season 18

A new beginning. A different era. The stylish, artistic atmosphere defined season eighteen's glossier looks. No more silliness that seemed to detract, even dominate, the stories of the previous year. The series took a hard roundabout into what was most important in Doctor Who… ideas.

Many viewers had issues about the run of stories for Tom Baker’s final year. That the stories were very difficult and they took themselves too seriously. Newcomer script editor Christopher H. Bidmead brought more science-fiction elements into the scripts that badly needed another fuel injection of ideas.

Thankfully the opening story “The Leisure Hive” was an example of the great things to come. Things were finally back on track.

Decay could be seen everywhere throughout the season. You see it in David Fisher’s story that’s set on the planet Argolis that still survived after a twenty minute nuclear bombardment between the planet‘s natives and the Foamasi. Entrophy also appeared in “Full Circle” and of course “Logopolis” leading to the final moments of Baker’s Doctor when he sacrificed his life to stop the collapse of the universe.

Even the excellent vampire story “State of Decay” has intertwining moments of entropy… where nothing lasts forever. Even if you’re vampires.

“The Leisure Hive” began with a different feel for the series… a pacier, more visual feast filled with vibrant colors. The first few moments of the story set the tone for the rest of the story. Even Tom Baker’s acting took on a more somber note.

Baker was the finest Doctor to make it to the small screen. His acting abilities conveyed a range of emotions suitable for the character. His brooding nature proved in both “Leisure Hive” and the following story “Meglos” prove inspiring. Even if make-up was required.

You saw him in films like “Nicholas and Alexandra” and “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.” Baker brought a pinnacle of chilling atmosphere in the stories. It's his piercing eyes.

When Baker was applied to make-up to look like a Time-Lord who aged some five hundred years in “Leisure Hive,” he acted just the part. He looked weary, older, abandoned of cheerful life. It was a distinct characteristic. And Baker pulled it off nicely. My favorite Doctor Who of all time.

Another brilliant segment of season eighteen was “The Warrior’s Gate.” A story that is very complex and complete with great visuals. There is the thread of decay in this story again.

We find a race of lion people are a dying breed, wasting away… once proud warriors now reduced to slaves. They were going through a stage of decay: where their civilization crumbled into ruins.

Lalla Ward had a good number of stories this season as she played companion Romana. She served best in “The Leisure Hive” and “The Warrior’s Gate.” Her departure was very sudden, well-written. A good leave for her.

“The Keeper of Traken” was the second to last of the Baker stories. This was a kind of fairy tale that as well written by Johnny Byrne. Again the story centers on death and decay as we find out an old nemesis the Master returns in a very decriptic form. He is a ghastly shell of his former self. But desperate enough to find another body to take possession of.

This story begins three-part arc of three serials featuring Anthony Ainley whose body subsequently becomes the host for the newly revived Master.

Some people complained the stories were style over substance. Well screw them, I say. These stories remained a pinnacle of writing thanks to the strong editing hand of Christopher H. Bidmead. Science-fiction is always about ideas. Anything less would be a farce. Watching these stories is very mind-bending… they make you think.

And change is needed for an old tradition to survive. The newest producer ushered in to save the series did just that. And season eighteen was the best season produced by John Nathan Turner. Doctor Who was no longer a cold spell for viewers.

Queer as Folk

There was a fight in Washington D.C. a couple of weeks ago. It could’ve been like a fist fight on the school playground. That would’ve been bloody interesting. Senators Russ Feingold and Arlen Specter had an argument over the sanctity of gay marriages.

Feingold wasn’t opposed to it. Specter was. They had a falling out. As Feingold left the table, Specter said, “Ah, you’re leaving. Good riddance.” Feingold told the guy off. Good for him. Specter, like so many, can be ignorant.

Not many people realize that the gay community contributed much to the literary and historical context of society. People like Truman Capote, David Bowie, William S. Burroughs, and Oscar Wilde. Many of them are songwriters, actors of the entertainment medium trade. Wasn‘t Eleanor Roosevelt also gay too? So you find them in politics too.

That their sexual orientation shouldn’t matter. They still managed to contribute some good to society. Yet they’re still being persecuted.

However there might be some people out there you didn’t know was gay. You may be surprised.

Graham Chapman. Best known for his role in the Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He’s no dummy either. He earned an M.D. in practicing medicine, though he got interested in comedy right up the start. He had a knack for it. Some gay people have a remarkable creative output. Chapman certainly did.

He had brilliantly silly faces. He’s one of the funnier Pythons. You couldn’t help have a smile every time he put on one of those ridiculous drag outfits. One of his characters he did on Monty Python was the “Colonel.” He played it as a stiff, upper-lip military type who often walked in the middle of scenes to put a stop to silliness.

Chapman wrote together with John Cleese to put out an amazing number of sketches for the series. Some of them Chapman would lampoon his own days as a physician. It still blows my mind that this guy wanted to be a doctor at first, then decided that being silly might be more profitable.

Part of the success for “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Life of Brian” was due to his excellent central performances. He played the lead part in both films. And he was brilliant in them. Despite being a straight man to the other Pythons in these films, he was still exceedingly comic.

The fact that he was gay had nothing to do with the way he was able to perform comedy. The public need to learn how to separate someone’s personal life and his work as a performer.
The sad fact is: people still mix the two things together. They shouldn’t. They should learn how to be more accepting.

People may have forgotten that is was a gay writer who brought back the Doctor Who series from limbo to become the most steadfastly popular series in England: Russell T. Davies was behind one of the most brilliant revivals of an old-time TV show. Not only that, he infused an incredible dramatic writing style into the stories. He turned a show that was once dead and made it into another BCC tradition on Saturday nights again.

Davies has a strong hand in the series' progression. He brings in a number of talented writers to create the series' direction.

He is very outward about being gay. In a news article for the British “SFX“ magazine , he was quoted as saying, “I know I’m gay. Now f---k off!” He’s not to be trifled with.

But again, someone’s personal life shouldn’t have to be dragged into the constant probing of today’s media mess. He breaks new ground with his television stories. And that should be noted. And I thank him for bringing back one of my all-time favorite shows on TV.

While I’m not a big fan of the more flamboyant homosexuals such as Elton John who might as well wear a party hat and high stiletto shoes (I can’t stand the guy, but do like his music), I’m willing to look the other way and not worry making a fuss over many gays.

I could care less what they do in their own time. And there are many who contributed a great deal to literature and TV. It’s an issue that shouldn’t be dwelled on. Let’s move on to more important things.

X Mess

X-Men 3 is a mess.

There’s plenty of ideas going on in the film. A thread of potential plays itself out through the story. It’s got enough material for two different films. But it’s without focus. It feels like it goes on many tangents.

Part of the problem is the horde of characters nabbing at the spotlight. There’s too many characters and not enough development. Not even Wolverine, well played by Hugh Jackman, the central character for the previous films, can sink his claws into this one.

So he’s pushed into the sideline for some of the greater, more important issues: Jean Grey’s seemingly Christ-like revival, the supposed cure for the mutant virus and the introduction of several new characters.

Not enough spotlight for any of the characters. There’s no solid flow to the story. It’s like everything is being shot from different angles. And nothing ties it together.

They’re trying to wrap up too much in too short a period of time.

A few major characters get killed off during this film. It’s generally not a good idea to kill off someone for the sake of getting an emotional response in the story. That’s happened too often in the TV series X-Files: you can’t get attached to any of the characters because someone gets knocked off every year in the series.

James Marsden’s Cyclops is wasted in this film. He only has a couple of scenes in the film before he is bumped off. That’s too bad because his character has a lot of potential in X-Men 3. We could’ve seen him vying for Jean’s affection alongside Wolverine. It might’ve been a possible, and interesting, love triangle going on. Instead, his acting talents is pushed aside.

And who is given more of the scenes? The sinking ship of t
his film is caused by Halle Berry’s much public-dispute about wanting more scenes. Or else she’s not doing the flick. I think the director should’ve just gotten rid of her the same way he did the Nightcrawler character. (Which was unfortunate). She does a lot of flying around. Whoopie-de-do.

Though she is stepping up to the plate after Professor X’s demise. I would’ve preferred to see Patrick Stewart’s strong presence, his stalwart calmness to Berry’s awkward scenes. She remains the albatross in this film’s spiral into self-destruction.

Some of the more embarrassing moments are given to Vinnie Jones’ Juggernaut. His high-pitched squeal of a voice sounds like it belongs to a comic foray instead of a serious, literary film. His line “I need to go pee” tops the garbage list. Some villain he turned out to be. I think I need to go pee too.

The film seems so pointless. A cure that doesn’t seem like a cure. The mutant powers are suppressed. That means they can come back anytime. X-Men 3 should’ve gravitated more around the Jean Grey character. I mean, that’s what the film is supposed to be about. The rising of the phoenix. The bringer of life and death.

Not all of the film is terrible. I really liked the welcome addition of Kitty Pryde. A very beautiful girl who gets some good scenes. The bit with her racing against the Juggernaut to save a mutant is a bright, funny shuffle.

The first scene with a younger Professor X and Magneto elegantly performed by Ian McKellan coming to visit the quiet, unassuming neighborhood where Jean Grey resided as a child… that was a very touching moment. Too bad there weren’t more scenes like that.

It’s too bad the film didn’t focus more on Jean Grey, Wolverine and Cyclops. That would be a very momentous, moody story with plenty of heartbreak. Instead the film takes off into a meandering squabble.

I was hoping for more in X-Men 3. I would’ve liked a story with more soul to it. I’m fascinated by the whole idea of people who are outsiders in society and learning to co-exist. The film could’ve been about discovery of human emotions. But it was two hours packed with many ideas about nothing.