Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Time Out of Joint

Not quite as good as the Clock King's debut, this follow up was another delight. Time manipulation is the perfect ability for the royal keeper of minutes and seeing Batman infused with Flash-like abilities due to his time accelerator was a bit of fun. Too bad Clock King never really caught on.

 
-----
Episode Count: 0602
Series Count: (68 of 81)

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Big Scoop

Time travel? My favorite! The plot centered on a device that could see 1 hour into the future, unfortunately, the scientists who invented it didn't anticipate using it as its own security system. Lexy baby used it to cause all sorts of trouble, but somehow Superman still managed to reclaim his exposed identity thanks to a very lifelike mask.

Super History of Superman: Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)

Perhaps its a tribute to the Man of Steel that a world without Superman is as bleak as that depicted in The Flashpoint Paradox. On the other hand, its a bit depressing seeing the anemic results of government program Project Superman.

War of the Justice Leagues: DC's Newest, Ranked

The League Double Header

 We are going to try something a little different this time seeing as how, oddly, two Justice League movies were released on the same day. Perhaps it made sense for a simultaneous release since one was released ubiquitously via iTunes only (for the next two weeks at least) and the other was released in sort of the opposite way, in a single brick and mortar chain without promotion as a "stealth release." Maybe the logic was that the two were not cannibalizing each other's sales since they were targeting different distribution streams or demographics. Well, jokes on them because I got both! On to the reviews.

Let’s just say, live action quagmire aside, it’s a good time to be a fan of DC movies. In fact, both movies were enjoyable, with their own shining points. Rather than declaring one the victor, I will lay out a few notes for each. In the end both deserve their place in the solid middle of the impressive pack of DC animated films.

  

-Tone-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - Light, a la JLU season 3 with goofier humor but still legit action. Not what I want every time, but a nice change up in the animated movie formula. Focus on the younger heroes, but not at the expense of the grown-ups. 

Justice League: War - Going for an Avengersy tone and probably more broadly appealing than some previous Justice League movies. Adding a mix of quipy humor and action with touches of more graphic violence. This reminds me of the Superman/Batman animated movies, but is more satisfying than either. Wall to wall action with highlights for each League member.

-Originality-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - Although inspired by Secret Origins of the Super Friends, less rehash than one might expect. 

Justice League: War - Fairly straight up adaptation of a fairly mediocre story. Better in motion than on the page. Some plot changes, the biggest of which being the addition of Shazam which I do think worked better for the movie.

-Characters-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - League lineup: Superman, Batman & Robin, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Where's Green Lantern? I was worried about the inclusion of Legion members Karate Kid and Dawnstar, but they were one of the movie's strengths - though other Legionnaire cameos would have been a treat. Classic Legion of Doomer's Lex Luthor, Solomon Grundy, Toyman, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Bizarro, Black Manta, and Gorilla Grodd were fine. Fine without Scarecrow, Riddler, Sinestro. Giganta, or Brainiac. Only gripe is if you add Cyborg to the League, there should be a new counterpart in the Legion.

Justice League: War - League lineup: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg Shazam Green Lantern. Where's Aquaman? But like I said, it worked without him. Villain: Darkseid. And as in the comic, he was not developed very well as a character beyond being a big physical threat.

-Designs and Animation-

 JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - Given the nature of the release I was expecting a low quality production reminiscent of an animated Happy Meal commercial tie-in. This actually looked pretty nice. The quality may not have been up to the level of other DC movies or even Young Justice, but in my opinion it looked better than any of the Justice League or JLU episodes. 

Justice League: War - Very nicely animated. Perhaps the palate was a bit dark and gritty, similar to The Flashpoint Paradox, but it worked better in that movie.

-Story-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - Although there are some serious plot holes, there are also a fair share of clever ideas that sort of make sense if you don't overthink. 

Justice League: War - Story?

-Cliffhanger-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time- Reminded me of the "Ape-raham Lincoln" ending of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, but better. 

Justice League: War - Only good if you are familiar with the Justice League: Throne of Atlantis comic arc. If so, very tantalizing. If not, pretty lackluster. You might as well just have placed text on the screen saying, "The Justice League will return in Throne of Atlantis." In fact, they may have been better.

-Title Nonsense-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - No one actually got trapped anywhere. My cheesy alternative would be Peril of the Time Trapper.

Justice League: War - No war was officially declared. My copyright infringing title would be Justice League: Assemble.

Read on to see the new rankings

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Best Seller

Well, this is the first I have heard of Freckles Marvel who just 3 episodes in  is something like the Cousin Oliver of the Marvel family. After that the Izod wearing Hiss-men got to work. This one was full of gags, involuntary shrinking, jumping into books, time travel, and lizardication of the Marvels.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Return of the Phantoms

Not only did this episode feature some sort of weird space Gumby, but it also had one of two appearances by Superboy on Super Friends (the other being history of Doom which had the origin of Lex Luthor). While this wasn't as good as Evil from Krypton, Phantom "Zoners" always make for some fun especially when they are beaten using Velcroed Super-capes.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Krypton Syndrome

In a big step up from Indian burial mishap Superman made a trip through time to Krypton one hour before its destruction. I really don't know how this turd factory of a season squeezed out this gem, but it was a remarkably interesting and even somewhat heartfelt tale that saw Els Kal and Jor reunited and a tragic paradox. Also, lets not forget another awesome appearance by the Super-mobile and a rare animated appearance of Robin without his Batman. 

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Warlord's Amulet

 

Samurai vs an army of time traveling ghost warriors... now you're talking. In spite of a promising premise, this one was actually awfully dull. Also, if you want to travel through time to conquer Earth, you would think going back in time would be more strategic that trying to conquer a more advanced future. Then again, if you go back in time you could end up being your own grandfather and no one needs that kind of paradox.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Elevator to Nowhere

Turns out the line between insanity and genious really is blurry. The elevator didn't really go "nowhere," it was in fact a time machine which resulted in Atom and Wonder Woman meeting not only Blackbeard the Pirate, but George Washington as he crossed the Delaware. Too bad George was kind of a jerk and good thing the Atom could fly. What a very, very strange episode... but I think I liked it.

-----
Episode Count: 0407
Series Count: (9 of 66)

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Ghostfinger

Adding to the romantic "tension"this episode had the bumbling Sally, one of Plas' old flames, calling on the team to help foil Ghostfinger. Between the Chief and Sally, Plas has really bad taste in women. With an evil apparition and a Velma-esque character along for the adventure, this had a serious Scooby vibe about it, though Ghostfinger upped the ante by introducing a time machine. Can ghosts time travel? Who knows because all the time machine was used for was to summon a wolfman and a yeti. I suppose monsters were a lot more common in the past... even though they were also called ghosts sometimes. I don't know, this one was just a bit crazy.

-----
Episode Count: 0358
Series Count: (21 of 35)

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Conquerors of the Future

Ah, another classic. In this one, the Legion acted as if they had reformed, beating the heroes to avert crises. It was pretty hilarious watching as the Legion acted shocked that they were being accused of any wrong doing. Why ever would the Friends have gotten that idea? And then out of the blue the episode changed plots.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Secret Origins of the Super Friends

One of the all time greats. Not only did this tale tell the origins of three heroes, but it did so in a very creative way by having the villains also steal the origins of Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. Can someone say Green Luthor.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Time Trap

For the 300th episode we lucked out with a real treat. The Legion lured heroes into the past and abandoned them there. Aquaman and Apache Chief were stranded in prehistoric times, Green Lantern and Samurai in Camelot, and the Dynamic Duo in ancient Rome.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Time Rescue

If a time machine lost someone in the future, I would probably not "rush" to their rescue. But this episode still ended up being pretty amazing with its own version of a Mos Eisley-like future cantina full of scum, villainy,  bizarre voices, and little guys that looked like Orko. A totally idiotic story, yes, but still a fun one to watch.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Planet of the Neanderthals

This one opened strong with the Friends devastating an uprising of cavemen. And even though the idea of de-teching the Earth via time-traveling Washington monument makes little sense, this sure was a memorable outing. And that's not even considering the "Bat spider-web ejector."

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Black Knight

Another weird thing about this show is that Pa Kent owns a general store instead of running the farm. Maybe that was consistent with the comic at the time, so whatever, just one of those odd things.

Anyways, this episode managed to mix things up a bit when Superboy's friend Timmy accidentally wished himself back in time. Fortunately, Superboy was able to nonchalantly do a little time traveling himself by spinning real fast. He spun until he went back in time to the age of Merlin.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Merlin's Magical Marbles

Original Airdate: September 17, 1966

Lex Freaking Luthor! Its about time, even if his first scheme is the worst idea I have ever heard of. He built a time machine to enlist the help of Merlin in his criminal schemes.

Best Part: Watching Superman break the "never shake a baby" code to scold lil' Lex Luthor.

Worst Part: The story was ridiculous. First off, isn't Merlin supposed to be a good guy? Second, why did Merlin’s help involve magic marbles? Surely the whole plot was fashioned for no other reason than to have alliteration in the title. Why not Voldemort's Vanilla Vandals?