My analysis of ‘Young Justice’ Season 1 continues with the problems I encountered with the characters and plot threads introduced through the course of the episodes.

Spoiler alert!

This leads us to the negative parts of the show, in my opinion, which consist of Miss Martian (Danica McKellar), Artemis (Stephanie Lemelin), and Superboy (Nolan North).

Miss Martian, also known as M’gann, is what some fans consider to be a Base Breaker: her presence divides the fandom into pro-M’gann fans and anti-M’gann fans. This is due to the fact that she is relentlessly annoying. She has an overused catch phrase that she stole from an old TV show she saw on Mars that she uses for more than half of the season; she has a dark secret that is honestly not that big of a deal and she has a pointless relationship with Superboy.

M’gann is one of the most poorly written characters due to her romance with Superboy because it does not have any firm roots. We are never shown why M’gann has such a crush on Superboy other than she thinks he’s attractive and mean. For the majority of the season, he is either completely emotionless or angry at everything.

Thus, it makes her seem shallow to be doting over someone who has attacked her on multiple occasions and almost gotten her team killed more than once. The romantic subplot honestly strangles any hope I could have had of ever liking her and she never gets any better.

Artemis is also an irritating character because she is rude, irresponsible and insecure to the point of endangering others just to cover up her feelings of inadequacy. She is the first to be suspected as the mole due to the fact that her sister is Cheshire, a nefarious martial arts villain and her father is Sports Master, another well-known villain. She also spends most of her time arguing with Kid Flash and pretending she isn’t attracted to him. While her archery is useful, her continued sour attitude and self-doubt make her incredibly annoying through the course of the season.

Superboy is a clone of both Superman and Lex Luthor. For the majority of the season, all he does is rip his shirt off, scream angrily and smash things. So, in a fashion, he’s a less powerful, less likable version of the Incredible Hulk. About halfway through the season, he finally develops a personality and for some reason reciprocates M’gann’s feelings for him. Once again, their attraction to one another is never justified or constructed well so we just have to assume he likes green alien babes.

He is later suspected of being the mole because he stupidly begins using patches that suppress the human side of his DNA so he can use all of his Kryptonian powers. These patches were given to him by Lex Luthor and also cause intense aggression every time he uses them. It is only at the last minute that he realizes the danger he is putting himself and his team in and confesses that he’s been using them for a while.

M’gann, Artemis and Superboy honestly drag down the quality of the show with their badly written character arcs. The prime example of their poor writing is in the episode where they stop lying to their teammates and each reveal their secrets. M’gann’s secret is that she is a White Martian, a rather gigantic hideous alien unlike her “uncle” J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter.

Artemis’ secret is that Sports Master is her father and Cheshire is her sister. Superboy’s secret is that Lex Luthor is one of his DNA donors. One would expect the other teammates to grapple with these revelations, but they don’t. These subplots, which have dragged on for the entire season, are resolved in five minutes flat. There is nothing worse than an anticlimax and ‘Young Justice’ pulled off one of the biggest anticlimaxes I’ve ever seen.

After that gigantic disappointment, we reach our season finale. Surprisingly, though, the finale was somewhat enjoyable because the team’s petty differences were pushed aside in favor of saving the League from the mind control of Vandal Savage. All of the action sequences were excellent and there are a few good emotional scenes.

Sadly, though, the reveal of Red Arrow (Crispin Freeman) as the mole torpedoes the episode back down to mediocre quality. We learn that Red Arrow, also known as Roy Harper, is actually a clone engineered by Cadmus to infiltrate the Justice League and implant the members with nanotechnology that would allow Vandal Savage to control their minds.

He was unaware of any of this and didn’t snap out of his programming until the deed was done. Cue teen angst and the revelation that the real Roy Harper is in a glass tube in Cadmus headquarters missing his right arm with no explanation to how he got there or why his arm is gone.

This storyline is the most disappointing to me because it feels like a soap opera worthy twist. It is tired and cliché and doesn’t add much to the story except to make clone Roy feel like a jerk for unknowingly betraying his friends.

Perhaps I have been tainted by other shows that have teen heroes with a better dynamic and better plot, such as ‘Teen Titans’ (2003) or ‘X-Men: Evolution’ (2000) where the characters are more balanced and less annoying. Either way, to me, ‘Young Justice’ ended on a fizzle rather than a bang.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.tv.com

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The DC Universe’s animated titan ‘Justice League: Doom’, based on the comic book ‘Justice League of America: Tower of Babel’, was released today, February 28^th, 2012 to a smashing success.

‘Doom’ is the 13^th film in the DC Animated Original films by the creative team behind the magnificent shows ‘Batman: The Animated Series’, ‘Superman: The Animated Series’, ‘Batman Beyond’, ‘Justice League’, and ‘Justice League Unlimited.’ The movie also reunites nearly all of the original cast from the Justice League cartoon series, making it both an exciting new adventure and a nostalgic trip into the past.

The film tells the tale of power-hungry immortal Vandal Savage (Phil Morris) stealing encrypted files from the supercomputer of Batman, that contain contingency plans for neutralizing each member of the Justice League, if they ever go rogue. Savage employs each of the team member’s arch nemeses: Cheetah for Wonder Woman, Star Sapphire for Green Lantern, Metallo for Superman, Bane for Batman, Mirror Master for The Flash, and Ma’alefa’ak for the Martian Manhunter.

The villains execute these plans in order to eliminate the Justice League, so that Savage can put a larger plan in the works, allowing him total world domination. As expected, the voice acting is simply off the charts. Kevin Conroy, the original voice of Batman in the 1992 animated series, holds the record for most performances of the Dark Knight, as he has played Bruce Wayne at least eighteen times in his career.

He brings the perfect amount of darkness, depth, pain, and drive to the Caped Crusader, which is especially important because this movie thrives on Batman’s decision to make a plan to stop his most trusted friends. He is by far the most talented voice actor of the bunch, and shows every bit of suffering that Batman goes through, as he fights to stop villains from killing his friends and taking over the world.

Superman is played by another veteran, Tim Daly, who has voiced the Kryptonian for many years as well, starting with ‘Superman: The Animated Series’ and continuing  in several other animated films. His compassionate voice solidifies the friendship he shares with Batman and the other members of the League, and adds a layer of emotion over the film that is hard to resist.

Michael Rosenbaum, who most know as Lex Luthor from ‘Smallville’, reprises the role of The Flash, although this time he is playing Barry Allen rather than Wally West. Rosenbaum’s lighthearted voice is a welcome addition to the cast, and he slips easily back into the heartwarming role of the Scarlet Speedster.

Susan Eisenberg returns as Diana of Themyscira, aka Wonder Woman, and assumes the same strength and poise as expected of the warrior princess. She works especially well against Claudia Black, who voices Cheetah, because of the contrast between Wonder Woman’s noble tone of voice versus Cheetah’s cold accent.

Carl Lumbly also returns as J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter, and fills the role with a compelling sense of mystery. J’onn often struggles with the normalcy of pretending to be human when he is out of costume, and Lumbly emanates the feeling so completely, that it is easy to sympathize with the Martian’s struggles to overcome his archenemy, Ma’alefa’ak, whom he also voices.

Nathan Fillion, the geek god known mostly for his roles as Malcolm Reynolds in Joss Whedon’s ‘Firefly’ and Richard Castle in ABC’s Castle, steps into the tights a third time to play Hal Jordan. Fillion has had experience with the DC Animated Universe multiple times: first, as Greg Saunders, aka Vigilante, in ‘Justice League Unlimited’ and later as Hal Jordan in the animated film ‘Green Lantern: Emerald Knights.’

Hal Jordan’s scenario of defeat is perhaps the most crushing aside from Bruce Wayne’s, as he is tricked into believing he is responsible for the deaths of two people: one of which remind him of his doomed romance with Star Sapphire that led to her becoming a villain. Fillion brings a powerful performance of sorrow and guilt that is liable to make one shed a tear.

Finally, Phil Morris returns as Vandal Savage, whom he played in ‘Justice League’, and does a remarkable job of being smug, while still being an intelligent warlord orchestrating the end of the world. He holds up well against the incredibly skilled voice actors playing the Justice League, due to his long career of voice work.

Bumper Robinson plays Cyborg, who was brought into the team to help stop Savage, and is a welcome new addition to the cast, as he has a wealth of experience in acting and voice work throughout his career. Cyborg fits in well with the members and proves his valor, while still maintaining a fun, upbeat role within the team.

As always in the DC movies, the film is beautifully animated and action packed. The fight choreography is brutal and the script is tight, precise, and gut-wrenching, as the League tries to deal with their anger at Batman’s betrayal, while also trying to stop Savage from destroying the world.

The emotional damage is just as serious as the physical damage by the end of the movie. However, it manages to end on a hopeful note that reflects the years of friendship shared by the characters and by their voice actors. It is no surprise that the writing is sublime, as it was the last work of the late great Dwayne McDuffie, who passed away February 21st of 2011. It is also directed by DC animated veteran Lauren Montgomery, who has done five DC animated films prior to this one.

‘Justice League: Doom’ is definitely not a movie you want to miss. It holds up well to the other animated films before it, and will beckon fans of the cartoon series as well as those who enjoy the original animated movies. Don’t sit this one out.

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