Let's get things started shall we? Also be warned, there are some spoilers below.
Ben 10: Omniverse
Plot:
The series follows the adventures of Ben Tennyson, bearer of the Omnitrix, a watch-like device that allows Ben to change into aliens. Storylines alternate between that of eleven-year old Ben (a year after the original series) and sixteen-year old Ben (a few months after Ben 10: Ultimate Alien). After Gwen leaves for college and Kevin leaves to be closer and nearer to her, sixteen-year old Ben gets a new partner, a rookie by-the-book alien Plumber named Rook. On a mission to explore a secret underground alien city named Undertown, Ben explores the quirkier side of things in the alien underground and discovers that enemies from his past are looking for a rematch. All the while, Ben becomes targeted by a mysterious hunter known as Khyber who is working for Malware (a psychotic mutant Galvanic Mechamorph) and Dr. Psychobos (a Cerebrocrustacean mad scientist).
My Thoughts:
I have kept up with Ben 10 since it's debut when Ben was a kid, followed his teenage years in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien - along with Ben's cameos in Generator Rex (another great show from Man of Action - sad to see it end after two seasons though) and the live action, made-for-TV movies. Sadly, Omniverse is where I have to draw the line. I have given the show a fair chance, despite of my personal disgust with this style of animation. I didn't care for it in Teen Titans, REALLY didn't like it in Transformers: Animated, and it just looks beyond stupid here. Characters look half-assed and poorly drawn now when this cartoon used to be only bested by Justice League Unlimited in terms of American animation on Cartoon Network.I honestly don't understand why the series continues to act like Ben doesn't know how to use the new Omnitrix at all when we have seen him straight-up embarrass Vilgax to the point where even Azmuth was shocked during Ultimate Alien. I understand that this is a new version of the Omnitrix but at the same time, this ongoing joke that Ben is just fumbling around with the device like his 10 yr. old self and getting lucky all the time, somehow making it work out regardless, is really getting old at this point in the franchise. One interesting thing that this series is doing is occasionally turning the clock back for a few flashbacks with 10 yr. old Ben and showing how the past has affected the present day.
But despite its flaws, this show is STILL the Ben 10 that we know and love.
Notable Episodes:
Of Predators and Prey (Part 1 & 2) - These episodes act as the finale to Season 1, fleshing out the entire backstory on the mysterious bounty hunter, Khyber, and the creation of the Nemetrix. I personally found the Nemetrix to be a rather silly concept as the Omnitrix is supposed to have every creature in the universe. So how it is that Azmuth is continuously forgetting to include particular aliens, especially their natural predators? Shows how much of a genius Azmuth is. On the positive side, this is one of the few episodes where Ben isn't goofing up with the new Omnitrix and both Ben and Rook finally manage to work together without it looking like a complete accident.
Ben Again - Hands down my favorite episode of this series thus far. 10 yr. old Ben and 16 yr. old Ben switched minds and bodies due to the return of Eon. The two Bens must then team up with their respective timelines and rescue Professor Paradox (I really dug the new design for Paradox) before the entire timeline is corrupted beyond repair. 16 yr. old Gwen and 10 yr. Ben's banter was hilarious, despite of the fact that Gwen assumed that she was too mature now to fall for his teasing. It was great to see 10 yr. old Ben mark out over the amount of aliens in the new Omnitrix while 16 yr. old Ben groans at how few he had to work with back then.
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| From left to right: Aya, Razer, Hal Jordan, and Kilowog. |
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
Plot:
The series focuses on the adventures of Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814, and his partner Kilowog. In the first story arc, they battle the series' main antagonists, the Red Lanterns, led by the villain Atrocitus. Atrocitus, seeking revenge on The Guardians of the Universe for destroying his home planet, leads the Red Lanterns against the worlds and Green Lanterns of "Frontier Space." In the second story arc, the primary antagonist becomes the Anti Monitor, controlling an army of Manhunters. Carol Ferris, Salaak, The Guardians of the Universe, Saint Walker, and Zilius Zox serve as supporting characters in the series, and Guy Gardner appeared in the first episode of the second half of the season.My Thoughts:
From its start this show has struggled to pick up any momentum, despite of Josh Keaton's stellar voice acting talents at the helm of Hal Jordon himself. The show recycles the same pattern for majority of the series. They land on a random remote planet, get into some hi-jinks with the natives that involves a bit of witty comedy, and ends with them somehow pulling out of the hopeless situations they get into to end the episode with that happily ever after theme. Sadly, when they did trek into darker territory, such as the recent story arc involving the Anti-Monitor and the other Lanterns of color, it's hard to take any of this with a grain of salt.If the show was given a broader scope and more focus than recycling the same pattern over and over, I could see this being a hit, but as it stands it's a mediocre take on the Green Lantern oriented side of DC Universe.
Noteworthy Episodes:
Heir Apparent - This episode is one of the series' first depths into darker storytelling, showcasing how far a delusional prince (voiced by Will Friedle) will do to obtain power.
Love is a Battlefield - The now, emotion-less Aya Monitor returns to the planet of the Star Sapphires and orders that they explain what is the meaning of love and why is it so powerful. When they could not answer her question, she pits the Red Lantern Atrocitus against the human Carol Ferris, who becomes Star Sapphire for the second time in this series. Carol Ferris is voiced by Jennifer Hale. Am I the only one bothered that the Aya Monitor is voiced by Princess Azula (Grey Delisle) from Avatar: The Last Airbender? I just kept thinking that Azula was tormenting people from that series everytime she spoke on this episode...
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| Princess Azula... err Aya Monitor |
As it stands, this series will have a rather cliched and predictable ending thanks to the budding romance between Razer and Aya. My prediction is that Razer will find a way to subdue his rage from his Red Lantern ring and finally confess his feelings for Aya that somehow snaps her out of the emotionless trace she's in after interfacing with the Anti-Monitor.
Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
Plot:
When ninjutsu master Hamato Yoshi and his four pet turtles are exposed to mutagen (a chemical from another world that transforms anyone who comes in contact with it into mutant creatures), they undergo major physical transformations: Hamato Yoshi becomes a humanoid rat under the name of Splinter and the turtles become human/turtle hybrids. Splinter retreats to the New York City sewers, where he raises the four turtles as his sons and imparts to them his knowledge of ninjutsu.After venturing to the surface for the first time, the teenage Turtles discover an alien race called the Kraang is planning to take over New York City with their plans involving the same mutagen that created the Ninja Turtles. The Turtles befriend the teenage April O'Neil when she and her father Kirby have been abducted by the Kraang alongside some other captive scientists. While Kirby remains a prisoner of the Kraang, April becomes an ally of the Turtles as they help her to find out where the Kraang have taken her father.
The Turtles also learn that the Shredder is leading the Foot Clan into tracking down Splinter and his sons to put an end to their clan.
My Thoughts:
I won't lie when I saw the initial previews for this reboot for the TMNT franchise I literally cringed. But after seeing it and keeping up with its run thus far, it's not so bad. It has the campy/kiddy feel of the 90s original series, while incorporating some of the seriousness from the 2003 series. For what it's worth, this is a stellar homage to the original series that most of us grew up on.Noteworthy Episodes:
Another reason these two episodes stuck out to me was that they cover a topic that was addressed in the TMNT film. Raphael and Leonardo were always butting heads at leadership, so Leonardo grew fed up of making all of the hard decisions and their roles reversed. Raph led the team against Snakeweed while Leo recklessly played a game of cat and mouse with Karai. Both eventually realized that they were in over their heads.
Power Rangers: Megaforce
Plot:
When the evil Warstar aliens attack Earth, the supernatural guardian Gosei and his faithful robot assistant Tensou recruit five teenagers with attitude to combat the invading forces. Equipped with powers that grant them mastery over martial arts and other forms of combat, the teenagers transform into the latest champions of good: The Power Rangers Megaforce.The show will be part of the Power Rangers 20th anniversary. Kidscreen reported that Megaforce will feature "the return of many historic Rangers." Megaforce uses footage, costumes, and props from the Japanese Super Sentai Series Tensou Sentai Goseiger.
My Thoughts:
Go ahead and laugh. I'll admit it - I still watch Power Rangers after all of these years. Hell, I still read comics, watch anime/cartoons, and play video games, so I don't see what's the big deal. Now that's over with, let's discuss this series. Hot off the heels of Power Rangers Super Samurai's finale, this series acts as Saban's 20th anniversary celebration. This series definitely has quite a few nods to the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, with Gosei acting as the Zordon-like figure, and the respective Rangers all from various sects of the local high school. (Laughing) At least the color schemes aren't as racist as the originals were...
Since this series is still fairly new, there's no noteworthy episodes to check out, but definitely give this season a chance, whether you're a long-time fan or just a fan of the original series. There's something for everyone to enjoy here.
Transformers: Prime
Plot:
Set in the timeline after the novels and video games preceding the television series, Prime began with a five-part mini-series titled "Darkness Rising", which served to introduce the main characters and provide a back story on the Transformers and their war.Mini-Series
In Jasper, Nevada, three young humans, Jack Darby, Miko Nakadai, and Rafael Esquivel, are accidentally caught in the crossfire in a fight between enormous robots that transform into vehicles. They are taken to the base of the heroic Autobots, where their leader Optimus Prime explains that he and his team are from the planet Cybertron. As it turns out, the Autobots had a devastating war against the ruthless Megatron and his followers, the Decepticons long ago on Cybertron. While this is going on, Megatron returns from a three year long exile in deep space, bringing with him Dark Energon, a substance able to revive the dead and he sets out to raise an army of the undead and conquer Earth. In the conclusion to Darkness Rising, Megatron is seen in front of the Space Bridge waiting for his army of the undead to come through it; however, the Space Bridge explodes, and Megatron is seen no more. During this mini-series, Arcee's partner, Cliffjumper is killed in the first episode, setting the tone for the series.Season 1
After Megatron's supposed death during the explosion that destroyed the Decepticons' Space Bridge, Starscream assumes his master's leadership. But Megatron is found barely alive in the wreckage of the Space Bridge. Megatron remained in stasis for a portion of the first season until he returned to power. New characters are introduced such as Bulkhead's best friend, Wheeljack, a former member of a group of Autobots called Wreckers, Silas, leader of a group of human villains known as MECH, and the Decepticons known as Skyquake, Makeshift, Knock Out, Breakdown, and Airachnid. At the end of the season, the Autobots form an uneasy alliance with Megatron when Earth is threatened by an ancient enemy from the past called Unicron the Chaos Bringer. With the power of the Matrix of Leadership, Earth is saved from Unicron's dark powers. But there comes a price. When Optimus surrenders the Matrix, he loses more than the collective wisdom of the Primes. He loses his own memory of his life as a Prime and reverts to his original identity of Orion Pax.Season 2
Following the events of the finale of the first season, Optimus, as Orion, is converted into a Decepticon when Megatron takes advantage of his amnesia. Jack goes on a mission to help the Autobots restore Optimus's memory and they eventually succeed. With his memory restored, Optimus regains the power of the Matrix as well as his leadership of the Autobots. The main theme for the rest of the season is the discovery of ancient relics from Cybertron buried on Earth with the Transformers fighting over each new discovery which ultimately leads their battle all the way back to Cybertron. New characters introduced in the second season include a young Autobot named Smokescreen, Optimus's old mentor, the archivist known as Alpha Trion, Optimus's evil twin, Nemesis Prime, and the Decepticons known as Shockwave and Dreadwing as well as a swarm of Insecticons.Season 3
At the New York Comic Con on October 21, 2012 Transformers: Prime: Beast Hunters was revealed, and is set to be released in Spring 2013. The season will begin with the Autobots recovering following the Decepticons' attack on their base. It will also feature the Autobots having to face a new beast-like Decepticon called Predaking and the return of Shockwave. A recent trailer reveals that Shockwave will create the Predacons, but will lose control over them, and the Predacons will come to Earth to hunt the Autobots one by one. This will be the show's final season.My Thoughts:
I have honestly only have seen only a few episodes of this series here and there, but from what I have seen it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be after getting Transformers: Animated out of my mouth. Before I get a torrent of hatemail on my wall, hear me out on Animated. I understand it was supposed to be campy but like I mentioned above in the Omniverse write-up, I really can't get behind that type of animation style. When it comes to Transformers, my love goes to Beast Wars: Transformers first as I hold that series to the highest then G1 Transformers, followed by everything else. Animated lost cool points to me as it was more focused on cheap cameos (Sentinel Prime, Ultra Magnus, Jetfire, Soundwave, Dinobots, Constructicons, etc.) and lame revamps of established fan favorites, such as Black Arachnia and Waspinator, who both literally had NOTHING to do with G1 Transformers. I get that those characters are popular after Beast Wars but that's no reason to just whore them out in this series. That goes double for Starscream's treatment in that series. He was literally god-tier at one point thanks to the AllSpark fragment. But I will say the coolest and most original thing to come out of Animated was Blitzwing and his three personalities. That was awesome, freaky, and hilarious at the same time. Why didn't they do more with that character in that series is beyond me.Okay, enough about Animated, onto Prime. This series uses some of the same character designs but its in a CG cartoon rather than being drawn by hand. This series marks the return of Peter Cullen (the original legendary Optimus Prime voice) to the franchise, helming Prime for the time in animation for over two decades. I'm aware that he did the live action films but those don't essentially count. From the few episodes I have watched of this series, I noticed that they have a healthy balance of the the human element (the kids that are only there as a means of identification for younger viewers), action, and storytelling. It seems that the story uses some points from the Transformers lore from over the years but manages to interpret it via their own means. I will continue to keep this series under a microscope until I can garner a worthy opinion on it in its entirety.
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Ultimate Spider-Man (Season 2)
Plot:
Season One
As the series begins, Peter Parker has been Spider-Man for one year. He has saved lives and fought supervillains, but he is still in the process of learning how to be a superhero. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. offers Peter the chance to train to be a real superhero and become "The Ultimate Spider-Man". However, beforehand Peter will have to learn how to work with a team of four fellow teenage superheroes. The teen heroes Spider-Man will be teaming up with are Nova, White Tiger, Iron Fist, and Power Man.Season Two
Following the fight with the Green Goblin which resulted in the destruction of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Spider-Man's team ends up staying at Peter Parker's house. The first four episodes of the season feature the first appearances in this series of Lizard, Electro, Rhino, and Kraven the Hunter. Episode 5 features a team-up with the Avengers and Episode 6 the first appearance of the Sinister Six, which consists of Lizard, Electro, Rhino, Kraven the Hunter, Beetle, and Doctor Octopus.My Thoughts:
(Whistles) Where to begin on this, shall we? I was a HUGE fan of Spectacular Spider-Man and was pretty bummed out when it was cancelled abruptly. When I heard they were replacing it with this series on Disney XD's Marvel Comics' oriented programming block, I was anxious to see the results. This show sacrifices majority of its time allowing Spidey (voiced by Drake Bell) to break the 4th wall like he's Deadpool or She-Hulk only to cut jokes and talk to the viewers. The results of these attempts to be funny fail hard most of the time and when the series takes the opportunity to take itself seriously, it's hard to when every 2-5 minutes Spidey has to kill the mood by breaking the 4th wall. Sure, I get Spidey's a wise guy and I love that about him, but he seriously needs to leave breaking the 4th wall to Deadpool and She-Hulk and just stick to his witty banter.I really don't see the point of Spidey having a team as the episodes where he has solo adventures are the more enjoyable ones. Power Man and Iron Fist haven't really been relevant for years, save for Iron Fist's stellar solo comic series and that Heroes for Hire series a while back. I'm familiar with the original White Tiger, who was a male, and everything he could do Black Panther, Black Cat, or Tigra does a hundred times better. A female White Tiger's talents are totally wasted here when Black Cat would have been a much more entertaining reoccurring character. Then that dork Nova is Marvel's answer to the Green Lantern Corps. I can't knock them for that as DC has been stealing ideas from Marvel for years and vice versa. My guess is Marvel wants kids to be a bit more familiar with Nova as I'm sure he will have a part to play in the Guardians of the Galaxy film that is set to arrive in the near future.
Noteworthy Episodes:
Doomed - Spidey and his team are anxious to catch their first big major villain and decide to travel to Latveria and take on the biggest baddie himself, Dr. Doom. Things get hairy back on the SHIELD Helicarrier when it becomes apparent that Dr. Doom allowed them to capture one of his Doombots instead of himself willingly. This is one of the first occasions where Spidey and his comrades work together effectively.
The Sinister Six - Spider-Man is trapped with six of his most dangerous foes, including Rhino, Kraven the Hunter, Beetle, Lizard, Electro, and Doctor Octopus. This is hands-down the most rushed and biggest clusterfuck version of the Sinister Six in any Spidey-related animation to date. The Beetle is more of an Ironman villain than a Spider-Man one (even though he was part of that Deadly Foes of Spider-Man series), Lizard proved to be too feral for even Doc Ock to control, then Rhino, Kraven, and Electro seem to not to understand the concept of teamwork in this series at all. You gotta love the ending taken straight out of the X-Men (90's Fox Kids series) episode dubbed "Cold Comfort" where the X-Men face against Forge's X-Factor. The good guys are overwhelmed by their opponents until someone (in this case, Spidey) gets the eureka moment to tell everyone to switch opponents. It's pathetic that most of the time Spidey has to tell his SHIELD buddies literally how to exactly use their own damn powers.
Young Justice: Invasion
Plot:
The show corresponds to the present time of our world, a time period Vietti has called "a new age of heroes".The pilot episode (later re-broadcast as the opening two episodes of season 1) aired a month prior to the debut of the regular series and introduced four characters: Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Speedy. It established their desire for greater recognition and respect, namely, a promotion from sidekicks to full-fledged superheroes. Met with opposition from their respective mentors in the Justice League, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, and Green Arrow, the protégés react in different ways. Speedy resigns from being Green Arrow's partner and begins calling himself Red Arrow. The others seek to persuade their mentors of their worth by secretly taking on a Justice League mission to investigate the Cadmus building. During their infiltration of Cadmus' headquarters, the three heroes find a clone of Superman named Superboy. After the discovery, the team finds out Cadmus is creating living weapons called Genomorphs. The episode deals with this revelation, the origin of Superboy, and how this relates to a mysterious group of people called the Light. In the end, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Superboy negotiate with Batman to organize a covert operations team as a practical contrast to the Justice League, whose celebrity status makes it difficult to maintain secrecy or initiate stealth operations. After consulting with his colleagues, Batman establishes Young Justice in a secret cave located inside a former Justice League headquarters, Mount Justice, a hollowed-out mountain. Here the teens are trained and mentored by the Justice League. Miss Martian makes an appearance at the end of the episode and joins as the fifth member.
Continuity
Although Young Justice follows a continuity considerably different from that of the mainstream DC Universe, Greg Weisman has stated that the series covers its early stages. Earth-16 was chosen by DC Entertainment for the show because it was largely untapped, freeing the series and its franchise from established continuity restraints set by either the main DC Universe or other worlds in the Multiverse.There are differences in the line-up of this Young Justice team as compared to the team in the comic series of the same name. Dick Grayson and Wally West were chosen over Tim Drake and Bart Allen/Impulse. Miss Martian was added because the date of her arrival to Earth could still fit in the early DC Universe concept. Aqualad, as opposed to Robin, is established in the beginning as the leader of the team.
Furthermore, the Aqualad presented in the show is an entirely new character created by Weisman and Vietti, with Bourassa responsible for the original character design. Arrowette was replaced by Artemis because of the producers' desire to focus on the latter's storylines. Some of the Young Justice characters' ages are tweaked from those of their original counterparts; however, the spirit and intent of the characters are said to be kept.
Characters who are a part of the line-up in the comic will also make an appearance in the show. This includes Garth, the first incarnation of Aqualad who later becomes the third Tempest in DC Comics; Arrowette, the archer of the team in the Young Justice comic book series; and Wonder Girl, whose legal issues originally prohibited the producers from using the character but later allowed her to be included. In the show, Garth features as the best friend of Aqualad/Kaldur'ahm.
My Thoughts:
I'm just going to go ahead and say it. This show is a clusterfuck. Season 1 had that kick ass intro and perfect sense of pacing - stealth covert missions that slowly cracked the surface of a bigger picture of what was going on behind the scenes with the major big baddies, dubbed The Light, as The Team had a mole among their ranks. By the time the "truth" was revealed about the mole, Season 1 really brought things together nicely and showed that Young Justice could hold a candle to Justice League Unlimited's legacy.
But then we had the 5 year time jump after the finale of Season 1 to start things off with Season 2. Season 2 took the idea that JLU did with it's second season and introduced a ton of new (both popular and lesser known) heroes and heroines into the mix. The sad thing here is that it's a mixed reaction. On some episodes, it's pretty cool to see many and diverse sets of heroes working together (even with the League on a few occasions), but at the same time, viewers aren't allowed to see some of these characters more than others for they can truly invest in whether or not they actually like them. I honestly didn't see a reason to include the ENTIRE Bat family (Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl) on a particular mission just for fan service and that goes double for the episode where Impulse comes from the future to team up with every modern day Flash (Silver Age Flash, Flash, and Kid Flash) in the present. Other episodes proved to have some interesting team-ups between the teenage counterparts of DC's flagship characters, such as the all-female squad undergoing a covert mission on their own.
Without spoiling anything, I just hope that this concept with multiple "moles" within The Light doesn't fizzle out into a less than stellar ending. After the end of the first season, Young Justice has to continue to set the bar high if they expect to leave Cartoon Network with a notable impact like Justice League Unlimited did.
Auld Acquaintance - It's The Team vs. the brainwashed Justice League and by far some of the best fights in this series to date. My personal favorite was the tag team match between Robin and Superboy against Batman and Superman. Any comic book fan will mark the fuck out during that one. This episode acts as the finale to Season 1.
Beneath - Miss Martian leads an all-female team (Batgirl, Wonder Girl, and Bumblebee) to Bialya to investigate Queen Bee (her psychic powers have no effect on women), but run into Psimon instead. In a subplot, Blue Beetle is searching for the whereabouts of his friend Tye who has ranaway from home, but everything is not what it seems. Girl power proves to be more than enough to get the job done on this episode as the Alpha Team even renders Nightwing speakless at one point. It is reminiscient to the "Girl Fight" episode of JLU whereas Huntress and Black Canary are given the spotlight for the entire episode with the other girls of the League (Fire, Vixen, Hawkgirl, and Wonder Woman) against Roulette and her newest attraction, the Glamour Slam.
Depths - Due to Nightwing's request, Artemis (now Kid Flash's girlfriend) returns to active duty. Unfortunately for The Team, Kaldur (now turned traitor as he has allied with his father, Black Manta). The reveal of Manta being Kaldur's dad wasn't really a shock for anyone who has read the comics prior to this series coming to fruition, but the death at the end of this episode would have had a LOT more impact if they didn't explain that it was a charade immediately afterwards. This is exactly when I felt Season 2 dropped the ball.
War - Mongul (voiced by Keith David) arrives to Earth as it's savior - meaning that he's going to destroy it with his War World. The Team infiltrates War World while the Justice League keeps War World distracted. Just as everything seems to be going just fine, the deception that we all knew was coming occurs at the
Complications - The depths of Kaldur, Miss Martian, and Tigress' deception escalates into a huge potential mess as Chesire and Sportsmaster sneak onto Black Manta's submarine while Deathstroke has them all underneath the microscope, watching and studying their every move.
I have to admit, Deathstroke looks pretty bad ass on this show. At least CN is past the point of thinking it's in bad taste to call him Slade instead of Deathstroke since this is supposed to be a kids' show.
Billed as "an exciting hybrid of high school drama and giant robot battles", Sym-Bionic Titan features "the adventures of three beings from the planet Galaluna who crash-land on Earth while attempting to escape their war-torn world." The series follows the lives of Ilana, Lance, and Octus, two alien teens and a robot in the form of humanoids who arrive on Earth, an "identical" planet to Galaluna, while fleeing an evil general who has taken over their home planet with the help of monstrous creatures called Mutraddi.
The three main characters include Ilana, princess of the royal family; Lance, a rebellious but capable soldier; and Octus, a bio-cybernetic robot, all of whom must now blend into everyday life in Sherman, Illinois. Posing as high school students, Lance and Octus work to conceal Princess Ilana from General Modula and his hideous space mutants sent to kill the sole heir of Galaluna. When called into battle, the Galalunans are outfitted with individual armor that provides more than ample protection. It is when the gravest of danger appears that Octus activates the sym-bionic defense program and he, Ilana, and Lance unite "Heart, Body and Mind" and come together to form the spectacular cyber-giant Sym-Bionic Titan.
This episode is hilarious on how Octus copes with the complexities of trying to tutor the prima donna, Kimmy. This episode serves as the first of many episodes where the trio begin to attach to the Earthlings romantically.
Fortress of Deception - When Lance and Ilana are captured by G3, Octus has to discover the location of their base. Meanwhile Ilana and Lance are locked up in some sort of Galalunian-like cell at the G3 base. When Lance is taken in to be interrogated Ilana meets a seemingly fellow prisoner, Lance takes a beating from his interrogator and breaks out to get Ilana. They all run to get out and after being reunited with their communicators and Octus, they form Titan and break free.
This episode serves as our first in-depth look at the mysterious G3 organization. I still think that Lance's so-called deceased father is backing them from behind the scenes somehow. That would only explain how these guys have Galalunian training. At least we got to see what Solomon looks like without all of that gear on...
Escape from Galaluna - Another flashback episode showing the invasion of Mutraddi on Galaluna and Ilana, Lance, and Octus's escape. Ilana attends the opening of a school in a tribal region of Galaluna with her guardian, Hobbes. Meanwhile, Lance goes on a mission to rescue hostages from an observatory. His commander tells him to return to his post, but sneaks in to the observatory as the Muddradi Leader was talking to Modula (unbeknown to Lance) and Lance was imprisoned for getting the hostages killed (even though they were beforehand). Meanwhile, the King is seen finishing building Octus. The invasion occurs and Hobbes is injured and returns Ilana to the palace with both of them alive, and Lance's commander is revealed to be a traitor for Modula. Lance kills his former commander after a long sword fight and events lead up to how the trio arrived on earth in the pilot episode.
This episode is my personal favorite as we get a look at how things went to hell on Galaluna. I honestly think that this should have been the first episode instead being 16 episodes into the series, but it was worth the wait.
A New Beginning - In this unofficial series finale, General Steel launches an all-out assault on G3's mobile airship base with his new Hammer robot, and it's up to Lance and Ilana to stop it. The battle is soon interrupted when three Mutraddi monsters attack three parts of the world simultaneously. During the battle, the mysterious leader of G3 revives Octus and they reform Titan, defeating all three monsters. At the end of the day Octus sends Kimmy a text that he will be home soon.
This was a sad way for the series to come to its impromptu ending, but it seems that the trio have more allies on Earth than they originally though. I really hope this series garners enough interest in reruns to convince the creators to bring it back for a second season.
Without spoiling anything, I just hope that this concept with multiple "moles" within The Light doesn't fizzle out into a less than stellar ending. After the end of the first season, Young Justice has to continue to set the bar high if they expect to leave Cartoon Network with a notable impact like Justice League Unlimited did.
Noteworthy Episodes:
Usual Suspects - The "mole" is finally revealed as The Team takes down several big players within The Light. After this episode, it seems that there won't be anymore secrets between these young heroes. This episode really shines as one of the best in Season 1 as it brings all of these secrets and hidden agendas that have been stirring throughout the entire season and finally brings them to the light - literally.Auld Acquaintance - It's The Team vs. the brainwashed Justice League and by far some of the best fights in this series to date. My personal favorite was the tag team match between Robin and Superboy against Batman and Superman. Any comic book fan will mark the fuck out during that one. This episode acts as the finale to Season 1.
Depths - Due to Nightwing's request, Artemis (now Kid Flash's girlfriend) returns to active duty. Unfortunately for The Team, Kaldur (now turned traitor as he has allied with his father, Black Manta). The reveal of Manta being Kaldur's dad wasn't really a shock for anyone who has read the comics prior to this series coming to fruition, but the death at the end of this episode would have had a LOT more impact if they didn't explain that it was a charade immediately afterwards. This is exactly when I felt Season 2 dropped the ball.
War - Mongul (voiced by Keith David) arrives to Earth as it's savior - meaning that he's going to destroy it with his War World. The Team infiltrates War World while the Justice League keeps War World distracted. Just as everything seems to be going just fine, the deception that we all knew was coming occurs at the
I have to admit, Deathstroke looks pretty bad ass on this show. At least CN is past the point of thinking it's in bad taste to call him Slade instead of Deathstroke since this is supposed to be a kids' show.
Sym-Bionic Titan
Summary:
Billed as "an exciting hybrid of high school drama and giant robot battles", Sym-Bionic Titan features "the adventures of three beings from the planet Galaluna who crash-land on Earth while attempting to escape their war-torn world." The series follows the lives of Ilana, Lance, and Octus, two alien teens and a robot in the form of humanoids who arrive on Earth, an "identical" planet to Galaluna, while fleeing an evil general who has taken over their home planet with the help of monstrous creatures called Mutraddi.
The three main characters include Ilana, princess of the royal family; Lance, a rebellious but capable soldier; and Octus, a bio-cybernetic robot, all of whom must now blend into everyday life in Sherman, Illinois. Posing as high school students, Lance and Octus work to conceal Princess Ilana from General Modula and his hideous space mutants sent to kill the sole heir of Galaluna. When called into battle, the Galalunans are outfitted with individual armor that provides more than ample protection. It is when the gravest of danger appears that Octus activates the sym-bionic defense program and he, Ilana, and Lance unite "Heart, Body and Mind" and come together to form the spectacular cyber-giant Sym-Bionic Titan.
My Thoughts:
Sym-Bionic Titan, along with Thundercats (2011) are currently being shown in reruns on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on Saturday nights. Genndy Tartakovsky's works seem to suffer this same problem - they die out before people treasure them for the rare gems that they are. It happened to Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, and ultimately to Sym-Bionic Titan as well. Much like with Samurai Jack, I would love to pick Genndy's brain and ask him how he would end both of these series if he was given a platform to do so.Noteworthy Episodes:
Lessons in Love - When Kimmy the cheerleader comes over to study, she strongly becomes romantically infatuated with Octus' human student disguise. Meanwhile, Lance and Ilana encounter a manta-like Mutraddi creature that is absorbing electrical energy that also causes their armor activators/communicators to shut down.This episode is hilarious on how Octus copes with the complexities of trying to tutor the prima donna, Kimmy. This episode serves as the first of many episodes where the trio begin to attach to the Earthlings romantically.
This episode serves as our first in-depth look at the mysterious G3 organization. I still think that Lance's so-called deceased father is backing them from behind the scenes somehow. That would only explain how these guys have Galalunian training. At least we got to see what Solomon looks like without all of that gear on...
Escape from Galaluna - Another flashback episode showing the invasion of Mutraddi on Galaluna and Ilana, Lance, and Octus's escape. Ilana attends the opening of a school in a tribal region of Galaluna with her guardian, Hobbes. Meanwhile, Lance goes on a mission to rescue hostages from an observatory. His commander tells him to return to his post, but sneaks in to the observatory as the Muddradi Leader was talking to Modula (unbeknown to Lance) and Lance was imprisoned for getting the hostages killed (even though they were beforehand). Meanwhile, the King is seen finishing building Octus. The invasion occurs and Hobbes is injured and returns Ilana to the palace with both of them alive, and Lance's commander is revealed to be a traitor for Modula. Lance kills his former commander after a long sword fight and events lead up to how the trio arrived on earth in the pilot episode.
This episode is my personal favorite as we get a look at how things went to hell on Galaluna. I honestly think that this should have been the first episode instead being 16 episodes into the series, but it was worth the wait.
A New Beginning - In this unofficial series finale, General Steel launches an all-out assault on G3's mobile airship base with his new Hammer robot, and it's up to Lance and Ilana to stop it. The battle is soon interrupted when three Mutraddi monsters attack three parts of the world simultaneously. During the battle, the mysterious leader of G3 revives Octus and they reform Titan, defeating all three monsters. At the end of the day Octus sends Kimmy a text that he will be home soon.
This was a sad way for the series to come to its impromptu ending, but it seems that the trio have more allies on Earth than they originally though. I really hope this series garners enough interest in reruns to convince the creators to bring it back for a second season.
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