Superman: The Animated Series: A Little Piece Of Home Review

When people think of classic nineties DC shows they usually think of Batman: The Animated Series and rightfully so as that show both was and still is really good. Yet people seem to forget about the face that DC had another animated show on at the same time as Batman with the show in question also featuring ironically enough another classic DC Comics character and it's an episode of that show that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I review the episode that introduces Kryptonite into the DCAU canon with the episode in question being called simply just "A Little Piece Of Home" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is Superman stops two low level thief's from robbing Lex's museum he finds that he gets weak around one object something which Lex also sees with Superman having to do anything he can to get the object away from Lex for good. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. The episodes plot was a decent enough plot for this show as this show was never as good as Batman: TAS was interms of its plots but at the same time tho the plot did feel weak almost as if it wasn't strong enough to support an entire episode of a show. Heck this is something that you very easily could see being the plot of one of the 1940's Superman cartoons as it would have worked alot more better in that format but as the plot for a full twenty two minuet episode it's not that good with th plot at times being forgettable almost as if you have to force yourself to remember what the plot of the episode is meant to be in the first place as while the episode does indeed focus alot on the plot and does make it feel as fleshed out as they could have done the plot itself is one that could have been alot more better even more when you take into account that they are introducing a key part of the Superman mythos with the plot of this episode not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Tim Daly as Clark Kent / Superman , Dana Delany as Lois Lane and Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor. Also starring in this episode is John Rubinstein as Professor Peterson , John Garry as Hanes , Brad Garrett as Bibbo and 'Neato' Coralli , Tom Wilson as Joey , Scott Valentine as Sam Coralli , Lisa Edelstein as Mercy Graves , Victor Brandt as Professor Hamilton , voice acting legend Tress MacNeille as The Tour Guide , The Old Woman and The Waitress and Yuji Okumoto as The Security Guard.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. The fact that this episode does gave some really good acting in it is something that isn't all that shocking as alot of the DCAU shows are known for having some really good acting in them with his mainly due to the fact that this episode does have some really good actors in it with them all giving us some really good performances in the episode be it from Tal Daly being pitch perfect as Superman to Clancy Brown being really creepy as Lex Luthor bottom line being that this episodes acting is of a really high quality. With the best actor in this whole entire episode being Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor as he is just so creepy and so evil sounding as this truly despicable character that you do end up really loving his performance and heck he pretty much is THE voice of the character as he is just so good in this episode with him making every single line be as evil as it possibly could be even when he's out in public and trying to come across as being a good guy he still sounds evil. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out pf them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at TMS-Kyokuichi Corporation. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. It really is hard to judge this episodes animation as outside of a few shots with both a piece of paper and the Kryptonite there's not really all that much that stands in this episode from an animation perspective there's no unique looking camera shots and the episode doesn't do anything cool with it's characters are backgrounds. Whilst yes this granted this is something that could also be the case or any episode of Batman: TAS as well but there for the more weaker animated episodes they usually had a stronger plot to make up for it whereas here pairing a weaker plotted episode with weaker animation just makes the whole episode look very kid friendly and not in a fun way and while that is something that was always going to be the case as it afterall a show about Superman there still needed to be some level of thought and love put into making the episodes animation look better and while the animation in this episode isn't half bad heck it's also more better then the animation in alot of other kids shows from the time it does feel like that it' lacking that extra special something with the characters not having any fluid movements to them outside of one single shot in an action scene and there isn't alot of detail put into any of the episodes backgrounds when this is something that Batman: TAS almost went out of it's way to do.

As was stated at the very start of this review this is the episode that does introduce Kryptonite to the wider DCAU. With this being something that does kind of complete the whole set up for the show moving forward as obviously the first three episodes were all about telling the origin of Superman and his first fight with Lex Luthor with the episode four not really adding in any of the Superman lore to the show which is something that does make this episode feel ore like it should have been the fourth episode as then it would have carried on the theme of adding in something from the mythos of Superman and fully completing setting up things for the show rather than having a break in doing that in episode four. Altho with this being said it really doesn't matter where this episode falls in the series running order as outside of the set up of Kryptonite there's nothing in this episode that plays a major part in the show itself with this episode to be frank here feeling more like it was a filler episode that was just there to fill out the series order as the episode itself just isn't that good and isn't that fun as the more plot driven episodes of the show are, the idea of the Lex being obsessed with getting Kryptonite and using it to in his own way control Superman is a god idea and the episode does do a good enough job of explaining just what it is to the none Superman fan that you do end up kind of forgiving the fact that not alot of stuff actually happens in this episode yet at the same time tho one can't help but feel like that this episode is missing something or that if this episodes plot was instead apart of a much larger arc that it would have been alot more better.

While the episode does only stick to showing us the effects of Green Kryptonite on Superman which is understandable as that's the most common color. It still would have been nice if at the end when we see the diggers looking for more of te stuff that instead of seeing a blank colored piece of Kryptonite that we saw something like Red Kryptonite or Black Kryptonite as while the none fan will get what these colors mean and fully understand why there dangerous to Superman the fans of the character will understand both of those things and a show like this was always going to attract both the new fan and the hardcore fan and while yes it is always a fine line between balancing what the old fan would love and what the new fan needs Superman is such a popular character in the first place that you can get away with having more deep cut things from the Superman lore and out them into one episode of this show. Therefor you could have had more then one colored version of Kryptonite show up in an episode and both groups of fans will fully understand what it means if it's just the basic danger and it would have given the next episode that it appears in whatever episode that may be a good hook as now we know that Lex has people actively looking for more of the stuff and while there is nothing wrong with just having the one coloured Kryptonite as again the new fan won' always understand what the different colors will do to Superman and therefor sticking to the more well known green was a smart move on the part of the makers of this episode it still would have been fun to see what they would have done if they had more then the one color show up in this episode no matter how briefly it is and it would have given the new fan more of s reason to feel concerned for Superman the next time that they see it.

Lex in this episode was a really good villain as we do see him outsmart Superman alot of the time which is something that is true to his character. As Lex should always be the smartest person in the room and therefor showing him outwit and outsmart Superman does work really nicely as does the fact that while we don't get to see what he does to people who don't do as he says it's pretty obvious due to ruthless Marcy is that anyone who betrays him is in for some serious pain as that how far he thinks in advance that he thinks and while he doesn't really have a plan as he doesn't know that Kryptonite hurts Superman until a few minuets into the episode this is something that could be forgiven due to the fact that it hadn't been introduced until this episode. The thing that does let hm down tho is the fact that he gives up far to easily whereas Lex would have a plan in place just incase Superman and Lois where able to find away for Superman to fight to the giant robot dinosaur and heck Lex would have been able to work out that incasing it in led would prevent or at the very least slow down the effects that it has on Superman as he does have alot of the best scientists working for him and yet the fact that he doesn't just makes him look dumb as both Lois and Superman didn't even need to ask if that was the case they were just straight up told it and while this was of course done to get that piece of information to us the audience in context of the show it does nothing for Lex as a character, while alright fair enough there was no way for the makers of this show to get that piece of information across without making either Lois and Superman or Lex look really bad and in this regard making Lex look bad does make sense as he is the villain but in saying this his is the villain the person we are meant to be routing against and if e got to see Superman work it out during the final fight then it would have made Superman look all the more stronger as a character.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty one minuets and thirty one seconds. This is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show and while the episode does feel like it needed to be that long this is an episode really could have been a five minuet short film as when you boil the episode down to what it really needs that running time then becomes more of a burden as we didn't need the scene in the diner near the start of the episode as the episodes opening fight with Superman already hit home that it was these rocks that were causing him to fall ill and therefor to hit that point home just felt pointless and we didn't need alot of the fight with the bad guys in the sky either as nothing all that interesting happens during that portion of the episode this is despite the fact that this episode really does have the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. This episode also really doesn't use it's running time all that well as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot this is something that it very easily could have done just by giving us scenes with the scientists explaining the effects on Superman as while we do see Superman fall ill every single time he is around the rock it still would have made sense in universe to have it be explained why he does that and we could have had scenes that add to the plot with the makers of this episode being more focused on making Lex look and sound creepy then they were in giving us a well developed plot. This is something that does also effect the episodes character development as none of the episodes characters het any kind of character development in this episode and whilst this is something that does make alot of sense as not only is a kids TV show but it's also very early on in the shows run and therefor it doesn't make sense for the characters to get any kind of character development but it still would have been nice if the groundwork was layed for them to get character development somewhere down the line with the makers of this episode being more focused on hitting the same plot point then they were in giving the characters some character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. It's fair to say that the action in this episode is the best part of the episode as that's when the episode not only gets interesting but also fun to watch as we get to see Superman trying to outwit not only Lex but the people that he hires to help to him take down Superman in some fun and creative ways with it being during the fight scene in the sky where the animation gets fluid with Superman breaking out of the ropes which looked really good so good infact that its used in the shows opening intro. With the best action scene in the whole entire episode being the final fight as we get see Superman and Lois fight a giant robot dinosaur being controlled by Lex Luthor which is a really fun scene as they are trapped in the room with Kryptonite and therefor a more weakened Superman has to try and defeat this seemingly unbeatable foe which is something that does add tension to the scene and it makes the part where Lois uses her paper basketball skills to throw into one the lead lined pots with it only being then that Superman is able to defeat Lex with the whole scene being a really good action scene and while yes it is also a really tame action scene but given just how tame the episode is it's also something that does fit in really well with the episode with the rest of the episodes action also being really good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this is an episode that is fully hard to judge as while it is a very tame episode given the fact that Superman is more light hearted then Batman is it does make sense that his animated series or an episode of that animated series also be more tame then anything that Batman: TAS did in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and a swell as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the im ages that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall Film Review

Believe it or it's been TWO years since we last got an American direct to DVD DC animated movie with the last ones being released being Watchmen Chapters 1 and 2. Believe it or not its actually been longer then that since we last got an American direct to the DVD Batman movie as the last one of those came out THREE years ago and while we did get Aztec Batman that's a Spanish film not an American one and well now we have a new direct to DVD DC film and well you all just know that  had to check this film out the very chance that I got and so then join me as i review the film that is the first of a three part story with the film in question being called simply just "Batman Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when Arkham Asylum is blown up and every criminal escapes Batman and Robin have to round up every one of them whilst also working out who blew it up and to what end. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. To be frank here whilst this films plot is indeed really good as the plot of the film is one that is really fun to watch and is one that could very easily please alot of people due to the fact that it does feel like a plot that would be done in Batman: The Animated Series. However tho it should be noted that the films plot is rather thin and while this is something that does make alot of sense as the film is telling one story across three films there should have been more of an effort into giving us a more tighter and a more focused plot as alot of the time it is hard to make out just what the main plot of this even meant to be alot of the time as while sure we have the basic premise of Batman and Robin trying to recapture all of these past villains and that is a good premise to have but that's not enough to carry the plot for a movie and while this film does have the excuse of there being two other parts to be released hopefully this year there should have been an effort to give alot of the films plot some focus and not spend alot of time on scenes that might add something to either parts 2 or 3 but add nothing to the plot of this film as a whole with the plot of this films also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Inhumans star Anson Mount as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Brand New Day star Michael Mando as Bane. Also starring in this film is Orange Is The New Black star Pablo Schreiber as Jean-Paul Valley / Azrael ,  Jack Giffin as Tim Drake / Robin , Bruce Boxleitner as Commissioner Gordon , Late Night With The Devil star David Dastmalchian as Edward Nygma / The Riddler and James Bond Jr. star Simon Templeman as Alfred Pennyworth.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. The fact that this films acting is as good as it is in the first place really isn't all that shocking due to the fact that the film does have alot of really good actors in it and granted all of these actors that well known with perhaps the most well know at the very least to main stream audiences being David Dastmalchian and that's really it but even so if you've seen these actors in anything then you'll know how good tat they can be and all of them really do bring it in this film. With the best actor in this film being Michael Mando as Bane as he does get more of a chance to show off just good he is at being evil more so then what he does in any of the Spider-Man films that he's in and he really does nail it as this character so much so that you actively look forward to seeing him on screen as as an actor he is just a force of nature as this character so much so that I really would be happy if he became the official voice actor for this character as he is just so good to watch in this film with him having this natural nact for being evil that really does shine through in his performance in this film. With the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will com out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality f the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the animation for this film is the legend and the really greats that really are currently over at Studio Mir. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. To be frank it was both shocking and at the same time not all that shocking to find out that we have some really good animation in this film as direct to DVD DC animated films do typically have some really good looking animation in them but it was still shocking as alot of the more recent films had animation that whilst it was still really good was also quite lackluster and to be frank uninspired. Yet here with this film you can tell that there was a lot of genuine thought and effort put into this films animation with the animation at times looking like the comic books brought to life only with there own unique touch with the thing that helps to make the animation in this film be as good as it is being the fact the characters d have these really cool looking designs to them with Batman looking like how he did in the nineties only now he's got a cape that at times has spikes that look like bats and while he does look a bit to muscular that was also true for the comic books as well with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film are taking inspiration for the comic books, with the thing that does let the films animation down being the fact that the characters do have a lot of shadows on them which is something that does always look off putting as it takes your eye away from where it should be that being the film as now your looking at something that's hideous to look at.

This film is based on the thirst part of the Knightfall arc with the entire arc being published between April 1993 and August 1994. With the arc itself being one of the more famous comic book arc that Batman has been in due to the fact that in part one of that arc we do see Batman getting his back broken by Bane something which we had never seen before then and might not have seen since then as that moment is so iconic that there is no way to do it again without drawing comparisons to how it was done in this comic book arc with it even forcing Batman to grow as a character as now he has to learn to trust someone else something which due to the fact that he had just lost Jason Todd he wasn't able to do due to the fact that he was scared of loosing not just another Robin but another friend. While it is hard to say if this film is a good representation of the first part of the Knightfall arc what can be said is that just by going off of a very qu9ick read from the books Wikipedia page it does seem as if this film is just covering up until the part where Batman does get his back broken as there are more things that does happen in the first book that isn't in this film which is quite fair enough as these films don't typically last all that long but if your going to be doing three films in the first place and have all three films adapt each of three parts of the arc then why not adapt all of it as you have more then enough room to do so and it's something that the die hard comic book fans would love to see as the whole point of doing films based on these comic books is to give us the same stories but done in animation. Granted alot of what happens in the rest of book 1 might not have work in a film format which is a fair case to make but then why not just find away around that and only adapt the parts from book 1 that would work in a film format.

This film does carry on the trend of them adapting the comic book as multi-part films which in all fairness is a really good way of giving the comics in a new format. However this film does end suffering thanks to that approach as for a long portion of the films running time there is nothing of interest happening as all we are seeing is Batman work himself into the ground as he spends two nights without sleep chasing every single criminal that escaped from Arkham which is fine for a scene or two as that gets across the state of mind that Batman is in right now but the film barely does anything with it and while the film doesn't really set up all that much for the other two films it doesn't also pay off anything that it sets up in this film either. This is kind of double edges sword when it comes to doing films in more then one part as of course you want to give your audience a reason to come back and watch part 2 but you also want to make part 1 feel as close to a complete film as it possibly could be and in some ways this film does that as you do get the iconic moment in this film that will force Batman to change as a character but due to the fact that we only see Batman acting out twice in the film and don't really get any hints of him loosing his edge at any other point in the film only when it's for other characters to call it out which does make the idea of Batman starting to loose it feel wasted as of course with the comic book they can and did do more of that by showing Batman getting weaker and weaker with every passing issue this is of course something that you really can't do with a film this is despite the fact that the idea of Batman going nights without rest without sleeping and without food and water is a good idea and it is a good way to show us that much like with GCPD in this film Batman is spreading himself far to thin and does need to take a step back.

This films main villain is of course Bane with the character looking like he just stepped right out of the comic books. Heck even how the character is presented in this film is so good as unlike in Batman & Robin this version of the character is always the smartest person in a room full of villains with him having this inner strength and desire to survive something that was tought to him by his mother and it is something that we see him use in the film as he refuses to let his captures from when he was a kid get the better of them and stays alive for years just to spite them and when he gets injected with the venom he lasts longer then anyone else that has taken it and with this ne found power he goes nuts killing everyone. The character is also quite smart as without first meeting either Bruce Wayne or Batman he deduces that the two of them are one in the same and because of that he is able to draw out Batman and his allies alot more easily with him letting Batman weaken himself for Bane which is such a smart move and it is something that does make this character be one of the more easier characters to adapt for a film or whatever as this is a character that you can use as this unstoppable force of nature and yet there's only been ne film live action film thus far that has gotten this part right about the character that being The Dark Knight Rises, with the villains plan in this film being to fix Gotham by removing all of the things that he deems to be wrong with it and given the fact that Batman doesn't kill anyone he's deemed as being one of the things that's wrong with Gotham as according to Bane he's allowed it to get into the state that it's in with this being plan that whilst yes it is a simple plan but it's also one thats affective due to how simple it is.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and eighteen minuets and thirty seven seconds. This was kind of running time that to be frank I wasn't expecting this film to have as alot of the direct to DVD DC animated films usually run for around about one hour and ten minuets and this film is almost ten minuets longer then that and it really didn't need to be as you very easily could have cut down ALOT of the pointless Bane origin story at the tart of the film to just it's bare essentials as we didn't need to see his mother giving birth to him and then showing her being put in jail as that's just pointless filler that would have been better of being left out of the film with the film having more then enough plot thee to really cover that amount of running time. The film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely due to the fact that the film really doesn't take the time to fully develop what little plot that it ha this is something that this film really should have done or layed the groundworks for the other two films to do and yet this film does neither one and therefor should the other films develop the plot it would feel out of place as the groundwork hadn't been layed this is something that could easily have been done just by cutting down on the pointless flashback origin for Bane and using the time freed up from that to add things to the films plot with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film put alot more thought and effort into showing us Bane's full origin story then they did into giving the plot some actual plot development. The same thing is also kind of true for the films character development as while it is understandable as to why the characters in this film don't et any character development and they do lay the groundworks for Batman to get the same character development that he always gets it would have been really nice to see one of the smaller known characters get some character development in this film with the makers of this film instead putting more thought and effort into showing us alot villain cameos then they di into giving its characters some character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With there being alot of good looking action scenes in this film all of which are helped by the fact that the animation in this film does help to sell you on the action as the animation makes all of the kicks and punches land harder and it makes all of the action cool to watch with the film giving us alot of cool moments with really all of the heroes and villains in this film with them all getting a time to shine which was a nice touch. With the best action scene in the whole entire film being of course the fight between Batman and Bane at the end of the film as we get to see a weakened Batman who has several injuries at this point in the film struggle to even land a decent hit on Bane with Bane just beating the heck out of him and destroying huge parts of Wayne Manor with Bane even destroying a huge part of the Batcave and while that moment would have been better save for part 2 it was still effective in this film as it does lead to the most iconic moment in recent Batman history as Bane taunts a near death Batman and lifts him up into the back his back over his knee with that whole action serving to show us the audience just how strong that this version of Bane is and how easily he could and in this case does break Batman with the rest of the films action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall whilst this film really is the first American direct to DVD DC animated film since Watchmen Chapters 1 and 2 this film does show that when it comes down to it DC really does still know how to make a really good animated direct to DVD film as while this film isn't as good as other solo Batman films it's also alot more better then what it really had any right to be in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in his very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

My SPOILER FILLED First Impressions Of Lanterns

It's safe to say that interms of cinematic output the DCU has been of to a rocky start and yet when it comes to it's TV output it's been a roaring success. With nearly all of the shows that are set in the new DCU being big hits well now there is another show out there and well I just had to check out this first episodes the very first chance that I got to see if the DCU can bounce back from Supergirl and so then join me as I gibe you my SPOILER FILLED first impressions of the show that doesn't lack the color green with the show in question being called simply just "Lanterns" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan and his trainee John Stewart have to investigate a small town when a group of people are murdered. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. To be frank this episodes plot could have been a lot more better as this is the first episode of a new show and therefor you do want to start out with your best foot forward and this is something that isn't really coming across in this episode as the plot does feel thin at best. With the episode itself not really giving it's plot alot of focus which is something that it really should have done as it does make the plot of the episode feel more like an afterthought when compared to anything else in the episode, heck the episode doesn't really devote that much time to it's main plot as it spends more time in setting up the rest of the show which is fine as you do have to set up alot of things in the first episode of a new show but here it comes at the expense of the episodes plot and it does get to the point where you are left wondering what the main plot of the episode even is as so little time is spent on it that you do have to remind yourself of what the plot of the episode is even meant to be in the first place and is something that does end up doing more harm to the episodes plot then it does good with the plot of this episode not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan / Green Lantern and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart / Green Lantern. Also starring in this episode is Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry Kane , Garret Dillahunt as Will Macon , Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe Macon , Jason Ritter as Billy Macon , Chris Coy as Waylon Sanders , Michael Ocampo as Deputy Lopez , Cristina Marie Frias as Janet Sloane , Shirl Boe as Nice Woman , Doug Long as Thick Neck , Ben Strickler as Sheriff Simpson and Tony Toboada as Sheriff Everett.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. To fair here this episodes acting is the kind of acting that you would expect to see in the first episode of a new TV show as all oof the shows actors are still trying to find there characters and that does mean that the acing in this episode won't be as good as the acting in say the season finale for example and while there are a few bright spots in this episode acting wise with the likes of both Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre being good examples of this the rest of the episodes acting just felt rather flat and lifeless. With the best actor in this episode being Kyle Chandler with him making for a really good older version of Hal Jordan with him making what could have been seen as being a dull take on the character still seem charming with his performance reflecting that and heck he even has some really good chemistry with Aaron Pierre which is perfect for this show and this episode as there chemistry is going to carry the show moving forward, Kyle while he isn't as good as Ryan Reynolds was as Hal he does give you a good performance that while it does have room to grow his performance is of to a good start with his natural charisma really shining through in his performance. With the acting that's inn this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does help to harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the CGI for this episode is the really legends and the greats that are currently over at Legacy Effects. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. There shocking isn't that much CGI in the episode was the episode barely even using any kind of effects at all which for a superhero show is oddly refreshing to see as alot of the time they are filled to the brim with withe CGI effects and yet here in this little show just by going off of this first episode alone there really isn't that many effects to be seen in the episode. With the only three effects that I saw in the episode being a scene with Hal taking off flying , the numerous shots of Hal using the ring and an explosion and that's really it and to be fair to this episode they all looked really good or as good as they could be given that this is still a TV show after all and those do come with certain limitations when it comes to things like the budget as while this episode doesn't really have alot of effects in it when it does have some effects they hit all the more harder as we are not being bombarded with tons of effects like we do in alot of modern superhero movies which does make it refreshing to see a superhero show actually hold itself back and not do everything inside off of a computer with the effects that we do get looking really good with the digital double for Hal looking fairly impressive and the effects used to the create the things that the ring makes looking as good as they could have done with the the one effect is a slight let down being the explosion near the end of the episode but that really it with the rest of the effects looking really good.

SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thankfully the one thing that should never an effect isn't an effect as we get to see what looks to be a fully practical Green Lantern suit. Which we do get to see Hal wear at the start of the episode and while he suit is only seen very briefly in the episode it does look really good and is easily better then the CGI mess of a suit that they used in the 2011 film of course there is always a chance that the suit was done in CGI as as of this writing there hasn't been any VFX breakdowns for the episode released but if it is a CGI suit then one does have to wonder why they bothered to do it as the 2011 film proved that something like that doesn't work and if it's a fully practical suit then it does look really good with the suit being a slightly more modified version of the suit used in the comics. This episode does have someone who does know his way around science fiction television directing as this is episode is directed by James Hawes whom has directed five episodes of modern Doctor Who it's 2005 and 2006 seasons respectively and to be fair having him be the one to make the first two episodes of the show is a smart choice as he would have had that expirence not only working in science fiction on as mentioned Doctor Who but also working on American science fiction as he made an episode of Raised By Wolves with him being able to make the script by show creators Chris Mundy , Damon Lindelof and Tom King somehow seem more filmable this doesn't make there script good but James does show a skill for being able to make sense of the script and knowing what to film with something like Hal's practical suit being something that did need to be filmed as it shows us just how the Hal of the past is different from the Hal of 2016.

There really is nothing all that interesting about the episode and this something that does make alot of sense as the makers of this show are more used to tell stories that last years and drip feeding us information. This is something that would be perfectly OK if this show was a bogstandard twenty two episode season yet it's not it's eight episodes and we don't even know not only what the season plot is but also who the main villain of the show is as this is something that really should have been set up in this episode and while there is some merit to drip feeding us information in a shorter season show the show still needs to have talented writers that know what there doing to make it work and judging by this first episode that is something that it the makers of this show are missing. Again this is not to say that having information given to us slowly couldn't work as somethin like Game Of Thrones has proven that it can but inorder for it to work all of the episodes have to knock it out off the park and find someway of advancing the plot where as with this episode it takes so long in starting of the episodes main plot that it forgets to start of the plot for the season this is something that very easily could have been fixed just by removing the pointless prolog scene with a young John Stewart and his family as that scene adds nothing to the episode out of John giving one throwaway character some advice and that's it and heck that prolog scene is even quite confusing as John's brothers act as if there father is going to abuse them if they he catches them watching TV and yet he doesn't do that he just takes John outside puts an apple on his head and shoots the apple off him and that's which makes you wonder why his brothers were acting like he was going to abuse them in the first place.

This episode does take place across three different time periods with the prolog taking place in 1986 with the rest of the episode taking place in 2016 and the final scene of the episode taking place in 2026. This something that does look like will be happening across the rest of the show as well as we know from how this episode ends that Hal and John are still in this small town heling out the local Sheriff which would place the main bulk of the action in 2016 with the mystery surrounding what's happened to the seemingly dead Hal and where his ring is taking place in 2026 which to be fair to the makers of this show is a really good mystery an it's one that should get alot more focus on as it is something that does open the door Guy Gardner to come back in at the end for a quick cameo as it wouldn't make sense for John to not know that Hal is dead as he'd have his ring but if the ring went to someone else then it would make alot of sense and having Guy have the ring would make sense as we know in Superman 2025 that he is using a Green Lantern ring therefor who's to say that the ring he's using isn't or wasn't Hal Jordan's ring of course there could be someone else who ends up with the ring and that would work as well there is of course a chance that Hal is somehow alive or that the ring was stolen and not given to someone, this is where this series could well and truly as if the makers of this show were smart then they'd get right on giving us clues as to what actually happend not only to Hal and his ring but also what happend to clearly cause him and John to become distant after the events of this first season as this is something that would make what is sadly appearing to be a dull and lifeless show appear to be alot more interesting.

Now the this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty six minuets and twenty eight seconds. Which is something that does make this episode a bit of chore to sit through as there was really no need for this episode to be this long as you could have told the entire plot of this episode in well under that amount of time and that's even taking into account all of the things that this episode has to set up and given the fact that it does have alot of things to set up it does mean that something does end up falling threw the cracks which in this case does end up being the episodes main plot as the makers of this episode just don't seem that interested in the plot of the episode with this episode having more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time. With this episode not even using it's running time all that wisely as the episodes doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot as while this is understandable as the season does have seven other episodes to develop its plot there still needed to be some foundation being layed in this episode for that development to not only happen but also make sense as yet there was none of that in the episode with the episode feeling more like an episode of Lost and it's approach to storytelling then it it's own thing with the makers of this episode being more focused on giving us a pointless prolog scene then there were in developing the episodes plot. Sadly this is also something that does also effect the episodes characters as well with this also being understandable as you could make the case for the characters getting there development in the other episodes which is fair enough as this really is only the first episode but again much like with the plot there still really needs to be that foundation built for the development to happen and going off of this episode that does seem like something that we're really not getting with the makers of this episode putting more thought and effort into to one interrogation scene then they did into giving the characters character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty OK at best. As much like with the House Of The Dragon season 2 finale his episode does have more of a focus on drama and not on action however unlike the House Of The Dragon season 2 finale there is a couple of brief action scenes in the episode both of which happen to feature Hal and both of which happen mostly in the background altho the latter one play more of a role in the episode tho. With the best action scene in the whole entire episode being the interrogation fight scene as we see Hal and Waylon Sanders trying to first outwit each other with Hal being convinced that Waylon is an alien and when he gets proven right Waylon then proceeds to taunt him by reciting the Green Lantern oath amongst other things with Waylon using the bomb in his body to to try and blow up the police station with the whole thing being stopped by Hal using the last of his rings power to contain most of the blast with some of it getting threw with this action scene working because of the fact that it is a key plot point in the episode and is something that could prove to be a key scene in the rest of the first season moving forward  as while it is is more of a drama focused scene we do get some hints of action in it that help to make be as good as it id is with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall if this episode is anything to go by that yikes does this show have a long way to go before its good but in all fairness to the show it very well could start t turn around next week but the show has left a bad first impression and that is something that will always be hard to shake off in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad thigs that are in this very episode in this very post and wit this being the first episode of the show I won't be giving this a rating however if i'm still watching the show by the time the final episode is released then i'll do a review of the show as a whole.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very post well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 SPOILER FILLED Review

There are alot of Batman shows out there some of them are great like Batman: The Animated Series and so of them are god awful like Batfam. Yet there is one show that not alot of people know even came back for a second season as not alot of people are talking this is despite the fact that a few years ago EVERYONE was talking about the shows first season well this reviewer didn't forget and it's that very season that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I review the second season of the how that is actually a step up from the first season with the show in question being called simply just "Batman: Caped Crusader" enjoy.

The plot of this season is sometime after the events of Season 1 Rupert Thorn and his son go missing with Thorn leaving The Riddler in charge with Batman having to try and stop him and a more dangerous foe lurking in the shadows. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very season well in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very season was in all honesty really good. This seasons plot is alot more better then the plot of the first season was as you don't really know what's going to happen this time around with that being the very thing that does make this seasons plot feel not only unpredictable but also more in line with the kinds of plots that they would do on Batman: The Animated Series. As with that show if you look at all of the best episodes alot of them all have the same thing in common and that's the fact that you can't tell where the plots are going and while this seasons individual plots aren't that good as alot of them do have have forgettable plots it's the ones that focus more on the seasons plot that do turn out to be the better episodes of the season as you don't really know where the episodes plot is going to go next and they help to further the seasons main plot in creative ways all of which do work and while yes the seasons main plot could have been better in some respects as the the season does have episodes that don't do anything with the seasons plot there's denying the fact that the plot of this season is alot better then the one that we got last season with the plot of this season also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this season is Hamish Linklater as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Jason Watkins as Alfred Pennyworth. Also starring in this season is Krystal Joy Brown as Barbara Gordon , Eric Morgan Stewart as James Gordon , Michelle C Bonilla as Renee Montoya , Matthew Needham as the Joker , Cedric Yarbrough as Rupert Thorne and Linton Midnite , Josh Keaton as Matthew Thorne and D.A Peter Mitchell , Gary Anthony Williams as Arnold Flass , John DiMaggio as Harvey Bullock , Ronan Raftery as Edward Nygma / Riddler , Laraine Newman as Hattie Tetch / Mad Hatter , Darcy Yellin as Dala Landry , James Urbaniak as Hugo Strange , Zach Lazar Hoffman as Mark "Dez" Desmond / Blockbuster , Bumper Robinson as Lucius Fox , Tom Kenny as Eel O'Brian , JP Karliak as Julian Gregory / Calendar Man , Grey DeLisle as Lois Lane , Wunmi Mosaku as Roxanne Sutton / Roxy Rocket , Blythe Melin as Niccolai Tepes / The Mad Monk , Roger Craig Smith as Jim Corrigan / The Spectre , Jamie Chung as Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn , Josh Brener as Jonathan Crane Jr / Scarecrow , Lacey Chabert as Vicki Vale , Fryda Wolff as Rose Canton / Thorn , Juliet Donenfeld as Carrie Kelley / Grey Ghost and Kevin Michael Richardson as Victor Fries / Mister Zero.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very season well in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very season was in all honesty really good. This seasons acting was equally on par with the acting from the last last season which in this case is by no means a bad thing as the overall acting un that last season was really good and while there are some better acted episodes in this season that is something that you do get in any given TV show with it being obvious that alot of the season actors who are coming back for this season have grown into there characters quite well and while they won't even be able to replace Kevin Conroy , Mark Hamill or even Tara Strong for that matter this season actors do do a good enough job of playing these characters in their own right. With the best actor in this season quite easily being Matthew Needham as The Joker as while the character doesn't really take centre stage until the final two episodes of the season Matthew does make them count and when he does take centre stage he does come across as being a more creepy version of The Joker with him giving the character alot of threat and menace whilst still maintaining the characters dog chasing a car mentality and yet it doesn't feel at odds with the rest of the seasons actors as while it would have been very easy for him to go over the top with the character as that is fitting for any take on the character the fact that the makers of this season really chose not to do that and rather keep the performance for the character small and creepy does make the character all the more creepier which is something that does shine through in his performance. With the acting that's in this very season really being helped by the fact that this season scripts are just so good that all this seasons actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very season.

Doing the animation for this season is Studio Grida and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Studio IAM. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very season well in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very season was in all honesty really good. This seasons animation was quite frankly alot more better then what it really had any right to be as it did times bring back memories of Batman: The Animated series and it's animation as both this show and that show do share a very similar art style yet in this season it does feel like that the art style was pushed to about as far as they could go with it. As there are times where the characters look like they would be more at home in Batman: The Animated Series rather then this show due to the fact that the shows do share a very similar look to them with even some of Gotham's buildings for example looking like how they did in that show with this being something that does help to rob this show of its own look and feel, this season does mix in a good dose of 3D CGI animation with alot of the cars and other vehicles being rendered in 3D which is something that you can tell right away as it does stand out like a sore thumb and while it does make sense that the makers of this show would chose to go this route for its vehicles there still should have been some effort to make them blend in as much as possible with the rest of the seasons animation and while the characters do have some fluid animation in the action they oddly don't when it comes to the seasons walking scenes where there movements become a lot more stilted.

SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like with the first season this season does also have a few nods and winks to both The Animated Series and oddly enough Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm. With there being shot somewhere early on in the season that is similar to the opening of The Animated Series intro with the two guys robbing a bank which was a fun tip off the hat to see as the first season ended with a nod to that very same intro yet much more later on in the season we get a mention of The Gotham Worlds Fair which was of course the main setting of Mask Of The Phantasm which while it was fun to hear that reference when you add in the fact that the show does look like The Animated Series all it ends up doing is reminding you that you could be watching a much more better and well loved show and movie. This is not to say that the show should stop tipping it's hat to The Animated Series heck they even mention The Grey Ghost in an episode with Carrie Kelly which again was fun to see but there has to be line between tipping your hat to the past and outright copying what worked so well in the first place and here with this show and this season it does feel like the makers of the show were copying things that worked in the previous show and that's not fair to this show as the idea of a more serialized Batman animated TV show is a good idea but given that the show does look and feel like The Animated Series is just makes you want to watch that show and not think about this one, with the only two places where this show does stand out being in the character designs which depending on the character either does or doesn't work and the fact that this season does have alot more gory and shocking deaths with it being revealed that Rupert Thorn and his son were frozen to death by this shows version of Mister Freeze.

As you might recall from the first seasons cliffhanger ending the man villain for this season is The Joker. Which is such a smart move on the behalf of the makers of this show as that character is perfect for this type of show and having be in the background for pretty much the first half of the season making us thing that it'll be The Riddler that's the main villain only to have The Joker fully take over in the last two episodes is a good move as it is something that we wouldn't see coming as while we did know that the character would be in this season in some capacity due to again the first season cliffhanger what we didn't know was how big of a role the character would play in the season and while he doesn't play that big of a role he plays a big enough role to make him a memorable villain. Heck out of him and The Riddler who are the two big villains this season it's The Joker that comes off as being all the more better as while The Riddler is just as crazy as ever with him killing people at random or just because they made him mad for a second that does feel out of character for him whereas with The Joker and seeing acting more cold and calculated whilst still being this dark and menacing creature of chaos does feel true to who he is as a character as this version of the character is trying to kill all of Gotham to get its citizens to see themselves for who he thinks that they really are with him not really having an end goal outside of that and that is perfect for The Joker as he does do whatever he wants to do just because he can, with him even presenting a true threat to Batman as while The Riddler was able to out smart Batman several times The Joker has always been able to push the limits of how far Batman is willing to go to stop a criminal with this being something that he does do in this season with Batman only just being able to hold of on killing him. 

We do get different version of classic Batman villains in this season with the character of Mister Zero pretty much just being Mister Freeze and the character of Thorn pretty much just being Poison Ivy even down to them both having a love of plants. This is something that makes no sense at all as those villains are so well known even today that you could just have them be called there classic names and it would still work as the show is keeping alot of things about the characters in the first place that they are still just those iconic characters and if your going to change the characters name then why not go all out and make it a new character all together why not make Thorn for example be someone who hates plants and wants to destroy all plant life on earth and why not make Mister Zero someone who is just really good at cleaning up the messes that the mob leaves behind them. As those would still work as villains as it makes it easier for us the audience to hate them as characters and yet due to the fact that the makers of this show are pretty much just making them those characters al it does is make us wonder why they aren't calling Poison Ivy Poison Ivy and again like with the first season they do a gender swap of a classic villain with it being The Mad Hatter this go around and to be frank it is something that does work alot more better this go around as they aren't so in your face about it with the character in this season being the host of a talk show that just bashes everything that Batman and the GCPD does whilst praising all of the villains with the character only appearing in a few handful of episodes before she gets killed of near the end of the season which is a good way to use her.

Now then this season has / had an exact grand total running time of no longer of no longer then twenty eight minuets. With there being ten episodes in this season one being around twenty seven minuets in length and while the show is ten episode the episode count does make this season a bit of a chore to watch as there are plenty of filler episodes that don't do anything to the plot and are purely there to fill out the episodes order as you very easily could have told this seasons entire story line in about five maybe six episodes at a stretch and yet for one reason or another the makers of this show thought that we needed a good ten episodes to tell this story when all that does is drag out the seasons plot with the season having just about enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even with the season being ten episodes long it still doesn't take all that much time to fully develop either it's episodic plot or it's season long with both plots coming across as being undercooked when the season had plenty of time to fully develop it's main plot as all it would have to do is just have more episodes that are focusing on the main plot to fully flesh it out and for the episodic plots it would need to have scenes in there that that are all about pushing that episodes plot forward and making it feel more well developed and yet the makers of this season clearly put more time and effort into making nods and winks to The Animated Series that we ended up getting a more weaker developed plot. With the same thing even being true for the seasons character development as while Batman got some character development last season by learning to trust Alfred here he gets none with him even having the same character arc as the last season only now it's with the GCPD characters with none of them getting any character development either the makers of this show being more focused on giving classic villains new names then they are in giving it's characters character development but I really will admit that this season really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty really good. With each of the seasons ten episodes having at the very least one action scene in it with some naturally being better then others with the fact that we have this many action scenes per episode does serve to make the point that when this show gets it right like it does with alot of this seasons action then it really does get it right as the action in this season is just so good that it makes you want to watch the rest of the episode. With the best action scene in the entire season being the fight scene with The Joker in episode 10 "The Laughing Death" as we get to see Batman and The Joker just go all out in a what is basically a fight to the death while on top on a building while Gotham is in chaos around them due to The Jokers Joker Venom being around to everyone including Alfred and James Gordon with Batman only just being able to cure Alfred who then flies that Batplane over Gotham spreading the cute all the while Batman and the Joker are still duking it out neither one being able to best the other one with it only being due to Joker leaping of he building himself that the fight finally ends, this is a good way to end the season as it does this great season out on a high note as we want to see these two character duking it out and going all out and that's exactly what we got with the rest of the seasons action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall this season was easily ten times better then the first season and it is a shame that not alot of people are watching this new season as while your not going to be seeing anything groundbreaking like with The Animated Series but you would see is something that was a huge step in the right direction in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very season in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very season really does earn itself a grand ld score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and well as ladies and gentlemen I personally all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.