Harley Quinn: The Animated Series "Til Death Do Us Part" Review

 

There have been a ton of shows based of DC Comics characters but all of those shows have been based of the heroes that DC Comics have created. Well that all changed a little under a year ago when the DC Universe streaming service debuted an new adult animated show based of someone who is technically a villain and they actually made the show good and so here is my review of the debut episode of the Harley Quinn animated series with the episode itself being called "Til Death Do Us Part" enjoy the review everyone.

The plot of the episode is after a year locked up in Arkham Asylum Harley finally learns that The Joker never truly loved her and so sets out on a quest to become the number one villain in Gotham. Out of all the good things in this episode the plot isn't one of them don't get me wrong it's enjoyable as hell and is very fun to watch and see play out the problem is the story itself is so thin that it might has well not even be there.

Starring in the episode and the rest of the series is producer Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn and Lake Bell as Poison Ivy. Also starring in this episode and the rest of the series is Diedrich Bader as Bruce Wayne / Batman , Vanessa Marshall as Joey , Matt Oberg as Killer Croc and Banker , Jim Rash as The Riddler and Stan , Talia Tabin as Mrs. Calendar , Chris Meloni as Commissioner Gordon , JB Smoove as Frank the Plant and Alan Tudyk as The Joker and Calendar Man.

I'll be the first to admit that when I first watched this episode when it first came out I wasn't that big of a fan of Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn just because all I could hear was Penny from The Big Bang Theory, However now tho I fully by her as Harley yes I can still just hear Penny but that will always be there but her performance in this episode is really good and the same goes for the rest of the cast who all give performances that match the ton that this show is going for.

Doing the animation for this episode and i'm assuming the rest of the series is NE4U and I say assuming because I can't find anything regarding the animation for the actual series on the show's IMDB page but I found NE4U listed on the episode's IMDB page as doing the animation for the episode. The animation for this series has got a lot of praise from people and yeah it's not hard to see why since the animation in this episode is stunning as hell.

For me at least it's always a good sign when the animation in the first episode is really good simply because it says that the team behind the show care about making the best show possible. One of the ways that they can do that is by giving the first episode great looking animation since you only get once chance to make a good first impression and if you have solid animation in your first episode then you've made one hell of a good first impression.

I actually like the idea that Harley had to talk her self into breaking up with The Joker because to me that makes alot more sense then having her do it because of reasons. Yes i'm looking at the Birds Of Prey movie when I say that because here it's important for the character to discover that The Joker never really loved her and was infact abusing the living hell out of her and so it forms part of the characters arc as she has to come to terms with the fact that she was in a one way relationship and that's something that I feel that this show does really well in my opinion.

I honestly feel that this show handles the relationship between Harley and Ivy really well since we see there relationship develop over the course of the show and they don't just stay in one place if you get what I mean. That to me at least starts of in this episode since we see how much they care for each other and how much they are willing to go through to make the other one happy which is something that you don't see that much if at all in any kind of show animated or not and so it was nice to see it presented here.

Now then this is a comedy and so that means that we have to talk about the jokes that are in the actual episode. For me personally the jokes just weren't that funny don't get me wrong there are a few funny lines here and there but the overall majority of the jokes I didn't find funny which for a comedy is not really a good thing but just because I didn't find some jokes funny doesn't mean that you guys will feel the same way you guys might find all of the jokes in this episode to be funny.

This is I think the only adult animated comedy on DC Universe and when I say that this show and this episode is adult I really mean it. Since there is lots of blood and violence when someone brakes a bone you see the bone which was something that I honestly forgot was in the episode and so I was quite shocked to see it happen on more then one occasion and there's lots of swearing so basically don't let little kids watch this show.

This is also an action show and that does mean that we have to talk about the action that's in this episode. To me the action is one of the more weaker elements of the episode not that the action is any bad far from it but because everything else is so good and so when you compare the action in the episode to literally anything else then the action is going to come of looking worse because of it altho the final action scene at The Joker's lair is really freaking cool and I like how they use that sequence to explain why Harley is now using a baseball bat and why she's changed her costume instead of having them both come out nowhere.

Overall this episode is a great start to a great series and the series as a whole is one that needs a third season hint hint HBO Max. Yes there are some bad things in this episode all of which i've covered in this review but for me at least alot of those things are only bad when you compare them to over things in the episode since the episode is so freaking good as such this episode gets an impressive 8.5 out of 10 from me.

All of the images that I sued in this review ere taken from the official Harley Quinn fandom wiki page and Google Images. Out of the two websites that I used for images to use in this review I have no choice but to recommend the official Harley Quinn fandom wiki page for images from either this show or this episode mostly because alot of the images are high quality which for me and i'm guessing alot of you is a really big thing. 

 

X-Men: Evolution "Strategy X" Review

 

X-Men fans as you may be a where i've taken a look at more then a few X-Men adaptations be it movies or the original animated series. However there is one series that i've not taken a look at and well since i'm continuing this run of mostly doing animated reviews be they movies or TV episodes I thought that now was a good time to finally look at an episode from this show and so here is my review of the very first episode of x_Men: Evolution called "Strategy X" enjoy the review everyone.

The plot of the episode is honestly really hard to describe not alot really happens in the episode and what little does happen is done for no reason. This is the first episode of the show and there's no plot to the actual episode which for me at least is huge red flag since it gives me very little reason to watch any more episodes which is something that should never be the case no matter what the show is but I do like the idea of having the X-Men and Brother Hood Of Mutants attend the same school since it makes you wonder when are both groups going to fight or even if there going to fight.

Starring in the episode is Kirby Morrow as Scott Summers / Cyclops , Venus Terzo as Jean Grey and David Kaye as Charles Xavier. Also starring in the episode is Brad Swaile as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler , Scott McNeil as Logan , Kristen Williamson as Ororo Munroe / Storm , Colleen Wheeler as Raven Darkhölme  / Mystique , Vincent Gale as Duncan Matthews , Neil Denis as Paul Haits , Christopher Judge as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto and finally we have Noel Fisher as Todd Tolansky / Toad.

For me personally I thought that the acting in this episode wasn't that good which can be seen as a good thing since the actors are still trying to find there characters. However since alot of these characters had started to become household names at this point thanks to the first X-Men movie as well as the nineties X-Men animated Series I do feel that more effort should have gone into making the acting for this debut episode really good.

                                                                                     

The animation for this episode was done by Mook DLE who also did the animation for the rest of the series. I honestly liked the animation in this episode granted it's really mind blowing but for an early 2000's animated show the animation is episode is actually pretty decent I won't lie and say that it's perfect because it's not but given how badly it could have been having animation that is just ok is a good thing in my opinion.

To me what makes the animation decent and nothing more is the fact that it looks like every other show that came out around the same time. There's nothing from a stylistic point of view that makes this show standout because it looks like all the other action shows that were coming out around the same time as this show and as such this show just blends in with all the others and it does nothing to help itself standout and grab your attention. Sadly tho that also effects the animation because it's just like every other action animated show that came out around the same time period.

Like I said before I like the fact that alot of the core characters in this show are all attending the same school since it adds a level of drama that wasn't there before. Since now your wondering when the two groups will find out about each other when they do find out about each when will they attack each other this is a kind of drama and suspense that you don't really get in the movies or in the comic books and so i'm glad that it's in this series.

As a fan of Storm i'm shocked that they didn't use her character that much in this episode since she only shows up for a few minuets in a couple of scenes and that's really it. Hell in the big training room scene she just stands there while Charles Xavier saves his students the least they could have had her do is fly down to help since she very easily could get all of the students out of harms way but the makers of the show chose to have her do nothing for some reason.

For me one of the worst things that this episode does is they give Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler a device which makes him appear normal. This to me goes against the original idea of the X-Men since the team at least when it comes to animation have never been about having disguises to fit in they've always been about wanting to be accepted by people for who they are and by giving Nightcrawler this device it goes against that message and that ideal.

This was I believe the first X-Men show to air on Kids WB with the show starting on November 4th 2000 with the final ever episode airing on October 25th 2003. Despite only being on the air for three years the show lasted a very impressive four seasons which no matter what show it is is a very impressive run and so I have to give this show credit for lasting quite a long time as it lasted three years I have ti assume that the series does have it's fans which if so then good for this show since getting a fanbase is always hard no matter the show or film.

I would class this is as an action show however just based on the first episode which had very little no action in it im honestly not sure. I counted how many action scenes there are in this episode and there's only really one granted it's a big long action scene but still having one action scene in the debut episode of an action show is for me a bit of a red flag because it shows that the makers of the show have no idea what there doing but who knows maybe the makers of the show do know what there doing but if so there not doing a good job of letting me know.

Overall if this episode is a true representation of the show as a whole then I don't see this show being that good. Yes there are some good things in this episode that is something that I will never ever deney but there are alot more bad things in the episode at least I think there is anyways but if you guys like this episode faults and all then more power to you but for me this episode gets a 5 out of 10 from this comic book and animation fan.

All the images that I used in this review were gathered from either the official X-Men: Evolution fandom wiki page of the the official X-Men Movies fandom wiki page. Since the overall majority of the images came from the official X-Men: Evolution fandom wiki page I have no choice but to recommend that website for images of either this show or this episode but be warned alot of the images aren't high quality at all.

                                             

The Muppet Show "Juliet Prowse" Review

 

Now depending on where your seeing this review you'll know that yesterday I promised that i'd be taking a look at a piece of classic Muppet media. Well i'm a man of my word and as luck would have it I happen to have a piece of classic Muppet media on my laptop this is also something that i've not seen people and so I think i'm the first one to tackle this show but I could be wrong and so here is my review of what IO assume to be the first episode of The Muppet Show at least according to the season 1 DVD box set anyways and so enjoy the review.

The I guess you could say plot of this episode is that Kermit has to deal with a dog who is asking all for all of these insane demands all because he's the favourite pet of the theatres owner and also happens to Scooter's Uncle. How do you talk about the plot of an episode of The Muppet Show because of the one hand you can't say that it doesn't have a strong story because that's the point but on the other hand you do have a say that it has a weak story so for once i'm honestly stuck on what to say about the plot but I can say that the story was cute and that's really all I can say about the story.

Starring in the episode is Jim Henson as Kermit , Rowlf , Waldorf , Mahna Mahna, and Flower-Eating Monster and Frank Oz as Fozzie , Miss Piggy , The Snowths , George , Mildred, and Feather Boa Constrictor. Also starring in the episode is Richard Hunt as Scooter , Statler , Miss Piggy , Miss Piggy's dancing partner , Frogs, and Bartender , Dave Goelz as Gonzo , Muppy , Zoot , Miss Kitty , and Pigs , John Lovelady as Cowboy and Frogs , Eren Ozker as Flower-Eating Monster's dancing partner , Waitress , Chickens and Juliet Prowse Muppet and Juliet Prowse as Herself.

The acting from the muppet actors is honestly pretty spot on yes some of the voices do sound a little rough but since was the show's first season they are of course still trying to perfect the voices. Performance wise the muppet actors do a solid job with each of them getting a good laugh out of me at some point during the show and hell even Juliet Prowse who isn't an actor still manages to get a good laugh from me.

Something that really caught me of guard is the fact that the chickens talk not only in English but they also use full sentences. I'm so used to the chickens talking like actual Chickens and so to see an early episode of The Muppet Show where they actually talk like regular people was for me quite a surprise and was honestly pretty freaking weird since i'm so used to how they talk now and it was honestly pretty hard for me to get past the fact that there talking like regular humans instead of talking like chickens.

Another thing that I wasn't expecting is that in an early scene they give Miss Piggy a more gruff voice and I checked it is meant to be her. To me that was just so weird because not only does it not sound like the character at all it actually sounds more masculine it was like they forgot that they were recording and so the actor playing Miss Piggy just used his normal voice and when they found they just couldn't be bothered to change it.

Now the version i'm watching had a scene that was exclusive to UK showings of The Muppet Show and in this case it featured Rowlf The Dog singing a song. I honestly like the little scene not only does it feature a weirdly dark song called "You and I and George" but the scene does also have plenty of laughs mostly with how dark as hell the song gets but also due to the fact that the actor playing Rowlf the late and great Jim Henson does such a good job performing as the character that you can't help but laugh at what's going on.

I felt that the way they integrated this episodes special guest star was very natural and lot of that stems from the fact that this show takes on a verity show type of format. As such it would have been very easy for them to have a guest star and have them take part in the show in a way that feels natural and this way allows for the guest star to do stuff that there not really known for which in the case of Juliet Prowse is acting.

This episode is twenty six minuets which for me at least is a fairly big issue since alot of the acts that the characters do go on for a fairly long time. Which for me at least made the episode feel boring at times which is a shame because the episode for the most part is honestly really entertaining and it would have been a damn near perfect episode if they made the episode a little bit shorter but that's just what I think.

Now if you recall back when I listed who's acting in this episode I listed both Frank Oz and Richard Hunt as playing Miss Piggy. Well that wasn't a mistake since for this episode they both play the character to some degree with Frank Oz doing the speaking lines for the character and Richard Hunt doing the characters singing voice both for the exact same sketch that being the Muppet Glee Club Sketch and in my opinion both perform the character really well in my opinion.

Now then since this is a comedy that does mean that we have to talk about the jokes that are in this episode. For me I thought that the episode was honestly really funny with there being at least one solid joke every few sketches and just like with The Muppet Movie I really cannot count how many times I laughed out loud that's how good the jokes were in my opinion and the fact that the jokes hold up all these years later says how timeless The Muppets are.

Overall this show is a classic for a reason and in my opinion this episode is a prime example of why it's considered a classic since it has all of the typical Muppet mayhem that we've come to know and love from these characters and this franchise. That doesn't make this episode perfect tho because it does have some faults even if one of those faults actually fits in with the type of show this is as such this episode gets an 8.5 out of 10 from me.

All of the images that I used in this review were gathered from the official The Muppets fandom wiki page and nowhere else. Since I only went to one place for the images that I used in this review I have no choice but to recommend The Muppets fandom wiki page if you want to use images from any of The muppets properties but I will say that rather understandably alot of the images aren't high definition so don't expect to find alot of high definition images because chances are you won't find them just go in expecting to find medium quality images and you'll be good.

The Pebbles And Bamm-Bamm Show "Gridiron Girl Trouble" Review

 

Flintstones fans i've made my love for the franchise known in the past but the one thing that i've never done is taken a look at one of the countless spin off shows from when the show was in it's heyday. One of the things that spin off like to do is shift the focus to people who are pretty much secondary characters in the main show well the show i'm taking a look at doesn't do that because it shifts the focus to two main characters and so here is my review of the debut episode of The Pebbles And Bamm-Bamm Show called "Gridiron Girl Trouble" enjoy.

The plot of the episode is that Bamm-Bamm's pet dog Snoots follows them to high school and while there Bamm-Bamm , Pebbles and there friends have to keep Snoots hidden from a dog catcher which somehow ends up with Pebbles joining the school football team. Yeah this story is as wild and at times hard to follow as I made it look simply because the storyline with Snoots get's dropped pretty freaking quickly which is a shame because that story was pretty entertaining and the one they replaced it just isn't entertaining at all.

Starring in the episode are Sally Struthers as Pebbles Flintstone , Jay North as Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone. Also starring in the episode are Lennie Weinrib as Moonrock Crater , Grumpstone and Bronto , Gay Autterson as Wiggy Rockstone , Betty Rubble and Cindy Curbstone , Mitzi McCall as Penny Pillar , Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble , Zonk and Snoots and Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma Flintstone.

The acting in the episode is for me at least one of the episodes better aspects which given everything else that happens really isn't a high bar to reach. That being said Alan Reed just sounds like he's been smoking a ton of cigarettes before going into record because he doesn't like Fred at all which is a shame because he does deliver a good performance as the character as do the actors playing Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm but the script let's the actors playing Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm down since we're not given alot of time to see what these characters personalities are which was fine in The Flintstones since they were very rarely the focus of an episode it's ok when an entire series is built around them and this is something that should have been fixed.

I don't really think that this needs saying since it's kind of obvious but doing the animation for not only this episode but the entire series is Hanna-Barbera Productions. I have to say that the animation is alot better then what I thought it would be simply due to the fact that it doesn't look cheap and it doesn't have the cheap movements that Hanna-Barbera is known for that being said however the episode does have the classic Hanna-Barbera tradition of using repeating backgrounds only this time it's not as noticeable as it is in other shows.

In what I think is a wise move they have the parents of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm appear quite alot in this episode. Which to me is a good thing just because it reassures the auidence a little bit because of the fact they are alot more familiar with those characters due to The Flintstones TV show and the fact that they don't really play a huge part in the plot is for me a good thing because it means that the focus is solely on Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm as it should be.

The one thing I wasn't really expecting them to do in this show was for them to make Pebbles look hot as hell. The above image is how she looks in this show and she looks stunning as all hell which given that her mother is Wilma I guess was always going to happen but still she look stunning just to keep with the theme of characters in this show who now look stunning as hell they made Bamm-Bamm look pretty handsome as well.

For some reason when people talk about The Flintstones TV show they never mention any of the spin off shows. Which to me is just odd since it's still those same characters played by alot of the same actors and so it's a continuation of the original show with this one being a prime example of that since they aged up Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm to the point where they are now teenagers attending high school and given that Bamm-Bamm refers to Pebbles as his girlfriend in this episode they are most likely dating as well.

Now I did some basic research and I found out that this show was actually the very first spin off of The Flintstones so we have this show to thank for starting a trend that is still going on to this very day. That trend of course being producing terrible spin off of The Flintstones and even tho this show lasted for one season of sixteen episode the show did kind of receive a continuation with various segments airing as part of The Flintstone Comedy Hour.

As I said before this show lasted for one season consisting of sixteen episode with the show lasting from September 11th 1971 with the final episode airing on January 1st 1972. The show aired on CBS which I don't air The Flintstones and so it makes no sense to me as to why they would air the spin off show , U honestly feel that it would have made more sense for this show to air on ABC since that was the home of The Flintstones during it's run.

Now then boys and girls since is a comedy that means that we have to talk about the jokes that are in this episode. To me alot of the jokes in this episode just weren't that funny which is a shame because there are some clever set ups like the gang having to hide Bamm-Bamm's pet dog Snoots around the school but the episode does nothing with those setups like how funny would it have been in the dog accidentally ended up taking the place of a teacher the possibilities for jokes with that one setup alone are endless but nope the episode doesn't take advantages of them.

Overall this episode wasn't that bad but it also wasn't that good either everything is just OK and nothing more. Which is a shame because this was the franchises first spin off show and so you'd have thought that more effort would have been put into making the show actually good but nope instead more effort went into giving Peddles her own freaking catchphrase "Yabba-dabba-doozy!" as such this episode gets a 5 out of 10 from me.

All the images that I used in this review were gathered from either the official the Flintstones fandom wiki page or Google Images. I honestly cannot say which website is better for images from this episode or this series just because even tho Google Images has more images from both the show and this episode they are the exact same quality as the ones found on the official The Flintstones fandom wiki page so use whichever website you want to use.

 

Iron Man 1994 Animated Series "And The Sea Shall Give Up Its Dead" Review

 

Marvel fans right now the character of Tony Stark / Iron Man is a household name and alot of that is due to the MCU and how well the character was portrayed and written in those films. However the character wasn't always that well known and so it's baffling that he got his own animated series in the early to mid nineties and what's even more odd is that for alot of kids myself included this was there introduction to Iron Man and those characters and so here is my review of the 1994 Iron Man animated series debut episode which is called "And The Sea Shall Give Up Its Dead" enjoy.

The plot to this episode is The Mandarin captures and somehow turn a bunch of sailors into zombies all to try and take down Iron Man once and for all. Yeah the plot really is that ridiculous even for an animated show based on a comic book the story is absurd and honestly it was at the point where the zombies were introduced that the episode lost me because of how silly it all was which is a shame because the story had some sort of potential to be good but for some reason the writer didn't care about making a good story he just cared about making something that even little kids would struggle to take seriously.

Starring in the episode is Robert Hays as Tony Stark / Iron Man and the late and great James Avery otherwise known as Uncle Phil as Jim Rhodes / War Machine. Also starring in the episode is Ed Gilbert as The Mandarin and Admiral Younger , Voice acting legend Jim Cummings as Modok and E.L.F. , Tony Steedman as Justin Hammer , James Warwick as Century , John Reilly as Hawkeye and Gletkin , Casey De Franco as Julia Carpenter / Spider-Woman , Katherine Moffat as Wanda Frank / Scarlet Witch and Radar Technician , Jeanine Elias as Veronica Benning and Computer , Chuck McCann as Blizzard , Neil Dickson as Dreadknight and Scanner Voice and Linda Holdahl as Hypnotia.

The acting in the episode is a little better then the actual story but that's more down to who's in the cast rather then the script. Since alot of these actors do deliver solid performances and are enjoyable to watch and listen to on screen but sadly what let's pretty much everything down is the script which as I said before when talking about the story is just so bad and it gives the actors nothing to work with in terms of character or a character's personality as such the actors only do the best that they can to make the script work.

Now for once I cannot find who did the animation for either this episode or the series as a whole which given what i'm about to say is most likely a good thing. Since yeah the animation in this episode is pretty freaking bad I give whoever did the animation credit because it most likely wasn't easy working on this show but the finished product is clearly not a good example of good animation and if i'm being honest it looks cheap as hell.

Making things worse is for at least the shows first season the show would make use of CGI which as you can see in the above picture looks laughable at best. I will give the CGI this tho for early to mid nineties CGI the CGI isn't that bad the problem is it's aged horribly and it comes out of know where they only use it for two scenes in this episode and that's it I have a feeling that the animation studio only included CGI just to prove that they could do it and not because it was something that actually looked good.

I have to talk about the zombies because it's such a strange and weird thing to have in this episode hell it's strange and weird to have them in this show. Why writer Ron Friedman thought including zombies was a good idea is beyond me because it's no stupid and so out of place with everything else that's going on in the episode I have to assume that he was high as a kite when he wrote this episode because that's the only logical reason I can think of altho he is the guy who milled Optimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie so maybe he was getting back at the adults who demanded Optimus be brought back by giving them something mother freaking stupid.

Yeah incase I haven't made it clear I don't like the fact that there's zombies in this episode because one as I said it's a stupid idea and two the designs for the zombies are just bland and uninspired. Honestly the writer Ron Friedman could have come up with something a little bit better and something that would have made sense but nope he chose not to any of that which just makes the idea freaking stupid as all hell and I wouldn't blame anyone if the episode lost them the second they entered the picture because that's when the episode lost me.

I will give not only this episode but this series this they do The Mandarin alot better then how Iron Man 3 did the character. Granted that's not really a high bar to reach but it's still something since this version of the character is still trying to be menacing and is actually evil instead of whatever the version in Iron Man 3 was meant to be. However what let's the character down is the fact that his evil plan for this episode is just to kill the hero and nothing more which just makes him blend in with all the other villains which is a shame because his design is pretty cool and the fact that he uses to rings to magic stuff is a pretty unique idea.

Now this show didn't actually have a network that it started on it started airing in syndication so basically a bunch networks had the rights to air the show.I honestly think that this is a first for a Marvel animated show but I could be wrong. the show aired for two seasons spanning from September 24th 1994 until September 23rd 1995 with the series having a total of twenty six episodes which I believe makes this shortest of the nineties Marvel animated shows but again I could be wrong when I say that tho.

                                                                                     

Now then since this is an action show that does mean that we have to talk about the action that's in this episode. Which in my opinion is one of the better things in the episode not that the action is any good but when you compare it to literally anything else in the episode (apart from the acting that is) however if I was comparing the action to something like the acting in this episode then the action would come of looking worse because the action is just boring to watch in my opinion but when you compare to all of the bad things in the episode the action comes of looking better because of it.

Overall to say that this was a bad episode would be like saying alot of people dislike the Captain Marvel movie no duh. There are some good things in this episode the issue is there's alot more bad things with the episode which make this episode pretty bad and since this was the debut episode it gives people a bad impression of the series as such this episode gets a 6 out of 10 from this Marvel / comic book and animation fan.

All the images that I used in this review were gathered from the official Marvel Animated Universe fandom wiki page. As such I have no choice but to recommend them for images from this show or any of the animated nineties Marvel shows but with that being said alot of the images are fairly low quality which is to be expected given the time period that this show came out and so don't expect to find that many if any high quality images from either this show or any of the Marvel Animated Universe shows because you won't find them.

 

 

Hulk And The Agents Of Smash "Doorway to Destruction Parts 1 And 2" Review

 

Well I said that i'd be taking a look at another Disney produced Marvel animated show and i'm a man of my word so here we are. I'll be freaking honest out of all the animated shows that Marvel have done for Disney this is the one that I watched the least simply because it just didn't seem that interesting to me and while I have seen the first first two episodes before now i've never reviewed them and so here is my review of the first two episode of Hulk And The Agents Of Smash called "Doorway to Destruction" so enjoy the review everyone.

The plot of the two parter is Annihilus opens up a portal from space over a town in New Mexico the problem is that's where Hulk lives and so the two are set on a collision cause with the fate of the whole world at stake. I do realise that I most likely undersold these episodes but I do feel that the story is honestly pretty good and is the kind of story one would expect from the first two episodes of a Disney produced Marvel animated show.

Starring in these two episodes are Fred Tatasciore as Bruce Banner / Hulk and Clancy Brown as Red Hulk / General Ross. Also starring in these episodes are Robot Chicken co-creator Seth Green as Rick Jones / A-Bomb , Ben Diskin as Skaar , Robin Atkin Downes as Annihilus , J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson , Eliza Dushku as Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk and the always great James Arnold Taylor as The Leader / TV Director.

In terms of what about the acting in these two episodes it was honestly alot better then what I thought it was going to be. However at the same time it's not as good as it perhaps could have been given whose in the main cast but with that said the actors do a solid job with returning Hulk favourite Fred Tatasciore being a pure joy to listen to and Seth Green is always enjoyable and the same is true for these two episodes but what let's the actors down is the fact that the characters either have no personality or to much personality as such alot of the actors given really over the top performances which doesn't suit either the show or the character there playing.

Doing the animation for these two episodes is DR Movie who I believe have worked on some of the Scooby-Doo direct to DVD  films but I could be wrong but I know for sure they worked on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay. As for what I thought about there work on these two episodes it honestly wasn't that bad but the issue is the animation isn't that good either it just feels like all of the animators are just doing the bare minimum and nothing which no matter the studio or what there working on should never be the case.

Unlike pretty much all of the Disney produced Marvel animated shows at this point this one has no design that looks like it's from the movies. Which i'm so freaking glad about because not everything has to look like it's live action counterpart and plus this way the show gets a chance to stand on it's own since it won't remind people that they could be watching something alot better which is always a good thing.

Just to go back to the actors for a second I have to say that Eliza Dushku is perfectly cast as Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk. Whenever I picture Eliza playing a superhero Marvel or DC this is who I picture her playing because like She-Hulk Eliza herself is a strong badas* who looks like she could beat up anyone who disagrees with her and so having her play this tough as nails character to me is just perfect casting.

Even tho the opening two episodes for Avenger Assemble had enough story for the two parts this one I feel had enough story material for at least three parts. Since there's alot of stuff that they had to set up in episode one and just don't all of which could have made for an interesting episode but since they only made it a two parter alot of stuff that should be explained or looked into doesn't get that at all like Rick becoming a hulk type creature could have made for an interesting story and seeing how Hulk deals with what happened to his best friend could have been interesting but nope the episodes do nothing with those two ideas.

For some strange reason they made Rick Jones the comic relief character which to me just doesn't work since he's mean't to be the thing that ties Hulk back to his humanity. As such when you strip that away from the character you strip away everything that the character is and don't get me wrong Seth Green gets alot of laughs out of me in these two episodes but they come at the expense of making an generally interesting character.

Another thing that slightly bugged me is that not only did they have Hulk in his Hulk form for the entire two parter but they also have him speaking complete sentences with know reason given as to why this is the case. This is something that really should have been explained or if they did explain it then it should have been explained better since Bruce Banner is part of Hulk's life and so to explain why he's not in the series would have been great.

Now then since this is an action series that means that I have to talk about the action that's in these episodes. Which like the rest of the two parter is just average for me which is a same because seeing the Hulk smash things should be cool but there's only so many times you can see that in a single episode before it starts to get boring and sadly here it got boring fast as such I didn't find myself invested in the action that much.

Overall out of all the Disney produced animated Marvel shows that i've taken a look at this one is easily the worst one. Simply because it's just average which is a shame because it has Paul Dini writing these episodes and he helped create Batman: The Animated Series and created Harley Quinn and so it's sad to see that one of his stories just isn't that good as such these two episodes gets a combined score of a 5 out of 10 from me.

All the images that I used in this review were taken from either the official Disney fandom wiki page or the official Hulk fandom wiki page. I really cannot say where it's better to get images from either these episodes or this show since the Disney fandom wiki page doesn't have that many images and the Hulk fandom wiki page has fairly low quality images and so I have to say use whichever website you want to use since it really doesn't matter in this case.

 

Avengers Assemble Animated Series "The Avengers Protocol Parts 1 And 2" Review

 

Marvel fans since I had a good time taking a look at a few episodes of the Guardians Of The Galaxy animated series about a few days ago. I thought that I might like to spend the next few days talking about the of the recent Disney Marvel animated shows starting with a pretty badly named show given that it also shows the name of the first Avengers movie and so join me as I review the first two episodes of "Avengers Assemble" with the first two episode both being called "The Avengers Protocol" and so enjoy the review.

The plot of these first two episodes is that Red Skull while fighting Captain America has both himself and Captain America teleported somewhere else in the world and so it's up to Iron Man to get a disbanded Avengers back together and bring in some fresh blood to help save Captain America and stop the villain before he destroys New York. Sorry my summery was a little long but that was the best that I could do as for my opinions on the story first of i'm glad that this was a two part premier because you really couldn't fit all of what happens in these episodes into one single episode and secondly the story told was honestly epic enough that it deserved to be two parts.

Starring in these episodes are Adrian Pasdar as Tony Stark / Iron Man and Roger Craig Smith as Steve Rogers / Captain America. Also starring in these episodes are Travis Willingham as Thor , Fred Tatasciore as Bruce Banner / Hulk , Troy Baker as Cling Burton / Hawkeye , Laura Bailey as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow , Bumper Robinson as Sam Wilson / Falcon , Liam O'Brien as Red Skull , Charlie Adler as M.O.D.O.K. and David Kaye as J.A.R.V.I.S.

Acting wise I felt that the actors in these episodes did a really good job which given that a few of them are voice acting legends isn't really a surprise nor is it a surprise given that Fred Tatasciore has voiced Hulk several times in the past and so he knows what kind of performance would suit this character. As for the other actors they do a really good job playing these characters and making the characters there own.

Doing the animation for these two episodes and the rest of the series is Sunmin Image Pictures Co. don't worry if you've not heard of them i've not heard of them either. Now I know that this might make some of you angry but I actually like the animation in these episodes to me the animation at least was honestly really good and was alot better then it really had any right to be which for me is always a huge plus.

I'm not going to lie and say that this the best Marvel animated product every made simply because I feel that that has yet to be made. However in terms of the Disney produced Marvel animated shows the animation here is alot better then the animation in alot of Disney shows hell it's alot better then the animation seen in a lot of the mid 2000's Disney animated movies it's that good but then again saying the animation is alot better then the one's seen in any mid 2000's animated movies isn't really a high bar to reach.

Now this show for some strange reason bares the exact same name as the title of the first Avengers at least if your from the UK and that's where you saw the first movie anyways. So that basically means that if your from or in any country where the first film was released as Avengers Assemble you actually have to specify that your talking about the film and not the show on top of all this poster to both the show and the movie are basically the exact same.

I honestly have no idea why they chose to give the name of the show the exact same name as the movie since while it won't confuse people in America it would confuse people in other countries. Why they didn't just call it Avengers is beyond me since people would at least be able to tell the two apart even if the poster is the exact same one released for the movie which i'm actually fine with since from a marketing standpoint that actually makes sense since people would associate that poster design and layout with the first Avengers movie.

No matter how bad the show or film is it's always going to be cool seeing the Avengers fight each other and yeah the same is true here. Hell the only bad thing about this idea is that we don't get to see any interesting combinations we only see people who you think they would fight and that's just not that interesting even more so when you take into account that we just saw Thor and Hulk fight each other and Hawkeye and Black Widow fight each other in the first Avengers movie.

Try as I might I cannot find that much wrong with these episodes the only real thing that springs to mind is the pacing of both the episodes is pretty bad. There are times during both episodes were I felt bored and wanted to turn the episodes of but I stuck with them just to give you guys this review but trust me when I tell you that these episodes could and really should have been better paced at least in my opinion.

Now then boys and girls since this is an action show and there is action in these episodes that does mean that I have to talk about the action that's in these episodes. Which I honestly feel was really enjoyable since we did get to see alot of cool stuff in those action scenes and the animation was really good during the action scenes and it's always cool seeing all of the Avengers fight side by side to take down a bad guy.

Overall yeah these episodes are honestly pretty good I obviously cannot say if there better then other Avengers animated series but in terms of the Disney produced Marvel animated shows these episodes are solid. That being said as i've talked about in this review these episodes do have at least one major issue but i'm sure that you guys will find more and tell me about them as such these two episodes get a combined score of a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

All the images that I used in this review were gathered from either the official Disney fandom wiki page , the official Avengers Assemble fandom wiki page or google Images. I honestly feel that the place to get images for this show is the Disney fandom wiki age not due to how many there are because there's not alot but due to how HQ they are which for me at least a big selling point but you guys feel free to use whatever website you want.