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My Adventures With Superman Ep 1-3
1.1k Plays2 years ago
Zuhair and J Scotty begin their coverage of the new Adult Swim Superman anime series by tackling the show's first three episodes.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Revival
00:00:01
Speaker
It's a bird! It's a plane! No wait! It's another exciting episode of the Animation Deliberation podcast, where we are talking My Adventures with Superman, now airing on Max. Right after these apps, we have no control over.
00:00:15
Speaker
You couldn't get rid of me that easily. Sing along if you know the words. One, two, three, it's time for animation deliberation. A conversation and a celebration of our favorite action animated series. Yeah. Yeah. Welcome back to another episode of animation deliberation, the podcast where we take action animation and cartoon seriously, but not too seriously. We are your hosts. I am Sarah Lee.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome back, my dude. As much as I enjoy doing the song, it does not have the flair that you're supposed to do. It's good to be back. Took a little bit of a hiatus that might have lasted longer than intended, but it's good to be back. Indeed. We're rejuvenated and ready to go. Okay. Mine's pending now. It's that time of year vacation. We all need to take a load off here and there. Oh, yes.
DC Animation vs Live-action
00:01:09
Speaker
Alright, man, so we got a new show in the works and we're finally talking DC animation again. This might be an arguable statement, but it's one that stands is that DC does a lot better animation stuff to do live action, which works with us because it gives us a lot more stuff to talk about. We're excited to have a brand new content. Yeah, I'm right there with you. That's a take, and it's a take I don't disagree with.
00:01:32
Speaker
have been on record as not having been as critical of some of DC's live action outings as some people or dare I say even the general consensus seems to be, especially when you look at the box office returns for The Flash anyway. But yeah, DC has definitely had a strong showing in the world of animation and
'My Adventures with Superman' Review
00:01:54
Speaker
just kind of without getting super spoilery, just to kind of speak to the show, my, my adventures with Superman is what we're talking about here. I remember seeing the headlines, knowing that this thing was coming down the pike and I could not have been prepared for how absolutely enamored and delighted with this series, just three episodes out of the gates, like maybe recency bias.
00:02:19
Speaker
you know, but the jury's still out. But this very well might be my favorite version of Superman and Lois Lane ever. And I suspect that this is going to be a whole generations like their Superman and their Lois Lane. I remember us
00:02:41
Speaker
making the announcement on this week in animation that this was something that was coming up. But I had totally forgotten the details of it except for Huey being the voice of Clark Kent. And I had when I watched the first episode, I was like, this is a perfect, beautiful blend between what we love about the simple animation of like the old Justice League series and Batman animated series. But it's got that anime flair to it.
00:03:11
Speaker
So when I was looking up the synopsis not too long ago, it turns out it's using the South Korean Studio Studio Mirror, which did Boondocks, Voltron, Dota Dragon's Blood, and my favorite of this list was Legend of Korra.
00:03:29
Speaker
So, you know, it has quite the reputation and everything about it just looks so beautiful and so well done. And it's just like the interaction just between the characters themselves just has me feeling bubbly inside.
Comparing Superman Series
00:03:42
Speaker
When there isn't that much action in the series, but when it's done, it's really good. But everything that leads up to it is just such a feel good show.
00:03:49
Speaker
I'm glad you brought up Studio Mirror because it actually like really stood out to me as well. And it's worth mentioning that this is not their first foray with DC. Specifically, they did Young Justice Outsiders and Young Justice Phantoms. So we've said it many times, but Young Justice is kind of like the bread and butter of animation deliberation. It's what caused the show to start. Also Harley Quinn, that one kind of surprised me.
00:04:13
Speaker
because I feel like that animation style is just a little bit different, but that goes to show their level of versatility. And that's an animation style that I really like, but no, I'm right there with you. I think this, I found myself while this does have the hallmarks of a lot of those previous projects and styles that we mentioned, I kind of felt like this reminded me of Invincible.
00:04:41
Speaker
I think Invincible employed like more like 3D and computer generated backgrounds or graphics and stuff like that in the backgrounds, but in terms of just being very bright and sunny and like kind of the showcasing of like the action, the superpowers definitely put me in mind of Invincible. This is a much more lighthearted series than Invincible, but in terms of like a very, very powerful character kind of coming into their own, I think the comparisons are there.
Artistic Style and Influences
00:05:09
Speaker
And with your comment about the 3D, I think that I like this more than that. I like when they do like the opening shots looking over Metropolis and it's more like brushstrokey. And I say that especially because it reminds me of the couple of episodes where it's like there's dialogue happening between characters and there's just like low render people like talking, like walking from the background.
00:05:32
Speaker
And it's like, it's great for you for trying to put so much detail in this, but I cannot focus on anything happening in the story right now because what are these people doing in the back? It's like when Jerry from Rick and Morty was like in a simulation and they had to like lower his rendering power. So it's like people were just like, man, I love that episode.
00:06:02
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, James Gunn has come out and said that he appreciates the animated content that DC has done before taking over. So we know that it's going to be getting the love and appreciation that it frankly deserves.
00:06:17
Speaker
And I don't know if this is directly his project or just something that he was constantly supporting, but I'm glad
Casting News and Speculation
00:06:27
Speaker
it's here. That's a good question. I don't see him listed anywhere.
00:06:32
Speaker
in the credits. So I'm not sure what level of involvement he has, if any. One of the executive producers is Sam Register, who basically he is an executive producer on anything animated that comes from Warner Brothers, including Young Justice. So all that being said, I do hope that James Gunn is paying attention. And I kind of I have a feeling that he is because I'm going to go off on a tangent here, but
00:07:01
Speaker
With Superman Legacy coming out, when we heard about this series, I was hopeful that maybe this series would inform us about what kind of tone and vibe we could expect for Superman Legacy.
00:07:14
Speaker
If James Gunn does anything close to what this series is doing, I'm going to be very, very satisfied with Superman Legacy. But also we got some casting news in the live action side of things with Superman Legacy where Anthony Kerrigan, who people may recognize as NoHo Hank from Barry, he was cast as Metamorpho. And as soon as I saw Metamorpho, I was like,
00:07:37
Speaker
OK, I've seen Metamorpho one other place ever, and that's in Young Justice. And he was partnered with the Guy Gardner version of Green Lantern. And we also got the casting news that Nathan Fillion is going to be playing the Guy Gardner version of Green Lantern in Superman Legacy. So I was like, OK, is James Gunn like actively watching Young Justice? And that's where he's like, you know, making these character pairings, because I certainly hope so. I mean, he's kind of said that right, that
00:08:07
Speaker
Justice League unlimited and young justice is gonna be kind of like the framework for like how they move the live-action stuff forward So let's hope so and one of the last things I guess I'll say like spoiler-free before we move on to our synopsis is that I feel like this storyline so far hasn't been a
00:08:29
Speaker
strictly following any material like it's just like here's the character and we're having fun with
Hydration and Product Promotion
00:08:35
Speaker
it. I've always been on the record of saying that my favorite version of Superman is the one from Young Justice because he's not invincible. Because you know, things like heavy rockets and explosions and things like that actually affect him and bother him. So I'm hoping really, really, that's the one request that I have is like, just don't make him. Sure.
00:08:54
Speaker
overpowered right like we don't need to have only people from other worlds that can stop him like I like the pace that they're on that there's human technology that can affect him and I hope that they keep things yeah I think that's a legitimate request and based on what we've seen so far I've it seems like they're going to be
00:09:15
Speaker
pursuing that route, but we're only three episodes in, so we'll have to see. That being said, are we ready to jump into a more spoilery section and knock out these synopses? Oh, sure. Before we do, I want to tell you about my trip to Philly a couple of weeks ago, because we went up for that annual sports fest, and this is my first time doing a lot of sports stuff since my shoulder surgery, so it was definitely
00:09:41
Speaker
It was definitely a lot. It was overwhelming. It was very sword master in the building. I don't want to call out a master at all. A shianado, if anything. But yeah, dude, we started at 8 a.m., played outdoors on the turf in the sun. It was like 97 degrees when we were like walking to start our first game. And we had two games back to back before we got an hour break and then did our third.
00:10:09
Speaker
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00:11:20
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00:11:43
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00:12:47
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Episode Recaps: 'My Adventures with Superman'
00:14:40
Speaker
Okay, let's move on to the synopses for episodes one, two, and three of my adventures with Superman. So starting with episodes one and two, which were part one and part two of Adventures of a Normal Man in Smallville, Kansas. Excuse me.
00:15:01
Speaker
In Smallville, Kansas, a young Clark Kent discovers he has superpowers after awakening them to save a woman and her baby from a car accident. Years later, Clark and his alien conspiracy theorist roommate Jimmy Olsen go to the Daily Planet for their first day as interns, where they get convinced by senior intern Lois Lane, whom Clark has a crush on, to look into the theft of a military-grade technology stockpile.
00:15:26
Speaker
Finding the Thieves' loading military robots at the Metropolis docks, they send a robot after the interns. After being knocked out of view by the robot, Clark disguises himself and uses his powers to destroy it, only for the Thieves' leader to activate all the remaining robots.
00:15:39
Speaker
With Clark getting their attention, Lois successfully deactivates the robots while Clark keeps her safe and keeps his secret identity, or his identity secret rather. During the flight, he mysteriously develops new powers. Despite their work, Lois is unable to get her boss Perry White to publish the story of, or the blurry photos they took without real proof of the metahuman who Lois dubbed Superman. And in part two,
00:16:05
Speaker
Obsessed with finding out more about Superman, Lois follows up on the thieves for a lead while Clark returns to Smallville to investigate his past and what is triggering his new powers. He activates a hologram, speaking an alien language, sees mysterious visions of an alien planet apparently involved in a space war being destroyed, and finds himself in new alien clothing, which his mom Martha Kent adds a belt
00:16:31
Speaker
and a pair of shorts too. Meanwhile, the thieves leader Leslie Willis attacks a team of secret agents from the organization she stole the technology from and arranges a meeting with their leader, Slade Wilson, during which she threatens to detonate explosives she lined in Metropolis's sewers unless they leave her alone. Lois and Jimmy inadvertently disrupt the meeting, turning it into a scramble for the detonator while Willis reveals she is wearing an electricity-based super suit.
00:16:58
Speaker
Superman arrives and removes her suit's powers, Power Crystal, before destroying it after it gives him more visions of the space war. While Jimmy's clear photos convince Perry to publish a story, he gives the byline to staff reporters uninvolved in the incident. Concurrently, Willis is taken prisoner by Wilson, who tortures her for information about Superman.
00:17:19
Speaker
All right, so based off these first two episodes, we got some feedback from Andre Sparks. Hey guys, after the first two episodes, I think it'll be a great show. First thing a lot of people are talking about is the intro of the suit. For the suit transformation, I would say it's nanotechnology, same way Iron Man transformed in Infinity War. Better way to suit up, no phone boots anymore. I always thought he was wearing the suit under his clothes was weird. I was told Jimmy Lee first introduced the idea in the new 52 run of Superman.
00:17:48
Speaker
Secondly, the show gives you a different Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Clark. These are young interns. I think it gives the characters a different energy. And do you all realize who was at the end? Keep up the good work, guys. I'm assuming the final part of his email where he says, do you all realize who that was at the end? I think he's talking about Deathstroke. If I'm not mistaken.
00:18:10
Speaker
I didn't realize until we read the synopsis. Like I was like, did I miss an episode? Like where was Slade in this? But like I will admit that I was just kind of a little foggy brain trying to like catch up on shows because there's like five shows that drop weekly right now that are just animated and it's trying to fit secret invasion and a couple of things on top of that.
00:18:30
Speaker
So in my binge, I guess I must have missed that detail and I need to go back and watch that because yeah, that's super exciting that we have people. Yeah. And I kind of interpret Andre's feedback of, did you realize
Character Dynamics and Development
00:18:42
Speaker
who that was? It can kind of be have dual meanings there because he's also voiced by Chris Parnell, who is Jerry Smith from Rick and Morty. So.
00:18:52
Speaker
I recognize his voice like very early on and I think that kind of made me like cue in like special attention to this character but I don't think it was like super super obvious I mean he obviously has like the white hair but he doesn't have his eye patch yet but they do a great job of like having his bangs kind of cover one of his eyes so the illusions there and then I think the only I think yeah I think one person calls him slave that's really the only hint you get
00:19:17
Speaker
I do remember like the hood being up and him kind of like turning his head and like you can kind of like see the eye underneath the bangs. OK, OK, so I did see him. I thought it was like no date. I'm just like, Oh, my God. But I must have missed the name. OK, that's exciting. Him mentioning how this really is like with the characters all being interns, like we have this trio and I feel like some of the best shows like just have these trios.
00:19:48
Speaker
And I honestly think that's one of the best part of the shows. You and I talked a little bit off air, but you didn't really get into it. You said you were going to save your thoughts for the show, but with the title, My Adventures with Superman, that begs the question, who's Adventures with Superman? And I really think it could be any one of the three. Sometimes it feels like Jimmy Olsen's the main character, especially with the end credits focusing on him just jogging with his camera.
00:20:14
Speaker
I love that and relate to that so much. You just had a good shoot in a good session. You're just flipping through the cameras, wondering which ones you're going to edit when you get home. I was hoping that every episode was going to be different, but episode three repeated them. I think the last one was different, but that was just so exciting to see. That's one of the credits you don't skip. The opener has the anime opener vibe, but it never drops into music. It's the buildup and then just ends.
00:20:40
Speaker
Um, but everything about like an opening and closing is so wonderful and again, I like an Uninvincible superman. I like one that struggles I love one that has to fight and deal with We I mean Clark Kent alone has so many like Dialogues about justice and how it's wrong to steal and how we shouldn't be breaking the rules and Perry told us to do this so for him to have to like fight with weaknesses on top of his
00:21:10
Speaker
like moral compass. I love that so much. And I'm praying that the show like sticks to that. We get a lot of the goofiness and clumsiness that I feel like in live action, we've only seen from, I haven't seen Superman and Lois, but that actor when he was in Supergirl and like features from time to time, I loved his depiction of just being like super clumsy.
00:21:35
Speaker
So everything about that is wonderful. I love what they did with Lois. I love how Jimmy's just as much of a troublemaker as well. Like the way that they just like fist bump each other and they're on the same page and getting into trouble and her attitude and her like, she, like her like sinister demeanor of like, Oh, we're going to break rules. We're going to get this story. Just everything about their definition has been so perfect so far. And it's again, like I'm not a big,
00:22:01
Speaker
comic person at all. So this is just, I like superheroes and I like the story. Yeah, I've always been a fan of Superman, but there is kind of like, if there's ever been a criticism of Superman, I think there are people on both sides of the camp. But I think there's kind of been this notion that like, he's too good, like he's too much of a boy scout. And it's kind of hard to like relate and tell stories. And I think later interpretations have really like kind of like honed in on the fact that like, he is an alien, he's adopted. So it's very much like this, like,
00:22:30
Speaker
He's an outsider that's just so willing to give of himself to protect the people that he wants to be accepted by. And I think that's a great thread to follow. But I feel like this series, right out of the gate,
00:22:40
Speaker
It's kind of doing what the MCU did for Captain America for me, where on the surface, it's like Captain America is kind of a goofy, wearing the red, white, and blue, just super, super good character. And I got so endeared to the MCU version of Captain America, and it started with that first movie.
00:23:04
Speaker
the first Avenger that took place during World War II. And I feel like this series is just, it's showing us who Clark and who Superman is and in all of his interactions. And I think that's why Lois is such a great foil to him because she's a good person, but she's willing to bend the rules to get to her ultimate goal and just constantly putting him up against that where he obviously has this huge crush on her, but he's just very questioning her methods and he wants to do the right thing.
00:23:33
Speaker
Even the first scene that you get the slightest inclination that there might be romance between them when he goes into that bodega and the lady's like, oh, thank you for doing this. Thank you for doing that. You're always doing things for other people. And that's why she falls for it. I mean, he's obviously very muscular and a good looking dude. But when she learns all these things about him, she's like, OK, this is a good dude. And I love that. And I'm not romantically interested in the character for a number of reasons, least of which is because he's an animated character.
00:24:03
Speaker
I was right there with Lois. She was just like, you could kind of see her heart melt. And I feel like in the same way, I'm just like, I'm getting endeared to this version of Clark and Superman very early on. This show is giving me hope that a tall person can fall in love with the short one. Hey, if Elementals taught us anything, opposites attract. Yes.
00:24:30
Speaker
Yeah, the just absolute great job with the, I love, I love Paris so far. Oh yeah, Paris is great. It feels like it's kind of like a nod to the Lawrence Fishburne version that we got, but doing its own thing as well.
Superman's Origin and Power Exploration
00:24:45
Speaker
Breaking news, water. Yeah, and they're having like these like conversations and revelations like in his office and he's like, can you do this somewhere other than my office? Like you're still in my office right now.
00:25:00
Speaker
Yeah, I can't wait to see more of him. They've nailed it on every character so far. I guess the one other part of Andre's feedback that I want to tackle is that he's talking about the depiction of how like the Superman, yeah, how it kind of morphs over to the digitized look. And I think it's, I really like that aesthetic. Not only is it like, yeah, throwback to anime is like Sailor Moon and just really has that vibe. I think it's like also just a really,
00:25:26
Speaker
new and interesting depiction of Kryptonian technology. And with that in mind, it's like, again, I think it's just one of the great things about this series so far is like, I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone that doesn't at least like loosely know
00:25:43
Speaker
the story of Superman and the origin of Superman. It's kind of like, it's almost like entered like a level of mythology at this point. Like we all know that Krypton was destroyed and his parents sent him back, sent him to earth and he was adopted by the Kents and became Superman. But it's like even knowing like all that happened, this, they're telling that story like a non chronological way. That's like keeping me interested in the way like when he first discovers his ship and like has his dad's hologram, like
00:26:10
Speaker
They do that in a way that's scary. It's like this alien language that he doesn't fully understand. It's super destructive. And it's like, even though, yeah, I know the way the story is going to play out, I'm still super invested. And I think it kind of does go back to the title, My Adventures of Superman, Who is the My? And I think there's an argument to be made that as much as they're talking about Lois and Jimmy, I feel like it's Clark, too, because it's this question, who am I? Who is Superman? He is still discovering that just as much as we all are.
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I thought you were going to say it was us as the viewer, but I like that a lot too. It's our adventure. Yeah, like us knowing the story and knowing Superman, it's like you hear his dad saying, like, Jor-el, Jor-el, Jor-el. That's like, that's the only thing out of the alien language that's standing out. And we're like, that's you. That's you. He's trying to call you.
00:27:07
Speaker
I think I interpreted the suit in a little different way. I thought there was a mill on the ship that made the suit on him real quick and now he's just changing in and out of it. I thought they were just giving it that spectacular look for the initial showing of it instead of getting dressed. And I feel like now he's actually changing clothes.
00:27:30
Speaker
Uh, I feel like he knows how fast he is so he can just like go change his clothes and come back and not necessarily wearing it underneath. Like how Andre mentioned. Interesting. Cause yeah, there's no phone boots anymore. It's hard enough to find it. Just swinging into a wall. I know we want to move on to the other synopsis here, but I guess while we're on this particular thread and kind of
00:27:59
Speaker
Yeah, well kind of highlighting what I found knowing the story of Superman, I think another one of the strong components of this story is the romance between Clark and Lois and it's not quite a love triangle, but the fact that she doesn't know he's Superman yet at this point, that being thrown into the mix as well. Again, it's not like these characters haven't had myriad depictions and interpretations where
00:28:28
Speaker
It's well-documented that they wind up together, but I still find myself, like, I'm rooting for them. Like, they're not together yet, but I'm rooting for these kids. I think there's a chance. Like, it kind of reminds me of the early days of the office with, like, Jim and Pam. It's, like, the will-they-won't-they, and, like, they're both too shy at this point, but I'm really, I'm rooting for those kids. We're just finding this to be a little shy.
00:28:52
Speaker
It's like, it's this version of her, like the romantic in her a shot, but it's still funny how outgoing and she has like no boundaries for anything else.
00:29:03
Speaker
In regards to Superman's background, I think Man of Steel is the only time I've ever seen what actually happened in Krypton. So I'm excited to see what this shows depiction of. When we have, I don't want to call it a filler episode, but an episode that's dedicated to the events of what happened. It looks like it's more of a takeover than it is somebody wasn't listening and it was an environmental-based thing. We will have to see. Yeah, we have very few
00:29:33
Speaker
Yeah. Sounds like some type of Kryptonian civil war going on. Yeah. Yeah. Considering the fact that, yeah, we couldn't understand a word of what Jor-El said.
Villains and Series Tone
00:29:41
Speaker
Who knows at this point? It could be the classic story of them drilling at their core too much and destabilizing the planets. It could be an outside attack or brainiac or something like that that we've seen in injustice and stuff like that. Yeah.
00:30:00
Speaker
I need to put my Dothraki on hold and start learning Kryptonian. Yeah. So one thing kind of relevant to what we were talking about that's down in the synopsis is I love this little line between Clark and Lois from episode three where he brings in the coffee. He's like, Oh, that's my favorite place. I was like, Oh yeah, I was just drunk. I was like, that was the other end of the city. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you were worth it.
00:30:27
Speaker
Just little flirty things like yeah, you can keep the action to a minimum but as long as you're giving me this type of energy and just beautiful animation and comedy and vibe to go with it like I'm I'm 1000% down. I'm right there with you like I I don't want to say like the series has been light on action so far, but it definitely seems like the focus is on Relationships first and foremost and then like the yeah character development here and like yeah the action serves is like kind of like a nice
00:30:58
Speaker
cherry on top towards the, the ends of the episodes. At least that's, that's the format and formula that seems to be followed at this point. Yeah. Yeah. I could see closer to the end of the season or like when the stakes are higher, we have a solidified villain that, I mean, I've seen what they do with Korra. I have no doubts that the actions just could be incredible. All that to say, it's kind of surprising, I guess,
00:31:24
Speaker
One of the reasons I was like almost kind of like surprised and delighted by how taken with the series I was is because I made the comparisons to invincible, like just kind of going into this. I was like, okay, because this is coming out on adult swim, it's probably going to go for a similar vibe to invincible, but it's really like. Embracing more of like the team and like charming and like it feels sanitized doesn't seem like the right word, but it feels very like
00:31:52
Speaker
Not even kid friendly either, but it just feels wholesome and safe for the whole family. And it's not really delving into any windows or anything like that. And it's like, don't get me wrong, I love innuendos. And why is the word escaping me? But crude humor and stuff like that. But the way this series is going right now, I don't need any of that. It's just delightful. Yeah.
00:32:20
Speaker
Yeah, delightful is a perfect word for that. So talking about episode three, my interview with Superman.
00:32:28
Speaker
Lois attempts to interview Superman, forcing Clark to figure out a way to help her while protecting his secret identity. However, she and the interns are also forced to contend with the Daily Plan's established Scoop Troop reporters who took credit for their Superman story, Steve Lombard, Kat Grant, and Ronnie Trope. Meanwhile, three operatives from the criminal organization Intergang obtain technology leftovers from Willis's fight with Superman.
00:32:53
Speaker
Taking the names Mist, Roughhouse, and Silver Banshee, they attempt to rob Metropolis' largest bank using an unstable ice cannon. While fighting Intergang, Superman develops heat vision and discovers the cannon is powered by another crystal that gives him visions of an invading robot army. After defeating Intergang, they are secretly taken to Wilson's organization.
00:33:16
Speaker
Eventually, Superman accepts an interview with Lois, where he tells her that he is still figuring out who he is, but is committed to saving people. However, Lois later tells Clark that she suspects Superman is lying to his dismay. Was it the end of episode two where
00:33:34
Speaker
Amanda Waller. The leader of Suicide Squad, the cranky. I think it was episode two- Was that the end of that episode? Where it's like her and two other people were interrogating somebody about who is this guy? Yeah, I think she was in the background. She may have had a line or two, but yeah, it was pretty obvious that it was Amanda Waller to me. I don't know why reading Wilson's organization reminded me of that, but I love how much they're building up to things. There's so much that we know that's teasing us, but there's so much that we don't because it's a unique story.
00:34:05
Speaker
When they showed inner gang, I thought about the the ice family from Young Justice. I'm forgetting their names, but like I was wondering if this this story because of the way the ice cannon malfunction was going to like transform them into that. Interesting, interesting thought. Yeah, I kind of similarly when I heard inner gang, I thought of Young Justice as well, because I believe it was in Markovia
Intergang and Plot Twists
00:34:35
Speaker
We had Geoforce, I want to say, when he had his team of superheroes. I feel like Intergang was involved. And he might have even called his group of heroes Intergang or something. I don't know. I'm getting fuzzy on the details there. But I seem to remember Intergang using technology from Apocalypse or something like that. Yeah, I feel like I definitely got the details wrong or whatnot.
00:35:04
Speaker
Yeah, I don't remember any of these names, but it's Bruno, manneheim, Cairo, defray, Norman, Scorpio, like that's that sticks out to me. I'm pretty sure she was the redhead. But anyway.
00:35:17
Speaker
I did find myself wondering, it was like, this technology doesn't seem like it's from Apocalypse quite yet. So I'm wondering if this is going to be like a different interpretation and the crystals seem to be like the through line. So it's like, I'm not ready to like, you know, make any guesses or speculation as to like a big bad at this point in time, but those crystals seem to be
00:35:43
Speaker
And he hasn't had any reaction to them, like their kryptonite or anything like that. If anything, it seems to have helped him like tap into other powers in his arsenal. So yeah, a lot of questions at this point. Yeah. It could be something that's from another planet, but not necessarily krypton. Maybe apocalypse. Maybe I'm just wrong. Maybe it is apocalypse. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. I like the way that.
00:36:07
Speaker
They used their weapons, how sticky he was with it. I had to look up if Mist was the voice actor that plays Robin in Teen Titans because there was a lot of similarities to just the way that he carried it. But I absolutely love Silver Banshee and how she had her dialogue and how the last line was where she threw out her attack, especially because a lot of the times they saw it for the first time.
00:36:35
Speaker
But this is the second set of villains where they've just been like super clumsy. It's like, I told you to stop using our real name. And before it was just like, why did you turn on all of the robots? Like he just like, so I'm just handing on the buttons. I mean, just the humor and all these serious situations are just very well played. They use the real name so often. I think I like remembered his real name was Kyle, more than I remembered that his name was Mist. And yeah.
00:37:00
Speaker
I haven't even noticed this until I read it just now. Silver Banshee stuck out to me just because how striking the mask that she wore and her silver hair, that stuck with me and I was also like, okay, so Silver Banshee is basically an evil version of the Black Canary and the fact that her name was Siobhan stuck out to me as well because Succession, the character of Shiv, her real name is Siobhan, but that's a whole
00:37:23
Speaker
tangent, but you brought up the voice actor for Kyle, AK the Mist, and Baby Look Him Up, and it's Lucas Grabiel. Do you know who that is? He was in the high school musical film series. He was Ryan Evans, who was Sharpe's brother. Yeah. Really? Yeah. So that guy's still working. Wow.
00:37:46
Speaker
Yeah, I'm wondering. Let's see that actually happened, but. It's called Tony Hawk moment. I had no idea.
Voice Actors and Character Depth
00:37:58
Speaker
No, no, no, just there's this there's this thing where it's like Tony Hawk tweets all of his instances for people are like, Oh, OK. I wonder what he's been. OK, it was just like this. OK, that's the Internet. Yeah.
00:38:12
Speaker
No, I'm sure that would happen to me, too, though. Sure. I'm picking on that. I mean, you know how much I pay attention to people's names and voice actors and directors and stuff? Like, I could be sitting next to Kim Feige, and it would take a second to just be like, I'm like, hi, you're him. Yeah, sure. Sure. I'll be honest, yeah, if I hadn't looked him up, I don't know if I probably would have said something along the lines like, Lucas Grapio, that sounds really familiar, but I can't place it. Mm-hmm.
00:38:40
Speaker
Yeah. If you have more to say on this episode, I'll let you gush, but I don't know. I enjoyed the episode. I definitely enjoyed the episode and it seemed to be following a similar trajectory and I found it super enjoyable and super delightful, but I don't have too much to say about this episode individually, but I just keep finding myself going back to why this series as a whole just has me right out of the gate and it's like,
00:39:07
Speaker
There's this term called save the cat that Matthew Carroll definitely indoctrinated me with. I knew it was a concept, but he brings it up so often that now it's common vernacular for me to use. What's interesting is the whole concept of save the cat, have your character
00:39:23
Speaker
save a cat to prove that like they care about, like, you know, innocence and those that are weak and can't protect themselves like that actually comes from Superman originally, like he is the original person that saves the cat. And in that opening episode, they had him save a cat out of a tree like as he's on his way to Metropolis or to the internship. Yeah. Yeah. And then the trunks. So having Martha Kent like make the trunks that he wears on the outside like that's just great. Like
00:39:52
Speaker
A lot, a lot of versions of Superman don't incorporate the trunks and I don't knock them for it. It's a pretty goofy thing. But the fact that like they turned it, they don't make it a joke. Like they make it a heartwarming moment between Clark and Martha. Like she's like, I made these for you because I think it would just look better.
Superman's Identity and Transformation
00:40:09
Speaker
And it's like, you know what? It does look better in the sense that it's good on you. Yeah, just the way that he comes up with it in this episode. I in my head, I was just kind of like, all right, that's the adult swim humor.
00:40:23
Speaker
that can go for this where it's like, he actually doesn't need to cover up a little bit. It's a little too skintight if you know what I mean. So I'll take that, but regardless of whether it's more than making it or if he's actually trying to cover up, at least it has function. It's not like wearing outside underwear or outside underwear. It is a good look. I love what he does with his hair. It's a nice faded look and how when he runs into the staircase, it has to shake it up really quick.
00:40:50
Speaker
The fact that he genuinely wants to stand out from how he looks because of how much he's in front of Lois and how much he goes out of his way to protect her, those looks are just very important. Yeah, and this is one of those depictions of Superman where I don't find my suspension of disbelief really strained when you have Superman and then Clark going from one scene literally seconds from seeing one to the other. I still buy it at this point that
00:41:21
Speaker
He's his body language and just the way he presents himself and and scruffing up the hair and everything like that. Like he just comes across as so much more confident as Superman. So like I buy into the fact that people would never be looking towards Clark to be like.
00:41:36
Speaker
is this guy Superman, and we're still learning about Superman at this point anyway, so why would anyone suspect that Superman even has a secret identity? It's just like, okay, he shows up when he's needed, but outside of that, we shouldn't be thinking that he's a regular citizen of Metropolis or anything like that. You mentioned the
00:41:56
Speaker
Superman and Lois for like the CW version. And I believe that actor's name is Tyler Hecklin. And kind of like you, my only exposure to him really was in Supergirl, like the first season two, season three that he popped up there. Okay. But I have seen like the classic Richard Donner, Christopher Reeve, Superman movies. And I found myself, I felt like it evoked that very strongly where like, you've got one actor playing both roles, but the way that he's able to like really
00:42:26
Speaker
everything from the way he just holds himself with his posture and speaks and everything like that, they do really feel like two completely different characters with just the tiniest thread connecting them.
00:42:39
Speaker
And you can see the click for him when he picks up Lois, which is also really cute, for the interview because he hesitates to like, oh no, I have to panic. And then the charm in his smile just comes in. And this is what he realizes. He can be his whole other person right now. He doesn't have to be Clark Kent. This is where you see the split.
00:43:06
Speaker
in that confidence of like, I'm Superman. It was a great comedic moment too, where he like, once he's back as Clark, like he takes the opportunity like, so what'd you think of Superman? Pretty great, right? And she's like, no. That was the last thing I wanted to gush about. And it's like, that's that great. Like, I feel like that was definitely a, his reaction was like a throwback to the anime is that this series is inspired by as well. Like that was just perfect comedic timing.
00:43:35
Speaker
Yeah, that the look on her face was priceless. She was like, I can't remember the Disney movie right now, but just the cats that have like the evil villainous faces, like they're ready to cause mischief. Like that's exactly what that was. And it was such a perfect kind of like this mad, zany energy. Like her brow gets kind of like arched and she's like, oh, no, he's a liar. I'm going to find him out. Yeah.
00:44:01
Speaker
She's got the big grin with the sharp teeth like, oh yeah, this interview is still going on. This investigation is still going on. Yeah. And go ahead.
00:44:12
Speaker
I was about to say, talking about the goofiness, how did we not talk about what they were impersonating? We were right on the same page right now, because that's exactly where I was going to go to. Her cat Grant impression was awesome. She's like, what did the guy say? He was like, oh, no, the cop was like, I didn't see you at the press conference early. And it's like, oh, we don't like to draw attention to ourselves. You just pirouetted into my office not two minutes ago.
00:44:39
Speaker
This is the warden is just like, you should know your press. Like we have protocols, but it's like, yeah, their pictures are on that ID. Like the animators did a really good job at making that. It's like, who are you again? And she's just like trying to like flail it around. Pay attention to it. That was super good.
00:44:57
Speaker
And then he's like, Clark is just like slumped down. He was like, and I'm Ronnie. It was Steve that was on sports. Yeah, that was, that was all great. And even like outside of them doing the impressions, just the introductions to those characters that they were portraying was, it was pretty great. Like Kat Grant, the only exposure I have to her is again,
00:45:20
Speaker
Kalista Flockharts, yeah, her portrayal and Supergirl. I think she was just in the first season, but I think she says something along the lines of like, if you don't have anything nice to say, come sit next to me, but not too close. And then Lois is able to capture that energy perfectly where she is like, I can't, she's like, if you have news that's not news, I'm your girl or something like that. That's great.
00:46:00
Speaker
While we're on the subject of comedy, though, another beat that I really appreciated in episode three that only worked because of what we were presented with with episode one and two is when Clark kind of discovers he was like, oh, the only reason you came here is because you wanted to be taken hostage to lure Superman out so you could get your chance to interview him. And I think it's Jimmy that says it worked when we did it with Live Wire in the last episode. He's like, that was the whole reason you did that, his reaction.
00:46:10
Speaker
Yeah, there was like a couple of cat grant instances, but it was just like reporter stuff. Like when you see her on the news, you didn't see like that.
00:46:37
Speaker
I don't know who Jack Quaid's agent is, but they need a raise because between Jack Quaid being in the boys popping up and scream.
00:46:47
Speaker
Now he's been in Star Trek and this and he voiced Peter Parker in one of the versions of Peter Parker and Across the Spider-Verse like this man is becoming prolific in all our favorite like fandoms. So yeah on him and he's doing a great job. So I'm fully support.
00:47:04
Speaker
Oh, they're trying to find writer's money before. Good point. At least the animation is not super impressive at this point. Obviously animated movies are impacted by the writer's strike and the actor's strike, but the animation guild for the most part exists as its own kind of entity.
Industry Insights and Podcast Engagement
00:47:22
Speaker
Yeah, I'm fully in support of, you know, people getting their due compensation and especially with like streaming and the emergence of AI. Obviously things need to be reworked and whatnot, but it does give me some glimmer of hope that animation probably won't impact it to the same extent, at least animation on TV anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Let's just hope it just gets resolved for everybody soon. Based off the way that we were just talking about this humor in terms of vibe, you know what this
00:47:53
Speaker
what anime this really resembles. I thought you were going to go there, but I was hesitant to say it. Yeah. Yeah. The way that we were just talking about Clark just gave me such Anya vibes of just like going with the flow and just responding to everything. And it's mostly comedic, but it's fantastic animation and great action when we do get it. I'm with you. I think the general vibe and kind of like that wholesome, but wildly entertaining
00:48:20
Speaker
Aesthetic yeah, I think it's definitely in keeping with spy family and now I just need Clark going I Need good times good times
00:48:43
Speaker
Yeah. So for the listeners, we're doing two shows that are going to be covered episodic on a weekly basis. We have
00:48:53
Speaker
My adventures with Superman the plan right now is to try to record those on Monday evenings so that they're out next day And then we're doing jujutsu Kai's in season 2 on Thursday evenings and trying to get those out the next day So if you guys want to send your feedback accordingly, obviously would love to read it out Thank you to Andre and thank you to all the DC animation fans that are following us and supporting us and telling us what you want to hear about We've had loose discussions about this, but just to keep you guys in the loop. We're talking about our
00:49:24
Speaker
While we have our weekly coverage of a show or two, we do want to talk about like season recaps of things more often. There's talks of trying to get Seasons of Rebels in. Me and BBK are trying to find time to do the Black Clover movie, so it's just a lot of content that we're trying to cover in our busy lives, but obviously we love doing this, so we're just trying to find
00:49:53
Speaker
the best way to make it work. So if there's any suggestions that you guys have, if you're enjoying the coverage that we have so far, we would love to hear from you guys. Animation deliberation podcast at gmail.com or slide into DMS for all of our social media. Yes, indeed. So on that note, thank you so much for listening and keep tuning in. That's T double O N I N. And as always, stay well.
00:50:17
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Animation Deliberation Podcast, a proud member of the Strandepanda Network. If you would like to contact us, you can email animationdeliberationpodcast at gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at animationdelib1. For this and other great shows, you can visit Strandepanda.com or join the great community that is the Strandepanda Chat Facebook group at facebook.com slash groups slash spchat. Tune in next time and remember, stay well.