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Review
Hey, look, it’s a season 2 episode that doesn’t deal with Plastic Man! Okay, the last one didn’t involve him either, but I digress. I’m slightly disappointed that they didn’t continue the multi-parter teaser serial that started in “Revenge of the Reach,” but I suppose they want to space it out. Unfortunately, the teaser for this episode really failed to deliver. While it was cool to see Batman in a World War I setting and flying a biplane, I was really pulled out of it when Batman opened fire with his machine gun. He could be aiming away from the pilot, granted, but it was still Batman blatantly using a gun. Plus, the involvement of aliens, and a too easily convinced German fighter pilot teaming up with Batman to take on said aliens, it just didn’t mesh well at all. Feel free to skip this teaser!
The main story of the episode manages to immediately make you forget the shortcomings of the teaser, however, as it delves humorously into Aquaman’s family life.
Simply put, it’s very akin to the National Lampoon’s
Vacation movies, but in a superhero setting with one of the most underrated superheroes of all time. This setting, combined with Dimaggio’s brilliant voice work, manages to keep the laughter coming. Aquaman along with his wife and son travel throughout pretty much any
Midwest/East coast fictional city that has ever popped up in the DC Universe, but Aquaman misses his heroic moments. Throughout the episode he manages to hilariously handle the two, until finally realizing that he should enjoy the vacation. This, of course, can’t last, and he is soon called upon by Batman for help against the Penguin. This is the debut of the Penguin for Brave and the Bold, after only being featured as a figment of Bat-mite’s runaway imagination in “Legend of the Dark-Mite!”
Unfortunately, the Penguin’s voice acting is a disappointment. The voice doesn’t really feel all that fitting to him, and whenever he attempts a maniacal laugh it sounds more like he’s eating something in an exaggerated manner. It just doesn’t work, but it’s really the only thing of the main story that didn’t. The rest is a fantastic comedic adventure involving tons of recurring heroes and villains – even if it’s only a brief cameo as a miniaturized hero fights a bug-themed villain on a window. I must give the creators behind it extra credit for the brilliant use of Aquaman’s 1970’s aquatic camouflage for the costume of his son. Not only was it great to see the cool color scheme used, but it was also a subtle adaptation of teenagers often wearing camouflage as everyday clothing. Don’t miss this episode!
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