Justice League – Secret Origins (Pt 1, 2, & 3)

As Batman tracks down hostile aliens tampering with deep-space monitors,
Superman is disarming the world’s missiles. Aliens invade the Earth and wreak havoc in many major cities, and neither Batman or Superman are able to stop them. They later discover and free the imprisoned J’onn
J’onzz, but are confronted by an alien army.

Episode #02 – Secret Origins, Part 2
Original Airdate – November 17th, 2001 – Series Premiere

The seven Justice Leaguers come together for the first time in an attempt to repel the alien invaders.

Episode #03 – Secret Origins, Part 3
Original Airdate – November 17th, 2001 – Series Premiere

The heroes defeats the alien invaders, and officially form the Justice
League.

Media by Bird Boy
Review by The Flash

Voices:
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Maria Canals as Hawkgirl
Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman
Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern
Carl Lumby as J’onn J’onzz
George Newbern as Superman
Michael Rosenbaum as Flash
Gary Cole as J. Allen Carter
Jason Marsden as Snapper Carr
Susan Sullivan as Hippolyta
Max Brooks as Howie
Corey Burton as Bald Tech
Wanda Christine as Female Tech
Clyde Kusatsu as Japanese Ambassador
Kevin Michael Richardson as General Wells
 

Plot / Story: The first part of the story when the aliens started attacking it came a tad bit like War of the Worlds. The whole Batman being dead thing was kinda funny. Oh yeah, Batman is going to die in the very first episode, riiiiiiight! Snapper Carr got annoying. Was he the
ONLY reporter covering the story? He never said, "Back to you, ____," or anything of that nature. I hope they work on this in future episodes. I guess they just added Snapper to move the story along faster, and I can understand that. When I read that Hawkgirl was going to be in the show,
I’ll admit, I scrunched my nose but, she was very good in this story.
Her tough attitude about everything is very well done. It’s too bad she hardly ever talked. She sure does grunt a lot!

Dialogue: This was a very strongpoint. Originally, I gave this rating
****3/4 stars because of Wonder Woman saying, Hera this and Hera that too often. But I got to thinking, hey it’s Wonder Woman she’s gunna say that! Flash’s dialogue was great. The way he and Green Lantern interacted was done beautifully. The friction between Green Lantern and
Wonder Woman was also a nice touch.

Voices: George Newbern as Superman did much better then I thought he would. He’s not as good as Tim Daily but he’s sure not horrible either.
Kevin Conroy was perfect, as always Michael Rosenbaum as Flash really lit up the character. Maria Canals as Hawkgirl was a perfect choice for this hard charging character. Carl Lumby as Martian Manhunter was GREAT!
My hats off to him and Andrea Romano and Leslie Lamers for casting him.
Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman was greatas well. Phil Lamar was pretty good but there is still something missing. It’s almost as if he is trying too hard. Jason Marsden as Snapper Carr was good; too bad the character he is playing is a tad on the annoying side.

Animation: For the most part, it was excellent. They sure weren’t afraid to get violent with it at times. We all know that Kid’s WB! would have never let them get away with half that stuff, THANK YOU Cartoon Network!
The glare from light being shone directly at the viewer looked really good. In spots the characters movements were really jerky, kind of like
The Zeta Project. A few times when Wonder Woman would grunt or yell her mouth would either not match with what she was saying, or it wouldn’t move at all. Looked sorta screwy. The way the aliens were drawn was cool; no black lines around them. They looked like the way Samurai Jack is drawn except with much more detail. The way Superman flies now is a big improvement over the way he flew on Superman : The Animated Series.
I like how the speed of it was very increased. The way Flash runs is a massive improvement over the STAS episode: Speed Demons. Especially on water! On the STAS episode it always looked like he was running in slow motion. Plus, those blur lines sure look cool. Batman’s head was inconsistently drawn. It tended to vary in size and shape. As mentioned before, in other people’s reviews Superman’s chest symbol was very inconsistent, and was one of the main reasons why I gave it four stars instead of five. I really wanted to give it 5 because for the most part it was great, but these little things just about forced me to take a star off.

Music: This I was disappointed with.90% of the time it was just fine, but for the other 10% it came off slightly cheesy. It’s not horrible but does need some work. Of course, I know nothing about writing music. I just criticize it.

Too sum it all up: It sure is nice to finally have a Justice League show done by Bruce Timm and staff. Very solid story and great character interaction were it’s high points. The animation was very good except for the things mentioned above. The music needs some work but it is a very good start to a great series. Now where are those Justice League figures?