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The World's Finest Presents

The Next Gen

Episode #005 (385-535) - The Next Gen
Original Airdate - February 24th, 2001

When Zee intercepts a transmission intended for “IU7,” another infiltration unit, he and Ro go to a Caribbean Island to stop the synthoid from killing its target. Their plan is complicated when Bucky shows up, eager to keep IU7 for himself.

Media by Bird Boy
Review by Bird Boy
Credits:
Supervising Producer Alan Burnett
Producer Robert Goodman, Liz Holzman
Written by Hilary J. Bader
Teleplay by Rich Fogel
Directed by Tim Maltby
Music by Lolita Ritmanis
Animation Services provided by Koko Enterprise Co., LTD.

Voices:
Diedrich Bader as Zeta / Zee
Julie Nathanson as Ro
Ulysses Cuadra as Bucky
Stacy Keach as Roland Deflores
Grey Delisle as Dominique
Conchatta Ferrell as Dr. Greer
Javier Grajeda as Mendes
Pepe Serna as Stevedore
Marcelo Tubert as Lorne
 

Screen Grabs






Pans

 

Review

Ah yes…just what I wanted—more Bucky. Thankfully he’s no where near as annoying in this episode and we begin to see glimpses of his future relationship with Zeta and Ro which we see bloom in Season 2. But this episodes not about Bucky—it’s about IU7, the big, gun toting robot that’s after an arms dealer named Roland Deflores. Zeta saves Deflores from IU7, but in the process IU7’s memory is corrupted and he changes his orders from Deflores to Zeta.

Oddly enough, I always thought IU7 was a bigger character in the Zeta universe; but he actually only appeared three times. Each time got better (his next was with Batman and my biased feelings toward him may or may not play into that opinion), but that’s not to say his first appearance was a dud. Quite the contrary, actually; a very well planned and thought out episode, IU7 feels like a genuinely real threat with his massive arsenal of weapons.

One odd thing about the character is how large he is; he’s the next model of Zeta, but instead of removing more parts, they seemed to add about three thousand pounds of armor and weapons to him. Granted, he’s carrying a lot more than Zeta, but still, he’s quite a large brute.

The trick of getting IU7 on Zeta’s tail was neat; it was a cool, in essence, three-part story of IU7. All three episodes lead into each other seamlessly; the season two episode (“Resume Mission”) jumps right off of season one’s “Shadows.” It’s a long gap to be sure, but through recaps, we’re kept up to date and reminded of IU7’s story.

Overall it was a really solid episode of Zeta. It definitely was an improvement over the other poor attempts earlier in the season.
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