DCAU Spotlight: Static Shock

Hello, fellow geeks out there! It's that time

again to listen to a podcast from the Geekcast

Radio Network. And welcome to the 97th episode

of Tooncast, brought to you by the Geekcast Radio

Network. I am your host, Dave, Joe, and Mike,

and today I'm joined once again by Steve Megatron.

Hello. Hello. And the rising star herself, Tara.

Hello. Hey. Today we are going to be continuing

the DC Animated Universe Spotlight with Static

Shock. So what's been going on with you, Steve?

Nothing much. Just a bunch of voice work lately.

And my new microphone that I just got. I was

going to say, yeah, you did get a new microphone,

so that's always good. Yes. What about you, Tara?

Well, I am fresh off of my reading week from

Centennial, and now I'm back in school and gearing

up to do our final film. So that's going to be

fun. And also, my birthday is in 10 days as of

today, March 17th. So I'm excited to turn 20.

Yay. Yay. So that's basically what's up with

me. Nothing too crazy. Let's see, I just finished

interviewing Robert Axelrod, Barbara Goodson,

and my buddy Scotty Cash for From the Command

Center. We finally got From the Command Center

in iTunes. We're still doing the top 100 animated

series thing. We've got episode 22 coming out.

Actually, it'll be released before this episode

will go up, but it'll be out Monday the 21st.

I think Monday's the 21st. I don't remember anymore.

Yeah, I think. I don't know. And we've got some

special MWIRE stuff coming up. We're going to

do a couple special, like, current movie episodes

for MWIRE before it comes back in July. Oh, hell,

what else? I think that's it, so... Tara, why

don't you take the history lesson for us? Sure

thing. Static shock is an American animated television

series produced by Warner Brothers Animation

It premiered in September 2000 on the kids WB

block and ran for four seasons with a total of

52 half -hour episodes Wow, I did not know it

ran for four seasons didn't know that either.

No, I didn't Steve do you have any general memories

of static shock of seeing it when it was on air?

I remember vaguely seeing some different ones,

some of them having to do with the fact that

people didn't know that he had powers. I believe

his name is Virgil. Didn't have any powers is

what people thought. And then I remember seeing

some where, of course, there were crossover episodes.

Yeah, what about you Tara? What do you remember

about static? Well, what I mostly remember about

Static is that I used to watch it mostly in the

afternoons on a network here in Canada called

YTV. I really enjoyed watching it as a kid next

to all the other great superhero shows that were

on in that time, around 2000, 2001. And I thought

it was funny, it had great writing, and it was

an interesting different type of superhero that

I wasn't used to. And I felt like I could really

relate to Static. more than probably any other

superheroes I don't know why maybe it was because

he was you know a little bit younger than some

of the other superheroes and that he had different

personality but it just that's really what I

remember about it and it was just it was just

different to me it was just fresh it was like

new yeah I remember watching it and it's kind

of funny because the way the DC universe goes

it goes Batman Beyond Zeta and then static and

You know as I said last week in in episode 96

with with Zeta I mean Zeta wasn't that great

and then from to go from Zeta to this I mean

this static shock does have its problems, but

Overall, it's a it's a very social type of series

as far as like It hits on a lot of really really

social issues as far as I know it hits on racism

on a couple episodes I know it hit on hit on

like drugs and alcohol in a couple episodes and

stuff like that. As far as Static himself, I

mean, you know, Steve said there were some episodes

that no one knew his powers were and then he

was teaming up. You know, the whole, you know,

oh, nobody can know my secret identity thing,

that's almost every superhero, specifically Bruce

Wayne in Batman. And I mean, you know, I mean,

technically Richie was Static's Robin, so. But

I mean overall it was really well done for the

most part. I did not care for the themes, the

first season's theme song too much. We'll talk

about that a little bit later. Getting into the

characters and the voice actors, he uses a bunch

of items which... i'm not really going to list

off, everybody really knows these, the two that

I'll talk about is the disc that he uses to fly

on it's a mylar that folds out to become a disc

that static uh... you know can ride on the air

and stuff and then they have the shock boxes

which are technically walkie -talkies and then

Richie has, Richie slash Gear has Backpack which

is a robot and has a camera and tracking device

and all that good stuff in it the Hawkins family

is Virgil Hawkins aka Static who is voiced by

Phil Lamar. Phil Lamar has such a great range

from voicing Green Lantern in Justice League

which is a really really deep voice to voicing

Static here and even to voicing the adult Static

I mean from kid Static here to adult Static it

doesn't really change that much but it changes

slightly and I just I like that slight change.

Yes. I have to agree with you on that. The voice

cast for this was really well done and definitely

have to agree. Phil Lamar, excellent choice for

Virgil and Static. His personality really came

out for this character and he portrayed him so

well. He was very believable. He was. Then you

have his father, Robert Hawkins, who was voiced

by Kevin Michael Richardson. Very cool. uh...

robert hockins is the is the so he's a so i believe

is a social worker that's that's what it was

said in the show uh... he's basically a single

father with uh... virgil's sister uh... not with

virgil so many he's a single father to virgil

and sharon hawkins uh... who was voiced by michelle

morgan uh... what did you guys think of uh...

robert hawkins from the show And reading his

bio, it kind of makes sense, the fact that he's

a Marine and everything. He was very strict and

very much against his using the powers and everything

else, which he was vaguely aware of. But it was

just, I don't know, he was a stickler for, you

know, these rules don't, you know, just very

strict. Yeah, yeah. And then Sharon, ugh. Oh

my god. If there was one character in this that

I could not stand, it was Sharon. Oh, I have

to agree with you on that. Oh my god. It's just,

ugh. She's so annoying. Yeah. Like, I mean, honestly,

she's more annoying than another character that

I can't remember the name of, but she's annoying

as hell. Yeah, she is. It's just... I mean, Sharon's

annoyingness is just so off the scales. And then

of course you have Gene Hawkins who is Virgil

and Sharon's deceased mom. Let's see, other heroes.

We have Richard, Richie Osgood Foley slash Gear

who is voiced by Jason Marsden. I actually tried

to get an interview with Marsden, but it hasn't

happened yet, so we'll see if that... that happens

at some point. Richie is basically Virgil's best

friend. He eventually finds... Like at first

when the Big Bang happens, which is in the very

first episode, a bunch of gas explodes down at

the docks and everybody either gets these weird

powers or they melt away. At first Richie doesn't

think he has powers, but then after time it's

revealed that he's like a super genius. So he

creates backpack. He creates all this tech for

himself to help Virgil and go out and do crime

fighting I like Richie. I think he's a good contrast

to to to Virgil I Don't particularly like Richie's

father because Richie's father was the racist

I Mean it just goes to show you that all different

types of kids have different types of of home

lives And, I mean, you know, Richie, he's going

to lay off the fries. Yeah, lay off the fries.

What about you, Steve? Did you like Richie at

all? Yeah, I'd have to say that those are, between

that one and the main character, Static, I'd

have to say those are the two favorites of the

show. And then they have Adam Evans aka rubber

band man This was one of the coolest just the

way they did the animation for rubber band man.

I really liked it I mean, it's essentially, you

know a nod to like plastic man and elongated

man and stuff like that, but Very very very cool

Can I comment on this guy? Yeah. Yeah. All right.

Well I have to definitely agree with you. Rubber

Bandman is one of my favorite bang babies from

the series. Especially in episode 5 where it's

revealed a little bit more about his past in

terms of him being a songwriter and getting his

song stolen from him. I have to hear the animation

with this for 2000 -2001. It's so well done.

Yeah, and it's so believable and You like my

favorite part with the animation with him is

when he turns into like a ball Yeah, and his

bouncing and just all the crazy things he can

turn into it just it's it's amazing and He's

definitely like one of the more memorable villains

from the from the series and he eventually would

just become a hero though Yeah, because he does

that whole oh, I'm a redeemed character bit Yeah

And then you have She Bang, who was voiced by

Rosalind Taylor Jordan, a girl who was genetically

engineered in the lab to have enhanced strength

and agility. The two scientists who created her,

doctors Jonathan and Dolores Bell, took pity

on her and took her home from the lab. Although

she was not their natural child. Excuse me. I

could care less about it. I mean, it just doesn't...

She just wants to fit in and not be mistaken

as a bang baby because it was frustrating for

her to pretend to be quiet wallflower of a girl.

I mean, I can see that situation, and as I said

before, this entire series is all about different

home lives and different ways that people deal

with different situations, but I don't know,

it just... She's kind of a forgettable character

for me. What about you, Tara? To be honest with

you, I don't really remember her that much, but

the part I do remember about her is that she

had a crush on Static slash Virgil. That's what

I remember. She was an interesting character.

Any thoughts on Shi -Bang, Steve? Honestly, I

don't really have any recollection of this particular

character I think I'm just gonna go down the

list here, and I'm not gonna go too much through

the bios, but Next you got time zone and then

Inazi the spider Soul power Sparky Of course

you have future Virgil future static which in

future Richie and future gear and then oh god

The hoop squad, ugh. Pulverizer, spin drives,

center force, point man are superheroes who work

for a secret government. They all have their

powers in their super suits, and they have secret

identities when they are not fighting crime.

They are famous NBA basketball players Steve

Nash, Yao Ming, Karl Malone, and Tracy McGrady.

Oh my god. Honestly, there's some villains I

just don't remember See these aren't real. Well,

the hoop squad wasn't villains. No, but like

there's some there's some people who I don't

remember Yeah, too many characters. Yeah, there's

just way too many characters I mean the main

one that we really have to talk about out of

the villains is where is he? Permafrost we can

talk about the night breed. See where is it stupid?

Doesn't even list him what the hell unless I

missed him. Where's that? How the hell is Ebon?

Sorry folks. I'm losing my mind here Wow, why

doesn't it list? Okay, I want to look at the

link list of villains in static shock. Lovely.

All right, here we go Copy sorry about this.

I'm gonna have to tell myself to edit this, but

anyway, I probably won't. But yeah, the list

of villains in Static Shock. I mean the real

one to talk about it is Ebon. Technically, he's

Adam Evans' brother, Ivan. He's the head of the

group, Big Bang Babies, including Shiv, Talon.

Ebon is Transmorph. living shadow interdimensional

portal uh... able to hide and become one with

the shadows uh... i really like what they did

with this character playing off the fact that

he had built constantly live in the shadows and

every time static would shock and murder you

know light up his world it it would hurt him

so uh... uh... i'd like to be born as a villain

though what about you steve i'd have to say that

he's a pretty uh... prematurely Head honcho evil

guys in the show that yeah seems to be a force

to be reckoned with you know What about you Tara

for a bond I don't remember You don't remember

him. No, I don't remember him that much and then

the other real main like adversary for for static

was Francis stone f -stop hot streak as the guy

that can light shit on fire You do or you don't?

I do. Oh, yeah, he was he was done very well.

He was voiced by Danny Cooksey I really really

enjoyed that guy because he was more of a foil

for for static him and Ebon were more of a foil

for static and I believe in the last episode

of the series they actually Ebon and and hot

streak got actually melded together into one

being and it was just really really weird The

only I'm not sure if this is the guy that you're

talking about But the only I can't represent

but the only guy I remember like one of the villains

I remember besides rubber band man is the flame

guy from like episode. That's hot streak. That's

hot streak. Okay Yeah, that's who I really remember

cuz he was an asshole He was So Steve do you

have a favorite character or set of characters?

Um, I'd probably have to go with static just

because he's such a kick -ass character and he

got to meet so many of the elite of the Justice

League Yeah, what about you Tara? Definitely

static slash Virgil. Yeah, just cuz he's he's

kick -ass. He's he's got personality He's you

know, he's charming great sense of humor No,

as I mentioned earlier, he's not your average

superhero, which makes him cool and you know

his alter -ego Virgil He's also pretty damn cool

He may come off as a like in the beginning when

I first when we first meet Virgil I thought okay

this guy's you know this guy's a wimp this guy

is like Peter Parker You know like then after

he turns into static he gets like a kind of Punk

-ass attitude. Yeah, so I'm like okay now. I

like this character So yeah, that's why I like

him Yeah, for me, it's static and rich, because

just the two of them together, the way that they

interact together, it was just amazing. I would

also like to mention Edwin Alva, who was the

quote unquote business man type villain, kind

of like Derek Powers was in Batman Beyond, although

Alva, or Alva or whatever his name is, Alva doesn't

have radioactive skin. Getting into the behind

-the -scenes stuff here for the directors and

writers. Most of these guys I don't recognize.

I recognize, I think, two of them. James Tucker

and Dan Reba, as far as directors and then writers,

obviously. Dwight McDuffie, who just passed away

earlier, a few weeks ago. He was the co -creator

of Static. He was the co -creator of Milestone

Comics. writes extremely, extremely well thought

out stories and very interesting stories as well.

And then for some of the other writers you have

John Semper who has also done The Amazing Spider

-Man, not The Amazing Spider -Man, not Spider

-Man 94. Alan Burnett who has also done other

DCAU stuff, Stan Berkowitz and stuff like that.

Just really, really great stuff as far as the

writing. Like Tara said, Mean this show has a

lot of really really good social commentary episodes

as far as different real -life situations So

that's very very cool Terry you want to take

the actual show there? Sure thing okay This series

centers around the centers of DC Comics superhero

Virgil Ovid Hawkins slash static the series predates

the reappearance of static in the main DC continuity

by several years After the show's initial run

of WB. It was later picked up for rebroadcast

by the Cartoon Network airing initially during

the Sorry Meguse block Disney XD began airing

reruns of the series starting with season 1 in

February 2009 in the United States Currently

Warner Brothers has no plans to release the series

on DVD However, the company has stated that it

wishes to eventually release all the DC animated

universe onto DVD I Mean they pretty much have

I mean static did get like one single disc DVD

or I Think it might have been a single VHS tape

called the new kid, which is like the first three

or four episodes uh... i mean the best place

to watch this and to find it is is you too i've

found you know pretty much any episode that search

for i've found on you too uh... it's just so

much easier there i would love to get a static

shock dvd set it's in here you know i mean they

weren't that you know warner brothers has made

tons of money with that uh... limited edition

batman the animated series set so much so that

I don't think it's out of print, but it's pretty

much out of stock all the time because it's so

popular and it's so expensive now. They've got

Superman the Animated Series in complete series

form, they've got Justice League in complete

series form, they've got Batman Beyond in complete

series form. Season 1 of Zeta has been released,

and yet Static is getting the shaft by not even

having a DVD release. I just think that it should

be on DVD. Maybe they'll have some plans in the

future for it, hopefully. Getting into the music

segment, as I said before, I know what they were

going for because it is technically an urban

show and they were going for a hip -hop theme

and all that stuff. The first season's theme

just isn't my thing. I just didn't really care

for it, but the second season theme was a little

bit better. I think I'd say the second or third

season, I don't know. Steve, what did you think

about the music from Static Shock? Do you remember

the music at all? I remember some of it, and

I listened to the theme from the previous episode

of Tooncast. That's the better theme. Yeah, it's

not one of my favorite DCAU themes. But I like

it a lot better than I like Zeta. Well, see,

I like the Zeta theme. I don't mind the Zeta

theme, but I just don't like Zeta the cartoon.

Well, I don't like anything about Zeta. I like

this show. That's why I put it on my top 100

list. Oh, hell. But the audio and music on it

was pretty good. I don't remember as much of

it as I do from, say, Batman or... Yeah. the

like of that but I do know that it did fit well

with the show and it was I mean granted it was

hip -hop but it wasn't the annoying kind it was

more of the enjoyable kind of flowed with the

action yeah yeah what about you Tara as far as

the music oh I know you're gonna disagree with

me on this but I really like the season one theme

song And that's fine. I mean, it comes down to

personal preference. I mean, like, there are

certain rap, hip -hop stuff that I can listen

to, but it's not, it's just that genre is not

something I listen to all the time at all. It's

just not something I can handle. Just to me,

it was one of the more catchier theme songs and

it's probably what I remember most about Static

was the theme song. It was catchy and I thought

it was interesting. It's a lot better than some

of the other theme songs I've heard. So yeah,

I have no complaints about it and unfortunately

I did not continue watching Static from Season

2 and on, so I can only comment on Season 1 soundtrack.

Yeah. As I said, I know what they were going

for for the show, and I'm glad they actually

changed it up over the different seasons a little

bit, but they still kept the same kind of style.

I think when they did use songs in the actual

episode, it fit for the episode. So moving into

the legacy segment here, there were several crossovers.

Steve, you really have to watch the big leagues.

Dakota gets a real jolt when the Joker hits town,

recruiting a band of metahumans to wreak his

own special havoc. Batman and Robin appear, pursuing

the Joker. Static must put his hero worship in

check as he teams up with a dynamic duo to put

a shock to Joker's system. Oh, yes, I have to

watch this. Yeah. Like I said, these episodes

are extremely easy to find on YouTube. Hard as

nails was the Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy crossover

where Static has to travel to Gotham City to

rescue Nails, a school friend of his who has

fallen in with Harley and Ivy. I definitely checked

that one out. Huge Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy

fan right here. And then a league of their own,

parts 1 and 2. When the Watchtower has a sudden

power drain, the Justice League are forced to

record static to jumpstart their station before

it re -enders the atmosphere. Unbeknownst to

either static or gear, the power drain is also

releasing Brainiac from the confinement. The

Teen Titans were originally planned to guest

star, but those plans were scuttled since These

episodes would air before the Teen Titans TV

series premiered. Justice League was used instead.

Toys in the Hood. Static teams up with Superman

when the Man of Steel's old nemesis Toy Man appears

in Dakota. The original plan for Superman's guest

appearance would have had him meeting Shaquille

O 'Neal in his second appearance in the show

since he was a fan of the Man of Steel. This

did not happen since O 'Neal was unreachable.

Well, thank God it didn't happen. And the last

two are Future Shock, which is where Static is

helping Batman with a case, and he finds himself

accidentally sent 40 years into the future, where

he has to help the Batman of that era, Terry

McGuinness, to save a captured superhero, his

future self. Note, when Terry McGuinness explains

that all the other available heroes, Robin, the

Justice League gear, and his son, are away, it

can be presumed that the Sun is superhero as

well. And then you had Fallen Hero, which was

a Green Lantern crossover with Jon Stewart from

Justice League. And the best, I mean, as far

as like other crossovers that I've mentioned

so far, a lot of them are really good. I really

enjoyed Future Shock. It was kind of cool. But

the best one, in my opinion, was the Once in

Future thing two parter from Justice League Unlimited.

This is where we saw the Adult Static, voiced

by Phil Lamar, and it was just, it was very,

very cool. Let's see. You want to talk about

the video game, Tara? Sure, I'll talk about the

video game. A static shock video game for the

Game Boy Advance was developed by Vicarious Visions

with a story by Dwayne McDuffel. Duffy? Duffy,

in 2002. Despite advertisements in magazines

and comic books, the game was cancelled when

Midway Games, the game's distributor, stopped

releasing GBA games following a series of financial

difficulties. Alright, so we're gonna move on

to some ads and some other stuff, and then we'll

come back with our final thoughts. Tooncast will

be back after these questions! Morning my mouse

here! And when I'm not setting Mickey up, I like

listening to Tooncast! This is Dr. Wily, and

I will destroy Mega Man while listening to Tooncast!

Movie Week in Review is the Geekcast Radio Network's

weekly movie podcast. Steve and Mike take a look

back on their favorite films and give you their

thoughts. They also bring in co -hosts at times.

If you are a movie buff, listen to M -Wire only

on geekcastradio .com. Hey guys, this is Optimus

Solo from the Geekcast Radio Network, and I was

thinking the other day that maybe I've been too

hard on the folks over at IGN. I mean, they had

to put some effort into their Top 100 animated

series of all -timeless, right? I mean, maybe

it's just me that wants to punch a baby when

I read it. So in all fairness, I thought we should

gather some of the people who are involved with

this list and get their opinions. So what do

you guys think about the IGN list? Okay, anyone

else? Those dudes are so dumb! I'm afraid to

ask, but anyone else? Epic fail. Homer, they

put your show at the top of your list. You gotta

like their list, right? I stand by my disappointed

groan. So I guess we should do something about

it then. Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

I am, brain. I think we should unveil the Geekcast

Radio Network's Top 100 Animated Series of All

Time list. And I know that our list will be much

better than the IGN list, you know why? That

and the fact that we are teaming up with This

Week in Geek, the Pop Culture Network, Chicken

Pop Pod, and some other great geek sites. We

will give you a list geeks everywhere can be

proud of. Coming in 2011 to a podcatcher near

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And now he's going to bring you movies. That's

right. Double D is back with an all -new show.

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Does the Movies, available now at thisweekengeek

.net. Be afraid. Be very afraid. We are back,

and it is time for final thoughts on Static Shock.

What are your final thoughts, Steve? Overall,

a good show. I would definitely recommend this,

even though it's got its moments where it does

cross over with the DCAU overall, but it also

holds up on its own, unlike the previous show

that we reviewed. Right, yeah. What about you,

Tara? What are your final thoughts? My final

thoughts are this series is just awesome It's

full of win and I thought it was just a great

show and I miss it and I hope Warner Brothers

decides to put it on DVD because it'd be nice

to have in your collection It's not you know,

it's not the best DC animated universe, but to

be honest with you. It's just it's worth watching

and Static will live on forever Yes, one thing

I forgot to mention in the legacy segment uh...

adult future static from future shock or not

from future shock from what's in future thing

actually uh... later this year that action figure

will be released in the justice league unlimited

line before the justice league unlimited line

ends in twenty eleven uh... so that'll be very

very cool for that uh... and my final thoughts

that the series does have some problems i mean

like technical did not really technical but like

it has like really like if you're looking at

it on a whole is as a reviewer it has some really

screwed up not technology but it has some just

really screwed up ideas and premises and stuff

like that but just overall I mean like stuff

like you know static knowing how to use his powers

like five minutes after he's gotten them you

know stuff like that but overall I did really

enjoy it and like Tara said hopefully we'll get

a DVD here soon Thank you for joining us here

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