Legends, A Knight of Shadows, and Metamorpho

The Secret Origins Podcast, Episode 4. Hello

and welcome to episode four of the secret origins

podcast I'm your host if you and Mike and joining

me on this journey is lupus convoy. Hello, sir.

Hello. Good, sir. How are you? I'm doing fairly.

Well, how are you is the better question? I am

recovering from a pretty bad car accident. Oh,

I'm sorry, dude. What happened? We we've been

having some pretty bad storms up here in New

England. I'm sure everyone's had some really

bad storms Mind you, it's not as bad as DC, but

a gentleman apparently blacked out and lost control

of his vehicle and went over four lanes of highway.

And I could not stop fast enough and ended up

climbing with him and bouncing him off of the

side that he was going to be hitting on a bridge.

And it totally demolished my little Volkswagen

Beetle. Oh, wow. So Cliffjumper is dead. It didn't

take Megatron. It took a really bad New England

storm. Poor Casey Gaysom. I know. That would

be the same. Are you alright, though? Some minor

whiplash, cervical stuff, but I'm recovering.

That's good. And I'm sorry for everyone that

might have missed me on any other podcasts. Because

I'm really funny when I'm on drugs. Medical drugs,

medical drugs. He says that now ladies and gentlemen

he says that now because most the time everyone

sits there and goes is he awake and I go So yeah,

well that's better than Steve Megatron You know

when when we end up recording late, and he ends

up falling asleep. He just turns into Darth Vader

It's like okay, we don't need Darth Vader here.

Thank you very much Today we will be reviewing

three more stories from Justice League. Do we

have anything else we want to say in this little

intro clip? I like vanilla ice cream. Just putting

that out there. Okay then, let's get into some

episodes. Allow us to introduce ourselves. Justice

Guild, Roll Call. Catman. Black Siren. Green

Guardsman. Tom Turbine. The Streak. Uh, yeah.

I'm Green Lantern. That's Flash, Hot Girl, and

John Jones. And this is our official Justice

Guild Junior Justice Guildsman, Ray Thompson.

When I grow up, I'm gonna be a crime fighter.

So long as you remember to eat right and stay

in school. Right. John, what's wrong? A sudden

dizziness. So strange. Nothing a tall, cold glass

of milk won't cure. I think I have some freshly

baked cookies too. Let's let them in talk. They

can talk all they like. Could you excuse us for

a sec? I will not be patronized. We need answers

here. So maybe, just this once, we can all play

along. So, you fight crime and bake cookies.

How do you do it? This can't be real. Tell me

about it. I almost busted a gut during that roll

call routine. It's not that. It's the Justice

Guild. They're... Okay, so we're going to start

off with the first episode that we're going to

cover, and that's Legends Part 1. And in Part

1, Metropolis is in awe. Several justice leaders

are fighting a giant robot secretly controlled

by Lex Luthor from a remote location. It's eventually

destroyed when Superman tears it open and Batman

destroys its reactor with a Batarang. Following

the explosion, the Flash creates a whirlwind.

so as to prevent the robot from falling over

his teammates. However, he reaches such a high

speed that he inadvertently transports John Stewart,

Jean, Haw Girl, and himself into an alternate

earth that resembles an idyllic 1950s town. Pleasantville!

That's what I thought. After Jean prevents the

villain from stealing a violin, the League members

are mistaken for villains by the Justice Guild

of America, the resident superhero team. The

Green Guardsmen, Black Siren, The Streak, Tob

Turbine, and Catman fight the Leegers, but they

cease once the Flash saves their useful sidekick,

Ray Thompson, from being crushed. The Justice

Guild makes the four Justice League members honorary

members of their. Tob Turbine explains to the

Leegers the theory of infinite number of alternate

universes, each having its own vibrational pattern.

He believes that Flash's speed is what caused

them to come to their earth. However, John feels

that something is wrong. He remembers the heroes

from the comic books of his childhood, but never

knew that they were real people. John theorizes

that the creators of the comics must have had

a subconscious link to this earth. What they

thought was creativity was actually flashes the

guild's real exploits. Tom Turbine reveals his

interdimensional portal he designs, but lacks

a proper energy source to help them return home.

While waiting for it to happen, the Justice League

fights along with the guild against the Injustice

Guild. a group of supervillains that run afoul

of the Justice Guild. Because that's normally

how it works. However, the leaguers begin to

notice flaws in the world. The ice cream truck

passing through never stops. John starts seeing

haunting images of the city being destroyed,

and Hawkgirl and Lantern discover that all the

books in the library are empty covers. They also

notice that the two police officers that they

have seen patrolling the city are the only ones

around. When they try to stop the ice cream man

to question him, he acts scared and drives off

in a hurry, saying that he might be watching.

Trouble also seems to happen when they get too

close to the truth. Finally, the leakers, starting

with Hot Girl, discovers the graves of the Justice

Guild. Any thoughts? Uh, yeah. The beginning

of this, I love Hot Girl, don't get me wrong.

She's great, but she had a blonde moment. Who

could be behind this monstrosity like that? My

reply? Uh, it's green and purple. Hello, Lex

Luthor. Come on now! We - we - okay, we do -

it's not actually ever said that it is Lex, but

we do see his face. We do see partial of - of

his cheek and his - his evil grin, and - It's

green and freaking purple, that's what his freaking

suit is made out of, the little kryptonite thingamajigger

bobber that we saw a few episodes ago. True.

Oh, God. But it could also be a very colorblind,

insane toy maker, I don't know. No, Spiderman

comes later. True, but it's one of those, it

could be someone that's insanely colorblind,

I don't know. Yeah, um... Throughout this two

-parter. I'm probably going to be bringing up

Adam West Batman a lot Because that's what I

felt like to me was 1966 yeah, exactly Plus the

music master drives a flute how fucking cool

is that okay? The first time I saw him mind mind

you I haven't seen this episode since it first

aired So I saw this and I was like the hell's

the music Meister doing that? It's not Meister,

it's Master. Okay, same thing. No, I know what

you're getting at, but... Was this the original

idea behind the music Meister later on? Because

they looked really, really similar. I'm not sure.

I think all of these designs, both the Justice

Guild and... the crime syndicate were takeoffs

of the justice society of america and and their

villains they could not do it direct they could

the dc would not let them do a direct representation

so they had to change it up a little bit um if

you well unfortunately oh you have season one

on blu ray don't you yes i do isn't there the

commentary on legends part two There is. I need

to rewatch that then. You need to rewatch that

then because Bruce Tim talks about that in the

commentary. I'm just, I'm very... I want to know

what the actual reasoning behind them not being

able to use JSA characters. At one point they

had the right to use all of the DC catalog. Well,

you know, it's funny, um... Michael Powers from

The Lunch Table and myself and Steve Megatron

last night recorded Geekcast Radio episode 9

where the topic was how network television has

gone down the tubes, at least in my own opinion

it has. And I know this is way off the subject

of this episode, but we started talking about

DCAU and Warner Brothers. and DC comics why Warner

Brothers owns DC why can't they use their characters

in certain things and at this time when Justice

League was on there was a huge bat embargo on

that's why a lot of the Batman villains aren't

in Justice League save Joker and I don't know

the whole story behind it I'm not really sure

but like I said go back and listen to that commentary

on on the I think it's either Legends part one

or part two I forget which one it is But there's

a commentary with Bruce Tim James Tucker. I think

I think Paul Dini. I'm not I'm not sure there's

a commentary go listen to it When Tom Turbine

arrives the look on flash's face is just priceless.

He has this like He has this like cringing look

on his face. Just the animation of Flash was

just so priceless to me. It was like one of those

MasterCard commercials or something. Yeah, I

love Flash's face. Like, he was so animated in

this. That was a bad choice of words, but he

was definitely... It's kind of like akin to watching

the transformers movie and seeing the brontosaurus

get like slammed and his eyes are very cartoony

and Like his body's like 20 feet below his eyes

are still up there like he's stuck out of a Looney

Tunes commercial poor sludge This will actually

be that my next Hopefully if I can get the audio

correct when I go back and get the audio for

this episode Well for this episode of the podcast

This next note that I have will actually be the

quote of the episode. Fastest man alive with

a limp. Limp. That was awesome. I so wish I could

get Maria Canales. I think her last name is,

her, because she added her a name. She got married.

I think it's spelled, pronounced by -era. I'm

not sure. I'm going to have to watch some more

Disney Channel to find out. I would love to get

an interview with her just to get hot girl sound

bites. That would be awesome. Yes, that would

be so freaking cool. As I said before, can you

say 1966 Batman feel when the sergeant shows

up? It was. It's like, you know, it's Commissioner

Gordon all over again, Batman! You know? Like,

wow. Some of the bad puns in this episode, Chill

Gotten Gains, give me a break. That's so corny.

I mean, I know that that's what they were going

for, and I really don't have a problem with it.

This episode, or this story, this two -parter

is actually very, very good. And then, again

with the cliffhangers, the JGA is dead, because

it ends right there. Tom Tom Tom with the with

showing the graves and I just love how how Tim

and company pulled off the pacing Regardless

if there's bad episodes I just love the way they

pull off the pacing of the ending of each first

part of of a two -parter Because it just it flows

so well It does it's got a lot of really good

You don't have those slow moments with these

episodes or the feeling like there's this whole

slow down that they could have done a lot more

with it or crammed a bit more story. One of your

other thoughts on the first part here? Oh, God.

Okay, so in the beginning part of the episode

when we've got The Justice League and we're seeing

some really good teamwork out of them like we've

seen good teamwork before But this just epitomized

why they are the Justice League and why they

are so damn good at what they do, right? Because

you know that they're They're not going. Oh,

let's send out the flush and then okay. He failed

now. Let's throw in Wonder Woman It was like

they're all doing their own little components

and totally trashing this robot and the robot

I might add it is ripped right out of Evangelion.

It's got all the design schema of it, even to

the point where it's got the shoulder blades

sticking straight up in the air like fins, and

the four eyes from Ava Unit 2. Okay, I know I'm

probably gonna get kicked in the ass for this,

but what the hell are you talking about? What

is Evangelion? Evangelion is a Japanese anime

that was extremely controversial and had really

bad piecing. oh okay well yeah that's probably

why i don't know about it because i don't watch

japan am a but um... okay so that blow up the

reactor in the robot i failed to understand why

lex's boat gets blown up because of that it should

have been like oh connection lost or something

not boom there goes lex out of the boat you know

well you know and again we we haven't and i you

know i know that you don't or you haven't paid

attention to a lot of the other series within

the DCAU, like BTAS and STAS, but the running

gag with the DC Animated Universe is if you just

punch a computer or a telephone, it will explode.

If you go on YouTube... Not right now, obviously,

but later after we do this. We go on YouTube

and search for Superman the Animated Series Episode

1 or whatever. The Last Son of Krypton Part 3,

I believe. Because there was a three -parter

that introduced the Superman series. You look

for The Last Son of Krypton Part 3 of Superman

the Animated Series. At the very end, there's

a confrontation where Superman is floating outside

of Lex's window. And after they have their little

exchange, Lex just takes his fist and just slams

it right down on his phone, and the phone explodes.

Oh my god. Yeah. So there are things within the

DC animated universe that just don't make sense.

Yeah. Wow. OK. What else have we got? There was

a lot of really cool scenes with Sean. Just when

he was doing the whole mind tricks in this. I

really liked how Sean was portrayed in this episode

as opposed to another episode we'll talk about

later. Yeah, I think you and I will pretty much

agree on that episode later. We've already talked

about some of the best lines that we've got out

of Haw Girl who is just absolutely taken back

by the fact that she's kind of looked down at

because she's female. Yeah. Like, oh, let's go

get some cookies. You make cookies and save the

world. How do you do it? I meant to go back and

look at that scene because I think Black Siren

puts her arm around Hot Girl's waist. She does.

Okay. Alright. I caught that. I could have sworn

I caught it. I meant to go back and make sure

and just rewind that part of the episode, but

I just, I didn't. But yeah. Yeah, it was very

like, oh, okay. Draw your own conclusions, ladies

and gentlemen. I will say, though, as a kid you

probably would not get this when you're watching

this. True. you're looking at this and you're

seeing the huge change in cultural shift. Like

you've got the comment from the Green Guardsmen.

Was it Green Guardsmen? Someone to John the Green

Lantern saying, you know, oh, you're a credit

to your people. And most people would not get

that if you're from the 2000 on generation. Yeah.

It probably would not have hit. But between that

and the sexism that is brought up, you can see

a major huge cultural shift going on between

the era that they're talking about, and that

they're stuck in, and what we're dealing with

in the time period that they're from. Like, even

to the point where Jean is saying, I would hasten

to say no to the child, I don't want to put him

in harm's way, and Catman's like, come on little

buddy, get in the little sidecar, forget the

helmet, come on! It was kind of shocking, actually.

yeah it is you're right it is it's it's actually

very shocking and the stereotypes they've got

going on with this like even to the point with

the Irish cops it's like really oh I mean I'm

only half Irish but that kind of hurts well you

know again like I said um like I said before

it reminded me of 1966 Batman that sergeant reminded

me of Commissioner Gordon from the 1966 Batman

show or Oh God, I know people are screaming at

their iPods right now. What the hell's name is

damn? Deputy commissioner or whatever the hell

his name is the one that did have the Irish accent

in 66 Batman O 'Hara, that's what it was sergeant

O 'Hara Yeah You know again, and I and I think

that's the the the homage that they were that

they were going for there. Yeah I've got The

Dakota rings, uh -huh. I remember Dakota rings

when I was a kid why? The the flash going ooh

nice plastic Plastic in the 1960s So I for some

reason I wrote down the magic mace holds no power

over music because it just didn't work when she

was fighting music master. Yeah, no, I Love the

fact that she was just gonna blow up like the

Orville right plane and essence what that's what

they were going for. Yeah And then the thing

that I've noticed lately in these episodes is

that we've already got the background for Batman

and we've got the background for Superman It

seems like we're seeing a lot of background for

Green Lantern, especially in this episode. Right.

And it was really kind of nice to see what he's

describing talking with his, was it his grandfather

or his uncle? His uncle. His uncle that had like

the huge comic book collection and they would

spend the weekends just reading and enjoying

that and it's nice that we can see things like

that in the comics because normally we see a

lot of characters coming from broken households

or things like that where they don't really instill

that type of like, okay, I guess this is what

a good family's kind of like. It was really nice

to see that he comes from a really solid kind

of home set and where he's coming from as a person

and why these characters mean so much to him.

Right. Oh yeah, exactly. So I think that's all

I got other than the ending which we've already

touched on it if it made me go It's the others.

It's the others. Yeah Right, yeah, I'm just looking

at the DCAU wiki here The real names of the JGA

members as seen in their tombstones are nods

to the DC Comics counterparts real identities

The guardsman's real name is Scott Mason The

Golden Age Green Lantern is Alan Scott. Black

Siren's real name is Donna Nance. Black Canary

is Dinah Lance. Cat Man's name was Tee Blake.

His name of Batman Rogue was Thomas Blake, more

commonly known as Cat Man. And Wild Cat's first

name is Ted Grant, so the T may be for either

one. Likewise, the Injustice Guild is a lampoon

of the Injustice Society, the rivals of the Justice

Society in the comics. The Music Master was based

off of the Fiddler. Sportsman was sports master.

Dr. Blizzard was the icicle and sir swami was

the wizard So there's your answer, but you still

should go back and listen to that commentary.

I shall to hear them Yeah to hear them go about

that I was looking for something for this I don't

remember what the hell it was I went to the wiki

for something. Oh the voice actors you had Just

awesome voice actors, but for the for the the

1950s people you had Cory Burton as dr. Blizzard

the ice cream truck driver and the mayor Black

siren was Jennifer Hale Neil Patrick Harris was

Ray Thompson Really? Yeah Wow Which I think I

don't remember I remember listening to world's

finest podcast and Michael David Simms and James

Doe commented that the Ray Thompson character

is a homage to... crap. I think it's two comic

book writers, I think. I'm not sure. I don't

know. Jeffrey Jones played Sir Swamy. William

Catt played Green Guardsman. Udo Kreer played

Music Master. Ted McGinley played Tom Turbine.

Ted McGinley, people. Oh boy Jefferson from married

with children. Oh, okay Just overall This first

part was very well told that they you know Every

time they kept getting closer and closer things

would always start to happen and that will unravel

As we get into part two Are we ready for part

two? Yes. Okay. So in part two, John later discovers

that the whole city is an illusion. In this universe

years ago, Seaboard City was destroyed during

the Cuban Missile Crisis that started World War

III. Ray Thompson, after being exposed to the

fallout, developed... We haven't had World War

III yet. You mean World War II. Maybe, but this

says World War III. Well, all of that's wrong.

You mean World War II. Sorry to correct you,

but that's what you mean. Okay. Um, where was

I? Right, so Ray Thompson, after being exposed

to the Fallot, developed powerful psionic powers.

When Jean mind probes Ray, he reveals his true

form, that of a hideous mutant. Ray decides to

create a new city based on his childhood, complete

with his favorite heroes. In reality, they die

during the catastrophe, thus the end of the Justice

Guild brought the end of the comic. However,

the real inhabitants of the city are still terrified

of Ray. The Leagueers battle Ray, but are outmatched

by his powers. The Guild hesitates, realizing

that defeating Ray will end their existence.

Then they decide it doesn't matter and join the

League. Together they manage to strain Rey to

his limits, knocking him out. Without his concentration,

the city disappears and so does the guild, and

the ruins of a destroyed city appear. The survivors

emerge, having been stuck in the fantasy world

for 40 years, vowing to rebuild their city, while

the Leegers use a device built by Tom Turbine

to return home, powered by Lantern's Ring. Back

in the real world, Lantern is mourning the deaths

of his heroes. He says it doesn't make sense

when they weren't real to begin with. Hawkerl

says they still sacrificed themselves to help

the League, and that was reason enough to mourn

them. You know, and I know a lot of people who

brought this up. I've read it on the DCAU wiki.

If... John... I'm sorry. Sometimes John Sturt

is not only a mean jerk, he's a dumbass. he has

the okay now maybe people out there can correct

me maybe maybe you can correct me he has the

equivalent to the power cosmic that the silver

surfer uses okay he has this giant -ass power

ring and in episode one when Tom turbine shows

them the thing that they're working on yes granted

I know they're gonna stay and help you know help

their world But why the hell didn't he just do

it then? Why didn't he just power the thing in

the... You know, when they first saw the little

time doohickey machine gateway Stargate SG -1

reference or whatever. You know? I think it was...

I mean, from their viewpoint, they don't know

specifically what type of energy source they

needed because Tom didn't specify. True. So maybe

they're thinking like nuclear reactor or something

along those lines. So... It was one of those,

oh, maybe we'll just give it a shot. I hope you

have notes for this one, because I have exactly

three notes. Can you say, again, Batphone from

1966, Pat Metz? Yes. If you look at it, from

my perspective, I'm like, why exactly would you

put a glass dome over an emergency phone? Like,

break glass to use the phone? No, they lifted

it up. I know, but in case of emergency, you

know. Right, yeah. How the hell did Catman turn

the bike around inside the elevator? I thought

that too. How the hell? That's one hell of a

big elevator. That's one hell of a small ass

bike? I mean, damn. And of my last note was the

deformed ray gives new meaning to the term ugly

ass kid. Oh, I agree there. I mean, that's, I

mean, I, you know, Grant and I know he was part

of the nuclear fallout and he got mutated by

that and everything else, but damn. That's the

people though. That is one gross kid though.

In comparison to how he was reacting in the normal

child form, it was all like dancing around happy,

you know. Clap his hands like he's normal. And

then we see his real form. I'm like, how exactly

is he able to maneuver himself that way? I don't

know, it just didn't seem to make sense logistically.

Because you can only do so much with illusions,

I would think. Oh, I know. Let's see, what else

do I have here? Did you catch the ads on the

billboards? I think so, but you're going to have

to remind me. One of them said, hey kids, go

chew gum. Yeah, I did catch that one. I'm like,

that's pretty bad. I mean, even for that time

period, that's really blatant advertising. So

I mean, I'm not expecting this to be historically

accurate in any way, shape, or form. So I thought

it was just kind of like, huh, well, that's interesting.

I have down Alice in Wonderland references by

Hot Girl. I don't know how long she's been stuck

on Earth, but she's going curiouser and curiouser.

Yeah. It's kind of an Earth culture thing. Yes.

What else? So Jean did something that was insanely

evil in my viewpoint. Like something that really

kind of crossed a line. He phased into the kid's

head. Like he He put himself into the oh, yeah

his hands. Yeah, and it was like, okay, is he

gonna phase out and take out the kid's brain?

That's That's bad. Yeah, I don't know to what

point they were going towards with that, but

I mean we've seen some Really nasty comics where

phasers have done that and just completely killed

people By removing people's brains that way Yeah,

that's very very bad. I Mean, maybe it's maybe

it's different for a Martian. I don't know. Maybe

it's the same as you know giving someone a what

willy but Yeah, just that Made me stop and go.

Oh my god. What the hell is he doing? John that's

that's not cool, dude. Yeah, that's not cool

at all Yeah, the entire time. I'm like they don't

even have Diana in the background when they get

back to the oh You know what I don't even think

I noticed her I might have noticed her in the

very first episode in the battle with Lex I didn't

even see her then She might not a bit well. That's

another thing we need to bring up most likely

We'll bring it up when we do the final recap

of the entire podcast, but Throughout the first

and second season I believe They cycle people

in and out. They cycle people in and out? Where

the hell are the other ones when they're not

doing adventure -type stuff? I'm guessing Bahamas.

Well, in Gio and Hot Girl's case, they're probably

having hot wing sex. You're God. Well, we know

like some buffalo sauce with those Oh God Oh

Dear that hurts Damn I can't believe I came up

with that. That's so awesome But one of the things

I like about this and again, it's something that

you're gonna have to go back and watch in the

new Batman Adventures and Superman the animated

series that you mentioned earlier of the fact

that we've gotten so much of Batman and Superman's

you know backstory or whatever they had pretty

much really rotten chemistry back when they first

met and they still kind of do now at this point

in in the series but I like in the beginning

where Superman's ripping open the Lex suit he's

like all right Batman you're gonna have one shot

at this so you better make it count because if

you don't we're all fucking dead or something

keep it at the same time it's like it's the batman

as the god damn batman he never misses of course

not uh... what else we've got uh... at the end

of the episode it's like all of you know exactly

hot girl this is that i think that's the funniest

thing i had had to be the guns of the dynamite

yeah but that's what i might do it all rock and

die Just made me laugh insanely out loud. I'm

like, oh, haha Yeah Nevermind like Green Lantern's

like okay. I saved them are not gonna turn out

the flash. It's like yeah, I saved them I'm not

gonna pay attention to where I'm driving now

And that's all I've got for this episode. Okay,

we will be moving on She's been here, but she

doesn't have the stone yet How can you be sure?

Get down! Jason, the door! It's sealed shut!

There are too many of them! Gone! Gone! The form

of man! Rise, the demon Etrigan! You could have

warned me. Next up we have Night of Shadows,

part one. And we start off with a prologue and

it's set in medieval England and Camelot is under

siege by an army of demons commanded by the sorceress

Morgane Le Fay. Inside the castle, a knight named

Jason Blood secretly opens a gate, letting her

forces in. She embraces him as her love and then

gives him a poisonous kiss that cripples him.

As chaos envelops the castle, Merlin looks down

at Jason and remonstrates. For his selfish and

misguided love, he has doomed Camelot. Merlin

curses Jason with immortality and possession

by the demon Etropin, never to rest until he

has defeated Lafay and atoned for his crime.

In modern day, a feeble elderly man is wheeled

out of a rare bookshop. While Batman is investigating,

Jason approaches him. The two men have met before.

Jason explains that Morgan is seeking the Philosopher's

Stone that Merlin hid from her. it will give

her the ultimate power she needs to conquer the

world and give the kingdom to her young son,

Mordred. Now I need to give you some backstory

on this. They met back in Batman the Animated

Series, the Demon Within episode. Okay, I think

I've seen that. Okay, well that's where, just

to bring everybody else up to speed, that's how

Batman knows Jason. Well, it's a goddamn Batman.

He knows everyone. True. Okay, so Batman and

Jason follow Lafay's trail to a castle in Britain.

She animates suits of armor and escapes. While

fighting them, Jason throws off his mortal body

and assumes his demon form. Batman and Etrigan

are joined by the rest of the League. Jaune suggests

that they try to locate Lafay telepathically.

As he reaches out, Lafay seizes his mind and

feeds it into an illusion. He suddenly sees himself

on Mars. before the war that destroyed it and

reunited with his lost love and children, while

Etrigan breaks the illusion and dispels. Working

in parallel, both Lefebvre and the League deduce

two leads up to the stone, the archaeologist

who excavated the castle several years ago. Batman,

John, and Etrigan track down one, Henry Moss,

who now teaches at a university. Along the way,

Etrigan warns Batman that John cannot be trusted

now, and Batman refuses to listen. At the same

time, Wonder Woman and Flash go to a costume

party being thrown by the other archaeologist,

Harv Hickman, now a wealthy magazine tycoon.

Hugh Hefner! It's Hugh Hefner, just very thinly

veiled. At first, her superhero costumes fail

to impress the guards, but Harv immediately takes

a shine to Diana, calling her a goddess because

of her beauty and revealing armor, kisses her

hand and lets her in. Morgane...is it Morgan

or Morgane? Because I go by the old... I go by

the old...I go by Morgan Le Fay is what...every

time that I've read an Arthurian story, that's

what it's been said. But apparently in DCAU it's

Morgane. At least in this two -parter, I'm going

to have to look up kid stuff and see what it

is in that, but... Remember kids don't mix up

Morgan Le Fay with Le Morgan, or Le Morgan. That'd

just be horrible. So yeah, Morgan appears in

Moss' home, who turns out to be Jaune in disguise.

Batman and Etch are going to attack, but Morgan

retaliates and hits Jaune with another vision

of his family. Jaune hesitates, giving her the

opening to seriously win Batman and escape. Thoughts,

good sir. Well, I do have to point out that Jean's

wife is voiced by Pam Grier in The Illusion.

First off, I love Arthurian stories, so that's

a positive point in this two -parter. The Morgan

Le Fay design reminds me of the chick in the

BTAS episode Mean Seasons. One of, actually I

purposefully, because I've already grabbed the

audio for this episode, I purposefully grabbed

the audio where Jason changes. Gone, gone the

form of man, rise the demon Eddrigan. I love

that, that's just so awesome. Again, another

awesome point is Batman with a sword. Yes, and

not just like, okay, when I saw that I was like,

holy crap. Is Batman a Scadian? Wow. Okay, what

was up with the demons? Because they looked like

they were escapees from Warworld. Not to bring

up the episode that shall not be named. Yeah,

I know. It's probably reused animation, I'm not

sure. I don't think it is, but it might be similar

character design. Yeah, might not be reused animation,

but it might be similar character design. uh...

the first and only time we ever see john's family

we finally get his wife's name maria and maria

is what he's right well no i mean and that's

how it's it's spelled out but he calls her maria

but uh... so yeah i just his sleep chicken scratched

on my piece of paper so yes uh... you know i've

said before that i watch uh... uh... well i would

At the time when I first started doing this podcast,

I had also been watching Alias on the side, and

Carl Lumbly, who voices Jean, is in that show.

And this was the first episode. The only time

that I can actually tell the difference between

Jean's voice and Lumbly's actual own voice was

when he says, my dear children. It sounded more

of Lumley's own voice than it did now. I don't

know I've said this before I don't know if they

used Some sort of vocal effect on his voice at

all to have that metallic robotic Alien type

of sound But yeah, that's the only time I was

ever able to tell that it I mean obviously it's

the same guy But you know yeah, it's one of those

things where oh I picked it up We already mentioned

Hugh Hefner yep This is my last note on this

one, but Jean is the dumbest Martian ever. I

can see being under that spell of an illusion

once, but three times? Well, it brings up the

fact that I wrote this down, that what type of

closure does Jean really have? None. Yeah, because

what happens, he goes to sleep, he wakes up suddenly,

These monsters are attacking another planet.

He tries to save them and then he's on guard

duty for the Justice League I mean what real

closure does he have over the deaths of his family

his people in his culture none, but Again, you

know, yeah, I mean, I'm just thinking that no,

I understand where you're coming from I I truly

do because it also calls it doesn't call back

to it. It actually foreshadows The episode for

the man who has everything when that mongol reappears

and has this black mercy plants heart thingamabob

that he puts on superman and it gives the wearer

you know their their hearts content and it's

superman with a low lana type of character it's

a it's i don't think it's actually said whether

it's lois or lana but they're all on krypton

they're married they have a kid uh... they have

Somewhat of a crypto dog. I think the dog is

actually called crypto You like crypto I'm not

saying it's a bad thing I'm just saying I I'm

just going off my memory because obviously that's

that episode is way down the line For us, but

it's the same thing here where you know someone

has used John has used his His memories of what

he had against him or what he could have again

same thing for Superman later on but you know

once is enough he knew oh I agree he knew after

I would say the second time he knew that it was

an illusion he knew you know that it wasn't real

and I just wish they wouldn't have done it two

other times I'm totally with you there I mean

he should have known better And as a character,

that is not something that he should have done.

True. Even with the complete lack of closure

that he has had as a character, I mean, honestly,

if, you know, my parents were suddenly coming

back to life in an illusion, I'd be like, okay,

I know this ain't real, you know. Sorry, not

gonna fall for this one. You know, I will honestly

say that I would be taken back and I would not

react as quickly or something like that, but

I can't really sit there and say that I would

be faced by it multiple times. Yeah, exactly.

I think, what else do you have for part one?

Let's see, I put down the question of who the

voice of Morgan Lafay was. And it's the same

voice actress. Is it Elizabeth Dabbo? No, it's

Olivia Dabbo. Who does Star Sapphire? Which is

why I was like, how does that voice? It sounds

so familiar and I really like it. Yeah. Huh.

What else? Okay, Mordred is a complete little

shit. Oh, yeah. Don't even get me started. Once

we get to kid stuff, he becomes an even more

little shit. Like... the point where he was playing

effectively Doom. Yeah. I was like, what the

hell is going on here? The fact that we've got

this really insanely powerful telepath, right?

He's Martian. They speak through telepathy. You

know, it's a naturally occurring thing and he

is pretty damn powerful when it comes to the

DCAU. Right. And Morgan Le Fay suddenly says,

oh, it's a rank amateur. It's like, oh. Crap,

you know, who the hell are they really fighting

here? Well, alright, I can kinda discount it

because there's a difference between having telepathic

powers and having magical powers. I mean, that's

like Superman being hit in the face with Hot

Girl's mace. I mean, the magic is gonna affect

him, unlike... Anything else can because he's

one of Superman's weaknesses is magic. So, you

know, that's one way I can kind of I see where

you're coming from but I can also kind of discount

it because She uses fucking magic. Okay, but

then it's a question of what type of telepathy

is it? Is it naturally occurring or is it magical

based or is it I mean? You've got Sean who's

got the naturally occurring because that seems

to be a trait of Martians, right? So I don't

know I don't know. Um, Moss, the poor guy, he's

just chilling out at home. And never mind that

he looks like one of the, like, red herring villains

from Scooby -Doo. Yeah, he does. He does. And

I'm like, oh, he's gonna be the bad guy. He must

have stolen it. Yes, he does. That's kind of

sad, actually. He's intricate, and the poor guy,

like, nearly dies. Yeah, he goes into shock.

But to be fair, Etrigan didn't really give him

any choice not to go into shock. This is true.

This is Etrigan we're talking about. All the

costumes that we saw at Hugh Hefner's place.

I mean, the guy that was dressed up like a really

bad Aquaman with the little inflatable ring and

the old -school Super Friends costume. And I

don't know if it was intentional, but one of

the guys in the toga made me think of Maxie Zeus.

I'm actually on the wiki for this episode. The

costumes at the party. Batman closely resembling

an actor of 50 years later. Maxie Zeus, like

you said, an old -style Aquaman. Dr. Bedlam,

Black Racer. Vekin the Black, I don't know if

I'm pronouncing it. It's V -Y -K -I -N, so I'm

not sure what... Let's see. Goody Reckles, a

parody of Don Reckles. Uh... Omak, Faceless Agents.

Harley Quinn and Devilance the Pursuer. Yep.

I saw the Harley Quinn in the second part and

I was like, ooh, it's Harley! And that is something

that I could see Harley actually, like, crashing

into. Interesting note on this one I was looking

because I usually like episodes like this and

like legends I Tried to look at the the credits

For the voice actors to see on the on the DVD

who played who without actually having to go

to the wiki But obviously not watching the DVD

at the moment um Interesting enough the Michael

Goff that voiced Henry Moss should not be confused

with Michael Goff, or Goff, or however the hell

you say his damn name, the Michael Goff that

played Alfred in 1989 Batman, because it's not

the same person. It's the same name, but it's

completely different people. Because, you know,

it's kind of like someone that's Michael something

something. Yeah. God knows, there's enough of

us Michaels. You throw a stone, you hit at least

six of us. And it also should be noted that Where

is it? Oh here it is Billy Zane originally voiced

Etrigan in the new Batman Adventures episode

the demon within He is replaced in this episode

by Michael T Weiss Michael T Weiss a lot of people

know and the pretender Yeah Wow, I didn't know

that. I couldn't tell that was him. You can probably

tell more as Jason Blood than you can as Etrigan,

though. Yeah. You have anything else for this

one? Not for part one, I don't think. Alright,

I guess we can move into part two unless you

have anything else. Actually, there was a point

where John was talking and it reminded me Not

of John or any other voice actor but of the opening

for the outer limits Yeah And then of course

the wonderful tagline of The flash talking to

Diana and saying oh, I guess I know of it, but

I only read it for the articles Yeah Start on

to part two. Yes Okay, so in part two, Batman

awakes in the Watchtower's infirmary. Atrigan

is left to join Wonder Woman, but Jean is there

and apologizes, confessing that the need to see

his family alive again was almost too much for

him to resist. At Hickman's party, Diana is inwardly

repulsed by Harve's narrow, self -centered views,

but plays up the role of a vacuous model type

to convince him to show her the stone. While

he confides it is the source of his wealth and

fame, Just then Morgan arrives, and Diana grabs

the stone and Morgan transforms Hickman into

a giant worm creature to attack her. There's

so many puns to go with that, but... Yeah, let's

abstain from that. I think my hot wing sex thing

was the pun of the episode. Diana grabs the stone,

and Morgan transforms. Diana and Flash fight

against the creature, but Etrigan arrives and

tells Diana to run, getting the stone as far

away from Morgan as possible while he holds her

off. Diana reluctantly obeys, while Flash evacuates

the party guests. When Diana escapes, Morgan's

rage causes a magical blast powerful enough to

vaporize the whole, immersively empty, mansion.

Hickman returns to normal, stumbles out of the

wreckage in his shorts, and faints. We should

also mention before you continue, um, the neighbor.

The neighbor? Do we know who the neighbor was

supposed to be? No, we don't, but I could only

assume it's supposed to be some celebrity. So,

the stone is picked up by the watchtower secured.

locked up in the Watchtower's secure vault, and

Flash congratulates the team on a mission accomplished.

Etrigan, of course, refuses to relax. A short

time later, the Watchtower's lights go out and

Morgan's demonic soldiers appear. Etrigan, Batman,

Flash, and Wonder Woman defeat them with difficulty.

When the dust settles, they see that the stone

is gone and Jaune has left the Watchtower in

the Javelin. Morgan makes her new base in London,

magically transforming a museum into a medieval

castle. Jon arrives and is about to hand the

stone to her when the League arrives via a magic

portal opened by Etrigan. The League attacks,

but are barely a match for Morgan's magic, and

Mordred soon reveals his own powers. Etrigan

tries to overpower Jon, who says that Morgan

has promised to use the stone's power to resurrect

all of Mars, including his family. Etrigan scorns

this is a lie, but Jon fights back with desperation

and manages to surprisingly defeat the demon.

Morgan and Mortred manage to hold the rest of

the League at bay, and she calls Jean to her.

Jean surveys the destruction of the room and

the state of his teammates. As Morgan reaches

out to take the stone, he crushes it into a powder.

Shocked, she tells him that he has given up his

only chance for happiness. He says the price

was too high. Morgan withdraws with her son,

assuring him that they have lost the battle but

not the war. The building returns to normal.

The League recover from the fight and Jason has

reverted to his human form. John announces that

he is resigning from the League and as his teammates

can only rely on him. Unexpectedly, Jason is

the one who urges them to remain, saying that

John, unlike himself, was ultimately able to

resist Morgan's temptation. Jason takes his leave

and walks into the fog, cursed to keep seeking

Morgan until she is defeated. John hopes that

he will find peace one day. You know, one of

the bad things about listening to a podcast and

then doing a podcast on the exact same topic

as you're going to have overlapping ideas and

from World's Finest Podcast, but they've already

covered this episode. They're well into season

two of Justice League already. They mention that,

and it's a good point, We never actually find

out until obviously the next episode You know

this is left as a as a cliffhanger at the end

of part two whether John resigns or not This

is also very indicative of star -crossed the

season finale of season two Because I mean John

did the same thing hot girl does he? Pretty much

doomed the world when he's under this spell right

You know I mean this is you know world -conquering

castle changing stuff That these sorcerers or

sorceries or whatever the hell you want to call

the plural of it. It you know, sorry Yes, yes.

Yeah, so sorry Well, okay since we're also including

more trip in this it would be sorcerers. Yeah,

true Did you catch the beanie and Cecil reference?

No, I didn't There's an old cartoon I my mom

used to love it, but that's what When Harv gets

turned into a worm A flash makes some comment

about oh, okay Cecil or something and it's a

reference to this kid beanie and his pet I have

crap. I'll have to look it up But yeah, it's

that's what that's a reference to Again the fact

that John can't get out of this spell is just

pissing as I was watching it It just kept pissing

me off and pissing me off. Yeah, it was it I

Thought it was a disservice to the character.

Honestly. Yeah, because he is such a strong Backbone

and he is the heart of the Justice League but

now we're seeing him as someone that can't separate

this fantasy of something that he really wants

from the reality of what's really going on and

what is going to affect his new family and all

of his friends. Flash uses his super duper speed

to destroy the monsters with Edrigan's freezing

power. We find out later... I don't understand

how that worked. Well, the thing is though...

It just goes to show you how sometimes inept

Wally can be, because Hedrigan's like, Flash,

we need a Maelstrom! What? A whirlwind starts

running really, really fast, and he's like, faster!

Faster! And we will see later that Flash, if

he goes extremely fast, bad shit can happen.

Oh, yes. Just... Yeah, horrible, horrible shit

can happen. That's the power of the Speed Force.

Yes. Uh, go ahead. Um, so this is the first time

we've actually seen him get pushed to really

run fast. Yep. And I don't know if, I mean, at

this point, I don't think he knows how fast he

really can go. Half the time he's just kind of

like, oh, can't catch up to this speeding armored

car. I'm the Flash, I'm not going too fast. Yeah,

you know, I think this is where he starts to

get a little bit more characterization. I believe,

of course, I'm probably gonna have to retract

this as we continue the coverage on Justice League,

but I believe this is the only episode in the

entire series. where Jean uses his hardening,

his hardened ability. Yep, I saw that. I'm like,

I knew he had it. I knew he had it. Yeah, I knew

he had it too, but I just, I didn't ever remember

seeing him use it. It was like, we talked about

it in one of the prior episodes, and you're like,

I don't think it ever shows up. I'm like, ha!

There it is! Yep. And then after using it on

the demon, he kicks him like a little girl, like

a little, like a little, one of those little

like, I'm better than you type of kicks. And

of course Batman fighting a dog chair I guess

is the best way to Honestly maybe think of um,

oh my mind just dropped Willow oh from Buffy.

Yeah, no Willow like the old movie from the 80s.

Oh The sorceress like enchants the furniture

to like go attack people. I'm like really it

just seemed very In comparison to his mother,

it seemed very rough. Obviously, this kid has

not been doing this for as long as his mom. Yeah.

Well, then again, you know, he is still kind

of a kid, so... Little shit. Yeah, sorry. No,

no, you're right. You're right. He is a little

shit. I was really hoping that somewhere in the

episode, Batman would just go up and just smack

him. Like, stop being a little bitch! Oh believe

me Batman doesn't get in like smacking him but

he gets in a few good lines on him and once we

get the kids stuff. Got anything else? Not unless

you do. The guy that thinks of the snake gets

turned into a snake. Yeah, Harv. I saw that and

then I was thinking of Dante's Inferno. It just,

I'm like, oh, this is where they got that idea.

This scene where he's showing her around, and

he's like, oh, this is a really great Greek statue,

and she's like, it's Roman. I'm sorry, no, it's

Roman. It's a Roman coffee. He's like, well,

how do you know? Flash is like, she knows, trust

me, she knows. She can tell the difference. So

when Morgan blows up the mansion, I'm like, wow,

someone's got a really bad case of PMS. Again,

more good little shits. Okay, so when is the

magic lasso that she has conductive? That does

not come into play until Justice League Unlimited.

Because she sends up that magical energy throughout,

I'm like, wait, it's conductive? Oh, okay. I

don't know, it was like, wow, okay, I figured

there would be like a prevent feedback thing

going on there, you know? Well, the other thing

is, I thought you were meaning as far as when

does Diana start using it, like... Oh, no. No,

I know, but... Like the old 1960s. Right. But

what I'm saying is that, you know, what I was

going to say was that because she stole her armor

and weapon back in... Oh, right. Paradise Lost.

She doesn't know of its actual true power, and

she won't know until we get to... No, Justice

League Unlimited. The episode where... I believe

it's the episode that the Annihilator's in. Or

something. It might not be the Annihilator episode,

it's the one where they have to go rescue Hades.

from Faust taking over or something. I don't

know. It's one convoluted thing. I'll tell you

off the air. Okay. Let's see what else. Okay,

so Etrigan's using fire on a spaceship. That

seems... I mean, maybe it's great for him because

he's immortal, but what about everybody else

that's still stuck on there? And then how exactly

did Etrigan know that she was a princess? Well,

she does have the giant tiara with a star on

her head yes, she's also got like You know the

stripper uniform too, but it doesn't necessarily

say princess to me I Mean honestly speaking from

my experience with royalty you don't normally

wear her tiara every day Well, it's she's a super

hero got something Even when you got some queens

running around, they don't care. Well, see, that's

the other thing. There really is no secret identity

for Diana in the Justice League. There never

is. I just don't understand how Etrigan would

be privy to that information unless Bats is like,

hey, you know what? I got this sweet thing with

the princess. Something might happen. Well, he

could have been that way. I don't know. But I

was going to say, well, it's the goddamn Etrigan.

The line where extra guns like what what happens

if you know if John does betray you are you willing

to take him down? In essence and that means like

I will do anything that it takes. Yeah, whatever

it takes and that good I don't know if you've

read it, but there was a story line in Justice

League of America in the comic a while back called

the Tower of Babel where Every one of the Justice

League members were taken down and they were

taken down by Batman's Designs like they were

all his plans that were on the back computer

Right. I've never read Tower of Babylon want

to but I haven't read it yet But yeah, I mean

the whatever it takes thing is pretty much it's

at least through the DCA you it's Batman's mantra

now Even in Batman Beyond it's like whatever

it takes for you know to get the mission done

It's kind of frightening, honestly. That line

made me think of that, and I'm like, oh god,

he's going to have those incinerating nanites

that he's going to throw on John. I'm glad they

reverted Big Ben back from a flaming tower. But

yeah, I honestly really like this episode. Except

for, okay, I like the story, I just don't like

the whole Jaune thing that we've already covered.

Yeah, that was the only downer for me was the

whole Jaune thing. And I'm not sure if you noticed,

did you notice an animation flub with Edrigan?

Oh, no. When they're in the tower and he's sitting

on whatever he's sitting on and the lights go

out? his shape Actually James from once on his

podcast pointed this out in their episode But

his shape changes without him moving. I Don't

know if I don't know if it's the colors on his

his design or whatever But like when the lights

are on he's one color when they go off. It's

like his whole Model shifted without him actually

moving Behold the power of being a demon. Oh,

there you go. Yeah Something I do want to bring

up, though, is a lot of the facial shots and

stuff of Etrogen. Now, mind you, what we've seen

in this episode, and it'll come out prevalent

in the next episode. I don't know if they're

going for a specific art style to go back to

the comics or whatnot to make it more noticeable,

or people that might be fans of the comics and

might be drawn into, oh, hey, there's an episode

with... so -and -so in there. But the character

design and the art style in certain shots harken

to Hellboy style. Yeah, yeah, they kind of do.

It was like, I don't like that art style personally,

but it just made me think of that when they were

doing the face shots, especially in the first

part of the episode during the prologue. Right.

And whenever he would transform. Yeah. Well,

you know, I will say this now, Etrigan rules,

but baby Etrigan in kid stuff rules even more.

Okay. Alright, we are gonna move on. Mace! Where

are you? Right here. I knew you were jealous,

but I never thought you'd go this far! I don't

know what you're talking about! No? See if this

jogs your memory! Are you getting this, Java?

I want them to see what my creation can really

do. Whoa! It might even have military applications.

I won't let you take her from me. Mace, you're

making a big mistake. No, you didn't. And it

will be your last, old friend. and finally up

today we have metamorphosis oh god kill me now

it's not as bad as that which shall not be no

it's not as bad as that shall not no it's not

as bad as that but it gets pretty bad later on

in part two but anyway to start part one simon

stagg who we don't know who the hell he is until

later but shows a group of investors footage

of a recent industrial accident suffered at one

of their oil rigs and says he has the perfect

solution metamorpho a genetically mutated human

able to survive under hostile conditions stag

says that he has perfected the theory and is

only awaiting a human subject to test it on the

investors are skeptical and demand proof aboard

a commuter train stags henchman java now I could

have sworn when I was watching this, he called

him Jabba, as in Jabba the Hutt. No, seriously!

I wasn't sure, honestly. I'm not sure either,

so I'm going to have to go back and look in the

DVD credits and check it. He's carrying a briefcase

of mutagenic chemicals toward the city, which

Stank tells him not to let out of his sight,

but as soon as Jabba... I'm just going to call

him Jabba, as in Jabba the Hutt. Sounds a lot

better than a cup of coffee. It just does. Hangs

up. An attendant tells him that personal luggage

is not allowed and he'll have to stow it. Confused,

Jabba surrenders the briefcase and is placed

in the luggage compartment. Before long, the

train's vibrations spill the chemicals inside

and the reaction with the train's hull causes

it to derail. Green Lantern arrives to minimize

the crash. Yeah, minimize. He couldn't actually

freaking stop it. Again, these rings are supposed

to be all freaking powerful and he couldn't freaking

stop it. While he is examining the train, he

is hailed by a familiar voice and is surprised

to see his old Marine Corps comrade, Rex Mason.

Mason says he is now a high -placed executive

with Stag Enterprises and was also a passenger

on the train. Rex invites John back to his apartment

for a drink. John is a little taken aback by

his friend's luxurious rooftop apartment and

even more taken aback to meet Rex's very beautiful

fiance, Sapphire Stag. Rex says they are in love,

though they have kept their relationship a secret

from Simon. While they are talking, John receives

a call from Batman, who is investigating. I love

how Batman just sneaks in. That was so awesome.

That was just like so awesome. It's like... Oh,

the police and everybody else is over here! Doot

-doot -doo! Zoom! Has discovered traces of the

mutagen. John confronts Rex, who claims ignorance,

and the two men part on a bad note. Rex confronts

Simon, who tells him not to worry. Rex is angry

because the chemicals Jabba was carrying are

illegal, and Simon expects him to shut up about

it. He informs Simon that he's decided to quit

Stag Enterprises and take a job in another city.

Later, when Simon pays a surprise visit to his

daughter's apartment, he is surprised to find

Rex there. She tells her father that she is going

to go with Rex. Simon pretends acceptance, but

is furious. The next night, while Rex is clearing

out his desk, a security alarm sounds from a

science lab, and security doesn't answer his

call. So he goes down, in to investigate himself,

and is lured into a chamber where he is doused

with the mutagen. Like we didn't see that plot

device coming. When he regains his consciousness

in a hospital bed, Simon and Sapphire are standing

over him, looking horrified. He looks in the

mirror and sees himself transformed into a multicolored

mutant. Screaming, he rushes out into the night.

This is very much like the Two -Face Two -Parter

from BTIS. This whole episode, this first part,

because, you know, you have... Back then you

had Harvey Dent going into this chemical plant

and chemical gets spilt on him and his fiance

Grace ends up running out of the hospital room

after seeing his deformed face. So very very

similar to the BTAS episode 2 face. Out on the

street he wanders in front of a truck and is

splattered all over the front. To the police

and the driver's shock the splatter remains reformed

into Mason alarmed. The police open fire. and

the bullets bounce off his body like rubber.

Lantern follows the reports to the accident site

where Stag, Jabba, and Sapphire are listening

to the police give their report. Sapphire begs

John to find Rex before the police do, and he

promises. Jabba, who is taking pictures, snaps

a shot that makes it seem as though John and

she are embracing. Simon returns to his office

and finds Mason sitting at his desk, having reviewed

his project files on Metamorpho and realized

that what happened was no accident. Mason demands

the truth, but Simon distracts him with the photo,

tricking Mason into believing that John has stolen

his girlfriend behind his back. John enlists

the rest of the league to helping him track down

Mason. They are interrupted by a bank robbery

as they pursue the robbers. Lantern easily stops

the truck and disables two of the robbers but

misses a third and Hot Girl has to intervene

before John is shot in the back. John admits

that he is distracted confessing to her that

he is having misgivings about the choices he

has made. Had he taken a different path he might

be where Rex is now. Then Rex calls him, saying

they need to meet. John flies to meet him at

the chemical plant owned by Stag as soon as he

arrives. Rex attacks, now believing that his

old friend has betrayed him. Against the full

range of Mason's new powers, the ability to mimic

any chemical reaction, John is helpless and knocked

unconscious. Yeah, no. You know, at first I thought,

I didn't, it's been a while since I watched this

episode, not since I watched it for obviously

this recording, but before that. When it starts

out and we see the workers, I thought that was

actual part of the story, not a TV film thing.

The workers just stand there till an explosion.

goes off what the hell they're you know they're

running around like oh my god it's gonna blow

it's gonna blow you gotta stop it you gotta stop

it why not just run and get the hell out of there

and let the damn thing blow up don't just stand

there as it's blowing up you dumbasses isn't

this the guy oh okay I'm gonna have to look this

up but my note was isn't the guy who voices Braddock

the the head the head honcho at the beginning

the same guy that voiced Two -Face in BTIS, because

I think it is. Rex flirts with the train attendant,

but yet he's supposedly so in love with Sapphire.

Hmm. There's nothing wrong with being flirtatious,

as long as you don't take it too far. Oh, yeah.

But she does fall into his lap, so... That's

true. Slicing the van in half. That ring is awesome.

Oh, he can do that, but he can't stop a train.

I know, exactly. It's kinda one -sided there.

And that's my final note on this first episode.

So what do you have, sir? Okay, well, um, you

see Java? And if you've been keeping up with

some of the geek news lately, it made me think

of Kevin Smith. I'm like, oh, someone's gonna

need two seats. Let's see, uh... Congrats, you're

mining for a few barrels of oil. Oh, look you

found methane instead. You have made more money

Let's see, uh, I Don't okay. I didn't quite understand

if he's pulling that train backwards How the

hell did it go from going off on the on the rails?

through The train station I didn't understand

that at all. Yeah, I'm gonna try lifting it up

going. Oh shit. This is too heavy. Yeah Why didn't

he make another set of train tracks to, you know,

stop the train from going through anything? It

just, it seemed kind of... Well, I think it goes

back to the fact that they were trying not to

have John use constructs until later, so... It's

just like, come on, John, you've got better brains

than that. Well, true. Again, we see the really

bad... Okay, I won't say bad. We see the art

style that comes back to the original card. original

comics way back in the 40s 50s 60s where we've

got these overly accentuated details in the face

and the bodies and the really over -the -top

eyebrows right and it just It turns my stomach

when I see this yeah We see a lot of violence

in this episode we see the guy get hit by a Vehicle

and we see what really happens to people when

they get hit by a vehicle that's speeding They

go splat, quite literally. There isn't much left

of the person. And we see this in this episode

and it's perfectly fine because he reconstitutes.

We see the police actually firing at them and

the bullets hitting him only to bounce out, but

still we see police violence. Yeah. And it's

interesting considering when we think back to

the prior episodes with Enemy Below and whatnot,

They know how to skate around What they can get

away with and what they can't when it comes to

violence on the show Yeah, so my hat is off to

them for that Rex is just stupid. Oh, I'm gonna

go in there's no security really what what company

would allow any former employee into the building

without an escort security wise to Anywhere,

especially if they're higher up true last night

true Um, yeah, that's pretty much what I got.

Oh, wait being hit beaten in the head with a

bedpan that has got to hurt. Oh, yeah I'm looking

at the casting on the wiki here Wow Tom Sizemore

voiced Rex Mason slash Metamorpho Wow But I was

looking for um... the guy that uh... guess who's

in this episode is one of the background characters

all was it uh... it's was not actually so it's

not a super here is just one of the general it's

the nt sb inspector when the train collapses

or crashes or whatever yeah guess who voices

in michael bell Yes, ladies and gentlemen, side

swipe has crossed over. Alright, getting into

part two here, yeah. As Rex prepares to kill

John, the rest of the League arrives and fights

him, but is able to outmatch all of them, even

Superman, when he transforms a piece of his arm

to emit kryptonite radiation. As the battle goes

on, Simon and Jabba... I'm still calling him

Jabba. I'm not calling him a cup of coffee. are

sitting in a nearby van, filming the whole thing.

Eventually, Rex decides to run and slips away.

Wow. Run and slip away. Yeah, that doesn't, uh,

that doesn't jive too well for me. He returns

to Sapphire and angrily confronts her about her

quote -unquote affair. Shocked and angry, she

tells him he's been fooled and that she still

loves him, in despite of whatever he's become.

Realizing that Simon has played him, Rex rushes

out again. Simon shows his investors the footage

of quote -unquote metamorpho defeating the Justice

League and they are now eager to buy Simon confides

to Java they are now in the process has been

proven he can create a better metamorpho and

doesn't need Mason anymore Mason arrives in time

to hear this and is ready to kill Simon but Java

stops him by spraying him with liquid nitrogen

freezing him solid okay that didn't work out

too well Well, he breaks free later. Sapphire

calls John and tells him the latest. John reassures

her that he is surprised to hear from her that

Rex has followed his career avidly and even been

jealous of him the selfless hero. The two of

Simon's thugs plan to dump the frozen mason somewhere,

but he thaws out first and escapes the truck.

He rushes to Stagg Enterprise's lab where Simon

is preparing a fresh batch of the mutagen with

virtual reality control device wired to a headset

Mason swears that Simon won't do the same thing

to another person and smashes the controls. Did

they explode? I don't remember. While his headset

is still wired to the chemicals, the feedback

causes Simon to scream and collapse. To Mason's

shock, the chemicals come to life, forming a

huge, lumbering monster. John and Batman arrive

at the lab site and find both Stag and Mason.

Mason apologizes for his earlier rampage and

says they need his help. Lance cries off with

him while Batman stays behind to analyze the

chemical residue. In downtown Metropolis, Superman,

Hot Girl, and John Jones try to stop the creature,

but it is too resilient. When Lantern and Mason

arrive, they share what they know, and John says

that he can sense unlimited primal intelligence

within the creature. Mason theorizes that the

monster has absorbed part of Simon's mind, meaning

he is acting on Simon's desires, and becomes

horrified when he realizes that the monster is

after Sapphire. In their apartment, Sapphire

is watching the news of the huge creature defeating

the Justice League. Then the creature itself

arrives and grabs her and starts climbing up

the side of a tall skyscraper. Oh, God. King

Kong, really? Yeah. Really? I mean, come on.

King Kong? Well, Metamorpho did make the comment

of, oh, what I wouldn't do were some biplanes

right now. The entire League, plus Mason, tries

to rescue her, but the creature is still too

tough. Then Batman calls, saying he has analyzed

the formula and that they can destroy it using

a designer amino acid. The problem is it'll take

days to make enough of it. Mason proposes a radical

alternative. He can morph his body into the acid

and combine himself with the creature. When Lantern

objects that this would be suicide, Mason gases

him unconscious, saying they don't have time

to argue. Rex climbs up the building and confronts

the creature. Telling it to let Sapphire go,

taking on Simon's face, it refuses. With the

last I love you to Sapphire, Rex morphs into

the amino acid, dives down into the creature's

throat, and the acid blossoms outward. In his

hospital bed, Stag bolts upright, screaming.

As the creature rides, it drops Sapphire. John

wakes up just in time to see her fall and catches

her, and they watch as the creature explodes,

seeing nothing left of the creature or Rex except

dregs. Sapphire sobs against John's shoulder.

The League assembles on the balcony of the apartment

to console Sapphire, and John says Rex was a

true hero, as Sapphire cries one of her tears,

falls into a puddle of the chemical, which begins

to rise from the ground. To the other's amazement,

it resolves itself into Rex, alive but not unscathed.

Wouldn't want to do that again. As Sapphire throws

herself to his arms, Hot Girl winks at John,

still regretting the road not taken. Seeing the

happy couple, he rejoins. What do you think?

The Flash? Yeah. I actually... I don't know what

I was doing this past weekend when I was doing

the research for these episodes because for some

strange reason... I didn't actually finish watching

this one. I don't know why normal - You're not

supposed to admit that on the air. Well, you

know, it's one of those things where I'm like,

oh, wha -huh? Because I could have sworn I went

back and I did my notes and did my due diligence,

but apparently not. I guess it just goes to show

you how bad this two -parter is. It's not as

bad as that episode that shall not be named,

but it's still meh. So, what do you have for

thoughts there, sir? Okay, the first part of

the episode when the two, quote, friends are

beating the crap out of each other, and Superman

just comes down and takes, like, the fire right

to his chest. He's like, oh, I'll take care of

this. And Superman's actually super for a while.

Like, he's beating the crap out of Metamorpho.

He's like, oh, oh, look, fire. Yes, that's gonna

do much. Wham! You know? Until the whole Kryptonite

thing Kryptonite radiation that it was like alright.

We got some real Superman for once I do have

down Simon's Little creature is a giant walking

booger. Yep Never mind that they're accusing

metamorphose of this and it's like wait Batman

the world's greatest detective doesn't seem to

you know get news feeds or information about

a giant walking snot monster Really? Yeah, really?

No, there's no news flashes or or jawn up in

the watchtower You know, where's that? Where's

snapper? Yeah, I was gonna say where's snapper

car when you really need him? What else? Okay,

um hot girl throwing her throwing a mace at the

monster and it does nothing. When I wrote down

C, no good comes from throwing away your magic

mace. You don't do that. I was lost as to how

Metamorpho could get through an energy field

of the green lantern ring. Like, he just turned

in the gas and went right through. I'm like,

really? Really? That's supposed to protect people

in space. Yeah. How? It's one of those things

where they're not real consistent with the rings

powers Yeah, you know, you can really attest

to this more than I can but just my own personal

opinion the Green Lantern rings are supposed

to be this all -powerful thing and They're up

there like there's a background story of a Sinestro

Corps member and for those that don't know Sinestro

Corps is the evil version of Green Lanterns,

basically. Except they use the color yellow.

There was a Green Lantern that went down to his

home planet, found that it was completely dead.

Every living thing was destroyed. And he couldn't

find the source of it. And he had his shields

up for, I think it was three days. And then he

had to take his shields down to recharge. And

he ended up dying because of a sentient virus.

that was waiting that entire time for him to

drop his shield. If a virus, a microscopic virus

cannot get through a shield, I fail to understand

how... Gas could. Gas. And a solid head at that

can get through there. Yeah, that's true. Again,

it just goes to show you what kind of a plot

device the Green Lantern Ring is in this... It's

a MacGuffin Muffin. Oh, yeah, it will definitely

become a McGuffin because once we get to Season

2's finale, yeah. So I have proof that this guy

is not Jabba, but Java. Okay. In one scene, he's

sitting there having to pour coffee. Oh, God.

I still prefer to think of him as DCIU's version

of Jabba the Hutt, but that's just me. I felt

bad for him, like halfway through this whole

story arc, he's getting crapped on left and right,

beaten on. I felt bad for him up to the point

where he had the liquid nitrogen. Yeah, and even

then, like, this super intelligent, like, guy's

coming up with this metamorpho prospect, he freezes

metamorpho. Oh, little science fact, you know,

everything stops at sub -zero temperatures. Ha

ha ha. Yeah, but he doesn't keep them on ice.

What happens when you've got an ice cube in a

warm environment? Gee, I wonder. And then something

that really bothered me, like mind you, they

were both in the Marines, but you've got some

of this just -got -superpowers. And you're like,

oh, I guess you could come along, ho, ho, ho.

Never mind Wonder Woman, who shows up in the

first episode, is beating the crap out of things.

You know, Miss Amazon has more warrior experience,

and he's all like, no, you're a rookie. And I

don't know if it was like a sexist thing in the

first episode or what, but he's allowing someone

that's just got these uncontrollable powers to

become part of the team to help out. Right. Well,

you know the thing is there's I'm looking at

the wiki page here and there's continuity listed

in here after John proposes Metamorpho as a new

member of the league to replace apparently fallen

Superman And then in unlimited when we go unlimited

in initiation Metamorpho is indeed shown as a

member of the expanded league And then as far

as tribute to Rex Mason In Justice League Unlimited,

the Once and Future Thing Part 2, Time Warped,

Warhawk, last seen in Batman Beyond, The Call,

reveals himself as John's son, Rex Stewart, a

strong indicator that he is named after Mason.

Wow. So, is that all we have for... That's all

I've got. Alright. Yeah, yeah, that's all, folks.

This is the quote of Episode 4. Hey, Cookie.

One word and you'll be the fastest man alive

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