Young Justice (TV Series)
The pilot episode, "Independence Day", focuses on Robin, Speedy, Aqualad and Kid Flash finally getting their chance to join their mentors ( Batman, Green Arrow, Aquaman and the Flash, respectively) as members of the Justice League...Or so the thought. As soon as they arrive at the Hall of Justice it becomes clear the adult heroes still do not believe that their wards are ready for full membership, and that this whole day was really just a glorified tour of the League's secondary base, not their real headquarters in the out space watchtower. This does not sit well with the four kid, especially not Speedy who quits the team right there in a major huff. After this the League receives an alert to some sort disturbance in the top secret government research facility called Project CADMUS, but a second, more imminent alert prompts them to put the CADMUS crisis aside for now. As the League prepared to leave, they warn their sidekick to "Stay put"...Well, the kids don't listen. Instead, the three sidekicks hack into the Justice League mainframe, learn details about CADMUS, and set out to investigate the disturbance themselves. What the find once they get there is a top secret cloning operation dedicated to creating meta-human clones to either replace the superhero community should they ever fall in battle, or defeat them should they ever "turn from the light." Leading the research project is a short tempered scientist named Mark Desmond that has been creating small creatures called Genomorphs that can be used to control the minds of anyone they are attached to, as they have already done to the superhero Guardian. The three young heroes quickly find themselves fleeing for their lives as they are pursued by CADMUS' creations, but in their attempts to escape they discover CADMUS' greatest creation, Superboy, a teenage clone of Superman himself. At first this Superboy is used by CADMUS to take out our heroes, but it quickly becomes clear that this clone has never been aloud a life if his own outside of CADMUS walls. The kids open out their hearts to him with an offer of friendship and a chance to escape into the outside world and introduce him to Superman. But will Superboy accept this chance at a new life, or is he doomed to be CADMUS' living weapon forever? And even worse, how much trouble are the kids going to be in when the League finds out what they've been up to? Unlike the anime look used in Teen Titans, Young Justice utilizes an animation style nearly identical to what was seen in the DC Universe film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. This works well for the show in that is offers high-quality style of animation that both sets the tone for the show and looks great in HD. the action here is pretty good, especially during the Superboy fight and the one with the villain Blockbuster at the end. the one downside this examiner had with the action sequences was that Robin was portrayed less as a fighter and more of a computer hacker, repeatedly hacking into computer mainframes with a holographic computer located on his glove which, while cool-looking, was still undermining the reckless martial artist Robin that we remember from Teen Titans.
At first I was confused about the time frame the series was supposed to take place in. The Young Justice featured in the show is significantly different that in the comic books. For one thing, Dick Grayson and Wally West were chosen as lead characters instead of the Tim Drake Robin and the Bart Allen/Impulse character from the original comics. This was a major gripe with fans because by the time the Young Justice series was launched, Grayson and West have long since retired their sidekick and become Nightwing and the Flash, respectively. The show also introduces a brand new Aqualad named Jackson Hyde ("Kaldur'ahm" in the show), a character only recently added into the comics and is vastly different that the original, classic version of the character that is now known as Tempest. In fact, the Aqualad we see in this show is not only chosen as the group's leader, but is actually the son Black Manta, Aquaman's archenemy. At the very end of the story the team also takes on a fifth member, Miss Martian, the niece of the Martian Manhunter, with a female archer character named Artemis to be added on in the near future. But despite the noticeable and much-discussed lapses in continuity taken with this series, the Young Justice pilot show an enormous amount of promise is terms of action television. The action was great, the characters were engaging, there is already the promise of dozens of guest appearances by known Dc characters both in and outside of the Justice League, and more. Appearances from Speedy in his new Red Arrow identity is also expected, as are appearances by Tempest, Arrowette, and, supposedly, Wonder Girl. There are also many different villains that could appear in this series, besides CADMUS, we have already seen Blockbuster, Mr. Freeze, the Icicle, Killer Frost and Captain Cold all in the pilot, with Queen bee confirmed for the future.
The voice cast for the show is great. Jesse McCartney play Robin with a snarky, fun-loving attitude, and Jason Spisak plays Kid Flash with appropriate wit and sarcasm. Khary Payton plays Aqualad (interestingly he has also played Cyborg in Teen Titans) with stern seriousness but also with a lot of honor to balance it out. Nolan North has the interesting challenge of not only playing Superboy, but also, because his character is a clone, playing Superman as well. His Superboy is a angry young man torn over what he is over what he desires to be and he pays the character convincingly. Danica McKeller appears at the end of the pilot as Miss Martian, and Stephanie Lemelin will appear in future episodes as Artemis. Besides the main cast of Young Justice themselves, Bruce Greenwood reprises his role as Batman from the film Batman: Under the Red Hood. Phil LaMarr, who had played Green Lantern in Justice League, appears as both Aquaman and Dubbilex in this series, while Alan Tudyk, who played Barry Allen in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, plays Green Arrow. Other cast members include George Eads as Flash, Crispin Freeman as Speedy and Guardian, Kevin Michael Richardson as Martian Manhunter, Rob Lowe as Captain Marvel, Marina Sirtis as Queen Bee, Keith Szarabajka as Mr. Freeze, Yuri Lowenthal as the Icicle, and René Auberjonois as Blockbuster. Overall, the Young Justice pilot episode was an exciting piece of animated entertainment that offers a large amount of promise for the series itself.