The Book Club

TV Review & Adaption Analysis: DC's Super Best Friends Forever

Title: Super Best Friends Forever

Form: TV short

Adapted From: DC Comics

Staring: Nicole Sullivan (Supergirl), Tara Strong (Batgirl), and Grey Delisle (Wonder Girl)

Creator/Writer: Lauren Faust

TV Review: Seriously, this is an absolutely hilarious short. It's smart, entergetic, and stays true (enough) to the characters. How can you seriously not love an uptight as hell Donna Troy, a wacky Supergirl who just wants to teepee Lex Luthor's house, and a cracked out Batgirl?

Plus, the animation is great, with my main focus being on the design elements. Wonder Woman is sharp lines with an actual Greek accent for once, Supergirl is all curves, and Batgirl is a skinny gymnast. It makes sense and gives the overall short a beautiful look.

There's the humor there from Faust, creator of the mega-popular My Little Ponies: Friendship is Magic series. Can Faust keep doing these? I'd love to see what happens when the Big 3 actually show up and what their designs would look like.

Adapation Analysis: This is the first time DC has allowed one of their animation partners to use Donna Troy (copyright issues), and although we don't hear her name, it's obvious this is the Donna Troy Wonder Girl. Even better? They went with the easiest origin for a character who has about fifty of them: she's Wonder Woman's little sister.

The Batgirl here is probably the farthest cry from Barbara Gordon you get in the current comics. While Babs is energetic, she's never been that bad - and we're obviously missing Babs' amazing smarts. If these shorts keep coming, I'd love to see a swerve ball with Batgirl saving the day with her brain. And is it me, or is Batgirl's personality more Stephanie Brown then Babs? Just a bit. I do believe she's also taking her cue from the more bubbly Batgirls of the Batman cartoons.

And lastly, we have Supergirl. She's great on so many meta-levels. 1) She's curvy as all get out. In other words, she ain't Supergirl. She's Power Girl. (Fits the personality, too.) 2) She wants to teepee Lex Luthor's house. Didn't the Matrix Supergirl used to date him, when he was less evil than usual? 3) She's nutty. Supergirl does tend to go crazy sometimes.

Overall, though, the interesting thing here is that this short hardly reflects the current DC at all. The current Supergirl is like a dark female Superman, Babs' Batgirl is far broody-er than the previous one, and Wonder Girl is straight up missing in action. If DC wants to connect to new readers, I suggest a Super Best Friends Forever comic book. Right now.

Super Best Friends Forever appears on Cartoon Network as part of the DC Nation scheduling block.

Great Quotes: Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Anya on Death

"I don't understand how this all happens, how we go through this. I mean, I knew her and then she's...there's just a body and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore. It's stupid. It's mortal and it's stupid. And Xander's crying and not talking and I was having fruit punch and I thought, well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch ever and she'll never have eggs or yawn or brush her hair - not ever. And no one will explain to me why!"

Formerly Immortal Demon, Now Human Anya Jenkins (portrayed by Emma Caulfield) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from "The Body", written by Joss Whedon

Great Quotes: Doctor Who's Amy Pond's Something Borrowed Speech

I am unabashedly in love with Doctor Who. And surprisingly, it's almost never about the Doctor himself, but rather his amazing companions: Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, River Song, Rory Williams, and this clip's star, Amy Pond. They are some of the best written characters on television and masterclasses should be done on their development.

What it takes to understand this clip (hey, great writing is great writing!) is that the Doctor has rewritten the universe, but only by sacrificing his very existence. If only someone can remember him, he can return. I won't spoil any more of the series for you, but here you go - a lesson in how to use a trite saying and give it a fantastic emotional heave.

 

TV Review & Adaption Analysis: Avengers: The World's Mightiest Heroes

Title: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Form: TV show (cartoon)

Adapted from: Avengers, first published by Marvel Comics in 1963 in serial comic book format, originally created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, still published today as Avengers, New Avengers, and Secret Avengers

Staring: Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Wasp), Eric Loomis (Iron Man), Rick D. Wasserman (Thor), Wally Wingert (Henry Pym), Fred Tatasciore (Hulk), Brian Bloom (Captain America), Chris Cox (Hawkeye), James C. Mathis III (Black Panther), Phil LaMarr (Jarvis), Alex Desert (Nick Fury), Kari Wahlgren (Enchantress)

Writers: Christopher Yost, Joshua Fine, Brandon Auman, Kevin Burke, Chris Wyatt, Paul Giacoppo, Caroline Farah, Mark Parsons

Directors: Vinton Heuck, Ciro Nieli, Sebastian Montes, Frank Paur

Seasons: Season 1 (2010-2011)

TV Review: Y'know, I got into comics thanks to a little 90's show called X-Men (which had the most badass theme song ever), so when I heard that the new Avengers cartoon was actually good (as compared to that other Avengers: United They Stand mess), I was intrigued. Then, I discovered I could stream it on my Netflix. And despite having one of the worst cartoon theme songs ever, I've got to say, Avengers: The World's Mightiest Heroes is pretty dang awesome.

The cartoon is one of the most character-driven adventures series I've ever seen. The first six episodes don't even feature the Avengers as a team, but actually feature each cast member before the formation of the team. It's a neat trick that allows the viewer to see each hero by themselves (with the exception of Pym and the Wasp, who share their episode). The show continues this trend by having spotlight episodes for guest stars and villains (like the Captain Marvel, Mockingbird, and Wonder Man episodes).

Add to that the Big Bad arc of Loki, which starts way back in the first episode and ends with the season finale, and you've got one thoroughly built world mythology and detailed plotting. The series even manages to set-up next season's big villains by the time the season wraps. It's a perfectly nuanced storyline, all wrapped in a made-for-kids half-hour program.

The series' animation is strong, with each character sporting their most classic costume, and with cameos aplenty (the Fantastic Four, Wolverine, various members of SHIELD, & lots of random villains all pop up), the series' art team has a lot of work to do. The only quibble I have there is with Wasp's costume. Seeing that she is the team's only female member (someone please tell them to recruit Mockingbird and Ms. Marvel for the second season), could they have gone for a more overly feminine costume? At least the character retains Wasp's bravery and intelligence (and her flightiness).

I must say, I'm thoroughly impressed - there hasn't been a such well-crafted superhero cartoon since Batman: The Animated Series in my opinion. Trust me, if you have Netflix and you like superheroes, try it out.

Spoiler Alert!

Adapation Analysis: What's most interesting about the cartoon as an adaption is the fact that while it definitely pulls from the original Avengers comics (the first Big Bad is Loki, the same character as in the comics), the cartoon also pulls from the movieverse to create this welding of sorts.

In World War II, the Cap fights Hydra, just like in the recent Captain America: The First Avenger. Nick Fury is black (he's white in the original comics and black in the Ultimate universe). Iron Man is a cocky jerk, like Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal (His comic book personality is much less snippy). The Hulk is a more or less constant part of the team, whereas in the comics, he quickly quits. Jarvis is Iron Man's tech, not his butler.

I mean, there are changes from the original comics, as storylines are moved far closer to the beginning (the coming Kree/Skrull War, which has tones of the Secret Invasionevent). The appearance and rebirth of Wonder Man, Kang, Ultron, and the Masters of Evil all make recurring appearances, whereas they didn't appear for decades in the comic books. There are riffs on classic storylines (the Masters of Evil invasion of the Avengers Mansion is one) which are all well-done.

Interestingly, the only thing that appears to have been taken directly from the modern comics is the escape from the Raft, which in the cartoon, becomes an escape from all the prisons (allowing the Avengers to have a lot of villains to capture over the series). Part of the reason the newer Avengers aren't being used is probably licensing; current Avengers Wolverine and Spider-Man (pictured in the New Avengers comic above) probably can't appear legally in the series, as someone else currently holds the rights to those cartoon adaptions. (Same for the obviously missing Avengers Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, who probably got taken up by the X-Men rights holders.)

Overall, I think this series does a great job at realizing what makes Marvel so much fun as a whole. There's so many great characters to play with, that the series just picked and chose as time went on which heroes would fit each story. Mockingbird still has her SHIELD origin, Ms. Marvel gets her powers from Captain Marvel, and Black Widow is still a spy traitor, fighting with Hawkeye. It's these touches, this stripping of the characters to what makes them interesting, that makes each episode so much fun for an Avengers fan.

In other words, the creators are respecting their source material and updating it to the point where it still makes sense to a modern audience. Sure, the Hulk is a bit too nice in the series, but it's a kid's show, after all. It still works.

Avengers: The World's Mightiest Heroes appears on Disney XD and is available on DVD.

TV Review & Adaption Analysis: True Blood

Title: True Blood

Form: TV series

Adapted From: the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris (originally called The Southern Vampire Mysteries)

Starring: Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse), Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton), Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte), Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse), Rutina Wesley (Tara Thorton), Chris Bauer (Andy Bellefleur), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette Reynolds), Jim Parrack (Hoyt Fortenberry), Carrie Preston (Arlene Fowler), Alexander Skarsgaard (Eric Northman), Todd Lowe (Terry Bellefleur), Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica Hamby), Kristin Bauer (Pam De Beaufort)

Created by: Alan Ball

Appearing: Currently on HBO, fourth season premiere 6/26/11

TV Review: Say what you will about True Blood, but you can't deny that there's really nothing else on TV like it. There might be other vampires, but none of them match this show's lust for violence, messed up characters, and lots and lots of sex. And don't forget the utter nakedness.

And while that doesn't always mean the show rocks every episode, it does mean that nearly every episode is crazy and ususally fun.

The main strength of the show is its well-rounded cast. While the stars of the series might be Paquin, Moyer, and Skarsgaard, its scene-stealers like Bauer, Woll, and Ellis that make the series great. In fact, I'd say that if the show focused only on Sookie and her two main vamps, the show would be dismally boring.

The main weakness of the show, unfortunately, is also its unwieldly cast. There are so god-damn many of them. Even for an hour drama, this series tips the scales of cast members. And in the fourth season premiere, we got at least four new major characters (only two of which, Portia Bellefleur and Marnie, were ever part of the books). If you think that starring list up there is bad, realize those are only the characters who have appeared in nearly every single episode.

Also a problem is that with a cast this big, is that it's hard to make the series gel. Seasons 1 did this with a well plottedmurder mystery - someone in the cast was a killer, but we didn't know who, so the whole of Bon Temps, the fictional southern town of the series, was locked in a manhunt. Seasons 2 and 3 had Big Bads, but only a handful of the characters were truly affected by them and our heroes, as it were, didn't come together to defeat them, either. It's a plot problem that's not helping this series.

But, in the end, I'll still watch. The premiere of the fourth season was a bit slow, but started with a nice time jump, allowing Sookie and several of the characters to start over. The surprise gay wasn't that surprising, and as mentioned, there are too many new characters in already packed cast, but there were some other nice twists, like Bill's new role. I also enjoyed the Jessica-Hoyt scenes, but that's mostly for the on-screen chemistry of Woll and Parrack.

Adaption Analysis: When adapting this series, which is written in the first person from Sookie's perspective, meaning the reader only gets Sookie's thoughts on any given situation, Ball had some big decisions to make - how does he expand Bon Temps to make the other characters just as lively as Sookie herself?

In the end, I think he did his job too well. The other characters have somehow eclipsed Sookie and her storyline, to the point that now, several of the important plot points don't come from Sookie - and many fans watch the show for the characters who aren't her.

The first season followed the books rather closely, plot and character-wise. We get an introduction to Pam and Eric in mid-season (only minor characters in the first book but major characters in the rest of the series). The only significant changes come from the brand new character of baby vampire Jessica (killed and raised by Bill as punishment for his murder of another vampire - a different punishment than the book's) and the family relations between Tara and Lafayette. In the books, the two characters have nothing to do with the other - Lafayette is a very minor character (who only survives until the second book) and Tara isn't really described as being black. The biggest plot change is that of V, vampire blood, which becomes a major storyline for the series but one that was never really developed in the books.

But it's in the second season when Ball really starts to change things - which is also where the creators start having issues getting all the characters on the same page. In shows like Buffy, the cast was large but they all came together at the end to defeat the Big Bad. On True Blood, sometimes the minor characters don't even know the Big Bad exists. Like in Season 2, Sookie doesn't even meet Maryann, a minor villain from the second book who was elevated to Big Bad status for the TV show, until mid-season.

In season 3, the big bad is Russell Edgington, a completely different character than the version from the books. Other minor character roles also shift, mainly to keep the interesting characters around. Lafayette, for example, isn't killed, and Sam's family is dramatically altered and expanded.

In the fourth season, there's been a radical departure from the series, with Claudine and the fairies taking on new powers and a brand new role - the first major departure from the books for Sookie's family history. Sookie's bloodline and powers are also slightly altered, as those are only now being explored in the books (there's 11 of them now, the most recent one pictured at left).

I think the adaption has been incredibly smart in its departures. The show would not have survived, especially with its emphasis on sex and violence, with the narrow view of only Sookie to work with. There simply can't be that much sex when you focus on a single character (which is why you won't ever see a straight adaption of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series or Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series). But in the expanded world of Bon Temps, Ball manages to make some very smart changes with complex characters that only expand Sookie's world, instead of just filling it with redudant characters.

True Blood is now showing its fourth season on HBO. Previous seasons are available on DVD, iTunes, and other outlets.