Episode Review: Young Justice "Independence Day" (Pilot)

Friday saw the premiere of the new DC animated series 'Young Justice' and while we wont be seeing it again till January, you'll want to add this to your must-watch list for 2011. That is, if you love your super heroics-in-animated-form as much as I do... and doubly so if you are as disappointed in the Avengers series as I am.

I'm still figuring out a format for how I'm going to write these, and exactly how much detail I'll go into, but here we go....

--RECAP

'Young Justice' hits the ground running, introducing our young heroes (teen titans, if you will) in a series of fun, and very well animated action scenes. In the space of 5 minutes we've seen Robin (Jesse McCartney), Speedy (Crispin Freeman), Kid Flash (Jason Spisak), Aqualad (Khary Payton) as well as Justice Leaguers; Batman (Bruce Greenwood), Superman (Nolan North), Green Arrow (Alan Tudyk), Aquaman (Phil LaMarr), Martian Manhunter (Kevin Michael Richardson), Flash (George Eads), Zatarra  and Red Tornado. Phew! Then there's the quartet of ice-based villains the Sidekicks all take down; Freeze, Icicle, Captain Cold and .... some other one (c'mon, DC just have so many ice villains!).

The show itself is about the sidekicks and their first day at Justice Hall, the public HQ of the Justice League. Disappointed that they're being kept at arms length, Speedy quits as Green Arrow's 'don't call me sidekick'. While the Justice League are off dealing with a 'sun-blotting-out-problem', the teen titans take it upon themselves to investigate a fire at the Cadmus labs.

After a neat sequence that I'm pretty sure was designed to demonstrate Aqualad's powers, he and Robin and Kid Flash make their way to the underground levels of Cadmus. Truth be told I'm still a little unclear on Aqualad's powers. I'm going to guess that he can manipulate water using his handheld thingies, he has the standard super-strength and can also electrify the eel tattoos on his arms.... makes sense).

The kids find out what viewers of Batman, Superman and JLU already knew, that Cadmus is dodgy and into very naughty genetic experiments. These experiments include G-Gnomes, creepy little shoulder goblins that psychically control their masters. Another experiment is a Superman clone, Project Kr, also in teenage form. Superboy (Nolan North again), somewhat angry about being woken up by the young heroes, is initially a puppet of Cadmus. Can our intrepid heroes save him and show him the sky (and Superman)?

The story progresses as one might expect from a pilot, particularly if you've seen any superhero series before, safe to say that by the end we're perfectly set up for an ongoing series focusing on a splinter group of the Justice League that focuses on covert missions, but also allows a range of DCU characters to appear.

--MY THOUGHTS

As I stated earlier, this is definitely going on my must-watch list for next year. I'm mostly annoyed that I have to wait till January, but at least they started with a two-parter.

'The gang's all here.' Image owned by DC and WB

Character designs have finally moved away from the DCAU series of the past and are looking more like the DC animated movies that have been coming out the past few years*. Specifically, 'Green Lantern', 'Batman: Under The Red Hood' and 'Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths' (most notably with the design of Martian Manhunter).

*I know that 'Batman Brave & The Bold' is radically different in it's designs and 'The Batman' had Jeff Matsuda's designs.... but they're Batman series and I'm talkin' Justice League here. That may be a bit of a nitpick in the distinctions, but there you have it... you'll learn I'm like that.

I guess with Sam Liu co-directing the first pilot and setting the style that should be expected. The animation is also fluid, with action scenes and dialogue exchanges benefiting from the pedigree behind the scenes, you expect nothing less from a DC series, but in my opinion this is the best looking one out there. Action scenes are full of dynamic layouts and exciting little moments. Once again, this seems to be the bread and butter of storyboard artist/director Liu. I'm actually suprised that Lauren Montgomery didn't contribute to the other half of the episode, but it would seem she's always flat out with the features, and I'm very okay with that. In the meantime it looks like it's Jay Olivia's premiere as a director for DC, having boarded for many of their productions in the past. It's stellar work, so I look forward to what he does in the future.

As a pilot it does a fantastic job. It seems to assume some prior knowledge of the DCU, but I imagine they'll subtly introduce characters to newcomers over the first season. All of the main characters get their moment to shine and show of their powers. There is a more interesting dynamic between the Heroes and their Sidekicks than in any series prior. The Superboy plot line looks like it'll bear some nice dramatic fruit and it ably demonstrated the high quality animation and action you can expect on a week to week basis.

If you missed it, try and find it on Hulu or make sure to remember it when it returns in January.