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Justice
League Unlimited
Mystery In Space
(Hunter's Moon
to our Canadian Friends)
Original U.S. Airdate - 06/18/05
In the
JLU universe no one is safe, not even in the Watchtower.
Green Lantern roams the halls one day only to be savagely
attacked by an on the prowl Vixen.
It seems
they haven't been on a date in over a month (geez, take
a hint, lady) and John's cold shoulder has only made her
hotter.
Meanwhile,
J'onn receives an emergency transmission from aliens requesting
assistance. A quick scan of the situation reveals the presence
of Nth metal, so J'onn dispatches Hawkgirl to investigate.
He also adds Vixen to the team because Martians think that
kind of "new girlfriend stuck with old girlfriend in an
awkward situation" thing is funny. Essentially asexual beings
gotta get their kicks somehow. The Vigilante rounds out
the group in the role of third wheel.
Once
the trio reaches the location of the distress call, things
take a quick turn for the worse. The emergency was actually
an ambush set up by disgruntled Thanagarians who are still
bitter about Hawkgirl's betrayal from the episode "Starcrossed."
We're
told that Hawkgirl's decision to not betray Earth caused
Thanagar to lose their war with the Gordanians and the subsequent
death of Ro. Paran Dol (Elizabeth Peña) and and a now seriously
brain-damaged Kragger (Hector Elizondo) offer Vixen and
Vigilante a deal: turn over Hawkgirl and the others can
go free. Vigilante says no thanks, but Vixen sees this as
a good opportunity to get rid of the other woman in Green
Lantern's life.
This
is the first episode that actually spends any time getting
to know Vigilante and it turns out he's just a good ole
boy, never meaning no harm. Nathan Fillion gives the masked
cowboy his voice which is really just the same accent he
uses in Firefly, without the hip Joss Whedon dialogue.
The character himself is average.
You
have to wonder why out of all the superheroes in the world,
the JLU chose Vigilante for the team or, more importantly,
why put him on deep space missions? He can't fly the Javelin
very well. That's because normally, he rides a horse.
The
episode itself lacked any real punch. While it was interesting
to follow up on the events of that brough the first Justice
League series to a close, it is hardly a worthy sequel.
Too much focus is spent on the Vixen/Hawkgirl/Green Lantern
love triangle, which isn't that interesting to begin with,
as John Stewart believes that he and Shayera will be having
a Green Egret. (See "The
Once and Future Thing") Green Lantern clearly doesn't
give a hoot about Vixen so her motives are suspect.
It
is sometimes nice to step away from the big characters and
the main plotline to focus on the supporting cast, but Mystery
in Space ended up being as bland as its title.
Derek's
Continuity Corner
Actually,
the U.S. title (why the difference between us and Canada?)
pays homage to an early Silver Age DC book that featured
an unofficial league member: Adam Strange. Mystery In
Space was a hodge-podge anthology of sci fi tales until
Strange started appearing. Then at least it had a regular
lead feature that occasionally guest-starred Leaguers.
Interstellar
villains often reared their heads in this title after first
getting their butts whupped by the Justice League, most
prominently the cosmic slaver Kanjar Ro. Because Adam Strange
has sworn to protect one of the few other planets that dare
stand against Thanagar, the reference in the animated series
makes sense.
In fact,
Thanagar was not destroyed by the Gordanians, who are currently
actually allied with the Hawkmen. To see what's happening
in the comics, look no further than The Rann-Thanagar War,
which chronicles the...oh, I've gotten too carried away.
You can figure it out. The second issue just hit the stands.
Goodson
failed to note a mini-Firefly reunion -- Not only
does Nathan Fillion aka Captain Hotpants voice The Vigilante,
but his pilot on the Serenity, Gina Torres, provides the
silky heated purrs of The Vixen.
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