|
Justice
League
Starcrossed
Original Airdate - 05/29/04
Clearly,
Cartoon Network was saving the best for last. With five
months between the previous episode and this season finale,
boy, did they ever save it.
Starcrossed
begins with the Justice League providing security for a
United Nations press conference when suddenly, a humongous
space ship appears in the sky. Hawkgirl identifies it as
a Gordanian ship, while everyone else wonders what a Gordanian
is. The League is no match for the ship, but conveniently,
an armada of Thanagarians show up to save the day.
The
Thanagarians have come to Earth to warn them of the Gordanian
menace that is headed their way and to offer their service.
It is revealed that Hawkgirl was sent to Earth as a spy
to size up Earth's defenses just in case such a need arose.
Not only is Hawkgirl a spy, but she's engaged to the leader
of the Thanagarian fleet, Hro Talak.
Poor
Green Lantern is given the cold shoulder. That's what you
get for loving alien women.
Although
some citizens and heroes have reservations, Earth agrees
to accept the offer of help from the Thanagarians. They
begin by building a giant shield device in the middle of
the desert. Everything goes peachy with that plan until
that fly in the ointment, Batman discovers that the Gordanian
ship was a decoy and the Thanagarians are not as friendly
as they seem.
They
stole this plot from the miniseries V. You thought
it was a coincidence that the Visitors and hawks both eat
mice?
When
the League tries to confront the Thanagarians, they are
taken down one by one. Hawkgirl's spying included detailed
methods for exploiting the Justice League's weaknesses,
as well as the defense codes for the watchtower. Last to
be taken down is Green Lantern who gets his heart broken,
with a mace as Hawkgirl takes sides with the Thanagarians.
Earth is put on lockdown and the Hawks are in charge.
The
Thanagarians' actual plan for Earth is to build a space
bypass (freeway) which will give them a shortcut to the
Gordanian home world. Earth and its populace will all be
destroyed in order for the Thanagarians to win their war
against the Gordanians. Unfortunately, someone told Hawkgirl
the cover story, but not the real plan. She goes birdshit
when she finds out the truth and joins the good guys again.
Having
escaped Hawk prison, the Justice League must run around
Earth, trying to stop the Hawks from turning Earth into
a Thanagarian speed bump while reconciling the betrayal
by Hawkgirl.
This
episode is certainly worthy of season finale status and
of DVD packaging (available on July 13th through Amazon.com).
It just had that big budget, high octane feel to it.
Kudos
to the writers (including novelist and screenwriter John
Ridley) and their team for really going all out and shaking
up the status quo of the Justice League universe,
which makes sense since the show as we know it is essentially
over.
Batman
spilled the beans on the few remaining secret identities
amongst League members. Green Lantern's ring was destroyed,
although it shouldn't be hard for him to get another one
since no one has killed the Guardians in this universe.
They
destroyed the grandfather clock that hides the entrance
to the Batcave!!
Javelin-7
blew up and from the way everyone reacted, you'd think that
it had never happened before. Cripes, that ship has been
blown up so many times it should be called Javelin >7.
There
are minor plot holes for those that seek them out. Hawkgirl
finds the Batcave without knowing Batman's identity. Martian
Manhunter gets stuck in an escape pod despite the fact that
he can become intangible. Earth was supposedly under the
protection of the New Gods (episode Twilight of the Gods),
but a Thanagarian armada isn't enough to pique their interest.
These are small blips, just enough to give fans something
to debate, but not enough to detract from the overall storyline.
The
action sequences have just gotten better and better with
each episode this season. The animators really hit their
stride and the writing remained top notch throughout.
A
Better World remains my favorite episode the season
and by default, of the entire series, but Starcrossed
was highly satisfying and definitely worth the wait.
Derek's
Continuity Corner
Argh. Everytime we have to talk about Thanagarians, my head
aches. However, an invasion from Thanagar has been used
as a plot device more than once in DC's regular continuity.
In the pages of Justice League of America, the
Thanagarians went on a rampage against humanity as the result
of an "equalizing plague" on their home planet.
Please, only write in if you can explain that one to ME.
The
Native American/Thanagarian Hawkman, post-Crisis
Katar Hol, and his partner Shayera, helped Earth's heroes
stave off an Invasion that included a Thanagarian force.
You can find that in a DC mini-series called Invasion!
in which most of the established alien races decided that
they were tired of Earth's superheroes kicking their butts.
Maybe it was Katar. It's very hard to be sure, and Geoff
Johns would thank you very much to just sort of nod knowingly
when we talk about anything Hawkish that happened before
the current series.
Note
also that the Thanagarians' plan in "Starcrossed"
is the same one the Vogons had for us in The Hitchhiker's
Guide To The Galaxy. I'm just sayin'.
Next
Week
Show is over. Go home.
Justice
League Unlimited debuts on Saturday, July 31 on Cartoon
Network. We will be reviewing each episode, same bat-website,
same bat-reviewer.
Justice League - Star Crossed
|
