Episode 6 - 'Enter the Outsiders!' Discussion Thread

[Mister J]

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0812/27/index.htm
Wildcat, voiced by R. Lee Ermey, will be featured in the Friday, Jan. 9 episode of Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

In the episode, "Enter the Outsiders!," Batman and Wildcat face off against a group of teenage criminals known as the Outsiders. Wildcat will be a mentor of sorts to Batman.

Ermey, 64, is best known as the tough-talking sergeant in 1987's Full Metal Jacket. His voice was used in X-Men: The Last Stand and he played House's father in Fox's House.

Airing: January 9

[DJ Kornphlake]

R. Lee Ermey as Wildcat?

Sign me up!

[Bathead]

Sounds awesome!

[shadowdog]

I wonder what Outsiders we'll see???
Jade? Metamorpho? Catwoman?
I can't wait to find out!!!

[Mister J]

The preview shows Katana, Metamorpho and what appears to be Black Lightning. Although, with the noted issues DC has had with trying to feature Jefferson in an animated show, I suppose it could be Static.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2757/batman12is4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Mister J]

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0901/04/index.htm
B'wana Beast will be featured in the opening segment of "Enter the Outsiders!," Friday's new episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold on Cartoon Network.

The villain of the segment will be Black Manta.

The main segment features Batman and Wildcat against the Outsiders.
The link has a few screencaps from the ep.

[shadowdog]

sweet!

[Drz]

Wildcat's look is pretty awesome tbh. Tho from afar he looks like a bulldog lol. :p

[DOG LIPS]

Metamorpho! :up:

[SHADOWBAT69]

The preview shows Katana, Metamorpho and what appears to be Black Lightning. Although, with the noted issues DC has had with trying to feature Jefferson in an animated show, I suppose it could be Static.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2757/batman12is4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


I may be alone in this, but how cool would it be if it was Static?

[3dman27]

considering how tony isabelle bl's creator has kept dc fom using bl on tv it probably IS static

[SHADOWBAT69]

According to LoG, this is indeed Lightning.

[Mister J]

Finally, Jefferson! :applaud

(Hopefully)

[toxinwaste]

Toon Zone News has 2 video clips and the stills in high-definition (http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=27891)

[Drz]

Wildcat = awesomeness.

[3dman27]

yeah deck 'em champ

[LegionsOfGotham]

For anyone that doesn't want to click links

http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo1.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo2.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo3.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo4.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo5.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo6.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo7.jpg

[LegionsOfGotham]

http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo8.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo9.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo10.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo11.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo12.jpg
http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/Brave/BRAVEepsOutsiderNo13.jpg

[shadowdog]

awesome pics!
Yay Outsiders!!!!

[3dman27]

but what wasbwanna beast doing there?

[Mister J]

He's in the opening teaser.

[KingOfMars]

too bad we wont see any geoforce or halo.

[Captain Planet!]

So far, this episode is great.

[terry78]

Not as hardcore as the last ep. but still a good one. Lots of "black power" up in this mug this time, as Bats takes on Black Manta AND the early version of Black Lightning before his good guy heel face turn. B'Wana Beast's powers and Bats' response to them was hilarious.


And R. Lee Ermey was a genius choice for casting as Wildcat, even as on the nose as it seems.

"And who knows..with Wildcat's help, maybe these "Outsiders" have a shot at becoming something bigger."

And Bats ends with the foreshadowing...oohh-weeee--ooooo....

[DJ Kornphlake]

I think Wildcat is my new favorite on this show.

[Captain Planet!]

Best eppy yet. :up:

[SHADOWBAT69]

It was an okay episode. I wasnt blown away by it, but it was a decent watch.

[GamerSlyRatchet]

In this cold teaser Batman unites forces with obscure hero B'wana Beast to take down Black Manta and his giant mech. This could have been one of my favorite openings yet, but the abuse of CGI ruined it. B'wana Beast's morphing powers are really creative. Shame on DC for killing him and shame on JLUfor wasting him. I hope he gets his own team-up episode with Batman.

As for the main episode Batman and Wildcat team up to take on The Outsiders, a group of teenage metahumans (Black Lightning, Metamorpho, and Katana). I liked the Wildcat sub-plot with his age problems, his old-fashioned views, and his relationship with Batman. One of the things that keeps this show fresh and interesting is the relationships and chemistry between these characters. However, while the Outsiders individually were each interesting, the whole teenage angst plot was very cliche and the villain, Slug, was only a more threatening and more disturbing Sewer King.

Overall, a solid episode. Not as good as last week's, but Wildcat saved this. Also hoping for B'wana Beast and Outsiders team-ups in the future.


NEXT WEEK: First, a time-warped Batman helps the last surviving human, Kamandi, fight humanoid animals in the very distant future. Then, Batman and Deadman attempt to stop Gentleman Ghost and his army of the undead.

[tomstoyz2]

R. Lee Ermey as Wildcat was AWESOME!! This cartoon just keeps getting better & better!

Plus, I love the "retro-styling" on all of Batman's vehicles, very cool!

[Drz]

Yeah i loved Wildcat, + the whole Batmobile -> Batpod was cool.

[Mister J]

Outside of the obvious mention of Bats, Wildcat is my favorite character on the show so far. The grandfatherly 'young whippersnapper' routine was comical and got good laughs from me. "No one hates the mall more than me, but did you consider putting your energy is something constructive, like knee bends and jumping jacks?" :woot:

Setting up the Outsiders with the whole teenage rebellion/'No one loves us' deal is a bit cliched, but served its purpose well enough. Their power displays were eye-catching enough to push the ep between the somewhat obvious subplots. The teaser toward shaping the group into something 'bigger', better fitting in line with their comic ties, is promising.

I need to see an ep where B'wana Beast is the featured guest star. That's just too good to pass up. :up:

I'll say this for the third time here; Finally, we get Jefferson Pierce in a show. Not Black Vulcan. Not Soul Power. Not Juice. Black Lightning, accept no substitutes. :applaud

[3dman27]

I need to see an ep where B'wana Beast is the featured guest star. That's just too good to pass up. :up:



as harley woluld putbit i'm right with you mister j

[GamerSlyRatchet]

Apparently, Slug may not be an original character. Like Fun Haus, he borrows characteristics from the comics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleez

[Duppy]

I enjoyed this episode alot, but I think my personal favorite is still when Aquaman fought alongside bats

[Jack Ups]

This was a good episode, love the character guests at the start of each show. I prefer the Plastic Man to this, but this wasa great ep for action and intro an not very well known character(s)

[DOG LIPS]

"A little static shock can't keep this old timer down!"

:woot:

[Shocker 9000]

"A little static shock can't keep this old timer down!"

:woot:

I certainly chuckled at that line. When I first saw the preview for this episode I thought it was Static Shock (I know little of the DC Universe) cause I don't really know about The Outsiders.

On that note, I gotta say that this show certainly is working. I love the whole feel of the show and it's introducing me (a Marvel fan) to many DC characters I didn't know of or knew little about. After this episode I looked up both The Outsiders and Wildcat.

Not that I'll ever pick up their comics. Make mine Marvel and make it a double. :woot:

[Dread]

Just caught this episode. It is a decent enough actioner with some good guest stars but overall it couldn't shake off a feeling of mediocrity for me. It wasn't bad, but some of the bits seemed a bit tired and predictable, even for BRAVE AND THE BOLD's terms.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

In the teaser, Batman has a rematch with Black Manta, this time alongside B'Wana Beast. Unlike in JLU, which did try to make many awkward DC heroes "cool", this show embraces all of those wild and bizarre third stringers. So the Beaster here retains his ability to "merge" animals into weird gestalt creatures that have the best traits. Fortunately, Batman himself sees the ability as "incredibly gross", and that is why the bit works. B'Wana Beast, of course, uses his gifts to the fullest, whether it is making a Spider-Horse or a Pelican-Shark. Reminded me of Bart's evil twin Gomez from the TREEHOUSE OF HORROR: "See? I've been practicing. I've made a Pigeon-Rat!" Played by Kevin Micheal Richardson (who has become a WB/DC veteran actor in a few years time), B'Wana Beast is as manic as one would expect.

Probably what I like about this Batman more than others is that he comes across as unique simply BECAUSE he has a genuine sense of humor, or even companionship with other heroes. Most other Batman animated incarnations embrace his loner-ness to the point where he barely has friends and seems to exist on the Justice League out of convenience or professionalism. Here, it seems like Batman genuinely likes hanging out with other superheroes sometimes. His parent's deaths motivate him to fight crime, but they haven't sucked out a lot of his optimism. Some see this as the "Superfriends" Batman, but as the show goes along I am seeing this having some similarities to how Morrison sometimes described Batman, as someone who has worked through a lot of his issues just through sheer success as a crime fighter. He's fought and fought alongside damn near everything and everyone. Usually in other shows, Batman would be gruff if someone stepped into "his" city, or would only team up if he absolutely had to, and usually insisted on calling the shots. While some of those qualities still exist here between Batman and some heroes, Batman in BRAVE AND THE BOLD also seems to treat heroes as rivals and even peers. It's Batman as "typical daylight hero" I suppose, but they are embracing that depiction with full gusto without being ashamed of it, and it has been a while since that has been on TV.

The best parts of the episode are Batman's interactions with Wildcat, voiced by R. Lee Ermey. While he isn't as intense as Dennis Farina from JLU, and certainly sounds a bit older, he brings his own charm to the role. Lost as a minor detail in his single JLU appearance, this episode makes full light of the idea that Wildcat actually was around long before most "modern" heroes and trained some of them, including Batman himself. Batman shows up for a sparring match to keep things loose, as well as to check on his mentor, who has heart issues. Wildcat, for his part, thinks Batman is simply doting on him because he is old and hates being presumed to be over the hill, and refuses to retire. The only thing I didn't care for was the mask; it looked more canine than feline to me. Still, there is something interesting about seeing Batman and Wildcat hop on their custom vehicles to go chase some bad guys; from how neither how powers to the animal themes, one can see the connections between the two. Some of Batman's lines about Wildcat "fighting time" as an enemy he can't beat were amazingly well done for a show that is trying to be "light". It at least shows that "light" doesn't have to mean "flat".

Where the episode stumbles are with the titular guest stars, the Outsiders. Basically a gang of three teenage characters, Black Lightening, Metamorpho, and Katana, they seem out on random rampages, which is an all too cliche plot device to get heroes and villains to fight. Scott Menville, best known as Ma-Ti on CAPTAIN PLANET AND THE PLANETEERS and Robin from TEEN TITANS, voices Metamorpho here and he comes off a bit awkward, honestly. He had some decent lines but I just couldn't buy a teenage Metamorpho. Or it could be because I have always hated his comic design; he always looks like a different blind artist designed each body part and someone merged them. I know it is intentional, but it makes him look color clashed. Black Lightening and Katana fare a bit better, being passable as teenage gangers like they are supposed to be. Bumber Robinson, who has had some minor roles on BATMAN BEYOND and BATMAN:TNGA (as well as the recent TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED, where he stars as Bumblebee) plays Black Lightening here and he does fine.

It is worth noting of course that while various African American DC superheroes with electricity powers have appeared in animation, this is the first time Black Lightening *actually* appears. SUPERFRIENDS shifted it to "Black Vulcan". Modern audiences best recall Dwayne McDuffie's younger homage, STATIC SHOCK, who has an allusion in this episode. And of course, "Juice" was one of the Ultimen in JLU. Honestly, though, none of the three Outsiders came off well as characters, which is probably why the episode stumbled. They were just misled teens with super-powers, something we have seen all too common from DC shows to X-Men cartoons and so on. What they can do seemed to be more important than who they are and was 90% of what we saw of them. Thus, Lightening is the electric shooter, Katanna the girl with a sword and Metamorpho the shape-shifter. Unless you count things like Meta liking cookies or Katanna speaking rarely (and when she does, she is to the point). Honestly the Outsiders here almost seemed like refugees from the Hive Five from TEEN TITANS.

Seemingly just a gang of trouble makers, the Outsiders are part of an underground group run by a massive albino obese man named Slug, who may be based on some other DC characters, but here just came off with the whole "us freaks got to stick together in the sewers and smash those pretty surface people" we have seen a million times since Mole Man. Slug of course is more zealous the the trio and sees them as means to and end.

The highlights include Wildcat seeming to always spar against Metamorpho and even begin to hold his own for a while. When both are trapped (once again due to Wildcat's bumbling), Batman acknowledges that he saw the old timer as a father figure, hence his concern, which, again, for a "light" show was actually kind of touching for Batman to display genuine feelings with characters other than Robin or Alfred. Wildcat proves to have some tricks up his whiskers when he goads Slug into a boxing match. Taking the slob's best punches, Wildcat gets in some good trash talk and lowers the boom, KO'ing the lug into some toxic waste. I was particularly fond of, "I'd better turn up my hearing aid, because all I can hear is you sucking wind!" Batman, meanwhile, escapes being eaten by some giant turtles (it is a WEIRD episode). Probably forgetting that Batman warned about the dangers of toxic waste mutations, Slug emerges a monster in time to convince the Outsiders to give Wildcat's teaching a chance, especially since he starts smashing everything in sight. The bad guy is beaten, Wildcat is saved from a near-fatal heart attack, and the kids get to train in his gym.

In JLU, Wildcat got decently fleshed in his one episode as a superhero who was borderline over the hill who was driven by his urge to compete and an almost uncontrollable anger. This Wildcat wasn't anywhere near as angry, almost to the point where some could say his "old jokes" got a little predictable. The show works best in archetypes; Blue Beetle the awe-stricken rookie, Plastic Man the reformed thief, Green Arrow the cocky rival, Aquaman the overconfident braggart, and so on. Which means here, Wildcat came off as the "old timer hero". He did everything but walk with a cane and cough mid-battle. But that is alright because he proved to still have "a strong jaw and a good uppercut" and in a way I did like how while he was old, he wasn't exactly the best experienced hero, as he was far more headstrong than Batman was with charging into situations. This version of Wildcat, you could say, worked better as a mentor; the JLU version was just so angry one could barely imagine anyone wanting to trust him.

Like I said, the Outsiders were where things fell through a bit for me. While this show isn't about remaking the wheel and has always used some well worn bits, this episode's bits just seemed more worn than others. Still, I did like how various people reacted to Wildcat's "energy drink mix". While Diedrich Bader will never replace Kevin Conroy in the hearts of Batman, I think he is doing well for this incarnation and approach to Batman. While in some episodes, the Batman tech is a bit ridiculous, this episode Batman really just used his Batarangs, some tracking devices and brute strength (enough to snap chains, apparently).

For me this was a middle of the road episode. It had a clear message and some good moments, but not as good as last week's with Green Arrow, or some of the one's before. But, I see this show as Bat-Popcorn anyway, so that doesn't exactly weigh heavily on me. 80's shows were full of episodes like this, and this show, which imitates that sort of flair almost to the letter, is no exception.

[SHADOWBAT69]

"A little static shock can't keep this old timer down!"

:woot:


I also got a kick out of that.lol

[Cain]

It was alright the villain was my main issue with it just not insteresting. I prefer villains I recognize from the comics and not these "inspired by the comics" concepts. I liked the way they handled Metamorpho and Black Lightning. I love R. Lee Ermey as Wildcat. I thought he had a crapload of quoteables. When I re-read my JSA comics his voice will be the one I hear whenever Wildcat is on the scene :woot:

[3dman27]

I think Wildcat is my new favorite on this show.

likewise can you say SPIN OFF?

[DJ Kornphlake]

Dunno about spin-off, but I hope he shows up in more episodes.

[3dman27]

Dunno about spin-off, but I hope he shows up in more episodes.

bingo bring on the wildman

[Galvanize]

I really liked this episode. I thought they really handled the Outsiders and especially Wildcat extremely well.
I think this series has surprised me so much. After 6 episodes i really didnt think i would be enjoying this as much.
Cool stuff. :yay:

[SuGarRush]

Wow,

I really like the character of Wildcat from the books but I don't think that the animation of him in this show, nor the choice of voice-actor did a good job of capturing him.

Ted Grant is a retired prize-fighter, and still a Wildcat among the ladies, he's rough and tumble and has a roguish charm and silver temples that drives the younger girls wild.

R. Lee Ernie sounds like he's one step short of a nursing home.

And he looked like a Bulldog, not a Cat.

So other than his look, his voice, and his old timer jokes, it wasn't a bad depiction.

The episode itself was a bit blah, too formulaic for my tastes, I prefer the others so far.

[CLARKY]

Wel, I voted 6. I am not enjoying the cartoon that much. I think the first part with b'wana Beast was ridiculous. The Outsiders story was, on the contrary, not bad. But very very simple IMO. I liked pretty much the character of Wildcat, but I was not a big fan of his voice.
But above all, the Outsiders ! Man, I love them, the old ones, and I wanted to see this episode. I loved the design of Black Lightning. I think it suits him fine. But Katana and metamorpho .... meeeh. The episode was not that bad but certainly not that good. I keep thinking Wildcat was well enough written, even if, as someone mentionned earlier, he looked like a bulldog.

[Daredevil_2003]

:lmao R. Lee Ermey is always a treat. I finally caught this episode this morning. I can't say it's the best as I've still yet to see half of the 10 or so that have been aired, but out of the ones I have seen this is my favorite. I actually enjoyed it from start to finish.

No complaints, coming from me I think that's the highest endorsement. Still full of cheese at times, but at least it was well done cheese. :P

[Rowen]

This episode was okay, but what i did like was katanas' movements. That girl with that samuraui sword just ownes all greatness. it would of been indifferent if she whore an costume than just wearing her school clothes, it just to cliche if you ask me. everything elese was a naysay to me. the same standard realstic formula, going down the same realistic route. but it can turn out for the better or worse you know. "crossess fingers" here's to hoping.

[Doctor Jones]

Meh, one of the weaker episodes.

Wildcat sounded like Chris Cooper.

and if he's a dog, how come he's called Wildcat?

[3dman27]

his mask DID look a bit too doglike at that