November Rain said:
It's an episode where the superpowered members lose their abilities and the non super powered ones have to save the day. The bat team and green arrow are underestimated and go in and ultimately save the day..
Well, she called it. Not that it was hard to call.
5 seasons, 65 episodes and 1 DTV, and THE BATMAN has called it a show. Of course, no cartoon lasts beyond 5 seasons these days regardless of ratings or quality and even back "when", a cartoon lasting past the 5th season was rare. Few have garnered as much attention and ire as THE BATMAN, which had to always be in the Timm shadow and more often than not being unable to escape or surpass it.
The WB wants to make a "Brave and the Bold" show which basically would be "Batman Team-Up" and that is what this last season was, Batman spending about 8 episodes this season teaming up with the Justice League. From an exec standpoint, this makes sense. The WB wants to get a JUSTICE LEAGUE movie cranked out by next year. So why not get the kiddies enthused with the idea? Batman had already embraced a "team" of personal sidekicks, so making the leap from that to the League was a no-brainer. The team-up's also provided good cover for the fact that the show wasn't ever the same without Murakami, who was hardly Timm to begin with the first 1-2 seasons.
The show ends as the last season did, with an appearance by the Justice League and a battle against the alien robots, The Joining. But while the last time had more subtle bits to it, this was simply a popcorn fest, and in some ways was not unlike a modern version of a SUPERFRIENDS episode. The Joining kidnaps all of the League members with super-powers, drains them, and uses them to empower robots that vaguely look like the heroes, if they were GUNDAMS. Hey, wasn't there an episode of TINY TOON ADVENTURES like this? With Bat-Duck and the Just-Us League?
Batman & Superman are teaming up to fight the Toyman, whose design was actually pretty cool, a mix of the Golden Age with some twisted additions, but he goes down quickly as Superman is seemingly abducted before Batman's eyes. In quick succession, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, and even Martian Manhunter are captured, leaving only the non-powered Batman and Green Arrow, along with Robin, to track them down. A psychic hint from the Martian reveals that Hugo Strange is the mastermind behind the plot, as he formed a bond with The Joining during their invasion last season and organized the plot. The League is freed and Strange is soon undone by his own bargain with the aliens, but not before a robot-JL is loose across the city, and they are only the preview before another full invasion.
The robots were large and bulky and in true stupid fashion, their "weak spot" was right on their chests, which seems to be a silly place to have a weak spot. Plus, while the idea of removing superhero powers seemlessly and downloading them into robots works if you're within the demographic, if you are older it seems too "simple". Not all of their powers work the same way, one would imagine. Superman is a Kryptonian empowered by solar rays. Hal Jordon is empowered by the ring, which draws on his will. Flash is connected to the Speed Force. Heck, Hawkman was seemingly an alien guy using Nth Metal stuff, not really super-powered either. In much the same way a "collar" that removes mutant powers in the 90's X-MEN feels silly if you get old enough to wonder that everyone's x-gene would have to be different to produce various powers, and all that. Batgirl finally got to meet the entire Justice League and brought her "sassy" personality with her; she is like Kim Possible only without the actual skill to back it up (and even Kim gets captured a lot). Naturally the invasion is thwarted, Batman & Green Arrow prove to be the best even without powers, and even something as potentially divisive as Batman busting out plans to capture the League if they went rogue is shot down by Superman (although it did make sense; he WAS immediately mind controlled after they met). There isn't a lot of substance but a lot of flash.
Showing this as an hour long special was the right call, as in that format it was fun and fast. Stretched over 2 weekends, it might have gotten more annoying.
It was good seeing Mirror Master again but I came away thinking a Legion of Doom, perhaps led by the Riddler, would have made a stronger source of antagonism rather than more generic robots. This was THE JOINING Lite.
Seeing Robin & Batgirl "geek out" upon being in the Watchtower was cool. It also was interesting that Batman was not about to let Green Arrow take Robin's place at "shotgun" in the Batmobile, instead cramming the archer in the back. And much like Superfriends, Robin was always beside Batman as sort of like a walking utility instrument. Part of me found it humorous that the TV news would mistake huge bulky robots for the Justice League just because they happened to bare the heroes' symbols, but it wasn't as bad as news people in the 90's Spider-Man confusing Morbius for Spidey. Speaking of which, airing after a great premire for the web-slinger's newest cartoon did this finale no favors. It was kind of like saying, "So long, Batman. You've already been replaced by something better. Don't let the door hit your cape on the way out."
This episode had a lot of fun JL action but was not anything too special and this final season burned out most of the goodwill after the rare brilliance of the third season. On the whole this series was of average quality and I won't miss it for long.
