JLU season finale: "Epilogue"

[The Serge]

My only issue with this episode is that it seems to justify that Batman Beyond is a certainty... Although I watched the show religiously, I never really saw it as anything more than an "elseworlds" sort of series. Also, considering that The Batman has fought The Joker at least twice since he changed his costume from the black and grey to the black and blue, it's probable that aspects of the future have also been changed (although there's still the suggestion that The Joker did screw around with Tim Drake's mind).

At any rate, the idea of Terry being Bruce's son did not bother me, although those sorts of things usually do. The episode was so well told and conveyed the nature of The Batman so damned well that I felt warm and soft after watching it.

As others have said, this series has raised the bar for superhero animation to a point that I find difficult to match. I can't wait for these to be released on DVD.

Did someone say that they've approved a second season?

 

[Klaus]

Third season.

Season One goes from Initiation (Supergirl, GL and Captain Atom) to The Once and Future Thing Part 2 (Batman, Wonder Woman and GL meet with the future JLU, including Terry and old geezer Bruce).

Season Two goes from The Cat and The Canary (Black Canary, Green Arrow and Wildcat) to Epilogue (this fine piece of animation we're talking about).

 

[takyris]

Or "Fifth Season", if you consider JLU to be the same show as "Justice League", which I do.

Loved "Epilogue", like everyone else here, apparently. I agree that they've raised the bar. Not only did they get genuine emotion in there, they did so while geekily referencing all kinds of stuff from earlier shows. The Royal Flush Gang (and Ace... dang... the actress did a great job, and Kevin Conroy just came in for the kill-shot with his delivery in those scenes), the Mask of the Phantasm assassin, and the end-shot, which I just loved.

Side notes: "Kent" -- hah! I loved that delivery, and it's nice to know that Superman is alive and apparently still active (or, at least, someone named "Kent" is...).

And when Batman says that the Cadmus tech was outlawed, Terry says something chilling along the lines of "Come on, we both know what the Joker did to Tim Drake"... was that a reference to "Return of the Joker", which I never saw?

Good stuff. Very good stuff. Like I said in my big spoiler post a few weeks back, I consider "Divided We Fall" to be a wonderful conclusion to the Superman plot arc that started way back in the Superman animated series, and I consider this a great conclusion to the Batman arc that started back in the Batman animated series. They did justice to just about everything.

 

[The Serge]

...Terry says something chilling along the lines of "Come on, we both know what the Joker did to Tim Drake"... was that a reference to "Return of the Joker", which I never saw?

Yes, it is. I recommend it highly, particularly for the flashback sequence of the final confrontation between The Joker and The Batman in Batman Beyond's cosmology. If you pick this up, get the unedited version.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

So did they really pick it up for another season? It seemed like Bruce Timm was really setting the stage for it to be the end of it all.

 

[Klaus]

Takyris -> Superman is still very much active in the timeframe of Batman Beyond (with some gray hair and a black-and-silver costume). Check out the Batman Begins double-episode "The Call", where Superman invites Batman (Terry) to join the JLU (Superman, Big Barda, Warhawk, a tibetan child Green Lantern, Micron (think Atom + Atom Smasher and Aquagirl.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Is any of this written up anywhere in a nice text format?

For various reasons JLU remains beyond my viewing ability, but I like to keep up on what's happening.

 

[takyris]

Yes, it is. I recommend it highly, particularly for the flashback sequence of the final confrontation between The Joker and The Batman in Batman Beyond's cosmology. If you pick this up, get the unedited version.

Thanks, will do. Been meaning to, but I haven't yet signed up for whatever the Canadian version of Netflix is. (Zap or something, oui?)

And yeah, I remember someone from AICN complaining loudly about the edited version completely gutting the piece by making it much more kid-friendly and much less Batman-Beyond-viewer-friendly.

Takyris -> Superman is still very much active in the timeframe of Batman Beyond (with some gray hair and a black-and-silver costume). Check out the Batman Begins double-episode "The Call", where Superman invites Batman (Terry) to join the JLU (Superman, Big Barda, Warhawk, a tibetan child Green Lantern, Micron (think Atom + Atom Smasher and Aquagirl.

Cool! Was that an episode, or an issue of the comic? I thought there was a comic of Batman Beyond for awhile, but didn't read it, and I thought I'd heard about Terry getting invited into the JLA in the comic, not the show. If it was the show, I definitely missed it, and I thought I'd seen almost all of them. Ah, well. Time to hunt through YTV or ToonTV or whatever Canada has for possible Batman cartoons.

 

[Klaus]

Is any of this written up anywhere in a nice text format?

For various reasons JLU remains beyond my viewing ability, but I like to keep up on what's happening.

Ask, and ye shall receive!

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=episode-guides/t-jla-animated

Takyris -> Yup, that was in the cartoon. With a nice appearance of a classic comic book JLA villain, and the episode has ties in the Superman Animated Series, even!

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Well to be honest Bruce Timm wrote it himself… I’m not at all shocked. The man has the uncanny ability to capture the true essence of Batman in does so in ways that leaves us everyone else stranded…

Very emotional. I loved the tie ins.

For the record Bruce Timm & Dwayne McDuffie are creditied with the story and Dwayne McDuffie wrote the actual episode.