Legion of Super Heroes (TV series)
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| Legion of Super-Heroes | |
|---|---|
| Image:Legion of Super Heroes promo.jpg </small> | |
| Genre | Animated television series |
| Running time | 20-23 minutes per episode (without commercials) |
| Starring | Michael Cornacchia Shawn Harrison Heather Hogan Yuri Lowenthal Andy Milder Kari Wahlgren Adam Wylie |
| Country of origin | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Original channel | The CW |
| Original run | September 23, 2006–present |
| No. of episodes | So far 4, 13 episodes (Season 1) |
Legion of Super Heroes is the title of an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation that debuted on September 23, 2006, based on characters appearing in the DC Comics series. The series centers on the young Superman's adventures in the 31st century, fighting alongside a group of futuristic superheroes known as the "Legion of Super-Heroes". The show is produced by its main designer James Tucker (a co-producer of the JLU series) for the Kids' WB! line on the new CW network.
According to the official press release, the premise of the show is that a group of teenagers from the 31st century travel back in time to recruit Superman in their fight against evil in their time. Unfortunately, they go too far back and land in a time when Superman was younger, just before he went to Metropolis. Taking him back to their future, the young Superman helps the Legion in fighting evil and upholding the laws of the United Planets. It is described as a "fast-paced, character-driven action comedy".
Contents |
[edit] Show Development History
Early reports had suggested the title of the series would be Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, but the official announcement on April 24, 2006 confirmed the title as Legion of Super Heroes. The same announcement indicated that the series would air on the Kids' WB! block of the new The CW network at 10 AM Eastern. <ref>CW Sticks With Kids WB!</ref>
[edit] Unpursued options
A "backdoor" pilot for a Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes series was written and animated for the series in the form of the 2006 JLU episode "Far From Home" by Paul Dini and Dwayne McDuffie. However, the new series is unrelated to "Far From Home" or the 1998 episode of Superman: The Animated Series titled "New Kids in Town" (which did share continuity between series and episodes). Beginning 2006, DC Comics did in fact have Supergirl join the Legion in its comic book.
[edit] Legal status issues
At the 2006 Comic Con International in July, the production staff would not officially say whether current legal issues involving the ownership of Superboy had impacted this series, or whether changes were made to tie in with the Superman Returns movie, but one significant change had been made since the original announcements. The original press release<ref>Kids' WB! on the CW announces 2006-2007 "Too big for your TV" Saturday morning programming schedule</ref> said that the Legion landed in the time of "the young Superboy", while the revised press release description (June 2006) said that the Legion retrieved "the young Superman, before he moved to Metropolis". At the conclusion of the pilot episode, young Clark does indeed adopt the Legion "codename" of Superman, and not Superboy.
[edit] Cast
[edit] Main or recurring protagonists
[edit] Villains
| Character | Voice Actor |
| Fatal Five | |
| Emerald Empress (leader) | Jennifer Hale <ref>Announcement of Jennifer Hale joining voice cast at Comics Continuum</ref> |
| Mano | N/A |
| Persuader | N/A |
| Tharok | David Lodge |
| Validus | N/A |
| Dr. Mar Londo | Harry J. Lennix |
| Alexis Luthor | Tara Strong |
| Drax | Greg Ellis |
| Starfinger | Taylor Negron |
| Sun-Eater | N/A |
[edit] Other characters
| Character | Voice Actor |
| Mekt Ranzz, brother of Lightning Lad | James Arnold Taylor |
| Jo Nah of Rimbor | James Arnold Taylor |
| Kem of Bismoll | N/A |
| Winema Wazzo, President of the United Planets, mother of Phantom Girl | April Winchell <ref>Announcement of April Winchell joining voice cast at Comics Continuum</ref> |
[edit] Characters
The series revolves around a core group of seven Legionnaires but others will be seen from time to time in recurring roles, similar to the JLU shows.
[edit] Core group of Legionnaires
Image:Legion of Super Heroes2.jpg
This team is roughly close to the classic Silver Age variation of the Legion. Series producer James Tucker offered descriptions of the core team in a July 2006 interview at Comic Con International in San Diego.<ref>NEWSARAMA: SDCC '06: James Tucker talks WB Animation's Legion</ref> As with other DC team shows such as Justice League Unlimited, not every core character appears in all episodes.
- Lightning Lad is the eager and hot-headed unofficial leader of the team. Prone to fighting first and thinking later, he can come off as brash at first, but does seem mostly well intentioned. The lightning bolt scar on his right eye sometimes flashes brightly in times of battle.
- Saturn Girl is a level-headed character with mental powers. She is composed at all times, but also very physical (she is depicted as more of a hand-to-hand combatant than her comic book predecessors). Tucker said that fellow animation creator Glen Murakami thought of her character as someone who doesn't really understand personal boundaries; always touching people and knowing their deepest thoughts. Among her mental powers are abilities not traditionally associated with the character in the comics, including the power to mentally create an explosive force field called a thought blast (which is so draining that she passes out afterwards) and the ability to go into a healing trance when unconscious (yet still be conscious enough to hear and understand others).
- Brainiac 5 is the series' youngest and smartest Legionnaire. He can transform his robot body in various ways, much like Inspector Gadget. For the purposes of the show, his character has been altered by making him an outright robot (the comic book version is flesh-and-blood). His deep desire, though, is to be more human, like his teammates. Thus, in a way, he's somewhat like Pinocchio. This version of Brainy is closest to the DnA version in personality combined with the robotic aspects of the character Gear. James Tucker has always thought of him as kind of a "Little Man Tate"-type character; a kid who is so smart he's sent to college when he's only 12. Tucker has said he was definitely inspired by Oliver Coipel's rendition of him when designing him. A holographic representation of his deepest fear in episode 1.04 ("Fear Factory") implies that his people the Coluans do not approve of his desire to emulate humanoids.
- Phantom Girl is, according to James Tucker, "a princess who is kind of spoiled, but ultimately very devoted to being in the Legion. She has a somewhat sarcastic attitude to cover the fact that she really gets a kick out of finally being with other kids like herself." In addition to her traditional power set, she has displayed the ability to turn other people and objects temporarily intangible, though this seems to strain her. Phantom Girl has also been shown using a power seemingly derived from the similar Kitty Pryde character: disrupting electrical systems by passing through them.
- Bouncing Boy is a friendly young man who appears in either an overweight humanoid form or in a giant ball shape. He enjoys eating and is sometimes played up as the comedic character. James Tucker considers him the everyman member of the Legion; very down to earth and pragmatic. "In a lot of ways he plays Bones to Brainiac 5's McCoy (Star Trek comparison)." (Note: Tucker should have likened Brainiac 5 with "Spock" instead of "McCoy" to make the proper analogy.)
- Timber Wolf, debuted in the self-titled second episode. Brin Londo, as a result of his father's experiments on him, he was transformed into a werewolf-like creature with enhanced speed, strength and agility. However, he also lost control over himself, becoming a fierce beast who acted on instinct and impulse. Only with Saturn Girl's help was he able to re-establish some level of control, turning into a much less-wolf-like form. Soon afterward, he joined the Legion and took his codename in honor of past heroes. James Tucker described him as "a loner but longs to be closer to people. His appearance makes him look a bit feral, but his personality is anything but. He's the cool dude who's actually insecure inside."
[edit] Other Legionnaires
During the show's development, some information was uncovered or released:
- Concept sketches of XS were seen during the show's development, along with sketches of other Legionnaires. All but XS have appeared on the show to date.
- The episode description list suggests the Legion of Substitute Heroes and Ferro Lad will appear.
Other Legionnaires have been mentioned or shown as images, but have not made an appearance:
- The opening credits sequences includes a glimpse of the Mission Monitor Board signs for a myriad of Legionnaires as well as shots of flying Legionnaires not yet seen on the show.
- In episode 1.01 ("Man of Tomorrow"), Cosmic Boy, Shrinking Violet and Colossal Boy are all mentioned as active Legionnaires.
- During the coda of episode 1.02 ("Timber Wolf") images of Legionnaires Cosmic Boy, Shrinking Violet, Colossal Boy, Sun Boy, Element Lad, Blok, Dream Girl, and Tyroc can be seen on computer monitors during Timber Wolf's induction into the Legion.
- In episode 1.05 ("Champions") Ultra Boy and Matter-Eater Lad both appear, but not in their Legionnaire identities. Apparently they are not yet members. Matter-Eater Lad was referred to as "Kem the Bismollian" (or "Camden Mismullion", according to the closed captioning) though the name "Tenzil Kem" appeared earlier in the episode written in Interlac.
Below is a list of other Legionnaires mentioned or shown in some way that have not yet appeared on the show. As they appear, they will be moved to the Main/Recurring Character list above.
| Character | |
| Blok | symbol, computer monitor (1.02) |
| Chameleon Boy | symbol |
| Chemical King | symbol |
| Colossal Boy | symbol, flying sequence, in-episode mention (1.01), computer monitor (1.02) |
| Dawnstar | symbol |
| Dream Girl | symbol, computer monitor (1.02) |
| Element Lad | symbol, flying sequence, computer monitor (1.02) |
| Ferro Lad | symbol |
| Karate Kid | symbol |
| Polar Boy | symbol |
| Quislet | symbol |
| Shadow Lass | symbol |
| Shrinking Violet | symbol, flying sequence, in-episode mention (1.01), computer monitor (1.02) |
| Star Boy | flying sequence |
| Sun Boy | computer monitor (1.02) |
| Tyroc | computer monitor (1.02) |
[edit] Staff and Crew
Based on reports from the official press release and other places, here are the known production staff on the series. This is not a complete list. Many of the staffers came from either the JLU or Teen Titans series.
| Job title/description | staffer(s) |
| Executive Producer | Sander Schwartz |
| Producer | James Tucker, Linda Steiner |
| Associate Producer | A. J. Vargas |
| Series Story Editor | Rob Hoegee |
| Series Director | Ben Jones, Tim Maltby, Lauren Montgomery |
| Main Title Theme | Kristopher Carter |
| Music | Kristopher Carter, Michael McCustion, Lolita Ritmanis |
| Casting and Voice Director | Kelly Ward |
| Writers | Stan Berkowitz, John Esposito, Rob Hoegee, Rob Hummel, Marty Isenberg, David Slack, Scott Sonneborn, Matt Wayne, Amy Wolfram |
| Art Director | Dave Johnson |
| Character Designer | Derrick J. Wyatt, Glenn Wong |
| Storyboards | Irineo Maramba, Jay Baker |
| Backgrounds/Props | Norm Ryang, Eric Canete, Chad Townshend |
| Voice editing/ADR, post-production | Mark Keefer |
[edit] List of episodes
This list is ordered by production number, which in some cases is different from the air date order. Production number 1.04 ("Fear Factory") and 1.06 ("Phantoms") were aired out of order.
| Episode number | Episode Title | Original Air Date |
| 1.01 | Man of Tomorrow | Sept. 23, 2006 |
| 1.02 | Timber Wolf | Sept. 30, 2006 |
| 1.03 | Legacy | Oct. 7, 2006 |
| 1.04 | Fear Factory | Nov. 18, 2006 |
| 1.05 | Champions | Nov. 11, 2006 |
| 1.06 | Phantoms | Nov. 4, 2006 |
| 1.07 | Child's Play | |
| 1.08 | Lightning Storm | |
| 1.09 | Brain Drain | |
| 1.10 | The Substitutes | |
| 1.11 | Chain of Command | |
| 1.12 | Sundown, Pt. 1 | |
| 1.13 | Sundown, Pt. 2 |
<ref>List found on Superman Homepage</ref>
[edit] DC Comics cameos and homages
The series has numerous cameos and characters that are evocative of and pay homage to other DC Comics characters.
- Episode 1.01: A janitor at the Superman Museum wore a costume that resembles Booster Gold, and he is accompanied by a robot that looks just like Booster's sidekick, Skeets. In addition, the inhabitants of New Metropolis resemble some of the alien species that make up the Green Lantern Corps.
- Episode 1.03: In this episode, Alexis steals a bike belonging to a New Metropolis citizen who resembles Lobo. In addition, a satellite/space station resembling the Justice League Watchtower is seen and struck during a ball game. Alexis's story and character also seem a Legion-era analogue of Lex Luthor and most likely his descendant, respectively.
- Episode 1.06: Prisoners in the Phantom Zone resemble Superman's foes, Doomsday and the Pre-Crisis versions of General Zod and Faora. What's more, Drax's characterization is reminiscent of Zod himself, and numerous elements of his costume and origin hint that his origin is somehow connected to Zod. His two pets also heavily resemble an alien monster adopted by Bizarro in the Superman: The Animated Series episode, "Little Big Head Man."
[edit] References
<references/>
[edit] External links
- KidsWB! official site
- Michael Grabois' Legion Omnicom
- The Legion Clubhouse
- Legion World Cartoon Message Board
- LEGION of SUPER HEROES Cartoon Fan Site
- Legion of Super Heroes Episode schedule (ToonZone)
- Legion of Super Heroes (TV series) at the Internet Movie Database
- Legion of Super Heroes at TV.com
| Superman in popular media | |
|---|---|
| Actors: | Bud Collyer • Kirk Alyn • George Reeves • Danny Dark • Christopher Reeve • Beau Weaver • John Haymes Newton • Gerard Christopher • Dean Cain • Timothy Daly • Tom Welling • George Newbern • Brandon Routh |
| Film: | Superman (1948) • Atom Man vs. Superman • Superman and the Mole Men • Superman (1978) • Superman II • Superman III • Supergirl • Superman IV: The Quest for Peace • Superman Returns • Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut |
| Television: | Adventures of Superman • Superboy • Lois & Clark • Smallville • Look, Up in the Sky! |
| Animation: | 1940s cartoons • The New Adventures of Superman • Superman • Superman: The Animated Series • Legion of Super Heroes |
| Other media: | Radio • Broadway Theater • Newspaper Strips |
