Sight and Sound: "Chill of the Night!"

"Chill of the Night!," an outstanding installment of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, premiered 9 April 2010 on Cartoon Network. The episode was written by the legendary Paul Dini, directed by Michael Chang, and features Diedrich Bader as Batman, Jennifer Hale as Zatanna, and Jeff Bennett as Abra Kadabra. This animated series provides endless fun, rarely if ever disappoints, and, even with all that being said, "Chill of the Night!" represents its most stunning story to date. Shadowed by the opposing influences of the Spectre and the Phantom Stranger, the caped crusader is forced to choose between justice and vengeance as he follows a trail of clues that may lead him to solve the murder of his parents. In addition to the voice actors listed above, the episode guest stars Adam West, Julie Newmar, Kevin Conroy, and Mark Hamill! As an added bonus, the story features a brief appearance from one of the Flash's renowned Rogues. In the traditional teaser sequence, Batman takes on Abra Kadabra after teaming-up, appropriately enough, with Zatanna. Given Dini's well-known love for the Zatanna, it's clear that in this instance Abra Kadabra was chosen as an appropriate counterpart for the sorceress superhero, not vice versa. Nevertheless, a multitude of Kadabra's familiar tricks from various classic comic appearances are on display as the magicians duel it out at a Gotham City museum. Perhaps next time Batman will let the scarlet speedster himself join in the action!

Sight and Sound: "To Catch a Blue Bolt"

"To Catch a Blue Bolt," written by Bob Haney, featuring Ray Owens as the Flash and Tommy Cook as Kid Flash, aired 29 September 1967 as part of Filmation's The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. This frantic Filmation short pits the crimson comet against the Blue Bolt, an evil speedster from another world. (On Earth-Three, this blog is known as Cerulean Lightning.) Since the earliest days of his comic, truly epic battles involving the fastest man alive have been enacted on a veritable world stage; our hero has chased villains at super-speed across all seven continents and has fought for his life against a stunning, ever-shifting backdrop of international landmarks. This has to be one of the great stylistic motifs associated with the character. This cartoon plays up that familiar tendency for travelogue as the Flash and Kid Flash chase the Blue Bolt from the Netherlands to Egypt. Sadly, the action and adventure is resolved with a cloying gag involving a wayward kitten and a sudden outburst of bad puns. Is there any more disappointing denouement for a superhero adventure?

Sight and Sound: Super Powers Collection

The Super Powers Collection from Kenner Toys debuted in 1984 and was heavily promoted in a variety of media. This scratchy recording of a Saturday morning television commercial promoting the line, one of the few to feature the scarlet speedster, offers a demonstration of the Flash figure's dynamic "Power Action Lightning Legs." It co-stars the Superman figure, wielding its "Power Action Punch," which these ads clearly reveal was the star of the collection. Even those quaint little mini-comics are put forth as a selling point. Of course, the true focus of this and any other toy advertisement is the emphasis on interactivity, as evinced by the Super Powers slogan, which encouraged boys and girls everywhere to play god with their favorite heroes and villains. Will Superman and the Flash be able to defeat the combined might of Lex Luthor and the Joker? "You decide!"

Sight and Sound: "Secret Origins of the Superfriends"

"Secret Origins of the Superfriends," another sensational installment of Hanna-Barbera's Challenge of the Superfriends featuring Jack Angel as the voice of the Flash, aired on the Saturday morning of 28 October 1978 on ABC. As usual, Stanley Ralph Ross and Don Messick are also on hand to voice Gorilla Grodd and Captain Cold respectively. This episode of the animated series presents a familiar yet fascinating alternate history dilemma which proves quite engaging--that is, if we are able to suspend disbelief in order to overlook a number of gaping plot holes. The Legion of Doom has conspired to erase Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern from history! Lex Luthor, of course, is rather biased in his selection. Fortunately, the tale's conclusion shows that time travel is apparently no problem at all for the likes of the Flash, Black Lightning, and Batman and Robin. Have the superheroes of the DC Universe ever possessed more power than during the average Superfriends adventure, when astonishing new abilities were established for each hero on a whim in order to resolve any and all dangling plot threads? Also, note how eagerly the fastest man alive volunteers for the assignment to travel to Paradise Island, a land populated entirely by beautiful women. I wonder what Iris Allen would have to say about all this?

Sight and Sound: "Run"

"Run," a fourth season installment of Smallville written by Steven S. DeKnight and directed by David Barrett, aired 20 October 2004 on the WB. Featuring Kyle Gallner as Bart Allen, the episode introduced the scarlet speedster to the series' ever-expanding showcase of reinterpreted DC Comics icons. Here, Bart Allen is portrayed as an impulsive, misguided, and self-centered youth with much to learn from the more principled, if fallible, Clark Kent. "Run" features a number of imaginatively staged slow-motion action sequences, each conveying the awe-inspiring super-speed powers possessed by both Bart and Clark, and the plot allows the relationship between these two maturing heroes to develop into a meaningful friendship, allowing for significant future guest appearances. During the episode's memorable final moments, the cocky young speedster proposes a challenge that Clark can't refuse.

Sight and Sound: "The Space Beast Round-Up"

"The Space Beast Round-Up," written by George Kashdan, featuring Tommy Cook as Kid Flash, aired 19 September 1967 as part of Filmation's The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. This innocent Teen Titans cartoon is packed with action but, despite featuring a plethora of rampaging extraterrestrial monsters, it refreshingly lacks any true villain. In the end, no one is hurt and the alien attack is revealed to be the result of an interplanetary misunderstanding. The underrated Aqualad really gets a chance to shine in this particular adventure, taking out several of the titular space beasts almost single-handedly. Kid Flash's performance, on the other hand, is a bit embarassing to watch. Young Wally West exhibits none of the ingenuity and inspiration of his esteemed mentor, spending most of the episode senselessly running in circles! Fortunately, Speedy and Wonder Girl are on hand to offer the young speedster some assistance.

Sight and Sound: "Trials of the Demon!"

"Trials of the Demon!," a recent installment of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, aired 20 March 2009 on Cartoon Network. The episode was written by Todd Casey, directed by Michael Chang, and features Andy Milder as the voice of Jay Garrick. In the episode's festive teaser sequence, the caped crusader teams-up with the fastest man alive to defeat some frightening Halloween hijinks planned by the Scarecrow and Scream Queen. I never miss an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. The series is refreshingly light-hearted, clever, creative, and irresistibly fun. This episode was no different. I've been waiting a long time for the scarlet speedster to guest star on the series, so it's a delight to see the ever-affable Jay Garrick facing off against one of my all-time favorite supervillains, the scaremongering Scarecrow. I'm particularly fond of the peppy soundtrack provided for these tales by Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion, and Lolita Ritmanis. This installment may also be historically significant, as Kelson Vibber has observed. Believe it or not--discounting a flickering nod in the opening credits of Justice League: The New Frontier--this would appear to be the first time that Jay Garrick, the first Flash, has appeared in animation.

Sight and Sound: "The Trial of the Trickster"

"The Trial of the Trickster," the final episode of The Flash, written by Howard Chaykin and John Francis Moore and directed by Danny Bilson, aired 18 May 1991 on CBS. In the episode's delightfully demented climax, the Trickster takes over a Central City courthouse, dons judicial wig and robes, and puts the legal system of the municipality itself on trial! Macabre hilarity ensues. These outrageous proceedings are made possible by the scarlet speedster himself, who has been brainwashed into acting as the Rogue's playful partner in crime. Only a timely attack of conscience, and the surprise arrival of Dr. Tina McGee and P.I. Megan Lockhart, allows the fastest man alive to redeem himself and save the day. Unarguably, guest star Mark Hamill steals the show as the insane James Jesse. His sense of humor is so infectious, in fact, that at episode's end we're left hoping he'll make good on his desperate last-minute getaway!

Sight and Sound: "Divided We Fall"

"Divided We Fall," that standout installment of Cartoon Network's Justice League Unlimited discussed in our last installment of Sight and Sound, contains wonders far more mesmerizing than the knock-down, drag-out battle between the Justice League and the Justice Lords. You didn't think our discussion of the episode would end there, did you? In the animated adventure's jaw-dropping climax, the Flash unleashes the full brunt of his astonishing superpowers on the merged Brainiac-Luthor in a desperate attempt to save his teammates and the world. This is the Flash fighting without limits. The dizzying sequence introduces viewers to the speed force in reimagining concepts first explored in The Flash's epic "Terminal Velocity" story arc. In the aftermath of a battle in which the scarlet speedster has seeming perished, Superman struggles to restrain himself from finally murdering his arch-nemesis. Truly, the scene stands as one of the most memorable and powerful moments of the series and it serves as an exceptional showcase of the true extent of those unique abilities possessed by the fastest man alive. Watch... and be amazed!

Sight and Sound: "Divided We Fall"

"Divided We Fall," a pivotal installment of Justice League Unlimited, written by Dwayne McDuffie and directed by Joaquim dos Santos, aired 16 July 2005 on Cartoon Network. In this thrilling, action-packed sequence from the episode ("Less talking, more hitting," as Hawkgirl would put it), a merged Brainiac-Luthor creates a gang of mechanical warriors to bring down the world's greatest superheroes. Creatively, however, the near-omnipotent supervillain chooses to model these deadly androids on the Justice League's dark counterparts from an alternate timeline, the Justice Lords! The scarlet speedster's mirror image bears a familiar yellow and red costume; indeed, this is the closest the series would come to offering the Reverse-Flash a guest appearance. Interestingly, the deadly doppleganger attempts to taunt the Flash with insults attacking his insecurities: "Slacker! Child! Clown!" These barbs reflect Wally West's distinctive role on the team throughout this series as well as the anxieties that haunted him during his early years as the Flash. Fortunately, the monarch of motion is unmoved by such a verbal assault, and he certainly has the moves to obliterate such a foe.

Sight and Sound: The Flash

The Flash television series, developed by Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, premiered 20 September 1990 on CBS. With this blog's bi-weekly reviews of the series' episodes soon to finish, I thought it was about time that I posted the show's unforgettable titles. The lighting bolt logo screens that opened and closed each episode, accompanied by a sudden crash of thunder, were distinctive and dynamic. The show's driving, thunderous theme song was composed by Danny Elfman, and it was often incorporated into the episodic scores by Shirley Walker. The Flash's opening credits--showcasing stars John Wesley Shipp, Amanda Pays, and Alex Desert--cleverly utilize a staggered, slow motion effect to suggest a sense of speed and movement. Both the logo screens and opening titles served to instantly establish that dramatic yet playful tone inherenet to superhero adventures. Television doesn't get much more exciting than this!

Sight and Sound: "Conquerors of the Future"

"Banded together from remote galaxies are thirteen of the most sinister villains of all time--the Legion of Doom--dedicated to a single objective, the conquest of the universe! Only one group dares to challenge this intergalactic threat: the Superfriends!"

"Conquerors of the Future," an action-packed installment of Hanna-Barbera's unequivocally entertaining Challenge of the Superfriends featuring Jack Angel as the voice of the Flash, aired on the Saturday morning of 18 November 1978 on ABC. In the episode's epic conclusion, a series of convoluted clues left by the Riddler reveal that the Legion of Doom has conquered the world sometime in the far-flung future. Because they're each capable of penetrating the time barrier, Superman, Green Lantern, and a surprisingly airborne Flash band together and charge ten thousand years into the future to challenge their united foes and restore the timeline. The episode features not one but two of the scarlet speedster's Rogues as members of the despicable Legion of Doom: Stanley Ralph Ross voices Gorilla Grodd while Don Messick provides the voice of Captain Cold. Due credit to the underappreciated King of the Seven Seas, however; in animated form, we must admit none of the scarlet speedster's supervillains could ever be as menacing as the terrifying Black Manta! After their plot to overtake future civilizations is foiled, these cowardly would-be conquerors are taught a lesson they won't soon forget: "Once you've started a battle with the Superfriends, you've got to finish it!"

Sight and Sound: "Captain Cold"

"Captain Cold," the seventeenth installment of The Flash television series, aired 6 April 1991 on CBS and introduced viewers to the titular Rogue. The episode was written by Gail Morgan Hickman, directed by Gilbert Shilton, and edited by Greg Wong. Brought to life by guest star Michael Champion, Captain Cold was reimagined for the series as an albino contract killer who freezes his victims. In the episode's climax, the scarlet speedster challenges this fiendish foe in a comic book-inspired confrontation that plays out on the streets of downtown Central City. These scenes offer a glimpse of the television show's likable supporting cast as well as its top-notch style and score. For those in search of a fast-paced drinking game inspired by the show, down a chilled shot each time that Barry Allen, Captain Cold, or a member of the C.C.P.D. makes use of a thermal pun!

Sight and Sound: "The New Frontier"

Justice League: The New Frontier, a direct-to-video animated adaptation of Darwyn Cooke's award-winning limited series, was released on 26 February 2008, the second in a line of DC Universe original animated movies from Warner Premiere and Warner Bros. Animation. The film features the voice of actor Neil Patrick Harris as Barry Allen. In this action-packed clip introducing the Flash, the fastest man alive faces off against Captain Cold in downtown Las Vegas. The scene showcases the relationship between Barry and Iris rather nicely, emphasizing the driving sense of romance inherent to the construction of all of those characters who have donned the costume of the scarlet speedster. Of course, there's plenty of stunning, high-speed stunts on display as well!

Sight and Sound: "The Chemo-Creature"

"The Chemo-Creature," written by George Kashdan, featuring Ray Owens as the Flash, aired 9 September 1967 as part of Filmation's The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. There is, of course, scads of absurd science on display, as well as an "unearthly monster" just in time for Halloween. You'll never look at an ordinary ant in the same way again! The five-minute cartoon commendably attempts to showcase a wide variety of the fastest man alive's speed-related abilities. Most amusing, however, is an awkward moment during which two slack-jawed farmers inexplicably fail to recognize what is unarguably one of the most iconic superhero costumes in all of history--indeed, fail to react to the presence of a costumed superhero much at all!