Real Adventures of Johnny Quest VS. Young Justice
Tuesday, June 12th, 2012 08:35 amSo, recently, I picked up season one of The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest. This is the better season, which shows off how independent and capable Jesse Bannon is, portrays a loving friendship (or possibly more) between Benton Quest and Race Bannon, and focuses on the kinds of danger and situations that, while fantastic, are often more real. For example, there may be a ghost haunting a house, but the threat is more likely to arise from the fact that Johnny's trapped outside in snow and could freeze to death than from the ghost threatening him. The show has its problems (easily summed up by the hilariously awful Questworld segments) but it's fun to watch and oddly, by empowering Hadji and Jesse over Johnny (they frequently act more as his guardians), the show manages to have pretty positive tones of tolerance and teamwork. Good stuff, right?
Well, yesterday night we picked up season one of Young Justice, because the cover showcases a group with two ladies and four dudes. Not the best situation but hey! At least there's more than one token female, right? There's, like, even two!
Let's break this down.
Aqualad is amazing. (Apparently so amazing that he becomes a villain in the timejumped season two. ...Disappointed.) But seriously, Aqualad is amazing. He's a cleric. I love him for being wise and promoting the idea of teamwork and responsibility. I would seriously have recommended this show just for him.
Robin is apparently Dick Grayson? Problem number one, right off the bat, is that we have Tim Drake personality Robin, but he's apparently Dick Grayson. That just chafes, for some reason. This Robin is thirteen and kind of a dick, but that actually fits, given that he's the youngest, thirteen year olds are regrettably insufferable to the world around them most of the time, and he's also the hacker character / information guy. I would not recommend the show on Robin, because he's kind of annoying.
Kid Flash, then, is Wally West. Which, you know, in some ways I was sad to discover it wasn't Bart, but at the same time, I also really like that it's Wally. Wally has the hero-worship for his uncle thing going on, and the backstory of working in the lab with his aunt and uncle. So, when it comes to certain things in pseudoscience, he's actually pretty clever. Wally varies wildly between being loveably dorky and being irritatingly full of himself. Also, you know how the comic relief character's duty in the standard TV formula is to be a sexist asshole who hits on all the ladies? Yeah.
Then we have Superboy. I hope you liked Ang Lee's the Hulk, because that's basically who we've got here. Superboy has the potential to be really interesting, but he's so wrapped up in being ANGRYYYYYY all the time that mostly, he's just an asshole to the people around him without giving them much chance to talk to him. He desperately needs Aqualad's guidance (and thankfully seems to be getting it), and would benefit from Superman's-- if Superman wasn't being such a dick and purposefully avoiding him.
I'd introduce you to the girls, but here's the catch: they don't show up. Miss Martian doesn't show up until the end of episode two. And Artemis? Try episode six. Wow. Uh-- WOW. Fuck you, Young Justice. Big, big strike.
It gets worse from here.
Miss Martian is a homemaker cutesy bubbly airhead who's actually quite capable, intelligent, respects and relies on authority, and has more superpowers than anyone except Aqualad. But her homemaker, cutesy-bubbly-airhead status is what the show focuses on; also, the boys consistently shame her and put her down for minor mistakes that, had any of THEM made, would not have been considered such a huge deal. They make a huge point of calling her a rookie. And don't worry, the writers understand your NEED for shittily written romance, so Miss Martian immediately starts crushing on the guy most likely to beat the shit out of her for no reason at all-- Superboy, the walking time bomb. As if this were not all bad enough on its own, the show has a particularly annoying bible where each character has to say a certain catchphrase or type of thing each episode. This isn't noticeable with Aqualad, who probably is required to regularly spout wisdom, or Superboy, who's just angry all the time anyway; Kid Flash collects pieces from each villain and invariably feels the need to squal 'souvenir!', Robin is obsessed with incorrectly attempting to dismantle the English language and reverse engineer stupid slang words...
And Miss Martian, whose name is M'gann (Megan for Earth), regularly has to tell herself, "Hellooo Megan!" and smack her head at how she's just such a silly little idiot. I'm not even fucking kidding. It's incredibly annoying just on its own merit, not even taking into consideration how offensive it is that the only female character is buying into what everyone around her tells her: that she's the stupid one. (Even though, you know, it's her fucking spaceship they fly around in, and she's smart, telepathic, and can shapeshift into hotter versions of Robin and Kid Flash.)
Color me annoyed by this point, but we kept watching because A) Aqualad is still honestly cool enough to watch the show for and B) we wanted to see Artemis introduced, already! Along the way, I did get to see Black Canary showing up to be awesome as their teacher in the practicality of fighting sans powers. Also, I should mention that there's a subplot about Speedy, Green Arrow's ex-sidekick, and his descent into becoming a Nightwing-esque renegade. Speedy of course is the extra boy in the boys' club. All the boys want him to join, and you know, like, since M'gann is like, totally going to be baking cookies for everyone again, it would just be tooootally fantastic if he joined because she wouldn't, like, really mind!
Instead, we finally get introduced to Artemis, who happens to be Ollie's niece. Artemis, of course, is also a bow character, which puts her in conflict with the boys' desire to get Speedy-- I'm sorry, Red Arrow, Mr. Original-- to join their super secret We Fail At Stealth Ops team. With Superboy crashing around intentionally breaking the rules just to break them in rage at the machine, or whatever, Robin regularly running off and leaving the group clueless as to why he left them to get shot at, Kid Flash comically bungling things because he's unfortunately the comic relief, and Aqualad and Miss Martian actually handling things (though of course, hellooooo Megan, it would be like, so rude if she were to take credit for that), you'd think they'd be happy just to have anyone join their team, especially someone that the Green Arrow personally endorses and has trained. Instead, Kid Flash instantly hates her for scaring away his BFF Red Arrow, and makes it known that he's like, totally not hot for her (Oh, young male character in a predictable TV show. You will be. You will be.) and she sucks, anyway.
Artemis is naturally the polar opposite to Miss Martian, so she's a capable fighter with lots of intel and connections to the world, she sasses the boys back, and you'd think 'hey, so she'll be really effective in contrast, right?'
No, she's still a girl, so every time she messes up in the least, Kid Flash lets her know it. The others get to play the 'well, maybe you're being a little harsh...' game, but it's okay because Artemis doesn't seem too affected by it, aside from sultrily glaring at Kid Flash to set up an unhealthy romance that will be utterly unbelievable. (I'm guessing, here; I haven't watched past episode six yet.)
In case you still thought Artemis was cool by the end of the episode, she's outed as an apparent member of the eeevil League of Shadows, who happen to be working for the show's main villains, the Council of Light. It makes very little sense, since the revelation comes about through a confrontation with a masked assassin who's been talking to her the whole episode. However, when the mask comes off, she finally realizes that she knows the other girl, and the assassin plays on Artemis's fear of being exposed. She could hear the voice all that time, but only suspected when the mask came off? Jeez. Also: I can think of another show about teenage heroes where the blond female character turned out to be infiltrating the team just to work for the bad guys, guys. She ALSO fell in love with / wooed the Comic Relief male character. Would have been nice to see something different being set up.
Overall, the show was still fun to watch. I doubt I'll pick up season two, since Aqualad is the only reason I can continue to watch season one even as I grit my teeth against the arbitrary and forced-feeling catchphrases. I just can't recommend the first season of the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest enough. Jesse Bannon is a badass. Benton and Race are charmingly old friends and the show seems unworried about the possible interpretation that the pair could be in a romantic relationship together. Hadji is a badass, and actually Dr. Quest's lab assistant, not just Johnny's token friend. It's a great show.
There are catchphrases in RAoJQ too, but for the most part, it's just Johnny declaring that cool things are "slammin'!", which is much less grating on the nerves than "The opposite of a disaster must be an aster, right? When everything goes right."
No, Robin, the opposite of a disaster is a cakewalk. An aster is a kind of flower.
Kids these days.
Well, yesterday night we picked up season one of Young Justice, because the cover showcases a group with two ladies and four dudes. Not the best situation but hey! At least there's more than one token female, right? There's, like, even two!
Let's break this down.
Aqualad is amazing. (Apparently so amazing that he becomes a villain in the timejumped season two. ...Disappointed.) But seriously, Aqualad is amazing. He's a cleric. I love him for being wise and promoting the idea of teamwork and responsibility. I would seriously have recommended this show just for him.
Robin is apparently Dick Grayson? Problem number one, right off the bat, is that we have Tim Drake personality Robin, but he's apparently Dick Grayson. That just chafes, for some reason. This Robin is thirteen and kind of a dick, but that actually fits, given that he's the youngest, thirteen year olds are regrettably insufferable to the world around them most of the time, and he's also the hacker character / information guy. I would not recommend the show on Robin, because he's kind of annoying.
Kid Flash, then, is Wally West. Which, you know, in some ways I was sad to discover it wasn't Bart, but at the same time, I also really like that it's Wally. Wally has the hero-worship for his uncle thing going on, and the backstory of working in the lab with his aunt and uncle. So, when it comes to certain things in pseudoscience, he's actually pretty clever. Wally varies wildly between being loveably dorky and being irritatingly full of himself. Also, you know how the comic relief character's duty in the standard TV formula is to be a sexist asshole who hits on all the ladies? Yeah.
Then we have Superboy. I hope you liked Ang Lee's the Hulk, because that's basically who we've got here. Superboy has the potential to be really interesting, but he's so wrapped up in being ANGRYYYYYY all the time that mostly, he's just an asshole to the people around him without giving them much chance to talk to him. He desperately needs Aqualad's guidance (and thankfully seems to be getting it), and would benefit from Superman's-- if Superman wasn't being such a dick and purposefully avoiding him.
I'd introduce you to the girls, but here's the catch: they don't show up. Miss Martian doesn't show up until the end of episode two. And Artemis? Try episode six. Wow. Uh-- WOW. Fuck you, Young Justice. Big, big strike.
It gets worse from here.
Miss Martian is a homemaker cutesy bubbly airhead who's actually quite capable, intelligent, respects and relies on authority, and has more superpowers than anyone except Aqualad. But her homemaker, cutesy-bubbly-airhead status is what the show focuses on; also, the boys consistently shame her and put her down for minor mistakes that, had any of THEM made, would not have been considered such a huge deal. They make a huge point of calling her a rookie. And don't worry, the writers understand your NEED for shittily written romance, so Miss Martian immediately starts crushing on the guy most likely to beat the shit out of her for no reason at all-- Superboy, the walking time bomb. As if this were not all bad enough on its own, the show has a particularly annoying bible where each character has to say a certain catchphrase or type of thing each episode. This isn't noticeable with Aqualad, who probably is required to regularly spout wisdom, or Superboy, who's just angry all the time anyway; Kid Flash collects pieces from each villain and invariably feels the need to squal 'souvenir!', Robin is obsessed with incorrectly attempting to dismantle the English language and reverse engineer stupid slang words...
And Miss Martian, whose name is M'gann (Megan for Earth), regularly has to tell herself, "Hellooo Megan!" and smack her head at how she's just such a silly little idiot. I'm not even fucking kidding. It's incredibly annoying just on its own merit, not even taking into consideration how offensive it is that the only female character is buying into what everyone around her tells her: that she's the stupid one. (Even though, you know, it's her fucking spaceship they fly around in, and she's smart, telepathic, and can shapeshift into hotter versions of Robin and Kid Flash.)
Color me annoyed by this point, but we kept watching because A) Aqualad is still honestly cool enough to watch the show for and B) we wanted to see Artemis introduced, already! Along the way, I did get to see Black Canary showing up to be awesome as their teacher in the practicality of fighting sans powers. Also, I should mention that there's a subplot about Speedy, Green Arrow's ex-sidekick, and his descent into becoming a Nightwing-esque renegade. Speedy of course is the extra boy in the boys' club. All the boys want him to join, and you know, like, since M'gann is like, totally going to be baking cookies for everyone again, it would just be tooootally fantastic if he joined because she wouldn't, like, really mind!
Instead, we finally get introduced to Artemis, who happens to be Ollie's niece. Artemis, of course, is also a bow character, which puts her in conflict with the boys' desire to get Speedy-- I'm sorry, Red Arrow, Mr. Original-- to join their super secret We Fail At Stealth Ops team. With Superboy crashing around intentionally breaking the rules just to break them in rage at the machine, or whatever, Robin regularly running off and leaving the group clueless as to why he left them to get shot at, Kid Flash comically bungling things because he's unfortunately the comic relief, and Aqualad and Miss Martian actually handling things (though of course, hellooooo Megan, it would be like, so rude if she were to take credit for that), you'd think they'd be happy just to have anyone join their team, especially someone that the Green Arrow personally endorses and has trained. Instead, Kid Flash instantly hates her for scaring away his BFF Red Arrow, and makes it known that he's like, totally not hot for her (Oh, young male character in a predictable TV show. You will be. You will be.) and she sucks, anyway.
Artemis is naturally the polar opposite to Miss Martian, so she's a capable fighter with lots of intel and connections to the world, she sasses the boys back, and you'd think 'hey, so she'll be really effective in contrast, right?'
No, she's still a girl, so every time she messes up in the least, Kid Flash lets her know it. The others get to play the 'well, maybe you're being a little harsh...' game, but it's okay because Artemis doesn't seem too affected by it, aside from sultrily glaring at Kid Flash to set up an unhealthy romance that will be utterly unbelievable. (I'm guessing, here; I haven't watched past episode six yet.)
In case you still thought Artemis was cool by the end of the episode, she's outed as an apparent member of the eeevil League of Shadows, who happen to be working for the show's main villains, the Council of Light. It makes very little sense, since the revelation comes about through a confrontation with a masked assassin who's been talking to her the whole episode. However, when the mask comes off, she finally realizes that she knows the other girl, and the assassin plays on Artemis's fear of being exposed. She could hear the voice all that time, but only suspected when the mask came off? Jeez. Also: I can think of another show about teenage heroes where the blond female character turned out to be infiltrating the team just to work for the bad guys, guys. She ALSO fell in love with / wooed the Comic Relief male character. Would have been nice to see something different being set up.
Overall, the show was still fun to watch. I doubt I'll pick up season two, since Aqualad is the only reason I can continue to watch season one even as I grit my teeth against the arbitrary and forced-feeling catchphrases. I just can't recommend the first season of the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest enough. Jesse Bannon is a badass. Benton and Race are charmingly old friends and the show seems unworried about the possible interpretation that the pair could be in a romantic relationship together. Hadji is a badass, and actually Dr. Quest's lab assistant, not just Johnny's token friend. It's a great show.
There are catchphrases in RAoJQ too, but for the most part, it's just Johnny declaring that cool things are "slammin'!", which is much less grating on the nerves than "The opposite of a disaster must be an aster, right? When everything goes right."
No, Robin, the opposite of a disaster is a cakewalk. An aster is a kind of flower.
Kids these days.
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