January 21, 2025 • 44 mins
DJ Nik and Keith Bliss review "Justice League : Crisis On Infinite Earths Part 1" !!! Enjoy ! If you would like to come on and discuss YOUR favourite movie send us a email with your movie of choice to : happinessindarknesshow@gmail.com . Check out our great tiers on Patreon : patreon.com/happinessindarkness !!!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Most of you are aware that you live in a
reality parallel to many versions of your universe. I've gathered
you all to save your words. That does not look good.
You got that right.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
The threat is real. I was on one of the
earths that was swallowed by this wave. I come from
a parallel earth. We look down on supervillains.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome our newly formed team of heroes.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
The Justice League drained of power from them.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Thank you, Justice League.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Something's about to happen, something major.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I am Harbinger.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
This is the thing.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Yeah, I figure you reach.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Possess the skills, strength and speak to save your universe.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Great Scott, what's happening the universe?
Speaker 4 (01:03):
It's all vanishing?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Look, this is it. I won't let you go.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Is it as bad as it looks?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yes? Fuck four three two.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Show people, and welcome to our two one hundred and
seventy seventh episode of Happiness and Darkness Superior Movie Podcast,
where we discuss Superior movies, Marvel, DC, dark Horse, Image
and more. Naturally, there will be spoilers, folks, so you
have been warned. I am one of your co hosts.
Did you neck? And there's always joining me as my
superhero partner in crime. I'm not sure from which Earth,
(01:49):
but he's awesome, probably on all the Earth's mister Keith Bliss, Hey, Keith,
how are you today?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I'm doing well, And just for clarification purposes, it's Earth
forty two, And if you all know what forty two means,
then you understand the joke. If you don't go watch
The Tiger's Guide, I don't know what to tell you, guys.
You've been living under a rock. Otherwise I can't complain.
Apparently we're getting snow here in North Carolina, so it's
got to be a full moon or the planets are
an alignment or something, because it never snows here. So
(02:18):
if you guys don't hear from me next week, it's
because I have to wait for the spring far.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Wow. Well, hopefully you don't get too much snow, but
I guess that's definitely something. I don't know where to
look forward to or not, but I guess the times
they are changing. And speaking of times changing, today is
going to be an interesting one because today we are
discussing Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earth's Part one from
twenty twenty four. This was directed by Jeff Wamister. The
(02:46):
screenplay was by George Perez, the late Great George Perez
and Marv Wolfman, while the score was by Kevin Ripel.
So we're to get get into general impressions here, Keith,
what did you make of this first of Crisis on
the Infinite.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I'm just gonna be blunt and say I was very underwhelmed.
It was a story that could have been I don't know,
about thirty minutes forty five minutes shorter than it was.
The first half of the first movie was just kind
of essentially filler. They give you some random story with
flash jump around in time, and then he gets pulled
(03:24):
up to the watchtower. Well, the movie would have been
perfectly fine starting at that point, you know, plus or
minus a couple of seconds, and just spending the bulk
of this movie with them working on a fix or
a stop to the crisis. But instead we get thirty
minutes of shenanigans or forty five minutes of shenanigans, and
(03:47):
then when push comes to shove, we get I don't know,
maybe fifteen minutes of actual work for lack of a
better term, on a resolution to the Infinity Crisis, and
even then it's a half measure, and we don't know
about this until the very end, so it's kind of
(04:07):
one of these good setup movies for another movie. But
at the same time, this is supposed to be the
first in a trilogy, when in reality it could have
been two totally different movies and would have been fine.
I think Infinite Earth's should our crisis, or rather should
have started at the point he jumped on the tower
(04:30):
and then just had a full movie of that, and
then second and third movie of everything that's supposed to happen.
So I feel like this was very much a half
hearted attempt at a very big story. And anybody who's
read Crisis on Infinite Earth understands the level of magnitude
of this story from back in the day because this
was the story. It's so big of a deal. They
(04:53):
still use it as a measuring stick in terms of
power sets. When talking about certain heroes like Superman and
Batman and One Woman and so on and so forth,
there's always pre crisis Superman and post crisis Superman, and
that's generally everybody refers to him or them, I should say.
In one of those two breadths, New fifty two tried
(05:15):
to do something very similar to this and it just
fell very flat. I personally liked the New fifty two,
but I know I am of the minority instead of
the majority. But that's a ranch for a whole different cast,
as it were. I will say there were certain things
I did, like I was impressed by the random banter
(05:36):
amongst the different superheroes when they were on the Watchtower,
Like when Batman meets Dick Grace and because in his
reality or the main reality that this is supposed to
take place, and he has put Dick up for adoption,
and he even says to adult Dick that this is
a stupid idea. That's a terrible you know what was
(05:56):
I thinking? Like, So when he makes that comment to
Dick Grayson, I actually busted out laughing because just the
fact that he says it so deadpain He's like, that's
a horrible idea, And Dick's just kind of sitting there
like blinking, like, yeah, so hey, here, let me introduce
you to this other person. And it's Batman's daughter, and he, automatically,
(06:18):
I shouldn't automatically, he immediately knows who her mother is
and he's not even remotely surprised. So I did appreciate
those parts, or like when Wonder Woman ran in the
Superman and they kissed and they're like, oh I've missed you,
and blah blah blah. He sees slightly older version of
himself and the first comment hemates is like, see, look,
(06:38):
you do keep most of your hair, and I was like,
most of it, you know, all of your hair. I
feel offended being a bald man. I did appreciate a
lot of the characters with Blue Beadle, the question I
could see here and rat a lot and on about
the characters I actually liked seeing And as we've mentioned before,
with this cast, I did like the voice casting. You know,
(07:01):
all these characters play well off of each other. While
they may not be the new fifty two cast, I
think that had a slightly better chemistry. These guys worked
just as well. I liked, you know, Flash, Batman, Superman,
all their voices. I appreciate the fact that Water Woman
had a much thinner Russian accent, like you and I
(07:23):
joked about in some of her other iterations. So the
fact that she didn't really have that this time around was,
you know, I prefer And even what I would have
liked is if they had Earth. I think threes Lex Luthor,
who was a good guy in that Earth, if they
had brought him over as well, because I don't think
we got a good at this point, haven't gotten a
(07:46):
good representation of what he can do. Yes, he was
in the beginning of this movie, but that's all you get.
You get forty five minutes of him, and that's all
she wrote, and we're done, and the good iteration of
him was killed by the crime SYNDICD. So I was like, well,
all right, that's a thing. I don't know. There are
(08:09):
areas of improvement, and I do get that this is
a set up for a bigger story as you know,
it progresses, but I feel like, again I've said it
two or three times already, it was very much a
half measure. It could have been better.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I actually tend to agree with you on that, because
you know, you and I were talking about this kind
of speculating how they would manage such a sprawling epic story,
and I think which inspired many a sprawling story, especially
when it comes to a crisis event you know later
down line. Get stuck with Marvel as well, and I
do agree with you. I think when convergence came along,
which was kind of there that the version of a
(08:46):
crisis it was. I actually didn't mind it either. It
was actually cleaner. Granted, what was accomplished on the printed
page with Christ and Infinite Earth is nothing short of epic.
If you think about what George Perez you know, and
Marv Wolfman did at the time the comic, it was
absolutely insane, and that's why I was like, this is
almost unfilmable. How do you do this? And I guess
(09:08):
this is their approach, but I agree at first, like
the first act, I was literally scratching my head asking
myself what am I watching exactly? Because I kept saying
I thought this was price on the Internet Earth's why
do are we having the flash time slipping from one
moment to another and it being so flash centric. I
get it because at the end of the day, by
(09:28):
the time the movie's over, it's kind of revealed to
Varry by the specter that is kind of his fault
if you will, that things are the way they are
and why things have changed. But I just didn't understand
why they spent so much time on that when it
came to this movie, seeing as you have so much
to tell when it comes to crisis. I guess we'll
see where they fill in the gaps and concentrate more
(09:51):
on that with Part two and Part three. Yes, this
is the first chapter. It has to introduce you to it,
so I guess the concept was, you know, it's the
flash is kind of is the catalyst for what is
going on or why we're here almost, But yeah, I
think they had This movie is like an hour and
a half long. They probably could have made it could
(10:12):
have been a little bit shorter when it came to
focusing on barrying what he's going on and everything he's
going through rather than literally get to the monitor's satellite
when we're almost almost towards the halfway point of Act
two and then its full blown crisis stuff. So it
did seem I do think maybe they could have used
(10:33):
their time a little bit better when it came to that,
rather than focusing so much on this Because I said,
I was completely confused. I did not know what I
was watching at first, and I thought, for a moment,
I actually thought I had the wrong movie, even though
the title came up saying Christ and in theirst part one,
I'm like, is this the right one? But other than that,
I did enjoy what I watched for the most part.
I mean, I think I'm also biased because I'm a
(10:55):
huge Flash fan, so heck, you give me a Flash
centric movie, I'm happy. But once again, this wasn't really
why we were here. We were here for a completely
different reason, and maybe it would have been better, possibly
had we picked up where we left off from Warworld,
where you had the Harbinger taking our heroes to the
(11:15):
Monitor's satellite. Basically you know where War World ended. You
could have picked up when it came to This might
have maybe been confusing for people who had not seen
War World, but then again it probably would have made
more sense narratively speaking. So I'm in two minds about this.
There were parts of it that I enjoyed, especially when
we got all the various heroes, and you know, the
setting up of some things such as the Psycho Pirate.
(11:37):
You know, a shady guy who goes into the costume
machine and then comes out, so it definitely sets up
a lot of things to come and hect the big
review of course, that Harbinger is Supergirl. So there were
moments that I did appreciate. There were others where I
thought they just could used their time a little bit better.
When it came to a telling us, I said, such
huge story. Granted we still have two parts, so we'll
(11:58):
see what we make of those. So I guess. Then
getting to our characters on the board, I did my
best to narrow it down here because you can't talk
about all of them, so I guess talking about the
most significant ones, the ones have more screen time. I
guess we could start off with, of course Matt Boma
as Marry Ala in the Flash. Actually the throp as
Iris West and know the North as a Mazo. So
(12:21):
what do you make of these three characters, Keith?
Speaker 4 (12:23):
I like the three of them. I think it was
an interesting twist to have a Maso be his best friend,
just for the sheer fact that you think he's a
throwaway character. You're like, oh, well, that they fought a Mazo,
and as all of us known the cartoons, it's just
a generic android that he fights and they destroy each other,
and however many times they've fought, but this one you
(12:47):
don't see again until we get to elderly Allen and
you find out that they've been working on this big
machine and he's essentially been his best friend and or
I'll say pseudo child or something to that effect, because
he is distraught when spoilers a Mazo is finally destroyed.
(13:08):
So the fact that they were able to show the
different points in Barry's life, you know, beginning, middle, and
end again spoilers, I thought it was great. And then
the fact that stuff with her and him interacting with
each other, especially when he's an old man he shoots
his costume out. She's like anytime now, Oh look, I'm
(13:30):
already ready and I'm waiting on you when you're just
like the fastest man alive has now become the slowest
man alive, which you know happens because he's effectively burning
himself out. So all these little like jabs at each
other I appreciated. And they kind of did foreshadowing with
this because they show you the beginning of the relationship,
(13:53):
a pivotal point when they get married, and then her
eventual death as well. So I like that they showed
a full life with them. And again Amazo just being
there the whole time just to head on a shelf.
I'm hoping because I have yet to see two and three. Uh,
they do it a little bit more explanation as to
like why he has a Mazo statue stuck on a
(14:16):
shelf helping with making this machine, which as we know,
will probably happen. It is just at this point in time,
it's just a lot more questions and answers. And again
another one is explaining Supergirl's whole spiel, because at this
point we didn't know until she transforms back into herself
that she is Supergirl. So I'm hoping again that they
(14:41):
explain all these pieces or poor all these pieces together
in a nice little puzzle. So we'll have to wait
and see.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah, exactly, because obviously there's still tons of story left
to tell, because we do have we do have two
more parts to go, and I believe the length of
both of those are also an how and a half.
I just hope they used time and at better. But
as I said before, I'm a huge flash fan, so
I did like that for the most part. You know,
it seems very sad that it's always Barry's fault that
things go awry, whether it be Flashpoint or whether it
(15:13):
be this because here, obviously he's forcefully doing his best
slow time down so he can get this tower constructed
so as the anti matter waves can be abated and
the earths will survive. But at the same time, I
think it's beautiful helping him in all this is his
lifetime partner, Iris, and of course a Mazo his best friend.
(15:36):
And I do agree with almostly surrogate son, and I
think if we look at the first act, when it
came to the highlights of Barry's life, you can appreciate it.
I mean especially I think if you're like a Doctor
Who fan, you can really appreciate it because of all
the timey womy stuff and you get and you know,
I don't think it's too confusing for fans for those
who are not fans of time travel or shows like
(15:59):
Doctor Who. But I think at the end end of
the day, were they're trying to tell us is Barry
lived a full life with the woman that he loved.
And it was rather cute that they they Iris remembers
the day they first met and makes the dish that
she served Barry at the time when she was a waitress,
and they remember all that, and there's clearly a deep
(16:20):
love between these two, which is is a wonderful thing.
And ultimately, yeah, a Mazo going from being almost that
you know, a weapon of destruction, but not necessarily the
way Professor Ivo intended, because Ameso's objective or prime directive
was to conserve human life and cure people, whereas, of
course that was then perverted by Lex Luthor And so
(16:43):
you know, coming full circle, a Maso ultimately gets to
do what he was programmed for, i e. Save lives.
By the time the Barry and Iris have completed the
tower and things have worked because of course the antimatter
waves have been stopped, So I think was great. I
was kind of wondering when Iris, and you know, I'm
(17:03):
not trying to be sexist here, but I did think
Iris and barring out older people, Barry it still is
a superhero because you can still run fast even though
he's like, I don't know, probably in his mid seventies,
probably at this point. Why are you letting Iris do
the heavy work like turning a giant wrench when she
is an older person? So let let Iris do something
(17:25):
little less fatigue inducing, because when we see her turn
the wrench that ultimately kills her because it's like such
a strain on her she literally falls over and dies.
So I'm not to kind of add extra guilts to
Barrier's like, maybe you should have helped do it. You know,
I'm not saying not not have Iris do anything, and
(17:45):
Iris even calls him out and saying, don't be sexist
on me. But maybe had they done it together, Iris
might have lived a couple more years. So that was
my kind of my big gripe when it came to that.
And then ultimately when the Specter appear, and we'll talk
more about the Specter, it is very much a full
circle situation where Barry is once again told it's his
(18:06):
fault and the things are the way they are, but
he's kind of almost ready to accept his fate because
he did what he set out to do and has
saved live stanks towards of course a Maso and Iris.
And I think Ashley did a great job voicing Iris
in her various incarnations, you know, from being older to
being the young girl and the diner to everything else.
(18:28):
And yes, I do love the irony that even though
Barry is the fastest man in life, he's always late
for everything. It's it's always been that kind of situation
when it comes to Barry. That's no matter as fast
as he runs, he's always ends up being late for
personal things. So I appreciated the dynamic, but once again
I thought we could have maybe sped through this a
(18:49):
little bit quicker. I do get what the people what
our writers were trying to tell us, but it would
have been nice. Have we gotten too the meat of
the of the situation?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
So I guess jokes now in the story along.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
I can't help it. I'm coming up with terrible, terrible,
terrible flash puns. I guess we'll pointed out there. Keep
So I guess, then, did you have anything else on
these three characters before we got to our last three?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
So it's funny you mentioned this. I think Flash is
the Spider Man of the DC universe for a lot
of these stories. And what I mean by that is,
if anybody's seen Spider Man No Way Home, he does
a lot of dumb stuff Spider Man, and it causes
all these crazy shenanigans to happen, and ultimately it's the
same scenario with the Flash.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
It's true is that it's very much dam if you do,
damn if you don't, and always trying to correct things.
They always have repercussions, as we learned when it came
to Flashpoint and other situations. So I guess. Then let's
round off our characters by looking at three other rather
interesting characters. We have the introduction of the Monitor played
by Jonathan Adams, meg Donnelly reprising her role as both
(20:01):
super Goo and Hobinger same character, and lou Diamond Phillips
as the Specter, one of my all time favorite characters
from the DC pantheon. So what did you make of
these three?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Well, I'll preface my feedback with I do have a
Specter tattoo, so I'm not just talking, you know, blowing
smoke as it were. I kind of liked it. I
think they were in just enough. I think the Specter,
as we all know, being the manifestation of the Vengeance,
that he's also there to balance the universe out and
(20:37):
he basically takes Barrier a task and he's like, you know,
this is your fault, Like, yes, you fixed it, but
you started this, so we need to, you know, bring
you know, what's the word I'm looking for, Get you
off this mortal plane and onto bigger and better things
as it were. So that I appreciated. And the whole
(20:59):
thing with the Monitor too, because at this point we
had never seen the Monitor that actually had heard of
them in any other movie. So this was a good
introduction to the Monitor and for some of our fans
who need some type of analogy, the Monitors would be
watchers of the Marveling Universe for a good kind of
a one for one. It's not exactly, but that's probably
(21:20):
the best I can equate it to. So I like them.
And then Harbinger again as a character that should have
had her own movie because there's so much and I'm
with you. I liked the actress that voiced her as
Supergirl and as Harbinger, and I think we didn't at
this point, have not had enough of that backstory and
(21:40):
her in general, because I think she is Again I
apologize for all these weird correlations I've been doing today, guys,
but it's my brain's in that kind of world. But
she reminds me of a Herald of Galactus. And so
if anybody who knows anything about this, that's where I
think this is going to go in that kind of fashion,
(22:02):
because at some point she picks this power set up somewhere.
And again, hope this is explained through this live action
iteration of the character, because it's interesting and I know
where this is supposed to end, So I think I
know how we get here, and I'm not going to
spoil it for anybody who hasn't watched two and three yet.
(22:23):
So again, I hope we see that. I like the character,
and I wish we had her more in some of
these other movies, especially if just ta her had popped
up once or twice just grabbing characters, other than when
we see her the one or two times prior, we're like,
this is kind of weird. Guess are setting something up.
(22:43):
It would have been nice just to have her interact
with the heroes so they're not all caught off guard
when she does magically pop up saying like hey, come
with me, grabbing yank and we're off and running. They're like,
what's happening? Where are we? Why are we here? So
and I know every story needs a starting point, so
we'll see where it goes. I'm hoping for a lot
(23:06):
so far, I don't have high expectations, and I want
more of the Specter because again, as you and I
have mentioned, we're a huge Spector fans, and it's lou
Diamond Phillips. You really can't go wrong with that guy
as any type of voice actor, so we'll see. And again,
I know where the story ends. I just wonder how
(23:26):
they're going to get there in these next two movies.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
I'm right there with you. I mean, granted, you know,
we're just speculating here when it comes to you know,
what we'll get what we'll not get. And I do
hope that maybe part two might give some time to
the origins of Harbinger and how Kara became Harbinger, you know,
maybe meeting with them monitor in some capacity, and how
she was bestowed this, and I'm sure, oh, I'm hoping
(23:52):
at least we might also get the origins of Pariah
as well, who, of course, folks who don't know, is
the old guy. He seems to be like the homeless
dude who's a probably you know, kind of a predicting
and calling out the end of the world, kind of
like there's something that those folks that you might meet
in the street who are saying that the end of
the world is nigh and what have you. And he
(24:12):
plays quite the important role in this story as a whole.
I mean, we're introduced to him in this film, but
we never really got down to the integritty of who
is Pariah so am. I'm also hoping we'll get more
of him too. There's a lot of setups still to do,
so it'll be curious to see how they balance it,
possibly in the second chapter when it comes to these
new faces that we have not seen it up until
(24:34):
this point. And I also think for the benefit of
people who don't read comics, who are these people? So,
you know, explain Harbinger to me, Explain Pariah to me,
Explain the Monitor to me. I think by and large
we've got a decent explanation of the Monitor. And I
think it's very apt that you compare the monitors to
the watchers because it's pretty much is the same role
they have, which is kind of what this monitor explains
(24:55):
to us is they usually just observe the universe. They
don't inter act, and they don't interfere. But this case,
in this case, it's such a huge groundbreaking moment that
will literally destroy every earth anywhere. So the Monitor's like,
I think, we kind of need to step in here
and do something about it. So he's going against the
code almost similar to what we you know, we saw.
(25:18):
So when it came to what if in the MCU,
so here you wonder where there'll be repercussions for the
Monitor taking an active role in changing what is supposed
to happen. And I did like the introduction of him
as well, and they much felt like this Odin kind
of character, the all farther, the way he addresses all
our heroes and tries to give him the lowdown on
(25:43):
what is going what's going to happen, and then mysteriously disappears,
and so definitely there are questions there where the heck
is the Monitor? And I'm sure we'll find out come
part two. Yeah, I agree. I think I really like
McDonald's voice work, and I was kind of surprised because
it has been a while since i've read Christ on
Infinite Earths, and I am not sure if in Christ
(26:04):
and I do believe Harbinger is her own character, its
own character, and it's not Supergirl, but I could be
wrong on that. Do you remember, Keith, whether Harbinger was
just a character or whether it really was Supergirl in
the comics.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
It's been decades, so I'm gonna have to go back
and reread it, but I think she was he wrong
character in the comic books, and I know who the
weird guy is I don't know if you I'm gonna
spoil it for you now or wait till we find out.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Well, you might have to because that is a question
posed by a certain somebody who has written in today.
So we'll feel free to save that for when we
get to our feedback, because I had my theories as well,
but are we interested to see whether they are align
with what I was thinking? And yeah, and the Specter
is fantastic. He very much is the spirit of vengeance.
(26:53):
And the way he just has that talk to Barry
I appreciated, granted in his own ways kind of saying yes,
you're to blame because you literally changed everything. And so
now we've got you know, you've run your race. Sorry
another put I'm sorry, but possibly not sorry. And that's
kind of the end of it. But you will have
time to say goodbye to everybody. We do see Barry
(27:14):
appearing all over the place to his younger self, and
then of course we get that call back to war
World where he's talking to Conan Batman, you know, kind
of that appearance saying you have to go back to
the beginning. What does he mean? I guess we shall
find out. And then the review as I said before
of Supergirl being Harbinger was it was cute, what, of
(27:35):
course was a great court well made me feel very
much like going. We talked about this off era too,
of when it came to the Infinity War when she
finally gets to talk to Brainy bring At five obviously
her boyfriend, and he starts to disappear, very similarly to
how characters were literally turned into dust when it came
to the Snap. So I appreciate that. And of course
(27:59):
the ending is very very open this because we literally
see super Goal fall to her knees on an empty satellite,
not even the monitor. Is that everybody's like boom disappeared.
So I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this will
pick up when it comes to pot two. And I
said before, I really appreciate these characters. What were you
happy with the way this first part wrapped up?
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Keith for what we got or how they wrote this
initial story, I'm sure, okay, maybe could it have been better,
Rababie could have been worse one percent. I think this
is kind of like that good happy medium balance. It
(28:41):
was not, you know, the greatest ending ever. At the
same time, they had prefaced this story with saying they
were going to have multiple movies, so I automatically knew
there was going to be a second movie or a
third movie. So I wasn't like, well, shit, are they
going to make another one? No, I already knew there.
So it's a good enough ending for this type of story.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah, I think you have to leave it on the cliffhanger,
knowing that there will be more parts. So I think,
as I said, you have to keep your audience captivated,
and I was certainly captivating. I'm like, I'm definitely looking
forward to seeing where this will go. Granted, of course
it won't be a direct I think adaptation of the comics,
because they've already taken Liberty, so be curious to see
how they do it. And because this these three movies
(29:25):
technically end the Tomorrow Verse, so I'm very curious to
see how then it will expand and go into the
next phase of the DC Animated Universe, because of course
we are going to be getting more movies from them,
and I'm very happy to hear that. So I see
how this chapter of this particular phase ends and how
we start. Unless it's one big reboot, we shall see.
(29:48):
So I guess then if there isn't anything else getting
to ratings, then what do you give this first part
of prices on infinite earths out of ten?
Speaker 4 (29:57):
I'm not even going to be nice about it. Six
point not even it passes, but just barely. And the
only reason why it passes is because of all the
characters they introduced the very end. The fact that we
got the question, Oh, I'm gonna there's so many of them,
could go nuts, Psycho, Pirate, the Specter Monitor, so on
(30:21):
and so forth. I could continue on and on on.
So the fact that we got all these characters is
what's saving. If we didn't have the introduction of the
character in such a good voice cast, it probably would
have been a good five because it was just a
very boring, dry movie.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
We're just totally fair and yes, even getting the introduction
of such characters as even Vixen, because I think we
might have seen Mixen maybe in the Justice League TV series,
because we came to my memory, this was the first
time I actually saw Vixen. At first, I didn't know
who she was when we saw her on the cat
walk coming like who is that? And then when I
obviously saw the which was wearing around and they come like, oh,
(30:57):
of course it's Vixen. So so there we go. I'm
gonna give this as a six and a half out
of ten, as I did enjoy parts of it and
I am and it did make me look forward to
part two. But as I said before, I think we
could have used the time that was allotted to us
a little bit better and maybe trim down the initial
(31:18):
half an hour, which can be rather confusing as what
exactly is going on here? And why are we here?
I guess, But then I think it kicks into gear
with it when the second act rolls around, which can
be a little bit late. You might have lost your
audience by then, but it does kick into a better
gear as Act two and Act three come around, and
(31:38):
as I said, we does make for a good cliffhanger
for this first part. So, getting thus to recommendations, is
there anything you would like to recommend to our listeners
this week coming off of this.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
It's kind of hard because we're so early on in
the story and stuff I'm gonna recommend is basically this story,
so just be completely left field, I would recommend the
previous movies in the universe, just so it kind of
brings you up to speed with what's going on, and
then the what If cartoon because we had been referencing
(32:13):
the Watcher and different the Multiverse and so on and
so forth. So if you want something that's got a
little more diversity to a certain extent, go check out
the what If. They have had three seasons so far,
and then always any Else World comic books, which is
what War World was based on, and then what If
comics as well.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Some great recommendations. I'm going to go on the comic
book side of things and going to another crisis, and
probably my favorite of the DC crisis is Identity Crisis,
which is probably my favorite because I love a good
who Done It and a good detective story. So if
you're into that kind of genre and get to see
our Justice League trying to unravel a rather gruesome murder
(32:57):
and who might be behind that, I fully pick up
Identity Crisis. I believe, as I said before, you can
get it as a trade paperback. I think if Memory
sever thing is like six parts. If that, the artwork
is absolutely phenomenal, especially the cover which where Wonder Woman
graces that. That's problem of my favorite versions and drawings
(33:19):
of Wonder Woman. It just captivated me. Is so gorgeous
to look at and so well done, so I would
highly recommend Identity Crisis. Either. Of course, support your local
comic book store. I'm sure they likely have it because
it isn't that old, so they likely have a trade
paperbacker lying around somewhere. If not, of course, you can
always find it digitally like I do, because over here
(33:41):
in Italy our comics are translated and I don't really
like to read them in Italian. I'd rather read them
in English, in the original language that they were intended
to be read in, And so my go to is Comicxology.
Free plug their Comicxology. So of course, if you like
sponsoring us, let us know. We'd love to have you
on board. So I guess then, getting to happiness and
(34:02):
Darkness fan mail, we do have some this week, once
again from the wonderful Erin case. His subject line, which
I love is Batman and Catwoman, a match made in Arkham,
and that is definitely a great quote. So Erin writes
in Hello, hey dj Nick and Keith hey Erin, I've
been craving. There you go, I've been craving an adaptation
of Chrisis on Infinite Earth's since DC decided to start
(34:25):
doing animated features based on comic storylines, one of the
main reasons is that Crisis on Infinite Earth's was one
of the first comics I ever read. That was a
bad idea because I was beyond confused as to why
there were so many different versions of the same characters
and nothing made a lot of sense. Well, more power
to you for that been your first comic erin It
(34:47):
wasn't until a few years later, when I was more
accustomed to the DC universe, that I reread it and
everything finally clicked. I have mixed feelings about this first
part of the trilogy. By trying to film into the
tying this film into the Wider Tomorrow Verse, I found
myself a little frustrated during the first half. What I
(35:07):
enjoy so much about the comic is that we aren't
tied to any one Earth, but instead experiencing the story
from one Earth's perspective. We see how each Earth is
responding to the events. If there is a main character,
it's the Monitor at first, and then it shifts to
the chosen heroes from the various Earths. By turning the
(35:28):
first forty five minutes into the Flashi's greatest hits. I
got a little board sound for Milli Keith. This was
clearly done to establish an emotional connection to a specific earth,
and I imagine it will work for most people. But
I wasn't too keen on the Tomorrow verse, so I
don't get that connection. I would much prefer seeing more
of the various alternate versions of our characters instead. Having
(35:51):
not yet watched the second and third parts, there are
a few twists and turns that pique my interest. Who
is the vagrant that some how has powers? My first
assumption was how Jordan is the specter? But then the
specter shows up? Or is it psycho pirate? Nope, He's
been there the whole time, and then just as mysteriously disappears.
(36:13):
Though I'm not thrilled with this entry, it does need
me intrigued for the next two parts. Take care erin
the question. Okay, so I guess think Keith, feel free
to share your answer when it comes to this vagrant
that some nowhow has powers.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
You've seen this individual already and you will remember his
glowing yellow eyes and he is lovingly referred to as
doctor Fate or if you don't think that's the character,
it's going to be John Constantine because again magic and
literally there's two popular male figures that have popped up
(36:55):
across the universe at this point that many of our
watchers and listeners are familiar with. So it's going to
be doctor fit. Answer good. So that's you can quote
me on it right now on what are today's date
is in the year twenty twenty five, the twenty first
of January. So when we come back and do two
and three, if I'm wrong, you can fire me, nick.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
I never would. I mean, I think that's that's definitely
a good hot take because at first I guess that
the character that the area is referring to is the
guy that looked a little bit shifty and then went
into the costume machine. At first I thought that was
the psycho Pirate, but as I said, I could also
be wrong. And you know, but I think doctor Fate
could be an even better guess because as I said before,
(37:41):
it's a It did have me won in because you
look very shady and look kind of almost evil, because
you know, when it comes to artwork, of course, you
when you draw the shifty eyes, like is this guy
on the level? And I thought might don know, So
that's why I thought it might have been the Psycho Pirates,
because we do then see the Psycho Pirate in the room,
but maybe that's after he went into the magic dress
(38:02):
up machine. So I don't know, But I mean, I
think John Constantine or Doctor Fate could be a good,
could be some good, some good guesses. I guess we
shall see. But also we know spoiler's Psycho Pirates might
play quite an important role in this movie, in this
in this story, so it remains to be seen. But
(38:22):
of course, thank you very much Erin for writing, and
we really appreciate the feedback, and we're so happy that
you're watching along with us that you are just as
blind as we are because you haven't watched the second
third part, so never looking forward to more of your
feedback next the next couple of weeks. And of course,
dear listeners, if you want to be like the amazing
Erin and share your thoughts on the movies we discuss here,
(38:43):
not even not just the current ones. You can even
go check our back catalog out and even come back
to us from you with your thoughts on other movies
we've reviewed. You can, of course do that by sending
an email to Happiness in darknesshow at gmail dot com.
Once again, Happy and Darkness how at gmail dot com.
You can of course follow us on our social media
(39:05):
on x We're at High Darkness pod and also on
Facebook where Coon finds us Happiness and Darkness the Superheroly Podcast.
And of course if you are listening to us on
such platforms as Spotify or podcasts, we sure to rate
and review us because it definitely keeps the algorithm stimulated
and of course it allows our little show to reach
more ears like yours. Of course, sure to spread the word,
(39:27):
Tell your friends, tell your enemies. We don't care, we
just we of course appreciate you. You we're spreading the word
and that it means a lot to us. So for
those who have done so, thank you very much. In
the future, thank you to those who will do so so. Keith,
when you're not here discussing a crisis on Infinite Earth's,
where can folks find you on the interwebs?
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (39:48):
You know, me dropping planets looking for the Flash because
apparently everything in life is the Flash's fault. And that's
just going to be my new motto is what did
Flash do? Not? What would it's what did. When I'm
not hunting the Flash, you can catch me on some
of our friends podcasts, Star Trek The Undiscovered Podcast. I've
been on there a handful of times. I have a
(40:10):
couple of appearances coming up in the year twenty twenty five.
I think we're recording in a couple of weeks, so
don't be surprised or I guess be traumatized, depending on
how you look at it. What's the other one I'm
thinking of, Real Reactions. I've done a movie appearance on that.
I was on the first episode, and I know I
have a couple of other things in the works that
(40:31):
I don't want to talk about right now, but stay tuned.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
More look at Keith being all sneaky. I guess, so
more to come on that on that score, But yes,
of course check out our sister shows like, of course
Star Trek, The Undiscovered Podcast, Real Reactions, and I also
throw in the Fandom Zone and next up Everywhere the
Doctor Who podcasts. They are absolutely fantastic, fantastic things and
(40:57):
definitely should be on your in your queue when it
comes to wherever you get podcasts. When it comes to what's.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
That said, we get around a lot.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
We do, we do, and we have I think we're
I think it's great to say that we have many
friends in the podcasting world and it's wonderful to expand
the podcasting family. And when it comes to myself, of course,
you can find me at my day job hosting the
radio show Whiskey and Cigarettes, where we play the very
best and nothing but the best of country music for
you guys from Alabama to Zach Brown, and of course
(41:28):
some more information about that even use our website, which
of course is Whiskey and Cigarettes show dot com. Podcast
Wise as you can find myself and there's two lovely ladies,
Rachel Friend and Zan Sprouse. On gold Standard the Oscars podcast,
we have reviewed all the Best Picture winning movies in
chronological order, and as we wait for the ninety seventh
Best Picture to reveal itself, we are of course reviewing
(41:48):
movies that we have picked, and we have returning and
new guest co hosts coming and bring their favorite movies
to the gold Standard Theater hopefully. I think this also
gives me a chance to wish everybody out in California
the very best. We're definitely praying for you guys. We're
crossing fingers and very sorry for the loss of property
and people, when definitely hoping things will be better when
(42:10):
it comes to the Sunshine State. And last, but certainly
not least, myself and Charles Skaggs can be found on
the fandom Zone. We recently wrapped up our review of
the first season of Preacher Commandos. We will be returning
in March for our next review, which will be Daredevil
Born Again, where I'll be driving the bus as Charles
(42:30):
tends to drive the bus when it comes to DC
related stuff and I tend to drive the bus on
Marvel related stuff. So if you want to go and
check out what we thought to Preach Commandos, check out
the fandom Zone and speindings to come on this show.
Next time, of course, will be taking on the twenty
twenty four Jeff Wamuster film Justice League Crisis on Infinite
Earth's Art two. So keith any thoughts or theories on
(42:56):
our next movie or anything else before we set off.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
No, I have actually not watched this one. I've been
holding off for all three of them to pop up
on HBO, so this will be a true first reaction
opposed to like, hey, I've seen it and forgot all
about it because it was that bad reaction.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Fantastic and of course the listens feel free to watch
along with us and we love hearing for hearing your
thoughts on this concluding chapter of the Tomorrow Verse. So
that said, of course, thanks has always this is shown
supporting us. We will see you next time with Justice
League christ on Infinite Earth's Part two. Until then, thank
you so much for the privilege of your time. Stay
(43:35):
Super Show. Mobby s
Most of you are aware that you live in a
reality parallel to many versions of your universe. I've gathered
you all to save your words. That does not look good.
You got that right.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
The threat is real. I was on one of the
earths that was swallowed by this wave. I come from
a parallel earth. We look down on supervillains.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome our newly formed team of heroes.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
The Justice League drained of power from them.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Thank you, Justice League.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Something's about to happen, something major.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I am Harbinger.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
This is the thing.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Yeah, I figure you reach.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Possess the skills, strength and speak to save your universe.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Great Scott, what's happening the universe?
Speaker 4 (01:03):
It's all vanishing?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Look, this is it. I won't let you go.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Is it as bad as it looks?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yes? Fuck four three two.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Show people, and welcome to our two one hundred and
seventy seventh episode of Happiness and Darkness Superior Movie Podcast,
where we discuss Superior movies, Marvel, DC, dark Horse, Image
and more. Naturally, there will be spoilers, folks, so you
have been warned. I am one of your co hosts.
Did you neck? And there's always joining me as my
superhero partner in crime. I'm not sure from which Earth,
(01:49):
but he's awesome, probably on all the Earth's mister Keith Bliss, Hey, Keith,
how are you today?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I'm doing well, And just for clarification purposes, it's Earth
forty two, And if you all know what forty two means,
then you understand the joke. If you don't go watch
The Tiger's Guide, I don't know what to tell you, guys.
You've been living under a rock. Otherwise I can't complain.
Apparently we're getting snow here in North Carolina, so it's
got to be a full moon or the planets are
an alignment or something, because it never snows here. So
(02:18):
if you guys don't hear from me next week, it's
because I have to wait for the spring far.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Wow. Well, hopefully you don't get too much snow, but
I guess that's definitely something. I don't know where to
look forward to or not, but I guess the times
they are changing. And speaking of times changing, today is
going to be an interesting one because today we are
discussing Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earth's Part one from
twenty twenty four. This was directed by Jeff Wamister. The
(02:46):
screenplay was by George Perez, the late Great George Perez
and Marv Wolfman, while the score was by Kevin Ripel.
So we're to get get into general impressions here, Keith,
what did you make of this first of Crisis on
the Infinite.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I'm just gonna be blunt and say I was very underwhelmed.
It was a story that could have been I don't know,
about thirty minutes forty five minutes shorter than it was.
The first half of the first movie was just kind
of essentially filler. They give you some random story with
flash jump around in time, and then he gets pulled
(03:24):
up to the watchtower. Well, the movie would have been
perfectly fine starting at that point, you know, plus or
minus a couple of seconds, and just spending the bulk
of this movie with them working on a fix or
a stop to the crisis. But instead we get thirty
minutes of shenanigans or forty five minutes of shenanigans, and
(03:47):
then when push comes to shove, we get I don't know,
maybe fifteen minutes of actual work for lack of a
better term, on a resolution to the Infinity Crisis, and
even then it's a half measure, and we don't know
about this until the very end, so it's kind of
(04:07):
one of these good setup movies for another movie. But
at the same time, this is supposed to be the
first in a trilogy, when in reality it could have
been two totally different movies and would have been fine.
I think Infinite Earth's should our crisis, or rather should
have started at the point he jumped on the tower
(04:30):
and then just had a full movie of that, and
then second and third movie of everything that's supposed to happen.
So I feel like this was very much a half
hearted attempt at a very big story. And anybody who's
read Crisis on Infinite Earth understands the level of magnitude
of this story from back in the day because this
was the story. It's so big of a deal. They
(04:53):
still use it as a measuring stick in terms of
power sets. When talking about certain heroes like Superman and
Batman and One Woman and so on and so forth,
there's always pre crisis Superman and post crisis Superman, and
that's generally everybody refers to him or them, I should say.
In one of those two breadths, New fifty two tried
(05:15):
to do something very similar to this and it just
fell very flat. I personally liked the New fifty two,
but I know I am of the minority instead of
the majority. But that's a ranch for a whole different cast,
as it were. I will say there were certain things
I did, like I was impressed by the random banter
(05:36):
amongst the different superheroes when they were on the Watchtower,
Like when Batman meets Dick Grace and because in his
reality or the main reality that this is supposed to
take place, and he has put Dick up for adoption,
and he even says to adult Dick that this is
a stupid idea. That's a terrible you know what was
(05:56):
I thinking? Like, So when he makes that comment to
Dick Grayson, I actually busted out laughing because just the
fact that he says it so deadpain He's like, that's
a horrible idea, And Dick's just kind of sitting there
like blinking, like, yeah, so hey, here, let me introduce
you to this other person. And it's Batman's daughter, and he, automatically,
(06:18):
I shouldn't automatically, he immediately knows who her mother is
and he's not even remotely surprised. So I did appreciate
those parts, or like when Wonder Woman ran in the
Superman and they kissed and they're like, oh I've missed you,
and blah blah blah. He sees slightly older version of
himself and the first comment hemates is like, see, look,
(06:38):
you do keep most of your hair, and I was like,
most of it, you know, all of your hair. I
feel offended being a bald man. I did appreciate a
lot of the characters with Blue Beadle, the question I
could see here and rat a lot and on about
the characters I actually liked seeing And as we've mentioned before,
with this cast, I did like the voice casting. You know,
(07:01):
all these characters play well off of each other. While
they may not be the new fifty two cast, I
think that had a slightly better chemistry. These guys worked
just as well. I liked, you know, Flash, Batman, Superman,
all their voices. I appreciate the fact that Water Woman
had a much thinner Russian accent, like you and I
(07:23):
joked about in some of her other iterations. So the
fact that she didn't really have that this time around was,
you know, I prefer And even what I would have
liked is if they had Earth. I think threes Lex Luthor,
who was a good guy in that Earth, if they
had brought him over as well, because I don't think
we got a good at this point, haven't gotten a
(07:46):
good representation of what he can do. Yes, he was
in the beginning of this movie, but that's all you get.
You get forty five minutes of him, and that's all
she wrote, and we're done, and the good iteration of
him was killed by the crime SYNDICD. So I was like, well,
all right, that's a thing. I don't know. There are
(08:09):
areas of improvement, and I do get that this is
a set up for a bigger story as you know,
it progresses, but I feel like, again I've said it
two or three times already, it was very much a
half measure. It could have been better.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I actually tend to agree with you on that, because
you know, you and I were talking about this kind
of speculating how they would manage such a sprawling epic story,
and I think which inspired many a sprawling story, especially
when it comes to a crisis event you know later
down line. Get stuck with Marvel as well, and I
do agree with you. I think when convergence came along,
which was kind of there that the version of a
(08:46):
crisis it was. I actually didn't mind it either. It
was actually cleaner. Granted, what was accomplished on the printed
page with Christ and Infinite Earth is nothing short of epic.
If you think about what George Perez you know, and
Marv Wolfman did at the time the comic, it was
absolutely insane, and that's why I was like, this is
almost unfilmable. How do you do this? And I guess
(09:08):
this is their approach, but I agree at first, like
the first act, I was literally scratching my head asking
myself what am I watching exactly? Because I kept saying
I thought this was price on the Internet Earth's why
do are we having the flash time slipping from one
moment to another and it being so flash centric. I
get it because at the end of the day, by
(09:28):
the time the movie's over, it's kind of revealed to
Varry by the specter that is kind of his fault
if you will, that things are the way they are
and why things have changed. But I just didn't understand
why they spent so much time on that when it
came to this movie, seeing as you have so much
to tell when it comes to crisis. I guess we'll
see where they fill in the gaps and concentrate more
(09:51):
on that with Part two and Part three. Yes, this
is the first chapter. It has to introduce you to it,
so I guess the concept was, you know, it's the
flash is kind of is the catalyst for what is
going on or why we're here almost, But yeah, I
think they had This movie is like an hour and
a half long. They probably could have made it could
(10:12):
have been a little bit shorter when it came to
focusing on barrying what he's going on and everything he's
going through rather than literally get to the monitor's satellite
when we're almost almost towards the halfway point of Act
two and then its full blown crisis stuff. So it
did seem I do think maybe they could have used
(10:33):
their time a little bit better when it came to that,
rather than focusing so much on this Because I said,
I was completely confused. I did not know what I
was watching at first, and I thought, for a moment,
I actually thought I had the wrong movie, even though
the title came up saying Christ and in theirst part one,
I'm like, is this the right one? But other than that,
I did enjoy what I watched for the most part.
I mean, I think I'm also biased because I'm a
(10:55):
huge Flash fan, so heck, you give me a Flash
centric movie, I'm happy. But once again, this wasn't really
why we were here. We were here for a completely
different reason, and maybe it would have been better, possibly
had we picked up where we left off from Warworld,
where you had the Harbinger taking our heroes to the
(11:15):
Monitor's satellite. Basically you know where War World ended. You
could have picked up when it came to This might
have maybe been confusing for people who had not seen
War World, but then again it probably would have made
more sense narratively speaking. So I'm in two minds about this.
There were parts of it that I enjoyed, especially when
we got all the various heroes, and you know, the
setting up of some things such as the Psycho Pirate.
(11:37):
You know, a shady guy who goes into the costume
machine and then comes out, so it definitely sets up
a lot of things to come and hect the big
review of course, that Harbinger is Supergirl. So there were
moments that I did appreciate. There were others where I
thought they just could used their time a little bit better.
When it came to a telling us, I said, such
huge story. Granted we still have two parts, so we'll
(11:58):
see what we make of those. So I guess. Then
getting to our characters on the board, I did my
best to narrow it down here because you can't talk
about all of them, so I guess talking about the
most significant ones, the ones have more screen time. I
guess we could start off with, of course Matt Boma
as Marry Ala in the Flash. Actually the throp as
Iris West and know the North as a Mazo. So
(12:21):
what do you make of these three characters, Keith?
Speaker 4 (12:23):
I like the three of them. I think it was
an interesting twist to have a Maso be his best friend,
just for the sheer fact that you think he's a
throwaway character. You're like, oh, well, that they fought a Mazo,
and as all of us known the cartoons, it's just
a generic android that he fights and they destroy each other,
and however many times they've fought, but this one you
(12:47):
don't see again until we get to elderly Allen and
you find out that they've been working on this big
machine and he's essentially been his best friend and or
I'll say pseudo child or something to that effect, because
he is distraught when spoilers a Mazo is finally destroyed.
(13:08):
So the fact that they were able to show the
different points in Barry's life, you know, beginning, middle, and
end again spoilers, I thought it was great. And then
the fact that stuff with her and him interacting with
each other, especially when he's an old man he shoots
his costume out. She's like anytime now, Oh look, I'm
(13:30):
already ready and I'm waiting on you when you're just
like the fastest man alive has now become the slowest
man alive, which you know happens because he's effectively burning
himself out. So all these little like jabs at each
other I appreciated. And they kind of did foreshadowing with
this because they show you the beginning of the relationship,
(13:53):
a pivotal point when they get married, and then her
eventual death as well. So I like that they showed
a full life with them. And again Amazo just being
there the whole time just to head on a shelf.
I'm hoping because I have yet to see two and three. Uh,
they do it a little bit more explanation as to
like why he has a Mazo statue stuck on a
(14:16):
shelf helping with making this machine, which as we know,
will probably happen. It is just at this point in time,
it's just a lot more questions and answers. And again
another one is explaining Supergirl's whole spiel, because at this
point we didn't know until she transforms back into herself
that she is Supergirl. So I'm hoping again that they
(14:41):
explain all these pieces or poor all these pieces together
in a nice little puzzle. So we'll have to wait
and see.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah, exactly, because obviously there's still tons of story left
to tell, because we do have we do have two
more parts to go, and I believe the length of
both of those are also an how and a half.
I just hope they used time and at better. But
as I said before, I'm a huge flash fan, so
I did like that for the most part. You know,
it seems very sad that it's always Barry's fault that
things go awry, whether it be Flashpoint or whether it
(15:13):
be this because here, obviously he's forcefully doing his best
slow time down so he can get this tower constructed
so as the anti matter waves can be abated and
the earths will survive. But at the same time, I
think it's beautiful helping him in all this is his
lifetime partner, Iris, and of course a Mazo his best friend.
(15:36):
And I do agree with almostly surrogate son, and I
think if we look at the first act, when it
came to the highlights of Barry's life, you can appreciate it.
I mean especially I think if you're like a Doctor
Who fan, you can really appreciate it because of all
the timey womy stuff and you get and you know,
I don't think it's too confusing for fans for those
who are not fans of time travel or shows like
(15:59):
Doctor Who. But I think at the end end of
the day, were they're trying to tell us is Barry
lived a full life with the woman that he loved.
And it was rather cute that they they Iris remembers
the day they first met and makes the dish that
she served Barry at the time when she was a waitress,
and they remember all that, and there's clearly a deep
(16:20):
love between these two, which is is a wonderful thing.
And ultimately, yeah, a Mazo going from being almost that
you know, a weapon of destruction, but not necessarily the
way Professor Ivo intended, because Ameso's objective or prime directive
was to conserve human life and cure people, whereas, of
course that was then perverted by Lex Luthor And so
(16:43):
you know, coming full circle, a Maso ultimately gets to
do what he was programmed for, i e. Save lives.
By the time the Barry and Iris have completed the
tower and things have worked because of course the antimatter
waves have been stopped, So I think was great. I
was kind of wondering when Iris, and you know, I'm
(17:03):
not trying to be sexist here, but I did think
Iris and barring out older people, Barry it still is
a superhero because you can still run fast even though
he's like, I don't know, probably in his mid seventies,
probably at this point. Why are you letting Iris do
the heavy work like turning a giant wrench when she
is an older person? So let let Iris do something
(17:25):
little less fatigue inducing, because when we see her turn
the wrench that ultimately kills her because it's like such
a strain on her she literally falls over and dies.
So I'm not to kind of add extra guilts to
Barrier's like, maybe you should have helped do it. You know,
I'm not saying not not have Iris do anything, and
(17:45):
Iris even calls him out and saying, don't be sexist
on me. But maybe had they done it together, Iris
might have lived a couple more years. So that was
my kind of my big gripe when it came to that.
And then ultimately when the Specter appear, and we'll talk
more about the Specter, it is very much a full
circle situation where Barry is once again told it's his
(18:06):
fault and the things are the way they are, but
he's kind of almost ready to accept his fate because
he did what he set out to do and has
saved live stanks towards of course a Maso and Iris.
And I think Ashley did a great job voicing Iris
in her various incarnations, you know, from being older to
being the young girl and the diner to everything else.
(18:28):
And yes, I do love the irony that even though
Barry is the fastest man in life, he's always late
for everything. It's it's always been that kind of situation
when it comes to Barry. That's no matter as fast
as he runs, he's always ends up being late for
personal things. So I appreciated the dynamic, but once again
I thought we could have maybe sped through this a
(18:49):
little bit quicker. I do get what the people what
our writers were trying to tell us, but it would
have been nice. Have we gotten too the meat of
the of the situation?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
So I guess jokes now in the story along.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
I can't help it. I'm coming up with terrible, terrible,
terrible flash puns. I guess we'll pointed out there. Keep
So I guess, then, did you have anything else on
these three characters before we got to our last three?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
So it's funny you mentioned this. I think Flash is
the Spider Man of the DC universe for a lot
of these stories. And what I mean by that is,
if anybody's seen Spider Man No Way Home, he does
a lot of dumb stuff Spider Man, and it causes
all these crazy shenanigans to happen, and ultimately it's the
same scenario with the Flash.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
It's true is that it's very much dam if you do,
damn if you don't, and always trying to correct things.
They always have repercussions, as we learned when it came
to Flashpoint and other situations. So I guess. Then let's
round off our characters by looking at three other rather
interesting characters. We have the introduction of the Monitor played
by Jonathan Adams, meg Donnelly reprising her role as both
(20:01):
super Goo and Hobinger same character, and lou Diamond Phillips
as the Specter, one of my all time favorite characters
from the DC pantheon. So what did you make of
these three?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Well, I'll preface my feedback with I do have a
Specter tattoo, so I'm not just talking, you know, blowing
smoke as it were. I kind of liked it. I
think they were in just enough. I think the Specter,
as we all know, being the manifestation of the Vengeance,
that he's also there to balance the universe out and
(20:37):
he basically takes Barrier a task and he's like, you know,
this is your fault, Like, yes, you fixed it, but
you started this, so we need to, you know, bring
you know, what's the word I'm looking for, Get you
off this mortal plane and onto bigger and better things
as it were. So that I appreciated. And the whole
(20:59):
thing with the Monitor too, because at this point we
had never seen the Monitor that actually had heard of
them in any other movie. So this was a good
introduction to the Monitor and for some of our fans
who need some type of analogy, the Monitors would be
watchers of the Marveling Universe for a good kind of
a one for one. It's not exactly, but that's probably
(21:20):
the best I can equate it to. So I like them.
And then Harbinger again as a character that should have
had her own movie because there's so much and I'm
with you. I liked the actress that voiced her as
Supergirl and as Harbinger, and I think we didn't at
this point, have not had enough of that backstory and
(21:40):
her in general, because I think she is Again I
apologize for all these weird correlations I've been doing today, guys,
but it's my brain's in that kind of world. But
she reminds me of a Herald of Galactus. And so
if anybody who knows anything about this, that's where I
think this is going to go in that kind of fashion,
(22:02):
because at some point she picks this power set up somewhere.
And again, hope this is explained through this live action
iteration of the character, because it's interesting and I know
where this is supposed to end, So I think I
know how we get here, and I'm not going to
spoil it for anybody who hasn't watched two and three yet.
(22:23):
So again, I hope we see that. I like the character,
and I wish we had her more in some of
these other movies, especially if just ta her had popped
up once or twice just grabbing characters, other than when
we see her the one or two times prior, we're like,
this is kind of weird. Guess are setting something up.
(22:43):
It would have been nice just to have her interact
with the heroes so they're not all caught off guard
when she does magically pop up saying like hey, come
with me, grabbing yank and we're off and running. They're like,
what's happening? Where are we? Why are we here? So
and I know every story needs a starting point, so
we'll see where it goes. I'm hoping for a lot
(23:06):
so far, I don't have high expectations, and I want
more of the Specter because again, as you and I
have mentioned, we're a huge Spector fans, and it's lou
Diamond Phillips. You really can't go wrong with that guy
as any type of voice actor, so we'll see. And again,
I know where the story ends. I just wonder how
(23:26):
they're going to get there in these next two movies.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
I'm right there with you. I mean, granted, you know,
we're just speculating here when it comes to you know,
what we'll get what we'll not get. And I do
hope that maybe part two might give some time to
the origins of Harbinger and how Kara became Harbinger, you know,
maybe meeting with them monitor in some capacity, and how
she was bestowed this, and I'm sure, oh, I'm hoping
(23:52):
at least we might also get the origins of Pariah
as well, who, of course, folks who don't know, is
the old guy. He seems to be like the homeless
dude who's a probably you know, kind of a predicting
and calling out the end of the world, kind of
like there's something that those folks that you might meet
in the street who are saying that the end of
the world is nigh and what have you. And he
(24:12):
plays quite the important role in this story as a whole.
I mean, we're introduced to him in this film, but
we never really got down to the integritty of who
is Pariah so am. I'm also hoping we'll get more
of him too. There's a lot of setups still to do,
so it'll be curious to see how they balance it,
possibly in the second chapter when it comes to these
new faces that we have not seen it up until
(24:34):
this point. And I also think for the benefit of
people who don't read comics, who are these people? So,
you know, explain Harbinger to me, Explain Pariah to me,
Explain the Monitor to me. I think by and large
we've got a decent explanation of the Monitor. And I
think it's very apt that you compare the monitors to
the watchers because it's pretty much is the same role
they have, which is kind of what this monitor explains
(24:55):
to us is they usually just observe the universe. They
don't inter act, and they don't interfere. But this case,
in this case, it's such a huge groundbreaking moment that
will literally destroy every earth anywhere. So the Monitor's like,
I think, we kind of need to step in here
and do something about it. So he's going against the
code almost similar to what we you know, we saw.
(25:18):
So when it came to what if in the MCU,
so here you wonder where there'll be repercussions for the
Monitor taking an active role in changing what is supposed
to happen. And I did like the introduction of him
as well, and they much felt like this Odin kind
of character, the all farther, the way he addresses all
our heroes and tries to give him the lowdown on
(25:43):
what is going what's going to happen, and then mysteriously disappears,
and so definitely there are questions there where the heck
is the Monitor? And I'm sure we'll find out come
part two. Yeah, I agree. I think I really like
McDonald's voice work, and I was kind of surprised because
it has been a while since i've read Christ on
Infinite Earths, and I am not sure if in Christ
(26:04):
and I do believe Harbinger is her own character, its
own character, and it's not Supergirl, but I could be
wrong on that. Do you remember, Keith, whether Harbinger was
just a character or whether it really was Supergirl in
the comics.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
It's been decades, so I'm gonna have to go back
and reread it, but I think she was he wrong
character in the comic books, and I know who the
weird guy is I don't know if you I'm gonna
spoil it for you now or wait till we find out.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Well, you might have to because that is a question
posed by a certain somebody who has written in today.
So we'll feel free to save that for when we
get to our feedback, because I had my theories as well,
but are we interested to see whether they are align
with what I was thinking? And yeah, and the Specter
is fantastic. He very much is the spirit of vengeance.
(26:53):
And the way he just has that talk to Barry
I appreciated, granted in his own ways kind of saying yes,
you're to blame because you literally changed everything. And so
now we've got you know, you've run your race. Sorry
another put I'm sorry, but possibly not sorry. And that's
kind of the end of it. But you will have
time to say goodbye to everybody. We do see Barry
(27:14):
appearing all over the place to his younger self, and
then of course we get that call back to war
World where he's talking to Conan Batman, you know, kind
of that appearance saying you have to go back to
the beginning. What does he mean? I guess we shall
find out. And then the review as I said before
of Supergirl being Harbinger was it was cute, what, of
(27:35):
course was a great court well made me feel very
much like going. We talked about this off era too,
of when it came to the Infinity War when she
finally gets to talk to Brainy bring At five obviously
her boyfriend, and he starts to disappear, very similarly to
how characters were literally turned into dust when it came
to the Snap. So I appreciate that. And of course
(27:59):
the ending is very very open this because we literally
see super Goal fall to her knees on an empty satellite,
not even the monitor. Is that everybody's like boom disappeared.
So I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this will
pick up when it comes to pot two. And I
said before, I really appreciate these characters. What were you
happy with the way this first part wrapped up?
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Keith for what we got or how they wrote this
initial story, I'm sure, okay, maybe could it have been better,
Rababie could have been worse one percent. I think this
is kind of like that good happy medium balance. It
(28:41):
was not, you know, the greatest ending ever. At the
same time, they had prefaced this story with saying they
were going to have multiple movies, so I automatically knew
there was going to be a second movie or a
third movie. So I wasn't like, well, shit, are they
going to make another one? No, I already knew there.
So it's a good enough ending for this type of story.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah, I think you have to leave it on the cliffhanger,
knowing that there will be more parts. So I think,
as I said, you have to keep your audience captivated,
and I was certainly captivating. I'm like, I'm definitely looking
forward to seeing where this will go. Granted, of course
it won't be a direct I think adaptation of the comics,
because they've already taken Liberty, so be curious to see
how they do it. And because this these three movies
(29:25):
technically end the Tomorrow Verse, so I'm very curious to
see how then it will expand and go into the
next phase of the DC Animated Universe, because of course
we are going to be getting more movies from them,
and I'm very happy to hear that. So I see
how this chapter of this particular phase ends and how
we start. Unless it's one big reboot, we shall see.
(29:48):
So I guess then if there isn't anything else getting
to ratings, then what do you give this first part
of prices on infinite earths out of ten?
Speaker 4 (29:57):
I'm not even going to be nice about it. Six
point not even it passes, but just barely. And the
only reason why it passes is because of all the
characters they introduced the very end. The fact that we
got the question, Oh, I'm gonna there's so many of them,
could go nuts, Psycho, Pirate, the Specter Monitor, so on
(30:21):
and so forth. I could continue on and on on.
So the fact that we got all these characters is
what's saving. If we didn't have the introduction of the
character in such a good voice cast, it probably would
have been a good five because it was just a
very boring, dry movie.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
We're just totally fair and yes, even getting the introduction
of such characters as even Vixen, because I think we
might have seen Mixen maybe in the Justice League TV series,
because we came to my memory, this was the first
time I actually saw Vixen. At first, I didn't know
who she was when we saw her on the cat
walk coming like who is that? And then when I
obviously saw the which was wearing around and they come like, oh,
(30:57):
of course it's Vixen. So so there we go. I'm
gonna give this as a six and a half out
of ten, as I did enjoy parts of it and
I am and it did make me look forward to
part two. But as I said before, I think we
could have used the time that was allotted to us
a little bit better and maybe trim down the initial
(31:18):
half an hour, which can be rather confusing as what
exactly is going on here? And why are we here?
I guess, But then I think it kicks into gear
with it when the second act rolls around, which can
be a little bit late. You might have lost your
audience by then, but it does kick into a better
gear as Act two and Act three come around, and
(31:38):
as I said, we does make for a good cliffhanger
for this first part. So, getting thus to recommendations, is
there anything you would like to recommend to our listeners
this week coming off of this.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
It's kind of hard because we're so early on in
the story and stuff I'm gonna recommend is basically this story,
so just be completely left field, I would recommend the
previous movies in the universe, just so it kind of
brings you up to speed with what's going on, and
then the what If cartoon because we had been referencing
(32:13):
the Watcher and different the Multiverse and so on and
so forth. So if you want something that's got a
little more diversity to a certain extent, go check out
the what If. They have had three seasons so far,
and then always any Else World comic books, which is
what War World was based on, and then what If
comics as well.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Some great recommendations. I'm going to go on the comic
book side of things and going to another crisis, and
probably my favorite of the DC crisis is Identity Crisis,
which is probably my favorite because I love a good
who Done It and a good detective story. So if
you're into that kind of genre and get to see
our Justice League trying to unravel a rather gruesome murder
(32:57):
and who might be behind that, I fully pick up
Identity Crisis. I believe, as I said before, you can
get it as a trade paperback. I think if Memory
sever thing is like six parts. If that, the artwork
is absolutely phenomenal, especially the cover which where Wonder Woman
graces that. That's problem of my favorite versions and drawings
(33:19):
of Wonder Woman. It just captivated me. Is so gorgeous
to look at and so well done, so I would
highly recommend Identity Crisis. Either. Of course, support your local
comic book store. I'm sure they likely have it because
it isn't that old, so they likely have a trade
paperbacker lying around somewhere. If not, of course, you can
always find it digitally like I do, because over here
(33:41):
in Italy our comics are translated and I don't really
like to read them in Italian. I'd rather read them
in English, in the original language that they were intended
to be read in, And so my go to is Comicxology.
Free plug their Comicxology. So of course, if you like
sponsoring us, let us know. We'd love to have you
on board. So I guess then, getting to happiness and
(34:02):
Darkness fan mail, we do have some this week, once
again from the wonderful Erin case. His subject line, which
I love is Batman and Catwoman, a match made in Arkham,
and that is definitely a great quote. So Erin writes
in Hello, hey dj Nick and Keith hey Erin, I've
been craving. There you go, I've been craving an adaptation
of Chrisis on Infinite Earth's since DC decided to start
(34:25):
doing animated features based on comic storylines, one of the
main reasons is that Crisis on Infinite Earth's was one
of the first comics I ever read. That was a
bad idea because I was beyond confused as to why
there were so many different versions of the same characters
and nothing made a lot of sense. Well, more power
to you for that been your first comic erin It
(34:47):
wasn't until a few years later, when I was more
accustomed to the DC universe, that I reread it and
everything finally clicked. I have mixed feelings about this first
part of the trilogy. By trying to film into the
tying this film into the Wider Tomorrow Verse, I found
myself a little frustrated during the first half. What I
(35:07):
enjoy so much about the comic is that we aren't
tied to any one Earth, but instead experiencing the story
from one Earth's perspective. We see how each Earth is
responding to the events. If there is a main character,
it's the Monitor at first, and then it shifts to
the chosen heroes from the various Earths. By turning the
(35:28):
first forty five minutes into the Flashi's greatest hits. I
got a little board sound for Milli Keith. This was
clearly done to establish an emotional connection to a specific earth,
and I imagine it will work for most people. But
I wasn't too keen on the Tomorrow verse, so I
don't get that connection. I would much prefer seeing more
of the various alternate versions of our characters instead. Having
(35:51):
not yet watched the second and third parts, there are
a few twists and turns that pique my interest. Who
is the vagrant that some how has powers? My first
assumption was how Jordan is the specter? But then the
specter shows up? Or is it psycho pirate? Nope, He's
been there the whole time, and then just as mysteriously disappears.
(36:13):
Though I'm not thrilled with this entry, it does need
me intrigued for the next two parts. Take care erin
the question. Okay, so I guess think Keith, feel free
to share your answer when it comes to this vagrant
that some nowhow has powers.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
You've seen this individual already and you will remember his
glowing yellow eyes and he is lovingly referred to as
doctor Fate or if you don't think that's the character,
it's going to be John Constantine because again magic and
literally there's two popular male figures that have popped up
(36:55):
across the universe at this point that many of our
watchers and listeners are familiar with. So it's going to
be doctor fit. Answer good. So that's you can quote
me on it right now on what are today's date
is in the year twenty twenty five, the twenty first
of January. So when we come back and do two
and three, if I'm wrong, you can fire me, nick.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
I never would. I mean, I think that's that's definitely
a good hot take because at first I guess that
the character that the area is referring to is the
guy that looked a little bit shifty and then went
into the costume machine. At first I thought that was
the psycho Pirate, but as I said, I could also
be wrong. And you know, but I think doctor Fate
could be an even better guess because as I said before,
(37:41):
it's a It did have me won in because you
look very shady and look kind of almost evil, because
you know, when it comes to artwork, of course, you
when you draw the shifty eyes, like is this guy
on the level? And I thought might don know, So
that's why I thought it might have been the Psycho Pirates,
because we do then see the Psycho Pirate in the room,
but maybe that's after he went into the magic dress
(38:02):
up machine. So I don't know, But I mean, I
think John Constantine or Doctor Fate could be a good,
could be some good, some good guesses. I guess we
shall see. But also we know spoiler's Psycho Pirates might
play quite an important role in this movie, in this
in this story, so it remains to be seen. But
(38:22):
of course, thank you very much Erin for writing, and
we really appreciate the feedback, and we're so happy that
you're watching along with us that you are just as
blind as we are because you haven't watched the second
third part, so never looking forward to more of your
feedback next the next couple of weeks. And of course,
dear listeners, if you want to be like the amazing
Erin and share your thoughts on the movies we discuss here,
(38:43):
not even not just the current ones. You can even
go check our back catalog out and even come back
to us from you with your thoughts on other movies
we've reviewed. You can, of course do that by sending
an email to Happiness in darknesshow at gmail dot com.
Once again, Happy and Darkness how at gmail dot com.
You can of course follow us on our social media
(39:05):
on x We're at High Darkness pod and also on
Facebook where Coon finds us Happiness and Darkness the Superheroly Podcast.
And of course if you are listening to us on
such platforms as Spotify or podcasts, we sure to rate
and review us because it definitely keeps the algorithm stimulated
and of course it allows our little show to reach
more ears like yours. Of course, sure to spread the word,
(39:27):
Tell your friends, tell your enemies. We don't care, we
just we of course appreciate you. You we're spreading the word
and that it means a lot to us. So for
those who have done so, thank you very much. In
the future, thank you to those who will do so so. Keith,
when you're not here discussing a crisis on Infinite Earth's,
where can folks find you on the interwebs?
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (39:48):
You know, me dropping planets looking for the Flash because
apparently everything in life is the Flash's fault. And that's
just going to be my new motto is what did
Flash do? Not? What would it's what did. When I'm
not hunting the Flash, you can catch me on some
of our friends podcasts, Star Trek The Undiscovered Podcast. I've
been on there a handful of times. I have a
(40:10):
couple of appearances coming up in the year twenty twenty five.
I think we're recording in a couple of weeks, so
don't be surprised or I guess be traumatized, depending on
how you look at it. What's the other one I'm
thinking of, Real Reactions. I've done a movie appearance on that.
I was on the first episode, and I know I
have a couple of other things in the works that
(40:31):
I don't want to talk about right now, but stay tuned.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
More look at Keith being all sneaky. I guess, so
more to come on that on that score, But yes,
of course check out our sister shows like, of course
Star Trek, The Undiscovered Podcast, Real Reactions, and I also
throw in the Fandom Zone and next up Everywhere the
Doctor Who podcasts. They are absolutely fantastic, fantastic things and
(40:57):
definitely should be on your in your queue when it
comes to wherever you get podcasts. When it comes to what's.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
That said, we get around a lot.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
We do, we do, and we have I think we're
I think it's great to say that we have many
friends in the podcasting world and it's wonderful to expand
the podcasting family. And when it comes to myself, of course,
you can find me at my day job hosting the
radio show Whiskey and Cigarettes, where we play the very
best and nothing but the best of country music for
you guys from Alabama to Zach Brown, and of course
(41:28):
some more information about that even use our website, which
of course is Whiskey and Cigarettes show dot com. Podcast
Wise as you can find myself and there's two lovely ladies,
Rachel Friend and Zan Sprouse. On gold Standard the Oscars podcast,
we have reviewed all the Best Picture winning movies in
chronological order, and as we wait for the ninety seventh
Best Picture to reveal itself, we are of course reviewing
(41:48):
movies that we have picked, and we have returning and
new guest co hosts coming and bring their favorite movies
to the gold Standard Theater hopefully. I think this also
gives me a chance to wish everybody out in California
the very best. We're definitely praying for you guys. We're
crossing fingers and very sorry for the loss of property
and people, when definitely hoping things will be better when
(42:10):
it comes to the Sunshine State. And last, but certainly
not least, myself and Charles Skaggs can be found on
the fandom Zone. We recently wrapped up our review of
the first season of Preacher Commandos. We will be returning
in March for our next review, which will be Daredevil
Born Again, where I'll be driving the bus as Charles
(42:30):
tends to drive the bus when it comes to DC
related stuff and I tend to drive the bus on
Marvel related stuff. So if you want to go and
check out what we thought to Preach Commandos, check out
the fandom Zone and speindings to come on this show.
Next time, of course, will be taking on the twenty
twenty four Jeff Wamuster film Justice League Crisis on Infinite
Earth's Art two. So keith any thoughts or theories on
(42:56):
our next movie or anything else before we set off.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
No, I have actually not watched this one. I've been
holding off for all three of them to pop up
on HBO, so this will be a true first reaction
opposed to like, hey, I've seen it and forgot all
about it because it was that bad reaction.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Fantastic and of course the listens feel free to watch
along with us and we love hearing for hearing your
thoughts on this concluding chapter of the Tomorrow Verse. So
that said, of course, thanks has always this is shown
supporting us. We will see you next time with Justice
League christ on Infinite Earth's Part two. Until then, thank
you so much for the privilege of your time. Stay
(43:35):
Super Show. Mobby s
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