Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Review: JLU episode 'Far From Home'

The last piece to my review of the Supergirl and Brainiac 5 relationship comes not from comics but the Justice League Unlimited episode 'Far From Home', officially JLU season two, episode 36. The episode is available in its entirety on YouTube and is definitely worth watching if you are either a Supergirl fan or a Legion fan. As a big fan of both, this is one of my absolute favorite episodes.

As I have said in prior reviews of the series, Supergirl was treated with a lot of respect, acting as a hero, throwing herself into battle, and making the tough decisions. This episode is no different. I can imagine that if JLU was how someone was introduced to Supergirl, that it would be easy to become a fan. Dwayne McDuffie wrote the story and Paul Dini wrote the screenplay, so my guess is these two comic professionals must be Supergirl fans themselves.

Anyways, a 30 minute episode means a long review. Here we go.

This episode starts in the future where Brainiac 5 and Bouncing Boy remain the only Legionnaires free from some unnamed threat. With the heroes so outnumbered (and let's face it outgunned ... I don't care who the villains are), Brainiac 5 decides to look to the past for allies. Unfortunately, incomplete historical records state that while 3 heroes traveled to the future, only 2 returned; the implication is one of the heroes dies.

Meanwhile, in the present, Supergirl is celebrating her 21st birthday in the Watchtower's version of the Danger Room. Jon Stewart is putting Supergirl through the paces but she remains up for any challenge. She makes short work of Dr. Cyber, Queen Bee, Atomic Skull, and the brutish Blockbuster (as seen above). She is shown to be a tenacious and relentless fighter. In fact, after mopping the floor with the villains, Green Lantern declares her training done. She has nothing left to learn.


Superman observes the training session from the control room. There is Supergirl taking on the Atomic Skull on the screens.

One thing I liked about this series was the mentor relationship Green Arrow took up with Supergirl. Supergirl is portrayed a bit as a hothead in the series, a passionate hero who makes snap decisions and wades into battle. Green Arrow, another passionate hero, would be a perfect mentor. Here he actually chastises Superman for his 'hands off' relationship with Supergirl. The two cousins aren't shown to be too close on the show, rarely interacting or working on the same mission.

Superman's response 'sounds' like a good idea ... he kept his distance because he didn't want his presence to over power hers. He wanted her to find her own way. But he hasn't even told her he is proud of her, even if she went so far as changing her costume to look more like his. Moreover, she is stuck on Earth, in a culture which is primitive compared to the one she grew up in on Argo. She must feel like an outsider and Clark's distance isn't helping things.

In the end, I think Superman is way off. He can't realize that he is her family, her only family, and should be close to her regardless of his stature?


With the training session over, the heroes are suddenly engulfed in Brainiac's time bubble and brought to the future.

When they arrive in the future, Supergirl recognizes Brainiac 5 as a Brainiac and does what any good super-hero would do. She attacks. I love that good-intentioned impulsive nature of Supergirl here. Just as she took on Galatea, just as she took on Amazo, just as she took on Deimos' men on Skataris (without powers too!), she leaps into action to take on a perceived threat.

Luckily, Brainy's force field belt holds. He is able to explain the situation. The Fatal Five have captured the rest of the Legion and have them mind-controlled. Brainiac grabbed the three random leaguers (yeah right) to help them in their battle.

Although she finds Brainy 'seriously cute', Supergirl isn't sure if they can trust him. GA and GL's instincts say otherwise.

But the plot thickens, Bouncing Boy knows that the date Supergirl was time-grabbed from is the last recorded date of her in the present. She will be the hero who 'does not return'. The Legionnaires keep the information from her so as not to derail history.

As the heroes begin to formulate a plan, they are discovered and attacked by the Emerald Empress and the Persuader from the Fatal Five. Brainy shows some nice moves but ultimately is hit by the Persuader and thrown into the air.

When Supergirl catches him, he reminds her that his force field belt will protect him from all harm. She responds that maybe she was trying to 'cop a feel'! Much like the Levitz issues of the LSH, the Supergirl here is clearly the aggressor of this courtship. Her comments here jibe with her characterization on the show.

And she holds her own in battle, duking it out with the Persuader.

Unfortunately, she does end up having a mind control disk placed on her forehead. In fact everyone ends up with a disk at one point. Brainy's intelligence helps him overcome the technology and free himself. With little time before the villains and enslaved heroes teleport out, Brainy rips the disk from Kara's forehead. She then rescues Green Arrow. But Bouncing Boy and Green Lantern are now slaves of the Fatal Five.


The next scene is absolutely priceless. Green Arrow wonders why Brainy rescued Supergirl rather than Green Lantern. After all, Green Lantern is the most powerful of the recruited heroes. Green Arrow thinks it's because Brainy loves Supergirl.

Here, Brainy rattles of the symptoms ... increased sweat, shortness of breath, inability to concentrate ... yup, it's love. Ollie then plays matchmaker, making himself scarce so Supergirl and Brainy will be 'alone for a long time'. Nice!

The Fatal Five decide that the time is now to attack the United Planets capitol. With the majority of the Legion and a GL under their control, nothing should be able to stop them.

I had to include a shot of some of the Five. Look at the old school Tharok! And Validus! Awesome.

The animated Supergirl shows that she is pretty intelligent too. She figures out that Brainy and her can track Green Lantern by his com-link using a 'quantum tunneling RF transponder'. Whoa ... heady stuff.

Again, this shows the respect the show had for Kara. She isn't just muscle, or just emotion. She is well-rounded.

And look at Brainy. He's smitten.

Brainy, Supergirl, and Green Arrow speed to the UP homeworld just as the Five arrive. The Legion slaves are sent out to destroy the planet.

Supergirl says she'll run interference against the Legion and Green Lantern so Green Arrow and Brainy can get on board the Five's ship and shut down the mind-control transmitter.

In another great moment, Brainy finally divulges that Supergirl will die in this battle. He almost blurts out he loves her. The information doesn't stop her from doing the right thing. She says she has a job to do, to protect a planet full of innocents.

As she leaves for the fight, she leans in and kisses him in case she doesn't see him again.

As a Supergirl fan, I don't think you could ask for a better scene. She knows what her duty is regardless of the risk.

Of course, seeing her kick the snot out of the Legion is great too.

I love this scene as she takes on all-comers of the Legion, punching, kicking, and tossing them aside.


Even my favorite Legionnaire Wildfire tastes Kara's fury as she delivers a devastating back round kick to his face plate.

But no matter how good she is as a fighter even she can't hold off the Legion forever. She eventually succumbs to their attacks just as Brainy and Ollie destroy the transmitter.


Freed from the Five's control, Green Lantern flies down to the fallen Supergirl, picking up her limp body.

How about this shot from the episode, clearly mirroring the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7! How many homages can that cover get? Is there anything more geek-tastic?

I have to say, the first time I saw this episode I thought they might have actually killed her off.

Turns out she was only mostly dead! Or maybe just resting.

She and the Legion flood the Fatal Five ship and defeat the villains soundly. Look at this heroic Supergirl floating in space victorious, the Legion (and I mean a lot of the Legion) there beside her.

As a Legion fan, it was great to finally see all these heroes I love on the screen.


But what about the prophecy about only 2 heroes returning from that battle.

Turns out it is true ... just not in the way everyone assumed. Supergirl never returns because she stays in the future. She and Brainiac 5 will be together.


Green Lantern adn Green Arrow return to the present. In a taped message to Superman, Supergirl tells him that she loves him but that she feels she belongs in the future ... a place where she can make a difference, be more than Superman's kid cousin. Also, she met a boy.

Superman finally melts a little, saying that Supergirl is headstrong but always made good decisions. He trusts her judgment. Would have been nice if he said those things to her while she was around!

This was the last season of JLU so who knows if there was a plan or ideas for a sequel episode had there been a third season. I would have loved to see Supergirl and the Legion turned into an ongoing series.

I really feel that the Justice League series portrayed Supergirl the way I like to envision her. She is passionate, and head strong, and finding her way. But her heart is always in the right place and she always does the right thing ... the heroic thing. It is too bad this was the last time we saw her on the show. But it certainly was a perfect way to end her story.

The Legion finally did get a series of it's own on CW Kids, a show that starred Superman (must have been while the 'Superboy' law suit was ongoing). But I preferred the version we saw here.

13 comments:

Ravenwynd said...

This was one of my favorite JLU episodes too. I liked any of them with Supergirl, lol. I was hoping that this was going to be the new "Legion" show instead of the one that came out. Supergirl's fight with the Legion and the crisis homage were fantastic.

valerie21601 said...

This episode is what attracted many young girls and young women into the Supergirl/Brainiac 5 romance story and their history. They went looking for it and was greatly disappointed that they couldn't find any current stuff and went home empty handed. I know of some young women who got seriously interested in both Supergirl and in the LoSH especially in Brainiac 5 because of this episode alone.

I read that Paul Dini is a big Supergirl/Brianiac 5 romance fan too and that he used to admit it in his online journal on LiveJournal. I looked at it but if was there it's no longer posted there, now. As this episode came out some years ago.

Oh, well there's still fan fiction. Surprisingly less than a handful of true Kara/Brainy stories out. The fan fiction has been slowly growing this past year.

anthonyriva said...

This was definitely one of my favorites! Supergirl AND the LOSH!! I geeked out through the entire episode when I first saw it.

This was supposed to be the back door pilot to a LOSH cartoon series and was supposed to have Supergirl as a main character. But, that was scrapped and they ended up producing the "Superman" and the LOSH series instead. I wish this came to fruition instead, but I did end up enjoying the LOSH series. It would have been nice to have Supergirl in the title role for once. Her character grew so much in the DCAU, it would have been nice to put her front in center for once.

Bubbly Bunny said...

Thank you for reviewing this Anj. I loved JLU because it introduced young future readers to comics and got them interested. It also referenced comics perfectly. I was sad when Supergirl left the show but at the same time i was delighted to know she would be in the future with Brainy and not dead/erased from history.(Sorry that still gets me a little mad)

Gene said...

This is the best animated depiction of Supergirl so far. Thank you for reviewing this Anj!

"Far From Home" had strong dialogue with plenty of memorable lines:

B5: "I have a 12th level intellect."

SG: "Great, you can knock them out with your diploma!"
---
B5: "A pickup, is that a type of star cruiser?"

GA: "Yes...Yes it is."
---
B5: "Shoot."

GA: "I know, I was hoping they would be out looking for us."

B5: "No! Shoot!!"
---
Superman: "Now, this boy Kara likes so much. Does he have a name?"
---

Anj wrote:
"One thing I liked about this series was the mentor relationship Green Arrow took up with Supergirl."

I completely agree. He was like Kara's cool uncle. In fact his depiction in JLU made me a GA fan. It was fitting that "Far From Home" was the last episode where he had any dialogue since he was with Kara from the first JLU episode "Initiation." Did GA and Supergirl share any adventure pre-COIE?

Anj wrote:
"This was the last season of JLU so who knows if there was a plan or ideas for a sequel episode had there been a third season. I would have loved to see Supergirl and the Legion turned into an ongoing series."

I read somewhere that if JLU was renewed for a third season, Bruce Timm would have done different time period episodes in the DCU like Enemy Ace in WWI. So a Kara/LOSH sequel episode would have been plausible.

Anj wrote:
"The Legion finally did get a series of it's own on CW Kids, a show that starred Superman"

There was a rumor that it was originally going to be "Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes" with "Far From Home" testing the waters. Producers of the Superman/LOSH show have strongly denied that rumor.

Anj wrote:
"It is too bad this was the last time we saw her on the show. But it certainly was a perfect way to end her story."

JLU and the whole DCAU ended a few episodes after "Far From Home." So like the Silver Age Supergirl, the DCAU Supergirl had a beginning, a middle, and an end, but with a much happier conclusion.

Bruce Timm has stated that Supergirl "kicks butt" so I have a feeling we will see another animated Supergirl again.

valerie21601 said...

The one of the BEST moments between Kara and Ollie is in Fearful Symmetry when GA without any hesitation is willing to take a Kryptonite bullet for Supergirl to save her life. Many young women fell for GA just because of this very intense, self-sacrificing scene and their father-daughter like relationship.

Anonymous said...

I liked this ep very much when I saw it, especially when the whole "Kara-must-DIE" meme was neatly aborted. But it was and is a somewhat melancholy viewing experience as it was Supergirl's last appearance in animation to date. Now if there was a every a medium MADE for Kara Zor El, it is a weekly animated program.
And yeah, if DC was smart they'd push the whole Querl Kara romance thing, I can also testify that it does hook in female readers.

John Feer

Anj said...

I read that Paul Dini is a big Supergirl/Brianiac 5 romance fan too and that he used to admit it in his online journal on LiveJournal. I looked at it but if was there it's no longer posted there, now. As this episode came out some years ago.

Thanks for the post.

Dini and Timm both have said they love Supergirl and you can see it in their episodes.

Anj said...

I was sad when Supergirl left the show but at the same time i was delighted to know she would be in the future with Brainy and not dead/erased from history.(Sorry that still gets me a little mad)

I completely agree. They played off the 'death of Supergirl' feel of the comics and twisted it into a more appropriate happy ending. I loved it.

Anj said...

"Far From Home" had strong dialogue with plenty of memorable lines:

B5: "I have a 12th level intellect."

SG: "Great, you can knock them out with your diploma!"


Yeah, the dialogue was great, the characterization was spot-on, and the ending rocked.

Just a great great episode.

Anj said...

But it was and is a somewhat melancholy viewing experience as it was Supergirl's last appearance in animation to date. Now if there was a every a medium MADE for Kara Zor El, it is a weekly animated program.

I keep hoping we'll see Supergirl somewhere and the potential is out there.

Batman Brave and the Bold
The upcoming Young Justice
A Superman/Supergirl movie

It has to happen.

TalOs said...

@ Anj: Bruce Timm's "S:TAS" ("Superman: the Animated Series")/"JLU" continuities own Kara/"Kara Kent"/Supergirl actually isn't Kara Zor-El from Krypton's Argo City sector but is actualy Kara In-Zee of Krypton's neighbouring planet Argo who's inhabitants just happen to share similar dna to that of their Kryptonian neighbours. ;-)

I too just adore this particular ep of JLU season 2 and would have loved there to have been a 3rd season where Timm and co revisit the 31st Century where Superman could've droped in to see how his "cousin" was doing with her new found life in the LSH era aswell as with her "soul mate" Brainy too. :-)

MOCK! said...

"Now, this boy Kara likes so much. Does he have a name?"

One of the best last lines for a tv episode EVER!