Twilight | Episode 27
Aired: July 5, 2003
Heroes: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, J'onn Jonzz, Hawkgirl, Forager, Orion, Lightray and Highfather
Villains: Darkseid, Brainiac, Desaad, Kalibak and Steppenwolf
Objects: Boom Tube, Apokoliptian Weapons, Mother Box, Javelin, Nth Metal, Lasso of Truth, and Utility Belt (Exploding Batarang)
Places: Apokolips, Justice League Watchtower, New Genesis, and Brainiac's Base
Beasts: New Genesis Beast
Written By: Rich Fogel & Bruce Timm
Directed By: Dan Riba
Twilight | Episode 28
Aired: July 5, 2003
Heroes: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, J'onn Jonzz, Hawkgirl, Forager, Orion, Lightray, Highfather, Mister Miracle and the Forever People (Mark Moonrider, Big Bear, Beautiful Dreamer, Vykin the Black and Serifan)
Villains: Darkseid and Brainiac
Objects: Javelin, Nth Metal, Aerodiscs, Boom Tube, Mother Box, The Source, and Utility Belt (Grappling Gun and Exploding Batarang)
Beasts: Robots
Written By: Rich Fogel & Bruce Timm
Directed By: Butch Lukic
Twilight Review by randomguy
It's kinda funny, actually. After I finished watching this, it took me about 5 minutes to piece my thoughts together. It was just so much, so much to take in, that it took real time for me to decide how I felt about it. Even now, I find it really hard to reach an overall consensus with myself. Finishing "Twilight" is a lot like finishing Metal Gear Solid 2- you have no idea what the hell you just watched/played. But you think you liked it.
The Bad:
Lump me in with the "Batman was out of place" crowd. Many of his one-liners, and his general sense of humor, seemed horribly out of character. From "peachy" to "wacky", our favorite Dark Knight just seemed a little off. I'm one of those guys who thinks that Batman shouldn't appear in off-Earth stories, and "Twilight" only reaffirmed that belief. I think Green Lantern would have been much more at home in a story like this. Plus, Batman seemed way too callous and unfeeling, even for Batman.
As Matt said, the New Gods had little relevancy to the plot and didn't need to appear. Although the Orion cameo at the beginning was nice, all the further appearances by him and his clan seemed largely unnecessary.
Braniac was pretty lame here, and less than imposing. It seems to me that adding Braniac into a story that's clearly about Superman and Darkseid kind of clutters things up.
The rest of the League actually had disappointingly little to do here. And yes, having Hawkgirl watch hawks on a video monitor was a little goofy.
Finally, the ending bits, with the anti-life equation, were completely incomprehensible. What is Braniac using Superman for? How is Superman, under the control of Darkseid via Braniac, able to help facilitate the destruction of New Genesis? In other words, what the heck is going on?
The Good (and there's plenty of it):
The animation seemed markedly improved. Fluid, visually arresting, consistent, and colorful, I don't think JL has ever looked better. The Futurama-esque spaceships in the prologue to Part 1 were breathtaking and compelling. The boom-tube effect was considerably cooler-looking. All the energy blasts and fires came off well.
The backgrounds were much better as well. Probably the blandest part of Season 1 (visually), "Twilight" showcased highly improved backgrounds. Particularly noteworthy was the Andy Warhol-ish interior of Braniac's spaceship. I found it much cooler than its Superman: TAS counterpart. New Genesis looked good too.
The action scenes were kinetic and suspenseful. It's hard to make action scenes work in animation, especially fight scenes, because it's hard to replicate the impact and weight of real life. But in "Twilight" you could feel each punch; every hit felt real and substantial. That's something to be commended.
Nice to get some development on Hawkgirl, my favorite S1 member of the League.
Superman is well and truly back. Though still a caring, compassionate hero, the Superman of "Twilight" possessed an understandable rage and a tangible frustration. Though a little headstrong, he clearly was good-hearted. This is the way Superman should be, in my opinion.
The music was superb. More on its highest point later.
The wide-screen format is gorgeous. I'd forgotten how much it added to the epic, cinematic feel of the show. It's especially nice knowing that it's true wide-screen.
The Superman/Darkseid confrontation was satisfying, and everything it should have been. Make no mistake, Superman wholeheartedly intended to kill Darkseid, and me, I have no problem with that. The coolest part of their fight had to be the reappearance of the Superman: TAS theme. Simply glorious.
Overall:
A really epic, powerful episode, "Twilight" was knocked painfully short of perfection by some trite and campy dialogue and problematic plot holes. Still, this was good stuff, an obvious improvement over Season 1, and a promising start to a new 26 episodes. Here's to the future.
