Season 1, Episode 8: “Lightning Storm”
Written by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Lauren Montgomery
Original release: February 10th 2007
Running time: 22 minutes
Air time: Saturday morning
We begin with a Giant Space Squid attacking a ship. There sure are a lot of giant space monsters in the Animated continuity.
You might recognize Stan Berkowitz as the writer: he has credits in A LOT of DC Animated shows, including the Legion episode from the Superman cartoon.
Fittingly for a giant monster, Colossal Boy shows up to help. But don’t get too excited, it’s barely more than a glorified cameo.
But the rest of the Legion is here, including Triplicate Girl with my second favorite joke of the episode.
Unfortunately the Giant Buttless Space Squid is way too tough even for the Legion.
But they won’t have to do this alone, because a second team shows up.
Tyr is the leader of the team (which is still unnamed at this point).
He’s voiced by none other than Khary Payton, best known as the voice of Cyborg in the Teen Titans cartoon and many others. He plays him with a slightly lower voice, but you can definitely tell that’s him.
The comics counterparts of these guys are easily recognizable with the exception of Ron-Karr.
He’s a full shapeshifter in this version…
…instead of his original power.
This team saves the Legion, which is proving to be incredibly ineffective.
Hunter is ALSO voiced by Khary Payton, and he’s doing a TERRIBLE Australian accent here.
Imagine a scene where Cyborg is doing an outrageously over-the-top Australian accent for a silly joke, and it’s even worse than that.
Wave is also there. Don’t know why they went with Spider Girl’s AWFUL late 5YL identity, but that’s a good design.
She’s uncredited in the episode; I thought she MAYBE had one line somewhere, but she never speaks.
Lightning Lad is the only Legionnaire who manages to do anything, saving Tyr from one of the tentacles. Everyone else just get slimed.
Wait, how is the slime dripping from their bodies when they’re in space!?
Despite looking like amateurs, the Legion still decides to thank the new team.
And that was the extent of Colossal Boy’s role in this episode.
Lightning Lad is taking the botched mission pretty hard.
The rest of the team isn’t so keen on the new guys.
Whereas Lightning Lad is in full hero-worship mode.
Sassy Saturn Girl is the best Saturn Girl.
But they’ll see these guys soon again…
This is one of the most retro callbacks to the very earliest days of the Legion: a bunch of teenagers hanging out at a 2950s diner!
Bouncing Boy is the one with the food joke, but I noticed Triplicate Girl is eating AFTER triplicating so I wouldn’t be surprised if she technically eats more.
Lightning Lad is past the hero-worship phase and into “I want to sit with the cool kids” phase.
Besides Tyr, the new entry with the highest amount of lines is Esper.
She’s voiced by Tara Strong, because I guess she’s contractually obligated to have a voice credit in any cartoon ever.
Lightning Lad should be happy: he DID manage to impress them.
The team gets a surprisingly good name: the Light Speed Vanguard.
That’s obviously just so that they have the same LSV acronym of the Legion of Super-Villains, which is where all of these characters ended up in the original continuity, but it’s still a good name even if you don’t know the inside joke.
Unsurprisingly, Tara Strong delivers a great performance as Esper, giving her a very arrogant tone.
Also I just noticed: since she’s a telepath she’s implied to be from Titan, which is probably why they gave her the same pink eyes that Saturn Girl has.
She doesn’t have the same crazy eyebrows though.
She’s also alternating between maybe flirting with Lightning Lad and belittling him.
Also the LSV might be intended to be older than the Legionnaires? Considering who the final member is, that’s probably right.
On one hand, yeah the Legionnaires ARE a bunch of teenagers having fun.
On the other hand, why not?
Still, not a bad audition for Lightning Lad.
Wait, did I say audition? YES.
Sadly we don’t get a proper audition THIS episode: that’s for the next one.
But we do have a whole lot of cameos for Animated versions of comics rejects!!!
Chlorophyll Kid will be part of the Substitute Heroes episode, but we also have a cameo by Antennae Lad, Night Girl and I’m pretty sure the girl with the had on fire is supposed to be Comet Queen despite looking nothing like her.
Other cameos include Infectious Lass (who we will see in the Subs episode), Double-Header (who luckily we won’t see)
We even get a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from POLECAT!!!
Do you even remember Polecat from Adventure Comics #331?
Even Invisible Kid II is here, marking the only occasion I recall of a continuity where he’s introduced without the original Invisible Kid.
Then again the other Invisible Kid COULD be in the scene, just… you know.
As tempted as I am to include ALL these characters in the reject list… this is technically NOT an audition, and we don’t have confirmation that ALL of these will be given a chance.
Lightning Lad is not a fan of auditions.
Sadly Polar Boy and Fire Lad won’t be part of the Subs episode (I’m guessing their powers are too useful).
Also not surprinsg that Brainiac 5 is not a fan, but he does deliver a good joke.
The star of the Substitute episode, Porcupine Pete, actually makes his debut here.
He controls his quills even worse than in the comics.
Wait wait wait. Who is supposed to be that guy on the right?
Is that maybe The Mess from Adventure Comics #330 ???
Lightning Lad gets so frustrated that he uses the LSV calling card… which turns into a freaking portal!!!
This teleports him to the LSV ship, where he discovers that the leader of the team is none other than his brother Mekt. With a massive improvement to his costume!!!
Considering the last time we saw him he nearly caused the death of the President of the United Planets and escaped any consequences FOR NO REASON, he’s doing well for himself.
The fact that Mekt is the leader is what leads me to believe that all LSV members might be older than the Legionnaires.
Lightning Lad informs the Legion that he’s leaving, and believe it or not this is the first confirmation that he’s one of the founders.
Too bad that Saturn Girl’s Plot Sense is tingling.
Despite loving Saturn Girl, I always like when the comics or the show call her out on stuff like this.
I’m sure the fact there was another cute telepath flirting with Lightning Lad didn’t have aaaaanything to do with this.
Maybe it’s time to actually give the LSV a good look. In secret.
Speaking of Esper, she’s not as reticent as Saturn Girl to use her powers.
She reads his mind, and he’s thinking about his origin story.
This was actually kind of a big deal for the Legion fandom because we FINALLY hear the name of Lightning Lass.
It’s spelled Hayla in the subtitles but it’s Ayla, and the cartoon pronounces it “ey-la”.
I believe that’s probably how MOST Legion fans pronounce it? I instinctively think of her as “ai-la” but the show’s pronunciation makes more sense.
We only see the Lightning Beast zap the kids, but that’s enough to shock Esper.
Great little moment: Lightning Lad’s sister is NEVER mentioned in the first season, so the implication for anyone who isn’t familiar with the Legion is that she’s dead.
I really like that the cartoon respects the viewer enough o avoid spelling it out.
Superman and Timber Wolf are waiting around the LSV ship, hidden by a cloaking device.
This leads to my absolute favorite joke of the episode. I would go as far as to say that it’s in the top five best jokes of the whole series.
The LSV finally moves, dealing with a bunch of raiders attacking a crashed cargo ship.
However when Lightning Lad needs help, he doesn’t appreciate the Legionnaires showing up.
Superman is UNDERSTANDABLY not a big fan of Mekt; must be those huge shoulder pads.
Or the fact that he got away with almost killing the President and his friends, one of those two.
The LSV show what they really are as soon as the Legionnaires leave.
But back to important stuff: AUDITION TIME!!!
Honestly? Not the worst power shown in a Legion audition.
10/10, would recruit immediately.
The Legion received a distress signal… from the ship that the LSV previously saved: since the captain refused to pay the fee, they’re confiscating their cargo.
Despite the fact that said cargo is made of “decontamination units” that are needed to save a colony.
This is the last straw for Lightning Lad.
Great suggestion, Tyr, no notes.
Lightning Lad engages in a beam struggle with his brother; the Legion will take care of the rest of the LSV.
First match: Timber Wolf versus Australian Cyborg Hunter.
Which surprisingly requires the help of Saturn Girl.
Superman versus Tyr goes about as you’d expect.
The Legion Cruiser (piloted by Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl) versus the LSV ship (piloted by Ron-Karr and Wave).
My favorite is Saturn Girl versus Esper.
Finally, and I do mean FINALLY Lightning Lad doesn’t fall for his brother’s crap.
Too bad that he loses the fight.
Luckily for him, Mekt is just addicted to tormenting him.
Also notice that those ridiculous shoulder pads to seem to serve a practical purpose… are those parts of his costume helping him control his power better?
Mekt just flees AGAIN, and Lightning Lad is accepted back into the Legion.
The ones who really enjoyed the episode were Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl; she was REALLY impressed with his piloting skills.
And that wraps up the episode. Unless we forgot something?
Animated significance: 8/10
This is the last Season One appearance of Mekt, but he will get A LOT of character development in Season Two. Oddly enough, the only other character from the LSV to have a big significance in the second season will be Ron-Karr.
Does any of this show up in regular continuity?
I don’t think so? Unless Breath Boy is introduced, which he definitely should.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
The episode is really going for the “superhero club” of the very earliest days, and any audition automatically increases the score.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
It’s pretty good. Perhaps Lightning Lad is a bit too quick to leave the Legion, but the “teenager who wants to be considered an adult” angle is played well enough.
The LSV is quite solid for the most part; Tyr and Esper really stand out, and it’s a shame they don’t have bigger parts in the rest of the series. But I just couldn’t take Hunter seriously with that over-the-top accent, plus Ron-Karr and especially Wave don’t do anything.
Mekt’s descent into supervillainy is quite enjoyable, and it makes his evolution in Season Two even more satisfying.
There are a handful of great jokes here and there, and the taste of the audition really prepares you for the insanity that will be the Subs episode. Which, spoiler alert, I love to no end.
There are a couple of negatives though. I already mentioned that Ron-Karr and Wave are wasted, but I have to add that the action is nothing to write home about.
The fight between the lightning brothers is VERY underwhelming: the sound design tries its hardest to make it sound serious, accompanying each blast with thunder (don’t question how that even works when they’re fighting in space)… but I didn’t buy for even one second that any of the two was even remotely in danger.
We are Legion
16 active members (that we know of)
Rejected members: 1
Breath Boy
