Time to tackle the biggest part of the Legion Media retrospective: the 2006 animated series.
Please keep in mind that this won’t have a consistent schedule, because reviewing animation takes CONSIDERABLY more time than comics.
The series debuted 8 months after the ending of the massively popular Teen Titans cartoon.
Given that they both feature superhero teens from DC Comics and that they share several crew members (most notably character designer Derrick J. Wyatt), there is an assumption that the series was created to recapture its popularity.
Another rumor is that the Justice League Unlimited Far From Home, which aired 5 months earlier, was a backdoor pilot for a new Legion series.
Producer James Tucker disproves both and gives the actual origin of the series:
Let’s get the myths out of the way. The Legion series was never tied to the Justice League Unlimited episode. Supergirl was never, ever going to be in the Legion. The true origin of the series came out of Cartoon Network’s desire to have a Superman-centric series premiere when the movie Superman Returns premiered. Superman as part of the Legion worked for them. So the series was originally developed for Cartoon Network, then they passed and Kids’ WB! stepped in. They, too, wanted a Superman-centric series with Superman fresh out of Smallville, learning to be Superman. That’s the reality.
JAMES TUCKER
The series was passed from Cartoon Network to Kid’s WB, and it didn’t quite debut together with Superman Returns but 3 months later.
Another rumor that is definitely more based in reality is the idea that the series was initially supposed to include SuperBOY, not SuperMAN.
Initially press releases about the series did explicitly mention Superboy, but from that moment onward there are only references to Superman in all production material and in the show itself.
It’s very likely that he WAS supposed to be Superboy in the show… in fact there’s a line at the end of the first episode that really feels like a rewrite.
However, at the time of the show’s release, DC Comics was in a legal dispute with the Siegel family about the legal rights of Superboy: in fact, from 2006 up until about 2008, the Siegel family owned the Superboy copyright and DC Comics owned the Superboy trademark.
With such a mess, it’s no wonder that they simply called him Superman in the show.
Before we look at the first actual episode, let’s discuss the intro.
It’s not even a minute long, it’s not like I will have a lot of things to say right?
Right?
Season 1 intro
First shown in: Episode 1, “Man of Tomorrow”
Original release: September 23rd, 2006
Running time: ~56 seconds
As a written review I can’t talk about the theme music, but I really like it.
It’s catchy, it has a good rhythm, and it does have a bit of a retro vibe that matches well the slightly retro-futuristic influence on the worldbuilding.
Superman is so front and center in the promotion that the intro begins with:
-The series logo, which already includes the Superman logo, coming out of an explosion
-A closeup of Superman’s costume to showcase the logo
They REALLY don’t want you to forget that this is a Superman show!!!
He then flies upwards and towards the camera, giving us a look at his design.
He’s definitely the character with the most traditional design: no changes to his classic look, just a slightly more youthful look to distinguish him from the adult version.
He’s voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, a voice actor veteran best known for his role as Spider-Man in several games and cartoons. You can sometimes hear a tiny bit of his Peter Parker in the show, but he has enough range to sound distinctly different.
You might think this is a bit of stunt casting, but he actually voiced the teenage Superman long before he voiced Spider-Man.
Next we get a shot of Legion Headquarters, which DOES look like an upside-down rocket!
We will later see a full shot of the building that showcases how it’s more of a mixture of different headquarters from throughout the years.
Also, this is when we see that the 31st century sky is permanently reddish. It will be like this throughout the whole season in any daytime scene, without any explanation ever given.
We then zoom into the building, where Brainiac 5 is sitting on a rotating floating chair surrounded by symbols of the Legionnaires. More on him later.
The symbols are mostly from the comics with a couple of new variations, but they are not always consistent with who is in the show… there are scenes where a screen shows the symbol of a Legionnaire who has not joined the team yet!
As such, the membership count will consider ONLY members who make an appearance or who are explicitly mentioned, NOT if their symbol is seen.
This is by far the most drastic departure from the comics of any adaptation of Brainiac 5.
Unlike the Justice League Unlimited episode that SOMEHOW made him a biological relative of the robotic original Brainiac, the show sidesteps the whole problem by making Brainiac 5 being from a fully robotic species.
They also incorporate into his design the three connected dots that have been Brainiac’s symbol since Superman: The Animated Series, and he looks distinctly younger than the other Legionnaires.
While the series aired during the Threeboot continuity, it picks almost nothing from the designs of that era (with the big exception of Star Boy).
Aside from the robot aspect, the look of the show’s Brainiac 5 seems heavily inspired by his appearances in the late Reboot, particularly in the Olivier Coipel style.
Having him look younger in the comics made perfect sense to me: his people are supposed to have a much longer lifespan than humans, but that period is one of the few occasions when it’s noticeable.
In the show he’s voiced by Adam Wylie, who also voices Colossal Boy… not that you’d notice, both because he gives him a different voice and because Colossal Boy doesn’t have a ton of lines.
He has several roles but Brainiac 5 seems to still be his highest profile role in voice acting.
He also voiced Jimmy Olsen in the “Superman: Doomstay” animated movie, and I have to say he looks way more like Jimmy than Brainy!
Next up is Saturn Girl, where you can really start to see that Derrick J. Wyatt was the character designer.
The costume design is extremely classic, but there are several touches that make this version stand out. While it’s not very clear from the intro, her boots incorporate a weird futuristic heel that will be used by several girls in the show.
Her earrings are not connected to anything, they just float; given her closeups that’s not an animation error but a deliberate choice.
Most importantly, this is the only incarnation of Saturn Girl who DOES look like she’s from another planet! This is an aspect of the cartoon that I really REALLY liked: having several of its supposedly alien members actually look a bit alien.
She has an alien eye color, ridiculously high eyebrows (she almost has a widow’s peak to accommodate them!) and while it doesn’t stand out that much from the intro her skin color is distinctly different from other white characters in the show.
She’s voiced by veteran voice actress Kari Wahlgren, and she must have made enough of an impression to voice a different version of Saturn Girl in 2019 on Young Justice.
She will also voice Triplicate Girl, Shrinking Violet and Infectious Lass in the show: this is a great showcase of her range since they sound NOTHING alike.
She could also have passed for a decent adult Saturn Girl in 2006.
Next up is Lightning Lad, introduced with a closeup shot of his eye lighting up his lightning-shaped eye scar. There can be no doubt that this design feature exists only because of Harry Potter.
Aside from the scar (which lights up when he uses his powers), the design is mostly based on the Reboot design of Live Wire. Because this was aired during the Threeboot, and possibly to avoid confusion with the Live Wire villain of Superman’s cartoon, he’s called Lightning Lad.
He’s voiced by Andy Milder, who will reprise the role by voicing Lighting Lad in the 2016 direct-to-DVD animated movie “Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League”, of all places.
He will reunite with Kari Wahlgren voicing Saturn Girl and Yuri Lowenthal voicing Cosmic Boy (instead of Superman), and yes I will eventually review that.
He looks absolutely nothing like Lightning Lad, but I think he nailed the voice for what they were going for.
Next we have Triplicate Girl, with a design that is a big divergence from her previous looks.
The biggest influence from comics is from the Reboot since her duplicates have different colors, but this one goes a step further by giving the three bodies three different hair colors.
She triplicates after spinning around, with all her three bodies striking a pose; notice she has those weird futuristic heels Saturn Girl wears. I don’t think we ever see her other eye in Season 1.
This is a Derrick J. Wyatt design if I ever saw one; you can definitely tell this miniskirt + high boots combo was designed by the same guy who designed Starfire from the Teen Titans cartoon.
As mentioned she’s voiced by Kari Wahlgren, which I find it funny because it means that she’s still talking with herself even when she’s not voicing her duplicates!
We get a shot of the Legion Cruiser, which looks nothing like any comics version I could think of.
They definitely couldn’t have used the 70s version without being sued by Star Trek.
Piloting the ship is Bouncing Boy, which is a bit of a surprise: he will have powers in the show, something that hadn’t been a thing since 1994 at this point!!!
He’s voiced by Michael Cornacchia, who seems to be the voice actor with the shortest resumé out of those we have seen so far.
I could see him as Bouncing Boy if he put on a bit more weight!
Phantom Girl phases out of her own symbol.
Given the spooky theme I remember some speculation that she was going to be the Raven of the team, but she will play a completely different role.
Another visibly Derrick J. Wyatt design, heavily inspired by the Reboot look of Apparition but incorporating her symbol and those hair clips.
Given the look her mother has in the show (she will play an important role) and the more alien aesthetic, I would not have been surprised to find out those were horns!
She’s voiced by Heather Hogan, who unlike the rest of the cast doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page; most of her voice acting roles seem to be in video games.
She could potentially pass as Phantom Girl in live action.
Then we have a quick shot of Timber Wolf slashing the camera with his claws.
He’s a bit of a wildcard (pun intended) for several reasons.
The most glaring one is that he doesn’t show up until the second episode and doesn’t join the team until its end, so the intro is a spoiler.
But he’s also unique from previous incarnations: the costume is mostly the classic 70s one, but other than that he doesn’t really resemble any specific Timber Wolf look.
I have no doubt that he’s mostly here to be the Wolverine equivalent, and in fact this is probably the most Wolverine-adjacent version of the character… although his characterization is fairly solid and nothing like Wolverine.
He’s voiced by actor Shawn Harrison; this series (where he also voices Ron-Karr in season 2) seems to be his only voice acting role.
After a quick shot at the Mission Monitor showcasing the symbols…
…the intro then moves to scenes taken directly from the show, mostly from episode 1 with a couple for later episodes.
This begins at about the 30 second mark, meaning that HALF of the intro is recycled animation from the series. I believe this is one of the reasons why the intro doesn’t become a beloved classic and it does make it come across as a bit cheap.
But we then get a shot of our main cast (minus Superman) flying past the camera…
…followed by the secondary cast, together with Superman.
This is also a spoiler because both Star Boy (with his race-swapped Threeboot look) and Matter-Eater Lad will join the team during the show.
Cosmic Boy, Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet will have speaking roles, while Element Lad won’t get to say a single line in the show.
And finally we have a long shot that begins with a closeup of the Legion Headquarters and zooms back, as the main Legionnaires jump into the frame.
This allows you to see that the Legion Headquarters isn’t just the upside-down rocket, which instead extends into a larger base. This makes the building something of a merged version of different incarnations.
And we finally conclude the intro with Superman jumping into the front of the team, then fading into the series logo once last time.
Across most of the intro, the bottom of the screen showed a sequence of Legion symbols.
It’s a bit all over the place and includes the symbols of characters that either will join the team during the show (some during Season 2), or will have only cameos, or even won’t show up at all.
For example we see Dawnstar and Polar Boy’s symbol but they’re not in the show proper besides some blink-and-you’ll-miss cameos; they will have a proper appearance in the tie-in comic (which I will eventually cover).
Invisible Kid, Chemical King, Shadow Lass, and Quislet have their logos in their intros, but they never show up as members.
Although I guess Invisible Kid could be in the team for all we know.
Considering I didn’t talk about the recycled animation, that covered just about 30 seconds.
You might have figured out why it takes me so much to review non-comics stuff.