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The Doctor has seen THE NEW FRONTIER and I'm Jealous As Hell!!!
Hey folks, Harry here... This is my personal most anticipated entertainment event of 2008. A silly straight to DVD/BLU-RAY/HD-DVD release of a superhero cartoon? Fuck you. This is THE NEW FRONTIER - the first adaptation from DC of a comic book that I absolutely love. I was attracted to the book through the toys... Then I read the book and fell gaga in love... and now that it's going to be an animated film from the talented group that brought us so many great hours of joy? Well... here ya go. I just wish that George Miller and crew had actually picked great material like this to adapt as their first League story. Oh well - the world will catch up someday. Thanks goes to the dear Doctor for sending this report in...
Hey Guys,
I wrote a review for the film JL: The New Frontier after obtaining a copy recently. Thought I might send it your way just in case you might be interested in posting on your site.
Call me The Doctor and link to my site (GeekShow.US) if you do.
And here is the article:
Darwyn Cook’s DC: The New Frontier is a six issue mini-series published in 2004 about the birth of the Justice League in the Cold War-ridden America of the 1950’s. It is without a doubt one of the most brilliant comic series ever made (superhero or otherwise). So, when it was announced last year that DC’s new animation division would be adapting it as their second direct-to-DVD feature film, re-titled as Justice League: The New Frontier, I was absolutely beside myself with excitement.
Warner Bros. Animation’s first foray into adapting a major comic storyline was last year’s Superman Doomsday, a film that I enjoyed even with all of its flaws (and there were many…). Ultimately, though, it just wasn’t a story that I was entirely interested in. The New Frontier, on the other hand, had me foaming at the mouth.
I obtained a copy of the film recently, and just had to take the time to tell fans to forget about the exceedingly average Superman Doomsday, because when New Frontier is finally released on DVD next month, it’s going to blow you away. This literally is the comic come to life, so much so that at times it seemed they used the comic for storyboards, but it’s still not without its changes.
There are a lot of things that have been taken out of the story, or shortened, but just about all of it is mentioned in some capacity. The Losers storyline that opens the comic is missing from the film, but is mentioned in newspaper clippings that Batman is looking over during a scene he shares with John Jones. The John Henry stuff is also missing, but he is still given his due in the form of a news report about his death, as well as a gravestone at the end of the film. The Challengers of the Unknown are completely absent from the film, but Ace Morgan wears the uniform during the climax of the film. There are also a lot of other characters that are shortened to brief, dialogue-less appearances (Green Arrow, Ted Wildcat Grant, etc.), but they’re really only missed in afterthought.
A lot of plotlines were folded into each other as well, which didn’t really bother me either, as I felt they really worked in the film’s favor. Things like Hal Jordon going on the Mars mission that ends in tragedy rather than being removed from it at the last minute like in the comic. Instead of there being an entire crew, it just ends up being Hal and Rick Flag, with Superman saving Jordon when Rick punches his ticket. But, changes like that really didn’t harm the story at all.
This really is Hal Jordon’s movie. He doesn’t become the Green Lantern until the climax of the film. He still receives his power ring from Abin Sus in the middle of the film, but doesn’t put it to use until the final battle with The Center. David Boreanaz worked really well in this role, getting the fearless, willful Hal Jordon just right.
Most people have been very weary of the casting of Jeremy Sisto as the voice of Batman, and I won’t lie to you, it is really jarring hearing such a different voice coming from Batman. And while, it took me nearly the entire film to get passed it, in the end I feel that Sisto really did offer up a commendable take on the character. Especially considering the only Batman most fanboys ever want to hear is Batman the Animated Series’ Kevin Conroy.
The real shining star in the film is Neil Patrick Harris as Barry Allen/The Flash. His performance was fantastic and every scene he was in just made me wish more and more that Bruce Timm would produce a Flash animated series. I just hope, at the very least, we get a Flash-centric direct-to-DVD film in the near future because NPH’s performance was far too dead-on to only be seen here. I would even go as far as to say he should be seriously considered to play Barry Allen in a live action setting, but unfortunately it seems that Hollywood is dead set to make a Wally West film, a role that he wouldn’t be right for.
Lucy Lawless was pretty much born to play Wonder Woman, so I just can’t help but wonder why it’s only just now we’re getting what could be one of the most obvious casting choices ever. Kyle MacLachlan’s Superman was a vast improvement over Adam Baldwin’s oddly gruff Supes from the Doomsday feature. He brought a 50s charm to the role that hasn’t been heard since the old Fleischer cartoons. Brooke Shields, Miguel Ferrer, and Kyra Sedgwick all do very adequate jobs in their respective roles as well.
Overall, if you were on the fence about picking this up when it comes out next month, don’t be. This was a great adaptation of an even better comic book. It’s obvious that the producers had a lot of love for the source material, and I really couldn’t be happier with the end result.
Thank you Bruce Timm, you didn’t let me down.
Thanks,
The Doctor
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First!
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3 in a row?
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This and the new Dark Knight anime (which has a preview on the new frontier dvd).
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...why or WHY did I read the article all the way through before posting. I'm such a freaking loser!
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Hope you're aware of this, Harry.
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And thank God for that.
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"He brought a fifties charm to the film that hasn't been seen since the Fleischer films"
The Fleischer films were maid in the early forties. So, Superman somehow had a fifties charm in the forties? -
That's all I needed to read. Gonna pre-order my Blu-ray disc shortly.
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TAKE A LOOK HERE http://tinyurl.com/ytg8t7 AND http://tinyurl.com/2dkn9x HERE
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I love me some JLA animations! Bruce Timm rulez!
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a weird poem!
Someone needs to learn justify! -
They'd better use his "New Frontier" as the theme.
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hes "the man of tomorrow"
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too old to play WW in real life? IMDB has her at 40... I'd much rather see face off with Bale and Routh instead of some 20-something pop tart. Mmm... pop tarts.
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Borrowed time...they can't get ANY time! Damn You, Darwin Cooke!
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5'11"!
Brunette
Has film combat experience
Fierce
Pretty -
I thought that would be Indiana Jones??
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Another term for "downloaded via bit torrent".
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Don't know what Harry is talking about, but the comic sucked balls. Boring and uninvolving, with hardly any superhero action. It was just weak as could be. Only good thing to come out of it were the action figures they made from it, which, to be kind, are dope as fucking hell. Ditch the comic, buy the figures.
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Jan 15, 2008 4:40:45 PM CST
I'd kinda figured a lot fo the stuff I liked wouldn't make it in
by the great one
DC The New Frontier is one of the best comic stories of the past decade. The ads I've seen for the DVD kinda made me think though a lot of the smaller plots and a big one (Challengers) wouldn't be in. Still, it'd have been nice. Darwy'n involvement is what's made me interested the most in this vid and now that I see something positive I'll probably grab it but still... really would've loved to see the John Henry subplot (which really exemplified the general mood of that time in certain parts of America) and The Losers story (four words: "I AM JOHN CLOUD") animated for this film. OTOH, soon as I saw that it's 75 minutes long (what's up with these short length films?), I knew things would be cut. Ah well...
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where its watered down and left everything out.
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Seriously.
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Thought you guys fixed the "insert html into a thread title" problem.
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That better have worked.
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Jan 15, 2008 5:55:29 PM CST
Is it me or there wasn't any interesting news in a month?
by random dude
Huh?
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... a TV series about J'onn Jonzz the Martian. Doesn't even have to be a high budget thing, just a normal police procedural with a slight superhero twist mixed with some Martian commentary about human society. I absolutely loved New Frontier and hope others here check it out. Defiantly is a nice and classy alternative to all the convoluted and misanthropic junk thats been seeping into comics today.
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Just finished watching a preview version (periodically switches to black & white so it can't be palmed off as a genuine copy) and immediately pre-ordered the special edition! The character design follows the Batman/Superman animated series (square jaws for the blokes, elfin faces for the girls) but the quality of the animation and the general production design is far beyond anything I've ever seen in those shows. It's truly epic in scale and the "camera work", the framing lighting and movement of shots, is awesome. They've also made the excellent choice of using a darker color palette than normal - much like the covers of the comic series, with the primaries toned-down. It really fits the 50's-era the story is set in. If this doesn't win awards there ain't no justice! Order it now!!!
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It is a bit of a shame that The Losers segment is missing, but even in the comic it was almost standalone - with only the dinosaurs tying it to the rest of the story. Even as it stands, the movie is 1 hour 10 min including the (excellent) titles and The Losers was something that could be cut without hurting the story in any way. If the movie is as successful as it deserves to be I suppose we could hope for an extended version somewhere down the line?
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I'm flabergasted!
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Coming soon to a monitor near Us ?
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Judas Contract?
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but not much more than the fact it's supposed to be The Judas contract, but all the Batman Gotham Knight marketing is geting full press. Just read something about a new Wonder Woman animated video coming too. Maybe we'll hear more about TT at Comicon or Wondercon? *shrug*
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...But I'm really going to miss the Losers, Challengers and John Henry bits, as those are, to me, some of the strongest parts of the original series. Still, I'll be checking this out regardless.
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Jan 16, 2008 12:23:40 AM CST
Can't wait! (But I think you mean "wary", not "weary".)
by robogeek.com
And while I find it hard to believe this is anyone's single most anticipated entertainment event of 2008 (The Dark Knight, Star Trek, Iron Man, Hellboy II, Doctor Who Season 4, Indiana Jones and the blah-blah-blah outrank it off the top of my head), it's probably in my top ten.
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ive had it for about 3 weeks, i work at a video shop and warner bros. sent it thro.
ive watched bits and pieces of it and adored the opening credits, the design was like that of the production art for the incredibles...the bits and pieces ive watched so far look pretty good and im really enjoying the darker feel to it. hoping it lives up to this guys final review. the colour cutting out is a bit irritating. when it happened during batman's fight inside the church i thought it was supposed to be some clever subliminal storytelling aid...but it kept happening. ah well. -
What is all the hype about this? The comics fucking sucked. I could hardly get through the second trade paperback, I was so bored.
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yo mama sucked
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Shes actually 39, but her birthday is March, so I suppose you can say she is 40.
She isn't exactly a brunette, her natural hair color is more of sandy blonde shade.
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