TVSquad

It's an animated movie to be put out by DC Comics in the direct-to-DVD market, but it's a movie nonetheless. The lead voices are Keri Russell (formerly of TV's Felicity) who plays the Amazon princess and Nathan Fillion (of Firefly fame) who voices Steve Trevor. Other actors providing voices include Virginia Madsen, Rosario Dawson and Alfred Molina.

Going with our Retro Squad theme of the week, a lot of Whedon alumni seem to be lending their voices to DC Comics animation. I've been re-watching the two seasons of Justice League Unlimited and voices for that have included half the Firefly line-up: Morena Baccarin, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin and Nathan Fillion. Also involved were Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof and Juliet Landau from Buffy and Angel. Furthermore, Adam Baldwin and James Marsters were on the Superman: Doomsday DVD and David Boreanaz was involved with the Justice League: New Frontier DVD.

Of course, Whedon himself was involved in the oft-delayed Wonder Woman live-action film. Perhaps there's a big Joss Whedon/DC Comics conspiracy that I don't know about?

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

Even when I was a little kid, there were some things about the Super Friends (or Superfriends or Superamigos, or whatever they were calling it) that didn't sit right with me. Maybe it was because the confluence of superpowers all in one place just boggled my young mind. Maybe it was the mysterious change from Wendy and Marvin to the Wonder Twins that made me scratch my tiny noggin. Not sure. But those mysteries continue to fascinate me, even into adulthood. It's just that those mysteries are more sophisticated:

1. How did the Super Friends have time to hang out at the Hall of Justice? Every one of the SFs lived in different parts of the country: Batman and Robin were in Gotham City, for instance. So, did B&R commute from Gotham to Metropolis a few times per week? Did they use the Bat Plane or the Batmobile most of the time? Did they claim the mileage on their taxes?

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

Welcome Back to TVSBTTHB (TV Squad Behind the True Hollywood Biography). For over a decade the team known as the Super Friends traveled the world, and the galaxy, to right the wrongs wrought by such villains as the Legion of Doom and Darkseid. But, by the mid-1980s, their services were no longer needed by the public, who watched many of their adventures on television. It was then that these heroes faded away.

So, what happened to them? Being the show that looks under every rock and inside every dumpster, TVSBTTHB was able to obtain information on all of the Super Friends: major, minor and 'what the hell are they doing on the team?'. Some of their stories are heartbreaking, others heartwarming, and the rest are just "meh." Yet, they are all fascinating and provide an extra layer of complexity to the already complicated lives of these superhumans.

Now, let's turn our attention to Superman, Batman, El Dorado, and the rest of the Super Friends.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

Remember when you were watching Pinky and the Brain and the Brain would think of these abstract, convoluted plots for taking over the world? Or when Scott Evil was pointing out to his father how easy it would be to shoot Austin Powers in the head rather than subject him to some sort of silly trap from which he could escape. I'm convinced they were parodying the Legion of Doom's methodology from the Challenge of the Super Friends which ran from 1978 to 1979 on ABC. Their simple goal was stated in the opening credits: the conquest of the Universe, with a subordinate goal of the destruction of the Super Friends. They failed every time, and I think that's partially due to poor planning.

With that in mind, here are the top five silliest plans from the Legion of Doom to accomplish their goals:

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

Ever since they appeared on Saturday morning, The Super Friends have been a veritable gold mine for wacky videos. The following is a short list of some of my favorite short videos starring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the gang.

Lynda Carter remains a Wonder Woman to this day. While on a boat in Washington D.C., she discovered a dead body floating in the Potomac River.

The actress and singer didn't have a cell phone on her, so she signaled a nearby fishermen to call the police. When the authorities arrived, she directed them to the body.

Now, if she were actually Wonder Woman, she would have found a remote area (either inside her boat or on the shore) and done the spinny thing that changed her into Wonder Woman. She then would have investigated the murder and found the Nazi saboteurs behind the death who would have captured her and tied her up (or perhaps Steve Trevor or possibly both). While they gave a soliloquy of their dastardly plans, she would have cunningly escaped her bonds. A cool fight scene would have ensued and the criminals would be brought to justice as a denouement.

Sadly, she isn't Wonder Woman. She is, however, a humanitarian. Carter says she "did what anybody would have done."

Brian Heiler over at the Topless Robot website took it upon himself to list the ten worst superhero television shows ever made. I don't know if I agree with every choice, but he's certainly in the right ballpark.

Going through the list, we start with Birds of Prey. The first mistake they made (and there was a myriad of them) was altering Batman's daughter to have superpowers. I guess the WB was trying to copy the success of Smallville into other superhero shows and failing.

I remember seeing one episode of Once A Hero. I'm only sorry they didn't air the episode in which Adam West parodied himself. I missed Exo Man altogether (but only in the sense that I didn't watch it).

(S03E05) Bones -- Who's stronger -- Catwoman or Wonder Woman?

Jack and Zack together -- Wonder Woman.

Bones -- I concur, vehemently.

Before I begin my review of this week's Bones I need to read this message from the Male Chauvinist Pig Association of America. It goes 'To the Producers of Bones . . . Concerning the skimpy and revealing costumes worn by your characters Temperance Brennan, Angela Montenegro, and Camille Saroyan we of the M.C.P.A.A. have one thing to say to you: you rock!' Oh, there's a postscript as well. It says 'Please ignore the saliva stains.'

Um, yeah. Let's move on, shall we?

Yeah, the title involves more than a little wishful thinking. But, in case you missed it, that whole Joss Whedon Wonder Woman thing isn't happening. He announced it himself over on Whedonesque. Oddly enough, that announcement came about right as some other Joss stuff was tumbling onto our internet.

The VH1/MTV monster has an interview up that took place before we learned that we won't be seeing what Joss had in store for Diana. They talk about what his plans were for Wonder Woman, the Buffy comic, Goners, and touch on the possibility of a Buffy movie. Whedon acknowledges that such a thing is doubtful, but adds never say never.

If that isn't enough Joss junk to fill your day, geekmonthly.com is smack dab in the middle of their four part interview with Whedon. You can read part 1 and part 2 now. The remaining installments will be along soon. They hit on lots of different points, including how his involvement with comics developed, why TV is better than movies for exploring the human condition, and the fact that Giant Dawn is his favorite thing. Good reading for fans.

If you've been waiting to see how the guy who made the transformation of a former cheerleader named Buffy into an action hero seem credible was going to bring a superhero with a lasso and invisible airplane to the big screen, you're out of luck.

In a post to Whedonesque, Joss Whedon says he's no longer associated with the Wonder Woman movie. Apparently Whedon didn't share the studio's vision for the big-screen adaptation. He says the studio could have ordered a series of rewrites until his ideas were completely lost. But rather than have that happen, he's been pulled off the project.

Attack of the Show is something of a hot-button topic among TV fans. Their ScreenSavers lineage has turned a number of fans against them because they simply aren't what they used to be. I can't fault anyone for falling in with that camp. There was a lot to not like about the TechTV/G4 merger.

While I don't hate AOTS, I certainly don't watch it with the same regularity that I watched ScreenSavers. I do check in once in a while to see what Kevin and Olivia are up to, and on special occasions like when they have hunky television reporter Kevin Kelly on to talk about 24...

Love 'em or hate 'em though, once in a while they do manage a fun bit. Olivia Munn as Wonder Woman is one of them. It's cute. Both the invisible jet and catfight scenes are funny. And just because the internet is the internet, there is now a petition to get Olivia the role of Wonder Woman in Joss Whedon's upcoming movie. Aside from AOTS, I've only seen her in Beyond The Break on The-N. She was fine in it, but I hadn't really thought of her as the next Wonder Woman. On the other hand, what the hell? She certainly looks the part. Give her some witty Whedon writing and I'm sure things will be just ducky. Video after the jump.

Looking at a picture of me, it's nearly impossible to tell that in my early days I was a geek (ahem). But it's true, I was the kid sitting behind you in chemistry class who, when the teacher was too hungover to make it to the end of the period and so gave the class some time to talk amongst themselves, took out a science fiction book and read quietly. You maybe wanted to beat me up, but if you had any kind of heart you would have realized that I was already bullied by fate (fate in this case being a shy disposition and a love of Star Trek novels).

Geeks require a very specific kind of TV woman to crush on. She needs to be hot, yes (I mean, after all, we are guys), but she can't be so hot as to be unattainable. Pamela Anderson could be admired, but like the captain of the cheerleaders, she was way out of our league. We needed girls that radiated geek waves back at us. There needed to be something in her demeanor that screamed, "Yes, I know you're different and terribly uncoordinated and made a fool out of yourself on President's Council on Physical Fitness day in gym class, but, dammit, I'm willing to take a chance on you." Also, it helped if she wore a super-hero costume.

The idea for a Firefly based MMORPG is one that has been floating around for a long time. When the show was first canceled, that was among the many ideas for ways to keep flying. Now comes word that Multiverse has struck a deal with Fox Licensing to make the game. Wired has the complete story.

In a nutshell, Multiverse is a company founded by a team of Netscape veterans. Their aim is to create a universal platform that independent developers can create games on. The advantage being that it will be easier for smaller teams to develop games, and consumers will have the advantage of using one client that is able to play the various Multiverse products. Reportedly, there are already 7000 development teams working with the platform. The Firefly game is the big feather in the Multiverse cap that will get them some much needed mainstream press. Like this.

Fans of Joss Whedon will want to point their browsers over to Fanboy Radio today at 6PM CST. They'll be having an interview that also features questions from the fans. If you have a query for Whedon, you can also go to the Fanboy forum and add it to the list.

Look for Goners, Wonder Woman, the Buffy and X-Men comics, and the possible future of Firefly to all factor into the conversation. I would expect that Veronica Mars just might come up as well, since Whedon once referred to it as "Best. Show. Ever." . And if this is too short notice for you, the show will be rebroadcast Tuesday at 1PM CST.

[ via whedonesque ]

Back in the day, Cartoon Network used to have a ton of great bumps featuring the Super Friends and other classic Hanna-Barbera characters. I found one on YouTube featuring Birdman, Wonder Woman and others attending a movie and annoying the audience with a long and unnecessary conversation about how to purchase food at the concession stand before the movie begins. As their incessant blathering continues, people get up and leave the theater. I forgot how funny these spots were, and I think "this looks like a job for a twenty!" is going to be my new saying for this week. I've placed the video after the jump for your amusement. Enjoy: