Justice League writer/producer Rich Fogel returns to JLUCast to discuss his story for the 3-part series finale, “Starcrossed”! The Thanagarians have arrived on Earth, but are they here to save it, or destroy it? And what part will Hawkgirl play in all of this? Needless to say, the Justice League will never be the same again!
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Clip credits:
Clips from Justice League “Starcrossed”, music by Michael McCuistion, theme by Lolita Ritmanis
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Great Podcast. Ah, Starcrossed. Is this the second major alien invasion that the DCAU has suffered, or the third? The White (Martian?) invasion in Secret Origins counts, but I’m not sure how global the S:TAS “Legacy” invasion was. Either way, Justice League members were directly, personally involved in causing at least half of them, and failed to prevent the other one, which will be part of a thorny issue going forward.
We will, eventually, find out how the vote went in JLU.
Great point on the invasion issue! Kind of makes the Cadmus arc make even more sense, doesn’t it?
And yes, we do learn how the vote went…but we knew Rich wasn’t involved with the show at that point, so we wanted to hear how he felt it would have went.
Chris
Impressive podcast. Most impressive. Good Oy in the show. But, Oy for John Steward. That was my oy in the last comment. Er for ya’lls last episode. Still this is a good 2 par-ter. Was interesting to see the Hawk People as villain’s. Though I like the other Hawk Man better. Weather he was nuts or not. Ah well This was cool. The big love story happening and Hawk Girl turning on them was a shot to the gut for John. Of Corse Bruce figures it out. Yeah WW was B.A. in this one. And she had great action hero lines. Though I remember later the vote results were given out in JLU. And they voted to keep her on. Bats voted no (Shocking.) No with WW. J’ohn yes. Wally yes. Green Lantern abstained. Supes Yes. Cause he believed in second chances.
So she could stay. Though she just kind of became a background character. Wake the dead shows John Steward abstaining and Supes breaking the tie in favor to keep her. So they kind of picked ware it was going. Sounds like the OG plan went the other way. Till they had Hawk Girl say she was going.
Rich surmised the vote would be split, with GL ultimately voting no instead of abstaining, but the rest falling in line with the reveal in JLU. I could see it going that way too, although I don’t know who would have been the tie breaker. Call up Aquaman? Dr. Fate? If they let Alfred weigh in, she definitely go the nod to stay.
Chris
Aquaman: “Yes, hello, Justice League. What is it that you want, I’m very busy–I see. I see. So what you’re saying is that you surface-worlders agreed to make Earth a staging ground for some space war and didn’t even ask the King of Atlantis about it, it blew up in your faces, and you want me to decide whether one of your members should be kicked out for having a part in it. Yes, well, I’ll think about it and get back to you in a timely manner after giving the matter the same consideration that you gave to the RULER OF THREE-FOURTHS OF THE PLANET. ” *CLICK*
Aquaman, muttering to himself: “…Outrageous.”
I think you nailed it!
Great interview with Rich, C&C Podcasting Factory! Man oh man did I smile when Rich mentioned perusing old Who’s Whos to look for characters to use. Someday I long to be able to do that myself and classify it as “working.”
As much as I enjoyed the JL series in this form, I gotta admit the geek in me really went nuts when the wider DCU got involved. So as much as I have been enjoying JLUCast, the next iteration show should be even more fun.
Yeah, I thought you and Shag would enjoy hearing the JL crew kept Who’s Who handy for story and character ideas! It really is the DC Bible.
We’re definitely looking forward to the wonderful mix of characters that JLU brings, as well as the winding story-arcs that reach all the way back to the beginnings of the DCAU!
Chris
As always Franklins, another episode of JLUCast delivered flawlessly! If there was an award show for podcasts, you’d sweep all categories! It was great to hear Rich Fogel’s insights into the episodes – I always enjoy those treats you can arrange for us. I have watched Starcrossed a number of times because of how good it is, so getting some additional background about how decisions were made or how something was planned out just adds to the luster. I never realized that Hroe Talak was an anagram for Katar Hol. It was right there in front of me all these years – mind blown! It was interesting to hear Rich’s take on Krager’s relationship with Hawkgirl. I always felt he mistrusted her from the start. The way he spoke to and about her, testing her with killing the league while incarcerated and even planting a tracker and recorder on her – these are not the actions of a friendly comrade. Perhaps reading her reports on the Justice League’s members he deduced she was falling in love with Green Lantern (as Hroe indicated it seemed like she gushed about him more than others).
There was always one part of the plot I never quite understood. how did Hawkgirl know where the Bat Cave was and why wasn’t anyone surprised to see her show up there? Had she been there before or had she figured out Batman’s true identity? They also don’t seem concerned that she sees them out of costume. To me it felt a little bit of a let down after the big reveal only a few scenes earlier. What were your thoughts?
Thanks for the kind words Chris! As for Hawkgirl somehow knowing where the Batcave was, I guess that just falls into her spying on the League. She was willing to pry into Batman’s secrets, where the others wouldn’t dare go, maybe? And yes, perhaps they should have been more surprised, but at this point, she has so totally betrayed them in their minds, they aren’t surprised by anything she would do. That’s my No-Prize. Your mileage may vary!
But I wish I had thought to ask Rich about that! Great questions!
Chris
Yes, it was part of Hawkgirl’s mission to figure out where to find Batman. This was intel that she obviously did not share with the rest of the League. At this point, they already knew she had been spying on them, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to them that she would know the secret location of the Bat Cave. It was a surprise that she would have the nerve to show up.
–Rich Fogel
Straight from the man himself! Thanks for answering that question, Rich!!!
Chris
Yes, thank you Rich – I have closure now. 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to do the interview – it’s always awesome to hear about the creative process at work.
Love this story arc! I always get goosebumps when the team finally reveals their identities to one another. Such a great moment of team-bonding for the characters. Almost as a great as the moment in “Divided We Fall” when the team has to join hands to pull Wally back from the Speed Force.
You guys hit on the other great moments: Wonder Woman breaking free from her prison cell and “kicking all the butt,” as Cindy puts it, Batman attempting to sacrifice himself to stop the Thanagarians, Alfred’s quips, and the farewell scene between John and Shayera. All of it makes an already topnotch story extra special and memorable. In the Human Fly-cast episode I recently recorded with Max Romero, I talk about how stories for children at some point in the child’s development need to offer a certain measure of complexity to usher them into stories that are more sophisticated and, for lack of a better term, adult. “Starcrossed” (indeed, the Justice League cartoon as a whole) is one of those stories. A young person can watch these episodes and be completely entertained but also receive an introduction into a deeper level of storytelling. To me, that is the true legacy of the series.
Now…onto JLU!
Very well said Steven. You could say that’s the legacy of the DCAU as a whole. No kid expected character studies like “Heart of Ice” or “Appointment in Crime Alley” when they tuned into BTAS, but they got them nonetheless. Even if they didn’t catch the nuanced layers of storytelling the first time around, they did on repeated viewings.
Chris
Great show and a great guest. I always liked to hear about the behind the scenes.
I look forward to your “wrap party” and special JLUCast “team up” spotlights before starting the JLU season proper. Please tell me one of those episodes will be a review of “Crisis on Two Earths”, which was originally planned as a Justice League DTV taking place between JL and JLU.
Thanks Isamu! I have that on the radar, but I don’t know if we’ll get to that film before getting to JLU, but I do hope to cover it at some point, since it is connected!
Chris
Are you planning to do single episodes per podcast for the half-hour-length JLU episodes (With a single episode for the two-parters?)
Still toying with the format. We may “gang up” two episodes per podcast, except for “big” episodes, like the first episode, “Intiation”. There are 13 episodes per seasons, so we would have to do at least one episode as a single, or add in another DCAU episode for discussion.
Chris