YTV to air JLU 'Task Force X' (Aired, SPOILERS)

[Hero Supreme]

this point was raised earlier, but i dont think anyone has commented on it. wouldnt this episode and the plan be even that much sweeter is captain atom was in on it? obviously all or some of the task force was unaware of his involvement, but waller would have known. it makes sense, the strategy was designed to make use of atoms powers to prevent loss of life. and atom save plastique and deadshout and didnt ask any questions. if atom in in on it, then i say BRAVO!

 

[JWangSDC]

That would be pretty amazing... But I'd hate captain atom forever for it. He has been known to side with the government over the good though....IE Superman Batman 4. THe previews @ the end of this episode were great...SHAZAM

this point was raised earlier, but i dont think anyone has commented on it. wouldnt this episode and the plan be even that much sweeter is captain atom was in on it? obviously all or some of the task force was unaware of his involvement, but waller would have known. it makes sense, the strategy was designed to make use of atoms powers to prevent loss of life. and atom save plastique and deadshout and didnt ask any questions. if atom in in on it, then i say BRAVO!

 

[Simpler Simon]

this point was raised earlier, but i dont think anyone has commented on it. wouldnt this episode and the plan be even that much sweeter is captain atom was in on it? obviously all or some of the task force was unaware of his involvement, but waller would have known. it makes sense, the strategy was designed to make use of atoms powers to prevent loss of life. and atom save plastique and deadshout and didnt ask any questions. if atom in in on it, then i say BRAVO!

Atom did save Plastique (I hope), but it was also Atom that kept her from escaping in the first place. If he was in on the conspiracy he could've lingered around in the hall and shown up after they'd teleported out. It's likely Task Force X would've made a clean escape otherwise.

 

[JWangSDC]

Him saving plastique wouldn't make me suspect him. It's just because he's such a government boy. Whether he was in on it or not, he would have done the same thing at the end

 

[Supremus]

Honestly, I don't think Captain Atom is in on the conspiracy. I used to, but not anymore.

I guess it wouldn't have made much sense as he was mentioned in the mission briefing. It would have been an excellent twist, though.

I saw his moment with Plastique at the end as an homage to the comics.

Really? To what specifically?

 

[Style]

The Captain Adam moment is a stroke of genius. It packs a lot of punch, either way it can be interpreted. I mentioned it in passing in my review, but I'll expand on it now because it's being discussed.

1.) Captain Adam is not in on the conspiracy, and doesn't know who he saved: This might actually be the stronger possibility. Task Force X is played as the protagnists of the episode. And it's a neat little gimmic. A rag-tag team of villains employed by the US government on a mission to procur a dangerous weapon from the Justice League. Earlier episodes already have primed you to be suspicious of the JLU. Task Force X is likable, in their unique personalities, that you are virtually rooting for Cadmus. You almost start seeing the Justice League as "The Bad guys."

Then Captain Adam saves the very people who are trying to destroy them. And this snaps you out of your haze. It reminds you that the League isn't the boogy man Waller insists they are. They are a group of individuals who routinely risk their lives to save others. People who use their unique gifts selflessly. Oh how much trouble might had been saved if Captain Adam left them to die. But then, he's not the sort who would. He's too heroic. Even if he knew what they were doing, he still would have saved them. It's a shocker moment. It brings you back down to reality. It punches through the haze of sympathy for Cadmus and Task Force X by reminding you that they are trying to kill people who want nothing more to protect the innocent. Before that moment, Task Force X are quirky anti-heroes. After, they're just unabashedly evil.

2.) Captain Adam is in on it, and saved them intentionally: And this just goes to pervert the previous sentiment. That the line between good and bad is even more blurry than can be possibly imagined. That Captain Adam can do so many good things, and fight for just, but at the same time turn around and kill his colleagues, and that he might have a good reason to do that, well, it's totally disturbing.

What appears to be a through-away moment in the episode is truly key to the whole thing. It's brilliant. I can't praise it enough.

 

[James Harvey]

I caught 'Task Force X' last week and really enjoyed it. I thought the script was spot on, and it was a pretty intense half hour. It was a great change of pace to see a different approach to a Justice League Unlimited episode where we root for the bad guys to win. Like the final moments of 'The Doomsday Sanction,' this episode has us second guessing the League's intentions, especially when Martian Manhunter threatens to mindwipe a traitor's mind.

We know the gang was going to succeed in their mission, but this episode was more about watching it unravel then wondering if they were going to actually succeed. The cameo by The Clock King was a great nod to the Batman: The Animated Series fans, but didn't seem tacked on, or pointless. It worked in the scheme of the episode. A great story with some great animation and we have one of the best Justice League Unlimited episodes yet.

 

[Supremus]

They were married in the comics.

Ah, I didn't know that. Then I think they under-played the "homage" in the episode, even though they obviously(?) haven't got a relationship in JLU, but considering how good an episode it was, it's barely worth a nit-pick.

 

[b.t.]

Perhaps at some point, if you have the time, you could share some insights about the story/writing process, in terms of who does what? Not so we can blame you personally, or anyone else for that matter, but it's an aspect of the production that isn't often covered and that fans don't know an awful lot about.

each and every JLU script starts with a "story-break" meeting, where the story-editors and producers sit in a room and just brain-storm like crazy.....character beats, action set-pieces, plot twists, etc, EVERYTHING is pretty much nailed down at that initial story break meeting, with all 4 of us pitching in ideas....then, either dwayne or matt wayne (our new story editor, taking over from stan berkowitz) will work up a rudimentary 3-4 page "beat sheet", with all the important bits broken down in skeletal form...we all read it, make notes on it...once that's done, a slightly-more fleshed-out 8-10 pg. outline is written up...this includes more detailed descriptions of the set-pieces, more fleshed-out character interactions, even some dialogue exchanges....the outline is usually written by matt or dwayne, but there have been occasions where one of our trusted freelancers have written them....basic rule of thumb: whoever wrote the outline gets the "story by" credit....after another round of notes by the braintrust, the outline goes to cn and dc comics for approval....the teleplay is then written by one of our freelancers or by dwayne or matt....after (you guessed it) MORE notes from us, the writer will do a second draft....any revisions after that will be executed by dwayne or matt (or both)....when we're all satisfied with it, we send the script to dc and cn for another round of approval....once their concerns are dealt with, the script is labeled "final", distributed to directors, storyboard artists, andrea romano, etc...

now that's the way it USUALLY works but there are always variations...for instance, sometimes we'll skip the "beat sheet" and just go right to outline if we feel we have a firm enough handle on the material....for WAKE THE DEAD, i wrote the beat sheet, which was VERY loose and rudimentary, except for the shayera/aquaman/amazo chess sequence which for some reason or another i wrote out full-script....dwayne wrote the outline and script (incidentally "polishing" my chess sequence, much to its betterment), but insisted i share "story by" credit...an instance where the opposite happened: i wasn't crazy about the "big kiss" scene at the end of WILD CARDS (i don't remember if dwayne or stan had written that part), so i pretty much re-wrote the entire scene, with no screen credit....this kind of thing happens all the time, with dwayne or stan or matt usually the ones re-writing entire sequences sometimes, un-credited....(by the way, forgive the preceding paragraph for being so self-centric, it's just that instances where i actually put pen to paper and wrote stuff are easier to use as examples since they're fresher in my memory)...

each writer DOES have their own unique voice, so even though we're ALL adding bits of business and dialogue throughout the process on every script, "written by dwayne" eps are definitely distinguishable from "written by bob goodman" or "written by marc de matteis" scripts....i noticed this back in the day, too: "alan burnett re-writing hilary bader" sounds COMPLETELY different than alan burnett writing something on his own from scratch...it's a weird thing....

in the case of TASK FORCE X, dwayne, stan, james and i broke the story, dwayne wrote the outline, darwyn wrote the first draft of the script....unfortunately, darwyn had a scheduling conflict and wasn't able to write the second draft...we were under a severe time crunch, so we broke the script into 3 chunks and dwayne, stan and i each wrote a third of the second draft practically overnight....don't ask me who wrote what, it's pretty much a blur...

this is probably more info than you all want, and probably confuses the issue more than sheds light on it, but that's the way it is....

 

[Supremus]

... this is probably more info than you all want, and probably confuses the issue more than sheds light on it, but that's the way it is....

That was great. Thanks for sharing. I would love to see stuff like this given a little bit of attention on the extras of the DVDs. Same with other "boring" stuff like voice recordings and the new aspects of digital animation vs the old methods.

 

[Teo]

Season 2 of JLU is fantastic. I was pretty trepidatious about the conspiracy and too much continuity, but it's worked out really well. It's not so much a X-filesey theme, but a counter-JLU force, which is quite cool. Plus, all the problems I had with season 1 (all the personel, the team bureaucracy, too-big stories) have all been done away with this season, or at least looks like it's about to be with what looks like is going to go down.

This episode had lovely animation and fight scenes. The characters weren't given much exposition, but were written well enough not be boring or confusing. The Clock King was an awesome addition and they didn't even have to drag Batman into it. J'onn really acted like he was on par with Superman, which is a welcome change. The only weak part came from J'onn fighting the armor. It was cool, but he must have known that be aggressive was the wrong move (Didn't Diana mention that when she packed the armor in the supply closet?). Overall, though, I couldn't have been happier. It was a nice, entertaining 22 minutes.

 

[DLM]

That was great. Thanks for sharing. I would love to see stuff like this given a little bit of attention on the extras of the DVDs. Same with other "boring" stuff like voice recordings and the new aspects of digital animation vs the old methods.

Agreed. Mr. b.t. that was one of the most facinating posts I've ever read in this forum, thank you so much for sharing!

Anyway, I was quite impressed by TFX, for all the reasons already mentioned by others. I personally found the writing on this episode superb.

And after a few viewings, Im still not sure what to make of Capt Atom in this episode.

 

[PeterFries]

b.t., that was the coolest post here on this forum since you posted about the development process on the Batman and Kids (or whatever it was called) series that never got off the ground. Thank you.

THIS is why there should be at least another book like Batman: Animated, that would detail Justice League's creation. Personally, I think there should have been a Superman: Animated book, too...

 

[paulie]

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but one thing that really added to the episode was the score. I loved the jazzy feel--it really fit the whole mood of the episode.

I totally agree with you there--it was a nice change of pace from the typical scores we've got on JLU so far.

Everything in this episode was outstanding, so I feel a little bad about my one nitpick...I'm not totally buying why J'onn wanted so badly to mindwipe the mole. I understand that the situation was dire and all that, but it just didn't seem like the J'onn from the past JL/U episodes...too harsh, just like GL said. When did he go all Lorder? Isn't he supposed to be the rational one? Or do I just not have a good enough fill-in-the-blanks imagination in this case?

But the best part of the episode IS when J'onn takes out TFX, good stuff.

 

[Juu-kuchi]

...

That was totally awesome F'ing WICKED!

 

[Indefatigable]

I wish you would put that on the DVD's somehow b.t., but saying here is find .

 

[Trevor Balena]

b.t., if you're still reading this thread, any chance you could fill us in on whether that really was Nathan Fillion as Vigilante? It sounded kinda like him, but I can't be sure... it could've just been Adam Baldwin putting on an Old West accent...

I suppose it might not have been cost-effective to bring Fillion in for one line.

 

[Knight]

2.) Captain Adam is in on it, and saved them intentionally: And this just goes to pervert the previous sentiment. That the line between good and bad is even more blurry than can be possibly imagined. That Captain Adam can do so many good things, and fight for just, but at the same time turn around and kill his colleagues, and that he might have a good reason to do that, well, it's totally disturbing.

I just wanted to say that I think that Cap is in on the conspiracy at some level. But I don't think everyone in the conspiracy is connected and that Cap is a sleeper that most (other than Waller and likely Eling) are unaware of.

If Cap had been aware of this mission why would he tell J'onn that the reactor explosion wasnt a accident? This is probably what caused him to alert Atom Smasher, The Shining Knight and The Vigilante to there being a intruder on board. Why would Captain Atom break up Plastique's escape? She could have set the bomb ran to the transporter and escaped if he hadnt interfered. I just don't think he had knowledge this was going to happen.

 

[Wesyeed]

Wow, I wish I lived in Canada. From what I've read, it's a pretty intense story with some brutal fighting and a few terrorist/thrilling heist undertones. Funny what careful planning can achieve, isn't it? Only this time it's something we trust that's doing the planning. I like an episode that needs to be viewed multiple times to truly be understood, and this definitely sounds like one of them.

Now... just for the hell of asking... can you fellas save The Batman?

 

[Requiem]

Hello, first post and first time participating in a talk back. Will sound very awkward^^;;

After watching this episode on Friday, I was motivated to immediately registered for this forum because it was unexpectedly very good.

Unexpected for me because, as a person with only watching the DCAU shows and little to knowledge on DCU comics, I had no idea who these characters among the Task Force were (except of course, Clock King). Because of that, I thought it would be average at best, but I was quickly proven wrong. The writing and character interaction was what really pulled me to the screen, kept me there and smacked me around. Whenever a regular Leaguer crossed by, they were like eyecandy When J'onn showed up, and everything following it... I think I've been turned to a path of being a J'onn fan.

This ep made me appreciate and anticipate lesser known characters more. After seeing Vigilante and Shining Knight in action with actual lines, I want to know their backgrounds and hopefully see them more in the future.

So in short,AWESOME EP