So, the latest of DC's direct-to-DVD animated projects is out, and, since I generally play the part of this board's opinionated Wonder Woman fan, here we go.
I've made no secret in the past (nor has most of her fandom) how badly Timm and co. botched the character in JLU, so I was apprehensive of how they'd handle it here, particularly when you had the screenwriter no less saying he knew absolutely nothing about the character before being assigned to write the project. Most of the reviews from the debut at NYCC were positive (often very).
Pros (in general):
- The animation is beautiful; by far the best stuff in any of the DVDs they've done so far. The Wonder Woman design is appreciably Greek, and many other characters, such as Artemis, are rendered more or less perfectly.
- It's pretty funny.
- Pretty bloody, too; the battle scenes are close to flawless.
Stuff they did better than JL/U:
- There's a more serious take on the character's mythology here, both in terms of the actual Greek mythology and Themysciran society, which in this case is inhabited by some actual characters with more than one dimension, rather than a bunch of drones lorded over by Diana's undeveloped mother.
- They haven't omitted most of her origin this time, or outright changed it.
Cons:
And now we arrive at the parts of the story where the writers are asked to really interpret the character, and, once again, they trip (though on the whole I'd say not as badly). Sigh.
- The Amazons. Double sigh. Look, I know (moreso than most, even) that Wonder Woman as a character has had a lot of different takes over her 70-year history, but in the broad scheme of things, there are in fact thematic elements that have been consistent from Marston onward. One of these, and really chief to the whole character, is that the Amazons are a superior and enlightened society who prize culture and the arts as high as martial prowess, love peace, and are meant to bring it to the wider world and save it. Get that through your skulls, Timm and co: superior society. Not "bloodthirsty bitch Xena clones" and "strawman feminist". Because that's more or less what they are here, just like in JL/U. They're aggressively misandrist, to a point that they'e never been in the comics outside of abortions like Amazons Attack. If anything, they learn a valuable lesson on tolerance from Steve Trevor. They've got no philosophy or higher ideas here.
- Speaking of Steve Trevor, he's back in his Silver Age form, ie, sexist cad. Why do writers keep thinking a feminist hero should fall in love with a cad who is constantly making jokey, piggish advances? I mean, if you want him as a love interest instead of the Perez version, at least go with Perez's take on his personality: Post-Crisis Steve was a competent, gentlemanly fellow.
- Diana's power levels; getting the thing that most people will talk about out of the way, she can't fly, which is lame (because creators are all obsessed with that goddamn stupid jet), but not insurmountable; the bigger issue is that her power levels are wildly inconsistent. When she first meets Steve, they get into a fist fight, at which he, in another unbelievable moment, actually holds his own for a bit, both in terms of martial arts proficiency and knocking her around. In other scenes (such as the clip they've shown online of her fighting Deimos), she's a mid-tier bruiser, throwing guys through walls and punching them across the room.
- Setting aside these things (which, apart from power levels, are subjective, I suppose), parts of the plot/character-interaction are just baffling. Consider, after winning the Contest while in disguise to avoid her mother's ban on entering, Diana unmasks before the crowd and her mother, the Queen, who...has no reaction to this, whatsoever. That's a pivotal moment in the story, but Hippolyta just blankly says okay, congratulations.
I've made no secret in the past (nor has most of her fandom) how badly Timm and co. botched the character in JLU, so I was apprehensive of how they'd handle it here, particularly when you had the screenwriter no less saying he knew absolutely nothing about the character before being assigned to write the project. Most of the reviews from the debut at NYCC were positive (often very).
Pros (in general):
- The animation is beautiful; by far the best stuff in any of the DVDs they've done so far. The Wonder Woman design is appreciably Greek, and many other characters, such as Artemis, are rendered more or less perfectly.
- It's pretty funny.
- Pretty bloody, too; the battle scenes are close to flawless.
Stuff they did better than JL/U:
- There's a more serious take on the character's mythology here, both in terms of the actual Greek mythology and Themysciran society, which in this case is inhabited by some actual characters with more than one dimension, rather than a bunch of drones lorded over by Diana's undeveloped mother.
- They haven't omitted most of her origin this time, or outright changed it.
Cons:
And now we arrive at the parts of the story where the writers are asked to really interpret the character, and, once again, they trip (though on the whole I'd say not as badly). Sigh.
- The Amazons. Double sigh. Look, I know (moreso than most, even) that Wonder Woman as a character has had a lot of different takes over her 70-year history, but in the broad scheme of things, there are in fact thematic elements that have been consistent from Marston onward. One of these, and really chief to the whole character, is that the Amazons are a superior and enlightened society who prize culture and the arts as high as martial prowess, love peace, and are meant to bring it to the wider world and save it. Get that through your skulls, Timm and co: superior society. Not "bloodthirsty bitch Xena clones" and "strawman feminist". Because that's more or less what they are here, just like in JL/U. They're aggressively misandrist, to a point that they'e never been in the comics outside of abortions like Amazons Attack. If anything, they learn a valuable lesson on tolerance from Steve Trevor. They've got no philosophy or higher ideas here.
- Speaking of Steve Trevor, he's back in his Silver Age form, ie, sexist cad. Why do writers keep thinking a feminist hero should fall in love with a cad who is constantly making jokey, piggish advances? I mean, if you want him as a love interest instead of the Perez version, at least go with Perez's take on his personality: Post-Crisis Steve was a competent, gentlemanly fellow.
- Diana's power levels; getting the thing that most people will talk about out of the way, she can't fly, which is lame (because creators are all obsessed with that goddamn stupid jet), but not insurmountable; the bigger issue is that her power levels are wildly inconsistent. When she first meets Steve, they get into a fist fight, at which he, in another unbelievable moment, actually holds his own for a bit, both in terms of martial arts proficiency and knocking her around. In other scenes (such as the clip they've shown online of her fighting Deimos), she's a mid-tier bruiser, throwing guys through walls and punching them across the room.
- Setting aside these things (which, apart from power levels, are subjective, I suppose), parts of the plot/character-interaction are just baffling. Consider, after winning the Contest while in disguise to avoid her mother's ban on entering, Diana unmasks before the crowd and her mother, the Queen, who...has no reaction to this, whatsoever. That's a pivotal moment in the story, but Hippolyta just blankly says okay, congratulations.
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Realistically every woman should tell her "You're a fucking princess with superpowers and grew up in a society without men, so what makes you think you can relate to any of our problems, stupid bitch!".
