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Superman Vs The Eite DTV Casting News

Awesome. I can't wait to see who else they get. I like how for the last few movies they seem to be going with returning actors and high profile new people.
 
Not a viewer of NCIS, but it's cool that they're bringing back Newbern as Superman (Tim Daly was better, but hey, he's already come back multiple times). And I've read about "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?" and seen excerpts from it, and I think it's a cool story (at least the ending). I like what it has to say about Superman and the more nihilistic "heroes" of many modern comics.
 
^ That was pretty much the purpose of the issue. It answered the question, of how Superman is relevant still in the modern age is considered one of the great Superman stories of the modern era.
 
Just to give an overview, so far in the DC Universe DVD movies, we've heard Superman played by:

  • Adam Baldwin -- Superman/Doomsday
  • Kyle McLachlan -- Justice League: The New Frontier
  • Tim Daly -- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, and Justice League: Doom
  • Mark Harmon -- Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
  • George Newbern -- Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam (short) and Superman Vs. the Elite
  • James Denton -- All-Star Superman

Meanwhile, in other post-DCAU animated television appearances, he's been played by:

  • Newbern -- The Batman
  • Yuri Lowenthal -- Legion of Super Heroes (actually Superboy, but they called him Superman for legal reasons)
  • Roger Rose -- Batman: The Brave and the Bold
  • Nolan North -- Young Justice (as both Superman and the clone Superboy)

Gee, that's a lot of Supermen. And I was wrong -- Newbern has reprised the role more than once already.
 
I was wondering about this all night, but you forgot the animated feature Brainiac Attacks (2006). It featured Tim Daley reprising his role as Superman - the first time in a number of years (Daley wasn't a part of Justice League/Justice League Unlimited). This film was the odd man out as it pre-dated the current series of DC animated features and is generally forgotten about (probably because it was made as a cash grab tie-in for Superman Returns). Also, if memory serves, it had a television premiere before the DVD was released (being the first DC animated feature of any kind to do so).

Interestingly enough, the voice cast not only featured Daley, but much of the other voice cast from Superman: The Animated Series. However, some voice actors such as Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor and Corey Burton as Brainiac are strangely absent. Powers Booth and Lance Henriksen, respectively, took over those roles.

Another odd feature about Brainiac Attacks is that it uses Bruce Timm's designs, but has nothing to do with Superman: The Animated Series and, as far as I could tell, has zero involvement from Timm, Paul Dini, or Alan Burnett (the main team behind S:TAS).
 
Broccoli said:
I was wondering about this all night, but you forgot the animated feature Brainiac Attacks (2006).
Click to expand...

No, I remembered it, but it didn't fit into the specific categories I listed. It wasn't part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series produced by Bruce Timm, and it was not an appearance in a television series. And it came out only a month after the end of JLU, so it barely qualifies as post-DCAU.


Also, if memory serves, it had a television premiere before the DVD was released (being the first DC animated feature of any kind to do so).
Click to expand...

Yes, it did debut on Cartoon Network 3 days before its home video release. So maybe I could've listed it as a post-DCAU television appearance, but what I really intended was for the second list to be of TV appearances of Superman during the time period in which the DC Universe movies have existed, i.e. 2007 to present.


Interestingly enough, the voice cast not only featured Daley, but much of the other voice cast from Superman: The Animated Series. However, some voice actors such as Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor and Corey Burton as Brainiac are strangely absent. Powers Booth and Lance Henriksen, respectively, took over those roles.
Click to expand...

Yes, and Tara Strong replaced Lisa Edelstein as Mercy Graves. And Boothe was awful as Luthor, though that's as much due to the writing as the acting.


Another odd feature about Brainiac Attacks is that it uses Bruce Timm's designs, but has nothing to do with Superman: The Animated Series and, as far as I could tell, has zero involvement from Timm, Paul Dini, or Alan Burnett (the main team behind S:TAS).
Click to expand...

It used the S:TAS designs because it was rushed into production as a tie-in to Superman Returns, so there wasn't time to do a whole set of new character, prop, and background designs (a time-consuming process which has to be completed before animation begins). They probably went with the established cast for much the same reason, because auditioning and choosing between new actors would take longer than just calling up known quantities and saying "How'd you like to play Superman/Lois/Jimmy again?" And the rush is probably responsible for the weak writing as well, since Duane Capizzi has done better work on other projects.
 
Anyone think it's getting a bit silly to see the characters COMPLETELY redesigned and recast for every one of these movies? I can understand if there's a particular artist they're mimicking, but for most it seems like they could just pick one good design and voice and stick with it.

I mean, it's pretty obvious that these are all standalone stories. No reason to hammer us over the head with it every time.
 
I don't think it's silly for them to try out different artists and actors. It's like an anthology series, an opportunity to let a variety of different creators show off their talents. You see a similar thing with comics, where different artists working with the same character can have wildly different ways of designing that character.

It used to be, back in the '70s and '80s, that animation design styles were pretty basic, tending toward realistic proportions (except in comedy shows). But these days, in the wake of Kricfalusi and Timm and Tartakovsky and the like, animation design has become much more individualistic, and each show strives for its own distinctive look, a design style that makes it instantly recognizable. Given that Timm was one of the pioneers of that stylized individualism, it doesn't surprise me that he's willing to showcase a variety of different designers in the DVD movies he produces.
 
Yeah I'm all for creativity, I just don't think it's really necessary to change it up THIS much (especially when most of the stories are still told in the same basic style).

Although that could just be because so many of these are Superman or Batman stories. Maybe if there were a greater variety of characters, it wouldn't stand out to me so much.
 
^The variety of art styles and cast has actually been one of my favorite aspects of the series. I think it just makes things more interesting when each of the movies (except for Batman/Superman: Public Enemies and Apocalypse) are treated as completely seperate entities IMO.
 
Agreed Christopher but as your above list illustrates we are more and more seeing returning actor to the same roles.

For something like New Frontier it was appropriate for a new actor for Superman. With its own distinct self-contained world. But stuff like Doom and Superman versus the Elite benefit from returning actors. Due to their source in the comics being just further adventures of Superman. Without a lot of signature setup of the character. I think if they were making Superman/Doomdsay now they would do the same thing. But it was first of the new line and had to show it was unique.
 
I think my favorite of the DCU movie Supermen is McLachlan in The New Frontier; he did a fantastic job playing a Silver Age-style Superman. Although for your more standard, modern Superman, Daly's still my top choice, though Newbern's not bad. Baldwin was fairly good, as far as I can recall, but Harmon and Denton were both disappointing.
 
Yeah, I rated it on Netflix, so I apparently watched it, but I have no memory of it whatsoever. I think that right there tells you alot about how good it was.
 
JD said:
Yeah, I rated it on Netflix, so I apparently watched it, but I have no memory of it whatsoever. I think that right there tells you alot about how good it was.
Click to expand...

Similar story for me but I got it from Redbox. Other than that no memory. I have generally liked these films but some like it fall flat.

Its tricky, look at the actual Justice League show. It took a long while for it to really hit its stride. I have no problem with the variety of different designs and voices for artistic reasons. But the result is they have to start fresh each time and not build on what came before.

Whether for the animators getting used to using a particular character design. Or even with actors. There is a vast difference between having a one off performance and having many different stories and years to build up experience in the same role.
 
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