The Saturday Do-Over

The thing I like about having a Monday off – apart from simply having a Monday off – is that it’s like having two Saturdays. It turns Sunday into a Saturday do-over.
Not that I really took advantage of my do-over, but that’s not the point.
As for what I actually did, I got up, sat around, killed multiple hours doing nothing in particular, and then realizing sometime around 2 PM that I hadn’t eaten anything but a banana all day and deciding that I should do something about that.
I did some more nothing in particular before finally showering, dressing, and heading out into the world to pick up a couple of things I’d forgotten yesterday, get some cash from an ATM – at a Giant that actually does have a Chevy Chase ATM inside – and pick up some food from McDonald’s.
And that’s pretty much all I’ve done with my Saturday do-over.

The Future Is Now Department:
As mentioned in an earlier post, this week I watched the new episode of Smallville, even though it’s been nearly two years since I stopped watching the show.
There were two reasons I wanted to see this particular episode.
The first was that it featured the appearance of Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
The second was that the episode was written by comic book writer Geoff Johns.
Johns is something of a polarizing figure in comics; people tend to either worship him or despise him.
I don’t fall into either extreme, but in general I do enjoy his work.
As for the episode itself, it was clear that Johns was hampered by the requirements of writing a standard episode – even if it was a “special” episode – of Smallville, so it contained a lot of the aspects of the show that led me to stop watching it.
That being said, the Legion elements were entertaining, though I have to say that I didn’t much care for the person they got to play Lightning Lad, or the manner in which he was characterized. Of course, the characterization seemed to be tied inextricably to the actor playing him. A review at i09.com described it as the “Ron Weasley-ing” of the character, which is a pretty apt description.
Some people complained about the acting skills of the girl playing Saturn Girl, but on Smallville it’s kind of difficult to take note of particular instances of bad acting, especially when Kristin Kreuk is around.
I did like Cosmic Boy – both in terms of the actor and the characterization. He was exactly the sort of humorless dick that he should be (and that Lightning Lad should have been as well), and was clearly established as the Legion’s resident historian.
Some of the little inside jokes were entertaining, such as Lightning Lad asking Clark, “Where’s your cape?” and then later remarking on there being “no flights, no tights,” which is a standing – and, on a show about Superman, ridiculous – rule of production on the show.
The reference to a “Levitz Institute” in the 31st Century was also a nice touch.
As for the story itself…meh. Like I said, standard Smallville fare.
I was surprised, given that the show featured an appearance by a character who wields an axe that can cut through anything, that no one got decapitated.
In pretty much any given comic by Johns there’s at least a 75% chance that someone will get decapitated (which is part of the reason so many people despise him; his stories are often extremely violent).
There was a set-up for additional appearances by the Legion in the, umm, future, so we’ll see if they make another appearance in the 21st Century, or if Clark makes a trip to the 31st.
The close-up shots of the Legion Flight Rings were pretty cool, but given Smallville’s history of blatant product placement, I suspect that at some point DC Direct will be producing a line of Legion Flight Ring replicas.
Not that I view that as a bad thing, though the irritating thing about the DC Direct replicas of jewelry or other equipment is that they come with a disclaimer stating that they’re not designed to be worn. If you’re a big enough nerd to want to buy a replica Flight Ring, then you’re damn sure going to be a big enough nerd to want to wear the thing.
(Personally, I’m not quite a big enough nerd to want to shell out money for a Legion Flight Ring replica.)
In addition to the Legion appearance on Smallville, a character from the future made an appearance on another show based on DC Comics characters. Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, teamed up with Batman on this week’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
I’ve been waiting for this ever since I saw Kamandi appear in the opening title sequence on the first episode.
However, I was a bit disappointed. The format of the show tends to follow a pattern of starting off the show in the midst of things, with Batman teamed up with one particular character, and then quickly wrapping up the action, followed by a longer story in which Batman teams up with yet another character.
I was hoping that the Kamandi team-up would be the main story, but alas, it was only the shorter opening sequence.
Still, what we did get to see was pretty cool.
Much cooler than the Legion’s appearance on Smallville.