Derek writes...

What's your favorite take on Superman's cousin, Supergirl or Powergirl?

alternate writes...

Hi Greg,

I have a few questions/comments:

1) In "Bloodlines", it appears that Wally arrives in Central City just after Impulse. However, when Nightwing calls Wally initially, the map indicates that Impulse is already in Indiana/Kentucky at this time and moving very rapidly (passing through states in several seconds). I believe Central City is somewhere in the midwest, though you haven't specified. Given that Wally is established to be noticeably slower than Impulse, if he is in Palo Alto when he gets the call, he would likely arrive in Central City a good bit later than Impulse. This is supported by how long it takes him to run across the country in "Coldhearted", although that was during a blizzard. Is Wally's quick arrival a continuity error? Maybe he was already near Central City when he got the call. There's probably enough ambiguity that it can be explained away regardless. Sorry for being so nitpicky about this. Feel free to provide a snarky response.

2) I liked line about the intersection of "Fox and Gardner". I'm sure this was a shout-out to the late Gardner Fox, original writer of Jay Garrick's Flash. Do you remember whose idea it was to include that line?

3) Peter David wrote "Bloodlines", and he also wrote the original YJ comic. Did he write this episode because it was the introduction of Impulse (a primary character from the comic)?

4) Was Neutron's suit intended to resemble the Anti-Monitor from Crisis on Infinite Earths? I'm not too familiar with Neutron, but from what I could tell his suit design on the show appeared to deviate from his designs in the comics. I thought this might be intentional as a reference to Barry Allen's memorable death in the crisis.

5) Lastly, why did you choose Sportsmaster as a primary villian on the show? I imagine it was related to the decision to use Artemis. I ask because I think you've done a great job of making Crusher Crock compelling and realistic. I like how he pole vaults over a wall in "Targets" and uses the discus and javelin as weapons. In my opinion this makes him seem much more like an athlete (decathlete?) and less like a big thug/goon which many villian enforcer types seem to be.

Thanks for answering, and here's hoping for many more seasons!

JAC writes...

One more quick question from a curious insomniac...what is Psimon's heratage? (keeping in mind "American" is a nationality, not a hetatage). I ask because the voice actor makes him sound slightly Germanic, but Nightwing said something to the effect of him being Bialia's enforcer (i know the two are not mutually exclusive). And having spent over a year in Afghanistan, I know the fact that he is much "whiter" doesnt exclude him from being middle-eastern either.

Anonymous writes...

In regards to using a bow and arrows, is Artemis preferably right-handed, left-handed, or ambidextrous? What about Green Arrow, Speedy (even though he never truly made an appearance in Season One), and Red Arrow?

Anonymous writes...

What are the production codes for the Young Justice episodes? Are they 101, 102, etc. or are they specific numbers?

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

This was an originally approved question got booted as part of the new rules. I'm hoping to be hitting on the problems and correcting them. It probably seems a little out of date since I first posted it after Missing aired. (I also originally mispelled Klarion like a Clarion. As of this posting you are about 100 answers away from a separate posting apologizing and mocking myself for the mistake. I'm looking forward to how you'll respond to that posting when there is no previous post to be referenced.):

Catching up before posting leaves me making comments of shows that aired weeks ago! I don't have a lot to say on all of them, but as a whole they've been outstanding:
Missing
1- (question) I believe someone has already asked if Zatana stays in her old school. {yep- several people asked, and you answered} With Z Tubes it is easily possible and would leave her with a sense of stability. But it does leave me wondering- Zatara appeared openly a member of the Justice League-
a- Do her friends know she was connected to the superheroes?
b-Had magic herself?
c-Lost her father?
d-In the comics Zatana lives in a family mansion full of magic. Does it, or something like it, exist in the YJ world?
2 (comment)- I see I am not the only one to notice Babs & Bette together again.
3- (comment) Didn't love Riddler's costume. I think I have a think for bowlers :)
4- (comment) Nice touch- Cat looking badly tired reporting the news. The only time I remember broadcasters looking tired was 9/11. (I think the lead anchor for NY1 went 48 hours straight on air.) This would be a matching level event.
5- (long question- modified at end) (I'm asking this question in case the how itself is a spoiler. Other folks have asked how.) Others have asked about children in positions that suddenly being separated from adults might have been injurious, even deadly. Often I see issues of intent helping get around certain such unpleasantries- ie. Since even most really bad guys would not want newborns dropping to the floor as their parents disappear, that wouldn't happen. Either the swirling magic would deposit then on the floor more slowly, or the spell itself would take a few seconds to finish for parents to move the child from the unsafe position. (Much like the image of Hudson and Goliath stretching against the stone sleep in Awakenings when they realize they were lured away from the castle before the massacre.) Intent does seem possible here, otherwise why would the age of 18, a societal construct that doesn't even cover the whole world, effect the spell. {Or is that 'affect'? Both look wrong to me. My grammatical instincts stink.} But that it doesn't seem to work because I don't think Clarion {see- wrong spelling;} cared one way or the other if babies died. (IIRC the more light hearted source material had a misguided kid causing the whole story, djin powered, I think. His not wanting any kids dead would be enough for there not to be.)
a- I don't know anything about the other magic folk. Would their intent affect Clarion's spell? And if so did any of them have enough basic empathy to care to protect the children at the moment of the transition?
b- That wouldn't help children in cars or buses at high speeds or on planes. If you watched the show Flash Forward and saw the image of planes falling out of the sky into buildings, that sort of devastation seems inevitable on the children Earth. The actual vehicles may be fine from the adult Earth, but any loss of life would be permanent. On the other hand, that sort of trauma would deeply scar the world. I can't imagine the event would not be mentioned frequently overshadowing most other events for episodes to come. While the tone of this story is way more serious that the original World Without Grownups, it wasn't that dark. Am I misreading that there was a way that the millions of planes and trains and cars of the world were largely somehow stopped from killing thousands of children?
{In an answer that has since been posted you said something to the effect of "that would depend on Klarion." So explicitly -were there mass child casualties that night? And if not, was it Klarion's intent that prevented it? If it was his intent, was that intent at all based in compassion?}
6- (outdated question- you've since explained the mechanics of it all making the answer here 'no'.)- In World Without Grownups the adult world was the original and kid one was a copy. By that logic only property damage on the adult world was permanent. Was that the case in Missing?
7- (Comment) I love that Wally took the Sippy cup as his souvenir it speaks volumes to his growing maturity. Though as a mom all I can think is, "I really hope that wasn't the kid's favorite."
Mmm… That makes me think; when I started watching Gargoyles and following this site I was in college. Now I'm married with two kids, (one who will need to be picked up in a moment…). It really behooves me to thanks you, and Gorbash and all the Station8 helpers and posters for years of enjoyment. Besides a like community of fantasy lovers, some of the best lessons of story craft I've had came from these shows and these pages. Like why it was important that it was clear that Elisa was never in danger from the start of Long Way to Morning. Or how you can have a great double entantdre (sorry, no French spell check) in a kids show if you actually make the first meaning solids enough to stand on it's own (Spidy). It has made me far more appreciative of and attentive to good entertainment. Thank you all.

{Even though it is a pain and annoyance to edit, repost and wait longer for a response, thanks also to the helpers who are culling the list to help make it more manageable. Now I still have a ton of reading to catch up on before posting any new questions or reviews so I'm guessing I won't have another question till at least 300 more are posted.}

Falcor the Invincible writes...

How did Hawkman and Hawkwoman come to be on Earth-16?

Neosmith writes...

All about Young Justice:

1. How long in terms of script length is an episode of Young Justice?

2. Do you follow the one page=one minute rule of Hollywood filmmaking at all or is it fairly different?

3. Is it difficult to write stories for the series when you have to keep in mind the different powers of all the characters?

4. What is the average budget per episode?

Bazell writes...

After the events of Misplaced and the subsequent decision by the League to let Captain Marvel remain on the roster, is Billy given any authority to access the Zeta tubes?

In Failsafe we hear for the first time M'Gann's "I love you" to Conner. Was that THE first? I believe it is several episodes before we hear those words again on screen.