Description and images courtesy of the WB.

The promo from today's episode can be seen here -

In the Beginning Promo video!

Hmm... if the cartoon can retell this story and make it interesting, I'll be impressed!

maybe we'll finally see cosimc boy as something other then a prick yay

and we'll see cham's dad i cant see if how this could be a bad ep

Those must be some massive pictures, my poor dial-up said "no."

Got any smaller for the poor people?

Try the smaller versions at LegionPics BB. Just don't click on them for the larger version or your dial-up may smack you upside the head.

Can't wait for this one!!!!

A new episode? yay!

and finally we get to see more of Imra! I have been missing her, but seeing Shrinking Violet appear so often has made me happy.

Little Imra kinda creeps me out. Those eyes...

But I can't wait until Saturday!! And is it just me, or do the three founders look younger than however old they were in the comics when the Legion was founded?

And the new 9:30 timeslot means I have to get up earlier. So much for sleeping in.

Sorry. I replaced the images with Scott's. I wasn't paying attention to the sizes and with a cable modem everything pops up quick.

I liked seeing the Adventure era inspired costumes in the preview. I'm looking forward to this one.

I completely missed those the first time! That is cool!

I missed the promo the first time too!!! SWEEEEEEETTTT!!

Good to see that they are including Easter Eggs from the silver age. This should be a good episode.

I caught the Silver Age costumes too, plus one of the boys saying "Cool power!". Just like in LSH #0.

Can anyone say finally? It feels like it's been forever since the last episode.

does any one think that the change in time slot was done so kids will miss it?

I dunno, most kids (at least the ones in the age group they're targeting) seem to get up ealier anyways. I know my little sister is always up at that time on Saturday to watch her favorite shows.

It's been, what, 3 months of re-runs? Ugh. I will join you in saying

<span style="font-size: 20px;">FINALLY!!!</span>

And I'm sure someone has already said this, but welcome to Legion World Epic.

Thanks! And yeah, I only got a link to the second season recently, but by recently, I mean a month ago. 2.1's beginning is so funny in how gay and cheesy it is.

Okay, for two Saturdays I woke up and it wasn't on at 11, and now I know why. Though the website for the channel I watch still says 11. >___o

see they are trying to get people to miss it!

i found this while wondering around the web ...more subs yay !!!

Ha!

I see Night Girl, and of course Bouncy, and is that Inferno? Don't know who the bucket head kid is or the one with the big ears and cape.

That pic is actually from last season's "Lightning Storm". It has nothing to do with the upcoming episode.

Also, please remember, do not hotlink images from another site unless you own the site, are using a image hosting site or have used the upload feature here. Thanks!

New image released today from the WB. Awesome team shot. Need to resize it for wallpaper. I'm only linking the thumbnail version from LegionPics as the original is over 1MB in size. To see the full size click here .



This has to be one of my most favorite shots of the group yet.

Good to see Ultra Boy where he belongs!

I hope that they make Ultra Boy a member of the core six in season 3. nI also hope that we get to see Tyroc in action. Finally lets hope that they add Wild Fire to the roster.

Am I being pessimistic by seriously doubting that there's even going to be a season 3?

Curious, Saturn Girl's chest symbol is missing in the group shot, which is very nice btw.

Hmm... No Timber Wolf, Karate Kid, or Nemesis Kid...

Maybe they're there, and we see them before we slowly zoom in on the founders at the back...or something.

The new image looks great and gave me a "geekout" moment. I don't know ovely much about Ultra Boy other then his powers and classic comics relatiosnhip with Tinya but i'm also hoping to see more of him on the show later on. I was glad to see Matter Eater Lad up and about and not Emerald Eye 'tripping' anymore.

I missed the episode because it's been so long since the last new episode that I'd forgotten they changed the timeslot. GRRRRR!

Awesome Kids United!

WHY oh WHY did they have to show Tyroc in the flashback swearing in ceramony with the clenched "Black power" fist??? bad enough he had the huge afro but personally i think it was slight overkill,..i know it might've been an inside Joke since most folks know of Tyroc's origin. but c'mon! sorry just my little rant. love the episode,..never figured R.J. to be a southern gentleman type with the voice of Fog horn leghorn.

Yeah, I always imagined RJ to have an Irish brogue in the comics, but I figured, if he's really a Durlan, he can be anything he wants, right?

Oh, and wasn't it cool to see the founders do some real detective work to track down Doyle?

I loved RJ more than I ever thought I would!

I wonder if they're going to follow up on his relationship to Cham? If I was a kid, I'd be wondering how he could be Cham's father. Is he really Durlan, as in the comics? Or is he an adoptive father?

And I thought it was cool just seeing Tyroc as one of the early members.

This episode had just about everything that has been good about the LSH cartoon series. Multi-layered relationships that can be explored or used for plot points later on, glimpses of lots of characters, a quick and action-filled adventure, fun writing....

(Though, personally, I regret anyone ever came up with the Brande assasination attempt origin.)

I wish they had done more episodes like this instead of the less enjoyable timberwolf or chameleon boy-centric episodes. Maybe we would be talking about season three plans if they had.

After such a long break, I was very excited to see a new episode, and it was great. I'm a big fan of the founders, so featuring them and telling the origin story was terrific.

I really enjoyed this episode, but it seemed that Saturn Girl had more cheesy lines than usual. I think I counted three separate lines that made me groan. Did anyone else think this?

While I'm generally not a fan of it, myself, this was actually the best version of it I've seen. I liked the fact that the founders formed the Legion on their own (rather than it being Brande's idea), and that they still had to prove themselves to Brande even after they'd formed the team.

The Legion's back, and it's better than ever!

It's really great to see Saturn Girl(and Matter-Eater Lad)again, though I kind of agree with Teronna on her lines(even in the future they make Scooby-Doo references!).

I liked the dynamic among the original three, especially when they were little kids. I absolutely squealed when I saw the original Legion in their Silver Age outfits, they were so cute!

Oh, and it's about time someone called Cosmic Boy out on being a douche, I was hoping for that in this episode.

I only saw bit and pieces of it, but loved what I saw, especially the Cosmic Boy / Lightning Lad exchanges.

I liked seeing the Silver Age costumes. Glad to see Saturn Girl up and about. Saturn Girl's detective skill in the flashback.

OK now to what I didn't like about the episode. TAKING AWAY THE LEADERSHIP FROM BOUNCING BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cosmic Boy still acting all arrogant. The fact that when the Legion comes across Grimbor and the Resource Raiders, they do the same thing they did the first time, but now beat them. Also when Cosmic Boy says "Let's use their power against them" and then all they do is blast the starmaker things. Surely the writers could have come up with something that showed them using their powers together, thus showing why they are the Legion of superheroes and noy just a bunch of powerful kids. And wouldn't Brainy have been better used against the star maker things than against the Resource Raiders (against whom Saturn Girl would have made sense) I know I know, the three founders had to work together. So, come up with something that would require the three founders.

I think having Chameleon Boy refer to RJ as his Dad is going to be confusing to most viewers and I didn't get all excited about them using that bit.


My two cents.

Am I the only one that found this ep incredibly dull? I've lost count on how many Legion origin stories I've had to sit through. Uggh! I would rather they had done this in the first year of the series... I'm expecting new stimulus by now. Doyle was BORING as a villain. And when did Saturn Girl develop telekinesis? Tellus, you might want to try the Subs.

Have we really seen the Legion origin that much? I mean as a Legion fan I'm familiar with it. But, I've never felt overexposed to it.

I thought this episode was a long time coming and they did a better job with it than I expected. Well done.

It's great to see Saturn Girl and Matter-Eater Lad back to health and active duty. Their fates were helping ruin this season for me (along with Imperiex and Superman X, of course).

Yeah, I bet a lot of kids were befuddled that Cham has a human daddy. I was cheering for R.J. to shape-shift and help save the day but he was pretty useless except as a plot device. Ditto Doyle -- even a 4-year old could plainly see from the start he was the bad guy. And I thought Grimbor was blown to pieces in the Karate Kid episode but I guess he got, uh, better.

In spite of the predictable plot and Brainy's clunky exposition, the episode did a fabulous job portraying the "family" relationship of the Legionnaires 3. For once, Cos didn't come off as a complete a$$ -- only a partial a$$. He's still humorless, self-righteous, lacking in people skills and has his eyes set squarely on the prize, but he's no dummy and no slouch in the action department. Garth gets back some of the cocky and abrasive attitude he had in Season One, but is also shown as a kind and compassionate friend who values people over trophies (loved Tenzil being spoon-fed like a baby). Imra (in her first speaking role since I don't remember when!) is the "middleman" between the two opposite boys, her usual competent self. Her unique personality didn't shine through as strongly as CB's and LL's but at least she got to be as physically powerful as they are. Okay, so effortlessly blasting satellites with her mind was kind of silly but I liked seeing the three founders cut loose and have such a great time working together again.

I agree the highlight of the episode was the kids in their Silver Age era costumes reciting the Legion oath. Yeah, they looked cheesy, goofy and hopelessly old fashioned but I don't mind saying I choked up a little seeing The Spirit of Adventure flicker alive again this morning. Anyone else want a "Little Legion" show or book?

Next week looks like the return of Zyx (boo!) and Mordru (yay!)

Well you never actually see Grimbor blown to pieces in the KK episode. And Grimbor setting the traps was great too bad he didn't have Charma with him.

CB being in charge of the Legion anyways seems fine to me while he tends to follow the rules too much, he is much more a big picture guy than Garth. Whereas Garth is much more fly off the handle type of guy. Watching CB and LL argue like that remind me of Spock (CB) and McCoy's (LL) bickering from the Classic Star Trek series. It fit in very well with their personalities.

As far as BB not being the leader anymore, he just is not a wartime leader. You can clearly see that in previous episodes where he defers to others despite being the leader. In a time of war like the Legion is in currently you need a big picture leader like a Cosmic Boy or Brainy to be leading the troops because they will do what needs to be done.

I think it was just a matter of the writer(s) of this episode and the previous episode either not knowing or not caring about BB being elected leader last season.

And in the episode in which he was elected leader, it was because he was seeing the big picture and Cos and LL (and even Brainy) weren't. Plus Bouncy did handle the Sun-Eater very well.

I don't think it's so much a matter of ignoring that BB was elected leader, but just a matter of the fact that a couple of years passed between seasons. So Cos being leader again isn't inconsistent with that. This episode was playing with the leadership rivalry between Cos and LL that was set up in that episode. It would've been nice (and perhaps less confusing) if they referenced BB's term as leader, but I'm not upset that they didn't.

Saturn Gilrs to Doyle in the classic Scooby line "If it wasn't for this meddling kids" made me laugh out loud.

Also, seeing the Adventure era costumes is great.

Bring on Little Legion!

I would really prefer if they came up with some excuse for why Saturn Girl could blow up the machines. "I can contact the artificial minds inside the machines and convince them to self-destruct!" might be cheesy, but right now it looks like she's just a telekinetic, which makes her hiding behind Cosmic Boy's force fields kinda silly, since, as a telekinetic, she'd be able to make her own.

I don't even mind her having telekinesis, but I'd rather it be stated outright, rather than the current setup, where Imra places her hands to her temples and random pink stuff happens.

Aren't they what the season has been about so far?

i don't think a smart kid would get confused after all Cham did say in an earlier ep "my dad is loaded." i am upset what Super man x didnt go how is he your dad, that could have take all of six second to explain, "my dad got a rare sickness and is stuck like that now." boom cleared it up for the stupid kids

personally i wasn't a fan of R.j's voice, i would take Atom girls snort any day of the week over the accent

but good ep over all it had me giggling alot

Which is why this season hasn't been as good as the first one, IMHO.

Anyone else groan when Garth told Imra he wasn't letting her out of bed without a doctor's note, and she held up her flight ring and was like "I have this!"?

Though the Scooby Doo reference made me laugh.

And, I liked the reason Garth gave for going to Earth. It's better than "I'm going off to find my psycho brother and save him from himself even though I can't do a dang thing about it!"

Also, Awesome Kids United!

I kept thinking the Scooby Doo reference should've connected more directly with the "unmasking" of the villain.

The "I have this!" was kind of dumb, but I didn't find it quite groan-worthy.

Clips are up for this episode as well as the promo for Trials (which the WB will provide images from on Monday).

that would have made me groan i think more then anything

just had a thought Wouldn't the company have gone to cham if his dad had kicked the bucket?

Well, maybe...he wouldn't have been in control of it though, which is what Doyle wanted.

Just a couple of nitpicks(besides the ones mentioned above): In the first episode, Man of Tomorrow, "food on a stick" is foreign and primitive to Bouncing Boy. In this episode, however, Doyle gives Imra, Garth, and Rokk lolly pops for saving R.J. Brande from certain death.

And also in Substitutes, it's stated that it took Bouncing Boy four tries to get in the Legion, and yet the ending of this episode indicates that he was one of the original members(I'm assuming they didn't really have try-outs when the Legion first started, but I've been wrong before).

Maybe I'm over-thinking it, but does anyone else find these a bit weird?

maybe lollipops are something of a rare thing for and only for rich ppl? or bouncing boy grew up in a place where food on a stick was considered primitive

I have much sympathy for BB if that is true.

BTW, did anyone bother watching the new Spiderman cartoon? I watched part of it. Became so disgusted by the way the writers made Peter Parker into a hot-headed, egotistical skater that I turned it off.

I think you're reading too much into that scene. It's been shown that the Legionnaires have frequent re-dedication ceremonies, as they did at the end of this episode, so there's no reason to assume that all those shown in the flashback joined at the same time.

For me, it was a treat to see the Adventure-era costumes!

I was taken aback onlyby seeing Tyroc portrayed as member so early on. (In the comics, he joins much later.) But I guess you have to have a token minority in everything these days. Having a black guy present just to say, "Here's a black guy!" seems as bad as ignoring non-Caucasians altogether, but that's just me.

I took it those were pretty much the "first-year" members that were seen in the flashback at the end.

As for the episode as a whole:

Every time I see a new version of the Legion's origin, I'm impressed with the different variations and how they work instead of detracting from the overall story. Some of the changes from the Legion's classic origin include:

1. The assassination attempt on Brande occurs aboard the "starship" instead of on the ground.

2. Doyle is not pegged as the bad guy until much later.

3. Doyle is not related to Brande; he's just an assistant.

4. Garth does not mention that he's looking for his brother (though the shot of him looking at a holo of himself, Ayla, and Mekt might lead one to conclude that that's his unspoken motive).

5. Imra does not mention that she is going to earth to join the Science Police.

6. Rokk and Imra's given names are never mentioned.

7. Brande's hair is brown instead of white.

8. The three founders decide on their own to become a team without Brande suggesting it to them. They make this decision after visiting the Superman museum.

Change #1 worked well in the context of the cartoon. When Cos and LL worked together to patch up the hole in the ship, it gave us wonderful moment of teamwork and also showed them saving the entire ship, not just Brande.

I also heartily approve of Change #8. It makes the Legionnaires more involved in their own decisions, instead of having destiny thrust upon them by an adult.

Change #3 is the one that bothers me the most, for some reason. Doyle isn't a significant character in Legion lore, but I've always liked the idea of him being Brande's nephew.

Most of the other changes are minor.

On the other hand, some wonderful classic details snuck their way into the cartoon:

1. Cosmic Boy is from Braal, which is "impoverished." Hence, his need to make a name for himself.

2. Brande is Cham's dad (which, as others have mentioned, probably made a lot of viewers go "huh?")

3. The Silver Age Costumes!!!!!

4. The lineup at the swearing-in ceremony is true to the Adventure-era lineup, Tyroc aside.

All in all, I was very impressed with how it was updated.

I missed the Brande-Doyle relation as well, but then I remembered that the postboot version of Doyle wasn't related to Brande either (just a White Triangle agent).

Just playing around with ideas, the way I would've gone with it would be to specify that Cham was RJ's adopted son, and then part of Doyle's motivation would've had to do with RJ leaving his fortune to the "filthy alien child" instead of a blood relative such as himself.

Doyle could still be related to Brande. I mean, if you were Brande, would you want to admit that Doyle is family?

I actually liked the new Spidey cartoon. I thought they were true to the essence of Peter at that time in his life. Have to keep in mind, that Spidey is still very new on the scene and until this episode had not faced anyone that could challenge him.


Some great moments in it.

1) Spidey encounters Cain Marko (future Sandman)...."Yep, again. What is this like the 3rd time this summer?"

2) Peter is all jazzed about the first day of school thinking how great it will be and then overhears Aunt May talking about how they need some money badly.

Speaking of Cos' magnetic shield. I could see it working against energy weapons (possibly) but not against an explosion.

This plus the afore mentioned Saturn Girl telekinesis tells me that the writer does not really care about the characters.

Writing up my Emerald Legion fanfic, I realized that I didn't have a clear grasp on which metals were ferrimagnetic or not, so I looked it up and was appalled to see how severely limited magnetic powers would be even today (no really, is there anything made out of Cobalt within 50 ft of me?), let alone 1000 years from now...

I cheated by giving Rokk a costume of metal that he could reinforce (since force fields would be right out) and metal items that he could propel (since magnetic blasts are right out).

Magneto has a lot to answer for! He made me think that magnetic powers could do all sorts of cool stuff!

I remember as a kid figuring out that magnetism couldn't even stop bullets, and deciding it was pretty useless as a power.

Though you could go the route of arguing that you could technically exert force on any electrically-charged particle using precise control over magnetism, making you virtually omnipotent.

That's the way I've had to figure it, manipulating electro-magnetic fields at a submolecular level .. <span style="font-size: 8px;">or something like that</span> .. Not manipulating subatomic particles mind you just the EM fields.

It's just "sciency" enough to pass the muster in comic book physics and vague enough to justify a helluva lot.

I don't know that the writers don't care so much as they are merely adapting the characters to the medium of television. Modern practice seems to dictate that something exciting is happening on screen all the time, whether it makes sense from a scientific standpoint or not.

I miss the days when TV shows (or comics, for that matter) tried to include some educational content by adhering to the laws of science. One episode of "Lost In Space," for example, had the Robinson family trapped on a planet with an elliptical orbit that travelled too close to the sun. This episode helped me learn about a concept I had only read about in school and which would have otherwise remained abstract. However, such educational content doesn't seem to be a priority in television nowadays.

It could also be that the writers chose to focus more on the relationships of the three founders instead of on developing their powers. Having created my own comic book, I found myself doing the same thing: the characters were just more fascinating to me than their powers.

Also, as much as I admire Set's explanation, it would have been clunky to work into the story line, particularly with exposition (Brainy's narrative) already taking up much of the episode.

No, I don't think you are incorrect in the "Bouncing Boy had four tries". The stupid writers made mistakes.
I found this episode such a dispointment. Especially, When Sat. girl talk. I mean
"Here is my doctors note"
I nearly choked to death.

HWW,

I don't think it is a matter of "developing" their powers as using them properly. i.e. instead of having Cosmic Boy throw a magnetic shield around them, have him magnetically grab a big sheet of metal to protect them from the explosion.

And I understand the idea was to have some big problem that the three founders solve together. So write a problem that uses their powers correctly instead of totally misreading/misusing their powers. If the problem is a physical problem, make it so that Cos & LL have to use their powers precisely and then you have Saturn Girl link their minds to accomplish this.

Perhaps they were trying to give Saturn Girl a more active role than "merely" being a mind-reader -- a power that is hard to show dramatically on television.

You make a good case that the writers should use the Legionnaires' powers properly. But given that so much of their overall story has to be adapted to the medium of television, I guess I'm less bothered by power "upgrades."