[7.4/10] It’s kismet that I recently read a blurb about DCAU impresario Bruce Timm, speaking fondly about Joss Whedon and his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because this feels a lot like “The Zeppo” from that superlative series. (And, as other nerd properties go, like “Lower Decks” from Star Trek: The Next Generation.) There’s something really fun about taking an episode to put one of the backbenchers into the spotlight, focusing on the wants and hopes of those who can’t claim to be heavy hitters, but who more often get relegated to “crowd control.”
Booster Gold is a great candidate for that, because he’s in this for fame and fortune, and was a shmoe in the future who only went back in time to feel like a bigshot. He’s not a “with great power comes great responsibility” or a “tragedy turned me into an avenging angel”-type hero, just someone who’s in it for the glory and adulation. That makes his arc, from mercenary hype man to genuine hero, more affecting that it would be with a more heralded or honorable hero.
The episode does a good job of establishing his sense of being underappreciated and relegated to the less glamorous jobs. The prospect of a big time villain threatening the world while our perspective character is left on the sidelines feels very of a peace with Xander in “The Zeppo.” But the episode also does a good job of setting up a problem he can solve and showing him running into plenty of other bumps along the way.
A pregnant woman who needs his delivery assistance or a giant building come to life make for good intermediate hurdles while he’s trying to stop a one-man black hole from sucking up the galaxy with the help of a winsome scientist. There’s a lot of nice touches here, from Skeets being voiced by Billy West (who voices Fry in Futurama, another time-traveling nobody), to his “greasy wheel” conversation with Elongated Man paying off in fun ways in the ending. The challenge ahead of Booster Gold is simple, and we get enough details of why he feels put upon by the rest of the League, but also why he probably doesn’t deserve a promotion just yet to make his situation interesting.
The nice thing about this episode, though, is that it comes with Booster Gold both accepting that he isn’t really a hero only to, ironically, become one. When he tries to save the world for selfless rather than selfish reasons, he becomes a better person and manages to win the day. That’s a cool resolution for this lighter and more entertaining story. The fact that he doesn’t go after the kiss from the attractive “damsel” but earns her admiration anyway through his altruism and bravery is a nice way to subvert and redeem his lech-like qualities earlier in the episode.
There’s an amusing sense that even saving the day isn’t enough to earn a similar appreciation from Batman or Green Lantern, but that there’s a personal satisfaction that Booster Gold gets nonetheless. It’s fun to get to see the perspective of someone far below the A- or B- or even C-team for the Justice League and how they feel about their place in the pecking order. I don’t know if this one was an explicit homage to “The Zeppo”, but either way, I bet Whedon would be proud.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-09-24T21:59:09Z
[7.4/10] It’s kismet that I recently read a blurb about DCAU impresario Bruce Timm, speaking fondly about Joss Whedon and his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because this feels a lot like “The Zeppo” from that superlative series. (And, as other nerd properties go, like “Lower Decks” from Star Trek: The Next Generation.) There’s something really fun about taking an episode to put one of the backbenchers into the spotlight, focusing on the wants and hopes of those who can’t claim to be heavy hitters, but who more often get relegated to “crowd control.”
Booster Gold is a great candidate for that, because he’s in this for fame and fortune, and was a shmoe in the future who only went back in time to feel like a bigshot. He’s not a “with great power comes great responsibility” or a “tragedy turned me into an avenging angel”-type hero, just someone who’s in it for the glory and adulation. That makes his arc, from mercenary hype man to genuine hero, more affecting that it would be with a more heralded or honorable hero.
The episode does a good job of establishing his sense of being underappreciated and relegated to the less glamorous jobs. The prospect of a big time villain threatening the world while our perspective character is left on the sidelines feels very of a peace with Xander in “The Zeppo.” But the episode also does a good job of setting up a problem he can solve and showing him running into plenty of other bumps along the way.
A pregnant woman who needs his delivery assistance or a giant building come to life make for good intermediate hurdles while he’s trying to stop a one-man black hole from sucking up the galaxy with the help of a winsome scientist. There’s a lot of nice touches here, from Skeets being voiced by Billy West (who voices Fry in Futurama, another time-traveling nobody), to his “greasy wheel” conversation with Elongated Man paying off in fun ways in the ending. The challenge ahead of Booster Gold is simple, and we get enough details of why he feels put upon by the rest of the League, but also why he probably doesn’t deserve a promotion just yet to make his situation interesting.
The nice thing about this episode, though, is that it comes with Booster Gold both accepting that he isn’t really a hero only to, ironically, become one. When he tries to save the world for selfless rather than selfish reasons, he becomes a better person and manages to win the day. That’s a cool resolution for this lighter and more entertaining story. The fact that he doesn’t go after the kiss from the attractive “damsel” but earns her admiration anyway through his altruism and bravery is a nice way to subvert and redeem his lech-like qualities earlier in the episode.
There’s an amusing sense that even saving the day isn’t enough to earn a similar appreciation from Batman or Green Lantern, but that there’s a personal satisfaction that Booster Gold gets nonetheless. It’s fun to get to see the perspective of someone far below the A- or B- or even C-team for the Justice League and how they feel about their place in the pecking order. I don’t know if this one was an explicit homage to “The Zeppo”, but either way, I bet Whedon would be proud.