DTV Trash?: Superman- Braniac Attacks

DC had a great run as the Studio making the best Animated Shows in the '90s.
Inevitably, the Shows had to end and Direct to Video Features followed.

Some are confusing (like Mystery of the Batwoman), some are good (like Subzero) and some hurt us all on a deeper level (like Batman & Harley Quinn).

This one- 2006's Superman- Brainiac Attacks has eluded me for a while.

Which category does this fall into?

To find out, read on...

As a foreword, this is actually NOT a follow-up to the DCAU (Batman to Justice League Unlimited). 

It's just an Animated Film made in 2006- the same year as Superman Returns- that uses the same art assets and half of the OG Voice Cast of the Superman Cartoon.

That's only a lot confusing.

Anyhow, as the Title states, Brainiac attacks!  This looks like a job for, well, you know...

Brainiac hijacks Luthor's anti-meteor satellite (which failed to stop his arrival) to blast the crap out of Superman.

This gives Luthor- voiced here by Powers Boothe channeling Gene Hackman- an idea or two. 

Superman finally wrecks Brainiac's body by freezing it and making it shatter.

That's not usually how this works, but I'll accept it.

Cool shot- no pun intended.

Luthor pockets Brainiac's brain chip from the debris and takes him back to LexCorp.

He makes a deal- he'll give Brainiac a new body with some new tech (including the one piece of kryptonite he has) if he destroys Superman.

In the Cartoons, they were literally fused into one Cronenbergian body.  This is safer.

This new body is formed from the Satellite itself and...now he has arms and legs?

The Satellite had those already or...I'm probably overthinking a Cartoon, aren't I?

Using Luthor's tech, it can track Superman and attacks him while he's out with Lois as Clark.

A fight ensues, but it eventually blasts Superman and Lois with some sort of kryptonite wave beam.

This poisons them both, because...why not?

Superman finds no help in his Fortress of Solitude and Brainiac attacks again.

He blows up the place and vanishes into The Phantom Zone, where the secret lies.

Seen here flying inside the mind of Hunter S. Thompson

While he's in there, Luthor reveals to Mercy that he has a failsafe to destroy Brainiac's body.

He positions himself as a hero to stop Brainiac...who took out the failsafe, because, you know, he's Brainiac.

Things go poorly for him until Superman returns (not that one).

Superman is covered in an orange glow and now resistant to the Kryptonite beams.

He eventually overpowers and overcharges Brainiac for the victory.

One final attack makes Superman have to use up the orange energy to save Lois.

In the aftermath, a cocky Luthor soon is hoisted by his own petard!

Oh and Superman doesn't stop being Clark.  Cool.

A decent to good Animated Film that does take some adjustments to enjoy.

As noted, this is just a completely separate entity from Superman: The Animated Series, despite using their Character Models, Locations and half of the Voice Cast.

I was distracted quite a bit at first by the new voices- Boothe as Luthor and Lance Henriksen as Brainiac- while others- like Tara Strong as Mercy- were fine.

Boothe- who was great as Gorilla Grodd- plays a campier and sillier Luthor here that I eventually warmed up to.  There's no wrong version of the Character- well, other than Jesse Eisenberg- but seeing the face I know with a different voice was weird.

Henriksen was fine, if unremarkable as Brainiac.  Corey Burton brought a subtle menace that Lance simply didn't.

Canon and Voice issues aside, this one was alright.  It took some big swings in the story and some of them paid off.

A prolonged part where Jimmy Olsen is beaten up- weird.  
Other swings were countered by simply being undone abruptly (the Fortress will be rebuilt and Clark stays). 
If you're not canon, why not stick to these?

Ultimately, this one kind of falls in the middle with these Adaptations/Follow-Ups.  It's just alright and I can see why it isn't talked about much.

Sorry, new Lex.  I did grow to like you.

Next time, I dig into my digital vault to cover a Sequel that is very much forgotten.  Before he made billion-dollar Films, James Cameron went fishing.  Stay tuned...