Buy or Cel: Justice League (TV vs. 2017)

 A long-forgotten Segment returns!

In this case, let me compare the Pilot Episode of Justice League to the infamous Feature Film.

Both got some setup for Batman and Superman in the build-up.
Seems fair.

In one corner, we have the Film that cost more than (one can assume) the entire Production Budget of all of DC TV Shows combined...

...and the 3-Part Pilot Episode known simply as 'Secret Origins.'

The Cartoon has an invasion of White Martians, who trick Superman into disarming a la Superman 4.

They prove too great for him to stop on his own.  Same goes for Batman.

On the Film side, the World is in danger as Steppenwolf arrives on Earth to prepare the Earth for Darkseid's arrival.

The Show has the advantage of 4 Seasons of Batman and 3 of Superman.

As such, we got Flash introduced in a one-off and Green Lantern...just not that one.

Even so, they have to introduce Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and the John Stewart version of GL.

Alas, the setup for Aquaman went to waste due to Network mandates.

In the Film, Superman is dead (for now) and we have Batman forming a team with Aquaman, The Flash, Wonder Woman (who had a few Scenes in BvS) and Cyborg.

As you can see, both had to do some heavy lifting with new Characters while also telling the Story.

The Cartoon has the heroes uniting and working together to save the Earth, notably giving Manhunter some payback against the threat that killed his people.

In the aftermath, Batman has given them a Satellite Base and we know that more great stuff is on the way.

In the Film, the League manages to revive Superman, survive a fight with him and then stop Steppenwolf from razing the Earth.

In the aftermath, they pose...and Superman is about to have a foot race with Flash.
Roll Credits.

Similar hero poses too.

This one is not as even as you would hope for.

Yes, the Film is a hodge-podge of Snyder's work, studio mandates and Joss Whedon's strange humor.  No, I won't compare the Pilot to the Snyder Cut.

Were you expecting that?

The comparison is more apt than I remembered, since both had to introduce most of the Cast as the Story unfolds.
What the Show did well was make the threat global as well as personal.  Manhunter wants to defeat the White Martians to save his new home AND to get a little measure of, well, Justice.

You could argue that there's an attempt to personalize it by having the Boxes be near the homes of our Heroes in the Film, but...I mean, come on.

WW in the Show sees the threat to Man's World and steps up.
WW in the Film is just kind of already here and the attack on her fellow Amazons is only a little upsetting.

The Show splits up the team into groups, which helps set up the dynamics and leaves more room for Character Arcs to begin.

Nostalgia aside, the Show simply tells a better Story in roughly the same amount of time.
No need to get sticky with me about it.

A closer comparison than I was expecting.  That said, the Show does more in the same amount of time to make me want to see more of this Team in action.

Buy or Cel?: The X-Men vs. Apocalypse (Part 2)

 Another X-Men Show did a big Story Arc with Apocalypse, so let's compare that to the Film too...

In one corner, we have the Blue Man and his Group from X-Men: Apocalypse...

...vs. The Saga of Apocalypse from the oft-ignored X-Men: Evolution.

In contrast to the Film, SOOOO much time is spent building up to the arrival/return of Apocalypse.

Throughout Season 3, we see Mesmero working for 'someone' in a scheme that involves brain-washing our Heroes to steal stuff.

It turns out to be keys to Doors that Apocalypse is sealed behind.

Season 3 formally ends (it has a one-off to actually finish) with a battle to stop the last Door from opening...which fails.

They also accidentally deliver his ship to him, setting up the final Season.

Throughout the condensed 4th Season, we get build-up for Apocalypse's plan as his Pyramids pop up and draw the ire of many, including Magneto, who is seemingly-killed by the Villain.

In the End, all of the Heroes must unite to stop the Villain and his Horsemen.  It is actually a small, forgotten Character that seals the almighty Apocalypse's fate.

Good stuff.

Weird fact worth noting: on Evolution, Apocalypse recruits/steals 4 Mutants to be his Horsemen- Mystique (set up in Season 3), Magneto, Professor Xavier and Storm.

In X-Men: Apocalypse, he recruits another 4 Mutants for his Horsemen- Angel, Psylocke, Magneto and Storm.

Also Mystique is key in stopping him here, so seeing her as his stead is obviously different.
Lastly, I'll note that there's a soft tease for Phoenix here, as opposed to SUPER IN YOUR FACE one in the Film.

Once again, the Film isn't bad.  The Film has some big ambitions.  It tries to introduce new Characters like Storm, Psylocke and the villain, while also trying to build off of Character Plots like Magneto's.

It's just not as interesting as a long-running, mystery build throughout numerous Episodes like on the Show.  Another win for that format- fair or not.

They make the arrival of Apocalypse out to be a huge deal and, in fact, the Series arguably is built around it.  Apocalypse tries to activate the dormant X-Gene of everyone on Earth, which is a jump-start to evolution.  Say- that's the Title!

The Film, again, used none of its predecessors to do any of this work, save for a vague Teaser at the end of 'Days of Future Past' (a future induction, no doubt).

So, with no disrespect to the Film, the choice is obvious- Cel.

I'll leave you with this.  For the wrap-up (since Season 5 wasn't greenlit), the Producers show a flash-forward tease of what they would have done.  That includes, naturally, The Dark Phoenix Saga!

As a bonus, I'll point out that Wolverine and the X-Men (the most recent X-Men Show) only got one Season, but did a tease for a future Season 2.  That tease- Apocalypse!

Next time, let's jump over to DC.  With all of the talk about another cut, let's compare the birth of the Justice League!  See you then...

Buy or Cel: The X-Men vs. Apocalypse (Part 1)

 As I'm still in an X-Men mood, let's look at a more general comparison.

Let's see how the '90s Animated Show handled Apocalypse versus the recent live-action Film...

So this one is a less direct one.  Apocalypse appears in Season 1 for 2 Episodes and then pops up intermittently throughout the main run...until Season 4.

In contrast, Fox used Apocalypse as the Villain for the 3rd Film in the Revival Series (which is not quite a Reboot, but not quite a Sequel to the Original Trilogy).

Which one did it best?

In the titular Film, the big blue guy is awakened, forms his 4 Horsemen and then tries to use everyone's nukes to destroy them.

Hey, remember when X-Men: First Class was all about Nuclear Weapons being unleashed?
Also...this guy isn't scary.  At all.

For comparison, we see the culmination of Apocalypse's big plans (and lots of dangling sub-plots and characters) in the 4-Part 'Beyond Good & Evil.'

There's alot to unpack here- and I did it here- but the gist of it is this...

He's kidnapping Psychics- including Jean Grey and random background Extras like Moondragon, Mesmero and Rachel Summers- as part of a plan to destroy Time itself.

It directly involves the X-Men, many villains like Mr. Sinister, Bishop and Cable.
It is weird!

Weird overlaps- Magneto ends up working with Apocalypse and later betraying him (when his plan turns out to be bonkers) both times.

He's promised that his Wife can be revived...in both the Show and Film.

As a bonus, Mystique also plays a part in both, although she's with Magneto in the Show and against him in the Film.

Also also Psylocke is introduced and Archangel returns/is introduced in both versions.

There's not much of a contest, is there?  The Show uses its Format to its advantage quite well.  Being deep in Season 4, they have LOTS to build upon.  For instance, Bishop is placed where he is in the Story due to him time-traveling back home *from a previous Episode.*  Yes, Time-Travel played a big role throughout the Series.  Hell, this isn't even the first one to involve Apocalypse!  By having a whole lot of build-up already done for them (by them, to be fair), they can tie the Plot to Scott & Jean's relationship, the Mr. Sinister Story Arc, Bishop's Plot, Cable's Plot, Archangel's Plot and more.  By doing so much work, they can make almost all of this pay off quite well.  In contrast, the Film did pretty much no build-up for Apocalypse here, only teasing him at the end of the last Film.  As we'll see later, you can build up Apocalypse well in subtle ways without making it all about him.  They didn't need to have him cast or anything- just build up the imminent threat for the 3rd Film.  Nope- none of that.  Speaking of wasted potential, Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse.  Is he scary?  No.  Does he look cool?  No.  Does he look like Ivan Ooze?  Yes.  He tries his best, but all of his dialog had to be done in post due to the noise that keeping his suit air-conditioned made- no joke!  On the Show, Apocalypse may look a little bit silly at times, but the late John Colicos gives a strong, vibrant performance.  He has to be one of the MVPs of this Show, no question! 

In this case, the obvious choice is Cel.  Just don't creep, fellas.

Next time, I want to give the 2016 Film a second chance.  In this case, I'll match it up with the big Apocalypse Story-Arc on the *next* X-Men Show...

Buy or Cel?: The Dark Phoenix Saga- Animated vs. Film

 Are you a fan of Animation?  Are you a fan of Live-Action?
Do you find it hard to decide which is better?

Well, you're in luck, because I'll help you decide whether to...

For the first Segment, this one seems natural.  After all, Fox did it TWICE.

It is The Dark Phoenix Saga!

Like many people of a certain age, I was exposed to the version done on X-Men: The Animated Series first.

I just binged watched it tonight.  It is still great.

Later on, I was exposed to it again in X-Men: The Last Stand.

It was okay, but confusing.

Less than 15 years later, we got it AGAIN with Dark Phoenix (alternately X-Men: Dark Phoenix).

It was pretty bland and forgettable.  It's been just less than a year and I barely remember any of it.

In the (latest) Film, her transformation is carried over like in the Comics- the Shuttle, the Phoenix arriving and her losing control of her emotions.  So far so good.

The big problem: they cast Jessica Chastain as a Not-Skrull (rumors are that Disney squashed that idea).  Now she's just a bland Alien who say 'Embrace the dark side' and it just kind of works.

As a bonus, her 'Race' is the name of the same one killed infamously by Phoenix in the Comics.  Ouch.

In contrast, the Animated Series shows her growing turmoil, her fight for control and adjusting to new (for the Phoenix) emotions...and then she's manipulated by the Hellfire Club.

Yes, it's the Circle Club because Fox Kids.

Whatever you call it, it feels organic and makes her turn to 'f##k humans' feel believable.

So is Dark Phoenix a terrible Film?  No.
Is X-Men: The Last Stand a terrible Film? No, but less strongly-so.

They just pale in comparison to the Animated Series' adaptation, which is built up over a 4-Part Phoenix Saga AND a 4-Part Dark Phoenix Saga.  

If the Episodes average out to 22 minutes each, that's 176 minutes or just under 3 hours (not counting the Show's build up of characters).

They just put more time and care into it.

Plus it has the great level of Soap Opera-style emoting that comes from adapting Chris Claremont Stories and Dialog.  It is anchored by great performances by Norm Spencer (RIP) as Cyclops and Catherine Disher as Jean Grey.

In contrast, Sophie Turner shifts between over-and-under-acting all of her Scenes and Tye Sheridan's part is underwritten.

Final Call: If you want to enjoy the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Saga, stick with Animated.  Don't buy- Cel!