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Reviews
Static Shock: The Big Leagues (2002)
A major step down
After the stellar work that was Season 1, this one episode undid a lot of it. Ruining Ebon's momentum, weak writing and character motivation for the Joker, unnecessary and out-of-place cartoon sound effects, and irritating slow rap songs during fight scenes make this show's direction from this point forward questionable.
Young Hercules: Sisters (1998)
A fun episode
Throughout Young Hercules, Angela Marie Dotchin was a scene-stealer as Kora/The Huntress, and here she was able to fully stretch her ability to steal the entire episode.
The plot is typical, and includes one sister trying to be like the other sister in order to fit in. But Dotchin sells it with such subtlety at first using mostly her facial expressions, and it's actually enjoyable to watch, despite being a story we've seen a hundred times.
When Kora actually does put on her sister's clothes and try to act like her, it's such a hilarious contrast and unlike the way this is usually handled, she realized very quickly that this was a bad idea, and this wasn't her. In other shows this normally would have gone on for a while.
The villain of the episode is a loan shark named Don Corleonus; yes, complete with the Godfather theme, the Vito Corleone accent, and a subtle reference to "Look at how they massacred my boy!" Corleonus is rarely in it, but his Brando-like delivery and his interactions with the totally unimpressed Kora makes for some great comedy.
Iolaus was strangely absent for this episode, leaving Hercules and Jason as the heroes who had to rescue Kora after Corleonus kidnapped her, having mistaken her for her sister Cleo. Either way, Kora manages to escape Corleonus on her own once the guards are distracted. My guess for her not bringing out the Huntress for this is that she knew she wasn't in any real trouble and would escape soon.
Midway through the episode there is a very cheesy moment where Hercules and Jason are dancing to music performed by a band that Cleo hired, and I couldn't help but crack up at just how 90's it is.
The sound effects were on the cartoonier side this time around, including motorcycle sounds when Hercules and Jason were dancing and pretending to grip bike handles; a "Boink" sound when Kora bounces her eyebrows flirtatiously; and a lot of "Whoosh" noises typical of the Xenaverse.
I guess to sum up, this episode is pure 90's cheese mixed with a great performance from Dotchin, and it's just an easygoing 22 minutes. Would recommend to any fans of the Xenaverse.