Changes: To Another Shore

Revision as of 19:32, 18 April 2011

"To Another Shore" is the fourth episode of season 3 of Justice League Unlimited, and the 30th episode overall.

Plot

In Scandinavia, a glacier thaws partially, and the remains of a Viking ship are discovered frozen inside.

Aboard the Watchtower, Diana is preparing to attend a summit on global warming on behalf of Themyscira. She tries to convince J'onn to go with her. Until this point, J'onn has spent nearly all of two years in the Watchtower as Monitor. Diana takes him to task for spending too much time "cooped up" and challenges him to interact more with humanity.

At the Legion of Doom's headquarters, Grodd calls a meeting of several supervillains. Lex Luthor reports that he's been using his scientific genius to augment the abilities of several Legion members. Grodd then hands out a mission: the Viking ship is that of Prince Jon, a legendary warrior who was cursed with invulnerability by the gods due to his illicit love affair with a valkyrie, so as to prevent him from dying in battle and thus reunite with his love. If the Legion can steal his corpse, then they should be able to create that power for themselves.

At the conference, Diana is not doing well, largely because of her frustration with the other delegates' refusal to accept the scientific consensus on the effects of global warming. When she steps outside to gather herself, she notices Special Agent King Faraday enjoying a piece of bubble gum, who mentions he is there as part of the U.S. Vice President's security detail. Then a rumble shakes the meeting place and she suits up.

At the base of the mountain, Heatwave is melting through the ice to free the ship, while Giganta, Devil Ray, and Killer Frost hold off the local security guards, who warn them that if they continue, the mountain will collapse. Diana battles with the Legion members, but is severely wounded by a poisoned stinger from Devil Ray. Agent Faraday and his men provide reinforcements, but Diana has to call the Watchtower for help. She insists that she needs J'onn's abilities, and he and Green Arrow beam down.

The League regains the advantage, but J'onn wonders why the Legion hasn't retreated when they could have. He tries to read Giganta's mind, but it unexpectedly shuts down. What little he is able to read of her mind tells him the Legion's plan. Just then, Heatwave has melted enough of the ice for a submarine controlled by the Legion to grapple the block of ice holding the ship and pull it free. The tremors causes a huge avalanche to roll down the mountain towards the summit building.

The League divides: Green Arrow boards the submarine, Diana dives underwater to try to free the ship, while J'onn seizes Killer Frost and flies her to the top of the summit building, telling her to stop the avalanche with her powers or else be buried along with him in it.

Fighting the effects of the poison, Diana engages Devil Ray underwater, and manages to crack his helmet, forcing him to surface. Green Arrow disables a good number of the sub's crew, but is finally taken prisoner. However, the sub is surrounded by a trio of U.S. Navy subs led by Faraday, and the crew are forced to surrender. Up top, Killer Frost manages to save the summit building, though she is exhausted by the effort.

Diana recovers from the poison, thanks to an antidote found on Devil Ray. The ship is recovered, and the Legion members are taken into custody. She and Green Arrow agree that the recent villain activity is a sign of something bigger, but J'onn tells them that they will have to solve the mystery without him. Between Diana's words and the fate of Prince Jon, J'onn has come to realize that if he does not learn to live with humans, he will be alone forever.

Diana insists on giving the ancient Viking ship a proper burial rite — sending it and the remains of Prince Jon into the sun. J'onn takes his leave of his teammates, beams down to Earth, and takes on a human guise to join their world.

Continuity

Diana makes reference to her mother, Hippolyta, and their reconciliation since Diana's heroic actions in "The Balance." Diana jokingly says that she'd rather "take another day trip to Tartarus" than attend the conference, which is just what she did in that episode.
J'onn is unable to fully read Giganta's mind because Gorilla Grodd managed to short out her brain. This is hinted by Green Arrow at the end of this episode and confirmed in "Alive!".
Grodd makes reference to his "ultimate goal," which is later revealed in "Dead Reckoning."
J'onn does not reappear until "Destroyer."

Background Information

Production Notes

On some cable networks, the title of this episode was "Elegy".
When J'onn taps into Giganta's mind, he sees an array of images in which there's an explosion that is reused footage from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, when the console that the Jokerz tried to steal blows up. Another image is of the device the Joker planted on Tim Drake.
For the story of Prince Jon, Bruce Timm recreated panels in the style of Joe Kubert. Most of the poses and appearances are based on artwork found in Our Army At War #162, though Odin is portrayed radically different and an unnamed frost giant replaces the warrior Haggor.

Production Inconsistencies

Agent Faraday's reference to "Trident Missiles" is misleading; the Trident is an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, equipped with nuclear warheads. Apart from the fact that this is an excessive amount of firepower to target at a "tiny little sub," the Seawolf-class submarine is an attack submarine, and is not armed with ICBMs.
Furthermore, only three submarines in the Seawolf class were completed by the U.S. Navy, and it is highly unlikely that all of them would be assigned to the same area.
Wonder Woman reads The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (see below) from a scroll, which is highly anachronistic. The poem dates from 1797-8, at which time scrolls were no longer used for anything except ceremonial government documents such as treaties. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner has only been published in book form, never as a scroll.

Trivia

When Diana transforms into Wonder Woman she uses the old Lynda Carter effect: spinning into her uniform. This may be a sort of homage from the producers to the earlier television Wonder Woman, most likely from storyboard artist/producer and avid Lynda Carter fan James Tucker.
King Faraday refers to his men as "goldbrickin' yahoos", a line usually associated with Faraday's Marvel counterpart Nick Fury.
When Green Arrow slides aboard the submarine, he hums his own musical theme.
The poem that Diana recites during the rite and J'onn's farewell is part of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (specifically, the 13th to 17th stanzas of the final part).
Green Arrow's line, "We have a real mystery developing on our hands", is yet another reference to Scooby-Doo when Fred says something similar everytime a crime is taking place.
This episode was featured as a bonus episode on the 2-disc DVDs of Justice League: The New Frontier and Wonder Woman.

Cast

Actor	Role
Susan Eisenberg	Wonder Woman
Carl Lumbly	J'onn J'onzz
Kin Shriner	Green Arrow
Scott Patterson	Agent King Faraday
Clancy Brown	Lex Luthor Vice President (uncredited)
Powers Boothe	Gorilla Grodd
Michael Beach	Devil Ray Mr. Terrific (uncredited) Agent (uncredited)
Jennifer Hale	Killer Frost Giganta (uncredited) Diplomat (uncredited)
Lex Lang	Heatwave

Uncredited Appearances

Quotes

Green Arrow: (wolf whistle) Lookin' good, Diana. Big date?
Wonder Woman: No such luck, Ollie. I'm representing Themyscira at the global warming conference.
Green Arrow: Way to go, man. Save the planet!

Green Arrow: I think you'll make a great diplomat...leave your sword.

J'onn J'onzz: The Justice League currently has twenty-three active missions in progress. Only I can properly deploy what remains of our resources.
Wonder Woman: Oh, come on. Mr. Terrific can fill in. He's smart enough to do monitor duty and the Sunday Times crossword at the same time.
Mr. Terrific: Go ahead, J'onn. I'm already finished with the crossword.
Green Arrow: You did it in ink again, didn't you?

Killer Frost: You did not just shoot at me.

Wonder Woman: Out of my way, jumbo!

Killer Frost: You are a beautiful man. (freezes the agent) I think I'll keep you.

Green Arrow: And Black Canary said a buzz-saw arrow was self-indulgent.

Submarine Henchman: What are you doing in here?
(Arrow knocks him out)
Green Arrow: Well, for one thing, it's freezing outside.

King Faraday: Attention, unidentified craft. This is Special Agent King Faraday. Your vessel is currently surrounded by three United States Navy Seawolf-class submarines. While I strongly suggest that you surrender immediately and prepare to be boarded, I really enjoy firing Trident missiles at tiny little subs, so the decision's entirely up to you.

Template:Epbrowser

@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 * On some cable networks, the title of this episode was "Elegy".
 * When J'onn taps into Giganta's mind, he sees an array of images in which there's an explosion that is reused footage from ''[[Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker]]'', when the console that the [[Jokerz]] tried to steal blows up. Another image is of the device the Joker planted on Tim Drake.
+* For the story of Prince Jon, [[Bruce Timm]] recreated panels in the style of Joe Kubert. Most of the poses and appearances are based on artwork found in ''Our Army At War'' #162, though [[Odin]] is portrayed radically different and an unnamed frost giant replaces the warrior Haggor.
 === Production Inconsistencies ===
@@ Line 55: / Line 56: @@
 * The poem that Diana recites during the rite and J'onn's farewell is part of [[wikipedia:Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Samuel Taylor Coleridge]]'s ''[[wikipedia:The Rime of the Ancient Mariner|The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'' (specifically, the 13th to 17th stanzas of the final part).
 * Green Arrow's line, "We have a real mystery developing on our hands", is yet another reference to Scooby-Doo when Fred says something similar everytime a crime is taking place.
-* Both the story of the Viking Prince being made invulnerable by [[Odin]] and him being found in a glacier come from ''Our Army at War'' issue 162. He is found and thawed out by [[Sgt. Rock]], and goes on to seek a glorious death.
 * This episode was featured as a bonus episode on the 2-disc DVDs of ''[[Justice League: The New Frontier]]'' and ''[[Wonder Woman (DCUOAM)|Wonder Woman]]''.