Fans looking for new episodes of Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series on Cartoon Network's DC Nation block this past Saturday were sorely disappointed when they tuned in to find nothing of the kind (instead episodes of Dragons: Riders of Berk aired in their stead).
What at first seemed like a mix-up on the network's part soon became much more bizarre when it was revealed that CN had abruptly pulled the entire DC Nation block of programming (which also includes those great little Superhero Shorts) from their schedule until January, 2013. This move comes only three weeks after Young Justice and Green Lantern had returned from an almost four-month-long hiatus. So this means only two new episodes of each show will have aired in more than six months by the time we get to the new year. Huh?
Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. have been mum on the situation, offering no explanation for the sudden move aside from this strangely cheery tweet from CN: "Hey #DCNation fans! Have you heard?? DC Nation will return in January with all new episodes!" No, we had certainly not heard that… (The DC Comics Facebook page offered a similarly brief message about a January return, and when we reached out to our sources all we got were similarly one-sentenced responses.)
Some have speculated that Cartoon Network wants to hold the new episodes for the station's 20th anniversary or perhaps for the launch of the upcoming Beware The Batman. As IGN TV's Executive Editor Eric Goldman points out, the huge success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Nick has sucked viewers away from CN -- though TMNT airs at 11, which is when DC Nation ends, so are kids just suddenly watching Nick all morning? Seems unlikely.
It must be said that Cartoon Network, DC and Warner Bros. are all corporate siblings, so it doesn't make sense to think that CN would not care about or have a reason to be dismissive of Young Justice and Green Lantern. The abruptness of the movie is just very strange, and it certainly doesn't help the programs themselves -- especially Young Justice which is very arc-heavy and dense with scores of characters to follow. When the show takes these long hiatuses (which it unfortunately has done on several occasions now), it becomes that much more difficult for fans to jump back in.
Interestingly, a teaser for the remainder of Young Justice Season 2 could be spotted at the DC booth at New York Comic-Con this weekend. That video has now found its way online and can be seen right here:
But wait! For now, anyway, you can (legally) download via iTunes what should've been this week's episode of Young Justice ("Before the Dawn"). The Green Lantern: TAS episode ("Steam Lantern") is harder to find, though one of the show's producers, Giancarlo Volpe, has provided some details via his Twitter (@giancarlo_volpe) on how to locate it. Why these episodes were made available this way is unclear, unless Cartoon Network's pulling them from airing was so abrupt that they simply slipped through the cracks.
Also, a petition has shown up here that seeks to get the episodes on the air before January.
So expect IGN's reviews on those iTunes episodes soon, but beyond that… well, I guess we all know what we're doing in 2013.
IGN Movies Editor Scott Collura made a Kid-Flash costume for his son last year. Follow him on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN at scottcollura and on Facebook.
Source : ign[dot]com
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