Superman on Television

Justice League Action: Episode Reviews

Season 1 - Episodes 31: "Booster's Gold"

Originally Aired: August 12, 2017 (U.S.)

Written by Jim Krieg
Directed by Jake Castorena

CAST:
Kevin Conroy as Batman (voice)
Diedrich Bader as Booster Gold (voice)
Chris Diamantopoulos as Green Arrow (voice)

Rating - 5 (out of 5): During a big storm in the Bermuda Triangle Green Arrow flies his plane hoping to get to the island that inspired him to be a hero. Batman contacts him before he reaches his destination and tells him Booster Gold is missing and coordinates seem to indicate that he's somewhere in that area. Green Arrow (Ollie) responds but he gets caught up in a typhoons and has to find a place to land. The clouds part and Ollie finds a beautiful island. He flies his plane into a canyon to escape the wind and regroup when suddenly a pterosaurs flies into his path and attacks. Stunned Ollie eventually escapes the dino and lands his plane in the water which is then attacked by a huge T-Rex-like sea monster that quickly snaps the plane in half, leaving our hero to use a trick arrow for escape. Ollie finally runs into a pack of raptors whom he eventually escapes with acrobatics and a trick arrow. Ollie comes to realize that the whole island is inhabited by dinosaurs. As he ponders how this will effect the eco system, he wonders how this came to be and how only an idiot would pull something like this. Enter Booster Gold! He explains how he was watching a movie about scientists cloning dinosaurs from DNA and thought it would be easier to go back in time and bring the dinosaurs to the present to create his own amusement park, not thinking of the consequences. When the hungry dinos start charging Booster and Ollie run into the river where they're swallowed by another large creature. Are the heroes doomed!?

I can't tell you what joy this episode brought me. First we get a version of Dinosaur Island! Dinosaur Island first appeared in Star Spangled War Stories #90. Though there was a story appearing In Batman #34 vol. 1 in 1946 about Batman and Robin fighting some mechanical dinosaurs. (Where did you think that T-Rex statue in the Batcave came from?) The Robert Kanigher story from Star Spangled Comics was the first to introduce Dinosaur Island. During WW2 some submarines went missing in Pacific due to some seismic activity. The marines landed on the island to investigate, finding the dinosaurs who were released from suspended animation due to the earthquakes. Dinosaur Island became a premier destination for many of the Golden Age war stories and has continued to delight readers to this day (see Rebirth era Superman #8-9 for a great story involving the island). Add to this some of the timey wimey highjinks involving Booster and Green Arrow and you have a fun Silver Age style adventure. I happen to be partial to time travel comics. And dinosaurs!

Booster Gold and Green Arrow seem like an odd couple but the pairing works here. I've always been a big Booster Gold fan. From Dan Jurgens' original run, through Justice League International by Giffen and DeMatteis all the way through the 52 mini series and Geoff Johns run the character has always been fun. His pairing with Blue Beetle during JLI practically created the term bromance. The chemistry they had was perfect. Unfortunately both Booster and Beetle have mostly been missing during the New 52 and Rebirth era. Ted Kord has been involved somewhat but Booster has been absent. So it's great to see Booster is still around in some capacity. As for Green Arrow (Ollie), I've liked the character though he's never been my favorite. I had to laugh at the gag where Booster suggests Green Arrow shorten his name. Ollie balks about being called Arrow. A dig at The CW series? Perhaps.

In the end, after Booster's suit sends them through a wormhole before being swallowed by the dinosaur, they encounter a future where dinos rule the world and then end up at Booster's house just before he gets the idea for the dino park. After blowing a fuse, so Booster can't watch the movie, present Booster and past Booster seem to merge making him forget the whole adventure leaving Ollie in disgust and wanting a vacation! An all around fun episode, and hopefully we'll get more Booster in the future. Or maybe the past!

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