My Review of Static Shock · 9:46pm January 14th

My TV Show Rating Score:

5/5: It is an awesome show!
4.5/5: it is a great show albeit not perfect
4/5: It’s a good show with minor flaws
3/5: It’s overall okay/guilty pleasure
2/5: It’s bad but not awful
1/5: Look, up in the sky! It’s super bad!
0/5: MY EYEEEESSS!!!

Greetings, everyone! This is Mr. J back with another TV show review for today. This afternoon, I will be reviewing “Static Shock” which ran from 2000 to 2004. This show is one of the most underrated animated series of all time and one of the most important cartoons of the early 2000s. I say this because this has amazing storylines and characters that reflect on what has been afflicting our world for years. Not only does it expand on the DC Animated Universe but also on new characters that this series took its time to develop.

This series is about a 14-year-old boy named Virgil Hawkins who gets tangled up in a gang fight; the fight ends up accidentally setting off mutagen gas which greatly affected all the young people, including Virgil. The gas gives him electromagnetic powers, and he becomes a superhero by the name of Static. From then on, he fights villainous bang babies who threaten the safety of Dakota City.

This series has really good character growth and solid storytelling. We have this teenager who lives with his father and sister due to the tragic death of his mother when he was a baby. He also has to endure a number of crimes that occur in the city such as gang violence. The moment he becomes a superhero, he understands the responsibility that comes with it and does the best that he can to fulfill it.

Now, here’s something very unique about this show: it boldly tackles a number of social issues that plaque society even today. It covers serious topics such as homelessness, gun violence, school shootings, racism, gambling, and so forth. Keep in mind, this was originally aiming for a pre-teen audience, yet it didn’t shy away from tackling social issues.

How often does a cartoon take that opportunity? It didn’t make that approach because it wanted to be relevant for the sole sake of it like how some shows do today. It did it because it wanted to teach both kids and adults alike how serious these issues are, what not to do, and what we should do in order to help solve these problems.

That’s what makes “Static Shock” stand out among the other shows. We need more cartoons like this especially in this day and age.

Plus, we see how African-Americans are depicted in this show. We see the systematic racism that takes root, and how they handle things in Dakota City. Virgil and his surviving family are pretty relatable characters when it comes to that, and they remain strong despite where they are in society.

Speaking of which, Virgil had to grow up without a mother which negatively affected him emotionally. He may be comedic and funny, but deep down, he feels so much pain from losing his mom and never got the chance to know her, talk to her, and feel her maternal influence. So when he eventually meets and talks to her for the first time via time travel, that’s when he finally understood the lesson of letting go.

He soon understood the selfishness of wanting to save her from her fate regardless of the consequences of the future. Thus, by letting things take its course in the past, he finally let go of the pain he’s harbored for so long. It’s one of the many reasons why I like him so much as a character and as a young superhero.

The action throughout this show is consistently entertaining. All the vast amount of superpowers we see in so many characters are both intriguing and unique to some capacity. It lets us the viewers see the difference between Static and his rogue gallery concerning their powers. Static uses his electromagnetic capabilities for good whereas his villains use them to cause mayhem.

Remember, almost all his villains are around the same age as him; with that in mind, their criminal behavior reflects on the way they were raised and how broken their lives are. But not all of them are downright heinous like Ebon. There are very few of them who either wanted to follow the crowd or just don’t know how to make good decisions in life such as Rubberband Man. That’s why Static needs to help them out and make them realize that it’s not too late for them to change.

If there are some things I don’t like about this show, it would be the following: the animation and the humor. The first season has horribly dated animation that makes me want to throw up. Fortunately, the animation got better by the third season; so while the first two seasons have bad animation, the last two make their episodes slightly more appealing to see.

As far as the humor is concerned, it is a hit and miss for the most part. Again, this is more aimed for a younger audience, but this show is still for everyone. Some may appreciate the humorous tones much more than I did.

That’s about it. It thankfully has very minor flaws that don’t ruin the show in any way.

Lastly, I just learned that this show wasn’t originally supposed to be a part of the DCAU. But by the time it aired season 2 episode 1, that’s when it officially became a permanent member of said universe. And that’s something this show does occasionally: making crossovers with well-known DC characters such as Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Robin, and even Batman Beyond.

It’s nice to see Static meet his own heroes and learning life lessons from them and getting to experience working directly with them in order to defeat their enemies.

The voice acting is so good in this show. Phil LaMarr does a great job sounding like a teenager and giving him such clear emotions and a cocky attitude. And frankly, his voice acting here is more easy to swallow unlike his role as Osmosis Jones from “Ozzy & Drix”. Yuck!

Gear is a good character as well; his sarcasm, wits, and sense of humor were all top-notch. Jason Marsden unsurprisingly never slipped up in his voice acting throughout this series. The same can be said for Kevin Micheal Richardson, Danica McKellar, Gary Anthony Sturgis, Maria Canals-Barrera, and multiple other VAs for their tremendous voice work in this show.

Overall, this is a near-perfect show that deserves more credit and recognition. As I highlighted, this has genuinely great writing that has both heart and soul in everything it does. The fact that it aims to tackle on social themes in the first place marks it as the only DCAU show to ever do so. I deeply recommend this series for all of you who are just getting into DC animated content. This show will blow your mind! This gets a 4.5/5: shockingly cool!

Although I’m disappointed this was cancelled due to the poor sales of its merchandise, I’m glad people at least recognize the true value of this series and continually talk about it. Hopefully one day, Static will return in a future DC installment whether it’s a movie, TV show, or otherwise.

Peace!