TVPast Forums - Trailer for Superman: Doomsday DVD

It's not canon to the DCAU.

from http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=103726

[quote]quote:
WONDERCON '07: DC UNIVERSE: SUPERHEROES GO DVD PANEL
Moderated by Dan Didio, the DC Universe: Super Heroes Go DVD panel opened Saturday evening at WonderCon with the introductions of the two other panelists who would be speaking with Didio: Bruce Timm and Gregory Noveck, Senior VP Creative Affiars of Warner Bros Animation.

The panel began with a short question and answer period with Didio, Timm and Noveck, which covered the various backgrounds of the panelists, as well as their respective jobs and how they became involved in the upcoming DC Comics direct to DVD films.

When asked about his approach to the DC characters in animation, Timm told Didio that the temptation is to say that WB animation “Marvelized” them, but that’s not quite true. Pointing out that Didio has done much the same in the comics, Timm said that he felt that the animated versions of the characters took them to a classic point, that, in some ways, was reminiscent of Marvel characters of the ‘60s and ‘70s. As he sees it now, Timm said, Marvel and DC are on a very even playing field in terms of their characters.

In describing the DVD projects, it was explained that the decision was made to make animated films that would appeal to an older demographic, not just the 6-10 year old age group that the original DC animated projects were aimed at – something that would appeal to teens and adults. “Basically, the same audience that buys DC Comics,” Tim said.

Didio pointed out that there’s an undeniable generational aspect of DC characters, and asked Timm and NOveck how they decided which versions of the characters to use in the projects.

Noveck admitted that many times, it comes down to personal opinions and tastest of the production team, but he does hear from fans all the time on which versions show be showing up.

Timm added that what they’re looking to do with the characters in the films is something like what they’d done in the animated television shows, that is, to distill the most iconic essence of each character into the movie format. Pointing out that with a potential Green Lantern project, the decision would be an easy one – they would use Hal Jordan, given that he was the classic version of the character for years, and has just returned to the forefront of the DC Universe. In the case of someone such as the Flash, Timm admitted, the decision would be a more difficult one, given the now four Flashes, which would open the possibilities of centering on one Flash, or showing all of them in one movie that spanned the generations. “Each character has their own specific challenges,” Timm said.

In terms of the connection between the WB Animation versions and DC Comics versions of the characters, Didio asked how much what the comics do in terms of relaunches and revamps influence their plans.

“A lot,” Noveck said, pointing to the new Atom character as an example, explaining that somewhere on their boards where they were considering a Ray Palmer Atom project or appearance, they’re not putting the new version of the character into the mix and taking the changes in recent months under consideration. Noveck added that the recent Green Lantern relaunch was very useful in capturing the essence of the character, as well as being able to provide artwork (from Ethan Van Sciver) that could be shown and discussed among the animators for possible use.

Hearing that the comics do influence the animated versions of the characters, Didio mused on the synergy between the two divisions of the larger company, noting that occasionally, they’ll take their cues from the animated versions. In this regard, Didio noted that Hawkgirl was brought into the forefront in the animated Justice League, which led DC to feature her more prominently as a character in the comics.

Sensing an opening, Didio asked, with all the back and forth between the vers