Episode #13 - The Mind Killer Original Airdate - May 23rd, 1999 - Third Season Premiere Spawn begins feeling regret about abandoning his former mentor, Major Forsberg, as Cogliostro attempts to talk Spawn into giving up the shroud. Media and Review by Bird Boy Credits Written by John Leekley Directed by Jennifer Yuh Music by J. Peter Robinson Animation by D.R. Movie, New Millennium Voices Keith David as Spawn Richard Dysart as Cogliostro Robert Forster as Major Forsberg Eric Roberts as Petey John Rafter Lee as Jason Wynn Bobby Costanzo as Mr. Orvetti Carlos Ferro as Guerilla Channon Roe as Joey John DiMaggio as Frankie/Sykes Max Perlich as Bobbie Jim Lau, Michael Yama as Additional Voices Screen Grabs Pans Sound Clips Todd McFarlane Intro (MP3, 282kb) Review: This is a pivotal episode in this series as it begins to finally fulfill the relationship between Spawn and Cogliostro. It also gave a few glimpses of the Black Knight (Medieval Spawn), which was a real treat. The intro (well, scene after the intro) the episode with Spawn being beheaded by the Black Knight was also fun to watch and helped set the mood for this dark episode. One of the coolest sequences in this episode was the spinning bullet, stuck in time while Frankie made his decision to kill his best friend or not. While these were just throw away characters that we never saw again, the writers and animators did a great job in making us care about what happened between this group of people. The flashbacks to Simmon and Sykes torture and Simmons eventually killing all those (and even those who didn�t) tortured him gave us a glimpse into the day when Hell noticed Al Simmons. Al was so pained by the fact that Sykes died slowly and painfully to keep information that they found out later was bogus, he shot not only the soldiers but the women and children. There were a few really good atmospheric shots thrown in here, close ups of Al�s face and a pull-a-way shots of the gun staring down the camera lense. Also note were the voices in this episode. Fans of Batman: The Animated Series will recognize the voice of Mr. Orvetti (the food store owner the boys kill) as Robert Costanzo (Harvey Bullock in BTAS). There was also the voice of John DiMaggio, who is thrown around a lot as various characters in this series. While he doesn�t sound exactly like Bender (Futurama), there are a few moments when he lets loose a few curse words that make me laugh, despite the scene being rather dark. Animation continues to improve as the seasons go by, and this third season premiere is no different. Very nice animation and the music is even knocked up a notch with the new composer, J. Peter Robinson. [ Back to Episode Reviews ]