DVD/TV Series Review: Batman Beyond: The Complete Series

 

Batman Beyond was an animated series that aired for three seasons from 1999 to 2001. The voice cast included Will Friedle, Kevin Conroy, Cree Summer, Lauren Tom, Stockard Channing, and Angie Harmon. This was the "middle" series in the DC Animated Universe series of shows, which started with Batman: The Animated Series and ended with Justice League Unlimited. This essentially sets Batman in the future. This is mostly a sequel to Batman: The Animated series. It features two time jumps from the end of that series. The first is a 20-year jump from the end of Batman: The Animated Series, showing Bruce Wayne's last outing as Batman. Then there is a 30-year jump when a new Batman, this time a high school student named Terry McGiniss, takes up the fight with Bruce Wayne, acting in a role similar to Alfred for Terry.

It is a very different series from the original Batman series. Kevin Conroy returns as an old (and even more grizzly) Bruce Wayne but really fills the Alfred role for Terry McGinnis. He does a great job with the voice work again, just as he did in the original series. The series also has tie-ins with both the original Batman series, as well as the animated Superman series. The time jump is a bit weird because the original animated Batman series looked like it was set in the 1940s or 1950s, and part of this series looks like it was set in the mid to late 1990s with CD Rom and cell phone technology, but then also has flying cars and makes Gotham look like a futuristic Toyko or Bejing. They never do nail down when it was supposed to be taking place, and all the showrunners said in the bonus material is that it was set 50 years after whenever the original series was. There is no actual series finale in this set. It just ended with a regular episode. The real wrap-up to the series was done on an episode of Justice League Unlimited, which actually aired after this series but is set earlier in time when Bruce Wayne was still young.

The DVD set is an eight-disc set with three seasons spread across the 8 discs. There are two discs for the 13-episode first and third seasons and 4 for the 26-episode second season. There is also a bonus disc that has a couple other show-specific features and then an hour-and-a-half-long documentary on the history of DC Comics and all that had spanned from it, including the TV series and movies (up to about 2008). The other extras are commentary tracks for some of the episodes, some making-of featurettes, which were interviews with the producers of the show, and trailers for some of the other animated shows and movies. Thankfully, there are no double-sided discs like there were for the Superman series. A good amount of bonus material for what is included.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Batman: The Killing Joke

 

Batman: The Killing Joke is a 2016 adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by the creative team behind the vast majority of the DC Animated Universe, which included Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. It is set as an ancillary story to Batman: The Animated Series and brings back Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to reprise their roles as Batman and The Joker. It largely serves as an origin story for Joker. Parts of it were included in the original Tim Burton Batman movie, although some of the details changed. Aside from that, it is really to display the sadistic side of Joker and highlight the dance between Joker and Batman, which has played out in many forms.

For those who get the blu-ray, the extras include trailers and behind-the-scenes looks at other movies, both animated and live-action, two Joker-centric episodes from Batman TAS, and a couple making-of featurettes specific to The Killing Joke. Probably an hour's worth of material altogether, which is good considering the movie is only an hour and 16 minutes long. It definitely caters to an adult crowd, and while I think it could have warranted a PG-13 rating, the R rating that it got is not out of bounds. It is much more violent than TAS and has some sexual content. I have never read the graphic novel, so I am not sure exactly how true the movie keeps to the graphic novel, and I cannot say that fans of the graphic novel will automatically like this. However, I do think that anyone who was a fan of Batman TAS will likely enjoy this. It is definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Justice League Unlimited The Complete Series

 

Justice League Unlimited is an animated series in the DC animated universe that aired for three seasons from 2004 to 2006. It continues the original Justice League animated series but includes many more characters, such as Supergirl, Doctor Fate, Black Canary, and the like. The main voice actors were George Newbern, Kevin Conroy, Phil LaMarr, Carl Lumby, Susan Eisenberg, Michael Rosenbaum, Clancy Brown, Micahel Ironside, and Mark Hamill. Because so many characters were used, there were several actors such as Nicholle Tom, Amy Acker, Morena Baccarin, Dana Delany, and Michael Dorn, just to name a few, who were part of the cast. 

This is what ends up being the final show in the DC animated universe (in terms of the original run of television series), which started in the early 1990s with Batman: The Animated Series and continued with Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. It ran for three seasons on Cartoon Network, each of them being 13 episodes long. Justice League was always a show that the showrunners were not sure would continue, so they were always writing the seasons as if there would be no more episodes. This version of the series not only tied up storylines from prior shows, but it also expanded the number of characters where just about every DC comic hero made an appearance (however brief) over the course of the series.As is the case with the other series by the same showrunners, they pay homage to but do not always fall in lock-step with the comics. Over the course of the series, they adapted the Cadmus storyline (which was itself adapted in the live-action Supergirl series) as well as the Legion of Doom storyline. They basically pack as much as they can into the show and manage to make it a coherent flowing story.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set. The A/V quality is okay, and the show looks about as good as a mid-2000s cartoon that still needs to get a comprehensive HD upgrade can. The extras include commentary tracks on a couple of episodes as well as a couple making-of features where the producers go through the various storylines and how they came up with ideas for the series. One of them was conducted as a sit-down round-table chat conducted by Mark Hamill. A good amount, but far from the level of bonus material on the newly released blu-ray set for Batman: The Animated Series. It also has the plus of being able to stop and pick back up where you leave off, even if that is in the middle of an episode, which was not available in the Season 2 of the original Justice League series. Definitely worth picking up for fans of the show.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Justice League: Season 1

 

The animated Justice League series aired for two seasons on the cartoon network from 2001 to 2004. The 26-episode first season aired during the 2001/2002 TV season. The series is, in part, a follow-up series to the animated Batman and Superman series (it was done by the same showrunners as those shows) from the 1990s. Some of the actors, like Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, reprise their roles, but others (like Tim Daily) do not. The season is basically a bunch of mini-movie stories broken into two and sometimes three episodes. Some of them are focused on one or two characters in the Justice League (Flash, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern). Not every character appears in every episode, which makes the "big" team-up episodes feel even bigger. The three episodes that end the season have an Earth-X kind of feel, involving a scenario where the Nazis win WWII and the heroes have to find a way to undo it.

The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. All 26 of the first season episodes are included. There is no main menu, and the episodes start playing as soon as the disc loads. There is a disc menu that you can access if you want to. Thankfully, you have the option to start where you left off, so if you stop before you get through all the episodes on the disc you do not have to try and find your place again. The extras consist of commentary tracks on select episodes and then a few making-of featurettes with the showrunners explaining how the series came about.

Overall, I would say the series is not quite as good as either the original Batman and Superman animated series, but it is close. I do think it misses having some of the ancillary Batman and Superman characters missing, but given that there are so many main characters in the show it is hard to add other characters (other than villains) in. If you are a fan of the other animated series it is definitely worth checking out.

DVD/TV Series Review: Superman: The Complete Animated Series

 

This is the complete series of the Animated Superman series, which played on the Kids WB in the late 1990s. Specifically, it aired for three seasons from 1996 to 2000. It was in part a spin-off from Batman the Animated series, which was developed by the same showrunners. It also served to reintroduce the newer version (which is essentially season 3) of Batman the Animated series with a few episodes where Batman crossed over into Metropolis and one where Superman went to Gotham City. It also served as a prequel to the animated Justice League series. The series starred Tim Daly, Dana Delany, Clancy Brown, Michael Ironside, Mike Farell, Lisa Edelstein, Shelly Fabares, and Joely Fisher.

The DVD set is a three-volume set with the 54 episodes spread across six discs (two discs per season).  There are 7 discs in all that include the three volumes of the show, and then one disc with a feature on the Darkseid character and more trailers. Aside from the extras on the 7th disc, the other extras are spread throughout the first six discs. Those extras are primarily in the form of commentary tracks on select episodes with the showrunners, but there are a few more general making-of features, as well as trailers for some of the other animated series. The only drawback is the fact that each disc 2 in the three volumes are double-sided discs with episodes on each side. They are very easy to get scratched up (thankfully, none of mine were) because they can fall off the notches, keeping the discs in place.

The series is brighter (both in terms of story and animation style) than the animated Batman series. Although there are some episodes where the series went as dark or darker than the Batman series ever did. Those were mostly the episodes involving Darkseid. The showrunners made the choice to make Superman vulnerable to more than just Kryptonite. I think it turned some people off, but I do think made for some more interesting stories, especially when he was going against a villain who was not superpowered. The show is something that younger kids can watch and enjoy. There are also some more adult jokes that would go over the heads of most kids, so it is a series that adults can enjoy as well. If you are a fan of the Superman story, it is worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Batman: The Animated Series: Deluxe Limited Edition

 

Batman: The Animated Series aired from 1992 to 1995. The series was created by Bruce Timm and starred Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Bob Hastings, Loren Lester, Efrem Zimbalist, Melissa Gilbert, and Adrienne Barbeau (among others). Chances are, if you were anywhere from a pre-teen to a young adult in the early 1990s, you watched this series. It was put out as one of the Fox Kids shows a few years after the original Tim Burton Batman movie, which definitely (down to the score) played a large inspiration in the series. It had mostly a blend of the two original movies, the darker comics, and even a couple nods to the old tv series throughout its run. Kevin Conroy did a great job as the voice of Batman, and Mark Hamill was awesome as the Joker, which was the villain that appeared the most throughout the run. It also introduced the character of Harley Quinn (voiced by Barbeau), who has become more popular over the years both in live-action and in other animated series and video games.

The Deluxe Limited Edition box set is a 12-disc set. The set has all three "seasons" of the show, which spanned from 1992 to 1998 and aired on a couple different networks. The first season had 65 episodes, the second had 20, and the third had 24. The two movies Mask of the Phantasm and Sub-Zero are also included in the set. Most of the discs have extras (usually commentary tracks, but there are also some interviews with the actors and showrunners. There is also a separate bonus disc that has an hour-and-a-half-long making-of feature (broken into about 4 parts which you can play all at once) and a minute-and-a-half-long featurette on how they came up with Harley Quinn. The Mask of the Phantasm disc only has the trailer as an extra, but the Sub-Zero disc has every Mr. Freeze episode from the animated series, including Batman Beyond. The set also comes with miniature Funko POPs of Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn.

The series looks about as good as a 25-year-old (as of this writing) cartoon can on blu-ray. It is a good transfer, but it is not going to look like a movie from the mid-2000s forward does on blu-ray. The packaging for the discs, at least in the collector's edition which is the one that came with the figurines, sucks. They are very tight slipcases, so you have to pull hard on the discs to get them out while holding the two sides of the slipcases apart. Luckily the blu-ray discs have an anti-scratch coating on them so they are protected, but they are impossible to get out without getting fingerprints on the media side, so have a soft cloth handy otherwise you may have playback trouble if you do not clean the fingerprints off. That is what knocks it down a star for me.

For fans the series is iconic. For a long time (between the Tim Burton movies and the Nolan Trilogy) it was the best version of Batman (at least that was not a comic book) that there was. It also spawned the Superman and Justice League animated series, as well as Batman Beyond which brought Kevin Conroy back as an older Bruce Wayne, as well as the video games which have come out over the years. The Killing Joke movie is the only thing missing that would have completed the set. Given, however, that The Killing Joke is rated R, there is really no way it can be included in a set that is otherwise suitable for kids. The issue with the packaging aside, it is a great series, and definitely worth a pickup.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Harley Quinn The Complete First and Second Seasons

 

This is a new, very adult, animated series centered around the character of Harley Quinn, voiced by Kaley Cuoco in her first post-Big Bang Theory role. The basic storyline of season one is that Harley is sick of being used by Joker (voiced wonderfully by Alan Tudyk), breaks up with him, and then tries to get into the Legion of Doom. She has to put together her own crew which includes Poison Ivy (voiced by Lake Bell) who insists she is not a member of the crew, Dr. Psycho (voiced by Tony Hale from Arrested Development), Clayface (voiced by Tudyk), and King Shark (voiced by Ron Funches). The end of the first season is basically a showdown with Joker that sets up a version of the no-man's land storyline where the various villains take over portions of Gotham, and by the end of the second season includes Darkseid and the parademons.

As I said above, the show is very adult. While the original DC animated series showrunners are involved in this show, it is not family-friendly. They drop f-bombs left and right, and there is a ton of animated violence (which is pretty over the top) and sexually suggestive material. There is really only one word that is bleeped, said by Dr. Psycho, but done for comedic effect, not because they had to bleep it. The show has a strong supporting cast including Diedrich Bader as Batman, Giancarlo Esposito as Lex Luthor, Michael Ironside as Darkseid, Wayne Knight as Penguin, Christopher Meloni as Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Molina as Mr. Freeze, Jim Rash as The Riddler, Jason Alexander as Sy Borgman, and J. B. Smoove as Frank the Plant.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, there are, unfortunately, no extras. Just the twenty-six episodes spread across three discs. There are English captions that you can play if needed, but there are no deleted scenes, commentary tracks, or making-of features. So, it is a pretty basic MOD set.

While I cannot say that this will appeal to everyone, if you are a fan of the character, a fan of the other animated series (like the Animated Batman and Superman series from the 1990s, or the animated Justice League series), and are not easily offended, then this is definitely worth checking out. Cuoco's take on Harley is not a carbon copy of how Arleen Sorkin voiced the character but Tudyk channels Mark Hamill's Joker so much it is hard to tell sometimes that it is not Mark Hamill doing the character. It is a very well-done series, the actors seem to have a great time playing their characters, and it is definitely worth checking out.