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Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: August 19, 2008.
Director: Various
Cast: Kevin Conroy
Year: 2008
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The Series:
Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, the creative geniuses behind Batman: The Animated Series (and to a lesser extent the recent Superman: The Animated Series, a fine show in its own right) struck gold a third time out with their take on the Justice League teaming up some of DC Comics' greatest heroes: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkgirl and the Martian Manhunter.
Setting the team adventures in the same world that the earlier Superman and Batman series' took place in and using a very similar style of animation, Timm and Dini did an excellent job of bringing Batman and Superman's respective personalities into an interesting team dynamic. On top of that, the series tended to base itself around two and three part episodes, which meant things were often ending on a very suspenseful note that meant you were definitely coming back to see how it all ended.
The episodes contained in this three disc collection are spread out as follows:
DISC ONE:
Secret Origins Part 1 / Secret Origins Part 2 / Secret Origins Part 3 / In Blackest Night Part 1 / In Blackest Night Part 2 / The Enemy Below Part 1 / The Enemy Below Part 2 / Injustice For All Part 1 / Injustice For All Part 2
DISC TWO:
Paradise Lost Part 1 / Paradise Lost Part 2 / War World Part 1 / War World Part 2 / The Brave And The
Bold Part 1 / The Brave And The Bold Part 2 / Fury Part 1 / Fury Part 2 / Legends Part 1 / Legends Part 2
DISC THREE:
A Knight With Shadows Part 1 / A Knight With Shadows Part 2 / Metamorphosis Part 1 / Metamorphosis Part 2 / The Savage Time Part 1 / The Savage Time Part 2 / The Savage Time Part 3
What makes the show work is how it focuses on the core group of heroes that make up the league. This means now dorky sidekicks or teenage tag-alongs (a la Super Friends) and no super pets - just the core characters and what makes them interesting. That doesn't mean that there aren't cameo appearances here and there, because there are more than a few (including an awesome appearance from Aquaman in the The Enemy Below two part episode), but the stories themselves don't need superfluous or gimmicky characters to pad them out or make them appeal to a younger target demographic. The characters here feel very much in keeping with their comic book counterparts and the episodes are well written and considerably more intelligent than your average superhero cartoon. There's real drama here, real depth and as such we can allow ourselves to suspend our disbelief just enough that, sooner or later as we watch the series, we start caring about these animated heroes.
Highlights of the first season include the three part Secret Origins opening storyline where we learn how this unusual team of heroes came to be. Every good comic book series needs an origin story and, aside from playing around with Wonder Woman's story a bit, this run delivers it. The three part finale, The Savage Time, also stands out and ends the first batch of episodes nicely. Sandwiched in between these three parters are stories where the League squares off against all manner of villains from Gorilla Grodd to various space alien types. There's a fair bit of variety here and that tends to keep the material pretty fresh.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Well, there's good news and bad news here - the good news is that the AVC 1080p high definition transfers for the twenty-six episodes in this collection look very nice. The bad news is that despite the fact that Bruce Timm has gone on record and stated that the series should be seen in 1.78.1 widescreen, the cartoons are here in 1.33.1 open matte fullframe. There's no information missing, but there is plenty of extra space at the top and the bottom of the frame and the compositions are a little wonky because of it.
Granted, the first season was broadcast this way, but it was designed for a widescreen presentation. That said, the picture quality is good. Colors are nice and bright, black levels stay strong, and there aren't any issues with compression artifacts or heavy edge enhancement. Detail is good and the image is always clean, crisp and clear.
The sole audio option in this collection is a standard definition English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix that, while perfectly acceptable, doesn't really utilize the extra capability provided by the Blu-ray format. Regardless, what's here sounds pretty good. The rears come to life nicely during the action scenes while most of the more dialogue intensive scenes come at you from the front of the mix, as you'd expect. Dialogue stays clean and clear and there are no problems with hiss or distortion at all. It would have been nice to hear the series in DTS-HD or TrueHD format, but this track certainly gets things done well enough. Optional subtitles are available in English only.
First up, in terms of the supplements, is a trio of audio commentary tracks: The Enemy Below Part 2, Legends Part 2 and The Savage Time Part 2 all feature input from Bruce Timm, James Tucker, Glen Murakami, Rich Fogel, and Dan Riba. These are fairly interesting talks that delve into some of the interesting character development that occurs throughout the show as well as into some of the characters' history. The participants also discuss some of the ideas they had for the various episodes that didn't quite make the cut, and how the characters have changed a little bit from their various comic book incarnations. Overall, these are interesting and fast paced and there's quite a bit of good information in here if you enjoy the series.
Aside from that look for Inside The Justice League: Creator's Panel Discussion, which is a ten minute round table talk between various members of the creative team that covers how the show was put together, a brief featurette on character design, some storyboards, a music video, a rare never before seen promotional spot, animated menus and chapter selection. All in all, a nice array of supplements to compliment the material.
The Final Word:
Despite the open matte presentations and the standard definition audio, Warner Brothers have done a very nice job bringing the first season of one of the coolest superhero TV shows of the last ten years to Blu-ray.