DVD Features:
TOMORROW KNIGHT: THE BATMAN REBORN (10:30) The "Batman
Beyond" creative team gives you a peek into the character of
Terry McGinnis, and what made him worthy to become the new Caped
Crusader.
GOTHAM: CITY OF THE FUTURE (5:34) A look at
Gotham City, circa 2039, and how the team built a realistic
vision of the near future while remaining true to the city they
created in Batman: The Animated Series.
THE HIGH TECH
HERO (5:43) Explore the technology behind the Bat-suit, its
amazing powers and the real world science that inspired it.
Synopsis: Terry McGinnis was just an ordinary teenager...until
his father was mysteriously murdered. Suspecting foul play at
his father's company Wayne/Powers Corporation, Terry meets Bruce
Wayne and learns a secret identity hidden for decades. Now too
old to battle injustice, Wayne refuses to help. So Terry does
what any brash young kid would do: steal the Batsuit and take
matters into his own hands! Vowing to avenge his father's death,
Terry dons the high-tech suit tricked out with jetpacks, a
supersensitive microphone and even camouflage capabilities in
search of his father's assassin. Get in on the action from the
beginning of a new partnership between an ex-crimefighter and
his apprentice.
Review (Zach Demeter) Season One
Batman Beyond arrived on Kids WB! at a time when they wanted
younger shows. Instead of simply making a younger Batman show (hello
The Batman!), the crew of The New Batman / Superman Adventures
decided to take it all in a new direction: Bruce Wayne's retired and a
new Batman, Terry McGinnis, takes over the mantle to fight crime in the
future Gotham. Fans were just about as angry with this series as they
were when Teen Titans first showed up, saying that it's not what
they wanted and that they didn't want to see an old-man Wayne. Years
later Batman Beyond still has a few naysayers, but most have
quieted down, especially after the direct ties that future Justice
League and Justice League Unlimited episodes referred to.
Comprised of thirteen episodes, this entire first season of Batman Beyond
is rock solid. There's not a single episode in it that I didn't enjoy,
both as a kid and now as an adult. The episodes are all top notch in
writing and animation, with the premiere two-part "Rebirth" and the
Inque episodes being particularly beautiful to look at. Batman Beyond
is certainly a fun show to watch and experience. -
Taken from the
Season 1 review.
Season Two
Batman Beyond starts off its second season with "Splicers", a
tale about teenagers splicing their DNA with that of animals. It's
essentially a "don't do drugs!" "don't give into peer pressure" type
tale, but like all of the "after school special lessons" that Batman
Beyond dealt with, it was done with a certain amount of poise so
that it wasn't crammed down your throat. And, of course, we get to see a
giant, ugly monster pustulate and pop all over the place. On top of
"Splicers" we have a large array of good ("Earth Mover", "Joyride",
"Hidden Agenda", "Once Burned", "The Eggbaby", "Eyewitness") mixed in
with a bit of bad ("Rats!", "April Moon"..."Rats!"). In fact, as I
watched some of these episodes for the first time in years, I realized
that while Season 2 was considered the "worst" of the three, it
contained some really solid stories and animation. "Eyewitness" remains
a favorite of mine and I'm glad to finally have a copy of that wasn't
copied off of five other VHS tapes.
Overall you really can't go wrong with this season. It's
definitely the weakest of the three, but at the same time it's
twice the size and still manages to boast quite a few classic
episodes for the series. -
Taken from the
Season 2 review.
Season Three Through and through, Batman Beyond remains one of my favorite animated
DC romps to date. The show hooked me when I was young and it even
brought me to World's Finest around the time Return of the Joker
came out. Now that it's fully available on DVD (and now again
with this Complete Series set) and on my shelf and ready for
access whenever I want it, it couldn't be a bigger treat for me.
Batman Beyond: Season Three on DVD marks the first time any of these episodes
have seen a home video release of any kind (unless you count clips from
"Out of the Past" showing up during a panel discussion on season two's
set) and they hold up to time. True, some episodes are weak ("Speak no
Evil" and "Curse of the Kobra, Part 2" come to mind...immediately), but
for the most part the final volume in the series packs some deep punches
with "Out of the Past", "The Call" and the two-part "Big
Time"/"Betrayal" storyline. Characters from past seasons show up again
with "King's Ransom" and "Inqueling" and we also get a few new ones from
"Untouchable" and "Speak no Evil." Zeta also makes his first (and only)
appearance on Batman Beyond since spinning off into his own show in
"Countdown", which may seem a bit alien to those who watch this series
for the first time and don't recall Zeta ever hooking up with a blonde
haired girl.
Overall the series is a mixed one, but still remains one of the tops in
my book. There are simply too many solid storylines throughout the
series to deny its place amongst the greatest animated shows of all time
and finally having the entire series on DVD is a real treat, both as a
fan of the show and as a fan of animation. -
Taken from the
Season 3 review.
The DVD
And now for the main attraction - the new box set. While
the reviews above are snippets of my original reviews of the
single season releases, this portion will cover the all-new
nine-disc set which...well, it's a lot of the same but like the
complete BTAS set from a few years back there's a lot of
beauty to take in about this set as well. First and foremost is
the big ol' packaging which will no doubt be a turn off for some
simply because of how much shelf space it devours but when it
comes to this show I'd dedicate an entire shelf to it if I could
so I don't mind. Like the BTAS set it's a very high
quality cardboard assembly with a clear plastic slipcover with
art printed on top of it. Inside the box is the new book with a
forward from Stan Berkowitz and plenty of concept art from the
show (some old, some new). Underneath that is a viva-multi pack
case that holds all of the discs. The first eight discs are
identical to the previous individual season releases but the
ninth disc sports art similar to that which adorns the cover of
the box set.
Admittedly there isn't much new to this box
set. While it claimed on a trade ad that there would be "95
minutes of all-new features" on the ninth disc, it's more like
about twenty minutes of stuff that actually pertains to the
series. They somehow shoved the Secret Origin DC Comics
documentary onto this ninth disc for some reason - it's not even a
preview, it's the full blown documentary. A nice addition for
those who wanted to see it but not pick up the individual DVD
release, but other than that it's a...strange addendum to the set.
Ignoring that oddity, we do get some newly produced featurettes
for the set, even if they are really quite brief.
The
first of the featurettes is the Tomorrow Knight (10:30)
discussion, which basically takes an overall look at the series.
We get a bit of repeated stories here from the other
featurettes/commentaries on the individual season releases, but
nothing major. There's input from all the major production
talent on the show, ranging from Bruce Timm to Alan Burnett to
Stan Berkowitz. Dwayne McDuffie also pops his head up, which
seems odd at first until you get to the end of the featurette
where they discuss Epilogue, the second season finale of
JLU. They talk about fan reaction (and Burnett talks
about his own personal reaction to it) and how it created a
split amongst the fan community. Overall it's a pretty good
overview of the series, although it really only focuses on Rebirth
and Epilogue, glossing over everything else in-between
for the most part.
Gotham: City of the Future
(5:34) looks at the design of the show and The High-Tech
Hero (5:43) focuses on the gadgets and whatnot used in the
show. There's also a bit of discussion about some of the
technology they "invented" for the show and how some of it has
become a reality now. Overall these aren't filled with any new
revelations of the series, although there is some interesting
concept art shown in "High-Tech Hero" that I hadn't seen before
of a non-black Beyond suit.
Just about the only thing
that would've rounded this set out a bit more would be the
inclusion of the other Beyond crossover episodes (mainly
just the Static Shock and The Zeta Project ones)
and perhaps Return of the Joker (especially since they
showed a lot of clips from it in the featurettes). But in the
end it's a nicely boxed up set and will actually be cheaper to
purchase than the individual seasons upon its initial release
(at least via Amazon) - so if you really want to trade up for it,
it wouldn't hurt. The featurettes definitely aren't worth the
price, but it's such a nice looking box set that the Beyond
fan in me can't help but Highly Recommend it. |