Releases - Blu-ray - Justice League: Season One
Announce Date: 4/30/08
Street Date: 8/19/08
Closed Captioning: Yes
MSRP: $59.95
Packaging Type: Blue BD Case
Subformat: Multi Disc
Media Quantity: 3
Disc Configuration: 3x BD-50
Sound Track Language: English
Run Time: 575 minutes |
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (4x3, VC-1 encoded 1080p)
Sound Quality: Dolby Digital English 5.1
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Episodes:
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, 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, 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
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: The Enemy Below, Pt.2 Audio Commentary: Audio
Commentary with Bruce Timm- Producer, James Tucker- Producer, Glenn
Murakami- Producer, Rich Fogel- Producer & Dan Riba- Director
Audio Commentary: Legends, Pt.2 Audio Commentary: Audio Commentary with
Bruce Timm- Producer, James Tucker- Producer, Glenn Murakami- Producer,
Rich Fogel- Producer & Dan Riba- Director
Audio Commentary: The Savage Time, Pt.2 Audio Commentary- Audio
Commentary with Bruce Timm- Producer, James Tucker- Producer, Glenn
Murakami- Producer, Rich Fogel- Producer & Dan Riba- Director
- Interviews:
- Inside Justice League: A private panel discussion takes
place between Bruce Timm and his team of creators about Justice League
with some special surprises.
- The Look of The League: Bruce Timm explains character design of
Justice League.
- Storyboards: Storyboards: The Blueprint For Justice: The creative team
of Justice League discuss storyboarding process.
- Other: Justice League: The First Mission: Watch this exciting "Never
Seen Before" promo which helped Justice League leap into action.
- Other: The Blackhawk Theme: Music Video. |
Official Synopsis: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash,
Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl they have all used their
unique powers to fight evil across the galaxy. These 7 super heroes
unite to become the Justice League. These 26 adventures feature battles
with favorite villains like Lex Luthor, Vandal Savage and sorceress
Morgan Le Fey. Acts of justice include saving Aquaman from a coup and
clearing Green Lantern's name in a charge of genocide. From the smash
hit TV series, these triumphant tales of teamwork will enthrall and
inspire!
Review:
After a long wait, fans were finally treated to Justice League's
first season on DVD via way of a four disc set back in March of 2006.
Whether this is a good or bad thing is really up to your opinion of the
shows first season. While I was extraordinarily excited to see the
premiere of Justice League (to this day I remember watching the premiere
with ex-World's Finest admin "The Flash" and our comments on how strange
this all looked, being the first all digital DC toon), the first season
proved to be a tumultuous ride. Quite a few episodes held plenty of
enjoyment ("Brave and the Bold", "Injustice For All", "Legends", "A
Knight of Shadows", "Savage Time"), but there were others that are
considered some of the worst, by fans standards, that are hard to
overlook ("War World", "Metamorphosis"…"War World").
Justice League's first season brought together the seven greatest
heroes the world has ever known. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The
Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl came together
during Earth's darkest hour when an alien invasion threatened all of
mankind and together they were able to prevent the Earth from being
overtaken by the invaders. Joining forces, the seven formed the Justice
League, an intergalactic crime fighting force that not only allowed them
to better fight crime on Earth but also on distant planets that needed
their help as well. With thirteen stories spread across twenty-six
episodes comprising the first season, Justice League proved by
the end that it had what it takes to not only be a solid superhero show,
but to also become one of the best.
Even with the hard-to-stomach episodes, this season does provide its
fair share of action. If you keep in mind that this was the Timm-verse
teams first foray into such a large roster of superheroes, they can't be
expected to get it right the first go around. Indeed, the second season
of Justice League was much improved over the first, with a few design
tweaks (goodbye old Superman!) and with more fleshed out characters.
Repeated viewings of the season have proven to me that even the worst
episodes here are still not too bad, especially not as bad as I
remember, but it's really the color palette that threw me for a loop
more than anything.
Due to calibration issues between Warner Bros. Animation studios and the
animation studios overseas that the episodes were animated in, this
season came back looking a lot brighter in tone than originally planned
(this was fixed for season two and subsequent seasons) and as such a lot
of episodes just look too…alive. There's too much being shown at times
and while episodes like "In Blackest Night" and "Legends" are bright
episodes to themselves, other efforts like "A Knight in Shadows" still
look far too lit and that in itself is one of the biggest drawbacks of
the season.
Other rough patches include the voice actors getting into their
characters (aside from Conroy who, as Batman, is nothing short of a pro
at this point in time), especially with George Newbern (Superman) and
Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman), who sound extraordinarily stiff for the
majority of the season. As with the animation, they change for the
better in later seasons, so it's just a case of the Monday's for this
first season. Also awkward for the series was the two-episode per-story
format, which was only done intermittently on other series and never for
entire seasons. At times in this first season the story rarely feels it
should have been stretched to forty minutes, but others, like "Legends",
work so well that you don't really care how awkward the rest of the
season feels at times.
Pretty much all of the episodes presented here are enjoyable to watch,
even if episodes like "War World" are included. I really just dislike
that story, more for just the lame story than anything. I actually dig
"Metamorphosis", despite it being rather hated by fans (or at least was
when it originally aired—who knows what they think of it now), and I
don't have a problem with any of the other episodes on the set, to be
honest. Back when they originally aired I no doubt dissected them till I
was blue in the face, but now that I can just enjoy them, the flaws are
less glaring to me, although I still do notice little quirks that the
first season has in comparison to later seasons.
Since I've lived and breathed this show since the day it hit airwaves, I
could undoubtedly fill up the pages with comments about the individual
episodes. But that's not why you're reading this review; this season has
already been readily available to own on DVD for the past two years.
What you want to know is if this Blu-ray release, which seemingly came
out of the blue (unintentional, I swear), is worth owning or if it's
something that is truly worth owning. As the season goes, it's
Recommended. As for the set? Well…
The Blu-ray
Warner Home Video brings Justice League's first season to Blu-ray,
making it one of the first animated series to be released on the format
and the first animated effort from Warner Bros. Animation on the format.
The three-disc set is housed in a Blu-ray case that is ever so slightly
larger in spine thickness than standard cases. Disc art is the same as
the first three discs of the original DVD set (Superman, Batman and
Wonder Woman) and a little booklet mirroring the same art as the
original packaging of the DVD release. Those who aren't familiar with
this packaging can check it all out here.
And so we move onto the Blu-ray portion of the set. One thing I had
hoped for with this release was that we would see the 16x9 transfers for
this season come to light. While the season was animated in 4x3, it was
formatted for 16x9 so that any data that was cropped off the top and
bottom was something easily sacrificed (i.e., Batman's ears or
Superman's boots). It wasn't a major issue, but seeing as the Blu-ray
format is almost entirely made up of widescreen content, I couldn't see
a better reason to release this set other than to give the fans who
wanted the widescreen transfers. Well, Warner apparently didn't believe
any of this, as we once again receive the full screen transfers. Now I
was content with the fullscreen transfers on DVD because, well, it was
DVD. But this is Blu-ray and as absolutely stunning as the show looks in
1080p (and they do look nice, but I'll get to that later), why they
chose to release it in 4x3 once again, I have absolutely no idea. It
seemed like such a no-brainer to me and it would have undoubtedly sold
more sets if the ugly 1.33:1 aspect ratio wasn't listed on the back of
the packaging, which alone will likely prompt many to pass this set on
by, since those who will be picking this release up will likely be
watching it on a widescreen set.
So with its 1.33:1 transfer, how does the set look? Well, I'll be
honest…once I got over my dislike of the aspect ratio, the set really
does look pretty damn nice. The horrendous transfer for "Paradise Lost"
is finally gone and replaced with a crystal clear 1080p VC-1 encoded
transfer. It all looks fantastic and to watch this series in such
clarity is something I'd never thought was possible. Compression is
non-existent and there were even chapters worked into the mix, so it's
much easier to skip about episodes now. The video is definitely a plus
for the set, but the Blu-ray goodness doesn't stop there. We're also
treated to a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that is also quite respectable in its
own right. While I doubt you'll notice a whole lot of new audio popping
up in surrounding channels that your A/V receiver didn't already matrix
out via Pro Logic IIx, the new mixes do have a bit of bass to them,
which is a nice change up from the previous release. It isn't anything
that will rock the house, but it is a decent mix regardless and those
hoping to experience the series in a more thrilling manner will no doubt
be pleased.
The only other Blu-ray elements to the disc to talk about is the menus,
which…there really aren't any. The pop-up menus are easy to navigate,
but as for any real "home" menu, there isn't much of one and the
majority of your navigating will be done via the pop-up, as, like all
Warner Blu-ray discs, the content auto starts once inserted. After this,
the rest of the bonus content on the disc is repeated from the previous
DVD release.
First up are the three audio commentaries, which are all very
informative, though one has to wonder why they didn't choose to talk
over the premiere episode of the series. The "Legends" commentary is a
particular treat because I absolutely love that story. Fans will
complain that they don't talk over both parts of the episode, but as
they've proven on STAS episodes, they can pretty much condense all their
thoughts of an episode arc into one commentary. In addition, they often
talk over their favored episodes in the multi-part arcs (hence why
"Savage Time" part two has the commentary). Also of note is in "The
Enemy Below" commentary, they tackle the issue of Justice League in
widescreen. The mandate for season two being released in widescreen on
DVD is even stronger after listening to this commentary.
"Inside Justice League" is a great featurette that features the
producers of Justice League. Jason Hillhouse is back moderating and does
a great job asking questions and setting everyone up for some
informative talk from the creative team. A lot of the information most
fans will know already from browsing the internet, but it's nice to have
it one, tight package.
"Justice League: The First Mission" features an intro by Jason
Hillhouse, James Tucker and Bruce Timm explaining how this early footage
was created. While many thought that it was just the repeated easter egg
of the original JL pitch found on a previous DVD release and still
others hoping it was new—well, you're both right. This pitch, while
featuring all the footage from the previous easter egg version, features
new footage that throws in a female Cyborg character, Impulse and even
Robin into the mix of the Justice League. It's certainly a lot of fun to
watch, though you have to be glad that this isn't what eventually came
out (as even Tucker and Timm will attest).
Looking at the rest of the special features, you can probably already
deduce that they're repeated special features from the single disc
releases. While the Bruce Timm episode intros are not to be found on
this release, "The Look of the League" and "Storyboards" are repeated
special features from the single disc outings. This is nice for those
who didn't purchase the single disc releases, but disappointing for
those who already saw them the first go-a-round. Also included here,
although not in Easter Egg form this time around (as it was on the first
season DVD release), is the "Blackhawk Theme Music Video." It's just out
in broad daylight for the Blu-ray release, likely because there aren't
any menus here to hide anything in.
Overall I'm mixed on this set. I want to recommend it because I want to
see the rest of Justice League and Justice League
Unlimited on Blu-ray, but in good conscience I can't recommend that
fans plunk down over $40 (as it is currently priced on Amazon as of this
writing) for a set with zero new content and transfers that are still
4x3. Perhaps if there was a rebate deal going around like Paramount or
Disney do with their Blu-ray upgrades, but the full price on this set is
just way too hard to swallow if you already own the previous DVD
release. Sure, the video and audio is nice and a definite upgrade from
the DVD release, but even if you have the equipment to show it off
properly, a 4x3 transfer and a rather subdued 5.1 audio mix isn't going
to exactly wow anyone.
I wish I could tell you this was a fantastic set, but fans shouldn't be
too surprised this is a rehash in the greatest sense. I suppose I
expected too much, but I still had opens, even up to putting the disc
inside the PS3, that Warner would have just misprinted and there would
actually be widescreen transfers here. I know I'm picking on that one
element a lot, but the Blu-ray format isn't mainstream enough for buyers
to put up with this type of mistreatment. The market for this set is
incredibly slim and I'm not entirely sure that Warner did anyone any
favors by releasing it. Still, I hope it sells well enough for future
seasons to be released, as those will undoubtedly be worth the upgrade,
new extras or not. As is, this one is only recommended if you are a
serious die-hard and have the cash to spare.
Previous Owners: Skip It.
Newcomers: Recommended. |
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