DC and Warner beat Marvel to the punch by comprising a superhero team made up of some of the most popular bit players from the DC television-verse, ending in a pretty mixed result. Season one of “Legends of Tomorrow” is a scattered and pretty crazy series of episodes that finds a rag tag group of DC’s heroes and villains coming together to stop the evil Vandal Savage. Along with the confusing time paradoxes, the writers and producers seem to be scrambling to also keep up with their long list of team members, conflicts, sub-plots and the like resulting in only a mediocre start from out of the gate. What happens when people like The Flash and Arrow are busy with their own enemies?
We meet time traveler Rip Hunter who, with his special time traveling ship the Wave Rider, who begins to assemble of a group of underdogs, all of whom have a future as potential legends. Though cryptic about their futures, Rip assembles a roster of misfits to bring down the evil Vandal Savage who is traveling through time and disrupting the continuum. Pretty much all of the original actors reprise their roles from “Arrow” and “The Flash” and come on to pull team duties. Among the team there is “The Atom” Ray Palmer, “White Canary” Sara Lance, Jefferson “Jax” Jackson and Dr. Martin Stein who combine as “Firestorm”, “Heatwave” Mick Rory, “Captain Cold” Leonard Snart, and “Hawkman” and “Hawkgirl” Carter Hall, and Kendra Saunders. The latter two are using the opportunity to full realize Saunders’ powers as Hawkgirl as we saw her confront in “The Flash.”
Many of their missions involve the winged couple coming face to face with Savage and struggling to foil the very clever madman. Along the way there are some fun and unique ideas presented in to somewhat entertaining episodes. The team has to battle a bounty hunter named Cronos, have to alter the future of Dr. Stein, cross paths with cowboys in the old West, and even meet a much older certain Emerald Archer. The writers behind the series work their way around the messy formula as best as they can, switching around characters, spending various episodes on only a few members here and there, and are even bold enough to kill off certain team members as the first season progresses.
The cast that return are back in fighting form and facing their own inner turmoil, including White Canary who is still scarred from being resurrected, while Ray Palmer still tries to find ways to master his technology. There’s also Captain Cold and Heatwave, both of whom try their best to muster up some semblance of heroism as they comprehend how much of a threat Vandal is to humanity and the entire universe. If you can ignore the breakneck pacing, the performances are top notch, especially by Brandon Routh, and Wentworth Miller. CW seems to have been very merciful and forgiving with “Legends of Tomorrow” allowing another season where the producers seem to have touched on what can boost this series from sub-par to stellar. As a freshman season, it’s an okay diversion that reaches a pretty good resolution leading in to a promising follow up season.
Featured on the Blu-Ray, there’s a Digital copy for fans. There’s also “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: 2015 Comic-Con Panel” in which various cast and crew discuss the show and creative developments. “Jonah Hex: Hex Marks the Spot” is a look at the introduction of DC’s iconic Jonah Hex to the series, and how they fit him in to the mythos. “A Fantastic Voyage: Touring the Waverider Set” is a behind the scenes look at the Waverider set with the production design team. There’s a look at concepts, visual effects, and how the ship was created. “History in the Making” looks at how history and fiction cross together during the series’ first season. Finally, there’s a “Gag Reel.”
“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.”