Though marketed as “The Complete Series,” the Justice League complete sets provides fifteen DVD’s that actually boasts two highly different television series’. I say that because the creators eventually reached a limit to what they could do with one version of their show and eventually provided a second series that was obviously an extension of the show but approached the source material with a different tone altogether. So while reviewing the show I had to take in to consideration that I was reviewing two series based on a single idea stuffed in to a very beautiful boxed set that is protected by a dazzling tin display case.
With the plethora of special features we get to see “Justice League,” a show based around the comic books dressed in Bruce Timm’s signature art style and storytelling. Here we follow seven of DC’s flagship heavyweights who take hold of the first series through epic storylines based around two parter episodes that are often more epic than most of the animated series ever made.
Speaking as a hardcore fan of the Man of Steel it was a real thrill to sit down and watch the collection of animated shorts from the Fleischer’s from the period of the forties that gave way to the innovation of rotoscoping and telling genuinely entertaining stories where Superman takes on a new obstacle every time from mad scientists, mobsters, and giant monsters. The quality is fantastic this time around and you get to peruse the Superman animated episodes based around their dates released.
It was probably a god send that “Legion” was cancelled, because three seasons in, the series was making very little progress in the way of storylines. With the constantly shuffling characters, and tonal changes, “Legion” could never really decide what it wanted from audiences, and the addition of Chameleon Boy shows that. His sudden introduction in Season Three with his smart ass personality left the show feeling painfully uneven as most of the characters felt very self aware and stern while Chameleon was often spouting one liners and nothing else.
It used to be a simple case of “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.” Hell, if I don’t like a show, I just don’t watch it, but hear me out. With “Smallville” it’s different. At one time it used to be an excellent show, one that promised to be all about Clark Kent and his transformation in to Superman. Then somewhere on the fourth season, it was sold down the river and this show about Clark became a show about everyone else but Clark. I’m a hardcore true to the blood Superman fan and it’s not as easy as “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.” I still sit and endure “Smallville” to this day because I pray and hope that it will return to its former glory of being about something.
After many years without an official release, Filmation’s adaptation of DC’s greatest superheroes is finally on DVD with a pristine two disc edition featuring some of the most entertaining adventures of DC’s top tier and second tier characters. Primarily consisting of episodes from the Superman/Aquaman Hour, “DC Superheroes” is broken down in to numerous segment clusters that are comprised of episodes spotlighting the likes of The Atom, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Teen Titans and Hawkman, sadly with Superman only a glaring footnote in the compilation.