Superman: The Complete Animated Series [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Tim Daly, Dana Delany, Clancy Brown (VOICES)

Release Date:October 26, 2021

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 8/10

 

Synopsis:

The creative team behind the award-winning Batman: The Animated Series chronicles the adventures of Superman, the legendary first Super Hero. As the planet Krypton is destroyed, its top scientist, Jor-El, secures his infant son, Kal-El, in a rocket that will transport him to Earth. There, a young Clark Kent (voiced by Tim Daly) discovers the truth about his interplanetary heritage. Upon reaching adulthood, he assumes the identity of Superman, the Man of Steel, in the City of Tomorrow, Metropolis, battling the forces of villainy and continuing his quest for truth and justice. Fly with Superman in this complete collection of adventures.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

Get ready to revisit some of your favorite adventures with the Man of Steel like never before as ‘Superman: The Animated Series’ arrives home on Blu-ray for the first time. Join Kal-El, aka Superman as he fights to find his purpose in our world, both as the world-famous hero Superman and as mild mannered reporter Clark Kent. Taking on such notable villains as his arch-nemesis, the ruthless Lex Luthor, along with interstellar bounty hunters, ghosts from his home world and the dreaded Darkseid along with many more; all the while fighting for truth and justice and going above and beyond to use his abilities for good, assisting those in need. So get ready to take off and revisit all 54 episodes from the beloved series, looking and sounding better than ever before on Blu-ray!

‘Superman: The Complete Animated Series’ brings home all fifty-four memorable episodes from the fan-favorite animated series which initially debuted on television in 1996 and ran through 2000. A perfect follow-up to ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ for the creative team behind it, ‘Superman: The Animated Series’ offered equally rich and exciting episodes and storylines that fans immediately fell in love with, while also sporting a somewhat lighter tone much of the time, similar to the comics of each in that respect. The perfectly selected voice cast also did wonders to make this animated series work so beautifully, featuring the talents of Tim Daly as Superman/Clark Kent, Dana Delany as Lois Lane, David Kaufman as Jimmy Olsen, Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor and more.

Fans of Superman and DC in general who haven’t previously had the pleasure of this beloved animated series or may have become a fan of the DC Universe and its rich world of characters after the show’s time are strongly encouraged to try and check it out when you have the chance, it’s a solid and memorable adaption of the Man of Steel that still holds up remarkably well after all these years. Longtime and new fans alike of this animated series should also be thrilled with these beautifully remastered presentations that swoop into your home on Blu-ray in high definition at last, looking and sounding better than the series ever has before, not to mention presented in their original 4×3 full frame aspect ratio as originally created and broadcast.

Overall, ‘Superman: The Complete Animated Series’ debuts on Blu-ray at last and fans shouldn’t be at all disappointed by what it has to offer, especially in the way of its technical merits. The 6-disc Blu-ray box set collects all 54 episodes from the beloved animated series, each fully remastered and sporting wonderful high definition video and audio presentations that look and sound far superior to any previous releases of the animated show. Now fans can revisit the entire series or simply their favorite episodes at any time they desire (and anywhere thanks to the included Digital code) in a level of quality that many probably never expected to experience it in. This one is definitely highly recommended for fans of the animated series, so once again get ready to fly with one of your favorite old school DC heroes as he fights for truth and justice, with every thrilling moment now in glorious high definition!

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Superman: The Complete Animated Series’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation on every episode of the series, fully remastered and with the show’s original 1.33:1 Full Frame Aspect Ratio in which the series was originally broadcast. These newly remastered video presentations look pretty magnificent as a whole and deliver clean, sharp, richly detailed and vividly colored presentations on every episode with no notable issues to be uncovered throughout. They hold up admirably even during the various fast moving action sequences, as well as the darkly lit and heavily populated moments, never resulting in any unexpected problems arising throughout. Overall, these are wonderful high definition video presentations that should truly thrill fans of this beloved animated series who have been awaiting its arrival on Blu-ray.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release includes a 2.0 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on all 54 episodes of the series. These lossless two channel soundtracks provide crisp, clean and nicely balanced audio presentations on each episode that only exceed expectations. They deliver all of the dialogue, action effects, music and everything else without any trouble, perfectly balancing all of the audio elements between the two channels and never allowing any dialogue or other audio content simultaneously occurring with other effects to become distorted or rendered indiscernible; all the while maintaining a sharp delivery with some nice aggression whenever appropriate. Overall, these are fantastic 2.0 DTS-HD MA soundtracks that deliver beautifully throughout and shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Superman: The Complete Animated Series’ includes some fun extras both new and old. Included on the release are Commentary tracks on the episodes ‘The Last Son of Krypton – Part 1 ‘, ‘Stolen Memories’, ‘The Main Man – Part 2’ and ‘Mxyzpixilated’; the last of which is a Video Commentary while the others are simply audio commentary tracks over stretched widescreen versions of the episodes. Also included on the release is a collection of Featurettes and fun videos including the new Featurette ‘Superman: Timeless Icon’ (running approximately 33 minutes in length), along with ‘Menaces of Metropolis: Behind the Villains of Superman’ (running approximately 13 minutes), ‘Building the Mythology: Superman’s Supporting Cast’ (approximately 9 minutes), ‘Superman: Learning to Fly’ (10 minutes), ‘The Despot Darkseid: A Villain Worthy of Superman’ (17 minutes) and ‘A Little Piece of Trivia’ (21 minutes) which features the episode ‘A Little Piece of Home’ with fun trivia facts popping onto the screen throughout.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘Superman: The Complete Animated Series’ is Now Available to Own in High Definition on Blu-ray from DC & Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

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