Releases - DVDs - Batman: The Animated Series - Tales of
the Dark Knight
Release Information:
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: April 22, 2003
Run Time: 89 minutes
Episodes: The Underdwellers; P.O.V.; The Forgotten; Be a
Clown |
Aspect Ratio(s):
Orginal Aspect Ratio - 1.33
Standard [4:3 Transfer]
Audio
English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Portuguese (Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo)
Edition Details:
- Encoding: Region 1
- Animated, Color
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Special Features
- The Line Up
- Episode Introductions with Producer/Director Bruce Timm
- Voices of Gotham City
- Languages & Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese |
Review
I'm going to say this right now just so I can get it off of my chest:
Four episodes? C'mon WB, we know you can fit a heck of a lot more onto
DVDs. You can't tell me they're "preserving" the quality of the
episodes, 'cause they aren't that great to begin with. On top of that we
have the pathetic amount of special features, so you can't tell me
there's no "room" left on the disc itself -- they could've, at the very
least, put both parts of "Two-Face," since they even have shots from it
on the menus and even Bruce Timm mentions the episode in the
introduction on "The Underdwellers."
With that out of the way, the next comes the transfer quality. There's
still some dust, scratches and whatnot on the episodes themselves, but
they are of better quality than what Fox broadcasted back in the day
(i.e. 1993). The quality is, of course, not so horrible that you can't
watch it, but I just don't think WB is putting much effort into these
releases. They seem to be slacking off in the special features area,
while their more "popular" series such as Dawson's Creek are already
seeing DVD releases -- in seasons sets I might add. The whole situation
with BTAS is such a joke, and I really wish Fox was in charge of doing
this as, although we only have two Simpson's season sets from them, they
at least have been making an effort to release them, something WB could
learn from.
The special features are, much like the episodes on this disc (aside
from "P.O.V."), are boring. While the episode introductions by Bruce
Timm are probably what make this DVD worth it's price tag, and the
"Voices of Gotham City" feature is awesome, the rest...well, wait, there
isn't a "rest," is there? Just a really weird game (The Line Up), and a
language selection which is mandatory on almost every DVD, make the
features very poor indeed. Where's the original BTAS intro Bruce Timm
has talked about in the past? Surely WB isn't saving that for the last
DVD release in 2015 when a new Batman series will probably have popped
up, creating this whole vicious cycle over again.
Menus are easy to navigate, nothing really confusing you to the point
where you can't figure out how to get back to the menu, nor is there
anything really to confuse you because, like I said before, the lack of
extras make it so unbelievably easy to get around, it's not even funny.
I'd honestly like to work to view the extras, but sadly, this isn't the
case in this DVD. Not to mention on the Special Features menu Two-Face's
mug adorns it, even though he's completely absent -- even in Harvey Dent
form -- on this disc. If that isn't a sign of last minute changes, I
don't know what is.
In the end, I'm really just happy to get more episodes, but I'm really
tired of getting them at such a slow rate. If you're a Bat-Fan, then
you'll want to pick this disc up just to have it, otherwise if you're
just a casual viewer, don't waste your time -- one good episode,
commentaries, and a featurette aren't worth the cash. |
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