Site Note: Please note this is archived material from 2005 and 2006.
The ongoing debate over the issue of
"widescreen" airings of Justice League and Justice League
Unlimited versus "pan and scan" airings has been a hotly contested
one, with arguments ranging from original intent and artistic vision to image
quality and image omission. It also has taken a new twist with the announcement of the Season One DVD box set of Justice League,
and the promise of a Season Two soon to follow after. However, before we
go into detail over this, we must first understand the issue at hand and what is
truly at stake.
During its initial season, Justice
League was animated in the standard full screen format (it was made to fit a
television screen rather than a motion picture screen;
this is also known as the "standard" version), but then the video was
"matted," meaning that black bars were added to simulate the
widescreen format (imitating the aspect ratio that films aired in movie theaters
have). This is an old animation trick
used since the 1950s, particularly for theatrical releases—this
was how Mask of the Phantasm was
animated—and
it allows a studio to create an animated picture that is able to be shown in
theaters on a rectangular screen, but doesn't compromise the image when it is
later released on video or DVD (or aired on television), as it would then be
shown on a square television screen. In the case of Justice League,
this tactic was used because it was the
intent of the creative team to give their show a "motion picture" kind
of feel, and Cartoon Network, to their credit, aired both the standard version
and the widescreen versions on their network, the latter in special widescreen
airings. For a size comparison, please click on the following images:
This artistic choice sparked a minor debate over
which was the "true" version of the show. The show's creative
team, along with a portion of the DCAU fan base, argued that this was the best
version, as it was the original intent of the creators (creating the "epic
movie" feel they desired), while others (like myself) found the widescreen
versions to be distracting, as the black bars omitted almost a quarter of the
screen...material that my mind knew was there in the standard edition (I
know that the storyboard artists kept the top and bottom of each shot free of
important information, but it still bugged me). Ultimately, however, it
boiled down to a matter of personal preference, and there was enough airtime for
both versions (though the debate was renewed when the series started appearing
on DVD, where the standard versions were utilized).
However, this scenario was to change with the
development of Season Two, as the creative team switched from matting a standard
image to animating the show in true widescreen. Now the widescreen edition
was the one with the most image and the "standard" edition was now a
"pan-and-scan," meaning that the network cut off the left and right
edges of the animation and zoomed in on the remaining material. For
a size comparison, please click on the following images (taken from the episode
"Starcrossed," the only Season Two episode to be released thus far):
As you can see, at its best, the
"pan-and-scan" image creates a claustrophobic viewing experience,
cutting off information much in the same way that the matted versions of Season
One did but, at its worst, it reduces the spectacle of the action (this can be
particularly seen in the third image). As of this writing, Cartoon Network
appears to still be airing both versions of the show (although the two-week
airing of Season Five was solely in widescreen, but those episodes only have had
one airdate thus far), but a resistance to the widescreen editions is being
displayed by the Warner Home Video division, who have only put out the
"pan-and-scan" versions of Justice League Unlimited on DVD.
The results maintain the claustrophobic feel, plus there are other difficulties
as well, such as the omission of the Question's first appearance in the episode
"Initiation":
Which brings us to the topic at
hand: currently, the home video division of Warner Bros. is preparing a
Season One DVD set for Justice League, which will hit stores on March 21,
2006. The plan calls for this box set to contain the standard, non-matted
versions of the episodes, which—depending
on your point-of-view—is either a blessing or a curse. That issue aside,
the danger here is that the subsequent collections—seasons that, unlike Season
One, have all been animated in widescreen format—may
also follow this trend, cropping out animation that diminishes show's Unlimited
scope and compromises the animation quality—the camera zooms in
on the remaining portion, blowing up a small, detailed image into a larger,
hazier one. Recently, Bruce Timm discussed this pressing
issue on Toon Zone's DC Animation Forum (the thread can be accessed here):
Yes,
please, by all means, send those cards and letters...and do it now.
We'll
be starting special features stuff for Season Two in the next few weeks, which
means a decision on full screen or widescreen will need to be made very
soon. I've been doing my best to persuade the WHV [Warner Home Video]
folks to release the Season Two set (and all subsequent JLU sets) in widescreen,
but it's an uphill battle (full-frame format is the standard defualt mode for
"family entertainment" DVDs). A deluge of polite, but emphatic
letters expressing fan support for widescreen DVD sets just might tip the
scales.
I
debated pushing the issue while we were prepping the Season One set, but decided
against it. I'd prefer to have Season One released in 1:85 [the aspect
ratio for the show's widescreen], but since those shows were actually made in
full-frame format, no visual information is actually being lost (and I argued
with myself that the most "complete" version should be on DVD for
posterity). From Season Two and onward it's a different story.
So
please, please, PLEASE, if you want Season Two in 1:85, let WHV
know.
So, what's at stake here?
Following Season One, we may be subject to Justice League box sets of
diminished quality, which will affect sales. I mean, c'mon, with a
market price of $44.98 (plus tax), how many kids are going to shell out fifty
bucks to get this set? Even if it's part of the "family
entertainment" division of WHV, it's the older fans who will come out en
masse to purchase these sets, and they won't be happy with pan-and-scan
copies. Lower quality means that fewer fans will purchase these sets,
causing Warner Bros. to lose money and rethink the marketability of future
volumes or potential direct-to-video projects (there's still a slight possibility
that the Justice League: World's Collide DTV could see the light of
day...if the market is there for it). At the risk of being presumptuous,
I'd hazard to say that anyone who frequents this website is more than a casual
fan of Justice League, and want the integrity of the series to be
preserved. Thus, to have our beloved show preserved in the DVD format in
the best-possible edition, we must take our demands to Warner Bros. and
politely, but firmly, inform them of their target audience's preference.
Does this tactic work?
Surprisingly, yes, if enough people make their voices heard. To give an
example, earlier this year fans of the Muppet franchise learned that Disney
planned to re-release four of their recently-acquired Muppet films on DVD,
but only in the pan-and-scan format. This news rallied
the base, who wanted the original theatrical versions of the film released, and
Disney heard their voices, adjusting their plans in a matter
of days to include both versions on the disks (this may be too much to fit
on Justice League disks, so let's stick to demands for widescreen).
To reach these ends, we must begin a letter-writing campaign to let Warner Bros.
know what we want. The address for Warner Home Video is as follows:
Warner Home Video, 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91522. In
addition, they can be reached by phone at (888) 954-6000 and by fax at (212)
954-7667. Again, remember to be polite, and don't bog down your letter
with requests for tons of special features; one thing at a time, people. A
template letter has been graciously supplied by Bird Boy of the World's Finest,
which can be accessed by way of their own DVD petition page.
We can do this, people, but time is
of the essence. Production on the Second Season DVD set is slated to begin
in a few weeks, so we have to start now if we want our voices to be heard.
UPDATE: In a turnaround
that literally took a matter of days, Warner Home Video has changed their plans
in regards to the Justice League box sets. Season One will remain
in its non-matted, "pan and scan" format, but Season Two and all of Unlimited
will be released in widescreen, thereby preserving the original format (see here
Images courtesy of Warner
Bros. Entertainment
and The World's Finest |