Releases - DVD - The Complete Second Season
Announce Date: 11/29/06
Street Date: 03/20/07
Closed Captioning: Yes
MSRP: $26.99
Packaging Type: Digi-Pack
Subformat: Multi Disc
Media Quantity: 2
Disc Configuration: 1) 9-Dual Layer 2) 9-Dual Layer
Sound Track Language: English
Run Time: 299 |
Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio - 1.77 Widescreen [16:9 Transfer]
Sound Quality:
Dolby Digital Stereo (English and Portugeuse)
Subtitles:
Brazilian
Portuguese
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Episodes:
I Am Legion, Shadow of the Hawk, Chaos at Earth's Core, To Another Shore,
Flash and Substance, Dead Reckoning, Patriot Act, The Great Brain
Robbery, Grudge Match, Far From Home, Ancient History, Alive! (Part 1),
Destroyer (Part 2)
DVD Features:
• Cadmus: Exposed: Mark Hamill and the Series Creative
Personnel Discuss This Popular Series Story Arc
• Justice League Chronicles: Series Writers, Producers and
Directors Discuss Their Favorite Moments Among Final Season Episodes
(Episodes Profiled: "The Great Brain Robbery", "Ancient History",
"Alive!")
• Music-Only Audio Track for the Final Episode Destroyer
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Official Description: After years of foiled plots and repeated
beatings, the galaxy's worst villains finally have a plan: strength in
numbers! Led by Lex Luthor, the Legion of Doom prepares to dominate the
universe. First order of business: destroy the Justice League. Featuring
the original seven Leaguers - Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash,
Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl - plus many other
favorites, each episode showcases these heroes in battles like you've
never seen. And just when you think they've faced the most unimaginable
evils, a dark figure from the past resurfaces to exact revenge on all of
them. Do yourself some justice and bring this legendary compilation of
the series' final 13 episodes home today!
Review (Zach Demeter)
As the crew of Justice League Unlimited explains on the DVD,
season two (or season three in the way Cartoon Network aired it) was the
season that no one knew was coming. Not only was the crew convinced
“Epilogue” would be the last outing, fans were slowly warming up to the
idea of “Epilogue” being the cap on the whole DCAU—and then Cartoon
Network asked for more. I’ll of course be smacked for saying that my
immediate reaction was “oh crap”, since I had enjoyed the final episode
ending with the pan-out of the pan-in of the first BTAS episode,
but who can actually be upset over more Justice League Unlimited?
I quickly got over it and eagerly awaited the new season with everyone
else.
The crop of 13 episodes in this season were certainly not reminiscent of
the past seasons of Justice League Unlimited—for one, the
episodes took an admittedly sillier approach, due to the Legion of Doom
(“The Great Brain Robbery” is an extremely great episode, but I'm sure
fans will
admit most of it stems from the situation comedy and one-liners Flash as Luthor gives). However, anyone who thought the show was too childish for
them was quickly treated to an excruciating two-part series finale with
“Alive!” and “Destroyer.” These episodes featured extreme fighting
conditions for both the Legion (in “Alive!”) and the Justice League and
Legion (in “Destroyer”). The return of Darkseid made for an exciting
finale and the inclusion of Brainiac in his makeup made him even
deadlier than before.
You’ll be hard pressed not to enjoy yourself while watching this final
season of Justice League Unlimited, though you’ll certainly be
sorry that it’s all over by the time the final frame rolls. For all
intents and purposes, as of this point in time, this is the final season
of the animated DC Universe and even watching it again now I get the
same feeling I did before: sad that it’s over, but still excited from
watching Superman beat the snot out of Darkseid.
The DVD
The final DVD in the series of the Timm animated DC Universe gets a
proper send off and in a big way. While it’s true this is one of the
first releases to sport no commentaries since the original release of
BTAS: Volume 1, it makes up for it with a healthy dose of special
features that total over an hour. But, I’m getting ahead of myself—first
the thing you see when you first pick up the set: the package.
Those that have purchased or seen the Batman Beyond: Season 1 set
will know what to expect here: ultra-slim packaging with a double layer
digi-pak tray. The packaging art is dated, however, for this show: all
of the shots on the back cover and interior packaging are all from
Justice League Unlimited’s first season. The disc art and menus also
share a similar fate—but it’s kind of expected at this point. But the
usage of Shayera in her original Hawkgirl outfit (twice this time, no
less) is simply strange, since she never once wore that outfit in all of
JLU.
While still on the topic of the art, the interior disc art does a neat
little trick, but only if you remove disc 2 from the tray: the art
featured on the discs is the same as the art underneath it, so you can
still see the complete picture below it even while the disc art is
there. Unfortunately in disc 2’s case, it should have some of Copperhead
on it but instead features only Superman, making for an incomplete
picture. Popping disc 2 out allows Grundy’s arm to fulfill itself, while
chopping a bit of Superman off—still, it doesn’t look nearly as abruptly
cut as the second disc sitting there does. On top of that, the art in
the interior tray is old as well and appears to be from the “Injustice
For All” episode from Justice League, Dr. Fate aside (GL even has
a full head of hair again!).
Menu art is nearly identical to the first season set of JLU, but
a different shade this time. Of course, these are just the visual things
and I shouldn’t get so upset over seeing repeated stock art (it’s called
“stock” for a reason).
The special features are an extremely big treat to watch on this set. On
the first disc is what fans were missing from the last set: discussion
on the whole Cadmus arc. Bruce Timm, Dwayne McDuffie and James Tucker
are moderated by an extremely well-informed Mark Hamill who asks them
questions about the Cadmus arc that the fans (and himself) want to know.
What’s so great about this feature is how big of a fan Hamill is about
Timm’s DC animation work and you get a real sense that he’s a bigger
nerd than the crew of this show was at times. The featurette runs slightly over twenty-three minutes in length
and is one of the best special features I’ve seen
from these DVD sets to date. When you get this set, do yourself a favor
and watch it—you won’t be sorry.
The second special feature on the set are the mini-commentaries found on
the second disc. They cover “The Great Brain Robbery”, “Ancient History”
and “Alive!” and are all super-informative and quick sessions of the
episodes. You can tell they watched the episodes as they recorded, as
they mentioned specific scenes, so I can assume there were full
commentaries, but what we got were the condensed versions without the
empty air and repetitive remarks—it’s all informative in this
featurette! Timm, McDuffie and Tucker are present in all of them with
Matt Wayne and Joaquim dos Santos making an appearance as well. It’s odd
that “Destroyer” wasn’t profiled instead of “Alive”, but they do mention
Darkseid a few times, but nothing on the Anti-Life Equation or the like
is discussed, sadly. The length of this feature is meaty as well and makes for a robust
run-time of extras this time around.
The final special feature (no, trailers aren’t a special feature) is an
audio-only track for “Destroyer”. After a short intro by Bruce Timm, we
get a nearly wall-to-wall track of the music, all dialogue and sound
effect free. There are few things better than listening to the music in
these shows and this is nothing short of a massive treat. Crank up the
sound system and let this one rip, as it’s all worth listening to.
Moving past the special features, we have the main feature and the
quality is, as with the last set, top notch. The video is presented in
glorious 16x9 anamorphic widescreen (not matted like the back of the box
states—don’t worry!) and the usual amount of interlacing and aliasing is
present, but overall the transfers are very clean. Compression pops up
in the fast moving action sequences, but aside from that, it’s beautiful
to look at.
Audio is strong and matrixes out to your extra speakers (whether 5.1 or
7.1) quite well. No qualms with the audio with this release, though I
missed the audio glitch in “Divided We Fall” from the last season
set—but from what I heard, it all looks wonderful.
The only drawbacks of this set are the lack of chapter stops, but that’s
nothing unusual in WHV releases. A neat extra was the fact all the
special features were in 16x9 widescreen, a first for the DC DVD
releases; on top of the widescreen ratio, the video for the special
feature were pretty impeccable, even the animation bits. As a
video-quality junkie, I was pretty damn impressed by this (which I’m
sure no one else will really notice, but I digress).
Overall you need this volume in your collection. Coupled with the first
four-disc set, these two DVD sets make up an unbeatable collection of
awesome animation, an incessant amount of superheroes and super villains
and some of the finest story telling in all of the DC Animated Universe.
Review (James Harvey)
Upon receiving this DVD, one thing really jumped out at me (much like
the Batman Beyond: Season Three release). On the packaging shrink
wrap was a sticker saying, “The Final Season.” True, we all knew these
were the final seasons, but that sticker, as odd as this may sound, sort
of made it seem . . . final. That my collection is now complete.
True, the collection will never be truly complete, as various characters
made appearances or cameos on other shows, but it feels complete to me.
I don't need Gotham Girls on DVD, nor do I believe that “Lost
Episode” is worth having (or even a lost episode . . . it's just video
game cut scenes). Having Justice League Unlimited: Season Two is
great, and perhaps I should get back on topic before I stray anymore.
Let's see what the official synopsis has to say about this release,
shall we?
After years of foiled plots and repeated beatings, the galaxy's worst
villains finally have a plan: strength in numbers! Led by Lex Luthor,
the Legion of Doom prepares to dominate the universe. First order of
business: destroy the Justice League. Featuring the original seven
Leaguers - Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Martian Manhunter,
Green Lantern and Hawkgirl - plus many other favorites, each episode
showcases these heroes in battles like you've never seen. And just when
you think they've faced the most unimaginable evils, a dark figure from
the past resurfaces to exact revenge on all of them. Do yourself some
justice and bring this legendary compilation of the series' final 13
episodes home today!
And there you have it. The Justice League faces off against the Legion
of Doom (despite never actually being called that in the series). We got
a wide variety of episodes this season, more than any that came before.
It felt like the creative team jumped right into the sandbox and let
loose. True, the season does feel slightly unstructured, and it seems a
bit jarring after how precise the previous two seasons were. That's not
a complaint by any means, just an observation. The show also touched
upon several plot threads from earlier seasons, a nice touch for the
fans who have been with the show from the beginning.
It's hard to describe this season, a season that no one expected to get.
The best was I could describe it is . . . an encore. After the main
performance, the “Cadmus” arc from the previous two seasons, the
creators took a bow and were ready to call it a day. But the network
wanted more, and we got it. This season was fun encore where the
creators get to indulge in what they wanted. No doubt they knew this
would be the last thirteen episodes, so why not? I think they deserve
it, and they pulled out some great material. Sure, there's a couple
episodes that may not be up to snuff with the others, but it's a great
season. Alot of fans got to see what they've been waiting for (it's odd
to see how so many fans were obsessed with seeing that bizarre “Wonder
Woman spin," but then again, I find Wonder Woman to be a bland and
pointless character).
There are some really stand-out episodes. The season opened solid with
“I Am Legion,” and continued on from there. There were some clunkers,
namely “Far From Home,” but I found the season to be considerably solid.
Each episode either put the team into a completely new and bizarre
situation or revisited aspects of the shows to continue old plot lines.
And, at the same time, the season was somewhat tied together with the
whole “Legion of Doom” subplot which slightly connected each episode.
Is it the best? No. Not at all. I think the second season of Justice
League and the “Cadmus” storyline hold firm as the best this series
had to offer (hell, I even liked how the “Cadmus” arc came to an
explosive finale). I found that sometimes the animation in this season
was a bit weak, or the story-telling wasn't as sharp as with past ones,
but it really served well as a nice curtain call for the series and the
DCAU in general. Sure, the curtain may not stay closed forever, but for
now, Justice League Unlimited: Season Two works as that last trip
through their universe before closing time.
As for the disc itself, I found it satisfactory. I'm not going to
complain about the packaging since there's no point. They used the same
stock art, some of it hopelessly outdated. I'm not going to defend it
because, personally, I don't care enough to. I will say that since there
wasn't alot of Justice League Unlimited stock art to use, I can
understand being limited in their choices. And sure, it doesn't seem
like they're trying at all, but there's not much we can say about it.
This wasn't a high-priority release for Warner Bros., and the budget
wasn't all that big, so they did what they did. Life goes on. What
matters are the episodes.
And how are they? As far as I can tell, the audio and video are great.
The usual interlacing remains, but the print itself is clean. The audio
sounds great, especially during the two-part finale. I wish I had more
to elaborate on, but really . . . I don't.
Since this is the first Justice League/Justice League
Unlimited box set to not include a commentary, how does the set hold
up? Pretty damn nice, actually. The thought this collection had a nice
amount of extras. The look back at the “Cadmus” arc was excellent. There
were some great nuggets of information in there and the dynamic in the
roundtable, spearheaded by Mark Hamill, was damn enjoyable. The other
featurette, where the creative team takes a close look at a batch of
episodes, felt like a nice edited commentary. It felt like alot of the
dead-air was cut out, leaving the real meat and bones of the information
fans may be interested in.
The final extra, the music-only track to “Destroyer,” is flat out
awesome. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to this track.
It's wall to wall music and it's damn excellent.
Overall, I'm pleased with this collection. I think it's a great way to
send-off the DCAU (for now) and there's something for everyone, it
seems. The DVD itself is a fine presentation for the show. Yes, you can
find faults with it (some outdated stock art, etc), but what counts is
on there. Yes, they could have included, but the same can be said for
just about every other DVD release out there. There's always something
that the fans will nitpick about, or claim “must be on there,” but I
find the final product here to be well done. I also had a complete blast
revisiting these episodes. It's a great set, and quick to digest. This
release is a no-brainer pick-up. For fans wishing to cap off their
Justice League or DCAU collection, look no further. Highly
Recommended.
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