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RELEASES - BLU-RAY - COMPLETE SERIES

Legion of Super-Heroes - The Complete Series
Studio: Warner Archive
Format: Blu-ray Release Date: July 14, 2020

Click Here!Description: One thousand years from now, the legendary Man of Steel inspires a group of emerging young heroes from the 31st century to band together and defend the newly formed United Planets. That is, if they don’t kill each other first. In Season One, Legionnaires Bouncing Boy (Michael Cornacchia), Brainiac 5 (Adam Wylie), Saturn Girl (Kari Wahlgren) and Lightning Lad (Andy Milder) travel back in time to convince an awkward teen named Clark Kent (Yuri Lowenthal) to join their Legion of Superheroes and battle their archnemeses, the Fatal Five. The insecure teen is, in turn, inspired by his new friends and, with their help, begins his journey to become the galaxy’s greatest hero. Catching up two years later, Season Two presents Superman and the Legion with an even greater challenge: Kell-El, the Superman of the 41st century!

Presented in full 16×9 widescreen across three Blu-ray discs, Legion of Super-Heroes - The Complete Series includes all 26 episodes of the popular show, which aired on The CW from 2006-2008, as well as a pair of bonus features: the involving featurette “We Are Legion”; and an Exclusive Audio Commentary on the series’ heralded two-part finale, “Dark Victory, Parts One and Two,” with producer James Tucker, director Brandon Vietti and the voice of Saturn Girl, Kari Wahlgren (Rick and Morty, DC Super Hero Girls, Supergirl).

Includes:
-Audio Commentary on "Dark Victory, Part 1" and "Dark Victory, Part 2"
-"We Are Legion" Vintage EPK Featurette



Legion of Super-Heroes - The Complete Series
Blu-ray Review
by James Harvey

With great action, strong animation and interesting characters, the Legion of Super Heroes animated series, which hit the airwaves in 2006, offered up entertaining all-ages adventures that didn't particularly shy away from showing the cost of saving the universe and being a superhero. And despite a loyal fan base, the series came to an end all-too-soon after a two-season, 26-episode run on Kids'WB!, the victim of an evolving entertainment landscape. But now, well over a decade since its last episode aired, the entire series has finally been collected on Blu-ray, courtesy of yet another strong outing from the Warner Archive label. Let's take a look, shall we?

While this review will focus on the Blu-ray release put together for Legion of Super Heroes by Warner Archive, the show itself definitely deserves a few words. Just like the classic comics that inspired it, Legion of Super Heroes follows a team of teen-aged heroes centuries into the future defending the universe against intergalactic threats big and small, inspired by Superman and the heroes of today. While the series did take a few episodes to find its footing, which is common for a new program, it really took off once it did.

Legion of Super Heroes is fun, has a great cast of characters (along with some incredible and underappreciated design work on said characters and their world), fantastic animation and admirably juggled light-hearted adventures with drama without skipping a beat. It was a great Saturday morning cartoon, all wrapped in this cool, 1970s-but-still-modern, jazzy-kinda vibe. It's unfortunate that, when the show debuted, it was seen as a bit of a Teen Titans knock-off, which likely turned away some viewers. It's a shame since Legion of Super Heroes is a solid DC Comics-bsed cartoon.

Not only did Legion of Super Heroes pay homage to iconic moments from the comics which inspired it, but it also took aggressive steps forward to firmly establish itself as its own unique interpretation of the Legion of Super Heroes lore. Take the differences between the first and second seasons. After firmly establishing its tone and premise in the first season - light, fun but with weighty moments - the show made some surprising, drastic changes in season two. While the first season felt very rooted in the source material, the second season felt more like the creative team doing their own spin on things. Things get a little edgier, maybe a little more grounded and the stakes feel more dire. There's a time-jump right out of the gate, the introduction of the fan-favorite Super-clone - Superman X (aka Kell-El), and positioning Imperiex as the show's new big bad. And that barely scratches the surface of what unfolds (seriously, so much more happens in season two. So, so much).

At the end of the day, Legion of Super Heroes is an animated series well worth your time. While there are some episodes that are weaker than others, as with any other series, the quality remains high nonetheless. The second season is an especially riveting outing that can easily stand by the likes of some of the best DC Comics-based animated programs, no question. Whether a long-time fan or looking for something new in the super hero genre, hitch a ride to the 31st century and check out what Legion of Super Heroes is all about!

For more insight into the series, and specific episodes, take a further look around this Legion of Super Heroes subsite for more content and coverage.

Click Here!Warner Archive's three-disc Blu-ray release of the series is, easily, the best way to experience Legion of Super Heroes, too. Not only in terms of on-disc content, but the release itself. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's MOD label has put together a simple, sleek package, with a sturdy hinged flap packing all three discs nice and snug in a standard Blu-ray case (no stacking here, thankfully). Disc art is clean, with a great hero shot of Superman (from season one) coupled with episode titles. The package art, also using protional imagery from the series, also looks sharp.

Digging into the set itself, Legion of Super Heroes, has never looked better than it does right here. The video transfer is strong and relatively crystal clear, nicely bringing the show's bright colors and deep blacks to vibrant life. That said, there is color banding that appears across multiple episodes in the collection, but nothing really distracting or problematic. Macroblocking is also noticeable, varying in noticeable amounts from non-existent to noticable episode to episode. It nicely matches the audio, which is as crisp as can be thanks to a superbly balanced mix, with the dialogue, score and action-heavy beats sounding clear and distinct. Dialogue never gets lost among the bigger set pieces, nor is the score overpowering. Each episode look and sound great, something fans will definitely be pleased with.

In terms of bonus content, Warner Archive has tossed on a few goodies that nicely cap off the Legion of Super Heroes viewing experience. On top of a vintage featurette from 2007, the collection also includes two new audio commentaries that are well worth your time.

The audio commentaries cover the two-part series finale "Dark Victory," and include producer James Tucker, director Brandon Vietti, and voice actor Kari Wahlgren (Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet and others), along with the Warner Archive Podcast team of D.W. Ferranti and Matt Patterson. The commentaries are fantastic and packed with neat anecdotes and behind-the-scenes details from Legion of Super Heroes. Cool tidbits include Darkseid originally being slated as the villain for season two (before WB axed it), Kell-El origin details, discussion of deleted scenes, Brainiac/Superman shipping, potential season three ideas and assorted production details - and that's not all, either! The amount of work that went into this series is staggering, and fans will learn more than a few cool facts about the work put into Legion of Super Heroes.

The "We Are Legion" featurette is a short EPK, which was included on the first DVD release of Legion of Super Heroes, is a standard promotional piece for the series. Members of the show's creative team discuss the series, the inspiration, tone and direction of the series, along with a great look at the series' production art. Given that it runs just over nine minutes, it's worth a watch, but please note it is presented in standard definition.

With all 26 episodes plus two incredibly informative and fun commentaries, and a blast-from-the-past vintage EPK featurette, it's a solid collection that fans will definitely appreciate.

Please note Warner Archive is also releasing the second season of Legion of Super Heroes on DVD in one multi-disc collection for the first time, which should come as a pleasant surprise for fans who've held on to the original DVD releases and/or prefer the standard definition format.

Over a decade later, it's fantastic that Legion of Super Heroes is finally given its proper due on home media, and Warner Archive has put together a collection that's well worth grabbing, especially for fans of the series. Even viewers diving into the show for the first time should consider just justing to the Blu-ray collection. The show itself, even with the odd underwhelming episode, is a blast from start to finish - especially that second season where the stakes get raised considerably. Add in a great video and audio presentation, along with a nice batch of bonus content, and that makes Legion of Super Heroes: The Complete Series one collection folks should really give a spin. Highly Recommended!

Please note Warner Archive provided The World's Finest with a copy of the Legion of Super Heroes: The Complete Series Blu-ray release to review.

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