Review by Zach Demeter: The second volume of The Batman has arrived on Starting off we’ll talk about the video and audio transfers. As I’ve said in previous reviews, cartoons are notorious for what video-philes call “interlacing.” It’s not noticeable on standard TV sets but on PC monitors and high-definition sets, you’ll start to see it. It happens when an object moves and you get these black / white lines that kind of go along with the animation. Thankfully, the instances of this on this release are very minor. Like the last release, the only real major DVD factor to worry about is the compression; it does crop up a lot around the edges, but aside from that it’s a crisp transfer. “The Cat and the Bat” seemed to have the most interlacing, particularly around the mouth movements; nothing horrible and nothing that will bother you even if you do watch it on a high-definition set. Audio is stereo but still sounds great. It’s strong and clear, so no worries about ear strain. Special features…well…let’s just say this is a “DC Comics Kids We also get a second “Junior Detective Exam,” this time narrated by The Throw in a “The Batman Big Chill Challenge” game and some trailers and that’s the entire DVD. There really isn’t much to this DVD. This is a DVD for kids, but I still wish they could have thrown more than three episodes on the release; I guess it’s good to at least have them in production order. If you’re a fan of the show, pick up the release. It’s not much, but for around ten dollars, it’s really not that bad. |
