It doesn’t matter if the “Man of Steel” is gracing the pages of comic books or graphic novels. Not really a big deal if Brandon Routh or Christopher Reeve are donning the blue tights and red cape to portray him on the big screen. Seeing Tom Welling as a young Clark Kent just learning about his powers and showing what it was like for the super one during his early years is just fine with me. Superman has, is, and always will be one of my favorite comic book characters of all time. I don’t really care how I get my fix of the big guy, but sometimes it just is a lot of fun to relax and return to the days when watching cartoons made you feel carefree as if you didn’t have a worry in the world. Superman: The Animated Series allows you to feel just that way while also enjoying themes and storylines that are more adult oriented and never too childish. Always there when you need him, Superman truly knows how to save the day. Even in watercolors.
Batman had his time in the sun (or better yet, the shadows) with Batman: The Animated Series which was extremely successful and ran for close to one hundred episodes. Now it was Superman’s turn to show that he didn’t always need to be a part of the Justice League or Super Friends to appear in animated form on television. Most of the episodes throughout the entire series followed a rather simple formula and it’s not hard to keep on track with it. Superman ends up being confronted by some villain or a problem in Metropolis that he needs to take care of and make sure everything returns to normal. If the story is more in depth or a bit too serious then you may see it stretch across a few episodes such as “Blasts From The Past” and “World’s Finest.” Simplistic yet extraordinarily successful as well because it got the job done and kept things entertaining at all times.
This is truly an excellent series that does a lot of things right and will keep fans having a lot of fun episode after episode. A lot of names from the history of Superman are going to appear throughout the series whether they are on the big guy’s side or up against him. Lois Lane is there along with Clark’s parents, Lana Lang, Jimmy, and even Batman shows up to make a super team. Then there are the common enemies and villains showing up like Lex Luthor, Darkseid, and the awesome Bizarro. But then you’re going to see some of the more rare baddies like Brainiac, Metallo, and Toyman. Lobo even makes a rare appearance in the awesome two-parter entitled “The Main Man.” You’re never going to get bored or find it dull seeing the same characters from one episode to the next so don’t worry because there are constantly new faces showing up.
While Superman may be my favorite comic book guy and this series truly is very good; it’s hard for me to not place it behind the likes of Batman: The Animated Series as well as Justice League. It’s hard to place my finger on why that is exactly, but I’m willing to bet it is because those two series had a more serious tone to them while Superman: TAS always seems a tad more light-hearted. When Batman would solve a case or problem, he’d still sit back and sulk because that’s the kind of dark, morbid dude he is. Justice League always had the team facing one issue with another one right on the horizon so it’s not like they had much time to celebrate. The ending of the Superman cartoons just always appear to end so happy-go-lucky and that kind of rubs me the wrong way. If anything, that would be my only complaint about this series and it’s not even that big a deal. Just more so an observation.
Episodes
Disc One:
The Last Son Of Krypton Part 1
The Last Son Of Krypton Part 2
The Last Son Of Krypton Part 3
Fun And Games
A Little Piece Of Time
Feeding Time
Disc Two:
The Way Of All Flesh
Stolen Memories
The Main Man Part 1
The Main Man Part 2
My Girls
Tools Of The Trade
Two’s A Crowd
The Prometheon
Blasts From The Past Part 1
Blasts From The Past Part 2
Livewire
Speed Demons
Disc Three:
Identity Crisis
Target
Action Figures
Mxyzpixilated
Double Dose
Solar Power
Disc Four:
Monkey Fun
Brave New Metropolis
Ghost In The Machine
World’s Finest Part 1
World’s Finest Part 2
World’s Finest Part 3
Father’s Day
The Hand Of Fate
Bizarro’s World
Prototype
The Late Mr. Kent
Heavy Metal
Disc Five:
Warrior Queen
Apokolips…Now! Part 1
Apokolips…Now! Part 2
Little Girl Lost Part 1
Little Girl Lost Part 2
Where There’s Smoke
Disc Six:
Knight Time
New Kids In Town
Obsession
Little Big Head
Absolute Power
In Brightest Day
Superman’s Pal
Fish Story
Unity
The Demon Reborn
Legacy Part 1
Legacy Part 2
The episodes are shown in Full Screen format and the transfer to DVD is absolutely flawless. Colors are bright, crisp, sharp making each episode even more beautiful then the one before it.
The episodes are heard in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Sound and while everything comes through alright; I would have liked to have experienced these episodes in surround sound. There are more then enough fight scenes, explosions, and other sound effects to have the room shaking but no such luck here.
Audio Commentaries – Creators, writers, producers, and more get together to form different teams on a good number of episodes throughout the series. Each track is fun-spirited and gives a lot of information as to what went into making each one as well as where the writers were aiming to go in each season as a whole. Well worth checking out.
Pop-Up Trivia – This is only on the episode “A Little Piece Of Home” and instead of a normal commentary track to give you added information, tiny speech bubbles pop-up throughout the episode to teach you a few things. Not bad at all.
Superman: Learning To Fly – Here is a featurette that touches on the series as a whole and it is full of interviews with members of the cast and crew letting you know how important they feel the series as well as their roles are. A lot of backstory as to how everything came together is given here and it is a nice little “making of” piece so to speak.
Building The Mythology: Superman’s Supporting Cast – Another behind the scenes featurette but this one focuses solely on the characters giving us deeper information about them that isn’t revealed so deeply in the episodes.
Menaces Of Metropolis: Behind The Villains Of Superman – What better way to compliment looking at Superman’s good co-stars then to look at his villainous co-stars as well. Here we get to see how the villains were brought from the pages of comic books and to the screen. It starts to get going really well and then before you know it, it’s over which is just disappointing.
Superman: Behind The Cape – Writers and directors sit down with David Kaufman (voice of Jimmy Olson) to answer questions about the series and simply go through their favorite moments. Not bad, but it gets a little dull after the first few minutes. (15:22)
Look, Up In The Sky! The Amazing Story Of Superman – This featurette has clips from the documentary that came out in 2006 around the same time Superman Returns was about to hit theatres. Bryan Singer and Kevin Burns had put this together and it was actually really good and a fun look throughout the history of the “Man Of Steel.” Here you’ll get a short look, but you should honestly check out the whole thing. (6:29)
The Despot Darkseid: A Villain Worthy Of Superman – Kind of sucks that this is the only new featurette we get on this bonus disc considering it doesn’t even run twenty minutes, but it’s still pretty good. Clips from the series as well as panels from the comic books accompany interviews with writers, producers, and directors as they dissect the good that is Superman and the evil that is Darkseid. As complete opposite ends of the spectrum of good and evil, they discuss whether Darkseid is the ultimate opponent for our glorified hero. Again another good feature that is way too short. (16:56)
Superman is iconic to people all over the world and there really isn’t much involving him that has ever been bad. Ok, well we all try to forget about Superman IV alright? Superman: The Animated Series, though, is an excellent example of taking a lot straight right out of the comic books and trying to stay true to them for the fans out there. And for those that aren’t fans, they get plenty out of this series as well because you don’t have to know Supes’ history to understand what is going on. If you already have a couple of the seasons from the series then you may just want to finish out your set separately because there isn’t much new here in way of special features or anything else. But if you’re just starting out then grab this set now because it is pretty damn awesome and well worth the cash your frost breath or laser vision can spew forth.
Warner Home Video presents Superman: The Complete Animated Series. Created by: Joe Shuster & Jerry Siegel. Starring: Tim Daly, Clancy Brown, David Delaney, Jimmy Kaufman, and many more. Running time: 1182 minutes on 7 discs. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: November 24, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
