DVD : Justice League Unlimited - Saving the World (DC Comics Kids Collection)

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- DON'T BUY THIS DVD!
It's an understatement that many of us feel ripped off by WB's attempt to unfairly empty our wallets. If we refuse to buy these horribly priced episode dvds and at the same time purchase the available full season box sets that are of value then we can make some headway. They are in the business of making $$$. Slowing their cash flow will force them to give us consumers' products we demand or risk losing our disposable income. Die-hard fans of this series and other series must convince every parent to withhold from purchasing these dvds until full seasons are made available. C'mon WB, we love these shows and will pay for them. We only ask that you don't rape our wallets. Give us the full season box sets much sooner.

Rating:

- Superfriends Resurrected!!!!!!!!
When I was a kid, I could not wait to watch the Superfriends on Saturday morning. There was Wonder Woman in her invisible plane, Aquaman patrolling the depths of the sea assisted by wonderful sea creatures, and the stolid Superman and Batman. Of course, when I was a kid the world was a lot simpler. Now, more than ever, we yearn for superheroes to take care of all the problems in the world. JLU brings me back to when I enjoyed the Superfriends. The writing is wholesome and old-fashioned, yet not corny. There is a lot of political humor, and adults as well as kids will eat this up.

Now Cartoon Network and the WB have extended the popular Justice League series into a great Justice League Unlimited. So many DC superheroes are here - old ones, like Green Arrow, and new ones like The Creeper. This DVD - "Saving the World" contains episodes one, three, and five in the series.

Episode One: Initiation - Green Arrow, the amazingly buff Robin Hood admirer is invited to join the imposing League of superheroes with strange powers. GA feels he doesn't belong in lofty space - he wants to stay and help "the little guy." But when a nuclear monster threatens a North Korean-like country, Arrow comes to help Captain Atom, Supergirl, and Green Lantern. Supergirl is great in here.

Episode Three: Hawk and Dove - I am so happy to see Hawk and Dove here. Brothers Hank and Don Hall help Wonder Woman in defeating the crafty Greek God of War, Ares, from feeding on rage and hate in a South American civil war. I read a comic series where Dove was a woman . . . wow, that was a great series. Would love to see it here!

Episode Five: Kid Stuff - The sorceress Morgan Le Fay gains a powerful magic amulet for her young son Mordred. She wants him to use the power to become king, but Mordred has other ideas. He banishes all adults, including JL members, to an alternate dimension, and takes over a theme park. Morgan uses her magic to send back Wonderwoman, Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern - as eight year-olds! Here we have celebrity Dakota Fanning doing a great job as the voice of Diana. All the kids did a great job. There was a lot of humor in this episode. I loved it.

Rating:

- The series is incredible...
...but once again we get no full seasons. What goes through the WB marketing department's minds I'll have no idea. As I did with the Batman, Batman Beyond and Superman series, I'll hold off until they put out something worth buying.

Rating:

- When will the WB realize how to market their DVDs?
Everyone reading this has seen Justice League Unlimited. I think there is pretty much universal agreement that this is one of the best comic book based animated TV shows yet produced. As each new episode is broadcast, the buzz in the comics community grows louder and louder. I think the level of appreciation for this show is based on the high quality of writing and the exemplary skill of the voice actors and animators that bring the characters to life so well. On every level creatively, this show excels.

The writers use and develop the DC Universe characters with great skill and subtlety. Any changes or adaptations to the characters and stories improve on the originals and make sense in the animated universe. I have yet to come up with any change that I felt was heresy of established comic book lore. That's quite a feat for creators to pull off because there is a lot of lore and tradition to deal with.

As for the marketing of the DVD, I can't understand the WB's approach. Three half-hour episodes? Slightly more than an hour on one DVD? What a waste. The 13 episode first season of Justice League Unlimited would make a natural DVD set and preserve the complete story structure of the show and the developing mythos. Everyone else has posted the same thing reviewing this item. Sorry for beating a dead horse, but I'm very disappointed with this release and had to say so.

The WB has a very hot property here. I feel confident that this show could easily crossover into the WB's primetime lineup instead of the odd irregular schedule of Cartoon Network or YTV. Most prime time TV is mediocre at best. Every week this show demonstrates the very best skills of story telling and character development. Just think of the casting of the voice actors? How could the selection of actors be improved? How could the performances be improved? How could the writing be better? I don't know! The creative people here are hitting homeruns with regularity. Do we see that on regular TV shows? Seen any good movies lately? Everyone is scrambling for an idea looking for primetime magic - and yet this gem is just a kiddie cartoon as far as WB is concerned.

I'm old enough to remember when "Jonny Quest" and "The Flintstones" were original prime time TV shows. It's time to try that again. It's time to give this show a shot with adults. It's written at an adult level, but shown on TV as kiddie cartoons. Same with this DVD. It's packaged as a "Kids" video. The marketers just don't know the audience and the market for this stuff. This show could easily be marketed to grab comics fans, SF fans, Trek fans, X-Files fans - just about everyone aching for something good to come on TV. And it has got to be cheaper to produce this show than any regular show on TV's primetime schedule. It's such a pity. Did I mention this show was pretty damn good?

Rating:

- Good episodes, but only 3
To say that these are not good episodes would be lie. Truth is, it is all about having to buy lots of discs to get a complete season. Stupid times a million. Companies need to make them in smaller packages and these need to be complete seasons. End of story. I will copy these from TV and watch a tired old VHS WITH AN ENTIRE SEASON before I ever buy these. People stand together on this! Let WB know that this is rip-off!!

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