DVD : Justice League - Season Two (DC Comics Classic Collection)

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Why, Oh Why....
...can't the people currently writing DC comics do this? Why can't they make the comics more like this show? It's not like it'd be that hard, since the show essentially distills down the very best elements of 60 or so years of the comics. Why can't the comics be this good? Why can't Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and the other masterminds behind this show, "Batman the Animated Series," "Superman the Animated Seres" and "Batman Beyond" be made editors-in-chief over at DC and give us comics every bit as engaging, thrilling, touching and fun as this show was?

But we were talking about a DVD set. The whole anamorphic watchamacallit business might be important to people with widescreen TVs, I guess, but I ain't anywhere near that tax bracket. All I know is I put my DVD set for "Justice League Season Two" in my DVD player and I get distinctive animation, top notch voice work and, most importantly, brilliant scripts that deliver razor sharp dialogue, memorable characterization and thrilling plots. Five stars, and that only because Amazon's system won't let me give more.

Rating:

- Overall- Another Solid Set With Very Few Disappointments.
Some DVD sets I've walked away satisfied but wanting more; this time around, we get an additional bonus that we hadn't seen before: a featurette that showcases the voice talent on the show and is even hosted by Phil LaMarr (Green Lantern). But, more on that later--lets dig into the show itself.

With season two of Justice League, the crew behind the show decided to go bigger, bolder and even deeper into the characters that make up the principle cast of the show. As a result, we get a massive season opener in "Twilight", deeper character relationships in "Hearts and Minds" and the rousing finale in "Starcrossed" which culminates in fights of epic proportions that center around Hawkgirl's betrayal. With such a shaky start in season one, season two has easily surpassed its younger self and even eclipsed seasons of the other shows in the DC animated universe.

The cover to the set is the raised type we've received on previous releases with the back art displaying all you need to know about the set. Also of note is the back now states "Widescreen" in the video information, despite what the previously released back cover image displayed ("Standard").

This season of Justice League was the first to be animated and aired in widescreen. On this set we get the full image, but it is presented in a 4:3 matted frame, which means forced widescreen bars (even on a widescreen TV screen) and a non-anamorphic image; some fans were up in arms about this when it was first released (I will admit, I was upset as well), but after some investigation it turns out this was done because the transfers used for this DVD were from the same master copies that aired on Cartoon Network. The producer (Bruce Timm) prefers it this way, so that was how it was released.

Stepping into the special features, we have a nice robust lump this time around. Three commentaries that are all interesting and have very, very few silent moments. There is a ton of insight given into the original drafts and scenes of "Twilight" and "Starcrossed"; "A Better World" gets some extra light dropped on it due to its massive impact on the second season of Justice League Unlimited.

Aside from the trailers, we have two other special features: "Justice League: Declassified" and "Voices of Justice." "Declassified" picks up where the first season set left off with a round table interview with Bruce Timm, James Tucker, Butch Lukic and Dwayne McDuffie. At the end, Hillhouse and Timm walk us through some exclusive looks at uncluttered background images. All total the feature runs briefly under eight minutes, but it's informative and entertaining every second of the way.

"Voices of Justice" is the real cream of the crop in this release, however. Phil LaMarr ("Green Lantern") sits down with voice talent of the show and voice director Andrea Romano and interviews them on their experiences with the show. The voice actors in this sit down are Jennifer Hale ("Giganta", "Killer Frost"), George Newbern ("Superman"), Maria Canals ("Hawkgirl") and Susan Eisenberg ("Wonder Woman"). They're all very chatty throughout the featurette and while there's nothing really all that informative given, it is just a lot of fun to watch them record their lines, flub a few and talk about making the punching and grunt noises. The featurette reaches back into the early seasons, with Eisenberg's shyness to perform the sound effect grunts and Newbern's voice being pitched down at first.

There is a bit of Superman history on this disc as well (found on the first disc) which is more or less a history akin to the Batman one on the Batman Anthology DVD; this isn't the full featurette, merely a preview of it. Also, it is worth noting that the packaging and menus show something different for the special features. This is a printing mix-up; the "Voices of Justice League" is on disc one and "Declassified" is on the third disc.

Overall this is another solid set with very few disappointments. The lack of anamorphic transfer is a downer to be sure, but the pristine transfer of both audio and video and the special features make for one hell of a release. Here's hoping the wait until December's Justice League Unlimited's release isn't too unbearable!

Rating:

- Awesome stories
The best thing about season two are the incredible stories that are established. In fact many of the stories that are completed by the end of the JLU run are established here in Season Two.

Waiting for Time/Warner to collect the sets was definitely worth it!

Due to some intense scenes I wouldn't recommend letting your little ones watch each episode.

Rating:

- YES, IT HAS STARCROSSED!!! ( simply select" MORE" on the bottom of the screen)
This season especially has made me a Justice League lover. It was so good in writing, directing and voice acting that at the end I wanted to take take a time warp to season 3. I truly feel this is one of the best shows ever made and Bruce Timm/ Butch Lukic's best work! If you see it you will love it, its too good not too!

P.S YES, IT HAS STARCROSSED!!! ( simply select" MORE" on the bottom of the episode screen) Starcrossed has its own menu page, and so it should.

Rating:

- PACKAGING MISTAKES BUT GOOD SEASON
as usual the seasons of justice league are great and worth the price but i dont know how Warner bros marketing lets this one get by. the pakcaging details are all messed up. the episode listing is off. episodes on disc 4 are actually on disc 3. which may cause a panic for some thinking they got a defective disk. dont go by the back written details. also there are actually 2 behind the scenes discussions. one with the creators and another with the actors about voice acting. the voice acting one is not on the packageing but is on the menu. very slapdash packaging. but its worth looking for. very informative and awesome to see the faces behind the voices.

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