Superman:
The Complete Animated Series
review by Bobby Blakey
After the success of Batman: The Animated Series producers Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett reteamed to take on the Man of Steel for the new series Superman The Animated Series in 1996. The series continued the same animated style and format in a lighter tone and became another hit that further spun off other series such as Justice League. Now to celebrate the series 25th Anniversary of the series Warner Bros is bringing the complete series home in a new collection.
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Superman: The Animated Series follows Superman’s adventures in Metropolis alongside Lois Lane and opposite the villainous likes of Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Darkseid and more. The series features the voice talents of Tim Daly (Madame Secretary, Private Practice, Wings) led the cast as Clark Kent and Superman alongside Dana Delany (Body of Proof, Desperate Housewives, China Beach) as Lois Lane, David Kaufman (Danny Phantom, Stuart Little) as Jimmy Olsen and Clancy Brown (Dexter, The Shawshank Redemption, SpongeBob SquarePants) as Lex Luthor. The star-studded cast included series regulars – and their characters – Lauren Tom (Angela Chen), Victor Brandt (Professor Hamilton), Corey Burton (Brainiac), Joseph Bologna (Dan Turpin), George Dzundza (Perry White), Brad Garrett (Bibbo Bibbowski), Shelley Fabares (Martha Kent), Joanna Cassidy (Maggie Sawyer), Lisa Edelstein (Mercy Graves), Mike Farrell (Jonathan Kent) and Michael Ironside (Darkseid).
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I loved the Batman animated series and this is the perfect companion to that universe that offers up the same cinematic style episodes, but with the brighter visuals. The stories are jam packed with action and adventure as well as the character elements that helped make it a standout series. The animation still holds up as some of the best around with the vibrant colors and great designs. I love the world this series builds and eventually even crosses over with other characters in the DC Universe and the Batman Animated Series. It all came to a culmination of the Justice League animated series that went even bigger, but this one stands out all its own.
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In addition to all 54 exciting episodes this collection includes an all-new series-defining featurettes as well as a new one entitled Superman: Timeless Icon, a special video commentary episode and three specially selected episodes with audio commentaries by the showrunners. All 54 episodes have been remastered from the original 35mm Interpositive sources, giving special attention to extensive color correction, dirt and scratch clean up, and adding a grain reduction pass to create a pristine picture, all while making sure not to affect the original lines in the artwork of the animation.
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Grab your copy of Superman: The Complete Animated Series available now on Blu-ray from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.