Blu-ray Review: “Superman: The Complete Animated Series”

To many DC Animated fans, “Superman: The Animated Series” was the ideal follow-up to their landmark “Batman: the Animated Series”, and at the time led fans to hope that more DC superheros would be getting their own animated series.

Premiering on September 6, 1996, the series continued WB Animation’s dominance in Super Hero animation, once again setting new standards for storytelling, art direction and acting performances – and garnering 11 Emmy Award nominations and two Emmy Award wins, including top honors as the Outstanding Special Class Animated Program of 1998.

This release appears to be one they’ve taken some care with; the audio is crisp, while the actual animation does not appear to have been “sharpened” or had the colors enhanced. It still has the feel of 1990s television animation, which isn’t of itself a bad thing. More “alive” if that explains it for me. Much of the newer computer generated animation and near 3D animated features feel lifeless to me, and I have yet to be able to clearly explain what I think the new techniques are missing, compared to the animated series I grew up with in the 1970s and 80s.

The bonus features on this set are more than worth diving into. For me, the most interesting ones were LEARNING TO FLY and MENACES OF METROPOLIS, and hearing the creators and cast reminisce about their memories of Superman in TIMELESS ICON is a special look back at what they loved about the character and what it took to get the series to production.

SUPERMAN: TIMELESS ICON: The actors and creators behind Superman’s iconic return to animation discuss their inspiration for and dedication to the series

MENACES OF METROPOLIS: BEHIND THE VILLAINS OF SUPERMAN: The origin and evolution of Superman’s adversaries

BUILDING THE MYTHOLOGY: SUPERMAN’S SUPPORTING CAST: Showcases the supporting players in the Superman saga

SUPERMAN: LEARNING TO FLY: Explores the creation of the series, including interviews with talent, creators, and DC

A LITTLE PIECE OF TRIVIA: Pop-up trivia over the episode “A Little Piece of Home”

THE DESPOT DARKSEID: A VILLAIN WORTHY OF SUPERMAN: Examines the ultimate villain

The episodes “The Last Son of Krypton Part I”, “Stolen Memories”, “The Main Man Part II”, and “Mxyqpixilated” feature commentary tracks, with

“Superman: The Complete Animated Series” will be available on Blu-ray and Digital on October 12, 2021

The remarkable Superman: The Complete Animated Series box set features nearly 21 hours of entertainment spread over six Blu-ray™ discs, including all 54 exciting episodes, an all-new series-defining featurette 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. The audio was retransferred from the original audio masters, and the series is presented in its original aspect ratio (4×3).

The Superman: The Animated Series cast continued the unrivaled presentation of guest stars that Batman: The Animated Series had initially established. The lengthy cast list is filled with luminaries, their laurels including one Academy Award and 10 Oscar nominations; 37 Emmy Awards and 186 Emmy nominations; 16 Golden Globe Awards and 54 nominations; five Annie Awards and 38 nominations; four Grammy Awards and 14 nominations; and nine individuals honored with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, including Ed Asner, Mark Hamill, William H. Macy, Marion Ross, Malcolm McDowell, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Michael York, Roddy McDowall and Paul Williams.

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).