Why So Blu?

The Batman: The Complete Series (Blu-ray Review)

Well, perfectly timed and released, The Batman: The Complete Series arrives around the time of the release of the Matt Reeves film The Batman. Its been a bit overdue for this series to make its jump to Blu-ray, and on March 1 that wait was no more. The show comes complete with archival bonus features as well as a new featurette for this Blu-ray set. Coming in an amaray case that houses 6-discs, its presented in the 1.78:1 format. Nothing special in fancy packaging, but right now you can at least nab a slip and it comes with digital copies of the episodes to boot. You can revisit this depiction of the early days in Gotham for Bruce Wayne by ordering a copy from the paid Amazon Associates link below.

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Series

The Batman: The Complete Series follows 20-something-year-old Bruce Wayne’s early adventures as he balances his daytime persona as a bachelor billionaire with his nighttime guise as a caped crimefighter. Along the way, Batman is joined by allies Robin and Batgirl as they combat Gotham City’s Rogues’ Gallery, including updated versions of his familiar foes as well as a bevy of rarely seen villains like Killer Moth and The Everywhere Man. Join one of the most complex and intriguing character in comic book history for action-packed super heroic adventures that test the limits of this legendary character’s extraordinary physical prowess and super-sleuthing skills.

Batman: The Animated Series has long loomed as arguably the definitive Batman for generations and in the conversation of greatest adaptation of all time. One of the things it has a staple on is the realm of the caped crusader in animation. So much so, that it has kind of overshadowed some of the shows that came after its run in the 1990s. Case in point, the mid-2000s show, The Batman, which was a perfectly swell show that did its own thing with the young years of Batman. It even carried some fearless, interesting takes on some of the familiar villains and happenings in Gotham City. It also wound up racking in a lot of Emmys during its run, which sort of makes you do a double take in realizing that people should probably talk about this version more often than just noting it was the first animation after The Animated Series.

In its own right, The Batman is a very well done depiction of the Dark Knight that ran concurrent with the Nolan era of films. Perhaps the worst thing to happen to it was perhaps being touted as “kiddie” and overshadowed by the other Batman things going on at the time. As mentioned, Christopher Nolan’s films were launching at this time and it was following the highly heralded Batman: The Animated Series, but the DC Animated Universe films were taking off at this time as well. Those were aimed at an older audience who might have been turning away from all-ages fare at the time. But, overall, this series adapts stories and goes places that even The Animated Series never trotted. It also took some darker, more mature swings too.

There are lot of fun interpretations of the rogues gallery in The Batman. Many a notable celebrity of heralded voice actor shows up to breathe new life into these characters. The Joker is obviously a different take and Kevin Michael Richardson gives him the most left field vibe to depart from Mark Hamill’s legendary turn. The Riddler also has a very creepy new take on the villain. Whether it be art or the voices, you’ll quickly see The Batman doesn’t want to do the same thing again. And that’s part of the joy of the show is that it strives to carve its own path, while also hitting key elements of Gotham City you come to enjoy revisiting.

Episodes

The Batman: The Complete Series contains all episodes from the show’s 5 season run. It does not contain the 2005 film The Batman Vs. Dracula. 

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: The Batman comes with a nice, above average transfer in its debut on Blu-ray. Its delivered in is native 1.78:1 aspect ratio unlike the DVD (If I’m remembering correctly). This does a nice job sharpening it up and making the colors much better saturated and more striking. However, its not as bold as it could be and does have some moments in being a little rough around the edges. However, this looks should satisfy most.

Depth: This is a 2D animation, so having it be a wondrous look of 3 dimensions isn’t quite there, its not super flat either. Characters roam about free and the environment is about as spacious as one could hope. Some very minimal blur/jitter does occur in some spots.

Black Levels: Blacks are deep and do well with shading and outlining for the screen. They are as rock solid as HD can get. No real issues occur with information lost. No issues with crushing witnessed on the episodes taken in for review.

Color Reproduction: Colors are pretty bold and pop where intended. This show isn’t afraid to jump out or go in a crazy direction. Greens and purples are some nice stand outs.

Flesh Tones: N/A

Noise/Artifacts: None

Audio

Audio Format(s): English 2.0 DTS-HD MA, French 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Dutch

Dynamics: The Batman has a 2.0 stereo track that really has a nice jolt to it. It has plenty loud default and rather impressive deep tones that resonate. The mix is quite well balanced with good layering and depth.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: N/A

Surround Sound Presentation: N/A

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp.

Extras

The Batman: The Complete Series is a 6-disc set and comes with a redeemable digital code for all the episodes.

Disc 1

The Dark Dynasty Continues (HD, 15:56) – New for this release. A retrospective featuring Duane Capizzi, Andrea Romano, Brandon Vietti, Rino Romano, Sam Liu, Steven Melching and Alastair Duncan looking back at their agenda of starting Batman in Year 3. They go over the mandates of making it not like The Animated Series while at the same time not doing what Christopher Nolan was doing with Batman Begins. There’s focus on the characters and animation approaches as well as the themes of the show and the legacy it left behind.

Disc 3

The Batman: Season 3 Unmasked (HD, 8:05)

Joining Forces: The Batman’s Legendary Team-Ups (HD, 25:21)

Disc 4

The Batman: Season 4 Unmasked (HD, 9:22)

The Batman Junior Detective Challenge (HD, 5:28)

The Batman Junior Detective Exam: Level 2 (HD, 4:44) 

Building The Batman (HD, 6:43)

Disc 6

Gotham PD Case Files (HD, 6:24) 

New Look, New Direction, New Knight (HD, 5:45)

Summary

The Batman is a pretty rock solid and decently terrific Batman series that deserves a following all its own. Warner Bros brings it to Blu-ray, looking and sounding good. It has some decent extras and offering up digital copies of the episodes is a great deal considering they could just want people to find it streaming on a service nowadays. Its a shame the Dracula movie isn’t included, but perhaps that’ll get a separate release in the future from Warner Archive or something. Definitely a pickup for discovery for Bat-Fans or those who already find themselves aficionados of the show.

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