Transcript: Justice League Unlimited Animated Series Review and Blu-ray

It's time now for the Classic Cinema Rewind with Pastor Jay. I'll see you back at the hut. Oh boy. Hey, doggie. Now join Pastor Jay as we rewind the tape. And enjoy some Classic Cinema. Greetings, Classic Cinema fans. This is Pastor Jay here with you on the Classic Cinema Rewind podcast. We want to thank you for joining us, whether you're joining us via the podcast, the audio version, or on YouTube or UltimateTube, watching the video version, whichever the case may be. We want to thank you for joining us today. It is, the whole reason we're doing this is for you, so thank you for joining us. Today we're having a little superhero confab. This is going to be a lot of fun. We're talking Justice League. Now, and we're not talking the Schneider Justice League. That's not what we're talking about. No, no, we're talking about classic animation Justice League. And it's kind of cool because the Justice League premiered on Cartoon Network in 2001 and ran for five seasons. Now, there is an interesting thing. While it is five seasons, there was a kind of a switch up there in the season format about halfway through or a little less than halfway through. So things kind of changed, and we're going to delve into all that today on the Classic Cinema Rewind. And we're going to talk about some new interesting packaging of one of these releases and very, very cool stuff. But let's jump right into this. Bruce Timm, who co-produced Batman, the animated series, and who didn't love that show, and the Superman animated series. in the 90s, became the producer of this animated series. And it focused on the Justice League, a roster of superheroes that included Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, Flash and Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl, all really amazing characters in the DC Universe. And interestingly enough, the first two seasons were released, and we got those from Warner Brothers. These two releases are really interesting. Now, this one is more of the original packaging. This is Season 2. This is the repackaged version of Season 1. Now, let's talk about this first. This is the repackaged version. I wish I could find this one, actually. but we couldn't find this one. So anyway, actually, to be honest with you, this is a kind of, I like this packaging better because you got your slip cover, you got Wonder Woman on it. Very, very cool. Kind of the pop art, which is really nice. And then when you take the slip cover off, you got this, the actual casing. Now, this is really cool because this is your DVDs like that. They're on the flipper cases. For those of you that are not listening or not watching the video, they're on the flipper cases, which is kind of cool. I like those a little better, individual cases, trays, if you will. But that's season one, and I like that. But this is the first version of season two. This is season two. It comes in a sort of a slip if you want to be honest it's a like a slip box if you will but then you got the uh what is called the digibook type thing i guess is what you call it maybe i don't um uh but it's got the four overlapping discs and now i'm not a big fan of that sometimes because um they become dislodged, and they can scratch up, and they can get into trouble that way, but it's okay. At least you got it. That's the major thing. Now, we're going to talk about the actual shows here of Season 1 on this section of the Classic Cinema Rewind. And Season 1 and Season 2 of the Justice League, as we said, kind of dealt with just the original kind of members of the Justice League. Like we said, Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman and Green Lantern and Flash and Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl. And we had those characters. And it was kind of cool. You had a small ensemble that kind of dealt with the character arts of these characters that kind of took them into all kinds of different adventures. And I have to say that this series here was – this is what I loved about these animated series from Batman and Superman and the Justice League was while they were made for a cartoon network. And a cartoon network is sometimes thought of as a kid's network. This was not a kid's show. and what I mean by that is it was not, I hate to use this term, but it kind of fits. It wasn't dumbed down for kids It wasn like oh let all be cutesy and sweet and all this type of it wasn that way They dealt with real hard issues and did it in an adult way And I always thought that was so unique Batman the Animated Series did that as well as Superman the Animated Series. They didn't talk down the children. They gave them real issues so that they could realize that life was tough. And, you know, sometimes you got, you know, sadly we have to grow up fast sometimes. And that's really, really interesting. And I love that about this series. And that's why this series is still good to this day. It's not dumbed down. It's still the animation is spectacular. It's a classic kind of animation. I love it. And the character actors that do all the voice work in these are spectacular. You just feel like you're actually listening to Batman and Wonder Woman and Flash and Superman. You just feel like that's the real voice of these characters. I mean, it's just really cool. These two seasons dealt with amazing, amazing story arcs. And we don't have time to go really deep into the episodes. But these releases are really cool. So they're presented in their original aspect ratio, which is really cool. There's none of that messing of the picture. They're done in the original. So sometimes if a movie or a film or a TV show was meant to be in full screen, they'll try to stretch it out, and then the picture stretches, and then you get faces that are kind of stretched or whatever. or if a picture is widescreen, they cut off parts, and it's just terrible. So I'm glad they've not been cropped or messed with or anything like that. They're in their original aspect ratio, which is really, really cool. On Season 1, the box set here with the special pop art of Wonder Woman on the front cover, which is really cool, we get bonus features such as creator commentaries on three, Key episodes. You get inside Justice League, the creator's panel discussion, which is a very interesting thing. I like that. Storyboards. You get the look of the League character designs. You get Justice League, the first mission promos. Very, very cool stuff. And this is, so that's season one. Very cool. Love that. And then season two, you get all the whole season here, but you get also three commentaries on key episodes. Justice League Declassified with Phil Lamar, the voice of Green Lantern, who I really think did a tremendous job. But anyway, and he takes you behind the scenes of the show and the creative team. Very cool stuff. So these two sets are amazing. Season 1 and Season 2 of Justice League, like I said, they didn't talk down the kids. They treated kids like, hey, kids aren't stupid. Let's talk to them like normal people. And let's let them come along for this ride that, let's be honest, life is tough. And sometimes things go wrong. And even for heroes, turmoil and strife. And let's not pretend everything is just hunky-dory. Let's lay that out and say, hey, sometimes things go wrong. And how do we combat that? How do we approach that when things go wrong? I love that about this series. So that's pretty cool. All right. We're about halfway done. All right. So next we're going to transition because we said there's a transition here. This was the Justice League of America season one and two. But about after two seasons, things changed in this series. And we're going to talk about that right after this. Free movies and TV produced by Pastor Jay at classiccinemamagazine.blogspot.com or at youtube.com slash therealpastorjay. Okay, thank you for staying with us here on Classic Cinema Rewind. And today we're talking Justice League. We talked before the break about the first two seasons of Justice League, Justice League of America, if you will. And really an interesting show. But then at the third season, things changed. And we went from Justice League of America to what was entitled Justice League Unlimited. Now, it's basically the same continuity, the same show. It's just they went from Justice League of America to Justice League Unlimited, taking it to above and beyond and bringing in so many different new characters and new superheroes and new threats from villains and just an amazing thing. so let's see some of the different characters that we got with Justice League Unlimited now of course we got our regulars which was Superman and Wonder Woman and Batman and Flash and Green Lantern but in this we got new characters we're not going to be able to go through all of them but we'll just give you some of them but we got the Black Canary we got Red Tornado we got El Diablo came in, we had Toy Man was a new villain that came in which was really really cool we got to see Captain Atom I always liked Captain Atom very very cool superhero We got Speedy which was really cool We got to see some of the younger sidekicks a lot too which was kind of cool We got Dr. Fate. And who didn't love Dr. Fate? I tell you. We got Huntress. We got so many different characters. And like I said, we can't go through every one of them. But basically this series became unlimited. That's why they called it Justice League Unlimited because nothing limited this show. We could bring in anybody. You could see anybody. Where Justice League Season 1 and 2 kind of was limited with the characters and with the villains and things, Justice League Unlimited, there was nothing that limited them. We saw everybody, all kinds of characters, amazing characters. And, of course, it was just amazing to get to see all these new characters coming in. Green Arrow. I always loved Green Arrow, too. I kind of love all the characters, but Green Arrow was one of my favorites. I love that story of Green Arrow. He's sort of like Batman. because if you watch, if you know Batman, Batman was not really a superhero. He was an interesting guy that had weapons. Well, that was basically what Green Arrow was. He's just a guy that honed his skills on the island and used that technology to do all kinds of interesting things with the arrow. So really, he's not really a superhero. But those characters are what make me interested sometimes. Because, I mean, I love to see the adventures of superheroes like Wonder Woman and Superman and Flash and all these characters. I love those. But it's kind of cool to see how a normal guy, a normal girl, for those of you that are ladies that are watching this or listening to this, just a normal person, how they could too become a superhero if they just honed those skills. Very cool stuff, and I love that. But anyway, so we got Justice League Unlimited, and now this is interesting because Justice League Unlimited has been given a Blu-ray release from Warner Archive, and I do love that. I do know that Justice League Season 1 and 2, the Justice League of America, has gotten a Blu-ray release as well. I may have to pick those up someday. But right now we're okay with this. We're okay with the DVDs right now. But this is the actual Blu-ray that we've got in our hands right now. Those of you that are listening on the podcast can't see that. But anyway, if you're watching the video, you can see the Blu-ray release. This is Warner Archives' release of Justice League Unlimited. Now, as we said, Justice League Unlimited, there was an unlimited amount of characters that would come in, and this season, this version of Justice League would last for three seasons, a total of 39 episodes. Where the first two seasons had more of a broader release with 26 episodes in season one and 26 episodes in season two, Justice League Unlimited had a shorter amount of season episodes. So there were three seasons, 13 episodes a season. So we got less for the three here than we got for the two here. But that's okay. I mean, it's still, you know, you've got a lot of characters to deal with, and it's kind of difficult to spread that all out. But anyway, on the Justice League Unlimited set, it is really awesome. You've got a very cool front cover there. Each season has its own Blu-ray. So there's 13 episodes on each disc. Now, you would think with 13 episodes on each disc, you'd think, wow, that's going to compress and that's going to be really bad. But Blu-ray discs have so much more space than DVD discs that you can put more episodes on and not lose the quality. So I have checked these out, and these look spectacular. They actually look probably, I would say these look more crystal clear than even the DVDs of this one. being that these are on four discs for 26 episodes. So the Justice League Unlimited does look a lot better. So that's why eventually, probably, we will upgrade these to a Blu-ray from probably Warner Archive is what we're thinking. But anyway, this actually is really a cool release, Justice League Unlimited. Thanks to the Warner Archive for sending that to us so that we could review it. You can read our full review at classiccinemamagazine.blogspot.com. It is up there right now. But this is in its original widescreen edition in high definition. It's got a 1.7.1 aspect ratio, which is really cool. And the 2.0 audio, mono audio, which is what it was. So very cool stuff. But what you want to know about probably is all the bonus features on this. There is a lot of cool bonus features on this. You've got creator's commentary on episodes such as This Little Piggy and The Return. There is End Justice for All a featurette revamping the series with new characters and new creative vision which is really cool The Cadmus Exposed which was and this is really cool it has Mark Hamill yes Mark Hamill talking to the series creators as they discuss this really interesting story arc And we don't want to spoil any of these, so that's why we're not going into great detail about that. And then there's Justice League Chronicles. The series writers, producers, and directors discuss their favorite moments from the final season episodes. Very, very cool. So Justice League Unlimited, a very, very cool release. And these, basically, this right here, these episodes of Justice League is where we got our new Justice League movies. Many of you probably know all the Justice League movies. You have all the Justice League movies probably. And you've got to realize that if these Justice League shows had not gone across, we may never have gotten all the new Justice League movies. What is it? Crisis on Two Earths. Let's see. Gods and Monsters. So many different ones. I couldn't go through all of them. But we've got all these amazing Justice League movies nowadays, but we wouldn't have had those. We would not have had those if these, this series, would not have worked out. And this series did work out, and it was amazing, and it was awesome. And so, yeah, so Justice League of America, season one and two, and Justice League Unlimited, that proves that anything can happen. We'll be right back after this with our final thoughts. Read reviews of the latest DVDs, Blu-rays, TV shows, and so much more at ClassicCinemaMagazine.blogspot.com Okay, thanks for staying with us through this whole episode of Classic Cinema Rewind. We've been talking Justice League, the Justice League Season 1 and 2 of the Justice League of America, And then the Blu-ray release from Warner Archive of Justice League Unlimited. I definitely, definitely suggest this release from Warner Archive because it is so spectacular. It really is. It looks amazing. And like I said, we may have to upgrade our Blu-rays of Justice League Season 1 and 2 to the Blu-rays because this Justice League Unlimited looks stellar. It is amazing. It really is great. So we do want to thank Warner Archive for sending that one our way. And what are your thoughts on Justice League? Let us know. We want to hear from you. What's your favorite Justice League member? Maybe it's not Superman. Maybe it's not Batman. Maybe it's not Wonder Woman. Maybe it's one of the, like, Dr. Fate. Maybe that's your favorite. Maybe you like Martian Manhunter. who's your favorite Justice League member let us know in the comments below we'd like to hear from you also like, share and subscribe to these videos on YouTube if you're doing that if you're not, if you're listening to the podcast well subscribe to those wherever you're listening to them they're all over and all points around so subscribe to the podcast there and we'd love to hear your comments. You can send us all your comments on social media at TheRealPastorJ, that's V with two E's Real Pastor, P-A-S-T-O-R and the letter J and that is on all points on Instagram, on Twitter, on Facebook. So go there and let us know your comments on that. We'd love to hear from you. Also go to ClassicCinemaMagazine.Blogspot.com every single day as we put up new, fresh content seven days a week. It is every single day, so make it part of your daily experience. We'd love to have you check out what we do every day. We put up articles, reviews, movie news, entertainment news, videos, podcasts, all kinds of stuff, something new every single day. So go there every single day. Make it part of your daily experience. Again, we want to thank Warner Archive for sending this one our way, Justice League Unlimited on Blu-ray. Go to classiccinemamagazine.blogspot.com and check out the review of Justice League Unlimited. And have a super day. Yeah, have a super day as we all delve into Justice League. All right, we will see you next time with another podcast here on the Classic Cinema Rewind. Thank you for joining us, and until next time, have a blessed day. And if you want to see a great film, check out a classic. We'll see you next time here on the Classic Cinema Rewind. 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