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Superman: The Complete Animated Series Blu-ray
Posted August 10, 2021 09:47 PM by
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has officially announced that it will release on Blu-ray Superman: The Complete Animated Series (1996-2000). The six-disc set will be available for purchase on October 12th.
Studio description: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Superman: The Animated Series with a fully remastered Blu-ray box set. Superman: The Complete Animated Series, which includes several hours of bonus features headlined by an all-new documentary detailing the creation of one of the most beloved animated Super Hero cartoons in history.
Produced by Warner Bros. Animation (WBA), the Emmy Award-winning Superman: The Animated Series was the perfect follow-up to the landmark Batman: the Animated Series. Producers Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett elevated The Man of Steel's animated presence with an imaginative, heartfelt look at Superman's adventures in Metropolis alongside Lois Lane and opposite the villainous likes of Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Darkseid and more. Premiering on September 6, 1996, the series continued WBA'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.
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 (4x3).
The producing quartet of Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, and Glen Murakami headed production of Superman: The Animated Series alongside executive producers Jean MacCurdy and Haven Alexander. Shirley Walker and the Dynamic Music Partners (Michael McCuistion, Lolita Ritmanis, Kristopher Carter) composed the award-winning score, while eight-time Emmy Award winning dialogue/casting director Andrea Romano guided a star-studded voice cast. Curt Geda and Dan Riba served as animation directors for more than half of the episodes.
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).
Notable series guest stars featured Mark Hamill, Ed Asner, Dean Jones, Melissa Joan Hart, Robert Morse, Al Roker, Brian Cox, Jason Priestley, Peter Gallagher, David Warner, Michael Dorn, Christopher McDonald, Bruce Weitz, Andrea Martin, Miguel Ferrer, Ron Perlman, Bud Cort, Gilbert Gottfried, Robert Hays, Dennis Haysbert, Laraine Newman, Nancy Travis, Xander Berkeley, Jonathan Harris, John Glover, Sandra Bernhard, Jack Carter, Ernie Hudson, Henry Silva, and Robert Patrick.
SUPERMAN: THE COMPLETE ANIMATED SERIES - ENHANCED CONTENT
NEW: Superman: Timeless Icon An all-new bonus feature, produced specifically for the remastered Blu-ray release of Superman: The Animated Series, reveals the complicated journey of the show and those who created the new mythology for The Man of Steel, as told by producers Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, director Dan Riba, writer Bob Goodman, casting/dialogue director Andrea Romano, and Tim Daly & Clancy Brown, the heralded voices of Superman and Lex Luthor, respectively.
A Little Piece of Trivia (Featurette) So you think you know your Superman trivia? Wait until you hear about the series' connection to Telly Savalas! A brain teaser to entertain every Superman: The Animated Series fan!
Superman: Learning to Fly (Featurette) Get into the minds of the creative team behind Superman: The Animated Series as they detail the birth of this animated version of Superman and his incredible worlds. Featured speakers include producers Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett, art director/producer Glen Murakami and directors Dan Riba and James Tucker.
Building the Mythology: Superman's Supporting Cast (Featurette) The characters around Superman get the spotlight in this in-depth look at everyone from Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White to Maggie Sawyer, Lana Lang, and Ma & Pa Kent. Producers Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett, art director/producer Glen Murakami and directors Dan Riba and James Tucker give viewers the inside scoop.
Menaces of Metropolis: Behind the Villains of Superman (Featurette) Your hero is only as good as the villains around him, and Superman: The Animated Series has a rogues' gallery of top-grade baddies, including traditional opponents Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Bizarro, Metallo, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Toyman and Parasite, as well as new villains created for the series like Live Wire and Luminus. Producers Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, directors James Tucker and Dan Riba and casting/dialogue director Andrea Romano give us a tour of the villains.
The Despot Darkseid: A Villain Worthy of Superman (Featurette) Darkseid takes center stage in this examination of one of The Man of Steel's most vicious adversaries, plus other Fourth World characters that appear in Superman: The Animated Series. The featurette includes producers Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett, art director/producer Glen Murakami, writers Rich Fogel and Stan Berkowitz, director James Tucker and Charles Hatfield (Department of English, Cal State Northridge).
Audio Commentaries
Stolen Memories producers Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, director Curt Geda and art director/producer Glen Murakami.
The Last Son of Krypton - Part 1 producers Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, director Dan Riba and art director/producer Glen Murakami.
The Main Man - Part 2 producers Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, director Dan Riba and art director/producer Glen Murakami.
Video Commentary
Mxyzpixilated producer Bruce Timm, producer/writer Paul Dini, director Dan Riba and moderator Jason Hillhouse.
YES!! Thank you WB, a very good sister show to Batman TAS. Hopefully it will look just as good as the Batman TAS blu ray, which they did a pretty good job on.
Where are all the other commentaries? I love they are releasing this but they are only including 3 commentaries?? And how do they not include Apokolips Now.. Part 2 commentary? Or Worlds Finest? Or Legacy? Thats got to me one of the strangest decisions Ive seen them make. Batman Beyond & Batman TAS had all the DVD commentaries on blu ray. Why would Superman be any different? Come on guys!
But will it have the new batman/superman adventures intro somewhere on the disc? In HD would be great but sd if necessary only to be able to ditch the DVDs. It was not included with any of the HD batman stuff. So, I hope it is included this time.
YESSSSSSSSSSS
Hopefully they include some more commentaries or some other movies like they did with the Batman sets. It would nice to see the Batman/Superman Movie included or Superman Brainiac Attacks despite the first one just being a combination of episodes and the second being not part of the canon.
@Mr Gitz All the audio commentaries listed are from the first DVD set. It's possible all the other commentaries are included (I don't see why they wouldn't be) and Warners simply forgot to include them in the press release
Yes can finally replace my DVDs! @Zechs Merquise, I'm not sure it's a misprint. "Tools of the Trade" from volume 1 DVD has commentary also but not this set. I have no idea why they wouldn't include all of them either but I've got a real bad feeling they won't.
Come to think of it, the audio commentaries on DVD weren't all that great iirc. Would make sense if they picked the best with "three specially selected episodes with audio commentaries by the showrunners."
@Penquin59 The commentaries were decent enough. They arent any more or less entertaining than the ones included on the Batman TAS/Batman Beyond Blu Ray, which carried over all commentaries from the DVDs. Why wouldnt they do the same here? Heck, itd be nice if they recorded a few NEW commentaries on great episodes they missed the first to round.
The Batman Superman Movie (1997) was just a edited together collection of a three part crossover episode from Superman The Animated Series. So these episodes should be included on this set.
Boy, they're really cranking these out before they give up the ghost. Fingers crossed we still get The Super Friends but I'm not holding my breath. October's gonna friggin' KILL me.
Oh YEA! I am still glad that Warner is taking their time to properly remaster from the original elements and not rush any of these releases. This animation style should shine on Blu-ray! For those who never saw it you get the best Lex, all the villains plus Supergirl !!!
Fantastic News! Now Id like to see a complete set of entire Justice League/Unlimited Cartoons all in one set. Don't know if it needs a remaster or not.
Oh Bloody Hell, I can't believe I lived to see the day. Not only coming out on Blu-ray but has the digital code included. I'm gonna go slap my momma. That Snyder Cut must have really opened the EYES at WB.
First we got Smallville.
Then we got Superman - The Animated Series.
We will probably have to wait until DC's League Of Super Pets is released in theaters to get Krypto The Superdog - Complete Series.
Very excited for Superman: The Animated Series the entire series finally coming out on Blu-Ray Disc !!! I knew one to debuted on HBO Max it was only a matter of time before it was going to be announced soon for Blu-Ray. One of the best DCAU animated series of all-time and my favorite character of all-time Superman.
Really enjoying this on DVD at the moment, it's exactly how I would expect Superman to be characterised, the other characters and world built around him. Love it. Just finished the episode 'Target' last night, with someone out to get Lois Lane. I understand Superman: Braniac Attacks is not connected to this but it has the same art style and same voice actors for Superman and Lois - very odd decision by WB.
I really hope this set gets a UK release soon, as I would like to upgrade! Along with Superman and Lois due out, so much excellent Superman media. I'll cross my fingers one day for a Superman IV: The Quest For Peace Extended Cut!
@Verisimilitude1984 Pretty much all Warner Blu-Rays are Region Free. In the unlikely event that this one isn't, there's a French edition coming out within a couple of weeks of the American one
To everyone hoping for the Fleischer cartoons to get a proper HD release. I'm right there with you. But I hope they get _everything_ right including the sound, which no previous release seems to have actually gotten right.
Check out the "Mild Mannered Edition" of the Fleischer cartoons. (full disclosure they were done by a friend of mine). https://mmsuperman.tumblr.com/post/164860117140/welcome
They're SD, but the most complete versions available.
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