Superman The Animates Series coming to Blu Ray October 12 2021

[The Joker]

It's FINALLY here.



https://www.supermanhomepage.com/sup...gital-box-set/

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). . . .

Superman: The Complete Animated Series – Enhanced Content

Superman: Timeless Icon (New Featurette) – 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.

BASICS
PRODUCT: Blu-ray
SRP: $69.99 USA, $79.99 Canada
Blu-ray Languages: English, Spanish, French
Blu-ray Subtitles: English
Running Time: 1,141 minutes
Rated PG

[The Joker]

After going over the list of special features, assuming the solicit is actually correct, this is a list of what might be missing from the upcoming Blu set that was present on the original DVD release sets:

Features:

"Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman" Excerpt from the new documentary.[2006]

"Superman: Behind the Cape" David Kaufman takes you behind the scenes with the show's creative team.

Audio Commentaries:

"Apokolips... Now! Part I" ("easter egg")
"Apokolips... Now! Part II"
"Brave New Metropolis"
"Legacy Part II"
"New Kids in Town"
"World's Finest Part I"

[Travesty]

I need to rewatch this. I think I was 12 when I last watched it.

[The Dark Knight]

I need to rewatch this. I think I was 12 when I last watched it.

It's great, and overall I think it's the best incarnation of Superman. It has charm and depth.

[The Laughing Fish]

I need to rewatch this. I think I was 12 when I last watched it.

I'm eager to rewatch this, I watched the whole series seven years ago.

I remember watching the fourth episode of the first season featuring Toyman, and you could see BTAS's influence within the creepy character design and the plot.

The show otherwise developed into having its own identity, but that Toyman episode could easily have been a BTAS episode.



I believe STAS was the first DC show to pay homage to the 1990 Flash TV show, as you can hear one of the show's themes making a cameo as soon as the Scarlet Speedster shows for a charity race against Superman in the episode Speed Demons.

[The Joker]

Unless there's a "Superman the Animated Series" thread that I overlooked, I'm just going to throw this here.

FLASHBACK 1996: Bruce Timm/Paul Dini article discussing STAS.

[The Laughing Fish]

Bruce Timm states the entire ending sequence of Dan Turpin getting murdered by Darkseid and everybody in Metropolis pays their respects at his funeral is his favourite moment out of the entire DCAU.

The "Ragnarok" of "sob scenes" is, of course, the climax of "Apokolips...Now!"...that baby fires on every emotional cylinder....I've had grown men tell me they bawled like little girls at that scene...the shock of seeing Turpin annihilated/Superman going berserk/Lois can't even watch/Superman's fury spent/the cemetery based on Jack Kirby's final resting place in Thousand Oaks/the Rabbi singing that gorgeous Kaddish/star-spangled avengers, super-spies, African princes, various comics professionals and even Luthor pay their last respects/sad but proud cops/Toby comforting a stoic but clearly destroyed Maggie Sawyer/the last few family members leaving the funeral as a soft wind blows/Superman's gentle good-bye to his friend/the last silhouetted shot as the day ends/the one-two sucker punch end titles, "Not the end..." and "Long Live The King"/all scored with impeccable good taste by Kris Carter....What's Not To Love???!!! I swear to God I'm choking up just thinking about it...

https://dcanimated.com/WF/sections/backstage/interview/bt/thesequel.php

I remember finding out the funeral scene had a character resembling Stan Lee appearing as one of the mourners in the original broadcast of the episode, but he would be later removed for the home video release.

[The Laughing Fish]

I was having a look on Reddit and found these quotes from Alex Ross. He explained that he and Bruce Timm had a falling out over a disagreement they had about the art style for STAS.



This picture shows the top row of the original concept design for the characters compared to the final product.



The original designs certainly had more of a Fleischer feel. Particularly Lois. I think Timm sounded a little bit unreasonable to cut Ross off just for his honest critique, but I do prefer the style he opted for. It feels a bit more modern-day, while simultaneously fitting making Metropolis feel timeless. Even BTAS had to make some characters look less old-fashioned, i.e. Robin. A bow tie-wearing Jimmy Olsen would look too dated for a Nineties cartoon.

[The Joker]

I always got a sense that Alex Ross is always very cognizant of the original visual representation of the character's he works on (though he is more inclined to make them look more mature. I still remember his choice for Captain America back in 2009/2010 or whenever it was being Jon Hamm. And I can certainly see him in Ross' Captain America art), so it doesn't really surprise me that he would have preferred Bruce Timm's initial concepts for STAS, versus what Timm eventually decided to go with. Being that the Fleischer toons are obviously an influence on Timm's art style, and the Fleischer cartoons being the first representation of Superman in animation, in addition to introducing Superman in the first place to many, I can see how Ross would have wanted Bruce Timm to lean into that more.

[thecolorsblend]

This picture shows the top row of the original concept design for the characters compared to the final product.

Curious that one can have such varied reactions over time.

Given a choice, 1996 me would've preferred the bottom row. That simply looks more comparable to BTAS. Not a perfect match, obviously, but still compatible.

But 2023 me is curious about how the show would've played out with the top row designs. They're Fleischery, Curt Swany, a bit Kirbyy and maybe something else. Also, I sort of like that the original Lex design resembles Telly Savalas. Nice touch there.

It's hard to escape the suspicion that it would've been a completely different show in every possible way if the top row designs had been selected.

Separately, I appreciate that anecdote from Alex Ross. But I don't think he has any business lecturing anyone. Aesthetic appeal is fine in its place. But whether it's television, film or print, Bruce Timm is a seasoned veteran and true professional. I simply don't have very many quibbles with Timm's body of work.

Meanwhile, Ross, with all due respect, is most famous for Marvels and Kingdom Come. Both of which lack a mastery (and occasionally even lack an understanding) of composition, layout, balancing and other storytelling tricks of the comic book trade.

I don't know if that's what underlies Timm's falling out with Ross. But it would explain quite a lot if it did.