The leading cast of JLA heroes with BATMAN: Season 5
© Warner Home Video
DVD Shopping Bag: Unto Every DVD Generation
By: Robert T. TrateDate: Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Release Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Remember what watching Batman was like as a kid? Outside of the comic book he was a pretty jovial fellow. Whether it was paling around with the Justice League on the Superfriends or having his plans foiled by Bat-Mite on the New Adventures of Batman his escapades were usually pretty simple. Reruns of the old Sixties Batman gave us a live action cartoon with villains that were ten times more entertaining than its hero. It wasn’t that until the end of the Eighties that Batman became both cool and dark at the same time. Sure the movie and television studios had great inspiration from Batman’s source material (thank you Frank Miller, especially). However, Tim Burton’s movie really changed the way everyone, and I mean everyone, saw Batman. Dark, mysterious and a force to be reckoned with, he had finally become the living embodiment of his comic book counterpart.
That was until the studios decided that a dark Batman didn’t make as much money at the box office as a “pow” and “bam” Batman. The camp had returned but not in a good way. Instead of entertaining actors playing iconic villains they had nipple adorned costumes. They were bloated films that resembled giant toy commercials and not living comic books. Kids are smart. They saw what the new movies were and they tuned out. How could Hollywood not have been surprised when the 18-34 year old demographic didn’t turn on them as well? Was it any kind of surprise that they clamored for what Tim Burton gave us back in 1989? We want a living comic book.
Throughout of all Batman’s troubles with the studios during the mid Nineties there has always been an animated series. Burton’s films (Batman and Batman Returns) spawned the finest animated series, up to that point, which graced the small screen. Batman The Animated Series shaped a generation of kids on what Batman is supposed to be. When the show ended and Batman joined the Justice League a new series debuted with a new look and feel for the iconic Dark Knight. Many fans of the animated series shied away from The Batman because of its departure from the animated series. After watching the entire fifth and final season I can honestly say that Batman’s legacy is still alive and well.
A new generation of Batman fans will have endless years of reruns keeping the appropriate vision of Batman alive. Unto every generation a Batman comes. Thankfully the camp, the silliness and the Bat-Mites have long faded into the past. The generation weaned on The Batman and Christopher Nolan’s Batman (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) will hopefully keep Hollywood at bay and keep the true vision of the Batman alive.
ACTION / ADVENTURE / KUNG FU/ THRILLERS / WESTERNS
21 [Blu-ray]
21 (Single-Disc Edition)
21 (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The Boston Strangler
Into the Arms of Strangers
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) - Amazon.com Exclusive
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] - Amazon.com Exclusive
Heartbeat Detector
Jet Fighter Collection: Jet Li
The Last Winter
The Mummy [Blu-ray]
The Mummy Returns [Blu-ray]
The Perfect Storm [Blu-ray]
Pete Kelly's Blues
The Scorpion King [Blu-ray]
The Superhero
Six Reasons Why
Take No Prisioners
Twin Daggers
Turn the River (Widescreen)
ANIME
CARTOONS
Robot Chicken: Star Wars
Transformers Cybertron: The Ultimate Collection
COMEDY AND LOVE Mania Style
-Behind The Scenes Of BRUTAL MASSACRE
-Extended & Deleted Scenes
-Trailer
Criterion Collection
-New, restored high-definition digital transfer with original four-track surround sound
-Audio commentary featuring Akira Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince
-A 37-minute documentary on the making of High and Low
-Rare video interview with actor Toshiro Mifune
-New video interview with actor Tsutomu Yamazaki
-Theatrical trailers from Japan and the U.S.
-New and improved English subtitle translation
-PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
-The original German version in a new high-definition digital transfer from the 1998
-Newly credited alternate version with English text
-Audio commentary featuring film scholar Tony Rayns
-Carl Th. Dreyer (1966), a documentary by Jørgen Roos chronicling Dreyer's career
-Visual essay by scholar Casper Tybjerg on Dreyer's influences in creating Vampyr
-Radio broadcast from 1958 of Dreyer reading an essay about filmmaking
-New and improved English subtitle translation
-PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Mark Le Fanu and Kim Newman
HORROR
The Campus Corpse
Evil Behind You
Maneater Series Collection - Vol. 1
Pray for Morning
TV LAND
Las Vegas: Season Five
Masters of Horror: Season Two Box Set
The Ray Bradbury Theater
Spaced: The Complete Series
Spies & Lies - 50 Episodes
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BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Volume Two
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Batman Beyond
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(Tuesday, March 18, 2003)
RETURN OF THE JOKER - A Batman Beyond All Expectations
(Wednesday, December 6, 2000)
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