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DVD Review - "Superman: The Animated Series Volume Three"

Reviewed by Gregg Watkins Jr. (aka ReaganFan)

Superman: The Animated Series - Volume Three 3Box Art - 3: Like the first two volumes of "Superman: The Animated Series", the box art shows him in action. In Volume One we see him changing from Clark to Superman. In Volume Two we see him getting ready to do something. Now in Volume Three we see him running past a train. The background picture shows Livewire, Bizarro holding Lois, Superman ripping the Lexo-suit 500, Superman lifting up a boulder, and Superman punching Darkseid. The inside cover pictures are exactly the same, except it's full color.

The color of the box is purple with the side corner picture of Brainiac. Before it come out, Parasite was supposed to be on the side cover. It would haveÊnicely matched the color of the box, but he's not in it, so Brainiac's picture fits better.

Back of the box shows 3 pictures of Superman in 3 different episodes. Inside back cover shows the title of all 18 episodes.

2Disc Art - 2: Disc one has a great picture of Superman flying. He's facing sideways looking to the right. Disc two however, like Volume one and two box sets, the second disc is a pictureless double-side discÊwhich is a big disappointment.

5Content - 5: The last 18 episodes are really good. Episodes like the 2-part Apokolips... Now!, and Knight Time are worth watching. The seriesÊalsoÊintroducedÊother heroes like Aquaman (The Fish Story), Green Lantern (In Brightest Day), and of course Batman (The Demon Reborn). We also see theÊoriginÊof Supergirl in the 2-part Little Girl Lost.

Now let's talk about the bad guys, to me in this box set, Darkseid is the mainÊvillain. Because he's in 6 out of 18 episodes. That's more then Lex'sÊappearancesÊin this box set.

We also see the return of Toyman (Obsession), Bizarro teaming up with Mr. Mxyzpltk (Little Big Head), Metallo (Superman's Pal), and Brainiac (New Kids in Town).

As for Livewire, she's in Girl's Night Out (also collected in "Batman: The Animated Series - Volume Four").

As for the final episode, it's a two part episode of Legacy. It's such a great episode where Darkseid has Granny Goodness brainwash Superman to attack Earth. What a great way to end the series. I wish they would have made 13 more episodes.

One thing I wish they had on this DVD was the introduction of Batman/Superman Adventures, but that's only found on Volume Four of "Batman: The Animated Series".

4Special Features - 4: The Special Features are good. There's audio commentary by the producers of the show. The episodes that have audio commentary are Apokolips... Now! Part Two. Let me stop here for a second, there is a Part One commentary, and it's an easter egg. To find it go to Special Features, go to where it says 'Main Menu', use the arrow button on your remote to go right where Superman is. His chest where the "S" shield is should become highlighted and that's an easter egg for commentary of Apokolips... Now! Part One.

Other episodes that have audio commentary are New Kids in Town and Legacy - Part 2.

It's always fun to listen to the producers of the show talking about behind the scenes stuff. I just wish they could talk longer than 20 minutes.

AnotherÊspecialÊfeature on disc one is Superman: Behind the Cape. David Kaufman who did the voice of Jimmy Olsen is the host, he talks to Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and others about the show. They talk about some of their likes and dislikes regarding the series, but mostly they talk about Darkseid for the first 6 minutes, then Supergirl.

Last but not least is "Look Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman". This feature is on every Superman related DVD that came out in 2006. It's a look behind the scenesÊdocumentary of Superman. It was produce by Bryan Singer and Kevin Burns.

5Video & Sound 5: The animation looksÊfantastic, no problems here. And each episode sounds really great. I have to say even though I have a hearing problem, I can still hear what the characters are saying. I should point out that this DVD also has closed captioning for the hearing impaired, which is good.

4Over All - 4: This is a must have DVD for any Superman fan. The only disappointing thing is not only that the second disc is a 2-sided disc, but also when you are about to watch the episode, at the main menu, Superman is a slap on picture. No movement like Volume one and two.

There are a couple of episodes that are not that good, but it's still enjoyable to watch.

"Knight Time" has to be one of my favorite episodes because Superman dresses up as Batman to team up with Robin to find Bruce Wayne. Sadly this was one of Roddy McDowell's (The Mad Hatter) finalÊperformance. This episode first aired just shortly after he died.

Even though the series ended in 2000, Superman would find himself in Justice League with George Newborn playing him not long after.

I would like to end this review by thanking Steve for giving me a chance to review this DVD.



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