Warner Brothers has released another disc of shows from the popular Justice League Unlimited series.  Unfortunately, like previous volumes, this disc only contains a measly three programs.  Granted they are three of the best episodes from the third season, but I want season sets.  They released Batman and Superman that way, what's the holdup with Justice League?

The episodes on this disc, all with a cropped fullscreen picture (see the video section below for more info) are as follows:
 
For the Man Who Has Everything: What do you get Superman for his birthday?  I mean he's Superman, what could he possibly want?  His enemy Mongul has sent him a plant that bonds to a person and creates a hallucination that his greatest desire has come true.  When Batman and Wonder Woman arrive at his Fortress of Solitude, they find Superman staring off into space, and Mogul ready to take over the world.  Can Batman break the plant's spell before Wonder Woman is killed by the alien invader?  And will Superman want to leave a world where Krypton didn't explode, he's happily married and has a son?

Based on arguably the single best Superman story ever written (originally written by Alan Moore, this adaptation is by J. M. DeMatteis) For the Man Who Has Everything is a powerful story showing just how strong Superman is both physically and mentally.  They did a good job adapting this classic tale.

The Return: The near all powerful robot Amazo comes back, and he's after Lex Luthor for tricking him in the past.  When the entire Green Lantern Corp fails to stop him, and the Justice League is pushed aside like flys, what chance does the non-super powered Lex Luthor and the Atom have of preventing this unstoppable force from killing the man he's after?  A good solid show with a lot of eye-popping action.

The Greatest Story Never Told: One of the funniest episodes of JLU.  Booster Gold, a hero from the future, is trying to make a name for himself in our time zone.  Frustrated that he never gets to join in the big fights, he sees his chance when the evil sorcerer Mordru attacks.  Unfortunately he and Elongated Man get stuck on crowd control.  Elongated Man is irked because Plastic Man gets to join the fray and "they only need one stretchy guy," but when the battle starts going badly for the heros E-man is called up leaving Booster the only hero on the side-lines.

It's a good thing he's there though.   Some scientists were experimenting with an unstable energy source and accidently created a black hole inside on of the experimenters.  Now he's walking through the town sucking up everything in sight.  Booster has to attach an energy inhibitor on the doctor before he destroys the Earth.  But is the JL's weakest and least useful hero up to the task?

This is one of my favorite JLU episodes because it does such a good job of mixing action with humor.  The running gag of everyone mistaking Booster Gold for Green Lantern get more and more humorous as the show goes on, and it also had a really sweet ending.

This is a great show, appealing to kids and adults alike.  Heck even my wife likes it and she doesn't watch too many kids shows (and no anime.)  It's just too bad that Warners is only dishing this fun show out in three episode installments.

This DVD contains three episodes and comes in a snapper case.  What?  They are still making those?  Will Warner Brothers never learn?  To add insult to injury, the cover prominently features Aquaman, but he doesn't appear in any of the episodes on the disc.

Audio:

This disc comes with stereo soundtracks in English, Spanish and French.  With subtitles in those languages too.   The disc sounded good, with a fairly wide range and clear dialog but I kept on thinking that this was one of those series that cries out for a 5.1 mix.  Oh well, it sounds very good as it is.

Video:

These three episodes are presented in full frame preserving, as the back of the box states, "the aspect ratio of its original television exhibition."  This is true, these cartoons were originally shown full frame, but they have also been shown on TV in widescreen.  To make matters worse, they were designed to be shown in widescreen and the creators have stated that this was their original intent.  So why, oh why has Warner Brothers cropped the sides off of the image.  I can only guess that they've followed Disney's lead and decided that children's shows and movies should be released in full frame.  That really sucks and they loose a star on the video rating for that.

Aside from the cropped hack job that was preformed, that image looks pretty good.  The colors are solid and bright, the lines are tight, and the image clear.   Digital defects are very minimal, with only a small amount of aliasing visible in a couple of scenes.

Extras:

There were some good extras on this disc, though they are all aimed at children.

First off is The Science of the Superheroes: Superman.  This has a very enthusiastic scientist from JPL talk about the laws of physics and Superman.  It is supposed to spark an interest in science in young viewers, which is a noble goal, but it didn't do a lot for me.

Voices of the Justice League is a five minute series of interview clips with the voices behind the superheroes.  They talk a lot about how they fit the voices to the characters and what it takes to be a voice actor.  Again, this was aimed at getting children interested in how a cartoon is put together.

The disc finishes off with the Justice League Superhero Challenge.  This is a game where you have to match a superhero up with their powers.  If you get them all correct (which I did on the first try *pats self on back*) you are treated to a thirty second montage of the heros in action accompanied by some swinging Austin Powers type music.

There is also a mini-poster of Batman included in the case.

Final Thoughts:

I have two grips with this DVD: First it's only three episodes long, and second it has been cropped.  I don't see why Warner Brothers won't release this show in season sets like Batman and Superman.  Presenting the show in its correct aspect ratio seems to be a no-brainer too.  Aside from these admittedly major issues, the shows on this disc are great.  If I had to pick the three best shows from the third season, I would have selected these too.  They are a trio of fun, action filled stories that will entertain young and old alike.   If it wasn't for the poor presentation, I'd give this a much higher rating.  The episodes themselves are highly recommended, but the way they are doled out only rates a rent it.  Lets average those and call it Recommended.