The first two seasons of Justice League were fantastic. Packed with action, humor, and great storytelling, the world of DC's heroes came to life thanks to the collaborative efforts of the folks behind the rest of Warner Brothers' successful cartoons. The show focused on the adventures of Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, Hawkgirl and J'onn (the Martian Manhunter). They spent most of their time fighting established villains and trying to save the world from impending doom as you would expect. When Justice League Unlimited (the sequel series) was released it shook up the formula a bit and quite honestly felt like a new show.

The reason behind this different atmosphere was the change in the cast. The main seven characters were still kicking around but their ranks had swelled since the end of the original series. The basic premise was that the Justice League felt they could do better with more members. Many hands make light work and all that. Therefore anyone with superpowers that could do some good was offered a spot on the team.

Not every character gets their chance in the spotlight but it certainly fleshed out the show with some of DC's more obscure characters. In the first and second seasons of Unlimited we saw the likes of Supergirl, Booster Gold, Black Canary, and The Question. In this third, and final, season even more obscurities pop up such as Aztec, Deadman, Stargirl, and S.T.R.I.P.E. The same can be said for the villains found in the show and you can expect to catch glimpses of Captain Boomerang, Mirror Master, and Devil Ray. To say that Justice League Unlimited merely paid homage to the DC Universe would be an understatement; this was the DC Universe!

Unfortunately, as with all good things, Justice League Unlimited came to end. The show was cancelled before its time but luckily the crew was able to eek out another thirteen episodes before it went off the air. This season's collection of superhero antics follows an episodic pattern but keeps an ongoing plot bubbling beneath the surface. The two-part adventures from the earlier sessions of Justice League went away with this season but the fact that characters reference previous episodes helps to keep everything connected.

In the first episode of the final season of Unlimited Lex Luthor is on the run from the law after breaking out of jail. The affects of being joined with Brainiac are still being felt by him and throughout the episode you'll often see Luthor talk to himself because he sees Brainiac standing next to him. When Gorilla Grodd offers Luthor a piece of Brainiac old baldy finds it hard to resist. He agrees to join Grodd's Legion of Doom and work together with fellow supervillains to take down the Justice League. This set up continues throughout the season and you'll find bits and pieces of it in each of the thirteen episodes.

In the second episode of this season the shadow of the Thanagarian conflict lingers as an archaeologist discovers something an Egypt. Shayera (Hawkgirl) is lured there by Carter Hall who tries to convince her that he is Hawkman. This was a nice throwback to the prior season and early Hawkman comic books but was certainly not the best episode in the set.

For that matter, "Chaos at the Earth's Core" was certainly not the prize winner of the season either. Green Lanter, S.T.R.I.P.E., Supergirl, and Stargirl are sucked into the Earth's core where a barbarian race is fighting it out with a powerful magician. At the center of it all are a large chunk of Kryptonite and the likes of Metallo and Silver Banshee. The main story for this episode was kind of a mess and hard to follow but I found the jealous interactions between Supergirl and Stargirl to be a highlight.

"To Another Shore" was a decent episode but in the end it was kind of forgettable. Grodd lets his fellow Legion of Doom members in on his next plan; confiscating a Viking ship that is frozen in a glacier. Apparently there is a Viking prince's body on the ship who was invulnerable in legend thanks to a curse from the god Odin. His plan is to recover the body and have Luthor reverse engineer the secret of the power. The bulk of the episode is taken up by a battle between the Legion and the Justice League. The only thing to really come from his episode was J'onn's departure from the League to better understand humanity.

One of my favorite episodes from his collection easily has to be "Flash and Substance". Four villains from Flash's past team up to take down the red blur and they plan on doing it on the opening night of his new museum. Batman and Orion tag along with Flash in order to ensure that he's ok. The writing in this particular episode was easily the funniest that Justice League ever produced. I particularly enjoyed the villains all sitting around the table at a dive bar talking about making their mortgage payments and whatnot.

Deadman gets his own story in "Dead Reckoning" though the plot as a whole was kind of silly. There were great parts in this episode such as the Legion of Doom's assault on a monk temple and the struggle for power within the evil organization. Unfortunately Grodd's plan to turn humanity into monkeys was a little "too" goofy for its own good. Seeing Deadman in action was definitely a plus and the reason to watch this episode.

I don't want to go on and ruin every plot from this season though I will say that some more highlights include "Patriot Act", "The Great Brain Robbery", "Alive", and "Destroyer". The rest of the episodes are quite entertaining but not as good when compared to the cream of the crop. I suppose that was one of the flaws to be found in Justice League; if you can call it that. Nearly every episode in the series was produced to such a high standard the ones that were merely decent looked sub-par compared to the rest. I think I could probably count on one hand the amount of episodes that could be considered bad and none of them are in this season.

Anyone who has ever considered themselves to be a comic book fan at some point in their lives will find something to love about Justice League. From the very first season through the last of Unlimited the series offered quality unlike any other. This is a definitive comic book cartoon and stands shoulder to shoulder with WB's Superman and Batman animated adventures. If you have been collecting the show to date then you'll be pleased to know that the thirteen episodes featured here are as good, if not better in some cases, as what came before it. I can't recommend this series enough!

The DVD:

Like the previous release for Justice League Unlimited the third season is presented with an anamorphic widescreen transfer. The picture quality is quite strong and on par with what I came to expect from the prior seasons of the show. Colors remained strong and vibrant with contrast being spot on for each episode. There were a few points where some aliasing and compression artifacts were noticeable but very little in the way of grain. This DVD presents Justice League in a manner that is equal to, if not a little better than, how it looked when it aired.

Once again the audio for Justice League is presented in stereo format for Unlimited, which just doesn't do the action justice like a 5.1 mix would. For what it is the sound quality is fine though with very little to complain about. Sometimes the volume can pitch with some questionable balancing when the action heats up but it's nothing too distracting. The lack of immersion does detract from the overall experience but I suppose you have to take what you can get. English and Portuguese languages are included as well with the only subtitle track being in Portuguese.

On the first disc the only special feature that you'll find is a twenty-three minute interview segment where Mark Hamill moderates with the producers of the show. The topic for this roundtable discussion is all about the Cadmus story arc that played a heft roll in the development of Justice League. If you have watched the show to this point it's a good refresher and also helps to provide information for the tie-in of the government project for other related animated projects. It really does tie each series together and works well with this show in particular.

The second disc there is some more stuff to keep fans happy. "Justice League Chronicles" is another roundtable discussion about a few key moments from this season. The producer's discuss the Legion of Doom arc and some of the finer points found in these episodes. With clips from the show running simultaneously and some storyboard sequences added to the mix the commentary becomes pretty involved. Up next is a music only track for "Destroyer" which is basically just like it sounds; the episode with just the score playing in the background. It's a good display for the way music worked its way into the show but kind of boring when you get right down to it. The only thing left to check out after "Destroyer" is a couple of trailers.

Final Thoughts:

Ask any comic book fan and they'll tell you, it's almost impossible to deny the quality Justice League presented. Right up to its final days the show was a witty, action packed romp through the DC Universe that rarely let viewers down. The producers had a vision and it's clear with just about every episode. This final release comprised of the remaining thirteen episodes is a prime example of the synergy that the cast had. Cartoons just don't get much better than this.

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