DC Universe Animated Original Movies

Post by **Ben** » February 27th, 2008, 6:44 am

And you said you had little time to contribute reviews...!

Nice one, GC, I am looking forward to seeing this at some point.

Rand will have our Animated View up soon, too.

Post by **Ben** » February 27th, 2008, 6:57 am

I was just reading your board and caught this. . . "b******g"

This is allowed on an animated forum that children read? I am shocked!

For reference this occured in a batman anime thread in your "news submission" section.

Hey George...although I've heard this word in PG-rated films myself, and I know you semi-censored yourself, it's still obviously enough to cause a complaint. I've blanked out the "offending word" in your original post above and just ask that, to be safe, we keep the language clean, or at least almost totally blanked out.

Thanks!

Post by **Randall** » March 25th, 2008, 9:32 am

And here's the review:

http://animated-views.com/2008/justice- ... l-edition/

Looks like George and I largely agreed on this one.

Post by **Daniel** » March 26th, 2008, 7:32 pm

Nice one, Rand! I'm really tempted to give this another look, since I didn't care much for it the first time around. I don't know why, since I'm such a huge JL fan in general... maybe it was an off day. The ending was one of my problems too, though.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » April 30th, 2008, 3:51 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Gotham_Knight

First review of the special's been done.

Also, a nice listing of the 1992-1995 animated Batman episodes that will be on the two-disc and Blu-Ray editions. Most likely Standard Def format (480i), but a much better selection than the Justice League episodes on the 2-disc and Blu-Ray editions of The New Frontier.

Post by **Daniel** » July 1st, 2008, 9:40 pm

(Early) deals for Batman: Gotham Knight, which will be released on July 8th.

Best Buy - regular edition $12.99. 2-disc SE $22.99, comes with an exclusive steelbook and free character guide. Blu-ray edition $29.99, free movie money for The Dark Knight.

Circuit City - regular edition $12.99, free patch. 2-disc SE $22.99, free patch. No Blu-ray price.

Target - regular edition $12.99. 2-disc SE $19.99, comes with exclusive 4 episodes of Batman Beyond. Blu-ray edition $29.99.

So there you have it! Lame that the steelbook is only for the DVD, but what are you going to do. I'm VERY tempted by that offer, though.

Post by **Otis8** » July 1st, 2008, 10:35 pm

Wow Daniel how do you it!?

I'm gonna get it best buy for sure!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » July 9th, 2008, 4:57 am

WB pulled a fast one and made it more difficult to get the Japanese audio track on the North American Batman: Gotham Night Blu-Ray release this past Tuesday.

They did this because they're going to charge AT LEAST $20 more the official Japanese release of the same Blu-Ray product a month from now! WB doesn't mind if suckers pay $20 more for the Japanese Blu-Ray but its Japanese home video division does NOT want Japanese Blu-Ray owners buying the American Blu-Ray release, either!

Here's the message I posted on the AnimeOnDVD Forums (R1) Message Board. Someone had already posted the getaround for the Japanese audio but did not make it clear on WHICH "menu language" had to be reset on the PS3.

Here is my post in its entirety --

"To clarify for people who are still confused about the Batman: Gotham Knight{sp} Blu-Ray.

Yes, the Japanese audio track IS on the Blu-Ray released on Tuesday in the States.

ON THE PS3 (not sure about standalone Blu-Ray players -- don't own one, so please don't ask!) ==>
The language setting you have to change is as follows --
1) Go to "BD/DVD Settings" on the toolbar for the PS3
2) Under the "BD/DVD Settings," set the submenu for "BD/DVD Menu Language" to "Japanese." NOTE: You do not reset the system's language; you only have to reset the language for the BD/DVD Menu. Resetting the "System Preferences" language submenu does NOTHING to unlock the Japanese audio track.
3) Exit and scroll back to the BD icon on the PS3 screen. After you select it and press "X" to play, the BD starts up and you should see anti-copying/warning signs in Japanese.
4) The BD menu should all be in Japanese with the exception of the words, "Wonder Woman."
5) After you hit play, the second audio track you cycle to should be Japanese (ironically displaying in English and NOT Kanji!). The subtitle track IS a dubtitle track with sound effects indicated for the deaf.

You can save your $20 and buy this instead of the Japanese Blu-Ray. I doubt the Japanese disc will be that much different.

Yeah, WB made North Americans jump through hoops to get to the Japanese audio on the darn US Blu-Ray, but I can see the business standpoint of doing that even if I still think it's underhanded...!"

*****************

I guess this could be considered an "Easter Egg" in a roundabout way except for the fact that the Japanese audio track WAS listed on the packaging for the Blu-Ray disc!

Tons of people are going to be upset about this one.

For shame, WB! For shame!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » July 9th, 2008, 11:47 am

Now with the Japanese audio selection fiasco out of the way -- and hopefully no other studio makes you work for it again on another BD release in the near-future(!) --, there is another interesting audio track on the BD/DVD releases of Batman: Gotham Night.

The commentary track has a lot of musings by Kevin Conroy, the longtime Batman voice actor considered by many to be the DEFINITIVE English-speaking voice of Batman. There are some interesting things that he says in addition to revelations about how clueless he was about the direction WB animation was taking the character in the early 1990s!

Seriously, there's some good stuff in the audio commentary track.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » July 27th, 2008, 2:02 am

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/ ... imated.htm

The first finished footage and character design of the new Wonder Woman animated film were unveiled at SDCC this weekend.

The exact time-table for the release has not been set in stone, but probably late this year/early next year with a premiere at a con first.

There will be a director's cut and two-disc version. And yes, violence that advertisers would not approve of on TV.

Looks like the film could be a nice follow-up to both Justice League: The New Frontier and Batman: Gotham Knight.

There were also discussions about other possible direct-to-video animated films (more Justice League, Flash, and Green Lantern, PLEASE!) and a date set for the delayed Blu-Ray release of Superman: Doomsday which will supposedly be two-disc (why? I don't know -- Batman: Gotham Knight and JL: The New Frontier didn't need two discs for all their special features!) on November 25th.

(Sidenote: I'm surprised they're bothering with a Doomsday Blu-Ray. It's universally the most panned of the DC DVD releases thus far. Only Superman: Brainiac Atttacks get worse reviews. Both films' DVD releases are readily available in the discount rack at any Wal-Mart!)

And the WB/DC Animation program continues...

Post by **eddievalient** » July 27th, 2008, 12:51 pm

This is good. I always thought it was odd that DC let Marvel hog the movie spotlight for so long. I'm a big Marvel fan, but I enjoy DC stuff too and even as DTVs (or OVAs to use the Japanese term, since they essentially invented the concept of DTV animation) DC movies could be excellent. Among those mentioned in the article, I'd be most excited to see Kingdom Come (still one of my favorite comic stories) and The Long Halloween (ditto).

Here's a fun idea: Similar to what marvel is doing with Hulk VS (which looks cool btw), rather than do a single film, one of their OVAs could be an anthology of shorter adaptations. I'm thinking a "DC Origins" piece adapting the first appearances of their major characters (Action #1, Detective #27, etc). It'd be a unique project to be sure. Hey WB, anybody listening out there?

Post by **Ben** » August 3rd, 2008, 5:17 pm

Rand and I were at the WW panel and the footage went down well. February 09 is the date all the publicity was pointing too, including the cool WW bags WB was handing out on preview night.

The guys put forward decent arguments for what they were trying to achieve with these releases and while I still haven't seen the majority of them yet, this new one looks like a promising origin story.

Post by **Randall** » August 3rd, 2008, 5:45 pm

It does look good so far, but hard to say for sure based on a few short clips. I am quite looking forward to it, though. WW's never been in a movie on her own before.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » August 4th, 2008, 3:30 pm

Wonder Woman has been the focus of two made-for-TV movies.

The first was made in 1974 and featured the very blonde Kathy Lee Crosby as the Amazon in a completely different outfit from the comic book version. (That version of Wonder Woman appeared in a single panel during the course of the awful "Infinite Crisis" comic book series.) The villain of the telepic was Ricardo Montalban playing an evil businessman.

Ummm, yeah......!

I've seen this film and can testify on how awful it is!

The second Wonder Woman movie (1975) was the pilot for the popular TV series starring THE definitive live-action Amazon, Lynda Carter.

Although the Carter TV series has aged badly, Carter's earnest portrayal of the character and physicality (I'm being polite -- I know too many parents and kids read this board!

) have made it all but impossible to find someone to replace her in the public mind as Wonder Woman. She was just made for the role. Same as Christopher Reeve was the perfect Superman for his time and remains the standard by which all other Men of Steel are judged.

As for animation, it is true that Wonder Woman has not had a solo project... till now.

There's actual final animation clips up in the first official teaser trailer here
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810036252/video/9069426

It actually looks pretty good for a direct-to-video project. Different design that Timm's, but still very Wonder Woman.

Keri Russell, I suspect, will surprise people with her vocalizations. In a good way. It's hard to be feminine and a warrior but she might have done it. That's what I found lacking about the Lawless' performance in The New Frontier -- she just wasn't a very feminine Wonder Woman.

Post by **Randall** » August 4th, 2008, 3:47 pm

Obviously, I meant that she has bever been in an animated film before. I have the live action ones in my own collection, even the Kathy Lee Crosby one. But those were hindered by budgets and technology. An animated film is quite different.

DC Universe Animated Original Movies

Japanese audio NOT missing on Batman: Gotham Night BD!

First looks at Wonder Woman animated movie