BATMAN BEYOND - SEASON THREE (DC COMICS CLASSIC COLLECTION) (1999)

Batman Beyond - Season Three (DC Comics Classic Collection) (1999)

Actors: Jane Alan, Rachael Leigh Cook, Yvette Lowenthal
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, NTSC
Language: English
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 2
Run Time: 273 minutes

DVD Features:

• Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• The final 13 episodes on two discs
• Inside Batman Beyond: Season 3: the producers of Batman Beyond (Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini & Glen Murakami) join moderator Jason Hillhouse for the last installment of their in-depth panel discussion
• Close-Up On...: Sit down with the creative minds behind Batman Beyond as they discuss their favorite moments from key episodes of the series' final season: "Out of the Past"; "The Call, Part 1"; "The Call, Part 2"; "The Curse of Kobra, Part 1."
   

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Unfortunately the third — and final — season of this animated “Batman of the future” series only ran for 13 episodes instead of the usual 26. Luckily not only does this season continue the quality work of the previous installments, but they seem to have saved the best for last. Maybe the creative team responsible for the series thought that with the series ending there was no need to play it safe anymore and decided to take some creative risks by moving the episodes into more over-the-top territory.

It all pays off: the two two-parter storylines collected on the second disc in the set for instance has all the silly comic book giddiness one got from reading them as a kid. One two-parter (“The Call”) pays off particularly well as Batman is invited to join a futuristic Justice League by an aged Superman in a cool redesigned black costume. Only afterwards plot points niggle at one (Superman seems curiously underpowered at crucial events in the narrative), but the episode is a thrill ride in which the animation borrows from several comic book influences including Jack Kirby and Frank Miller’s Elektra designs.

The Jack Kirby influences are also prevalent in the two-parter “The Curse of the Kobra” in which a misanthropic cult wishes to take back humanity to the age of the dinosaurs. Delirious stuff.

Animation in this 1999 TV series is never flashy but always effective. Voice talent is spot on. The fact that the series’ future seems a bit advanced to be just forty from now (will we really have jet packs fitted into our boot soles by then?) doesn’t seem to bother as much as it did in previous installments.

The only thing that counts against these episodes are that some episodes require knowledge of what happened in previous episodes, but that never becomes too much of an obstacle – Season Three is recommended to both completists and newbies to the show. Small boys as well as ageing comic book fans will find much appreciated on these two discs.