Batman Brave and the Bold (Warner Archive) Dec 5

[GeoffOliver]

Better late than never. It's good they're finishing up the show. It's kind of underrated and it's too bad it only lasted 3 seasons. It was fun and it did a good job distancing itself from the earlier Batman cartoons, while still paying tribute.

Count me in the group of people that wants to see Batman TAS, Superman TAS, and Batman Beyond on Blu-ray. It's not going to happen though, because they would all need to be restored, and there's no way Warner's going to do that. It would be incredibly expensive and require extensive work. They were all animated on film of course (except the last couple seasons of Beyond), but the original elements may or may not even be around anymore, and it's likely they were edited on SD tape (I'm not 100% sure). If so, they would all need to be re-scanned AND reassembled too. It would just not be worth it. Justice League looks excellent on Blu-ray (it was animated digitally in HD), but I don't think it sold very well in the format. It's too bad, because cel animation looks amazing on Blu-ray when it's done right, and I have no doubt Batman TAS would look spectacular.

At the very least, I'd like to see Mask of the Phantasm on Blu-ray. The current DVD is an ancient one from 1999, and looks like garbage. Since it was a theatrical film, it would just need a new scan.

[The Happy Neighbor]

Mask of the Phantasm reminds me a lot of the Iron Giant, in the sense that it's theatrical run didn't do well, but still resulted in a large cult following and critical praise. If only Mask of the Phantasm could get the same treatment: a theatrical re-release and a collector's edition Blu-ray.
And I'm glad that B:TBATB is finally releasing its final season. I'm not sure what got Warner to make the decision to finally release it, but I won't question it.

[Marcus Carr]

Finally ordered all three seasons from Best Buy and Target.