|
|
|
Legends of Tomorrow AKA DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2 (TV) (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - United Kingdom - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Rob Hunt (5th October 2017). |
|
The Show
 A spin-off from the Arrowverse, the first season of Legends of Tomorrow featured a number of characters that have shown up in Arrow (and The Flash) joining Time Master Rip Hunter on a time-travelling mission to avenge his family's murders. Following the demise of the Time Masters, the group sets out to protect the timeline themselves. This open-ended task allows for all manner of crazy and wild adventures through space and time, and an excuse to make full use of the costume department as the group travel to different decades and cultures in a variety of self-contained stories that contribute to a larger whole, especially with the key season arc relating to the Spear of Destiny, with a few familiar faces from the Arrowverse teaming up to form the adversarial Legion of Doom. In some ways it's a pleasant surprise that Legends of Tomorrow got renewed, although not hugely surprising given the tie-ins made to the Arrowverse (exemplified in the four-show crossover, the concluding part of which is Legends of Tomorrow's episode "Invasion!") and the fact that it seems almost every TV series that aired on The CW that year in the US got a renewal (by no means a bad thing, since each of the shows deserved it). In Legends of Tomorrow, the DC TV universe has a wonderfully over-the-top and slightly bonkers action series that tries to keep things moving at a frenetic pace, whilst showing it has some interesting characters, stories and relationships to explore. You will need to suspend a bit more disbelief than for the other DC series, but Legends of Tomorrow provides a lot of amusement and silliness and entertainment to maintain the interest. Light-hearted entertainment at its best. The second season of Legends of Tomorrow includes 17 episodes, spread across three blu-ray discs (six episodes per disc for the first two discs, five episodes on the last disc): - "Out of Time" (42:32) - "The Justice Society of America" (42:13) - "Shogun" (42:31) - "Abominations" (42:27) - "Compromised" (42:17) - "Outlaw Country" (41:39) - "Invasion!" (42:30) - "The Chicago Way" (42:25) - "Raiders of the Lost Art" (41:45) - "The Legion of Doom" (42:28) - "Turncoat" (40:59) - "Camelot/3000" (42:14) - "Land of the Lost" (42:22) - "Moonshot" (42:27) - "Fellowship of the Spear" (41:30) - "Doomworld" (42:26) - "Aruba" (41:35)
Video
Video is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, encoded using the MPEG4 AVC codec. An energetic barrel of crazy, Legends of Tomorrow is packed with action scenes, which hold up pretty well in another clear and sharp picture that, like its other DC brethren, comes from a digitally-shot source. As the episodes dart around from location to location, many opportunities are given for a variety of costume and set colours, each of which looks very good with high levels of detail and rich colours. The abundance of visual effects are well represented on this blu-ray. Even more so than other DC TV like The Flash, the budget for this show's VFX may not be high, but that doesn't matter - the effects fit the series well.
Audio
Audio is included in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 as well as a Brazilian Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo dub, with optional subtitles in Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish (Latin American), Swedish and English for the hearing impaired. For the purposes of this review, only English was used. The show features a little dialogue but a very large amount of effects and action sequences, which are very well served in the lossless DTS-HD audio track. An action-heavy series, Legends of Tomorrow really makes use of surround sound.
Extras
Warner has included a series of featurettes and deleted scenes for this release, along with a gag reel, spread across all three of the discs. (Each of the extras includes optional Dutch, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Latin American) or English HoH subtitles.) Below is a closer look. DISC ONE This disc contains eight deleted scenes, one for the episode "Out of Time" (1:00), four for the episode "The Justice Society of America" (3:02), one for "Shogun" (1:30), one for "Compromised" (0:39) and one for "Outlaw Country" (1:01). For "Out of Time" there's a scene of additional conversation between Mick and Ray; for "The Justice Society of America" there are two brief extra scenes involving Jax and Stargirl, and two involving Sara and other members of the crew and the JSA; for "Shogun" and "Compromised" there are extra scenes with Jax, Sara and Martin; for "Outlaw Country" there's an extra scene with Mick and Amaya. DISC TWO This disc contains one featurette, "Allied: The Invasion! Complex (DC's Legends of Tomorrow)" (9:56), and one deleted scene, for the episode "Camelot/3000" (1:35), involving Ray and Nate discussing Camelot. The featurette discusses the four-show crossover from the perspective of Legends of Tomorrow. Companion featurettes that are featured on the Flash Season 3 release and on the Arrow Season 5 release. DISC THREE This disc contains one featurette, "DC's Legends of Tomorrow: 2016 Comic-Con Panel" (29:56), five deleted scenes - three for the episode "Land of the Lost" (2:45), and one each for the episodes "Moonshot" (0:49) and "Fellowship of the Spear" (0:35) - and a gag reel (6:39). The Comic-Con Panel is the usual enjoyable Q&A with the cast and crew, with a look towards the (then) upcoming second season. In terms of the deleted scenes, from "Land of the Lost" there is an unfinished (VFX-wise) scene involving Amaya and Nate, an extra bit of dialogue with Mick and Martin and an unfinished (VFX-wise) scene involving Jax. The unfinished scenes are interesting from a 'VFX behind the scenes' point of view irrespective of their merit as scenes deleted or otherwise. Further deleted material comes from "Moonshot", with a brief scene involving the team talking about the spear's current location, and from "Fellowship of the Spear", with a brief additional bit of dialogue between Martin and Ray. Finally, the gag reel is entertaining, with a lot of silly and funny moments.
Packaging
Packaged in a 3-disc Amaray keep case, with a single double-sided tray inside, holding two discs, and the third disc held in the outer case. Initial pressings come in a slipbox. An HD UV digital copy is also included.
Overall
Legnds of Tomorrow is a zany, action-packed adventure that's full of charm and entertainment. It might be an acquired taste, but if it's your thing it's a lot of light-hearted fun - and this blu-ray is definitely the way to see it, with a sharp HD image and an excellent lossless surround soundtrack. Recommended.
|
|||||
|