Warner Bros. remastering "Batman: The Animated Series" for Blu-Ray (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/100817-1530

At a 25th anniversary panel for the show at the New York Comic Con, Warner Bros. representative Gary Miereanu held up a DVD copy of "Batman: The Animated Series" and announced that it would be the last time Warner Bros. would be giving away a set on DVD, because a remastered Blu-ray version of the acclaimed series would be released in the fourth quarter of 2018.

 

[Lord Dalek]

What a terrific surprise! I guess it's because TAS and it's two successor series were the only DCAU shows initially rendered of 35mm instead of SD Digital (which is what they switched to late in Superman's run IIRC).

 

[Sam Favate]

I hope they continue and do Superman TAS as well.

B:TAS will look great in blu-ray. Mask of the Phantasm is a terrific blu-ray.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It'll be interesting to see how they handle the small animation mistakes which were mostly unnoticeable during a 480i NTSC broadcast but would significantly more noticeable with a high bitrate 1080p encode. My vote is to treat them like the glass with the snakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark or Audrey Hepburn's fillings in My Fair Lady: fix 'em so it's not distracting.

They're almost certainly making 16x9 masters as part of this process, to futureproof the series for other ancillary uses. But hopefully the Blu-Rays will be the original 4x3 framing.

 

[TravisR]

They're almost certainly making 16x9 masters as part of this process, to futureproof the series for other ancillary uses. But hopefully the Blu-Rays will be the original 4x3 framing.

Yeah, Warners knows their audience (if they didn't, this show wouldn't be coming to Blu-ray) so you'd think that they plan on having the correct framing.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Yeah this is weird news just 2 months ago when mask of the phantasm came out we had confirmation that they did not have the proper masters to do this show in HD. hmmm

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Yeah this is weird news just 2 months ago when mask of the phantasm came out we had confirmation that they did not have the proper masters to do this show in HD. hmmm

The word was that while they did have the raw ingredients, it would be too expensive to do. My guess is that Phantasm sold really well and Warner Bros. decided to find the funds.

 

[Traveling Matt]

Assuming it's done properly, terrific news.

 

[Gary OS]

Just popping in to say, "Yippee" for this news! Best screen version of Batman ever, imho.

Gary "was getting ready to revisit this series again in my viewing, but will hold off now" O.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Season 1 (which was actually presented as two "seasons" because Fox Kids held back some of those episodes for Fall 1993 and then added some more in summer '94) is three times as long as the following one (or again two).

 

[dana martin]

i wonder if they are going to do SubZero at the same time? this news made may day

 

[dana martin]

if they find the time, would help to complete the TimmVerse before they possibly tackle

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The tricky thing with Batman Beyond is that they switched to digital coloring halfway through season two. Given that they knew it'd only be seen in 480i, I don't know whether they completed the animation at any higher resolution.

 

[Bob_S.]

All I can say is IT'S ABOUT FRICKIN' TIME!!

Hopefully Batman Beyond next.

 

[Sam Favate]

The set is coming October 16. Includes all four seasons, plus Mask of the Phantasm and Sub-Zero.

Does anyone know if there will be a version without the swag?

 

[TravisR]

The set is coming October 16. Includes all four seasons, plus Mask of the Phantasm and Sub-Zero.

Does anyone know if there will be a version without the swag?

In today's market, 30,000 copies at a $110 MSRP will probably last a long time so I'd guess that a standard release will be at least a year away.

 

[Randy Korstick]

In today's market, 30,000 copies at a $110 MSRP will probably last a long time so I'd guess that a standard release will be at least a year away.

30,000 will last a couple years at least. It takes TT 5 years to sell 3,000 copies. I know this is a lot more popular but 30,000 is indeed a lot in todays disc market.

 

[TravisR]

30,000 will last a couple years at least. It takes TT 5 years to sell 3,000 copies. I know this is a lot more popular but 30,000 is indeed a lot in todays disc market.

I don't think they'll wait on a standard release until the special one sells out though which is why I'm guessing it'll be a year or so.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

In today's market, 30,000 copies at a $110 MSRP will probably last a long time so I'd guess that a standard release will be at least a year away.

You'd think so and I'd normally agree. The only thing that makes me think it could come sooner is that when the Adam West series came out on BD, the big box came out first and then the standard edition was released mere weeks later.

 

[TravisR]

You'd think so and I'd normally agree. The only thing that makes me think it could come sooner is that when the Adam West series came out on BD, the big box came out first and then the standard edition was released mere weeks later.

That one only came out weeks later? I thought it was the next Fall. The market has changed even in the last 4 years but then yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if The Animated Series release(s) loosely mirror whatever happened with the releases of the Adam West series.