Well, here’s the full trailer for the upcoming Turtles Forever special. Luckily this video works, unlike the last one I posted.

As always, thanks to Ninja Pizza for the tip.

Well, I might be a year late, but I’ve finally watched the new Clone Wars TV series. Since we don’t have TV (we have a tv, but we just use it for movies, digital files, and games), I haven’t been able to watch more than a few minutes of this show until now. The complete first season was just released on Blu-ray by Warner Bros, and I got my hands on a copy.

The Blu-ray is a three disc box set that includes a pretty cool “art of” booklet inside the case. There are all kinds of conceptual sketches, photos of models, and notes. There’s a grand total of 22 episodes, and 7 of them are presented as director’s cuts. They don’t have the original cuts on the discs, so I don’t really know what they changed.

There is a behind the scenes featurette for each episode, and a ton of 3D and 2D art to scan through. Besides that there are a few promos, one for season two, another for the new Clone Wars game, and the last about StarWars.com (in case you’ve been living under a rock or in an Amish community for the last 12 years).

The Verdict

I like this show a heck of a lot more than I thought I was going to. I’m a huge fan of the original 2D Clone Wars series by Genndy Tartakovsky, so I didn’t know what I would think of this new Genndy-less series. Beyond the typical prequel-universe annoyances (droids, droids, Anakin, droids), the series has a strong grasp of the Star Wars Universe, and benefits from its short episodic stories.

I like how they took risks like centering whole episodes on Clone troopers or an obscure character. While not as over-the-top and stylized as the Genndy Tartakovsky series, The Clone Wars is a fun show.

The Season One set is also available on standard-def DVD. It’s available now.

If the horrible embed isn’t working you can view it at the 4Kids website.

The first official trailer for the decades-crossover Turtles Forever has hit the intertubes and it is amazing. It’s pretty short, but the end was a big surprise for me and made my interest jump from about 75% to 123%.

Here are some highlights.

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The Disney Treasures series occupies a huge chunk of my DVD shelves. I try to collect all the animation-related waves, but have never watched any of the live action sets until now. Today Disney released Zorro Seasons One and Two, in special edition black tins and cases.

I remember watching this show in reruns on the Disney Channel with my Dad, and I’m excited to watch them with him again. All 78 episodes have been restored and are spread across 12 discs on two sets. The show aired from 1957 to 1959, and was one of the most successful shows of its time. There have been a few different home video releases of Zorro, but the Disney Treasures sets are definitely the definitive versions.

Each individually numbered set includes a collectible pin, an authenticity certificate, an exclusive lithograph, and comes in a unique black Disney Treasures tin. To my knowledge, the only other special colored DT tin has been the gold Oswald the Lucky Rabbit set (which is awesome).

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Fans of Superman rejoice! Today Warner Bros releases the Ruby-Spears Superman series from 1988 on a two-disc DVD set! If you’re not familiar with this short-lived series, it ran for 13 episodes in 1988 and was intended as a gift to fans in celebration of Superman’s 50th Anniversary. It was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions, who was known for various Saturday morning cartoons in the 70s and 80s, including Thundarr the Barbarian, Mr. T, Mega Man, Plastic Man, and Alvin and the Chipmunks (the ’83 version).

All 13 episodes are included in the set, as well as the four minute “Superman Family Album” segments that ran at the end of each episode. They’re short stories that focus on Superman growing up in Smallville with the Kents.

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