This week’s batch of DVD debuts is ripe with animated superheroes. In addition to the CG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature TMNT, we get Super Friends: The Legndary Super Powers Show from Warner Home Video, as well as The Tick Vs. Season Two and Darkwing Duck: Volume Two from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
Available on DVD for the first time, Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends: The Legndary Super Powers Show has Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman leading a band of the world’s greatest superheroes in battle against Darkseid and other evil villains out to dominate the human race. Featuring the voices of Adam West as Batman and Casey Kasem as Robin, the series of animated shorts first aired on ABC Saturday mornings as a tie-in for Kenner’s Super Power line of toys.
The two-disc collector’s set offers all 16 10-minute episodes, plus two bonus featurettes. Social Impact examines the roots of the characters, their ethnic backgrounds, and why the series was groundbreaking and important for both animation and comic books at the time. Toy Craze looks at the consumer products boom that inspired Super Friends and a number of other cartoons. The set lists for $26.99.
The Tick Vs. Season Two provides fans with all 12 episodes of the second season of the cult-favorite animated series about a superhero in blue tights who fights crime with sidekick Arthur the Moth. Stand-out episodes include ‘Leonardo da Vinci and His Fighting Genius Time Commandos,’ ‘The Tick Loves Santa’ and ‘The Tick Vs. the Big Nothing.’ The DVD comes with all-new box art illustrated by Tick creator Ben Edlund and a collectible lithogaph, and lists for $34.99.
The second installment of the Darkwing Duck collection is a three-disc set featuring 27 episodes of the adventures of Drake Mallard, who dons cape and cowl to become one of the wackiest superheroes in cartoon history. Along with sidekicks Launchpad McQuack and Gosalyn, Darkwing keeps St. Canard safe from various silly villains in the Emmy-nominated series, which aired from 1991 to 1992 on ABC and Disney Channel. Fans can pick up the release for $34.99 or less.
