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"Supergirl: The Complete Series"
Blu-ray Review
Warner Bros. recently provided the Superman Super Site with a review copy of "Supergirl: The Complete Series" on Blu-ray which is currently available for purchase from Amazon.
The Blu-Ray box set retails for US$134.99 and includes 24 discs featuring all 126 exhilarating episodes from the phenomenal series and countless hours of bonus features from all six epic, not-to-be-missed seasons. Unfortunately, the set does not include a digital redemption code.
The series debuted on October 16, 2001 on CBS and follows the adventures of Kara Zor-El twelve years after she arrived on Earth, learning to embrace her superhuman powers as a Kryptonian and establishing her superheroine alias as Supergirl.
Throughout it's 6 seasons and 126 episodes, "Supergirl" had some truly incredible, iconic, and amazing episodes such as "Worlds Finest" (S1/E18) which featured a surprise appearance by Grant Gustin as Barry Allen (The Flash) zooming in from an alternate universe, "The Adventures of Supergirl" (S2/E1) which saw the first full appearance of Tyler Hoechlin as Superman lending a helping hand to his cousin Kara, and the tear-jerker flashback episode "Midvale" (S3/E6) which revealed how the death of a childhood friend solidified Kara and Alex's sisterly relationship.
However, with every great episode, there are also the not so great ones. Certain episodes unfortunately suffered from poor storylines and bad execution such as "Red Faced" (S1/E6) in which Kara deals with her inner anger issues and must battle an absolutely horrible looking Red Tornado, "Rather the Fallen Angel" (S4/E7) in which Manchester Black (David Ajala) ends up getting Kara trapped inside a monument site at Shelly Island by the Children of Liberty, and easily the worst episode of the entire series, "Blind Spots" (S6/E12) in which Kelly Olson (Azie Tesfai) embraces her power and fully steps into her brother James' former role as the Guardian.
The series would officially wrap on November 9th, 2021 and would treat fans to an epic finale (appropriately titled "Kara") that saw an epic final battle featuring the return of Red Tornado, Supergirl's evil alter ego Overgirl, Mon-El (Chris Wood), Winn Schott (Jeremy Jordan), and James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks); Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) and Nyxlygsptlnz (Peta Sergeant) imprisoned in the Phantom Zone; a heartfelt funeral for William Dey (Staz Nair); the return of the DEO; the return of Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart); the wedding of Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) and Kelly Olsen; and Kara finally embracing her true self with Cat Grant introducing her as Supergirl to the entire world.
"Supergirl" is definitely a series that will go down in history as not only reinventing the legendary comic book icon we all thought we knew, but also re-establishing the character in the hearts and minds of a new generation.
It's an absolute thrill to witness all the "Supergirl" cast members gradually settle into their respective roles and make each character their own. From "Glee" actress Melissa Benoist stepping into the role of an iconic superhero to Jon Cryer taking on role of legendary villain Lex Luthor; each actor's character underwent major transformations during the series six-season run and, looking back, it's very evident that they all certainly enjoyed the ride.
Bonus Material:
The bonus material included with each season of the series is quite abundant and features deleted scenes from various episodes as well as special features including gag reels, indepth looks at all the "Arrowverse" crossover events, and San Diego Comic Con panels.
While the deleted scenes are entertaining to watch, for the most part they do not really add anything to the episodes they were initially filmed for and it is rather easy to surmise why they were cut in the first place.
An additional Bonus Disc is also featured in the set that includes all five epic episodes of the DC Crossover event, "Crisis on Infinite Earths" from "Supergirl," "Batwoman," "The Flash," "Arrow," and "DC's Legends of Tomorrow".
To add to the excitement of this crossover event, an assortment of awesome special features are included as well featuring "Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Architects Return," "Crisis Management," "Crisis Past and Present: Kevin Conroy - Bat Legend," "Crisis Past and Present: Superman vs. Superman," "Characters in Crisis: Pariah," and "Characters in Crisis: The Anti-Monitor".
Video:
Each season included in the Blu-ray release of "Supergirl: The Complete Series" box set is presented in 1080p Full HD resolution and 16x9 widescreen format with a total runtime of 92 hours, 24 minutes.
While an 4K Ultra HD resolution would have been preferable, the Full HD resolution featured in the box set still looks pretty sharp. There are a few noticable flaws such as dark scenes being a bit muddy but all-in-all, the edges of objects & people hold their lines and colors look true while providing a great sense of clarity.
Audio:
Audio quality is quite impressive and presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 in all six seasons which provides a top-notch listening experience in each episode.
There's definitely enough boom and bluster during any of the action scenes featured throughout the series to provide just the right amount of audio weight to bring everything to ear-pleasing life.
Quality:
The overall packaging of the "Supergirl: The Complete Series" Blu-ray box set is pretty basic and does not include any of the bells and whistles that prior DC Comics superhero series releases have received such as the 2011 "Smallville: The Complete Series" DVD box set that featured an exclusive Daily Planet newspaper and episode guide with never-before-seen production or the 2014 "Batman: The Complete Television Series" Blu-ray box set that featured an Adam West scrapbook, collectible Hotwheels Batmobile, and trading cards.
Instead, the Supergirl box set comes housed in a thin cardboard sleeve to protect the actual plastic case that contains all 24 discs. The sleeve and case features images of Melissa Benoist in both her initial Supergirl costume and the updated version which debuted in the season 5 premiere episode, "Event Horizon."
The case itself is not designed very well with the discs loosely attached by flimsy brackets that many had dislodged from upon first opening the package. Furthermore, the flip through panel containing all the discs is not actually attached to the case itself but instead just free floating and can easily fall out if you are not careful.
The inner panel of the casing includes a breakdown of all episode titles and bonus material but, other than that, there are no exclusive collectibles included such as those in the aforementioned "Smallville" and "Batman" television series releases.
Verdict:
All-in-all, the "Supergirl: The Complete Series" Blu-ray box set offers a wonderful look back over the past six seasons of this ground-breaking series and offers enough superpowered content to keep any viewer entertained for hours.
Whether you are a die-hard Supergirl fan or just the occassional episode watcher, this is one box set you will absolutely want to add to your movie/tv series collection.
