Max Fleischer's Superman Blu-ray Review: THE WORST DISC OF 2023. THIS SHOULD BE RECALLED. AVOID!

#fleischer #superman #warnerbros #physicalmedia
My review of this hideous, appallingly poor treatment of the iconic legendary Fleischer Superman theatrical cartoons by the Warner Studio label. The studio label took this away from the Warner Archive division who would've done the job right. The studio label then applied their standard pathetic treatment for animation titles and then some to these legendary works resulting in a new low even for them. This is FAR worse than even the studio label's release of Scooby Doo and Batman The Animated Series on Blu-ray. AVOID this release.
The shorts have been hit with DNR, a new color timing which makes them look flat and dull and HIDEOUS compression resulting in visible compression artifacts throughout all 17 shorts.
The new extra is pointless save for HD clips of Warner's previous DVD master which has led countless fans to say "why do these clips look so much better than the Blu-ray itself?"
ALL the audio errors are still here plus some new ones. Nothing has been addressed. Warner has had 17 years to fix these issues they introduced.
This is a nightmare disc. Unacceptable in every way. Almost 20GB of disc space is left unused. EVERY issue here is due to the Warner studio label's incompetence and could have been avoided. The Warner Archive division certainly would have and was prepared to do their usual exemplary job.
00:00 Introduction goof
00:00:44 Introduction
10:05 The Basic Video History of the Fleischer Superman Cartoons
10:20 Public Domain label VHS tapes
10:57 Image Entertainment 1988 Laserdisc and DVD port
11:51 Bosko Video 1991 VHS and Diamond Anniversary Collection DVD port
14:53 VCI DVD
15:15 Warner 2006 DVD master
16:37 The errors introduced by Warner Home Video
22:28 The Mild Mannered Edition fan effort
23:01 Warner 2009 improved standalone DVD reissue
25:52 The Outlier: The 1998 late release Warner LaserDisc volumes
29:03 The 2023 Warner Blu-ray
29:43 EVERY aspect of this release is painfully flawed-Where do I even begin?
30:07 Technical Picture Discussion
30:38 The source scan is great. They may look fine in general viewing but this is desecration!
31:41 The standard Warner studio label poor handling of animation on Blu-ray
31:51 The hideous DNR pass and removal of film grain
34:38 The DNR leaves some film grain present which struggles to come through
34:50 Some slight line erasures
35:23 Brand new flawed color timing alters the visual style further
35:46 Some tweaks of original animation errors in Electric Earthquake
36:20 New color timing example: end flamethrowers in The Mechanical Monsters
36:45 A color error I found: Lois’s pink outfit and jewels in The Mechanical Monsters
38:17 The new color timing and DNR flatten the image. Shadow detail and atmospherics are lost.
38:59 The DVD master clips in HD in the on disc extra look so much better.
40:26 This underlines the difference between the Warner Archive and the Warner studio label. The Archive cares. The studio label doesn’t give a damn.
41:32 The worst problem: The HIDEOUS compression artifacts from PATHETIC encoding!
44:24 The compression is HIDEOUS and the 20GB of wasted space is UNNACCEPTABLE!
44:36 Noise blends with remaining film grain
44:55 Artifacts cause noise halos everywhere, even on Superman flying
46:20 Artifacts and grain mixing is so bad it starts to look like a fake grain plate
47:25 The compression is worse than the DNR and color timing
47:39 Due to sheer incompetence this is one of the worst transfers on the format I’ve ever seen
48:58 This is appalling visual desecration. This should be recalled. Warner should be ashamed of themselves. Warner simply doesn’t care and thinks we’re all stupid.
49:59 Misleading to regular viewers who won’t know about these issues or are not watching on higher end equipment
50:48 This is a new low from Warner and the worst disc of 2023
51:12 Warner’s DVD is better, this is NO improvement!
51:56 I’d like to see work facts, let Warner try and defend their actions-they can’t
52:24 The Bosko and even Image DVDs look better upscaled to 4k
53:01 Some untouched frames I found in The Bulleteers
53:02 The picture cleanup is worthless due to the processing done
54:01 Audio quality: some work done but also some scrubbing. Still a patchwork affair.
55:18 Guess what: ALL the audio errors are here plus even some NEW ONES!! Intros are still a mess. Not ONE short is without an intro or exit cue error.
57:53 New Blu-ray audio errors
58:07 Showdown audio dropout error
58:50 Technical Summary: What is the Warner Studio label thinking?
1:00:20 Packaging and Artwork
1:03:00 Supplemental Features
1:04:00 The one new extra is POINTLESS except for the DVD master clips in HD
1:04:41 More HD clips of the DVD master from pointless new featurette
1:05:12 This is a pitiful extras package for iconic animation
1:06:14 Final summary: Warner has had 17 years to fix their errors and not only did they ignore them entirely but they also added a multitude of new problems.