What is "Justice League Unlimited?" It's actually "Justice League" seasons 3 and up. What is JLU volume 1? It's actually seasons 1 and 2 of JLU which are actually seasons 3 and 4 of Justice League. Confused yet? I know I am. What am I doing here, again? Who are you and why am I in your house?

 

Oh, yeah, Justice League.

 

I'm going to talk about them as they are presented in the TVD sets rather than how they air on TV or what they are behind the scenes. So we'll just call this volume 1 of  "Justice League Unlimited" and leave it at that. If I happen to call it “season 1” I'm just meaning this particular collection. If I've utterly, completely, and totally confused you then you can go read my episode guide to find out exactly what episodes are encompassed by my review.

 

As far as I can tell the original Justice League series was going well but needed a change. The change ended up being substantial enough to warrant a name tweak: thus the addition of “Unlimited” to the title.

 

As this next series begins the Justice League is moving its base of operations to a space station orbiting Earth. Martian Manhunter is kind of a dispatch agent assigning Leaguers to their missions and handling communications in battle. The team roster is huge, now. Many heroes I've never heard of are part of the team, and while different story arcs focus on a small core group with big names like Superman making frequent appearances, episodes feature unpredictably variable combinations of characters. They are so numerous that I can't give you a complete roster rundown without my brain exploding at which point I couldn't post the review thus seeming like a waste of time.

 

Superman and Wonder Woman get the most focus of the individual heroes. Batman gets some time but is treated more like a special guest star than a series regular. Same with Martian Manhunter. He's in nearly every episode, but he only gets to really show off once. Flash plays a major role at the end but is almost completely absent for most of the season.

 

Green Arrow gets a lot of focus. At first I wasn't too enthused about that. I've never been that much of a Green Arrow fan, but he's written so well I can't help but like him, so much, in fact, that I would have been happy to see even more episodes with him. He's respected by the League but not in step with them. In some ways he keeps them honest. The others have gotten so big that Arrow is brought in basically to represent the little guys – the regular humans down on Earth. He's kind of a reminder that while the stopping of intergalactic threats is important, individual lives are not worthless by comparison.

 

The Question plays a sizable role. Of all the names that I actually know, he is probably the one I know the least about. I don't think he has any actual powers. He's just crazy and occasionally lucky. He provides some uncertainty for the stories. Most of the characters are true heroes, but Question is less predictable.

 

Supergirl is another major player. She's in Superman's shadow and still inexperienced, but she's still one of the more powerful heroes. She has some unusual problems to handle which become a major story arc in the season. She provides some youthful enthusiasm to the team.

 

I haven't even scratched the surface of the characters that show up, some for one episode, some here and there throughout the run. The episode list will go a little more into who you'll see. The variety keeps the show mixed up since you never know who will be involved in a situation.

 

The writing is generally par for the course for the team that has brought us the previous animated incarnations of Batman, Superman, and Batman Beyond. I don't much care for the mixing in of mythology and magic (which are the focus of some of the early episodes including gods like Aries and modernized versions of Circe and Medusa). That's just pure personal preference. But I do like the stories of the League facing off against the government especially with the rogue actions of Cadmus Labs. The conspiracy aspects are fun and interesting. The character stories looking in depth at Booster Gold, Captain Marvel, Wildcat, and others are also usually good sometimes even among the best. Not all of the stories are great. 

 

I mentioned my dislike for the mythology and magic heavy stories. They just don't fit well into the universe I was expecting to see, but I guess that has a lot to do with the comic books I gravitated towards (heroes like Batman, Spider-Man, and Wolverine instead of Dr. Fate, Dr. Strange, or Thor).

 

The humorous episodes are generally weak as far as writing goes, but I found myself laughing at a lot of the comic relief in the more serious episodes . The League vs. Cadmus are probably my favorite stories overall. The conspiracy elements and political themes work well. The space stories are not bad but are generally more mediocre. Lex and Brainiac make a good villainous team.

 

Looking back at that list of the types of stories you'll get here, it's quite diverse – maybe even too much so since some of those ideas are weak. Then again the variety means that if you have different tastes than I do you'll probably find something to like.

 

One of the big selling points for me is the inclusion of the Batman Beyond continuity. If you look at my reviews list you'll see that every Batman Beyond episode and movie is included. I guess you could say I like it a little. Terry makes a few appearances in JLU with a better wrap-up to his story than his own series had. I've felt like this was worth seeing as a Batman Beyond fan regardless of what I think of the other aspects of it.

 

Many actors associated with heroes’ voices step in to carry on their characters. Perhaps most notable of them is Kevin Conroy as Batman. Phil LaMarr is John Stewart, and Michael Rosenbaum is Flash and various other voices. Dana Delaney is Lois Lane and occasionally other characters, Oded Fehr shows up a few times as Dr. Fate, Jeffrey Combs is Question and quite possibly the best role I've ever seen/heard him in, and JK Simmons appears as General Eiling a few times. Of course, the actors are as numerous and ever-changing as characters. The show doesn’t skimp on bringing in some impressive names, but more than names there is some real talent here. I'd even go so far as to say the performances could compete with the acting on any TV cartoon and most animated movies.

 

The animation is solid. I like the detail in it, and the animation feels natural. There is some CGI that doesn't really mix all that well with the style of the rest of the visuals, but there were only a couple of those types of moments that really stood out to me.