Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment requests we note that it provided a free copy of the titles featured below. The opinions I share are my own.
Out now are two titles for Batman fans:
First is Gotham, the crime drama television series that follows a young James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) in his early days in the Gotham Police Department. Also woven into the plot lines are the origin stories of Bruce Wayne and multiple DC villains. In the third season, Gordon becomes a self-made bounty hunter as he tracks the Indian Hill fugitives in an attempt to protect Gotham. While Gordon is chasing Hugo Strange and Fish Mooney, Bullock and Barnes are left to deal with the rise of additional supervillains, Poison Ivy and Mad Hatter, who along with Penguin and Riddler are wreaking havoc on the city. Amidst the chaos, young Bruce Wayne learns more about the Court of Owls criminal organization and begins to discover that there are even more secrets surrounding his parents’ murder. With the stakes rising ever higher, good and evil clash together like never before, and only time will tell which side will ultimately win power over the city and citizens of Gotham.
Out now on DVD and Blu-ray is Gotham: The Complete Third Season, which includes all twenty-one episodes of the third season along with some extras. Heading the bonus features are three featurettes— one on the infamous Court of Owls (12 minutes), one on the new villains introduced in Season Three (10 minutes), and one on Ben McKenzie’s directorial debut (2 minutes). Also included are the Gotham 2016 Comic Con panel and some deleted scenes. Streaming options are available on iTunes (with all bonus features) and on Amazon (with only the Comic Con panel), both priced at $29.99. The DVD and Blu-ray are available on Amazon for $36.99 and $39.99, respectively. Pricing is pretty close on all of these options, so do your own calculations on pricing / features / format and see which one feels like a good fit.
Next up we have Batman and Harley Quinn, the most recent release in the series of DC Universe Original Movies. Based on an original story by animation icon Bruce Timm, this feature-length animated film tells the story of unlikely alliances being formed in the face of potential global tragedy. When Batman and Nightwing discover that Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue (a.k.a. The Floronic Man) are about to take extreme measures to save the planet (eliminating most of the human population along the way), they are obliged to join forces with Poison Ivy’s friend and frequent partner-in-crime Harley Quinn in an attempt to stop her. With Harley’s unpredictable personality and the fate of the whole human race in the mix, Batman has his hands full as he tries to navigate one of his most challenging missions yet.
The voice cast is led by Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) returning as Batman, alongside Melissa Rauch (The Big Bang Theory) making her debut as Harley Quinn. Loren Lester (the voice of Robin in Batman: The Animated Series) returns as Nightwing, and Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) and Kevin Michael Richardson (The Cleveland Show) provide the voices of supervillains Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue/The Floronic Man. This film will be the first of the DC Universe Original Movie line to be released in an Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack, and is also available in Blu-ray Deluxe Giftset (with exclusive Harley Quinn figurine), Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD. Bonus features on all the Blu-ray sets include two featurettes, one tracing the history and portrayals of Harley Quinn and the other examining actor Loren Lester’s work within the Batman animated films. Extras also include a sneak peek at Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (the next entry in the DC Universe Original Movies series), and two bonus cartoons—“Harley and Ivy” and “Harley’s Holiday”. The DVD set also includes the sneak peek at Batman: Gotham by Gaslight but none of the other bonus features.
All formats are available on Amazon: the Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack is currently $29.96, the Blu-ray Deluxe Giftset (with figurine) is $24.96, the Blu-ray Combo Pack is $17.96, and the DVD is $15.16. Lots of options on this one— just remember that (with the exception of the sneak peek) the bonus features on all the Blu-ray sets aren’t on the DVD, so factor that in when making purchase decisions.
