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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
DC's Legends of Tomorrow - Season 2 (Blu-ray) (2017)

DC's Legends of Tomorrow - Season 2 (Blu-ray) (2017)

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Released 23-Aug-2017
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Sci-Fi Action	Deleted Scenes Outtakes-Gag Reel Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Allied: The Invasion Complex Featurette-DC's Legends of Tomorrow: 2016 Comic-Con Panel
Rating
Year Of Production	2017
Running Time	714
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Dermott Downs Kevin Tancharoen Ralph Hemecker Antonio Negret
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Brandon Routh Caity Lotz Victor Garber Nick Zano Franz Drameh Dominic Purcell Arthur Darvill Maisie Richardson-Sellers Neal McDonough Matt Letscher John Barrowman Wentworth Miller
Case	Standard Blu-ray	Starring
RPI	$54.95	Music	Blake Neely

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English Danish Dutch Finnish French Norwegian Portuguese Spanish Swedish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    There is a defining moment during the ambitious three-episode crossover event that runs across The Flash, Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow (also incorporating Supergirl) wherein the primary characters from all four shows stand together in one iconic shot. Now that is one hell of a team. However, when heroes like The Flash (Grant Gustin), Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) are removed from the equation, the remaining squad is markedly less interesting. And that’s one of the major problems with Season 2 of Legends of Tomorrow: the titular team of “Legends” really does feel like a C-grade version of the Justice League, especially given that the ensemble cast is reduced for this second outing. Worse, this season is unable to find a compelling reason to actually exist. As a result, we’re two seasons in and Legends of Tomorrow has yet to hit its stride - there are a handful of strong episodes throughout Season 2, but the show usually winds up slipping back into mediocrity.

    Captain Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) is missing, and has covered his tracks to make sure that the remainder of the Legends cannot find him. In addition, Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) is deceased, both Hawkman and Hawkgirl have left the team, and the Legends are scattered throughout time. Analytical historian Nate Heywood (Nick Zano) works to bring together the surviving crew, uniting Sara Lance/White Canary (Caity Lotz), Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Roth), Martin Stein (Victor Garber), Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh), and Mick Rory/Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell). Travelling through time, the Legends catch the attention of the Justice Society of America, and are joined by one of its members: Amaya Jiwe/Vixen (Maisie Richardson-Sellers). In the midst of this, the Legion of Doom - comprised of Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman), and Eobard Thawne (Matt Letscher) - collaborate to retrieve the mythical Spear of Destiny, which has the potential to rewrite history.

    Darvill, one of the true bright spots of Season 1, is absent for the first half of this season due to the actor’s commitment to Broadchurch. The producers cannot help actor availability of course, but Darvill’s absence leaves a huge hole that’s never filled, as Lotz becomes the de facto captain and she’s not quite up to the task. However, working in the show’s favour are the three central antagonists. McDonagh made such a positive impact in an otherwise dire fourth season of Arrow, while Barrowman is always welcome and Letscher remains a superb Reverse Flash (reprising his role from the first season of The Flash). It’s undeniable that the story of Season 1 was far too thin, but the narrative throughout Season 2 is a bit more involving at least, and it helps that the show mixes things up with some standalone episodes before dealing with the season’s central story arc once Rip is reintroduced. Nevertheless, the show still lacks tautness - there are a few uneventful “filler” episodes, which is more than likely the direct result of more episodes being ordered after filming on the season had commenced.

    In keeping with the first season, Legends of Tomorrow is still varied from episode to episode, consistently jumping to different time periods and settings (from the Civil War to World War I and WWII) in an attempt to keep the show feeling fresh. There is a noticeable improvement in production value this season, with superior digital effects despite the television budget and fast production turnaround times. However, the illusion doesn’t always work - in particular, and the show falls flat during a visit to the Cretaceous period, marred by some absurdly unconvincing computer-generated dinosaurs. If it cannot be done properly, it should not be done at all. There’s also something inherently cheap-feeling about the Legends seeking a spear that looks a plastic Halloween prop. In addition, the cast is hit-and-miss. Wentworth Miller’s absence is definitely detrimental (he shows up here and there, but he should be a regular), and the likes of Zano and Richardson-Sellers are infinitely less interesting. Purcell is the show’s biggest ace in the hole, providing sarcastic remarks, while Routh’s boy scout attitude is endearing. Garber, meanwhile, is way too good for this show (it’s hardly surprising that he is leaving in Season 3).

    It’s no secret that the producers are devout fans of the BBC program Doctor Who, and there has been an unmistakable Who vibe since the beginning of Legends of Tomorrow given that the Waverider can travel through time and space. In addition, shades of Firefly are also present due to the spaceship setting and the attempts to carve out witty, distinct characters. Legends of Tomorrow is more or less the place for the creators to have fun paying homage to their favourite pop culture items, which is one of the more agreeable aspects of this season. In one episode, the Legends meet a young George Lucas (played by Matt Angel) in his film school years, leading to a number of Star Wars references, and it’s only through the team’s encouragement that Lucas decides to continue pursuing the career of a filmmaker. And in another episode set in WWI, J.R.R. Tolkien (played by Jack Turner) is called upon to offer his assistance, and the snide references to The Lord of the Rings should have well-versed nerds smiling. These touches are undeniably fun and add a splash of light-hearted colour, but it’s not enough to redeem the show as a whole.

    It’s surely no coincidence that the best episode of this second season is the crossover episode, “Invasion!”, which provides the ending of the multi-episode arc. The team-up with the other characters is a treat, and it’s the most expensive-looking episode in the season, with convincing enough digital aliens. It’s clear that a fair chunk of the season’s budget was siphoned into the crossover, to make it the best that it could be within the confines of television. Although it’s still not a patch on what a theatrical blockbuster could provide, and the story does end too soon, it nevertheless succeeds in being light-hearted fun, particularly when all of the heroes come together to fight the Dominators. However, other episodes throughout the remainder of the season are less successful - in particular, “Camelot/3000” is hard to watch, as it’s marred by terrible writing.

    Legends of Tomorrow never attains the greatness or the maturity of all the best superhero shows like Daredevil or Gotham, but it admittedly aims for a different type of matinee fun. It does manage to be an entertaining ride at times, particularly during the second half of the season, but the show’s hit-and-miss disposition as well as the often shoddy writing is utterly maddening. The writers strive for witty Joss Whedon-esque dialogue, but it frequently falls short, and the characters keep finding themselves in contrived situations. I still can’t really recommend this show when there are so many other, better shows on the air, but if you enjoyed the first season of Legends of Tomorrow, you might find some merit in Season 2.

Here's the configuration of the seventeen episodes across the three discs:

Disc 1: Episodes 1-6
Disc 2: Episodes 7-12
Disc 3: Episodes 13-17

As with the Supergirl Season 2 set, the crossover episodes with The Flash and Arrow are not included in this set. Therefore, the episode "Invasion!" picks up where the other shows left off, and casual viewers unaware of the backstory will be left utterly lost. While adding two (or three, depending on if you count the minor Supergirl tag) more episodes to the set might annoy those who do religiously buy each season of these shows who don't want doubles, it's still a baffling decision as the season feels incomplete without them. Who wants to change discs for each episode of the crossover? Plus, Season 5 of Arrow was not very good at all...

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The sixteen-episode first season of DC's Legends of Tomorrowwas placed across a mere two discs, resulting in severe compression which seriously hindered the quality of the video presentation. For this second season of seventeen episodes, Roadshow/Warner Bros. wisely makes use of three discs, but they unfortunately fail to make full use of each dual-layered BD-50 (as usual) - over 10GB remain unused on each disc, with a hideously low bitrate around the 12 Mbps mark, looking very much in line with the first season. As I've stated in my previous reviews of Arrowverse shows, this sort of compression is more in line with a Netflix stream when a Blu-ray should offer the best possible presentation on disc. All seventeen episodes of this second season are presented in their original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1, which means that the presentation will fill an entire widescreen TV - and there's more on-screen real estate for the scant bitrate to handle.

    With this in mind, how do the AVC-encoded, 1080p presentations of each episode hold up? Better than expected, actually, though that's still not exactly a ringing endorsement and the video should still look superior. First things first, the presentation is pristine and clean, owing to its digital origins, and it's likely that the encoding was done directly from the digital intermediate of each episode. In addition, colours are usually impressive - Legends of Tomorrow is a bright and colourful show in its costumes and set design, while skin tones look realistic. It all looks true to the show's broadcast origins, with no revisionist grading. Admittedly, though, it would have much more pop if it was presented with High Dynamic Range. Sharpness is hit-and-miss, often lacking in stability, which is a disappointment given that this is a high definition presentation. Backgrounds suffer in particular, with hazily-defined edges, but object delineation on the whole is mixed. Darvill's facial hair should be sharper and all-round better defined, but instead it's overly muddy - even in closer shots. Hairs, too, are lacking in crispness - see any shots of any of the female characters with long hair. VFX shots are also rough from a sharpness standpoint.

    In terms of detail and texture, close-ups fare the best of course - an early shot of Dominic Purcell's face after he wakes up reveals sufficient tightly-resolved textures, allowing you to make out his pores and wrinkles. Most close-ups and medium shots look respectable enough for that matter, especially given the compression, but textures seriously falter in wider shots. Indeed, the transfer often refuses to resolve fine detail, frequently looking overly smooth and smeary. In fact, during the transfer's worst moments, it looks like heavy digital noise reduction was applied. I don't believe that Warner Bros. actually did apply DNR, however - this is likely just a byproduct of the shoddy compression. As with Supergirl, there is a noticeable layer of noise from time to time which is more evident in lower-light scenes, but it's often blocky and not as well resolved as more competent video encodes. Banding crops up on a frequent basis, primarily when torches are used in dark areas. I also detected some ringing on edges, but at least I couldn't pick up any macroblocking.

    Oddly, just as the episode "Invasion!" is the best episode of the season, it also scrubs up the best on disc. Perhaps my eyes deceive me, but it looks all-round better encoded, with stronger textures and better-resolved noise, even if it could probably still look better. All things considered, DC's Legends of Tomorrow is watchable on Blu-ray, but the severe compression hinders what should be a near-reference presentation, and the transfer is wildly inconsistent. Indeed, it can look very good at times, but it also looks terrible at other times. Although casual viewers might not care too much, the show can definitely look better in 1080p, and the presentation can't hold a candle to the likes of Game of Thrones or Sherlock. (Hell, even 4K streams on Netflix look much better - see Stranger Things or The Defenders.)

    Several subtitle options are available. The English track looks fine to my eyes.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

DC's Legends of Tomorrow arrives on Blu-ray with a consistently impressive DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track, while a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Portuguese dub is also available for anybody interested. This is a television show, so don't expect reference-quality panning or surround activity, but it does well enough on its own merits, and the lossless encode ensures that everything sounds clear and there are no encoding issues. Dialogue primarily comes through the front channels, and it's well-prioritised in the grand scheme of things, coming through clearly and never becoming drowned out by other sound effects during the action sequences.

There are certain instances of panning, including whenever Firestorm takes to the air or the Green Arrow fires arrows during the crossover episode, and the music consistently comes through the rear channels, though there isn't much in the way of ambience or layered background noise. Subwoofer is also put to good use during the action sequences, with sufficient impact to sounds such as Rory's flame weapon and the various explosions throughout the season. The Dominator screeches are loud, too. Thankfully, I detected no issues with audio sync or drop-outs. Don't expect demo material, but Legends of Tomorrow sounds perfectly good on Blu-ray, especially given the source.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Not much.

Disc 1:

Deleted Scenes (HD)

A selection of deleted scenes that don't add a great deal, and were wisely excised. These are separated into episodes. You can also select these from a scissor icon next to each episode.

Out of Time (1:00)
The Justice Society of America (3:02)
Shogun (1:30)
Compromised (00:39)
Outlaw Country (1:01)

Disc 2:

Allied: The Invasion! Complex (HD; 9:56)

Here we have a simple talking heads segment in which many members of the crew talk about the Dominators, the story of the crossover episodes, and the motivations of the characters. And it's all intercut with clips from the show/s and a tiny bit of on-set footage. But honestly, it's not interesting in the slightest - I'd be much more interested in a proper behind-the-scenes look at the making of the crossover. What a waste.

Deleted Scene (HD; 1:35)

A brief deleted scene from "Camelot/3000."

Disc 3:

Deleted Scenes (HD)

More deleted scenes, which are catagorised by episode. A number of scenes feature unfinished special effects. There is no "Play All" function.

Land of the Lost (2:45)
Moonshot (00:49)
Fellowship of the Spear (00:35)

Gag Reel (HD; 6:39)

As with the first season, this is an insanely fun collection of outtakes and special effects tomfoolery, showing that everybody really has a great time making this show. If nothing else, be sure to watch this.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow: 2016 Comic-Con Panel (HD; 29:56)

In keeping with tradition, here's the Comic-Con panel for DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 2. As usual, since this is a promotional piece from before the season even premiered - and before most of the season had even been shot - there is little in the way of meaty behind-the-scenes discussion that would have made for a more interesting piece. Still, this is a good enough inclusion.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

Supplemental material and language options are identical to the United States release. Buy local.

Summary

I still don't love DC's Legends of Tomorrow even though I wish I could. Season 2 is an improvement over the shaky first season, and it's certainly enjoyable enough, but it's still too cheap and fluffy. Roll on Season 3.

Roadshow/Warner Bros. continue their run of bitrate-starved titles, with strictly mediocre video that should look superior, while the lossless audio is much better. Extras, however, are in short supply. If you're a fan of the show, the set is worth grabbing at sale price. For everybody else, try before you buy.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	LG UP970 4K UHD HDR Blu-ray Player, using HDMI output
Display	LG OLED65E6T. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 2160p.
Audio Decoder	Built in to amplifier/receiver. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
Amplification	Samsung Series 7 HT-J7750W
Speakers	Samsung Tall Boy speakers, 7.1 set-up

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