Yearly Archives: 2005

What aspect ratio you watch TV in probably has a lot to do with what sort of television service you subscribe to. Back in the days of broadcast TV and analog cable/satellite all we had was the old 4:3 format with the ocassional “letterboxed” film on special days. Nowadays the slow switch to different forms of digital and/or high-def TV has changed that old 4:3 box to a more cinematic widescreen (16:9). We can buy widescreen televisions – try buying a plasma display that isn’t – and almost every network program is filmed in widescreen. Even when watching normal a 4:3 analog TV most of the programs will have narrow black bars top and bottom to shoehorn in as much of the widescreen picture as possible. The entire world now operates in widescreen, except it seems Warner Brothers Home Video.

The first season of Justice League was animated in the old 4:3 format, but it was specially framed on the screen so that it could be masked top and bottom to produce a pseudo-widescreen experience. Which version you is prefer is debatable. Personally I’d prefer the widescreen version, but then I’m something of a snob on issues like this, but I can certainly understand why the first season DVD release is in 4:3. However, from the second season onwards Justice League, and later Justice League Unlimited, was animated in a native widescreen format.

We’ve had a couple of DVD releases from the Justice League Unlimited seasons that have unfortunately been masked down from widescreen to 4:3. This normally entails keeping the picture height and cropping the width so you loose the sides of the picture. And there is now a very real danger that Warners will do the same for the rest of the Justice League DVD boxed sets. Toonzone, World’s Finest and The Watchtower have banded together to launch an urgent letter writing campaign. You can find out more on the World’s Finest DVD page. They’ve got comments from Bruce Timm on the issue and details of how you can write to WB Home Video. Be nice, be polite, but let them know that you want an unaltered release of Justice League.