Tag: Legends of the Superfriends

The most unexpected news released to coincide with the New York Comic Con — even more unexpected that the price drop on 22-page $3.99 books — is the announcement that Legends of the Superheroes is being released on DVD.

Legends is the Star Wars Christmas Special of superhero shows – a show of such unimaginable cheesiness that it was thought buried in Warner Brother’s doomsday vault never again to see the light of day. Well under DC Entertainment’s new directive (“For godsake make some money!”) Warner Archive are releasing Legends for the public the judge for themselves.

The official synopsis reads:

Heroes and villains of DC Comics square off in the two-part, live-action, made-for-TV (with a laugh track!) smackdowns of Legends of the Super Heroes. The Challenge: Batman and Robin (Adam West and Burt Ward of the live-action Batman TV series) lead The Flash, Green Lantern and more JLA members against The Riddler (Frank Gorshin reprising his TV role), Mordru, Weather Wizard and other Doom-dealers. The Legion’s ultimate gambit: trick the heroes into downing a diabolical depowering drink! The Roast: Poking fun beats swapping punches when celebrity host Ed McMahon emcees a rowdy rave-up. Who knew DC Super Heroes and villains packed as much verbal wit as physical grit when not locked in mortal combat? These Legends will leave you laughing.

Warner Archive is usually the label Warner Brothers uses for releases of obscure material where the financial burden of preparing DVD extras may not be justified. However, for Legends we’re in for a treat – or trick – as the DVD will include 8.5 minutes of previously unseen SFX shots, bloopers, and the like. They joked on their twitter stream:

We almost literally dug the original 2″ video masters out of the salt cave in Kansas, mislabeled and forgotten. + we found cans of outtakes with unseen footage. whether the footage deserves to be seen is another matter, but then I’ve seen it like 8 times already.

What is even stranger is that this is one of the few instances where you’ll be able to own a DVD with Adam West playing Batman live. The theatrical release that went with his 1960s shows is available on DVD, but the rights for the original Batman TV series are still locked up in an arcane splits between Warners, ABC/Fox, and the producers.

Updated 19/10/2010: Warner Archive have released the box design for the Legends release.

The release date will 20th of October and it will be available exclusively from WBShop.com. [update via: TV Shows On DVD.com]