Iron Man Armored Adventures: The Complete First Season (2008 – 2009/Marvel Comics/Madman Region Free
Blu-ray Set + Region 4 PAL DVD Set/Australia)
Picture: B-/C+ Sound: B- Extras: D/C- Episodes: C+
PLEASE NOTE: The Blu-ray version will play on
all Blu-ray players worldwide, but the DVD set version can only be operated on
machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Four/4 PAL format
software and can be ordered from our friends at Madman Entertainment at the
website address provided at the end of the review. Cover image of the Blu-ray version (along
with all characters shown in and) of this set of Iron Man: TM & © 2010 Marvel Entertainment, LLC. and its
subsidiaries. Animated Series: © 2010
Marvel Entertainment, LLC. and its subsidiaries and Method Films. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. All rights reserved.
While
live-action depictions of Iron Man are new, there have been animated series
since the late 1960s and now that the character is more popular than ever,
we’ll be seeing even more of him all around.
This includes versions aimed at younger audiences. Iron
Man Armored Adventures: The Complete First Season (2008) takes Tony Stark and makes him into
a teenager (younger than Peter Parker?) designing the first suit and battling
his rogue’s gallery for the first time in a simple series aimed at children and
younger teens.
The show mixes
hand-drawn animation and some CG work smoothly enough and the costume used is
more like the 1970s version than any current design. This double Blu-ray set contains all 26
half-hour shows (numbered in the menus, but all have titles) and Madman has
also issued a 6-DVD box set (nicely designed) with the same exact content. The show is not bad, but is thin on story so
the younger audience is not too challenged, but outside of its target audience,
only diehard fans of the character or animation overall will enjoy the
show. It makes the teleplays of the
1960s series seem complex and has less edge that the decent animated Invincible Iron Man Lionsgate issued in
the U.S.
in both formats.
However, the big story
for fans is that this is a complete season, while Genius in the U.S. only
managed to issue a Volume One
Blu-ray to date, so those who have to have more can get this set, though those
wanting the DVD must-have a multi-region player to enjoy that format. Blu-ray owners will not have such a problem.
The 1080p 1.78 X 1 image on al the episodes are
consistent, but the show has a slight softness from the visual approach (a
touch of Animé?) and the digital visual effects that are not always as sharp or
as clear as they could be, likely due to technical and budget constraints. However, this still looks good and is more
colorful and defined than the anamorphically enhanced DVD versions from the boxed
set.
The PCM 2.0 Stereo
version of the sound on the Blu-ray is warm enough and like the Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo on the DVD has Pro Logic type surrounds, both sounding pretty good,
though the PCM has the edge for less compression means less error and more
subtle detail. The Genius U.S. Blu-ray
is supposed to have DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mixes, but whether
they are that much better than the PCM here is something we look forward to
finding out down the line. Extras
include trailers for other animated releases from Madman on the DVD stem, while
the Blu-ray set has absolutely no extras whatsoever.
As noted
above, you can order these Blu-ray and PAL DVD set imports exclusively from
Madman at:
https://www.madman.com.au/actions/channel.do?method=view
-
Nicholas Sheffo
