The third and final season of the future-set “Batman Beyond” consisted on 13 episodes, 12 of which ran between September 2000 and April 2001. These deal with the Royal Flush gang stymied when no one wants to pay for the release of kidnap victim Paxton Powers, a superman who steals a valuable isotope from Wayne-Powers, a dissolving Inque and her daughter, an ex-con employed at Wayne-Powers, a supersmart gorilla, a two-part tango with the Kobra gang, and the return of Zeta the synthoid.
A third-season “Batman Beyond” two-parter, “The Call,” features Superman trying to discover which Justice League member is trying to kill the others. In a nifty bit of casting Christopher McDonald, who played Jor-El in the first episode of “Superman: The Animated Series,” gives voice here to the aged Kal-El. Aquagirl, Micron, Warhawk and Green Lantern turn up too. The hour served as a dry-run for the “Justice League” series that would follow.
The “Beyond” series finale, an episode titled “Unmasked” that flashed back to Terry McGinnis’ early days as Batman, premiered December 18, 2001, delayed from September due to the 9/11 attacks.
But the real end to the “Batman Beyond” storyline can be found in “Epilogue,” the last episode found on the Justice League Unlimited Season One set. Which provides a handy segue to …
Justice League Unlimited: The Complete Second Season contains the last 13 episodes of the series. When it ran on Cartoon Network, it was billed as both “Justice League Season Five” and “Justice League Unlimited Season Three.” Super-confusing!
But, to clarify, the new set contains the big Legion of Doom season that started with Gorilla Grodd breaking Lex Luthor out of prison. Black Adam, Deadman and the true Hawkman, Carter Hall, finally put in appearances. Malcolm McDowell returns as Metallo. Wonder Woman looks after the corpse of Viking Prince. The Flash gets a museum. Non-powered heroes like Green Arrow and Vigilante have to deal with a super-soldier. Flash and Luthor swap bodies. Roulette pits Black Canary and Huntress against Vixen and Hawkgirl. Supergirl joins the Legion of Super-Heroes. Geek bliss, at least for those of us weaned on the DC Comics universe.
NewsRadio: The Complete Fifth season was the final season of the show and the only without the great Phil Hartman, a.k.a. Troy McClure a.k.a. Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. But “Newsradio” benefited from many elements, and series mastermind Paul Simms was still cranking out first-rate scripts in season five.
One of the best things about season five is it introduced the hilarious Patrick Warburton as Johnny Johnson, a quietly sinister rival to Jimmy James. Also? Jimmy becomes a fugitive, Matthew loses Jimmy’s $7 billion fortune, Joe invents Joe-jitsu, puts the break room on the Internet and invents a smart drink that turns Matthew into Smatthew, and Lisa regains her Boston accent, gains a hot assistant (Tiffani Amber-Thiessen) and marries Johnny Johnson.
The season ends with Jimmy James moving the entire staff to rural New Hampshire (where Simms says it would have remained had the series been renewed for a sixth season).
Twenty-two episodes, gag reel, commentaries and deleted scenes are included.
The Wild Wild West: The Complete Second Season was the first color season of an insanely entertaining CBS adventure that brilliantly slapped together two commodities hot in the mid-1960s: James Bond and the TV Western. It was about a pair of Secret Service agents – James West and Artemus Gordon – who thwarted American enemies at the behest of President U.S. Grant. The result was wild, and wildly influential, steampunk sci-fi craziness.
Season two introduced Boris Karloff as the Maharaja of Ramapor, Victor Buono as Count Manzeppi, John Astin as Count Sazanov, Carroll O’Connor as Fabian Lavendor and Ida Lupino as Dr. Faustina.
Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford’s appearance in season two’s “Night of the Returning Dead” was directly responsible for launching Richard Donner’s feature career. Donner directed that episode - and when Davis and Lawford decided to make “Salt and Pepper” together for the big screen, they brought Donner aboard to helm.
Dwarf actor Michael Dunn returned to the role of Dr. Miguelito Loveless several times in season two, most memorably in “Night of the Raven,” which features the tiny Loveless utilizing a potion that shrinks his adversaries to the size of mice.
Finally, if “Hawaii Five-0” has the best title theme in the history of TV, I believe “The Wild Wild West’s” can claim all-time runner-up.
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