The CW has built up a solid stable of superhero shows that have proven to be a godsend for the network. Comic book fans are living in an era of content that would have been unthinkable to them a few decades ago, as new adventures with Supergirl, The Flash and Batwoman are just a flip of the channel away. The honor of the most consistently creative of all of the CW series would have to go to DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which just recently wrapped its fifth season. The show started out trying to match the tone of shows like Arrow and The Flash in the first season, which resulted in a creatively middling effort that failed to create much in the way of excitement. Thankfully, the show found its footing in subsequent seasons by embracing the absurdity of time travel and really swinging for the fences with special themed episodes. Where other series have grown stale, Legends of Tomorrow has continued to give a middle finger to convention and do its own thing.
Unlike its fellow CW shows, Legends of Tomorrow gets to begin its season proper post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, the epic crossover event included in this set that changes all of the shows in a major way. The beginning of the fifth season sees Sara (Caity Lotz), Ray (Brandon Routh) and Mick (Dominic Purcell) adjusting to life post Crisis, where loved ones were lost, while the rest of the team deals with the fallout from the season four finale. The team was able to defeat Neron, but the timeline changed resulted in Zari (Tala Ashe) being replaced by her previously dead brother, Behrad (Shayan Sobhian), and all memories of her wiped from the team. The new season also sees the dismantling of the Time Bureau, which leads Ava (Jes Macallan) joining her girlfriend on the waverider full time. This is a season which introduces new faces while saying goodbye to old favorites, all in the midst of some fun time-traveling hijinks.
This season finds the team combating “encores” of famous revived individuals who are popping up in the timeline and throwing everything out of whack. From an initial trip to early twentieth century Russian to deal with Rasputin to trying to prevent Genghis Khan from starting a new empire in 1990s Hong Kong, the Legends have their hands full. There is something so satisfying about a show that has a format that allows it to explore different themes from week to week. If you want an outlandish costume drama with an eventually-headless Marie Antoinette, this show delivers. If you want to jump over to a frat party where you get to play beer pong against the Greek god Dionysus, we have got you covered. The show has so much fun in creating fascinating scenarios and time periods for the characters to exist in, and that joy translates to the audience. One of the standout developments of the season is a send-up of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood in which the gang learns some important life lessons in the form of a children’s television show. It is this wild creativity that keeps you coming back every episode when other shows have started becoming a bit of a chore to watch.
This season is not all about throwing our characters into a new genre each episode. There are several different important character developments and plotlines that are explored throughout the season. Constantine (Matt Ryan) is forced to reckon with actions from his past which leads to a search for the Loom of Fate. The relationship between Constantine and Astra (Olivia Swann) is an intriguing one to track throughout the season, as allegiances are not always clear and emotions from past transgressions linger in the air. Ray and Nora (Courtney Ford) continue to take their relationship to some emotionally satisfying places. Zari returns to the team, but not exactly in the form that we all know and love. The effect of the timelines shifting on this character in particular brings both joy and heartbreak. Even Mick, the grizzled veteran of the group, has a major familial shakeup that opens up a whole new world for the character that I really enjoyed. This fifth season continues to find the show comfortable in its identity as the oddball of the CW lineup. With as many laughs and emotionally rich moments as it brought this year, I hope it continues to wear that label as a badge of honor.
Video Quality
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Fifth Season arrives on Blu-Ray with a pleasing AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The levels of detail in this presentation is quite fabulous, as all of the subtle details in the various settings are easily identifiable. The series is quite bright and colorful, and there are some magical instances of beautiful colors popping off the screen. Black levels are appropriately deep and give way to a nice amount of detail in shadows. The bright whites of the show do not fall victim to any blooming in this presentation. Skin tones appear very natural across the entire cast. There are no egregious instances of aliasing or compression artifacts detectable here. The show uses CGI to pretty great effect, and that is represented well here. The Blu-Ray presentation will be very appreciated by fans of the show.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with an incredibly active DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that perfectly brings every location to life. Dialogue always comes through nice and clear without being stepped on by the powerful score or any sound effects. Action sequences and more kinetic moments are given the appropriate power in the mix with a forceful showing in the low end. Ambient sounds are also precisely placed in the rear channels. The score of the show often fills the room with tonally appropriate music that plays to the strength of each adventure. The audio track does a capable job of handling everything that is thrown at it with ease.
Special Features
Disc One
- Deleted Scenes: Nearly 14-minutes of unaired scenes are included here including additional interviews from “Meet the Legends,” additional funny moments with Behrad and the team, some amusing Mick moments, several Zari-centric scenes and more. Some of these scenes feature unfinished special effects.
Disc Two
- Deleted Scenes: Twelve minutes of unaired scenes are included here including some excised moments with Gary, some interesting moments between Sara and Ava involving a sword, some nice moments between Ray and Nora, additional moments with Astra evading killing Constantine and more.
Disc Three
- Deleted Scenes: Seven minutes of unaired scenes are included here including additional moments with Mick’s daughter, Gary getting tortured for information, Mona watching the Legends on tv and more. Any fan of the show will enjoy getting a look at all of the scenes included on this set.
- Post Production Theatre: A four-minute featurette where the post production team shows off their acting skills to provide a temporary placeholder for unfinished pickup shots. It is interesting to see where the scenes started out and how they were realized in the final version.
- More Fun Moments Collection: Twelve-minutes of additional inventive moments that were unable to be used in the show including parody commercials and a sizable amount of footage with the Mr. Rogers-esque character from “Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac.” I personally love all the weird places this show goes, and it is fun to get even more of this footage.
- Gag Reel: I love a good gag reel, and this one provides eight minutes of silly moments, flubbed lines, bleeped curses, retakes and more. You can feel the fun and camaraderie between the cast members.
Disc Four
- Crisis On Infinite Earths: All five episodes from the insanely epic crossover event are included on this disc.
- Crisis On Infinite Earths – The Architects Return: A twelve-minute featurette on the creation of the original Crisis storyline straight from the creative team that developed it. Marc Guggenheim also talks about adapting the story to fit the television narrative. It is fascinating to hear the reasons behind the original run and all of the blood, sweat and tears that went into pulling it off.
- Crisis Management: A thirteen-minute look at how the creative team brought various different pockets of the DC universe into the crossover, even beyond the CW universe. There are also discussions of how they planted seeds to build up to the event that would honor all of the stories.
- Crisis Past and Present – Kevin Conroy Bat Legend: A three-minute look at bringing the iconic voice from Batman: The Animated Series into the crossover event as a live-action version of the character.
- Crisis Past and Present – Superman vs. Superman: A nearly five-minute look at getting Brandon Routh back into the Superman costume for the event, and how they drew from the comic to inspire where the character is in this universe.
- Characters In Crisis – Pariah: A four-minute look at the origins of Pariah in the original story and how they portrayed the character during the crossover. Guggenheim gives some great insights into why they made certain choices for the character.
- Characters In Crisis – Anti-Monitor: A five-minute look at the supreme villain of the series from his origins in the comic book to the screen.
Final Thoughts
The fifth season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow finds the show delivering incredibly fun, inventive adventures for our characters while giving everyone a chance to shine throughout the season. The series has done an excellent job of building up a strong bench of characters that keep you invested even when ones you really like depart the show. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has provided a Blu-Ray set with a high quality A/V presentation along with some cool special features, including the full Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. For my money, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is the most enjoyable show currently airing in the Arrowverse. Highly Recommended
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Fifth Season is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
