Atari: Game Over

Several years back Microsoft announced the formation of Xbox Entertainment Studios (XES). The original plan with XES was to host a wealthy amount of original entertainment programs for Xbox platforms, kind of like how Netflix and Hulu have their own original TV series and how Sony is doing with the Playstation Store exclusive TV series, Powers that was a hit last year. Everything did not go according to plan however, and in 2014, aside from staying the course on a couple of surefire hit Halo projects, Microsoft announced it was shutting down XES. One other project, Atari: Game Over (trailer), survived because it already wrapped production and was just several weeks away from release. Atari: Game Over is a documentary about an infamous game many say caused the videogame “crash” of 1983.

Hollywood script writer Zak Penn (Last Action Hero, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Avengers) is the director of this documentary. His goal of this project is to debunk the legend of Atari burying millions of unsold copies of the noteworthy disastrous 2600 game E.T. as a myth and prove it exists by tracking down the landfill and excavating Atari’s buried treasure. While breaking down the process on making this excavation happen, Penn also spends the duration of this feature giving a cliff notes version of the rise and fall of Atari, breaks down the career of E.T. programmer Howard Scott Warshaw and Penn makes his case if E.T. was really the catalyst of the 1983 videogame crash in Americ a or not.

For the record, I have played E.T. on the 2600. My dad had a mammoth collection of 2600 games he rounded up at rummage sales on the cheap since he could not afford the then-modern NES. I would spend many weekends back then pouring over mostly cruddy 2600 games, and yes he did have E.T. I vividly recall playing it back when I was about 8 or 9 and remember having no idea with what I was doing and being terrified of the FBI agent that always captured me. I did not spend too much time with it before dismissing it as crap and moving onto something else. There is a great opening montage in Atari: Game Over of YouTubers berating E.T. as they attempt to play to set up what this documentary is all about.

Penn does a great job at tracking down local enthusiasts of the dig site in Alamogordo, New Mexico and how they laid out their theories on how they knew exactly where Atari buried the product in the landfill, which is interesting since Atari left no records of the exact spot they buried it at. It was quite unique watching them dissect their theories and how they eventually wound up being right. Penn interviews other locals and politicians on the challenges he faces on his project with concerned citizens wanting to make sure everything is deemed safe before moving ahead.

Penn wisely takes breaks from the dream dig project analysis with history lessons on E.T.’s publisher, Atari and programmer, Howard Scott Warshaw. I dug the brief rundown of the rise and fall of Atari. Penn interviewed a few former Atari bigwigs including former boss man, Nolan Bushnell to give the quick tale on Atari’s early success and how they were bought by Warner. It is not an in depth look at Atari by any means, but does a good job at covering just enough ground to let you know how big videogames first got in America. Warshaw is a fantastic interview for this piece, he paints a detailed picture on his early success at Atari with Yar’s Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Ark being million sellers and sharing a few entertaining stories of the party atmosphere at Atari. Hearing Warshaw tell the tale on how he wound up becoming the guy to make E.T. and how he embraced the challenge of making it in five weeks was incredibly fascinating. I definitely felt for Howard as he went in depth on how hard he took the poor reception on the quality of his game and how it took him 25 years to recover from the release of E.T. while witnessing Atari crumble around him in the following year as Atari laid off 80% of its employees.

Atari: Game Over comes to a boil on the big excavation day when hundreds of gamers show up to the event hoping to take home a piece of history. Eventually the excavators discover the buried copies of E.T. along with countless other unsold Atari products. One of the most impactful moments of the feature is watching an emotional Howard Scott Warshaw being interviewed by local newscasters moments after they found the first E.T. cartridges. That scene helps justify this project from being far more than a publicity stunt, and really helped solidify it as being a moment in gaming history and I could not help but feel this provided a sense of closure for Warshaw the documentary perfectly captures in this touching moment from Warshaw.

I am on board with the stance the documentary takes in the closing scenes. After interviewing several gaming enthusiasts, they all agree that E.T. is a bad game, but far from being the worst game of all time that many label it as today. I also agree with the interviewees when they go on to say that E.T. is not responsible for the videogame crash and the fall of Atari as Atari was already well on its way going downhill by the time E.T. hit stores. There is a very fitting and well crafted final shot in the feature where you see what happens to the excavated remains of the unsold Atari product.

Atari: Game Over is a brisk watch at just over an hour, which makes it a bummer there are no extras on the home video release as I want to give you a reason to buy this from Amazon. I imagined it could not have been that difficult to tack on some unused interviews and I would have loved to have seen some bonus stories from Bushnell and Warshaw that did not make the main feature. This is a fun mini-history lesson on the early days of videogames, and tells a great story of going on one the most extraordinary of treasure hunts. I highly recommend watching it for free online through your Xbox or the Microsoft Store first before deciding if you want a tangible copy for your movie rack at home.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs


3
12 Angry Men (1957)
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
Dirty Work
Faster
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Ink
Man of Steel
Marine 3 & 4
Mortal Kombat
The Replacements
Rocky I-VI
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Source Code
Star Trek I-XII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
Veronica Mars
The Wrestler (2008)

ECW Unreleased: Vol 2

Welcome to the second part of the ECW Unreleased trilogy of blogs. Part two I will be covering 2013’s ECW Unreleased: Vol 2 (trailer). WWE stuck to the same formula as the first volume with Joey Styles introducing the feature, and chiming in every few matches to set up the next chronological match in ECW’s history that was never before released on a WWE home video product. Vol 2 sees Joey Styles gain a cohost in Tommy Dreamer. The two are a great pairing and seem to have actual meaningful insight to give on past ECW talent to help establish the matches, and Tommy is a hoot poking fun at himself and how he will never retire, ribbing Zach Ryder for casting him out of WWE’s ECW in 2009 and surprised how ECW stayed in business as long as it did. Tommy obviously is still passionate about ECW’s legacy, so it was cool to see him and Joey reminisce about the product every few matches.

Like the previous volume, there is a ton of content on here with a whopping 27 matches on this BluRay, with six of them exclusive to BluRay that totals to nearly nine hours of content on two discs. Like the last volume, a majority of the entrance themes are overdubbed with painfully generic house themes from WWE. I feel guilty for starting to remember which overdubbed generic themes belong to what wrestlers now. I will also give props again for WWE allowing the option of subtitles here, which especially helps in the 1993/94 years when ECW’s in-arena microphone left a lot to be desired.

Bear with me again as I try to quickly march down most, but not all of the matches on here to point out what stood out, and what is skip-worthy. The first match from 1993 is a blast from the past in Tommy Dreamer’s ECW debut as a ripped, yes ripped-and-green-suspender-wearing Tommy faces off against a furried-up Tazmanian Devil (aka Taz). I remember hearing stories how ECW got special permission to use Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton from WCW for one match in 1994, and Styles and Dreamer make sure to give the lowdown on how that all came to be and it was great to finally see that match as Eaton tagged with Sabu against Arn and Terry Funk in a great match with an entertaining mix of old school wrestling and ECW’s brand of hardcore.

I was bummed to see a Cactus Jack/Terry Funk match get thrown out after Public Enemy interferes and the four just wind up brawling as the match got thrown out. The same happens in one of the BluRay exclusive matches with the Dudleyz and a returning Public Enemy match in 1999 after interference from Joel Gertner, Sign Guy Dudley and New Jack results in a big schmoz and the match getting thrown out. These “matches” are actually nice palette cleansers with enough interesting action as a little breather inbetween the longer matches featured. Probably the shortest match on here is another BluRay extra with 911 obliterating Doink in a 1994 contest after three quick chokeslams.

Sandman has always been a dumb fun garbage wrestler. I was happy he got a little over one year stint in WWE to make some decent money, and wished they would have used him a bit more when he got drafted to RAW from ECW. I remember when he almost won that battle royal to become commissioner of RAW and for a brief moment thought of all the dumb goofy hijinx he would come up with before William Regal surprise dumped him out to win. Anyways, there is a great vintage Sandman hardcore match on here against Tommy Dreamer in an I Quit match which features the most bizarre ending to an I Quit match I have ever seen. Did you know the Steiners had a short run in ECW after leaving WWF before returning to WCW in 1995? I forgot about it too, but we have an awesome six-man tag featuring them and Eddie Guerrero taking on Scorpio, Cactus Jack and Dean Malenko in a pretty damn entertaining match that saw the ECW crowd surprisingly receptive of the Steiners. Then again, this was pre-Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner we are talking about.

Moving on there is a couple of nonsensical matches filled with extra weapons and blood everywhere that the crowd ate up for the time, but seem rather overkill now. Those bouts are a 1995 match between Dreamer and Raven and Public Enemy’s last match before going to WCW in 1996 against the Gangstas. Vol 2 features not one, but two Chris Jericho matches. One Styles admits is a debacle to endure, which is billed as a “Hardcore Shoot Fight” against Taz and features all kinds of dumb shenanigans with ECW attempting to cash in on UFC’s first wave of popularity in 1996. The other bout is much better in an entertaining spotfest against Sabu. Like a lot of Ring of Honor matches, there are a lot of nonstop spots in here with no real consistency or story to the match, but I got a little more out of this since it was the first time I saw Jericho bust out a ton of moves I have rarely seen him do before as he kept up with Sabu move-for-move with surprisingly no botches from Sabu!

On the last volume, I recall griping that some of Shane Douglas’s ECW Title matches were a little too slow and plodding as Shane never really appeared to be a true main event caliber player to me. While we do get one of those on here in a mediocre match (until the final minutes) against Al Snow, there is a surprisingly good traditional, technical match against Scorpio for the TV title that mostly sticks to just straight up wrestling with minimal use of weapons (for ECW standards anyways) that I found to be pretty damn impressive.

If you remember ECW’s first PPV like I do, you remember the six-man Japanese match stealing the show with their lightning-fast, nonstop, high-flying action. I had no idea they had another match in ECW a month before that with Dick Togo, Terry Boy and TAKA Michinoku taking on Hamada, Niniwa and the Great Sasuke in another epic affair that is definitely worth watching. There is also another bout filled with nonstop high-flying action as Rob Van Dam & Sabu take on Chris Candido & Lance Storm for the tag titles in another cannot miss bout. Another awesome tag title match is one of the Dudley’s final matches in ECW as they take on Spike Dudley & Balls Mahoney in a match filled with all kinds of risky and scary-to-watch weapon spots.

In Vol 1 I referenced a match where the arena was so hot you can see parts of the crowd shirtless and dripping in sweat due to poor arena conditions. Rest assured there is one of those in Vol 2 in a triple threat for the FTW title with Sabu, Taz and Bam Bam Bigelow where Sabu gets his manager to dump water on him a couple times throughout the match in attempts to cool off. As Vol 2 rounds off with the final years of ECW, a couple matches highlight their cruiserweights that found varying degrees of success in WWE. There is a really good three way dance between Tajiri, Jerry Lyyn and Super Crazy, and if you have the BluRay then you get another awesome encounter between Super Crazy and Tajiri in a “Japanese Death Match.” A couple final BluRay extras worth watching are a pure chaotic cage match featuring Sandman, Scorpio and New Jack take on Public Enemy and Mikey Whipwreck and getting ecstatic in a MVP showing from Stevie Richards as he nearly wins the ECW Title in a four way dance against Raven, Sandman and Terry Funk.

That puts a wrap on ECW Unreleased: Vol 2. Like the previous collection, this one has a well rounded mix of vintage hardcore matches filled with tons of weapons and blood, along with a good dose of traditional and hardcore tag team matches, and a dose of high-flying spotfest matches, and a small-yet-noticeable dose of traditional, technical matches. There were a couple patches where I needed a breather from a few too many hardcore matches in a row, but for the most part the matches are paced pretty evenly. Overall though, this is another recommended collection of matches, with mostly highs and the few lulls seemingly intentionally peppered in so you can catch your breath. I will give the slight nod to this collection over the first with the welcomed addition of Dreamer cohosting with Styes as it was a blast to watch the two get nostalgic over the product.

Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes
Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials
ECW Unreleased: Vol 1
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
Memphis Heat
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
RoH Supercard of Honor V
RoH Supercard of Honor VI
RoH Supercard of Honor VII
RoH Supercard of Honor VIII
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
Top 50 Superstars of All Time
Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season
Warrior Week on WWE Network
Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28
Wrestlemania 29
Wrestlemania 30
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015

WWE Network Original Specials - 2nd Half 2015

I have been surprisingly staying on top of a lot of WWE Network Specials and exclusive series the last several months. In case you do not have time to sift through the archives I thought I would give a quick breakdown on the newest exclusive specials and series that have been on the Network in the second half of 2015. If you want to see even more of my past WWE Network coverage, click here for my analysis on the specials that came out in the first half of 2015, and make sure to see my articles covering WWE Network’s tributes for Ultimate Warrior and Dusty Rhodes memorial weeks.

Undertaker 25th Anniversary - Undertaker debuted at the 1990 Survivor Series so the week of the 2015 Survivor Series marked the 25th anniversary of “The Dead Man.” Aside from posting an assortment of past Undertaker moments and matches, they posted several exclusive WWE Networks Specials throughout the week. Make sure to check out the two part Legends with JBL special where he interviews Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin and Triple H as they all discuss past moments, stories and matches with the Undertaker. It is not too often you hear of behind-the-scenes antics of Undertaker and the guys here have quite a few noteworthy tales you do not want to miss out on.

25 Phenomenal Years is a countdown of Undertaker’s top 25 moments throughout his career. Some of the clips feature new interviews from the talent involved. Undertaker’s Gravest Matches is a two hour collection of the many specialty matches made famous by the Undertaker such as the Casket Match, Buried Alive Match and the infamous Hell in a Cell. These two specials features content that has been recycled on countless other match collections and specials and is not worth going out of your to relive again unless you are a diehard ‘Taker fan or a newer fan that has not been exposed that much to his past. However, definitely make sure to catch the two-part JBL interviews.

Breaking Ground - This will go down as the flagship exclusive WWE Network show of 2015 much like The Monday Night War was the Network’s best exclusive show for 2014. Breaking Ground covers a couple months in the lives of several up-and-coming stars in WWE’s NXT developmental territory. The 10-episode special interviews many of the current NXT stars and even a few who have yet to make their proper NXT TV debut. William Shatner narrates each episode that sees stars rise through the ranks, succumb to injuries, or even worse get their release from their contract.

The Breaking Ground season finale culminates with the Takeover: Respect special that featured the highly acclaimed Bayley/Sasha Banks “Iron Woman” match. If you are a big fan of NXT like I am then rest assured you will get a lot out of Breaking Ground as it goes behind-the-scenes into talent meetings with trainers and management unlike any other WWE documentary or special before it. Highest recommendation for this series above the rest covered in this article.

Table for 3 - Props to the folks at the WWE Network for coming up with affordable to produce, yet enticing to watch content such as Table for 3. The show is exactly as it sounds as three superstars sit down for dinner and talk shop and share stories. There are already ten episodes available and even the least entertaining episodes are still worth checking out for many behind-the-scenes stories from the road or facts I never heard of before. WWE rarely tracks down retired women wrestlers to interview so I was ecstatic and pleased with how the episode featuring Molly Holly, Ivory and Madusa/Alundra Blayze turned out. The episode with New Day is also a riot to watch as you can tell the three are enjoying their long overdue success. The “King’s Court” episode is also worth checking out as William Regal, Sheamus and Wade Barrett jest about being the worst King of the Ring winners among other things.

Legends with JBL - There are only four episodes of this up so far, with two episodes interviewing Eric Bischoff about the Monday Night Wars and the aforementioned two are only found in the Undertaker Anniversary section where he interviews Austin, Michaels and Triple H. Both feature a lot of questions from JBL that covers the talent’s career in and out of the ring and are all get my recommendation.

The WWE List - This show replaced the old WWE Countdown show that ran on the first year of the WWE Network. There are 14 episodes available, and it is an alternative take on the countdown format. Instead of the traditional countdown show, an episode picks a theme and runs down several of the most popular candidates for it. While I prefer the traditional countdown-themed format more, The WWE List is a more condensed watch at around 30 minutes an episode where the old Countdown shows averaged around an hour each. My favorite episode of the year is easily the “Failed Factions” episode that trashed many past factions that you could tell were doomed from the start like 3 Man Band and The Job Squad.

Unfiltered with Renee Young - If you only got 10-15 minutes to kill then definitely check out any episode of Unfiltered. Renee has been pretty consistent at posting a new episode every other week and currently there are 20 episodes. There are a handful of episodes where she interviews actors on press junkets promoting their latest movies that are mostly skip-worthy fluff pieces but the episodes where she interviews wrestlers mostly cover the star’s day-to-day life and hobbies outside the ring and are entertaining watches as Renee is tremendous at getting the stars to open up and discuss their personal lives.

Superstar Inc - I am not that much into the tattoo scene, but NXT announcer Corey Graves is as he interviews several WWE stars like Roman Reigns, Big Show and Kofi Kingston on the meaning of their tats.

Stone Cold Podcast - I am a fan of Steve Austin’s podcast and for about once a month the last several months he has been interviewing former and current WWE talent. Austin is a natural at talking shop with his guests and he has a nice combination of easy-going day-to-day lifestyle topics with the wrestlers and usually mixes in a couple hard hitting questions too. The Shawn Michaels episode features a lot of hunting talk which is a passion for both Austin and Michaels, but they also make sure to discuss the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” moment from 1997 and where Shawn has taken his life since retirement. I really enjoyed the Paige interview which featured a ton of facts on the Diva I never knew of before and how she came out of a family dedicated to the business. Almost every episode is must listen, especially his earlier episodes with McMahon and Hunter that featured more hard-hitting questions, though more of his latest episodes are getting to be more casual laid back discussions, which are still entertaining episodes worth checking out.

Culture Shock with Corey Graves - It has been a couple months since Graves has unleashed a new Culture Shock joint, but for awhile it was running concurrently with Unfiltered, and was another entertaining option on the Network if you only got 10-15 minutes to spare. In this series, Graves travels the country and covers various culture festivals and conventions. Your mileage will vary on this depending on the subject matter at hand, but each episode is short enough that it provided a informative-while-entertaining quick look at hobbies I have zero interest in like when Graves invades Brony-Con and a Star Wars-con, but I get even more out of festivals he attends that I have a varying degree of enthusiasm in like the X Games or Comic-Con.

WWE Rivalries - Last year WWE debuted this new exclusive show which features near hour long looks at top wrestling rivalries of the past. These are extremely well produced, and most feature new interviews to go along with each episode. Last year had a seven episode long season, while 2015 only features a three episode season, yet features legendary rivalries like Steamboat/Flair, Trish/Lita and even the Rock/Cena opus.

The Vault - Until a couple months ago, the WWE Network had rarely updated their vault section of the Network which consists of archived shows from past WWE programs and other promotions. However the last few months the WWE Network has gone wild adding in many past episodes from their extensive tape library. For starters, WWE filled in many gaps in the RAW, Smackdown and ECW TV libraries. Then a couple months ago the Network posted about a random dozen episodes each from the Global Wrestling Federation, Mid-South Wrestling, Stampede Wrestling and the American Wrestling Alliance promotions.

The major show worth mentioning that the Network made sure to add to their lineup was the old premiere NWA show of the mid-80s, World Championship Wrestling. WWE posted nearly an entire two year run from late 1985 until late 1987 when Crockett Promotions was competing nose and nose with the old WWF back when Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen were in their prime feuding with Dusty Rhodes. I already watched a couple episodes of the old WCW show and it has a more sports-like feel without all the over-the-top theatrics that dominate WWE today. Some of the wrestling is a little antiquated by today’s standards, but it is definitely harder hitting, and the promos are leagues better than the painfully line-by-line rehearsed ones we have today. The best thing to compare it to would be a mid-80s version of NXT.

That about wraps it up and as you can see WWE produced tons of new original content this last half of 2015. Hopefully this guide provided you with a convenient way to pick and choose which content to track down first.

Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes
Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials
ECW Unreleased: Vol 1
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
Memphis Heat
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
RoH Supercard of Honor V
RoH Supercard of Honor VI
RoH Supercard of Honor VII
RoH Supercard of Honor VIII
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
Top 50 Superstars of All Time
Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season
Warrior Week on WWE Network
Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28
Wrestlemania 29
Wrestlemania 30
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015

Superheroes: A Never Ending Battle

I have always been a marginal comic book fan over the years. I have never been a hardcore reader of dozens of titles a month, but for the most part since I have been a kid there have usually been one or two titles a month I have been following. I picked it up from my dad, who seemed to have every comic imaginable from the mid-70s to the mid-90s and I remember spending many days as a kid perusing random issues to read off his shelf. The only hero that really grabbed me was Punisher and I have every main series issue of Punisher that has been released since the mid-90s.

There are of course countless other heroes aside from Punisher, and there is a great history to be told of the comic book platform and its many rise and falls over the past century in America. PBS is here to tell that story. In 2013, PBS released Superheroes: A Never Ending Battle (preview), a three-part mini-series hosted by Liev Schreiber. Each part is dedicated to the three main era of comics with the Golden Age (1938-58), Silver Age (1959-1977) and Bronze Age (1978-current). I originally saw it on Netflix streaming, and I believe you can still watch it there for free, but just a few days ago I finished re-watching the collected series on DVD.

The first part has a quick intro of comics being primarily only in the ‘funny pages’ of newspapers back before comic books were a thing. The creation of DC’s Superman and Batman in their respective titles, Action Comics and Detective Comics changed that in the late 1930s and made comic books a regular staple at the newsstand. A lot of time is spent covering the first big heroes of the golden age with ample time is dedicated to Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America and Captain Marvel/Shazam. Many older comic book artists, writers and historians are interviewed here to help back up PBS’s story.

The first episode also has a big focus on how comics were a big part of World War II and how many of the early heroes were depicted against the Axis Powers. This lead to big sales for the business, but in the years following the war those stories against WWII villains tapered off and the documentary does a good job detailing how the rise of the more graphic crime and pulp books came as a result. This also caught the eye of the government and resulted in the comic business creating the Comic Code Authority, which until 2011 was their way of policing themselves much like the MPAA is for the movie business and the ESRB is for videogames. The creation of the code, and thus the end of the golden age of comics is where the first part of the mini-series ends.

Part two is primarily about Marvel Comics exploding onto the scene in the 1960s with the rise of their style of heroes with Spider-Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four and a reinvented Captain America capturing a new generation of readers. Legendary Marvel creator Stan Lee and Marvel’s editor-in-chief Joe Quesada are on hand to provide a lot of background for Lee’s heroes and why they took off and what separated them from DC at the time. DC is mostly featured in part two with the infamous, live action Batman TV show of the 60s featuring Adam West dominating pop culture and the comic business getting a nice rub from it. Other pioneering comic book TV shows are also featured like The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman. I will give props to PBS for tracking down Batman’s Adam West and Wonder Woman’s Lynda Carter to interview on how big and influential those programs were for their time.

Part two also dedicates a solid amount of time to how the civil rights and anti-drug movements of the 60s influenced comics. It made sure to cover how Marvel started to show all races in their books, and how it lead to them creating the first two African-lead comic books with the creation of Black Panther and Luke Cage. DC also got covered here too with the documentary showing how Green Arrow and Green Lantern teamed up to expose racism and later how Louis Lane went undercover as an African news reporter to show how she was treated differently.

The rise of superhero films is the constant theme of part three, which really should be split into two parts as it covers nearly the last 40 years in the business which is simply too much ground to cover in an hour when the first two parts cover around 20 years in the business each. Many clips are shown of the superhero films that have dominated cinema ranging from 1975’s Superman to 1989’s Batman and the countless others that have followed since the mega success that was 2000’s X-Men.

The documentary tries to hit on as many big moments in the business as it can between all the films such as DC having a big year with darker-themed comics in 1986 with The Watchmen mini-series and Batman’s infamous Dark Knight Returns story arc. Writers’ Frank Miller and Alan Moore are interviewed here to show how they provided some much needed change to the light-heartedness of the DC Universe. Ample time is also given to The Death and Return of Superman arc in 1993. On the Marvel side of things, they were featured for the 9/11 events getting featured in their books, and Spider-Man getting a resurgence with Todd McFarlane’s unorthodox art on Spidey which the feature then segues into McFarlane and Jim Lee departing Marvel to create Image Comics and their marquee comic, Spawn. Episode three ends with what the future holds for comics as the business shifts to a bigger reliance on digital sales.

Part three suffers from missing too many other key points in the industry. The big demise of sales in the mid-90s is quickly glossed over and the mega disappointment of 1996’s Marvel vs. DC crossover is not mentioned at all, and neither is Marvel nearly going bankrupt in the late 90s after their ill-fated Heroes Reborn and Heroes Return events that restarted the numbering on several legacy comic books that did not go over well with fans at all. Civil War was a huge event for comics in the mid-2000s and it only gets a very brief mention here, and I was very shocked that DC’s New 52 relaunch of their entire universe in 2012 got no coverage at all here. For what PBS did dedicate time to they covered well, but they should have stuck with the 20 years per episode format of the first two installments and have one episode covering from 1978 until the bust in the mid-90s and another episode with 2000 and beyond instead of trying to cram everything from 1978 on into 55 minutes. As a result, a lot of big moments in the industry as mentioned above got little to no coverage.

There are 46 minutes of bonus interview clips in the extra features. Highlights include Lynda Carter reminiscing on the low budget of the Wonder Woman TV show and bonus interviews with creators on origins of Joker, Spider-Man and Silver Surfer. I could not help but have a big grin as a fan interviewed who attended the first comic convention in 1967 detailed what their experience was like and how dressing up as heroes (more commonly referred to today as cosplay) took off at the very first con that had only about 200 attendees. It is a nice amount of extras they could cram on the one disc on top of the near three hours the main feature runs. It is hard to recommend Superheroes: A Never Ending Battle to buy when it is available for free on Netflix. I picked it up because I feel this is as good as an overall documentary on the business we are going to get without going into the overkill territory by being a 20-part endeavor that covers all the nuts and bolts of the business.

Previous TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
Angry Videogame Nerd Vol 8
Angry Videogame Nerd Vol 7
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1
RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-12
Seinfeld Final Season