“We are the only people who are capable of handling time-traveling aliens.”
Of course, that can only mean The D.C. Legends Of Tomorrow. This is the sleeper of the entire Arrowverse. It’s never really been one of the higher-rated shows, but it has a strong cult audience and has survived more than one season on the proverbial bubble and has beaten back a pandemic and outlasted such better shows as Arrow and Supergirl. I always enjoy it, but I do find it the hardest show to completely follow. It will delve into the silly and the absolutely crazy, and it’s pretty much jumping sharks on a weekly basis. It doesn’t help that every year sees a huge shakeup of the cast, and this season was no exception. The crew of the Waverider change over faster than teens at a fast food joint. Of course, you might be left asking yourself what is this Waverider of which you speak? It’s hard enough to keep track of the players without a program, but it’s a near impossible feat if you are trying to join the festivities in the fourth season. You might want to check out our reviews of the previous years and then rejoin me for the breakdown of the Blu-ray release of DC Legends Of Tomorrow Season 6. Just bang it here to catch up: Legends Of Tomorrow Reviews.
“Step 1: distribute binders. Step 2: Have John use magic. Step 3: Let any romances run their course. Step 4: What is Astra’s deal? Step 5: Even bad leads might prove fruitful. Step 6: Let Rory drink until he cooperates.”
If you’ve gotten yourselves caught up with the previous years of the series, you are ready to tackle Season 6. The above gives you a pretty good idea of the show’s formula.
“Being an Avenger is stupid. The goal is to prevent death. I’m a preventor. Want to join?”
The season begins in 1977 London. The team has all pretty much partied through the night with the rather surprisingly exception of Rory (Purcell). Now Sara (Lotz) is missing on the night she intended to propose to Ava (Macallan). Their first clue comes from none other than David Bowie, who happened to film her being abducted by an alien beam. Turns out Gary (Tsekhman) was an alien. Who knew? OK; we all likely knew there was something alien about Gary, right? Gary’s alien girlfriend leads this mission to capture a strong woman. Of course, he can’t go through with it, and they try to escape, which combined with the team’s effort causes a bit of a bother. Suddenly the various kinds of aliens on the ship are scattered through time, so while Sara tries to escape her situation the team must now track down the aliens. This is a long-standing plot point for the show. They end up doing things that cause a season-long scavenger hunt for bad guys.
“I took some creative license with the details.”
We talked about the revolving cast. This season adds Esperanza “Spooner” to the mix. The team discovers she was also abducted as a child and find her adult self in present day. She has something in her brain that allows her to sense and even communicate with aliens of all species. So she joins the crew. We also get both versions of Zari, currently played by Tala Ashe. Her brother Behrad (Sobhian) has been tinkering with the family jewel that gives them power. That is when he’s not somewhere getting stoned. He splits the heirloom and allows both to have a copy and share its powers, but he also finds a way where the two Zari’s can each have time outside of the jewel. Only one can be in the outside world at a time, so we get to have the old Zari back, which is a delight to Nate (Zano).
“Now I have to get knocked-out drunk to forget this ever happened.”
The season manages to pack in a lot of stuff. The main story arc scavenger hunt takes them to such places and times as Cuba in 1963 where they meet Fidel and Nate gets to help out JFK, a future 2045 Palm Springs where Zari gets to hang with her parents, 1891 Oklahoma where they battle a giant worm controlled by the local power-hungry sheriff, 1939 Spain during the Civil War, and Texas of 1925. They meet people like the aforementioned David Bowie, JFK, and Castro, along with Amelia Earhart (or is it)? We also get a plethora of aliens, including a big one that looks like Mothra and sounds like Godzilla. Someone on the staff must be a huge fan of Joe Dante’s Gremlins. One of the aliens looks almost exactly like Gizmo, except it’s pink. Gary’s alien girlfriend Kayla (O’Brien) ends up teaming with Rory, and they develop an amusing and somewhat touching relationship.
David Ramsey has been showing up in pretty much all of the Arrowverse shows this season for an episode. He shows up here, but not as Diggs. He plays a historically famous old west sheriff who helps the team when they are in 1891 Oklahoma. I’m so glad he’s sticking around, as he was clearly the heart of Arrow, and it would be a shame to not see him in the future. I’d love to see him join the Legends full time.
The character development manages to be very good in spite of all the crazy and silly stuff that goes on. John (Ryan) loses his powers and first goes to the portrait-trapped Allister Crowley for help which, of course, backfires. Astra (Swann) is struggling for her identity and is pretty much paired with Constantine throughout the series. They are on separate courses which to converge at times. He’s looking for a magic fountain that might restore his powers, but he’s needed by the team, so he’s also taking a vampire drug that gives him little boosts. Naturally, it causes other issues, including addiction and mood swings. Their exploits lead to an incredibly clever episode directed by Caity Lotz, which becomes animated in homage to Disney’s Beauty And The Beast. Astra manages to turn the team into items like the characters in the Disney animated musical feature. That episode is loaded with Easter eggs to that film and others from The Mouse House.
One of my favorite episodes is called The Final Frame. Team members try to reach Earth to find it’s no longer there. Instead there’s a bowling alley in space where they are transported by messing with an alien artifact. It’s an invitation to the alley where they now must defeat the reigning bowling champs or Earth will end up in a trophy case. Alvin Sanders puts in a wonderful guest performance as Buddy, the guy who runs the counter at the alley. He wants the Legends to beat the arrogant champs, but can’t interfere. Watching Rory learn to bowl with his gloves is priceless.
There’s a lot of cloning around going on here, and it will impact the future of a couple of these characters. The season’s big bad is a villain who keeps clones ready and waiting each time he’s killed, and it’s not just himself he has been cloning. I’m not sure I like these elements at all. There’s a character “purity” that goes a little bonkers and I think taints the future of the series in much the same way I don’t like the body-rebuilt new character of Picard from his Star Trek series Picard. Sara’s condition changes because of this, and she now has healing powers.
The season ends with no emergency of their own creation to lead into next season.
Video
Each episode is presented in its original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The 1080p image is arrived at with an AVC MPEG-4 codec. This high-definition image presentation is improved because there are 15 episodes spread over three discs instead of two. No more than five episodes per disc. That means an end, at least for this year, of compression artifact. Otherwise, you get better-than-broadcast images with bright colors and better than average detail and black levels.
Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 actually pretty aggressive. There are a lot of super-battles going on with laser guns, fireballs, and plasma blasts. All of this is brought to life quite nicely. The sub levels add a depth to it all. This is a pretty ambitious audio presentation for a television show. Through all of that explosive fun, the dialog manages to cut through just fine. Balance is the word of the day for this one.
Special Features
Gag Reel: (6:42)
Deleted Scenes on select episodes
VFX Creature Feature: (4:41) A layer-by-layer look at scene specific f/x.
Animation Split screen: (5:33) A look at storyboards and art during some of the animated scenes. They truly captured the style of the Disney film.
Actors Split Screen: (1:46) See voice actors recording dialog during some of the animation.
Final Thoughts:
The season ends with somewhat of a resolution. Not a problem they make for themselves. But there are cast changes coming for the next season. The biggest is the loss of Dominic Purcell. Rory was an entertaining character who often kept my interest when things went way out of control. I don’t know who will fill that role in Season 7. It could be a bad year. “Of course, I’m no expert.”
