Hercules Adores ALL-STAR SUPERMAN!! Plus SURVIVOR!! WEEDS!! GUN!! HUGE!! ICE!! CLAUDIUS!!...

Love this one. LOVE it.

My favorite Superman stories in decades have somehow been transformed into the best animated Superman tale I’ve yet encountered -- and easily the best of the direct-to-Blu animated movies DC has issued to date. “All-Star Superman” exceeds all expectations, miraculously capturing so much of the wit, texture and sci-fi imagination that Grant Morrison brought to his episodic 12-issue graphic novel.

It’s a twist-filled PG yarn focused on Superman’s surprisingly comedic and moving personal journey, set in a universe where The Man of Steel is at the end of his career (as the story begins, Luthor’s serving out a long prison sentence and curses that fact that he has been aging while Superman is not) yet has not gotten around to revealing his dual identity to Lois Lane.

The premise (SPOILERS AHEAD): Luthor tricks Superman into overexposing himself to our yellow sun. The incident has two effects: it makes Superman three times as strong, smart, invulnerable etc. etc. as he was previously; and it afflicts him with something akin to terminal cancer, allowing him only months to cross items off his super bucket list.

The movie does a tremendous job of reviving, embracing and contemporizing a lot of the strange and often miraculous accoutrement that surrounded Superman back before Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams and Oliver Queen began pulling DC Comics into darker realms in the final days of the 1960s. You have to love Lois’ reaction when Clark tells her he’s got to interrupt their date to deal with some rampaging reptile men from the earth’s core.

The episodic saga a lot of us read over a period of two years had to lose several huge chunks of narrative to be compacted into 75 minutes, but I’m thrilled that they kept so much of Morrison’s rich detail: the Bowie-ish superscientist Leo Quintum, the pet star-eater, Lex's hot niece, the snotty Kryptonian astronauts, Samson, Atlas, and Superman’s far-future heir. All hail “All-Star” screenwriter Dwayne McDuffie, who adapted Morrison’s work for the screen and scripted also last year's excellent “Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths.” And big kudos regular DC composer Chris Drake, who really rises to the occasion for this very different kind of superhero story.

EXTRAS:

COMMENTARY WITH BRUCE TIMM & GRANT MORRISON (76:36) Learn Timm considers the print version of “All-Star Superman” “the quintessential Superman comic of the last, whatever, 50 years or something.” Learn Morrison is “embarrassed” at how much he likes the animated version of his comic. Learn Timm and Morrison got to know each other after Timm wrote Morrison a fan letter regarding “New X-Men.” Learn Morrison sought to emulate a TV series as he was writing the comic. Learn Christina Hendricks was cast as Lois because Timm thought Frank Quitely’s Lois looked like a girl just out of her teens. Learn Luthor’s hot niece was based on one of Supergirl’s foes from the 1970s.

SUPERMAN NOW (33:48) Learn that the comic is not called “All-Star” because Superman literally becomes all star. DC co-publisher Dan DiDio explains the line was supposed to bring together all-star characters and all-star creators. Learn Morrison got the idea for the title when he spotted someone in a Superman costume walking across railroad tracks at San Diego Comic Con. Learn the original title for the project was “Superman Now.”

THE CREATIVE FLOW: INCUBATING THE IDEA WITH GRANT MORRISON (9:36) A look at Morrison’s efforts to update the look of Superman and his universe. Learn he toyed with doing away with the red shorts. Learn another early title for the project was “Superman 2000.”

BLAST FROM THE PAST (39:46) Two episodes of “Superman: The Animated Series,” dealing with Kryptonian thugs Jax-Ur and Mala, presented in standard definition.

GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD KNIGHTS SNEAK PEAK (11:40) Nathan Fillion’s debut as Hal Jordan is teased. Learn that the early days of Kilowog, Abin Sur and Mogo will be examined via flashbacks. Be reminded that Fillion played Vigilante before he became Steve Trevor.

SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE SNEAK PEEK (12:12) A look at the last fall’s feature based on the Darkseid/Supergirl saga scripted by “Heroes” writer Jeph Loeb. Learn that director Lauren Montgomery is still hot stuff.

Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains is regarded by many as the single best edition of the decade-old series to date. Producers piled together an all-star cast. The 20 returnees, arranged chronologically by debut seasons:

Colby Donaldson, 36 'The Australian Outback' (Season 2) (2nd place); 'All-Stars' (Season 8) (12th place)

Jerri Manthey, 38 'The Australian Outback' (Season 2) (8th place); 'All-Stars' (Season 8) (10th place)

Rob Mariano, 34 'Marquesas' (Season 4) (10th place); 'All-Stars' (Season 8) (2nd place)

Rupert Boneham, 45 'Pearl Islands' (Season 7) (8th place); 'All-Stars' (Season 8) (4th place)

Sandra Diaz-Twine, 35 'Pearl Islands' (Season 7) (winner)

Stephenie LaGrossa, 30 'Palau' (Season 10) (7th place); 'Guatemala' (Season 11) (2nd place)

Tom Westman, 45 'Palau' (Season 10) (winner)

Danielle DiLorenzo, 28 'Panama' (Season 12) (2nd place)

Cirie Fields, 39 'Panama' (Season 12) (4th place); 'Micronesia' (Season 16) (3rd place)

Parvati Shallow, 27 'Cook Islands' (Season 13) (6th place); 'Micronesia' (Season 16) (winner)

Candice Woodcock, 27 'Cook Islands' (Season 13) (8th place)

James Clement, 32 'China' (Season 15) (7th place); 'Micronesia' (Season 16) (7th place (injury))

Amanda Kimmel, 25 ‘China' (Season 15) (3rd place); 'Micronesia' (Season 16) (2nd place)

Courtney Yates, 28 'China' (Season 15) (2nd place)

Randy Bailey, 50 'Gabon' (Season 17) (8th place)

Jessica "Sugar" Kiper, 30 'Gabon' (Season 17) (3rd place)

James "J.T." Thomas, 25 'Tocantins' (Season 18) (winner)

Tyson Apostol, 29 'Tocantins' (Season 18) (8th place)

Ben "Coach" Wade, 38 'Tocantins' (Season 18) (5th place)

Russell Hantz, 36 'Samoa' (Season 19) (2nd place)

True story: Sugar used to make out with that Peter Petrelli guy on "Gilmore Girls"!

The sixth season of “Weeds” found itself reinvigorated when the Botwins found themselves finally fleeing Southern California and the Hodeses. Guest stars included Richard Dreyfuss and Linda Hamilton. The mid-season showdown with Ignacio (Hemky Madera) struck a perfect balance of comedy and menace.