May 9th, 2002

Toon Zone was able to catch up to Boyd Kirkland and get his response about the recent release of Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero on DVD from Warner Home Video. Boyd Kirkland was part of the creative team that brought much acclaimed story to life.

"Of course, I'm thrilled that SubZero is finally on DVD." said Boyd Kirkland. "As soon as I brought home a copy, my 17 year old son wanted to watch it again! Of course, he's already seen it many times! I think it still holds up very well. I really appreciated the opportunity Warner Animation gave me to make it."

While Kirkland was excited to see the movie released on the digital format, he was a bit dissapointed in the presentation.

"Warner Home Video could have done a little better job with the DVD, though," said Kirkland. "For example, the original sound mix was done in Dolby 5.1 surround, and the DVD only has Dolby Pro-Logic. I also did a wide-screen letterbox master, which was used on the laser disc, but the DVD only has full-screen. Their market-research indicates that kids don't like letterbox, but for those of us with wide-screen home theater systems, letterbox is a must!"

The DVD also presented very minimal extras, mostly geared towards children. One extra, a music video, only provided quick flashes of behind the scenes production.

"Also, no one at Warners made any attempt to contact me to see if I would be interested in doing any commentary, introduction, provide artwork or info on behind-the-scenes making of, etc., which I would have been happy to do," said Kirkland. "Oh, well - at least it's out there, right?"