Toxic Crusaders: The Series (Troma) Blu-ray Review + 1080p Screenshots + Packaging Shots

In a move no one saw coming, Troma has brought the Toxic Crusaders in the HD era with this Blu-ray release.

Studio: Troma
Release Date: March 1st, 1991 (series premiere) / December 10th, 2024 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 5 hours 1 minute (23 minutes or so per episode)
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 2 (BD-50)
Picture: 1080p (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Slipcover: No
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Gregg Berger, Susan Blu, Rodger Bumpass, Paul Eiding, Ed Gilbert, John Mariano, Chuck McCann, Michael J. Pollard
Written by Various
Directed by Bill Hutton, Tony Love (all episodes)
Rating: Not Rated (nothing kids couldn't watch)

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Poster

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What's It About?

The cartoon follows roughly the same plot as the films The Toxic Avenger and it's two succeeding sequels. A complete and hopeless nerd, Melvin, falls into toxic waste and becomes Toxie, a hideously deformed mutant of superhuman size and strength. Teaming with other mutants, No-Zone (whose power comes from radioactive sneezes), Major Disaster (he can control plants), Head-banger (Fender, a singing telegram delivery surfer-type, and Dr. Bender, a stereotype mad scientist, fused together - a hybrid character based on the Siamese twins in "Troma's War") and Junkyard, a dog/hobo hybrid, to become The Toxic Crusaders! Together they fight crime in every sense of the word and finally turn their attention on the Apolalypse Inc. of the movies Toxic Avenger Parts II & III, although in the series the chairman is an alien as opposed to Satan. The series follows the attempts of the crusaders to fight crime and be environmentally safe.

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Video/Audio

TOXIC CRUSADERS was animated on film but edited on video so we are not going to be expecting gold here. Troma has give the master tapes to Screenwave Media to upscale the picture since there is no negative to use. The series was very cheaply animated so they weren't working with A-level material and they have done a pretty decent job getting it to look as good as it looks. This upscale is not as good as the one Plaion Films used for their HE-MAN AND SHE-RA: ENTERNIA COLLECTION blu-ray from two years ago. Sure, they upscaled the video but there are still some remnants of the problems with SD video. Every once in a while you will see a frame or two of interlacing. The image can be dirty at times and motion can be "videoy" at times. Colors are pretty good but I felt they could be improved on. There has also been no clean up done whatsoever, so any imperfection that came from the original transfer from film to tape (scratches, hairs, splotches) are still there. Still, this is the best this series is ever going to look.

NOTE: The closing credits have been redone. They look very modern and stick out from the rest of the show. Of course, Retrorare, who has done the video game, has to have their name in the credits because why?

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Extras/Packaging

Disc 1

Lloyd's Gonna' School Ya"! (1m 44s, HD, 1.78:1) This is Lloyd's intro. Starts with a confrontation between Toxic and Killemoff (actors in costumes) before revealing they are toys Kaufman is playing with.

Who are the Toxic Crusaders? (1m 46s, SD, 1.33:1) This is a very brief promo for the show and the toys.

Toxie and N-Zone March in the Macy's Day Parade! (32s, SD, 1.33:1) I am not sure how one gets to march in the parade and I wonder if the two guys in the costumes found a place to jump into the parade because I highly doubt Troma would pony up the money for something like this when they can just sneak in for free. Still, its kind of cool seeing Toxie in the biggest parade of the holiday season.

Message from Space (30s, SD, 1.33:1) Toy commercial with Killemoff selling us on the toys of his enemies. There are three commercials.

Toxic Toy Jingle (30s, SD, 1.33:1) They're gross but they still get girls.

Toxic Crusaders in 3D (Not Actually in 3D) (44s, SD, 1.33:1) This is a really weird commercial. I can fathom why someone at the toy company thought this was a good way to sell toys. It makes no sense.

Christmas Comes But Once a Year (7m 44s, SD, 1.33:1) An old man wants to make some orphans happy after Santa gives them all broken toys.

Snow Foolin' (6m 2s, SD, 1.33:1) It's like the Winter Olympics but with animals takin place in a small town.

Jack Frost (8m 1s, SD, 1.33:1) They don't make cartoons like this anymore.

Hector's Hectic Life (6m 1s, SD, 1.33:1) Spoiled dog wants to keep his lavish lifestyle but then three puppies are delivered to his house, and has to keep them quiet to gain victory.

Disc 2

Lloyd Kaufman's Classic DVD Intro (2m 2s, SD, 1.33:1) Lloyd tells the story of the Toxic Crusaders as if he is telling it to children.

Original Toxic Crusaders Retail Presentation (4m 54s, SD, 1.33:1) This is a longer version of the "Who are the Toxic Crusaders?" feature from Disc 1. They also show all the different merchandise was made for the show including shoes and stickers. There was also supposed to be a "big budget" live action movie. I love things like this as this was how movies and tv shows were sold back in the day.

Film Footage (3m 9s, SD, 1.33:1) This is another sales video. The sound on this is terrible. It will all but cut out at random times. Its not a problem with the file or anything. This looks like it was presented this way.

Toxic Toy Commercials (1m 5s, SD, 1.33:1) There are two commercials.

Toy TV Spots (1m 30s, SD, 1.33:1) Three more toy commercials.

Lloyd Gets Bent Over By the Studio System (1m 17s, SD, 1.33:1) Lloyd recreates his meeting with New Line Cinema about the Toxic Crusaders live action movie that Troma ended up suing over.

Making The Toxic Crusaders - Making of the Game (1h 13m, HD, 1.78:1) This is a very awkward documentary. First off, why is it on this blu-ray. I get it is made by the same company that did the upscale but that doesn't mean they should be on here. Second, there is no outside footage of anything. We get the interview footage and a title card for each chapter. These chapters don't always match up with the chapter select which is also weird. One of the chapter selections takes us to the middle of an interview. There is guy who is interviewed at the beginning of the documetnary only to be introduced 45 minutes later. There is no footage from any of the Toxic Avenger films, no footage from the TV show, and no footage from the ACTUAL GAME THIS IS A MAKING OF to. This boggles my mind. Why is there no footage of the game? We will get someone talking about the move set for each character which would have gone well with ACTUAL FOOTAGE FROM THE GAME. This is the laziest documentary I have ever had the severe displeasure of having to sit through. Skip this at all costs.

Toxic Crusaders: The Game! (1m 8s, SD, 1.78:1) The new rock rendition of the theme song is terrible. Who the fuck thought that was good?

Radiation March (56m, SD, 1.33:1)

The Toxic Avenger in Ukraine (56m, SD, 1.33:1) This plays at disc start up on both discs as well as being available through the special features menu of disc 2.

TA in 4K! (1m 10s, HD, 1.78:1) Kaurman shows us the difference between the unrestored and restored versions.

I actually like the way this package looks. The front and rear cover, disc art, and menus are all clean and professionally done. Usually, Troma goes with the "home made", cheap look" but here everything looks good. The disc art features Toxie on disc 1 and Killemoff on Disc 2.

Each disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

TOXIC CRUSADERS is a show that should have done a lot better than it did. The show has some great characters especially Killemoff who is a great villain. I think Toxie translares to being a kid's show pretty well. The films are basically live action cartoons but the show never feels like their should be cursing or graphic violence. I wish they could have continued going on with the show. It never would have run for as many years as the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES but it could have ran for a few years.

I have very mixed feelings about this release. The picture quality is pretty good giving us a nice upgrade from the pretty crappy dvds. Its one special feature that brings this release down: the one about the video game. What a pile of shit. I have seen better documentaries made by kids. There is so much wrong with this doc that I could recommend it even as a joke. The inclusion of this doc makes this release a little bit less. Again, the picture quality is not the problem. It's the making of the video game that is the problem. Should you still buy this release? Hell yes! Just don't watch the documentary. It has almost nothing to do with the series and should be avoided at all costs. Don't watch it ironically either because you will hate yourself for it.

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Extras/Menus