A new Animated Batman by Bruce Timm (of TAS fame) and Matt Reeves (of The Batman game). I had heard vaguely about this but the trailer just dropped and it looks amazing.
It looks like they’re going for a reinterpretation of the original look of Batman way back in the late 30s early 40s. Same with Catwoman. In Batman the Animated Series, some of the folks on that project were obsessed with Batman boning Batgirl and finally made it happen in The Killing Joke. Hopefully they’ve got that out of their system.
BTW meant to mention this is on Amazon Prime starting August 1st.
My reaction to the trailer was “This again?” I like Batman but I’ll skip this one, same as The Brave and the Bold. I’ve had enough of him, and more than enough of the Joker. Besides, I’ve for BTAS on DVD and Timm seems to be going for the same vibe.
Personally, I am excited by the tone. TAS ended 30 years ago so I am happy and ready to see more. The Brave and the Bold didn’t hook me. I never watched that one other than one or two episodes. Maybe I should give it a second chance.
The first season dropped today and I’m watching the first episode right now. It very much has the same '40s noir aesthetic as TAS, though a lot more racially desegregated (Commissioner Gordon and Barbara Gordon are both black, and the Penguin is a female Mafia boss who runs her operation from an offshore casino boat) than you’d expect for a period piece, with a strong emphasis on the detective story aspect of Batman, and I’m really enjoying it so far. Alfred is young and portly, like his original depiction in the comics.
Judging from the elevated rails, this version of Gotham is based on Chicago.
The second episode is a Golden Age Hollywood murder mystery based on the original version of Clayface.
I absolutely love the mood they’ve established so far. It’s Batman: TAS mixed with Sin City, and definitely intended for adult audiences.
I like that Batman addresses Alfred as “Pennyworth”, in the tradition of addressing a valet (which rhymes with “pallet”) by their last name. It’s one of the little touches that contributes to the period setting of this series.
Yeah I also watched the first two and it was exactly what I wanted. Much like TAS but different enough to feel like a fresh take. It’s interesting that the voice of BW/BM is doing a Kevin Conroy impression either consciously or unconsciously. I like it so far.
I don’t know if anyone else is watching but this show is great.I still have two episodes to go but I can’t imagine it falling apart at this point.
There is a great Easter Egg in Episode 8 (the Carnival one). I couldn’t stop laughing each time it came up.
Excited to watch this, just haven’t gotten around to it.
I saw a few references to Brave and the Bold upthread and I highly recommend it. It’s decidedly not more of the same, especially when you consider that it came out in 2008: the same year The Dark Knight continued the trend of making Batman darker and grittier with each iteration.
Brave and the Bold was goofy and clever in all the best ways. Really, really good show.
It had a bit too much of the “Batman just happens to show up at the exact right time” going on. Of course, the comics were full of that. I only watched the first couple eps, and didn’t see, is that damn Robin supposed to show up?