Easily the best incarnation of Batman and will always be the standard I hold other takes on the character up to. It also led to Superman: TAS which was also very good and Justice League and JL Unlimited.
In other news, I am very old 
I loved the sarcastic remarks in particular. The sister of someone who called himself “Maxy Zeus” (and really believed he was Zeus) remarked to Batman that he lately did not live in the real world.
“Maybe you can relate to that.” (Batman scowls.)
Robin had something terse to say about Harley Quinn’s past profession, and he and Alfred were less than polite to Batman.
Bruce Timm deliberately modeled the show after the Fleischer Superman theatrical shorts, so you could say it all came full circle.
Batman TAS also spawned Batman Beyond and Static Shock, both of which became part of the primary DC canon.
I was a kid when those were first airing. I agree that they’re the gold standard. The live-action movies were always a disappointment in comparison.
It was good, though I feel it was eclipsed by the later shows (especially JLU). I will say no one yet has topped Conroy’s voice work for the character.
I was just thinking about this today (there was an article on BTAS in IO9). I was a freshman in college when this premiered and I remember that Fox played a lot of ads for the show running up to that first airing. There was a huge buzz in the dorms about it and people who weren’t generally interested in cartoons tuned in to see “On Leather Wings.” I grew up on a steady diet of Superfriends, '66 Batman, and the Filmation cartoons (78 and 69), and was a senior in HS when Burton’s Batman hit the theaters. BTAS had them beat with its unique animation, interesting themes, great voice work, and character depth. For my money, Mask of the Phantasm is the best theatrical Batman movie made. Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski did an incredible job of making an animated show that could be enjoyed by kids and yet wasn’t dumbed down to them.
The only series I didn’t like in the line up was batman beyond
they ruined it by either being about "bratty kids in trouble get sent to miracle reform school only to find out its a dangerous scam or " or lets piss on tas by killing off its villans in the worst way while offering new ones that left a lot to be desired … "
I know a lot of it was a middle finger to fox for not wanting to pay wb for the show …
From “Pretty Poison”:
“B-b-big wings!”
“Yeah, yeah, big wings.”
One of my all time favorite B:TAS lines.
Loved the “dark deco” style. It had a great intro and was pretty dark for a kid’s show.
Fun fact, Harley Quinn was introduced in this show and was so successful she was later added to the comics. Also, Harley’s character was voiced by Arleen Sorkin, who was also an actress on Days of our Lives. She played a Harley Quinn-like character during a dream sequence.
I stopped liking Harley and the Joker when they were re-imagined as juggalos.
I sometimes hate it when a fanboy pop culture site tries to overhype a Thing. But their bits on BTAS have been fun. Especially the original artwork.
Such a classic. I loved knowing that immediately when I saw it originally - YOU try programming a VCR! And introducing it o my kids who both now love it. One of the greats.
And Harley Quinn herself. And the Animated Series version is still the one I prefer. I want her to be goofy and dangerous, not sexy and grotesque.
Of course, there could never be a better voice actor for the Joker than Mark Hamill. This is one of my all time favorite scenes from “Christmas With the Joker.”
Count me in as another fan of BTAS. The characters felt real to me, believable even if the situation was not.
I often thought the movie Bomb “Batman and Robin” would have been sooooo much better if the writers and directors had watched the ‘origin’ shows of Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. Both cartoons told a better story in 22 minutes than the movie did in 2 hours.
This might be the only episode that a lot of people are familiar with - Cartoon Network aired it right after the first airing of the Justice League Christmas episode (“Comfort and Joy” - ironically, Batman isn’t in that episode) since it was only 30 minutes long and they needed something to fill out the hour.
Fun Fact: the Gotham license plates have the slogan: The Dark Deco State
I knew the show was something special when the character Joker sang the real world kid’s version of Jingle Bells. It was so meta.
I agree that one of the reasons it was so great was that it took time to make its villains three dimensional and real. You felt bad for Clayface, Two Face, Baby Doll and others even as you wanted to see Batman defeat them.
Yes, but, a), she wasn’t a show unto herself and, b), that’s common knowledge. I do challenge that she wasn’t meant for sex appeal, especially with scenes like her emerging wiggling ass-first from an enormous cream pie, and y’know the lesbian subtext when partnered with Poison Ivy. Bruce Timm is a major horndog.