I just saw what I believe to be the first episode.
I am (unfortunately) not jazzed about this. Batman: The Animated Series was one of the best cartoons I’ve ever seen (even its sequels, to a lesser extent: Batman and Robin, and Batman Beyond). This one just isn’t doing it for me.
One of the things I liked about the old series was the art-deco style of the backgrounds (the police had dirigibles! How cool is that!?), as well as the designs for the characters, as well as the voices. The current show has none of those things.
I’ve tried to judge it on its own merits…but it just isn’t working for me.
I figured there should be a thread on this, so here it is.
I’m happy to see a new Batman show on the air, but you’re right, its no Batman: TAS. At the same time the first episode definately didn’t suck. I enjoyed it in fact. I’ll stick around for it.
I’m happy that the guy who does Alfred’s voice is still doing it this time around. Alfred is the man! At least I think that’s the same guy.
Quick question. I don’t claim to be an expert in DC history, but didn’t Batman and Superman start fighting crime at about the same time? If so why does the transfered detective (I’ve forgetten her name) seem not to have a problem with Superman, but will go after Batman? Maybe that will be fleshed out in later episodes?
Superman, who can fly, bend steel, and be the very model of a spit-curled demi-god, had a cooperative arrangement with the authorities from Day One. Batman, once described as “a psycho in a body stocking,” didn’t. If I were a cop early in the career of the World’s Finest, I know which one I’d think was more credible.
BatMan-TAS blew me away. All it took was the opening credit sequence to sway me from my earlier view that the stylized art and characters were goofy, and convince me that they were some of the coolest things I had ever seen.
I wasn’t sure about Batman Beyond either. This show took slightly longer, had the same effect on me.
The Batman- I’m disappointed.
Bruce seems to be living in a prestigious highrise apartment building instead of Wayne Manor.
The guard at Arkham reacts with a stupidity I don’t recall seeing on either of the other shows. A possibly dangerous individual has broken into Arkham. Does he call for back up or draw weapons? Does he even try to run away after discovering that the door is open and unlocked? Nope. He stands there like an idiot. It seems to me that Arkham would train the guards in dealing with situations like this
I don’t like the Joker’s hair, his lack of shoes, his new costume, or his acrobatic and fighting skills. The Joker is a very vain man. This is why he wears purple threepiece suits all time. The Joker is not a trained acrobat, and his fighting skills are no match for the Batman.
I just never felt this version of the Joker was lethal. He seems to be a bumbler and more comedically insane than criminally insane.
The Bat beeper. What the hell is this? A beeper loud enough to be heard by anybody close by, and with an animated bat symbol. That’s a really well thought out way to protect a secret identity.
Also, IMO, Batman TAS and Batman Beyond felt like somebody at DC said ‘Ya know what’d be really cool . . .’
This show feels like somebody said ‘Ya know what’d sell toys. . .’
Yeah, the first Batman animated series broke ground with its character and background design, its style, its scripts… it was just excellent.
The later episodes of the series, with their somewhat redone character design, left me a bit cold (Catwoman has gray skin? And the Joker seems to be a very light turquoise color? WTF?)
This most current series has the Joker looking barely human, and Bruce Wayne bears a peculiar resemblance to Jackie Chan. The animation is jerky and substandard.
Near as I can tell, someone at Warner’s is thinking, “We have a new Batman movie coming out, and we want LOTS of product out there when it hits…”
DocCathode expressed my sentiments perfectly. I loved the TAS style and voice. They captured the Batman persona perfectly. In this one, Bruce Wayne goes through the motions-- he misses his folks, he fights crime, doo-dah, doo-dah. It’s almost like even the character knows he’s there just for the McDonald’s Happy Meal tie-ins.
I haven’t seen The Batman yet, so I can’t comment on how it works out, but looking at it as an Elseworlds, rather than a retelling of the standard Batman story.
Makes it a lot easier to take it on its own merits, rather than considering how it fails to live up to TAS or the comics.
Superman first appeared in 1938(Action Comics #1) and Batman was in 1939(Detective Comics #27). Almost exactly one year apart.
Batman’s image and relationship with the police didn’t become what it is until the introduction of Robin in Detective Comics #38. Robin was the first kid sidekick.
Looks like indeed it is a new continuity, and yes, this Joker looks weirder. Of course he is supposed to be weird, but I think some writer likes that overused “extreme” meme that is becoming a cliche nowadays.
I was refering to internal continuity. I think Clark and Bruce are both supposed to be 35 currently and I assumed that they would have started crime fighting at about the same age. Thanks though. And thanks Krokodil, I didn’t think of that.
I like Batman’s new voice. Kevin Conroy is great, but this guy - while taking a different tack - is good, too.
I like the new Joker, for the most part. Again, yes, a very different tack than the canon or earlier cartoons, but, it works. About his voice… I agree that Richardson is trying a little too hard to sound like Hamill’s Joker, and it doesn’t work as well from him. OTOH, it’s not BAD.
Capacitor That was another minor disappointment. Harley was created for Batman TAS. But, fans liked her so much she was made a canon part of Batman continuity. As a Harley fan, I would have liked to her to show up in this series. But, if the Joker is already doing gymnastics and bad puns by himself, he doesn’t really need her.
Re Different Continuity
The changed the Joker’s history for the first Burton film. I didn’t complain because Nicholson made one hell of a Joker. They changed the Joker’s history for the animated film Mask Of The Phantasm. I didn’t complain because the animation and writing were great, and Mark Hamil does one hell of a Joker.
But this is a Joker? Where’s the brilliance? Where’s the menace? Where’s the vanity?
I love Batman: TAS as much as anyone, but after 10+ years of that style of animation being used for DC heroes, I’m sick to death of it and happy to see something different, here. I’ve never seen Jackie Chan Adventures, so I can’t compare, but I thought the animation was fluid and good-looking enough; definitely of a higher quality than a lot of the Japanese imports we’re getting lately. And while I don’t necessarily like it better than Batman: TAS, I do like it better than the designs they used when they moved to the WB and became The Batman/Superman Adventures.
And you know, as much as I hated the Joker design when I first saw it… I kind of liked it in excecution. No, he’s not the slick, Hammil Joker walking around in a purple jacket. But I kind of like seeing something different for a change. And really, I don’t even think it’s as bad as the awful, awful designs given to the Riddler and the Mad Hatter in The New Batman Adventures (let alone Mr. Freeze’s head thing). Again, after 10 years of almost the exact same animated continuity, I like the freshness of the series. Even if it is peppered with obvious gimmicks to sell toys.
And while, yeah, the whole Bat-Wave thing is kind of goofy, I was happy that they didn’t draw too much attention to it. It’s basically a glorified version of the same type of computer equipment Batman always uses. So far, anyway, it’s nowhere near as ridiculous as it could have gotten (the stupid Power Rangers armor that the Avengers used in their ill-fated cartoon a few years ago, for instance).
So far I’m actually pretty impressed. I’ll keep watching to see how it holds up.
I’m not stuck on a concept of the Joker based on the old cartoon. I’m stuck on that concept based on countless issues of Detective Comics, Batman, and others. The Joker has been that brlliant, vain, and lethal man in a purple suit since his first appearance. Go read The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told. That’s the Joker I can’t get over. I don’t care whether this new Joker’s voice, clothing, behavior etc match Batman TAS. I care whether they match the Joker of all those comicbooks. Other than the voice, not even close.
OTTOMH From Killing Joke “Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another. If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice.”
Not even the Joker knows who he used to be.
Which was the problem in Burton’s Batman, and Mask Of The Phantasm. Nicholson played a known criminal, whose life had been well documented before he became the Joker. Phantasm inlcuded photographs and other evidence that the Joker had been a member of the mob before becoming the Joker.
If Batman, arguably the world’s greatest detective, hasn’t been able to find any evidence of who the Joker used to be, then no such evidence exists. There is no evidence he was a member of the mob. There is no evidence of anything before he became the Joker.
