Batman: The Animated Series

Has anyone seen the 2017 animated feature “Batman vs. Two-Face” (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6142314/)? My son has watched it a few times.

It’s pretty bad, but also weird/sad — the voices are performed by Adam West (shortly before his death), Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, William Shatner (as Harvey Dent), etc. So while it’s “cool” that they used the OG actors (plus, uh, Shatner), and got work for those folks, their voices do not exactly match the (young) characters... particularly in the case of West, who sounds unwell and geriatric. So it’s bizarre and somewhat grimly humorous to hear these voices coming from the animated 1966 Batman crew.

(One other odd thing is that Warner apparently doesn’t control the rights to the ’66 Batman theme music, and couldn’t bother clearing it? — so they have use a dumb knockoff of it, like any other fakey production.)

Warner had nothing to do with the show, so it's absolutely fine that they don't control the rights to the theme music

Sure, but it’s odd they would create a new movie set in the 1966 world, and go so far as to cast the OG actors for “authenticity,” yet give it an “off-brand” feel by imitating the theme rather than paying to use it.

How much was the fee, and what proportion of the overall budget was that?

Let me check my records... oh wait, I didn’t work on the production. Why you dragging me on this, LOL?

The theme is one of the most beloved and iconic aspects of the old series... whatever it cost to clear, perhaps it would have been more worth the expense than whatever it cost to hire Bill Shatner (who has nothing to do with the property)? Is his involvement drawing anyone to this thing? Meanwhile, when the knockoff music plays, it just sounds dumb and leaves you thinking, “huh, they cheaped out.”

I’m just saying it’s the opposite of “odd”!

I mean, we’re talking about a direct-to-video feature whose idea of a clever in-joke is a Catholic hospital called “Our Lady of Perpetual Irony,” so maybe I’m expecting too much. But the casting implies the movie will be “going the extra mile,” when it really stalls out at least 14 miles short of Gotham City.

I loved and still love B:TAS and the other DCAU series (well, most of the time), but I've never been particularly impressed by any of the animated specials that have come out since then. It's pretty disappointing seeing that on some occasions some of the same people were involved. The execution always seems half-assed.

man these blu-ray remasters are gorgeous huh

Worth buying if I have all the DVD boxes?

if you’re a btas stan and you’ve got the cash, definitely - the episodes look extraordinarily crisp and clear

check this handy comparison video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LZJ-HJsWHk

i'm a sucker for these remasters when they're done well. they even managed to make TNG look beautiful!

yooooo Bruce Timm made an animated Sgt Rock short film!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtwZvaLbwnI

And Phantom Stranger too!
https://www.comicsbeat.com/dc-showcase-phantom-stranger-first-look/

Has anyone else been watching The Caped Crusader? I'm loving it so far. A sort of elseworlds 40s golden age spiritual successor to B:TAS. I love how they pick and mix elements throughout the character's history - Harvey Bullock is his fully corrupt pre-Crisis self, for example. And given that the original Animated series bible included plans for the Gentleman Ghost (which never came to fruition) I'm glad Timm finally got to give him his own episode.

I have to admit I don't like this Batman as much as the B:TAS one, even if his coldness is definitely intentional. It makes sense that Rucka and Brubaker are involved, as he actually does feel like the late 90s/00s jerkass Batman.

The pilot was fun. Yes, it's nowhere near as good/perfect as B:TAS: the animation is shonkier; Gotham is a bit anonymous-looking; and I'm not really not sure about the weirdly antagonistic relationship between Bruce and Alfred (Bruce calls him "Pennyworth"!!). But - it's very enjoyable - darker without being grimdark - and still a kids' show at heart. Minnie Driver is really well cast (and pleasingly EVIL) as Penguin. The fight scenes are excellent -- you really feel it when someone gets clonked on the head -- it's weirdly fun. All the character remixes are interesting and grounded. I look forward to it getting better in the second season.

i'm not watching it but i've heard that _those_ guys are complaining about the penguin's look

as always, i find those folks absolutely hilarious. "what if the penguin was marlene dietrich but dummy thicc" makes me feel seen as a lesbian.

You're right about the animation and backgrounds - I hadn't really noticed, maybe because a lot of streaming TV animation often has a flat, stiff look, and I don't go in with high expectations (so if the animation and visuals are good, then that's a bonus).

They seem to be avoiding the tragic villain route they used with some of the B:TAS villains, which is fine by me - that feels a bit overused by now

"Those" guys are complaining about lots of things, as they always do; I'm glad I never got into the Youtuber thing, though I do seem to need constant reminders to avoid reply sections on Twitter posts...

Finished the season, and it's mostly OK. I kept expecting the animation to be done on the cheap but it's surprisingly solid, but the writing is missing some juice. A few episodes have nice, zingy dialogue (the Catwoman one), though. What's patroclus weird is that it has one foot in BTAS references (the voices of Bruce and Alfred being very clearly modeled on their BTAS counterparts) while consciously diverging from old school canon.

It seems like a show for teenagers... from the 90s. All the references to US culture from the 1920s to 1950s - that stuff was still "live" in the culture when I was growing up in the eighties and nineties - b&w movies and old reruns were on the TV all the time. I'm curious what kids watching it today would make of it. There were very few good cartoons for teenagers when I was growing up - now it seems like 90% of new art is for 13-year-olds.

Overall I really like Caped Crusader so far. Feels like the mix of set design inspiration from the 90s with remixed characters is a good formula. Harleen Q's episode was a high point for me and Onomatopoeia was fun and I loved lady Penguin. While I didn't dislike the episodes, I'm not really a fan of supernatural stuff in Batman so could've done without the classist ghost and vampire girl ones.

Batman turns out to be one of the least interesting characters, though I find that's often the case whatever medium we're in.

Interesting that this and X-Men 97 came out so near each other.

have i linked the italian b:tas theme song here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThxsDFTG06E

the story is that when cartoons came to italy they decided that rather than use the international theme songs they'd write their own theme songs with lyrics and made them all eurodance bangers

sometimes that works - "what is my destiny dragon ball" is in the same league as the japanese theme (that's the original dragonball, not cha-la head-cha-la) - but with x-men not so much, and with batman... i mean it just doesn't have the same feel as the elfman music.

ok correction
"what's my destiny dragon ball" is indeed the theme to dragon ball z, which i think was called "what's my destiny dragon ball" in italy? anyway seriously this fucking thing holds it's own against cha-la head-cha-la which i mean

that's _impressive_

i mean cha-la head-cha-la is, uh, _eurodance adjacent_ so it's not surprising that italy can bring it with its own version but still.