Batman: The Animated Series

And yeah, I definitely can't fault them for the anime thing, if I were the target audience I'd probably love it. It's not the kind of anime I grew up with, so it's just distracting.

Somebody at Marvel should get in touch with the guy who created Samurai Jack and does Clone Wars - Tartakovsky (something like that). Give him free rein. A Fantastic Four cartoon, done right, that would be worth watching. Oh no, wait, I saw that - it was called the Incredibles.

I would love it if somebody would let Bruce Timm make his version of Conan. The sketches alone are beautiful...

two seconds to THE FINGER!:
http://www.jlanimated.com/editorials/jlu/arrow2.jpg

Green Arrow is ALWAYS saving grocery stores. And convenience stores. It's like Spidey with bank robberies.

What's his voice like? Cause the beard implies that he sounds like Dr Quest.

I don't know what Dr. Quest sounds like.

You'd recognize it if you heard it, most likely. The actor did a lot of other voice work. (I'm looking him up now.) (Holy crap Johnny Quest was played by Tim Matheson.)

Hm, he -- Don Messick -- is one of those voice actors who sounds different in a lot of roles (he played both Boo Boo and the Ranger on Yogi Bear, for instance ... and Scooby Doo, Atom Ant, half the Smurfs, and Muttley!) -- but the Ranger voice is pretty close to Dr Quest. So's Papa Smurf, come to think of it. Except Green Arrow would not sound like Papa Smurf.

*smurffinger*

Anyway, cast list for guest voices on JL/JLU:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0275137/guests

"Legends: Part 1" Episode: #1.16 - 21 April 2002:

Corey Burton= Dr. Blizzard (voice)

Jennifer Hale= Black Siren (voice)

Neil Patrick Harris= Ray Thompson (voice)

Jeffrey Jones= Sir Swami (voice)

William Katt= Green Guardsman (voice)

Udo Kier= The Music Master (voice)

Ted McGinley= Tom Turbine (voice)

Michael McKean= The Sportsman (voice)

David Naughton= The Streak (voice)

Stephen Root= Cat Man (voice)

Tom Sizemore= Metamorpho (voice)
Patrick Duffy= Steve Trevor (voice)
Michael Ironside= Darkseid (voice)
Ron Perlman= Orion (voice)/Clayface II
Rob Zombie= Ichthulhu (voice)
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.= Alfred Pennyworth (voice)
Brad Garrett= Lobo (voice)
Kin Shriner= Green Arrow (voice)
Edward Asner= Hephaestus (voice)/Granny Goodness
Jason Hervey= Dove I/Don Hall (voice)*
Fred Savage= Hawk I/Hank Hall (voice)*
Wonder Years Powers...ACTIVATE!
Jeremy Piven= The Elongated Man (voice)
Tim Matheson= Max Lord (voice)
Dennis Farina= Wildcat I/Ted Grant (voice)

Sorry about that.

Oh shit that's Inara from Firefly (and according to Tep, possibly Joss's Wonder Woman)! Yeah, she's great.

My eyes went very big and round when I read this.

(Full potentially credibility-shredding disclosure: I've also started watching Kids Next Door because Lauren Tom and Cree Summer do voices on it and it's often ridiculously funny. There was a recent episode involving a training bra that was absolutely hysterical.)

Teen Titans is on tonight at 10 EST, if anyone -- like me -- was wondering, so they could check it out. Not sure when JLU is on, but Demonoid (thank you Andrew!) has seasons 1 and 2, and a few a la carte episodes.

Pretty much; it's also an extended riff on her "even when surrounded by friends, I am alone" schtick.

I got the first box set and it really is great, as good an introduction to what makes Batman great as you could ever have. The way they treat the Joker I think is particuarly laudable - he's clearly shown as comical, not just psychotic (i.e. you can laugh along with most of his antics), but at the same time he's still pretty fucking scary. A great balance between modern grim&gritty Batman and the character's older incarnation.

Some of the episodes - the Clayface two parter, the Mr.Freeze one - are so unberably tragic. The show's obsessive "sometimes things happen that turn you into a MONSTER and believe me, you sure as hell won't be able to escape that" message is really something for a kid's tv show!

I used to ("used to") have the biggest crush on the animated Poison Ivy when I was a kid - Harley Quinn looks very cute when she's in civilian clothes, as well. Didn't they semi-officially lez up in the cartoon's comics? Perv perv.

One guy on the extras defines the show's visual style as "dark deco" - hits the nail on the head, I think. It's all gorgeous, tho just *occasionally* you notice a slight anime influence, it annoys me every time.

Yeah, this is really key, and I'm glad that "Batman Begins" maintained this chronological ambiguity.

I hate Harley Quinn though and I am not looking forward to her appearance.

Oh, she's not *overwhelming* in it, so don't worry. It's a really great episode! The Joker is *really* scary in the first few scenes, and pretty funny after that. Also:

******************* SPOILER *****************************************

At the end Batman laughs. Or, well, he seems to *try* to laugh - it comes out all abortion-like. It's crazy, and great.

**************************** SPOILER *******************************

The Clayface two-parter is really a highlight of sorts, as is the Christmas Joker episode (which shows that BTAS isn't afraid to go all-out silly when it wants to.) I've a soft spot for "It's Never Too Late", tho - total homage to "Angels With Dirty Faces"!!

Weeeell, it starts with the Joker cheerfully decorating a christmas tree in Arkham while singing that ol' "jingle bells/Batman smells" thing; then next thing you know he's flying off into the air and you realise that the tree is a ROCKET! No explanation is given as to how, why, what, gah?

The whole episode pretty much maintains that vibe of absurdity/awesomeness.

I maintain Batman Beyond was a decent series despite the lame concept, if only for the hilarious Fantastic Four parody. The payoff to the ongoing backstory in "Return Of The Joker" was awesome.

"The Batman" is pure pish, though. I never asked for a version of Batman remodelled to resemble Jackie Chan Adventures, and I probably never will.

ha! no chance that’s not supposed to be hopey

It's definitely Hopey, check the coat:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q166/iagainstcomics/hopey%20style/hopey5.jpg

Now I'm visualising a Love & Rockets animated series that would probably never happen in a million years.

*wistful sigh*

jaime’s style would work so well in animation too

Hopey had a cameo in the tie-in Batman Adventures comics as well!

That is *definitely* her. Nice spot!

iirc Cameron Stewart's 00s run on Catwoman is basically him doing Jaime for two years

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/how-paul-dini-and-mike-mignola-changed-mr-freeze-forever-plus-other-revelations-from-the

I did not know that Mignola was in any way involved in BTAS!

The blu-ray set is a thing of glory.

https://imgur.com/gallery/D02OcwO is glorious and now I just remembered Herman von Klempt in HB and so this makes perfect sense.

I've never seen the whole series, but I pretty much think the cartoon might be the best take on Batman ever. It is a perfect balance in many ways.

The TV show is the best Batman, and Mask of the Phantasm is still the best Batman movie.

I've long said (perhaps even itt) that if DC-related material can't meet or exceed the quality of the DCAU, the people involved probably just shouldn't bother.

Still, they persisted

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/