Batman: The Animated Series

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:

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

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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.

And not to come off all pervy, but um, I like Raven's look. Um. Legs.

The Joker waves good-bye to Charles Manson(!) as he flies out of Arkham.

Reasons I will anticipate:

1. Dracula!
1a. ...voiced by Peter Stormare!
2. Joker!

Reasons to dread:

1. "The Batman."
2. No Mark Hamill.

http://img105.exs.cx/img105/8022/serious.jpg

SHOULD I GET THIS??

Seriously, as far as meat & potatoes, just plain good Batman stories go, this show is unbeatable. Go for it.

Overall, the anime influence is more visible on this set than it was on the first one, though still not overt by any means (it's mostly in the facial expressions, especially when portraying surprise, and sudden movements.) Storywise, we get to see a lot more of Wayne's past, as well as a more established rogue's gallery - the villains start to hang out with each other, sometimes with almost "JLI" levels of bickering (tho never quite as flat-out hilarious, of course.) Small extras, trailers and commentaries round out a nice set, but get the first one first!

"Eternal Youth" - Ok, so I didn't watch this one, because I used to have a little crush on the animated version of Poison Ivy and thus don't like to watch her get defeated by mean ol' Batman :(, unless it's funny. Which this ep, according to my childhood memory, isn't.

"Perchance To Dream" - Mentioned a few times on this thread, and with good reason. A perfect example of how the animated series was really good at getting the most out of very common plot devices - here it's "For The Man Who Has Everything", pretty much. Very weird and unsettling - and dig that "Maltese Falcon" reference at the end!

"The Cape And The Cowl Conspiracy" - Espionage hijinks. Not bad, but nothing notable either.

"Robin's Reckogning, Pt.1 & 2" - Robin's origin story *and* him tracing down the man who killed his parents. I don't care much about Robin, so meh, though Batman is as much of a dick as ever.

"The Laughing Fish" - Joker episode, with a pretty sweet initial concept: Joker drops chemical into rivers that makes all fish get disfigured and Joker-looking, then tries to get copyright. Wonderful fish commercial with Harley Quinn, too. A great light-hearted episode.

"Night Of The Ninja" - Watching this isn't really half as fun as jumping around your living room yelling "BATMAN: NIGHT OF THE NINJA!!!", I'm afraid.

"Cat Scratch Fever" - Catwoman stops some evil animal-testing bastards. A winter episode.

"The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne" - Evil psychologist/scientist blackmails people by finding out their greatest fears through some gizmo or other. He tries to auction off Batman's secret identity, to no great effect.

"Heart Of Steel, Pt.1 & 2" - Very creepy double parter about an evil computer trying to replace people with robots. Features a very hawt evil blonde robot chick, and sundry "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" type identity theft. Also, Barbara Gordon, not yet Batgirl but if you know about her from the comics and see how much initiative she has it doesn't take a genius to figure out she'll get there soon enough.

"If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" - Enter the Riddler! All of the Riddler episodes seem to rely heavily on crazy, surrealist imagery - here Batman gets stuck inside a computer game. The animated series of course is very good at this sort of visual stuff, so it's an enjoyable episode, but it might also be one of the very very few that feels *dated* - the show opted for a timeless art deco style, and even using computers doesn't disturb that *too much* (comps have existed since WWII after all), but video games just don't fit in, and so the early 90sness creeps in. Also, I'm happy to report the Riddler's clues are as mind boggling as they ever were on "Super Friends".

"Joker's Wild" - Tycoon names new casino/hotel after the Joker to have him wreack havoc and then cash in insurance money. Bit of a snooze at times, but the Joker's always good value for money.

"Tyger, Tyger" - Stunning Dr.Moreau influenced storyline. A very camp evil scientist makes creepy genetic experiments on his island, resulting in a not-too-bright minion monkey man and a more dangerous tiger man. Catwoman and Batman get involved. High on the pathos (one exchange towards the end consists of Catwoman yelling at the tiger-man "you don't belong here!" and him answering "I don't belong anywhere", before walking into a flaming forest), and utterly atypical of Batman, but definitley worth watching. And yeah, Batman recites the Blake lines (in a final VOICEOVER, no less!)

"Moon Of The Wolf" - Sports star uses new drug that turns him into a champion BUT ALSO A WEREWOLF. Very much pales in comparsion to the previous, similiarish episode.

"Day Of The Samurai" - Sequel to "Night Of The Ninja", but much more enjoyable because hey, Batman goes to Japan! And gets told by his old sensei that truly he has learned the ways of the samurai. Also, wisecracking Alfred in a bowler hat (I wuv bowler hats.)

"Terror In The Sky" - Man-Bat. In the first scene all he does is scare some ppl at the docks and eat fruits out of some boxes, which I thought was kinda harmless. Later on tho there's the biggest OH SHIT scene in this whole package, when Man-Bat transforms ON A PLANE!

"Almost Got 'Im" - The most blatant "villains buddying up" episode of the set: they have a card game and tell stories of how they almost defeated Bats. It falls down mostly because their stories aren't all that gripping. Catwoman featured at the end - her romance with Batman throughout the series is really high camp, I have to say.

"Birds Of A Feather" - The Penguin gets adopted by shallow Gotham socialites who want to parade him around as a novelty for parties. A very interesting take on the Penguin - the episode makes it *very* clear that he's not actually the well-read gentleman that he likes to portray himself as, but rather just a lonely, desperate guy who's built this fantasy for himself. Shades of "Phantom Of The Opera" towards the end when he finds out about the way he's been used. Also, is that Hopey from "Love & Rockets" on the bus scene?

"What Is Reality?" - Another Riddler psychological potboiler. Great eye candy if nothing else.

"I Am The Night" - Moaney Batman Whinypants - I guess the Angst Episode had to happen sooner or later. Still, you have a villain called THE JAZZMAN, and some prison scenes worthy of prime-era Cagney/Edward G Robinson Warner Bros.

"Off Balance" - Talia shows up! Rowr! Also, a semi-nazi villain by the name of Count Vertigo - and sure enough, the episode is a huge tribute to the Hitchcock movie of the same name. Great choice in leaving Ras to the final frames - an effective way of establishing his string-pulling credentials.

"The Man Who Killed Batman" - Total n00b criminal accidentally bumps off Batman (no, not really) and gets more trouble than it's worth, especially from an irate Joker. "Batman: The Animated Series" pulls off these "average joe perspective" episodes from time to time, and they always remind me of "The Spirit", who does this type of thing similiarly well.

"Mudslide" - BATMAN IS A DICK! So Clayface is disintegrating, and Batman offers to help, but Clayface is all "stfu". Fair enough. Only later on Clayface and this doctor that's helping him try to turn him back to his normal, human self with technology stolen from Wayne Tech, and Batman stops the process just as it's starting to work. What, so to him it's all about the principle? Couldn't he have at least waited for the guy to turn human and thus NO LONGER BE A THREAT TO HIM before he arrested the two for stealing technology that he'd offered to Clyaface as help, anyway?

"Paging The Crime Doctor" - Regrettably not the Crime Doctor from "Villains United", but Rupert Thorne's conflicted brother. Very awww scene at the end, tho, when Bruce Wayne asks him to talk about his father.

"Zatanna" - At first when I saw this I was kind of weirded out that she'd be the first DCU hero to guest star in the series, and then I remembered, oh right, Dini fetish. Which instantly made it very hard to take this episode seriously, magic debunking villain and all.

"The Mechanic" - The Penguin gets a hold of the Batmobile's mechanic. Biggest geek fodder happens during a flashback, where we get to see Batman's original Batmobile hurrah!

"Harley & Ivy" - YAY!

Crush aside, I think it's pretty obvious that there's a lot of conflict over how to handle Poison Ivy. I mean, the main premise is that she's this psychotic austere figure who hates humans and wants the whole world to be overgrown with plants, but ppl insist on making her a femme fatale as well. In "Almost Got 'Im" she's all palls with the other villains (even insinuates that she's dated Two-Face), and now here she's totally Harley's sweetheart, giving her feminist pep talks and wisecraking all the way. I like her that way a lot, actually, but it doesn't pan out. Which doesn't make this episode any less fun - Harley's deperate co-dependance, the Joker's careless egotism, Batman stuck as a sort of straight-man, the pet names, the car chases! Top marks.

And I also loved "I Am The Night," but that's the 12-year-old me talking again, and because Gordon almost buys it! (IIRC.)

TAS TIDBITS!

Richard Moll aka BULL FROM NIGHTCOURT voiced Clayface!
Mignola apparently designed the TAS Mr. Freeze!

Actually Richard Moll voiced Two-Face, not Clayface.

Clayface was voiced by Ron Perlman.