The Batman Animated Series

[Local Hero]

The news is out: the skinny on the voices of The Riddler and Bane in the new animated series. Former Freddy Krueger star Robert England will bring new life to Edward Nigma, and "Desperado" heavy Joaquim DeAlmeida will voice the grandiose Bane.

[Enchantress]

You know, when I think Batman TAS, I think the original BTAS. Which was in it's own right, eloquently awesome!
I'm anxious to see wha this new series has to offer. I think it could be a very interesting take on the Bat. Plus, I've heard that the first few episodes are pretty much an artistic tribute to Paul Dini and Bruce Timms.
I'll watch just for that!

[The Truth]

The Original was indeed awesome, as were the movies made from it...but I also feel that the Batman Beyond series and it's movie were awesome. I'll support any animated Batman I can.

[Local Hero]

Warner Bros has provided a new description of The Batman animated series:

"The new series is a totally fresh take on Batman -- in his mid 20's and only in year three of actually being a super hero. When he's not Bruce Wayne, the hip young billionaire bachelor CEO of Wayne Industries, he's The Batman - an urban legend in Gotham City. To help him fight the criminals of Gotham City and bring them to justice, he has an array of unique Bat-gadgets, vehicles for every terrain and situation that are operated by a remote control system he refers to as 'Batwave,' and spare Batsuits planted around the city, ready to be accessed at a moment's notice."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sounds good. Not that the whole Bat Family aren't cool, but it will be great to see Batman back to basics. (much like Batman Begins sounds to be)

[The Mighty Thor]

As posted by Aint It Cool News....

Check out the sweet new toys to go along with the sweet new Animated Series... <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/exclusive/player.asp?articleId=11018&SectionID=7">http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/excl ... ectionID=7</a><!-- m -->

[The Mighty Thor]

As reported by <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.comicscontinuum.com">www.comicscontinuum.com</a><!-- w --> ....

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This is a link to a great page. It gives you a rundown on all of the main characters that are to be featured in the new animted series. After seeing the trailer for this at Wizard World Chicago, I must say that I am psyched to see this show. It seems that DC can only truely succeed if they translate their properties to animation, as opposed to live action. Which is fine with me, considering not one of their animated endeavors has ever let me down.

Plus, how can you go wrong with casting Adam West as the mayor of Gotham City? Or Clancy Brown as Mr. Freeze? Or Robert England as The Riddler? It is a proven fact that talented actors help to elevate an animated show above and beyond itself. I am sure the same will be true here.

[Enchantress]

Ok, having watched the first episode of this last weekend, I gotta say it's good. Not great, no where near the first series...but it's still really good. You can really tell it's Jeff Matsuda doing the art designs and all. Again, not that it's a bad thing, it's really cool.
I didn't care much for the designs on the Joker, but whoever they had doing the voice for him had it dead on. I would have thought it was Mark Hamill the entire time.

[The Truth]

I'm pretty sure it is Mark Hamil....

And personally I love the new take on Joker. I mean...he's supposed to be an evil clown, and now he actually looks like one. Before he had kinda a clown/mime hybrid thing going with the suit, but the Matsuda design suits him better methinks.

As does his new found physical prowess. I know a lot of people are going to hate that, but if he is to be the acrch enemy of the Batman, he should serve not only as a mental counterpoint, but a physical one as well. And his fighting style and movements were all perfect as well. He's a psychotic, off the wall looney, so he should have a off the wall fighting style as well.

[The Mighty Thor]

Actually, as good a job as he does putting us in the mind of Mark Hammil, the actor now voicing the Joker be a guy by the name of Kevin Michael Richardson. He does a fine job with the character, but by clicking on the link, you will see that he is most definately NOT Mark Hammil.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0724656/">http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0724656/</a><!-- m -->

As for the show itself, I like it pretty well. It is definately geared towards a younger audience, but I can live with that. The animation and character design alone is enough to get me to watch.

[The Mighty Thor]

The Batman is now four episodes in and we have been introduced to Joker, Penguin, Bane and this week, Catwoman. I don't know about you guys, but I feel the show is only getting better. The premiere episode was good, helped in large part by the excellent voice over work of Kevin M. Richardson. The Penguin episode was fun and the Bane episode was full of great action. But I feel the Catwoman episode was the best by far. The writing combined with the spot on perfect voice of Gina Gershon made this episode what it was, and put that horrific Halle Berry flick to shame. And this is a half hour cartoon geared mainly towards children here. I am still amazed that Warner Brothers can do DC animation so very well, and continually manage to screw up their live action projects.

No matter though, for The Batman has now joined the ranks of Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited as must see superhero watching!

[The Truth]

I've become rather torn on the issue of "The Batman". On the one hand, the stories, while partially simplified for the youngin's are still pretty good as are the character designs and presentation.

On the other hand....there is no friggin way that the Penguin should ever be able to stand up to Batman in a fight!! I don't care how much time he spent in the Orient, it's simply inexcusable.

But indeed, this mornin's episode of "The Cat and The Bat" was in fact spectacular. Characterization, voice work, even the art style all blended together perfectly to give the viewer a Catwoman worthy of being compared to her Batman: TAS counterpart.

Overall the show gives off the impression of great promise. The style and storytelling are entertaining enough to keep younger veiwers interested, while at the same time there are enough serious undertones to keep more mature ones watching. The Bane episode comes to mind here.

~EDIT~

I had also wanted to talk briefly about the lack of a sidekick, but then it dawned on me that this series is set in year three of Wayne's run as Batman, and as such is still probably way to early in his career to warrant a teen partner. But at the same time I can't help but think that introducing Robin in a season or two would just be a great addition to the show.

Personally, while I know most would want the show to stay true to cannon, I would like to see an animated Stephanie Brown, aka The Spoiler, come into the guise. Granted that would be a great departure from comic continutiy, but seeing the direction the series is taken from the start, I think it would work rather well into the show's continuity.

[The Mighty Thor]

The show's producers have said that Robin will not be appearing on The Batman, although that could of coarse change in time. Plus, I agree with you Truth in that Stephanie Brown would be a nice change of pace for the role of Robin, even if it did upset the die hard fans.

Another obviously missing character from the great city of Gotham is that of James Gordon. According to current continuity, Sergeant Gordon transferred to Gotham City from Chicago, but when he exactly transferred I am not sure. I hope that they decide to include him eventually.

And yes, I must agree, the one stand out odd moment of the show's run thus far has been the impossible agility of Oswald Cobblepot. But I guess a ruthless mob boss style Penguin wouldn't do much to entertain the kiddies, so they went with a more action packed version of the foul fowl. But if that is the worst they throw at us, I think I can get over it.

[The Truth]

The Big Chill.....

Loved it! Now my third favorite episode of this season, The Cat and the Bat holding onto the top spot, I thought this was a great way to really introduce one of the core concepts that was projected when they pitched the idea for the show. They (the producers) spoke of how they wanted to show a third year Batman dealing with a slew of supervillains and asking himself the question of if he's there to fight them, or if they are there to fight him.

Well this episode and the flashback(s) it contained do a great deal in setting this concept forth in a tangible fashion, and that is something that I can now really appreciate and understand. I mean, I understood what they were saying to some extent, but to see it played out with the characters brings a new level of clarity to the notion. Great job to everyone involved.

Now then...onto the episode itself.....Loved it! The voice of Mr. Freeze was very, very suiting to the new design and they stayed close enough to the original character while at the same time reinventing him enough to please both old and new fans of The Bat. I do kinda miss the gun...but I digress. Also, they are doing an excellent job of showing how prepared Batman is for crazy stuff such as this, as this is (I believe) the first time we've seen and alternate costume for the caped crusader. We have seen add ons before, but this "Second" costume just screams new action figure and is so well put together that if I could, I would totally steal it for a character of my own.

Overall Score 8/10. It would have scored higher but there weren't enough gratuitous explosions.

[The Truth]

Ok.....maybe one of you fellow comic readers can explain answer this?

Is firefly supposed to be a decent character?

Because that's what he was in this past week's episode. Now I'm not saying that it was a great portrayal of him, but....he was decent. In the comics he seems to be a sort of third tier type villain, and in the cartoons, maybe a second stringer. But in the episode he seemed sorta in between a second and third stringer.

It was an ok episode overall, but far from what I'm used to. This is without a doubt the first time I've watched this show and felt underwhelmed afterwards.

[The Mighty Thor]

I have never read and Firefly stories in the comics. I only know him from the 2 Batman animated series. For a while I almost thought he was created just for the shows.

I agree that this last weeks episode was pretty good, but not the best. I am really kicking myself for missing last weeks Mr. Freeze episode, as you make it sound pretty good. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait until they rerun it a dozen or so times so I can catch the show.