What would happen if Batman got old? What? Batman never gets old! He’s like Bart Simpson who has been a kid for what 13 years now? In Batman Beyond Bruce Wayne is eligible for free coffee at McDonalds. Though he’s not going out on patrols these days that doesn’t mean there isn’t some Batman down inside there somewhere.
Enter Terry, a tough teen with a need to make amends for being a butthead to his dad but unable to apologize to him in this life. At least maybe he can avenge his father’s death. Wayne is not too keen on some kid donning his cowl, but the two forge an uneasy alliance, and a new Batman is born.

Whereas Wayne trained for years and incorporated gadgets to help him, Terry has only street-fighting skills and is totally dependant on the advanced technology of the batsuit. He’s resourceful but clumsy and undisciplined, but his quest to fill Wayne’s shoes has only just begun.

Batman Beyond is quite possibly the best super-hero cartoon I own except maybe for The Tick. I like the sci-fi suit, the dark atmosphere, the industrial music, the new and reinvented villains, and the different kind of look at a long-time favorite super-hero. The writing takes more risks than the average cartoon show and has an overall progressing continuity. Villains have deeper motivations than simple, blind evil. If someone dies, retires, etc. they don't show up in a later episode like nothing ever happened.

You won't see much of the continuity in this set, but you will see the revisiting of some familiar villains in ways you wouldn't expect. This is little more than a sampling. Check out the season 1 set for completion.

Content:
It’s a kid’s show so there’s no sex or language although there are some surprisingly skimpy outfits on some of the girls. The violence is tame compared to average TV action, but the mood is kind of dark for younger kids.

DVD:
I talked so much about this one in the season 1 review that I figured I should write this for contrast and content clarification since I had the release on hand.

I bought The Movie long before there was any seasonal release available. It’s been in my DVD player so many times that the plastic snap is starting to tear away from the case. I hate cardboard snap cases. I’m glad there are fewer of those out there, now.

So what am I going to do with this DVD now that I have the full season? Actually it still has use which I’ll explain shortly.

This release is technically 6 episodes (nearly half of the content of Season 1). Two of them combine to form the movie or pilot known as Rebirth. The main reason this release is still worth keeping around is the presentation of Rebirth. The halves are combined to form a whole and given some helpful chapter stops. The seasonal collection splits them and gives each half a single chapter. When I watch Rebirth in the future it will be the Movie version.

The other episodes seem to be chosen at random. I would have thought Ascension would have been the best compliment to Meltdown, and probably the Inque episodes in-between since they deal with the Wayne/Powers-Batman/Blight conflict the most. Maybe the designers didn't want new viewers to think Blight was the only villain in the series and chose a wider supporting character base.

Unlike those on the season release, these episodes are divided into chapters. Unfortunately those chapters are not particularly well placed. The end of the opening theme, for example, is the most helpful place to have a chapter stop, but only Rebirth has a division there. I thought they would improve the chapter stops not remove them completely.

There is a Play All feature which has become pretty standard on releases like this but was more rare at the time this came out. There is also a trailer.

Here are the 4 episodes:

Gotham Golem is also just known as Golem (I don’t know why "Gotham" has been added to the title on the package). Willie Watt attacks the city with a giant robot. Terry has to be resourceful to bring down something so big he can’t hope to hurt it with brute force.

In the Winning Edge the Venom drug resurfaces. Wayne knows only Bane has the formula so Terry sets off to find the old criminal. Meanwhile, Terry’s mom starts suspecting he’s on drugs himself, and he doesn’t know how to get out of it since he can’t very well tell her the truth.

In Dead Man’s Hand Terry runs up against a new incarnation of the Royal Flush Gang bent on revenge on Batman. Batman destroys Terry's relationship with Dana, but he finds a new spark with Melanie. His determination to make the relationship work may destroy the one he’s built with Wayne.

In Meltdown Mr. Freeze is revived in an experiment to find a cure for Blight. Freeze appears to work towards making amends for his past life, but Wayne doesn’t trust him. Terry ends up caught between Freeze and Blight, and he’s no match for either of them.

Final Thoughts:
So to bottom line it for you, this is maybe a good release to get if you want a cheap sampling of the series. While I do like the presentation of Rebirth more that really doesn't make it worth getting if you already plan to get the full season. I have my gripes about the season set (no chapters, stacked-disc packaging, weak content for the price considering I already had so much of it in the form of the Movie release, and collectors that have the other DVD sets get even less out of it), but it's still the most complete of the available releases. I might have given the Movie a higher rating at one time, but now it's out of date. It's still a good show so on the strength of that I'm still giving it 3*.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12