dragonfire88's Full Review: Batman: The Animated Series - Vol. 1
Batman has turned up in many movies as well as some cartoons and television shows since he first appeared in 1939. Over the last few years, I have slowly started to catch up with the different versions of Batman as I have come to really like the character. I finally got around to watching Batman The Animated Series - Volume One.
Batman The Animated Series - Volume One was based on the character created by Bob Kane for DC Comics. The series took a more serious, dark look at the character than some of the other versions have done. I feel that made the series stronger and why it has become known as one of the great versions of Batman. There wasn’t any of the campy stuff or general silliness that had been prevalent in so many other versions. I believe that fans of Batman embraced this series because it kept the more serious, dark tone. There were some things done every so often that added a bit of humor without going down the campy, silly route.
There was no origin story for Batman in any of the episodes included in Batman The Animated Series - Volume One. Bruce was already established as Batman and dealing with crime. Some people may feel disappointed by the fact that there wasn’t an actual origin story for Batman, but I didn’t think that hurt the series overall. There were origin stories or at least some explanations for some of the other characters that Batman came into contact with like Two-Face and Mr. Freeze. The back story provided for Mr. Freeze was actually created specifically for the series. The story created made Mr. Freeze a tragic figure driven by grief instead of just a mad scientist. That version was later adopted by the comic books and was even used for the movie Batman & Robin.
Since I didn’t see Batman The Animated Series when it was first on, I have no idea what order the episodes originally aired in, so I don’t know what order the episodes in this DVD set are in. Most of the episodes were self contained and it seemed like they could be watched it any order with the exception of the few two part episodes. I did feel like there were a few minor continuity issues with the episodes though. Robin was in the second episode, Christmas With the Joker, without any explanation connected to when he started working with Batman. They were already a team who had established a working relationship. Then Robin was missing until Fear of Victory, one of the last episodes in this set. Again, he and Batman were an established team and there was nothing about how Robin started working with him or where he had been. I did think that made things a bit confusing, but it wasn’t a major issue for me. It does make me think that the episodes were intended to be aired in a different order, but I could be wrong about that.
All of the episodes followed Bruce/Batman while he was dealing with a criminal or villain of some sort. Most of the time, he was dealing with a villain that had been created in the comic books, but there were a few other criminals that he dealt with as well. Most of his well known villains made at least one appearance in these episodes, with the Joker turning up more than the others. Some of the villains who hadn’t been featured in previous movie or cartoon versions were featured. That gave some of them, like Poison Ivy, new popularity, and introduced some of the lesser known villains, like The Clock King, to a new audience. I thought that the villains that were used for the series worked very well for the series and helped to make keep things interesting. Harley Quinn, a female side kick for the Joker, was created for the animated series. She became so popular that she was later added to the comic books.
Batman ended up fighting different villains in every episode, which did add some action and violence to what was going on. Batman didn’t kill anyone, but he did beat up several other characters. It was violent for a cartoon, but that did fit in with the darker tone of the series. It is too violent for younger children. The plots tended to be darker overall as well which may not appeal to some viewers even though I think it fits perfectly with Batman. In addition to fighting, Batman was also shown using his detective skills, something that seems to have been left out of many of the movies. I liked that aspect of the show and thought it helped to keep things interesting.
The animation was well done and had a somewhat unique look. I believe a big part of that was because many of the drawings were actually done on black paper to help make things look darker overall. I have seen the style of animation called dark deco. The look of everything had a film noir feel and the buildings, cars, and other items did look like they were from the 1940's. There were also some more modern things, like computers and televisions, though the screens of the televisions were always shown in black and white. The look worked very well for the show. The theme music was based on what Danny Elfman created for the first two Batman movies. New music was created for each episode. The new music had a similar style to Burton’s music and it gave the episodes a more theatrical feel.
There were several returning characters that turned up in Batman The Animated Series - Volume One. Bruce/Batman was obviously the main character. As Bruce, he was seen actually involved in Wayne Industries instead of being just interesting in partying like has been done in some other versions. Bruce was intelligent, though he did act a bit clumsy at times. Kevin Conroy did a great job with the voice, creating one voice for Bruce and a different one for Batman. Alfred was the only character around a decent amount of time. Sometimes he barely had anything to do, and in other episodes, he played a bigger part. He knew that Bruce was Batman and he did what he could to help. Clive Revill provided the voice for Alfred for a few episodes before Efrem Zimbalist Jr. took over the part.
Commissioner Gordon was around in some of the episodes. He was usually only shown in a few short scenes, so he didn’t have as much to do. A few of the police officers, like Harvey Bullock, were also around at times. Harvey didn’t have much to do, and he came across as obnoxious in my opinion. The mayor of Gotham City was in a few of the episodes as well, usually with not that much to do. Robin only turned up in two episodes, so there really wasn’t much development for him. The Joker turned up in a few episodes and Mark Hamill did an amazing voice for the character. There were two part episodes focused on some villains like Two-Face, Catwoman, and Clayface, so there was a bit more attention given to them. Several of the other villains, like Mad Hatter and Clock King were only featured in one episodes, so they didn’t receive as much development. There was a good collection of characters that helped to keep things interesting.
DVD Information
Batman The Animated Series - Volume One contains twenty-eight episodes of the series on four discs. There were different extras on different discs. The Dark Knight’s First Night was a pilot promo hosted by Bruce Timm, one of the creators and producers of the show. Batman: The Legacy Continues was a featurette that had a retrospective of the series that I thought was interesting. The third disc had a tour of the Batcave. The last disc had Other DC Superhero Favorites. I haven’t checked that out yet, but I’m guessing it is recommendations or previews. There was commentary that I didn’t listen to on two of the episodes
Episode List
On Leather Wings Christmas With the Joker Nothing to Fear The Last Laugh Pretty Poison The Underdwellers P.O.V. Forgotten Be A Clown Two-Face Part 1 Two-Face Part 2 It’s Never Too Late I’ve Got Batman in My Basement Heart of Ice The Cat and the Claw Part 1 The Cat and the Claw Part 2 See No Evil Beware of the Gray Ghost Prophecy of Doom Feat of Clay Part 1 Feat of Clay Part 2 The Joker’s Favor Vendetta Fear of Victory The Clock King Appointment in Crime Alley Mad As a Hatter Dreams in Darkness
Batman The Animated Series was a wonderful version of Batman that fans of the character should give a chance to. Batman The Animated Series - Volume One is a great DVD set for fans of the series.
This review is part of elvisdo’s 2008 Funny Pages Write-Off. It is also part of his 2008 Canadiania Write-off. Lloyd Bochner, the man who did the voice for Many Hamilton Hill, was from Toronto. The voice of Rupert Thorne, John Vernon, was from Saskatchewan.
**Note - I originally posted this review on July 16, 2008 before work was done on the site. Once things seemed to be finished, the review was missing. I decided to go ahead and post it again since it seems like the review got lost with everything going on. If the original posting returns, I will remove it.
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