Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

What happens when Bruce Wayne enters his golden years? He becomes a bitter recluse trying to live his remaining years without thoughts of what he used to be. Batman has finally been defeated. A troubled but determined young man is the only thing that can break Wayne’s shell. Terry McGinnis steals the mantle of Batman and has to convince Wayne that he should keep it. That turns into Wayne convincing the new Batman what he needs to do to be the best crime fighter he can be. Armed with a high-tech suit and updated gadgets Batman must battle an array of new villains and a few familiar ones here and there.

Batman Beyond is one of the best looks into the future of a super hero ever conceived. What would happen with an elderly Wayne that still had the spirit of Batman? This show delves into that, and doesn’t stop with Terry fighting bad guys. Terry and Wayne clash on numerous occasions, Terry tries to figure out why Batman threw in the towel, Barbara Gordon lets Bruce know what she thinks of him, Terry runs into regular high school issues like dating and getting grounded, and other bits of real life appear.

The animation style is a lot like other somewhat recent shows. By that I mean the toons done by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini (not the more recent “The Batman” show in which he looks 13). It’s dark with sharp angles, and very high-tech. It reminds me of Blade Runner without the flying cars. While the visual style is a lot like Batman the Animated Series, the sound is considerably different. The heavy industrial/electronica music adds to that dark technological feel.

The stories often have ironies not usually seen in cartoons. The episode that got me interested in the show had an ending worthy of Twilight Zone (check out season 2 for that one). Others have parallels to past stories such as Waye’s relationship with Selina Kyle. Many of the old villains that appear are as different as Batman is from old man Wayne and would never have been seen in these states in a regular Batman story. Of course, there are also cliché ironies such as Wayne’s nemesis also doubling as Batman’s.

The story from beginning to end is not without its pitfalls, but it’s written well from a character standpoint. I particularly like the deepening of the villains. I’ve seen stories where a villain appears to play it straight, but it always ends up being a ruse. Batman Beyond is the first series I’ve seen that allows its villains to genuinely change heart. It also allows for various motivations: classic evil insanity, megalomania, greed, revenge, addiction, even peer/familial/authoritative pressure.

The cast is made up of people I have seen doing a lot of voice acting before. Keven Conroy has been the voice of Batman for a while now and creates a kind of continuity with the Batman animated series. Will Friedle plays Terry. Lauren Tom does voice and screen acting so you've probably heard and seen her before. Stockard Channing, Teri Garr, and Seth Green make frequent appearances. Seth plays a more straight-forward role than I would have expected. A few notable voice actors show up to play various roles including Corey Burton and Jeff Bennett. I'll point out a few notable guest appearance as I go through the episodes.

Content:
While maybe too dark and violent for young kids, there is very little death and it’s always implied off screen. Batman never kills. There is no foul language or sex. There are, however, some surprisingly skimpy outfits for some of the girls.

DVD:
I like having the episodes on DVD, but I’m not terribly impressed by the set. First of all there are only 13 episodes two of which make up the pilot which is often referred to as the “movie.” Nearly half of the episode content is already available on the Batman Beyond The Movie release. Most of the other episodes are available on other DVD releases. If you have a complete Batman Beyond DVD collection up to this point you’re not getting much you don’t already have.

The only reason I care about the episodes that are on the "Movie" DVD is because the previous release does a better job with the presentation which constitutes a big disappointment with the season 1 set. First of all "Rebirth" (the pilot AKA "The Movie") was edited into one long feature rather than two. I enjoyed watching it in that format more than the divided version on the season 1 release.

Second of all, the "Movie" release divides the episodes into chapters though they could have been placed a little better. I thought they would improve for the season 1 release, but instead they took a step back. There are no chapters. I love the theme song. I own the soundtrack and keep the theme and other songs in my regular playlist, but if I’m going to watch several episodes in a row (which I usually do) I don’t want to see the opening every time. Chapter skipping is a lot more convenient than scanning. Isn’t convenience one of the selling points of TVD?

I also have a problem with the packaging. Is there a worse case design than stacking DVD’s on top of each other? No, there is not. It’s a 2 disc set. How hard would it have been to stick a small tray inside like most 2-disc movie releases do? Instead you have to remove disc 1 to get to #2.

I do like the menu design. Animation, music, and sound effects are well done.

Seeing as how the set doesn’t offer all that much in the way of unreleased content I would have thought there would be an emphasis on bonus features as a selling point. There are a few decent things, but nothing that would sway my purchase decision if I already had all the other releases.

A behind the scenes feature has a panel of the staff talking about the creation of the show. I enjoyed it. It’s well edited with graphics that keep it from being a couple of talking faces the whole time. I was surprised to learn that the concept was originally developed to draw in younger kids. Though the new Batman, Terry, is younger than Wayne in the other series, the dark tone does not strike me as one aimed at 10 year olds. If you think about the levity of Teen Titans and other such shows, that’s obviously for young audiences. Batman Beyond is nothing at all like that. It’s interesting to hear them talk about that especially when coupled with the "Rebirth" commentary which talks about it even more.

The music section is good, but could have been great with a slight change. The section has an intro that explains why this feature was included on the DVD. Then a menu appears. Each selection is a few minutes of one of the episodes with nothing but the score playing. Isolated score is one of my most favorite DVD features of any release. What would have made this truly great would be the scores for the entire episodes rather than small sections.

Perhaps the best extra is the hidden one. On the extras menu highlight Mr. Freeze’s eyes. It’s a song Kris Carter made to get the job of composer. This ended up becoming the theme song. It’s not as refined here as the more familiar version, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. There are Batman visuals behind it though not as impressively cut together as a music video. There’s also an intro by Bruce Timm.

In addition are some preview trailers and 2 episode commentaries which I will detail as I go through the episodes. Before I get into that, though, I should point out that an advertisement says this collection has storyboards and such. Unless there is an Easter Egg I haven’t found it does not contain any such thing, only what I mentioned above.

Episodes: There are 13 episodes clocking in at about 21 minutes or so each.

1) Rebirth part 1: This is pretty much the premise of the show which I’ve already described. Batman hangs up the cowl, and years later Terry stumbles across the secret. Terry’s dad is killed due to some secrets at his company (Wayne’s company) and Terry wants Wayne/Batman to do something about it.
George Takei and Michael Gross guest star.
This one has a commentary. It’s a shame there aren’t more than two since it is quite informative and interesting.

2) Rebirth part 2: Terry steals the batsuit and goes out to avenge his father. Wayne is so mad he nearly kills the kid while Terry tries to convince the old man that they have to stop the mutagenic virus from being shipped to a terrorist. Blight is created in the battle.

3) Black Out: A living shadow, Inque, is sabotaging Foxteca, Lucious Fox’s son’s company. Wayne suspects Powers is behind it. Inque spanks Terry like a baby, and now she wants Wayne’s head.

4) Golem: Wimpy Willy finds a way to get back at the jerks that mess with him, a construction GLM – a huge and powerful robot Willy can control. Terry must stop him before he hurts someone, but it’s mouse against elephant.

5) Meltdown: Powers’ radiation problem gets worse. A scientist has come up with a way to duplicate his body and transfer him into it. They test it out on Vistor Fries whose head is being kept alive in a lab. Fries appears to start a new and semi-normal life, but Wayne doesn’t trust him. Conflict arises between Freeze and Blight with Batman caught in the middle.
The story deals with Freeze in a way that is not common in a series like this. Usually a villain is a villain. There is more depth of character this time. Michael Ansara voices Mr. Freeze. Tress MacNeille and Linda Hamilton make appearances.
There is a score selection for this episode on disc 2.

6) Heroes: There are new heroes in town: the Terrific Trio (obvious take off on Fantastic 4). Things aren’t all fine and happy with them, though. There is something untoward about their creation which has put them in the sights of some dangerous men.
Laura San Giacomo guest stars.

7) Shriek: Walter Shreeve has developed a sound weapon for Powers. He’s charged with bringing down Wayne. In steps Terry, but can the fledgling Batman keep Wayne from losing his mind when he’s admitted to the psyche ward?
This has the other commentary. Once again it’s good enough to make me wish there were more of them.

8) Dead Man’s Hand: A new incarnation of the Royal Flush Gang terrorizes the city. King is obsessed with getting Batman. Meanwhile Terry runs into trouble with Dana and meets Melanie. He’s upset that Batman is killing his social life and finds himself in a situation paralleling Wayne’s with Selina Kyle.
A story criticism here: for all the building they do for Terry’s relationship with Dana he sure locks lips with Melanie in a hurry.  George Lazenby and Olivia D'Abo guest star.
There is a score selection for this one.

9) The Winning Edge: Batman is tiring Terry out in class. His mom suspects drug abuse as rumors of Venom use sweeps the school. Batman needs to track down the source of the drug, and only Bane has the formula.

10) Spellbound: A new criminal uses illusion to have people unwittingly commit crimes. No one buys the explanations given by the victims at first except for Terry who quickly finds out that Batman is not beyond Spellbinder’s reach.
This one has 2 score selections.

11) Disappearing Inque: The man charged with keeping watch over the imprisoned Inque is obsessed with her – enough to set her free. Now she wants revenge.
William H Macy guest stars.
There is a score selection.

12) A Touch of Curare: An assassin is after the DA. Batman foils the attempt and Barbara Gordon’s tension with Wayne is revealed. Curare will not give up so easily, however, for if she fails she will be hunted by her order. She must bring down the DA and Batman at all costs, and Terry must risk the wrath of the police force to stop the killer.

13) Ascension: Blight is tired of his plight and brings in his son as a successor. Paxton has not fallen far from the tree of his twisted upbringing. Batman is now up against father and son, and the rivalry between family members may be his only salvation.
Cary Elwes plays Paxton Powers.

Final Thoughts:
Batman Beyond is worth checking out for you Batman fans. It is one of my favorite super-hero cartoons, though I wouldn’t put it on par with the likes of Batman Begins. I own the release called The Movie, and thought this set worth the expense to now have all the other season 1 episodes. The extras, though, are not nearly impressive enough to overcome my disappointments with the case design and chapter division. This release would have gotten 4* from me if not for my annoyance with the case design, lack of chapters, and time spent hunting for special features that were advertised but not included. Isolated scores for the full episodes, recording sessions, or some other exciting things might have convince me to go up. As it is I’m giving it a mere 3* although I do recommend it.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older