Batman & Robin

Don't get me wrong. I like a lot of the "Batman" episodes that aired on FOX (when the show was under the title "Batman: The Animated Series"). It's just that the animation in these late '90s installments are better. Since Warner Brothers owns Batman, I like the fact that they could finally have more creative freedom on the WB network than what they had on FOX.

For example, when the show moved to WB, we finally got to see the pyromaniac Firefly (Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed appear on B:TAS while the show was running on FOX). He appeared in only two episodes ("Torch Song" and "Legends of the Dark Knight"), and should have been featured more often like many other Bat-villains (Joker, Two-Face, Penguin, Catwoman, etc.). I would also have liked to see Firefly take on Mr. Freeze (in a "fire and ice" conflict). That would have been a clever face-off, don't you think?

This show needed a lot of improvements. While the first show had great animation and story line, this show has bad animation and replaces story lines for action sequences. What I did like about this show is that it was faithful to the comics even though they did skip Jason, the second Robin, but that is understandable since Jason does get killed by the Joker.

One guy called this show the TV equivalent to a bad sequel. I couldn't disagree more, but say what you want about this show... it is still better then every single one of the Batman movies. Nightwing is introduced on this series and hopefully in the next couple of years Bruce Timm will make a Nightwing series. Tim Drake is cool personified. Batgirl on this show is really good and she is the star of one of the best episodes of all the Batman Shows(including The Animated series). In this episode, she is drugged by the Scarecrow and has a dream that she dies and her father, Commissioner Jim Gordon, makes a vow to have Batman killed. For a minute I actually thought that Batgirl had really died and it wasn't until the end of the show that you find out it was all a dream. That was a superb episode. Bruce Timm and his people should be the only people allowed to make animated Batman cartoons. I give Gotham nights a 15/10. It is that damn good.

Batman in all of Bruce Timm's incarnations are great. If the movies would have followed this cartoon even a little, they would have been aeon's better then they were. A word to anyone interested in Batman. You want to see real Batman movies? The rent Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman and Mr. Freeze: Subzero, and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman. and watch them in the order that I named them. You can't go wrong. And while you are at it, get Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker!

The New Batman Adventures is the sequel that The Animated Series deserved, and its style-differentiation is justified yet it still feels like the sibling to its predecessor.

The New Batman Adventures has more stylized character designs than before, and while that may be off-putting to some, Batman has never looked sharper than he does here; at least I say that with a lot of love.

Batman has always been empowered with rich stories and The New Batman Adventures continues that tradition beautifully. It is a sequel to Batman: The Animated Series, but it stands its own ground just fine.

As much as I love Batman and Batman:The Animated Series(one of the best animated shows in general), while there are some undeniably good elements there are one too many frustrating ones too.

Pros: The voice acting is superb, Kevin Conroy is the embodiment of Batman and always has been. Mark Hamill brings menace and gravitas to the Joker. There are some effective villains too, Penguin, Nightwing and Scarecrow were the best ones for me. Likewise with some compelling story lines, the overall standard is not as dark or complex as Batman: The Animated Series and some of the animated movies but there are some well-written ones, Old Wounds, Joker's Millions and Sins of the Father were a few of the standouts. The dialogue has its sharpness also, and the action has some exciting moments.

Cons: The animation is a disappointment. Everything here looks too bright and pointy. The brightness jarred with the dark, haunting atmosphere often associated with Batman, which I also found generally lacking in The New Batman Adventures, and I hated the designs of Joker and Catwoman. The characters vary in terms of interest, more leaning towards the disappointing end of the spectrum, Nightwing and Penguin are the most interesting, however Joker is too thuggish often in manner. Batman occasionally is dark and brooding though this is more on Conroy's part than the writing but he also comes across as too cold. Tim is annoyingly childish and Barbara Gordon feels out of place.

As an overall whole, has the voice acting, a few of the villains and some good story lines in its favour but the animation, lack of atmosphere and the way some of the characters are written makes the show inconsistent and frustratingly so. 6/10 Bethany Cox