The Batman

In 92 WB produced Batman the animated series. In terms of style, content and storyline it was revolutionary as far as (american) cartoons were concerned. Kevin Conroy WAS and IS the voice of Batman. It was deep, commanding and capable of great range and he has continued being the voice of Batman through all the animated incarnations of the character until this one; from the sub-par Batman Beyond (I still count Bruce as Batman even in that series) to the superb Justice League. Indeed, so strong was the style of TAS that it dictated the tone of all DCs animated heroes, again, up until this show.

The problem with this show from the start is their decision not to use Conroy as Batman. It speaks volumes that they did not. It says, "we don't want this to be just like the other Batman cartoons". And it isn't, that's the problem.

While I don't deny people the chance to reinvent or reimagine, there is a simple truth to storytelling which is this: the further away you stray from the core concepts of the original story and character, the less attractive and watchable that character is and the poorer the result. This show proves that.

A younger Batman fighting crime and meeting his signature enemies is fine, but its been done and with considerably more style. The artwork is bizarre, not necessarily a problem in and of itself, but this Batman doesn't carry the gravity he requires- he's a guy who actively tries to terrorise criminals and you don't do that with neon-glowing gadgets as the dire Schumacher Batman movies proved eloquently.

The biggest problem I have is the characterisation, and that grates on me severely. The actual scripts are terrible, with cheesy, unfunny quips being made at every turn. Every character except Batman, Alfred and (possibly) Catwoman has been taken away from their roots, mostly so they can add some pointless fight sequences. The Joker is the biggest example, and he's been singled out many times for just this reason. The Joker is not good in a fight. He relies on henchmen and insanely well-prepared plans to achieve his ends, he does not leap around like something out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Penguin, while he sometimes fences with umbrellas is also not a hand to hand combatant. He relies on henchmen and his wits to try to stay ahead.

All in all, this reminds me less of Jackie Chan as others have mentioned, mostly because that looked so awful I avoided it, but of another terrible show, the new He-Man cartoon *shudder* Lots of gimmicky cuts to other scenes, a lot of empty space and bright colours and all the characters seems to spend half their time in mid-air with speed lines zooming past them. And the same three bad guys behind every single event.

I agree totally with others who have marked this as disappointing. It is the weakest thing to come out of the Batman franchise since the execrable Batman & Robin, and while not quite on that level of crappiness, it does count against the good work that was done in Batman Begins, a film I would expect this to try and stay as close to as possible given the proximity of their release and the inherent similarity in concept.

One of the biggest disappointments to people is this show's animation and the radical looks of some villains (mostly Joker).

The animation was done very slick in a Japanese anime style to catch new audiences that are used to it these days. Let's be honest and remember that old DCAU shows changed their animation from "The New Adventures of Batman" to "Justice League" for the same reason.

The reason for more action is because of that stupid 65 episode rule. This gives limited time for story which I find disappointing, you can tell they were going for a story that would lead to a Dark Knight Returns kind of arc. The show seems campy at times(because of those damn rules child broadcasting has), but has more dark moments like it should. You can easily tell from the first two episodes that they had planned for a mob story-arc similar to Batman:Year One. Each season pretty much starts with a story that grows to a nice climax at the end(the same technique is done in Marvel's new series "The Spectacular Spiderman"). If you continue to watch the show, you can see how his detective skills grow over time. Remember we're watching a young Bruce growing into the Dark Knight the city needs him to be.

In BTAS he's been at it as Batman for a couple of years already, he's known as a detective, and is accepted by the police. This show has him on the vigilante side and Gordon doesn't come in until later. I love how we get to see more of Bruce having a social life and protecting his alter-ego, where in BTAS how do you not know he's Batman!? Kevin Conroy's awesome but his voice doesn't seem to change in and out of the cowl. The creators of the show took their own liberties to pay respect to BTAS and the shadow it will forever cast. The use of villains is good too, I like how they use the lesser known ones.

The visuals are stunning in the fight and chase scenes(you can tell they were pulled right out of Batman comics), sound quality is top of the line for an animated show too. You have a sense of life from Gotham too. Where in previous DCAU shows there would be so many fights in the city you'd ask yourself "where are the people?". I personally think Clayface was done well, but nothing beats how Dr. Hugo Strange is portrayed. I personally think this incarnation of him is used best (even better than BTAS portrayal). The fact that the villains can stand a fighting chance to Batman was always cool to me, I like how each one has their own fighting style. As a Bat-fan I disliked how the villains would do nothing but plot and you knew in the back of your head that in the end of the episode all it's gonna take is one punch from Batman to end it. Joker is always a subject of debate among people who see this show. To me not liking this Joker is like hating Heath Ledger's portrayal(his Joker was so radical that his skin wasn't even bleached), they both do a great job nonetheless. Personally I think Mark Hamill forever nailed the role.

Everything else was because of legal issues really. Robin appearing after Batgirl(because of Teen Titans ending), Batman not having a square chin and Kevin Conroy not doing the voice(because Justice League was still on at the time, Rino Ramano did a good job as a young Batman though), Scarecrow, Two-Face, and Ra's Al Ghul not appearing(because of them being in the new movies).

In a time where good cartoons are hard to find these days the creators of this show worked with what they had and did a great job at it.

Ever since the 1992 animated series of Batman, I've watched every single appearance he's made on the TV since then. From the Animated Series to The Adventures of Batman & Robin, to The New Batman Adventures, and yes even Batman Beyond and the two incarnations of Justice League. I can safely say that The Batman is nowhere near the level any of those shows.

The problem is, even judged on its own merits, The Batman falls incredibly short. But I tried to put all that aside and remain objective about the show. I mean, it's Batman right? Nope, it's not Batman. Rather than follow in the footsteps of its predecessors, The Batman ignores all the Batman cartoons that came before it, which is well over a decade's worth of animation.

The series starts off with the third anniversary of Batman's birth and we are introduced to a much younger Bruce Wayne, this also marks the first confrontation between the Joker and Batman. Unfortunately, everything that should've made this a memorable first encounter is lost in favor of silly action sequences, lame dialogue, and one of the worst artistic revisions of a villain I have ever seen.

Another problem is that's pretty much the summary for most of the episodes, even though the series is around its third season. While the episodes have improved slightly, it's a very small evolution and a good 90% of the episodes boil down to Batman versus the villain of the day.

The sad part is the show actually has a bit of promise, such as a decent revisioning of the Clayface character. But otherwise, every other part of the show is weak. I'll start with the character designs. Now we can all say we'd like some new and improved designs for the characters, something we haven't seen before...but there are some things that are just sacred, for instance, the Joker.

There are so many ways I can describe how awful the design is, but I think I'll go with this: he looks like a rejected Street Fighter 2 design for Blanka. The first time you see the Joker your eyes will immediately hurt. Not only that, his puns are horrible, for some reason he knows kung fu (along with every other villain, even the Penguin), and his plans are pointless and silly along with a voice that doesn't fit at all.

The rest of the designs are just as awful including a bizarre-looking Bane and a Marilyn Manson style Riddler. Yeah, I'm still trying to figure that one out too. And Batman resembles some weird looking bird more than a bat as well as having an unsuitable voice. The characterizations are off as well, showing both Bruce Wayne and alter ego Batman as boring individuals.

The animation just doesn't suit the show and never gives off any kind of a dark atmosphere. And the funny thing is, there are twice as many fight scenes in The Batman versus all the other animated Batman shows, but they come off as pointless, hollow, and inexplicably boring.

Batman relies much less on his detective skills and more on stupid gadgets that only serve a purpose for only one or two episodes.

Batman: The Animated Series was the highest point of Batman's animated career, and while it's arguable which of the spin-offs will be ranked below it, I think we can all agree that The Batman will be at the very bottom. A low point for the Dark Knight that years from now when the series is over will be spoken only in hushed whispers.

"Oh, THAT Batman cartoon" they will say with a disgusted tone.

From the animation, to the characterization, to the story lines, and even the action--The Batman fails in every regard. The series stands as a testament to the creative genius and hard work, along with superb voice acting by the likes of Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, that went into the creation of Batman: The Animated Series and its subsequent follow-ups. The Batman merely serves as a brief footnote in the bat's history that dishonors all those that have come before it.

I fought this show for a long time. I would have been like all the others complaining about what they did wrong and this looks like jackie chan yada yada yada and hey I loved batman TAS as much if not more than everyone else bashing this series. I'm not going to write a book here but just consider the DC comics "elseworld" series. It take a different look at batman, superman etc. no one complains about that. Try reading dark joker the wild, batman red rain, gotham by gaslight all these show batman and the joker in a different light so why the harsh words here. Can't we just enjoy the show? If you can just get past TAS this cartoon really is not that bad.

John

The Batman follows Bruce Wayne who's in his third year of his career as masked crimefighter "The Batman" whose public presence is that of an urban legend. As we follow a relatively green Batman in his early days we see his first encounters with noted villains, the development of his relationship with the Gotham Police force from public enemy number one to alliance and even witness the origins of his partnerships with Batgirl and Robin.

Running from 2004 to 2008, The Batman was in a unique situation as it was the first Batman related show to be made that would not be related to the DC animated universe or the Kevin Conroy portrayal of Batman that had been the standard since his debut in 1992. The show featured a radical departure in art design with Jeff Matsuda of Jackie Chan adventures forgoing the traditional noir-ish art deco approach in favor of a more "Americanime" design that had been popularized through shows such as Jackie Chan Adventures and Cartoon Network's Teen Titans series. Needless to say The Batman sparked the ire of many fans who didn't appreciate the departure from the previous decade's standards established for the Dark Knight (ignoring the artistic departures in Batman TAS season 4, but I digress) and the show has something of a mixed reputation because of that. While I don't think the show is worthy of most of the derision it's received, I do acknowledge it has flaws that have a tendency to make themselves noticed.

As the show begins in its first season, it's very much a reintroduction to the characters and lore. As opposed to the Batman of Batman TAS who already had a Robin sidekick who was late high school or early college aged, the Batman of The Batman is relatively new to the world of crimefighting often having to work around the police instead of with them and avoiding media and public attention when possible. The reintroductions of various villains are where the series begins to stumble. Because the show now focuses on Bruce/Batman's ongoing growth in conjunction with typical "villain of the week" stories, The Batman has a tendency to truncate villain introductions and arcs for single episode storylines. Some villains don't even get an introduction such as a rather overdesigned character called Gearhead, and others seem to have undergone change simply for the sake of change. Easily the biggest downgrade of the series is the character of Mr. Freeze who in TAS was a tragic figure who spoke eloquently and conveyed a mixture of rage and despair that made him one of the most rich characters on the show. Mr. Freeze in The Batman is now a generic thuggish bankrobber who makes ice puns in a deep gravely voice and dresses like a pro wrestler. This results in Mr. Freeze being one of the most boring characters on the show and feels like it was done solely for the sake of not inviting comparisons to TAS. On the one hand I understand why they did this, but on the other they took a well-constructed character archetype and replaced it with nothing. I'm not opposed to different interpretations of the Character of Mr. Freeze. George Sander's humorous interpretation of the character from the 60s Batman show was silly but still had a level of class that made the character engaging. Here Mr. Freeze felt like one of the generic goons from the show given a voice and ice powers. Kevin Michael Richardson's Joker was also a sticking point for me (but for other reasons I'll get to). Not only do I not like the design, but Richardson's heavy voice doesn't feel like it fits with Joker's madcap delivery style and feels grating. But even taking aside my dislike for the show's interpretation of Joker, the series used Joker way too much. Of the 65 episodes made of The Batman, a little over 20 of them feature Joker or are related to Joker. In comparison TAS consisted of 85 episodes and used Joker 15 times. Joker is a good villain, but when you over rely on one particular villain it ends up leaving your show feeling very repetitive.

The visuals of the show are also rather mixed. While the color palette is more diverse going for a richer display of colors for Gotham than the red and black of the previous series, the show diverges from the more grounded aesthetic of TAS in favor of more exaggerated character designs. For the most part the style works reasonably well and is unintrusive, but there are notable missteps taken. Joker in The Batman doesn't have the style of the TAS Joker and instead of being a funhouse mirror interpretation of comedians like Jerry Lewis and Don Rickles, Joker in this series has an overdesigned "deranged" aesthetic of a straight jacket, long hair, an overly angular face, and bare feet. Riddler has a similar issue, while I like Robert Englund as the voice of Riddler his androgynous figure with a costume based heavily on Marilyn Manson just feels at odds with the voice and the character. It's not unthinkable that a Marilyn Manson inspired costume could work for some of Batman's Rogue's Gallery, but it would need to be someone like Scarecrow or Anarky who have a sense of theatricality to their characters. Riddler isn't "theatrical" he's a know it all who prides on "knowing it all" so the costuming choice doesn't mesh with the character.

With the criticisms out of the way, we can get to the real meat of the show which is the continuing plot threads. While Batman TAS was and remains a good show, it cannot be overlooked that the show was mainly designed in mind with the stories being (relatively) stand alone adventures that didn't require any particular viewing order. The Batman takes a different approach and while the episodes don't work as well as stand alones they do work as parts of a greater whole telling season and multi season long arcs that culminate in satisfying crescendos. Each season for the most part focuses on continuing characters and plot threads who see some level of development for a later payoff. This is where The Batman's strength lies as a TV show, it feels like there's movement of something bigger in the background even if the villain of the week doesn't lead to much satisfaction. We see Bruce/Batman grow in his relationships with his friend/mentor Alfred, see him develop relationships with members of the police during his time as a wanted fugitive laying the groundwork for cementing their partnership, and we see his taking on new partners and becoming less of a brooding figure of myth and more a symbol of un relenting justice for those who've lost hope of getting it. Even some villains (such as Clayface and Hugo Strange) are introduced better here than in TAS because they're established over several seasons worth of development which makes their payoff all the more satisfying. I think in a way this boils down to the main criticism of this show which I also think is it's biggest asset that sets it apart: The Batman is about what it says, The Batman and his growth as a person and hero and this means there's less time devoted to establishing the villains and giving them depth (at least in villain of the week format).

The Batman is a complicated show. It stumbles in many areas (especially in comparison to TAS), but it also succeeds in many other areas not previously explored by giving us an overarching narrative that felt like it was building characters and situations. The development wasn't always as smooth as it could've been, but the show did find a unique approach to the characters and lore that I do think makes it worth a viewing. Like pop cultures staples of James Bond, Godzilla, The Universal Monsters, and too many others to mention, with a historied character like Batman there have been many interpretations of the character and I'm sure there'll be many more to come. This isn't the "definitive" Batman, but it's still a unique approach that deserves to be looked at for what it is, a different approach to classic material.