20th Anniversary of The Batman cartoon series

[The Overlord]

Hey everyone,

It's the 20th anniversary of the Batman cartoon series. I have some interesting videos about it:



What do you think of the Batman, after 20 years?

 

[Frontier]

I remember the day I first got into it! And I was a kid so I didn't even bat an eye at all the differences from B:TAS that turned a lot of people off .

It's kind of a product of the 2000's in a lot of way, and the boom of anime-esque character design an animation, and it took a bit before it really came into its own but overall I think it's a great Batman cartoon .

 

[Rick Jones]

I remember when I first watched it. Might have been the Bats in the Belfry episode. I think I saw a Catwoman episode as well. I wasn't sure how I felt but one of my friends was really critical about everything and he might have helped sway my decision. We just couldn't get past the Dreadlocked Joker, and Bruce's nose, Bat-Wave, etc. I remember liking the Selina Kyle design though. I didn't even think of the show again until The Batman Vs Dracula was making the rounds. I gave that a try and I loved it. I started watching after that. Probably Seasons 3, and 4, etc. I watched the older episodes on Boomerang. I'm realizing that I probably haven't seen the whole series. I should fix that someday.

I think it's a really good Saturday Morning Batman series and I enjoy so much about it. It's kind of funny remembering how we didn't initially give it a chance because of the art style, etc, and our strong favor to BTAS. I guess I'd forgotten having to warm up to BTAS' designs as a kid, too, especially when my best friend would go on and on about Bruce's super square jaw. I already liked The Batman when I saw the designs for Spectacular Spider-Man but I still thought negatively about those at first, "It looks like The Batman version of Spider-Man." I'm glad I got hooked to that show early. It was good having both shows to look forward during those last years of Kids WB.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

I'm not going to lie; though I thankfully never did a full "oh because I'm turning into an adult I'm going to pretend all cartoons made for kid are bad and terrible and something I could never be into" evolution, there were some shows I likely never gave that fair a chance to due to preconceptions. And that would certainly be this show. Which yeah for those of us who remember that far back, was the first major Batman series AFTER Batman The Animated series. Teen Titans did prove you could still do solid DC animated shows outside the DCAU but even that take on Robin (which you could tell visual wise did inspire the take on Robin here BTW) attitude wise felt so outside general Batman it felt mostly like it's own thing starring mostly new and different characters. The Batman is the first show that really had to do it's own thing and yeah when I first saw and heard about it, all of those differences rubbed me the wrong way. "We're dealing with a YOUNGER Batman having to re fight these different takes on his rogues? There's much more lame puns and less seeming dramatic edge as there was before?" And yeah I did really enjoy the look and feel of Teen Titans in it's sort of anime inspired animation but not only was this show not going all the way that one was but it didn't feel the right fit for this part of the DC Franchise. That's the feel I got from this in bits and clips I first saw of the show that honestly I was also really looking for an excuse to hate, especially knowing it was partially the reason JLU was doing a Bat Villains/characters embargo and thus felt like now I had more "just" reason to right it off.

However I did watch some of the show when it was also showing on Toonami mostly the first season and then checked out some episodes of later season and the movie and... like it's certainly not anywhere near the best Batman series (in fact sans Beware the Batman probably one of the least made in the modern era) but it's certainly not bad. I will say it does have fantastic fight animations that are several steps up from BTAS/TNBA that are still really slick even to this day and like let's face it: ANY Batman series after BTAS was going to feel like a step backwards. I mean Batman Beyond is different because it takes place in the future with a new group of antagonists and feel but The Batman is having to do things different while still having to guide around Kids WB limitations while still feeling like the caped crusader and it did it's job fine. There aren't too many aspects I feel this incarnation has that I'm glad was carried over to the mainstream canon of the comics or the general public perception of Batman but for what it is, it works okay and for those who did grow more up with it and weren't so obnoxiously picky when it first came out, hope you enjoy it's 20th anniversary and legacy more then me.

 

[-batmat-]

There's a lot of positives about The Batman. It could have done much better than it did, and recieved better if not for the BTAS comparisons. I rewatched it recently for the first time on blu ray and it's very enjoyable. Not without it's faults, but overall a very nice show.

Congrats on your YouTube channel btw @The Overlord , discovered it a few months ago and loved it!

 

[the_joker]

20 years already?

I enjoyed this show, though it could be a little inconsistent in terms of episode quality. Then again, Batman: TAS had some notably subpar episodes. Rino Romano was actually pretty good as Batman, and he was able to give the two personas distinct but believable voices. "The Laughing Bat" was one of my favorite episodes of this show.

And there was the "Bat-embargo", which I felt was stupid as even if younger viewers were confused by different renditions of the same character, they would have eventually figured out the truth.

I did like Batman's character arc with him starting as the usual lone hero, but he gained allies through Ellen Yin and Jim Gordon (with the former disappearing for some reason), then he had fellow superheroes in Batgirl and Robin, and he joined the Justice League in the final season. It was telling about how the writers handled this Batman when he advocated for teamwork and teammates to Superman.

Only about 4 more years until Batman: The Brave and the Bold becomes 20 years old, and I consider that cartoon to be "modern".

 

[The Overlord]

There's a lot of positives about The Batman. It could have done much better than it did, and recieved better if not for the BTAS comparisons. I rewatched it recently for the first time on blu ray and it's very enjoyable. Not without it's faults, but overall a very nice show.

Congrats on your YouTube channel btw @The Overlord , discovered it a few months ago and loved it!

Do you mean Serum Lake or Casually Comics? I like both personally.

 

[-batmat-]

Do you mean Serum Lake or Casually Comics? I like both personally.

Serum Lake. The way you worded your post I thought it was you. My bad.

 

[wonderfly]

From the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:

"“The Batman” 20th Anniversary Retrospective"​

"This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the animated series The Batman, one of the more controversial yet successful titles in the history of DC’s animated output. The Batman aired on the popular Saturday morning block Kids WB starting September 11, 2004 and became one of the last hits on that block as cable cartoons were overtaking Saturday mornings. This series sought to create a new millennium version of Batman and was basically the Batman equivalent of iconic Spider-Man comic Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis. Like the aforementioned Ultimate Spider-Man, The Batman was known for its drastic reinventions of the rogues gallery. The Joker wore dreadlocks, Riddler looked like Marilyn Manson, Mr. Freeze looked like a man encased in a giant block of ice. The notorious opening episode where Batman fights the Joker signaled that this series was going to be completely different from the iconic 1990s animated series.

Another major distinguishing factor of this series compared to its predecessors was its focus on “over the top” action scenes, in an attempt to capture the zeitgeist of hard hitting action cartoons of the era, most notably anime titles like Dragonball Z. The series featured a Penguin who knew martial arts, among other differences in this more action based Batman, whereas the 1990s series was more down to earth in comparison. In fact, the first season of The Batman aired reruns on Cartoon Network’s legendary Saturday night action block Toonami alongside those anime titles that inspired it."

Read the full retrospective here.

 

[Lycaon]

This is one of the first Batman shows I ever watched. I first saw it when I was 9, and I got to around Season 3 before not touching the series for a while. But then I revisited it during quarantine, and managed to get through most of the show (I don't think I saw the last 3 episodes), and I just loved the show even more. It takes a lot of creative liberties, but I think it helps the show stand out. I really like how they did the Joker in this show, it's very different from what we've seen before, but it's one of the best takes I've seen on the character. And I never thought that Kevin Michael Richardson could make such a good Joker, he really gives it his all.

I'm gonna have to revisit the series sometime soon, I had a blast watching it when I was younger.

 

[Christopher Glennon]

I did like Batman's character arc with him starting as the usual lone hero, but he gained allies through Ellen Yin and Jim Gordon (with the former disappearing for some reason), then he had fellow superheroes in Batgirl and Robin, and he joined the Justice League in the final season. It was telling about how the writers handled this Batman when he advocated for teamwork and teammates to Superman.

I had at the time and continue to have mixed feelings of the show (although I did watch every episode as it aired), but I will say that it may have the greatest progression of any superhero cartoon. It wasn't even just Batman gaining allies, his enemies became more dangerous too. Season one was their intro, season two was the team-up season, and then the show introduced Riddler and Hugo Strange, two of the series' best villains.

I'd like to say each season got better and better, but I don't think season five quite topped season four. All those early Robin episodes were amazing. "Strange New World" had a great twist ending, and "Seconds" was so bold it actually killed Batman, Robin, and Batgirl.

 

[Pooky]

About as 2004 as a can of Pepsi Blue and probably aged about as well.

OK, that's maybe going too far. I concede it had a little more going for it than I thought back then, but it's never really grabbed me either. To be fair I'm pretty sure I've only ever seen episodes from the first two seasons, I know it was somewhat retooled in later seasons, which some people prefer and others saw as a downgrade, from what I hear I suspect I'd be in the former camp but who knows? I'd be up for giving those seasons a look, but only the first 2 seasons seem to be available on streaming in the UK (I'm not really interested enough to buy the seasons at current prices).

For me the most memorable part was the theme song by The Edge (which I understand they later drop). I always wonder whether that was inspired by Joe Perry doing the theme to the 94 Spider-Man, but more likely it was because of U2 doing the lead single from the Batman Forever soundtrack.

 

[Frontier]

About as 2004 as a can of Pepsi Blue and probably aged about as well.

OK, that's maybe going too far. I concede it had a little more going for it than I thought back then, but it's never really grabbed me either. To be fair I'm pretty sure I've only ever seen episodes from the first two seasons, I know it was somewhat retooled in later seasons, which some people prefer and others saw as a downgrade, from what I hear I suspect I'd be in the former camp but who knows? I'd be up for giving those seasons a look, but only the first 2 seasons seem to be available on streaming in the UK (I'm not really interested enough to buy the seasons at current prices).

For me the most memorable part was the theme song by The Edge (which I understand they later drop). I always wonder whether that was inspired by Joe Perry doing the theme to the 94 Spider-Man, but more likely it was because of U2 doing the lead single from the Batman Forever soundtrack.

I feel like if you want to check out the season with the best episodes, you should check out season 4 (which is ironically the season where they drop the iconic theme song).

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

I have an interesting relationship with this show where I actually liked it as it first came out and would be one of people defending it on this board. That's more or less how I got my actual start posting here. I liked some of the designs, the animation, and how approachable and satisfying the show was. I grew up with Batman: The Animated Series, and I loved that, but I think this show came out at the right time to get me to accept other versions of Batman.

I've revisited it since, and I actually think the show holds up less for me than it did before. Now that I have other shows like Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Beware the Batman, and Batman: Caped Crusader, as well as other Batman incarnations in general, I feel I can be honest about some of its flaws. The first and third seasons were underwhelming and had fairly generic plots. The few episodes I really liked were very sparse. The show had a tendency of never really building up a supporting cast. Yin just leaves after season 2 with no explanation. Jim Gordon's partnership with Batman is barely present and only works to bring in Batgirl. Even she takes a backseat to Robin over time. Most of the interesting villains were one-shots while the show kept using Joker and Penguin. The former has some stories here, but I never warmed up to the latter.

Season 2 had some good episodes and probably what really got me into the show. Not every episode was great, but it felt like the show found its footing by that point. I really enjoyed Clayface, Riddler, and Hugo Strange. Season 4 is probably the show's strongest season. It wasn't afraid to lean in darker and tell darker stories. It does more fanservice, but it feels earned after the show had reached that long, and it still maintains its identity. Unfortunately, the same energy doesn't carry to season 5, which was affected by bizarre "suggestions" made after audience testing.

Even though not every design worked for me (first Joker, Bane, Riddler), I liked how refreshing the art style was. It made me excited to see how every rogue would be interpreted as. While I largely prefer the latter seasons in terms of story and writing, I felt the designs became more safe and expected. Clayface in particular stands out as one of the very few times they tried something new instead of using B:TAS Hagen yet again....until Caped Crusader, of course. I liked Mr. Freeze's design, even if he was a flat character. Firefly should've been the standard going forward instead of just showing up in Lego Batman 3.

Between the show's 20th anniversary and its newfound popularity, I'm surprised DC hasn't really acknowledged it or done anything with that. No McFarlane figures, no social media posts, nothing. Not even for the 85th anniversary of the character.

I feel like if you want to check out the season with the best episodes, you should check out season 4 (which is ironically the season where they drop the iconic theme song).

It started with season 3, when Batgirl was introduced. I feel that the second theme song is one of the reasons why people think season 4 was lighter and brighter, when it really wasn't.

 

[Frontier]

It started with season 3, when Batgirl was introduced. I feel that the second theme song is one of the reasons why people think season 4 was lighter and brighter, when it really wasn't.

Ah, got it! I think I confused it because I associate that theme with the "Batfamily" season .

 

[-batmat-]

season 5, which was affected by bizarre "suggestions" made after audience testing.

Can you expand on that? I wasn't aware of this.

 

[Yojimbo]

Can you expand on that? I wasn't aware of this.

I'm curious, too. Only thing I was aware of was the network shifting Michael Jelenic to Legion of Superheroes and dropping the show on Alan Burnett's lap to supervise and they wanted season 5 to be more kid-friendly again.

 

[Otaku-sempai]

I'm curious, too. Only thing I was aware of was the network shifting Michael Jelenic to Legion of Superheroes and dropping the show on Alan Burnett's lap to supervise and they wanted season 5 to be more kid-friendly again.

And it's not as though the show stopped being kid-friendly. The fourth season was just a little bit less so, with stronger scripts.

 

[Yojimbo]

On second thought, I think Wonder Woman and Aquaman were off-limits to them during season 5 production. It was in a World's Finest interview with Burnett. Pretty sure. That's the only other thing I remember. I swear. lol.

 

[-batmat-]

I always assumed Wonder Woman wasn't used since this was a show aimed at boys. But yeah, it would be weird to do a JL without her.