"DC Animation on Max (Streaming Service)" News and Discussion (Spoilers)

[Mostezli]

No, it's not that "ruining my childhood" mentality. The crew told the stories they wanted to tell and closed the book on that canon. They've said it themselves they get bored fast and a couple seasons per show seemed to work best for them. Sure, if there's some script sitting around that they never got to animate or one big story they never got to corporealize, I guess one last hurrah. But as you say, WB is also a business. And if the last hurrah makes a lot of money, they'll want more hurrahs. Or fans will keep demanding more and more. Look at the Snyder Cut. Fans of Snyder's take got the JL cut to be finished. Instead of being content and happy they got what they wanted... Now those fans demand the Snyder canon to continue. It'll just be a never ending argument when something gets revived.

Samurai Jack was a little different because wasn't it cancelled before Genndy got to finish his story hence the season 5 revival? I don't think TNBA got canned before they really had any stories left to tell. Sure, there was World's Collide but they're already reworked as a stand alone movie. And yes, there's a lot of unproduced ideas, outlines, scripts from the DCAU as I've discovered over the years, but some of them were unproduced for good reasons...

This is why I'd rather they adapt all these movie scripts lying around collecting dust. A good way to stamp the next decade's output if this isn't simply carrying over what James Tucker has done with primarily original stories/loose adaptations spotlighting characters barely utilized in animation. Also, a good extension from live-action tv spinoffs with the CW and Adam West stuff.

 

[Frontier]

I definitely feels like there's strong potential for both all ages and serious animation for DC on HBOMax, if WB has the wherewithal to capitalize on it.

 

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

I definitely feels like there's strong potential for both all ages and serious animation for DC on HBOMax, if WB has the wherewithal to capitalize on it.

Yeah, I think that's the gist of it. There's potential for so many DC animated projects that cover different genres, age demographics, formats, etc., yet they've barely scratched the surface. Netflix has a very strong original animation collection that continues to expand.

 

[the greenman]

Well, we all know WB are reactionary. If WW84 was a blockbuster (theaters being open of course), they would probably have greenlit a new WW animated series. Look at the planned Aquaman series and yet the lack of Shazam series. If they could they would probably do a Joker series on adult swim. Though they're not that crazy.

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[Frontier]

Well, we all know WB are reactionary. If WW84 was a blockbuster (theaters being open of course), they would probably have greenlit a new WW animated series. Look at the planned Aquaman series and yet the lack of Shazam series. If they could they would probably do a Joker series on adult swim. Though they're not that crazy.

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By that logic, shouldn't we have had a Wonder Woman cartoon when the first movie did so well?

 

[Mostezli]

Well, we all know WB are reactionary. If WW84 was a blockbuster (theaters being open of course), they would probably have greenlit a new WW animated series. Look at the planned Aquaman series and yet the lack of Shazam series. If they could they would probably do a Joker series on adult swim. Though they're not that crazy.

By that logic, shouldn't we have had a Wonder Woman cartoon when the first movie did so well?

They pre-plan things like Suicide Squad, Justice League Dark/Constantine, and now the Justice Society.
Most other times, it's whatever folks have the time/resources and interest to invest in.
I can see the reason why they're not committing to a WW cartoon being
because there's that upcoming Amazons show + the Yara Flor show.
Also, we all know DC's poster girl is , so that TV-MA DC toon makes Joker redundant.

 

[the greenman]

By that logic, shouldn't we have had a Wonder Woman cartoon when the first movie did so well?

I think they were too busy pushing Harley and waited on reaction from BoP. Also, they have a side sequel planned as well. I would like to piece together alot of things; but my assumptions would be the same as before.

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

I still can't believe they haven't done a Shazam animated series. It seems tailor-made for a kid-friendly cartoon.

 

[Otaku-sempai]

By that logic, shouldn't we have had a Wonder Woman cartoon when the first movie did so well?

No, instead we got the second animated Wonder Woman movie.

 

[Fone Bone]

Let me offer an unusual opinion: I'm not going to respond to arguments against it. I'll just leave it here and agree to disagree with anyone who thinks I'm nuts.

One of the biggest controversies I am hearing against the idea of a Batman: The Animated Series revival is that there is very little chance it could be as great as BTAS was. I disagree with this notion for several reasons (including the fact that I don't actually think BTAS is a great as many fans say it is) but let's for the sake of argument agree that BTAS was singularly awesome and could never be topped. Here is my question: Why does it need to be?

Why is that the freaking bar? That's a freaking unreasonable expectation, and I think an extremely unhealthy mindset to view a potential future series by, no matter what it is. In the age of Breaking Bad and The Wire, a LOT of viewers demand utter perfection in their entertainment or they will let the YouTube channels have it. Me? Personally? If the relaunch is maybe a third as enjoyable as BTAS was for me, I'll be glad to watch it. I think expecting another show in this continuity to live up to unrealistically perfect standards isn't fair to whoever is producing the show.

It's also perhaps not acknowledged that a large part of BTAS's run was actually shaky itself, whether through subpar writing or animation. BTAS was influential and changed the landscape of what an action cartoon could be. But it's not perfect. It never was, and people saying that are misremembering it, or not being honest with themselves about a show they grew up with. Some of it is very dated, and is not as timeless as people want to claim it as. And that's fine, because I still enjoy it, warts and all. I am not just against the idea of putting a relaunch on a pedestal of unfair expectations. I don't think that's fair to BTAS itself. I like the fact that some of BTAS drives me crazy. I like seeing the mistakes it made, and how future DCAU shows corrected and improved on them through trial and error. And I would very much LOVE to see a DC animated show using those classic designs be afforded the beauty and fluidness of modern techniques. Whatever else a new BTAS would be, it would almost certainly be gorgeous.

Here is a harsh truth that will piss you off: As far as fight scenes go, Teen Titans Go! is better boarded and animated than BTAS is. And it's freaking Flash! That's not a slam on BTAS at all, by the way. It's because BTAS and the later DCAU shows perfected boarding and directing, and other projects like Teen Titans, Young Justice, and the DCU Movie line took things even further. The idea of a BTAS with directors and animators with an additional 28 years of experience excites the HELL out of me. We can argue about whether the scripts will be up to snuff (and I personally think they won't be if they go the Young Justice route and decide to make it TV-14) but I think it would look bananas.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

No, instead we got the second animated Wonder Woman movie.

And according to 'The Numbers', that was the worst selling film from the James Tucker era. I mean, we don't see the full picture, but still... its sales were definitely lower than the rest.

The best?

'Son of Batman' and 'The Death of Superman'.

You can't blame WB for thinking that's just what people want. And Superman only really does well when they're killing him.

I want more solo WW animated adventures, but people just don't seem to turn out for them.

 

[Mostezli]

And according to 'The Numbers', that was the worst selling film from the James Tucker era. I mean, we don't see the full picture, but still... its sales were definitely lower than the rest.

The best?

'Son of Batman' and 'The Death of Superman'.

You can't blame WB for thinking that's just what people want. And Superman only really does well when they're killing him.

I want more solo WW animated adventures, but people just don't seem to turn out for them.

They said Wonder Woman '09 didn't make as much and that was back when the movies on average were doing double/triple the sales figures of the current average.
Bloodlines should have probably had more semblance of a connection/relevance to the rest of the canon, but more importantly should have been a better movie. If that whole story was meant to get people excited for WW84's exact villain motivation, that was clearly a bust. Man of Tomorrow, a now 5 month old movie, did as well as the first JL Dark & Judas Contract. A couple million shy from Superman Unbound, but at least we know the bluray/digital market hasn't shifted to such a degree between these dtv eras.

 

[Frontier]

It does seem like, in terms of building on movie success, it's easier to WB to pivot something in their already running line of animated content rather than commission production of full-on cartoons...like how Aquaman and Shazam got their own Lego movies, and Wonder Woman got a new solo film in the Animated Feature lines.

Although now Aquaman's getting his own animated mini-series, so...

They said Wonder Woman '09 didn't make as much and that was back when the movies on average were doing double/triple the sales figures of the current average.
Bloodlines should have probably had more semblance of a connection/relevance to the rest of the canon, but more importantly should have been a better movie. If that whole story was meant to get people excited for WW84's exact villain motivation, that was clearly a bust. Man of Tomorrow, a now 5 month old movie, did as well as the first JL Dark & Judas Contract. A couple million shy from Superman Unbound, but at least we know the bluray/digital market hasn't shifted to such a degree between these dtv eras.

The whole reason they used Silver Swan was because they didn't want to overlap with the live-action movie focusing on Cheetah.

 

[-batmat-]

Interesting take from @Fone Bone .

While we can all have our own opinions, I have to disagree on BTAS being dated. I recently started watching X-Men The Animated Series and I couldn't make it past the second episode. It felt so cheap all around, and that was the direct "competition" for BTAS. You compare that to On Leather Wings... the beautiful animation, orchestral music, voice acting, backgrounds... that is timeless to me!

And that's the reason why a BTAS revival would be so hard to pull off. A big part of what made BTAS so great was the "old" look of it. Hand drawn cel animation shot on film. No digital element involved. That wouldn't be the case in a revival. I doubt they would get a full orchestra for the score (it would be awesome if they did!). And what about the voice actors? Some have sadly passed away and would be dearly missed (Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Bob Hastings and many other villains VA) and others have retired.

Thats what many people are afraid of, and why a revival of Batman Beyond or JLU makes more sense. But I can't say I'm not curious about what a BTAS revival would look like.

There's great material to adapt... what about that 2003 comic run from The Batman Adventures? You know, the 17 issue one where Penguin ran for mayor and stuff. I remember loving it and hating that it wasn't completed. Now's the chance!

At the end of the day, I agree that classic BTAS will always be there and nothing new they come up with will taint that, and at best it can add great value to it! Nothing bad that came out of Star Wars tarnished people's love for the original trilogy, did it?

 

[CyberCubed]

It's easy to see why B:TAS would be considered for a revival besides the obvious stuff (its popularity and importance to the Batman franchise and cartoons/pop culture of the 90's):

- The Batman aired in the early 2000's and despite it being 15 years later there's almost no nostalgia for it. Which I find odd, because you would think there would be an entire group of kids from the early 2000's who grew up with it for those 5 years and would like to see it again. Instead I virtually never see The Batman mentioned or acknowledged anywhere. Not only by us "old fans," but even the young 2000's kids.

Remember anyone who was a kid in the early 2000's is now 20-25 years old...so they're adults too now.

- Brave and The Bold had a great run, even a revival with the Scooby Doo crossover movie a few years back. But it's still a far cry from "standard or modern Batman" of what people want out of a Batman cartoon.

- Beware the Batman completely bombed. Most people forgot it ever existed

- Young Justice already got revived

- Justice League Action sadly got screwed over by CN, too bad as it was a fun show. With only 1 season it basically came across as JLU for kids, which is fine but didn't become the TT GO type success CN wanted.


So other than making yet another new incarnation of Batman, there's not much else to do.

 

[Frontier]

I wonder, if they'd do a revival, if they'd limit how much Alfred and Gordon would be in it because of how jarring it might be for fans to hear different voices.

I don't really need to hear Tara Strong or Melissa Rauch as Harley again. Although we'll probably hear Tara as Harley one way or another...

 

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

- The Batman aired in the early 2000's and despite it being 15 years later there's almost no nostalgia for it. Which I find odd, because you would think there would be an entire group of kids from the early 2000's who grew up with it for those 5 years and would like to see it again. Instead I virtually never see The Batman mentioned or acknowledged anywhere. Not only by us "old fans," but even the young 2000's kids.

There's definitely more nostalgia and warmth to it now than there was in the past. Not as much as B:TAS, obviously, but a lot of those 2000s kids look nostalgically back at it, to the point that I saw a lot of nostaglic/retrospective videos on it last year and even the announcement of it going to HBO Max generated some online excitement. Again, not on B:TAS levels, but it's hardly obscure either.

- Beware the Batman completely bombed. Most people forgot it ever existed

It only "bombed" because Mattel pulled out of doing a toy deal to create their own line instead (I think Batman Unlimited?) Combine that Cartoon Network's typical lack of support towards WBA project. So, it's as much of a "bomb" as Green Lantern: TAS, Justice League Action, etc. were.

 

[Yojimbo]

So other than making yet another new incarnation of Batman, there's not much else to do.

My hope with DCU and now HBO Max is they would focus on expanding on WBA's DC offerings and mine ip other than Batman where they might stand a better chance at success, i.e. like Harley Quinn has. Batman's great and all, he keeps the lights on for them, I like Bruce Timm's current exploration of Elseworlds Batmen, but it doesn't feel like a sustainable strategy to keep going back to the well and/or only make Batman titles as you suggest.

 

[#TeamMike]

This year will be the 25th anniversary of STAS and we've yet to have another solo Superman series, canon or brand new canon. The closest was Legion of Super-Heroes. I'd rather see a Superman or a Wonder Woman show.



No, it's not that "ruining my childhood" mentality. The crew told the stories they wanted to tell and closed the book on that canon. They've said it themselves they get bored fast and a couple seasons per show seemed to work best for them. Sure, if there's some script sitting around that they never got to animate or one big story they never got to corporealize, I guess one last hurrah. But as you say, WB is also a business. And if the last hurrah makes a lot of money, they'll want more hurrahs. Or fans will keep demanding more and more. Look at the Snyder Cut. Fans of Snyder's take got the JL cut to be finished. Instead of being content and happy they got what they wanted... Now those fans demand the Snyder canon to continue. It'll just be a never ending argument when something gets revived.

Samurai Jack was a little different because wasn't it cancelled before Genndy got to finish his story hence the season 5 revival? I don't think TNBA got canned before they really had any stories left to tell. Sure, there was World's Collide but they're already reworked as a stand alone movie. And yes, there's a lot of unproduced ideas, outlines, scripts from the DCAU as I've discovered over the years, but some of them were unproduced for good reasons...

I'm pretty doubtful about the B:TAS sequel rumors myself.

B.T. made it pretty clear here in a 2018 interview that it's a straight up bad idea.

36:55 mark

Bruce Timm Interview NYCC 2018 | BTAS Short Films Beyond

My first post here at C506 must begin with immense gratitude. MUCHAS GRACIAS, in my limited Spanish, to Communications Director, Johann Morales and everyone here at C506! Being included into a te…

collectible506.com

Unless WB showed up to his house with a truckload of money, I just don't see it. The most I could imagine is some animated film or short.

 

[Frontier]

My hope with DCU and now HBO Max is they would focus on expanding on WBA's DC offerings and mine ip other than Batman where they might stand a better chance at success, i.e. like Harley Quinn has. Batman's great and all, he keeps the lights on for them, I like Bruce Timm's current exploration of Elseworlds Batmen, but it doesn't feel like a sustainable strategy to keep going back to the well and/or only make Batman titles as you suggest.

Of course, that's never stopped them before .