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Batman: The Animated Series

post #1 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:08pm
Thread Starter 
The start of the DC Anniverse.

What i enjoyed about the earlier seasons was the nice solid Batman stories. Without any clutter from the background cast like Nightwing or Batgirl.

Kevin Conroy cemented his rep as the voice for Batman. I bet if we imagine Batman today we would probably think of Conroy's voice instead.

i had to recheck imdb when I first heard that Mark Hamil was the voice of The Joker. I originally thought it was another actor with the same name.

All in all, i think the quality was much better than the mainstream Batman comics we get today.
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post #2 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:24pm
Overrated and boring. I have the dvds and I put them on when I can't sleep. The nice thing about Batman:TAS is that it came out after the movie and attempted to keep the darker tone. It beats the crap out of the 70s cartoons which were downright embarrassing, but it's a boring, boring series.
Then again, I think the only action cartoon in history that wasn't weak is the Transformers Movie from 1986.
The new Marvel and DC straight to DVD efforts have been a dismal failure as entertainment. I couldn't make it past 5 minutes of Gotham Knight.
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post #3 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:26pm
You have 18 posts since 2005 and a thread about Batman: TAS was what got you angry enough to finally grace us with your bad taste?
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post #4 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:28pm
I've waxed lyrical about this series in the B-Action Thread many times, I love it.

But just like the movies, bringing in Robin was a bad bad move.

I love the episodes where Alfred gets involved in the action, like when he went to that beauty spa run by Poison Ivy or when he used the Batjet to save Bruce who was undercover at the time.

Also the totally random and useless villains who pop up, The Jazzman anyone?
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post #5 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:30pm
Russell Faraday, The Grey Ghost is one of my favorite episodes of Batman TAS. I find it hard to believe that anyone could find it boring as it had both...substance and style.
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post #6 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:32pm
The Grey Ghost WAS a good one! Spot on fleed.
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post #7 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:32pm
Thread Starter 
What's interesting was how they managed to springboard original characters from the show (Harley Quinn) into the mainstream Comic continuity.

The Harley/Poison Ivy Team-up got its start in the Series I believe.
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post #8 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:34pm
Felix Natalya, You're right about the Harley/Poison Ivy team up.
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post #9 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:34pm
I never really cared for Harley until Grant Morrison's Joker-centric prose issue a couple of years ago. The Grey Ghost is classic TAS, but I've always loved the Jonah Hex episode the most.
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post #10 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:35pm
Oh Harley Quinn...

The episode where she moves in with Ivy after Joker kicks her out is a great one.
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post #11 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:38pm
Batman the Brave and the Bold has almost made me forget this series.
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post #12 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell Faraday View Post
But just like the movies, bringing in Robin was a bad bad move.
Robin was in the second episode.
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post #13 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:44pm
I echo the love for the Grey Ghost and Jonah Hex episodes. Also, I think the Two-Face and Mr. Freeze origin two-parters are greatness. I'm an unabashed fan of the Clock King as well. If I have one gripe, it's that I never really dug any of the Joker episodes.

I think the series got its second wind in the 4th season. I liked the presence of Batgirl more so than I ever did Robin, and the season even has perhaps the only glimpse we'll ever get of "The Dark Knight Returns" in any medium other than the comics. Michael Ironside's voice work as Batman is pure gold.
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post #14 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:47pm
I haven't seen any of The Brave and The Bold, I'm not sure if it's coming to the UK or even if it's showing currently, I don't check the appropriate channels. Wouldn't mind checking it out though.

Never dug any of the Joker episodes? Really? To each their own, I always enjoyed the moment of realising I'm watching a Joker ep.
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post #15 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:50pm
Christmas with the Joker, Joker's Millions, Mad Love, Joker's favor and Joker's Wild are all classics.
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post #16 of 138
6/18/09 at 10:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yaz View Post
Robin was in the second episode.
Wow really? I originally watched the eps all out of order on various videos, so as far as I knew there was an opening sequence that just featured Batman and then one appeared that had Robin in it, so I assumed he'd been brought into the show later on.
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post #17 of 138
6/18/09 at 11:31pm
Great flipping show. The episode where Joker, Ivy, Penguin and Croc play poker may be one of my favorite twenty minutes of TV ever crafted.

And it all led to a very good Superman show which still leaves me wondering why Hollywood fails at making a good Superman film. How hard is it to make a movie about a guy who fights giant robots and gets the cute and sassy reporter?
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post #18 of 138
6/18/09 at 11:35pm
Am I alone in thinking this show is better than The Dark Knight?
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post #19 of 138
6/18/09 at 11:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell Faraday View Post
Oh Harley Quinn...

The episode where she moves in with Ivy after Joker kicks her out is a great one.
"Aloha, Sucka!"

Gets me every time.
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post #20 of 138
6/19/09 at 12:12am
I'm partial to the Mad Hatter ep where Bruce wakes up to find he's no longer batman and can go ahead and have his life, but still finds he's missing that part of him and can't accept the happy normalcy of it all.

And my fave moment on the series was when the criminals brough batman in for a trial and there was a breakdown in the courtroom with everyone yelling. In the background you can hear Killer Croc screaming "hit 'im with a rock"
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post #21 of 138
6/19/09 at 12:38am
Thread Starter 
Anothe Series regular that leapfrogged to the comics was Renee Montoya.

Hard to believe she's The Question now and got involved in that whatever Cosmic Crisis DC has on currently.
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post #22 of 138
6/19/09 at 12:42am
Last beautiful high for this series was Over The Edge. Works with the psych-out, but God, what a series capper that could've been with the right ending in place.

Only seen Brave and the Bold a couple of sporadic times since it started, but what I've seen has been entertaining enough. I have grown to love the tone, though.
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post #23 of 138
6/19/09 at 2:20am
I enjoyed the fourth season, but I had trouble getting over the villain redesigns. Scarecrow definitely benefited, but everyone else looked much less menacing. I'm guessing that they were streamlined for budgetary purposes.

My favorite episode was definitely the Clay Face 2-parter. The animation for his last transformations in the television control room were incredible.
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post #24 of 138
6/19/09 at 2:33am
You make me want to marathon Pete & Pete.
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post #25 of 138
6/19/09 at 2:36am
I'll stand by my assertion that "Heart of Ice" is one of the best episodes for any animated series ever.

I also think this is the only area outside of select issues of the comics where they manage to get Robin right--I'm thinking of the two parter where Robin finds out the guy who sabotaged the Grayson family during their act is back in Gotham and goes on a spree trying to find him, with every intent of putting a bullet in him. Heavy stuff for a Saturday morning cartoon.
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post #26 of 138
6/19/09 at 2:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yaz View Post
Robin was in the second episode.
Is this true? I videotaped the entire first season when it first ran and don't remember Robin being in any of them. First episode was Man-Bat, I think. It's been forever since I've watched the show, so I might be wrong.
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post #27 of 138
6/19/09 at 3:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexus-7 View Post
Is this true? I videotaped the entire first season when it first ran and don't remember Robin being in any of them. First episode was Man-Bat, I think. It's been forever since I've watched the show, so I might be wrong.
The first episode was the Man-Bat one (which has notably better animation than most of the first season, and was used to sell a lot of execs on the series), and the second episode was "Christmas with the Joker" which has Robin.

Robin appeared every few episodes for the first season (which had 45 episodes). At the start of season two the show was rebranded "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" and got a shitty new theme song that edited clips of Robin into the classic opening. However the number of actual Robin episodes didn't increase that much through the rebranding and there were only 20 episodes of season 2.

With season 3 and 4 the show was retooled, Dick Grayson became Nitewing and Batgirl and the Tim Drake Robin appeared in almost every episode (which may be what you're thinking of). However, there were only 24 episodes in the season 3 & 4 era.

God damn I need to go to bed.

EDIT: And I have to say the Batman TAS version of the character is the definitive one for me. None of this "some of the episodes were better than the comic" BS, most Batman comics are shitty. That said the cartoon is pretty simple and a childish ... implying, at least to me, that the character is as well.
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post #28 of 138
6/19/09 at 4:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercury318 View Post
Great flipping show. The episode where Joker, Ivy, Penguin and Croc play poker may be one of my favorite twenty minutes of TV ever crafted.
"Almost Got Him" What a terrific episode. I remember watching that for the first time and being a bit ticked at how dumb they were making Croc. Then, the end reveals it's Batman and my little spirit was lifted.

Seriously though, I remember racing home after school (sometimes in the rain) just to watch this show. I really think the Two-Face origin episodes changed me, it stuck with me for weeks. Great, great series.
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post #29 of 138
6/19/09 at 4:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yaz View Post
The first episode was the Man-Bat one (which has notably better animation than most of the first season, and was used to sell a lot of execs on the series), and the second episode was "Christmas with the Joker" which has Robin.

Robin appeared every few episodes for the first season (which had 45 episodes). At the start of season two the show was rebranded "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" and got a shitty new theme song that edited clips of Robin into the classic opening. However the number of actual Robin episodes didn't increase that much through the rebranding and there were only 20 episodes of season 2.

With season 3 and 4 the show was retooled, Dick Grayson became Nitewing and Batgirl and the Tim Drake Robin appeared in almost every episode (which may be what you're thinking of). However, there were only 24 episodes in the season 3 & 4 era.

God damn I need to go to bed.

EDIT: And I have to say the Batman TAS version of the character is the definitive one for me. None of this "some of the episodes were better than the comic" BS, most Batman comics are shitty. That said the cartoon is pretty simple and a childish ... implying, at least to me, that the character is as well.
Thanks a lot for typing all that. Apparently my memory totally failed me. Especially since I thought I taped the entire first season at my grandparents but only had 20 or so episodes(out of 45? wow). And no, I stopped watching before Nightwing ever showed up. I think my local FOX channel had become static city at that point, and I didn't have cable like the cool kids.
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post #30 of 138
6/19/09 at 5:04am
The Animated Series was notable for having fooled me into thinking that a film featuring Mr. Freeze might not be such a bad idea.
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post #31 of 138
6/19/09 at 5:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexus-7 View Post
Thanks a lot for typing all that. Apparently my memory totally failed me. Especially since I thought I taped the entire first season at my grandparents but only had 20 or so episodes(out of 45? wow). And no, I stopped watching before Nightwing ever showed up. I think my local FOX channel had become static city at that point, and I didn't have cable like the cool kids.
Sorry my mistake. I just double checked and season one had 65 episodes all by itself (it had so many because the show ran daily).

There was a pause of a year or two between season 2 and 3 although as a kid you probably couldn't tell since they were just running the 85 episodes that they had as if they were new. Seasons 3 and 4 were paired with the Superman cartoon and ran exclusively on the WB.

(BTW the DVD sets don't break on the season lines. Sets one and two are season 1. Set 3 is season 2. Set 4 is seasons 3 and 4. Also "season" is a bit of a misnomer, it should probably be "production order.")
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post #32 of 138
6/19/09 at 6:54am
Steve Gerber wrote for this!
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post #33 of 138
6/19/09 at 6:59am
Batman TAS is the best version of Batman full stop.

And Mask of the Phantasm is the best Batman film.
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post #34 of 138
6/19/09 at 7:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dranbon View Post
"Almost Got Him" What a terrific episode. I remember watching that for the first time and being a bit ticked at how dumb they were making Croc.
"And then I threw a rock at him!"
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post #35 of 138
6/19/09 at 9:47am
I think the thing that the earlier episodes of the series had was a awesome music. A real symphonic sound totally beats anything synthesized, unless like Dark Knight its made for effect and not cost cutting.

I honestly didn't know that Harley was created from this show I always thought she was Joker's girl from the beginning. I always liked her kooky charm and that episode that showcased her decent from Harleen to Harley was great. Although I my favorite episodes were the Clayface/Matt Hagen episodes.
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post #36 of 138
6/19/09 at 10:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
"And then I threw a rock at him!"
"Well it was a big rock!"

This show was lightning in a bottle. As much as I enjoy the Superman and Justice League series that followed (especially for their great use of Green Arrow and The Question in Justice League Unlimited), nothing will top the voice cast, the look, the maturity of stories they got away with telling for a cartoon, the music. Oh man, the music. They used a 32 piece orchestra for the music on this series. What producer nowadays would go out of their way to put something like that in their cartoon?
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post #37 of 138
6/19/09 at 2:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gen. Bulldog 54 View Post
I honestly didn't know that Harley was created from this show I always thought she was Joker's girl from the beginning. I always liked her kooky charm and that episode that showcased her decent from Harleen to Harley was great. Although I my favorite episodes were the Clayface/Matt Hagen episodes.
She was supposed to be a one-off character too but they liked the voice portrayal so much that she became a regular.
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post #38 of 138
6/19/09 at 3:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Cordo View Post
You have 18 posts since 2005 and a thread about Batman: TAS was what got you angry enough to finally grace us with your bad taste?
I'm glad to see I was not the only one to appreciate just how off the wall that post was.

I mean, has he been biding his time?
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post #39 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:12pm
To be fair, this show could actually be surprisingly boring. Whenever I'd flick it on as a kid, and the title card informed me that it was the fucking episode where there's a gangster and a priest and a train and zzzzzzz, my heart would sink. A lot of episode are atrocious.
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post #40 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:25pm
I hated that ep as a kid. I get what they were going for now, but to a nine year-old very boring.
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post #41 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:28pm
Which one is the one with the gangster and the priest and the train?
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post #42 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:30pm
It's called "It's Never too late". And it's a damn good episode about a crime boss with a crumbling empire.
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post #43 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:36pm
Sticking a priest in a kids' show is never, ever a good idea.

Also supernaturally boring is the episode "P.O.V.", which takes a RASHOMON-style look back on a police stakeout gone wrong! So it's just a lot of gangsters and cops walking around a gloomy brown warehouse for 20 minutes. And Batman's hardly in it. And the "flashbacks" to the stakeout - surely the entire reason the episode even exists - don't contradict each other or present the warehouse event in an even remotely interesting light!
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post #44 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:38pm
Oooh and what about the episode where Bruce Wayne, framed for the attempted murder of Lucious Fox, abseils into Lucius' hospital room in plainclothes to try and reason with him and learn the truth?

And gets immediately arrested LOL!
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post #45 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:40pm
Paul, that eye-rape signature gag is so 2008.
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post #46 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul McCartney View Post
Oooh and what about the episode where Bruce Wayne, framed for the attempted murder of Lucious Fox, abseils into Lucius' hospital room in plainclothes to try and reason with him and learn the truth?

And gets immediately arrested LOL!
I don't even remember this episode, but I'm infuriated that they didn't take advantage of Bruce's awesome undercover identity MATCHES MALONE.
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post #47 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wadew1 View Post
I don't even remember this episode, but I'm infuriated that they didn't take advantage of Bruce's awesome undercover identity MATCHES MALONE.
You probably don't remember it, because they didn't bother to animate it!

It's a single, static cell of Bruce standing on Lucius' window ledge with a rope in his hand, that they sloooooowly zoom in on.

What a masterpiece of a show, pushing children's TV in dark, sophisticated new directions!
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post #48 of 138
6/19/09 at 8:51pm
P.O.V wasn't great, though I'm bound to dislike any episode that features Bullock in more than two scenes. That fat sack of shit!
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post #49 of 138
6/19/09 at 9:00pm
Yup, this thread has gone full retard.
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post #50 of 138
6/19/09 at 9:08pm
Quick, Ed!
Save the thread with about 15-20 of your trademark two line broken sentence posts!
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