"Beware the Batman" in 2013! New Animated Series

^ Don't know if the recent Nine Inch Nails stuff is more in the vein described above but the recent album The Slip is free to download. http://theslip.nin.com/

I'm waiting for tomorrow before checking those recent links. I've been looking forward to this for a while, should be fun, and hopefully will be entertaining and have more pros than cons.

 

Wait, was the bald guy with no mustache Alfred?
Did you see one of the comments below the clip?
If this were live action Jason Statham would be playing Alfred...so, so wrong and yet, right based on that.

 

If Michael Holt is appearing I might tune in. I wonder if we'll see his costumed identity?

 

Batman almost sounds like a younger version of Conroy's take. I can deal with this.

 

That's Alfred? Looks more like a bouncer. And the Batcave looks more like Bat Cheyenne Mountain.

 

This seems to be following the lead of the Batman: Earth One graphic novel in playing up Alfred's military/security background, treating him more as a bodyguard than a butler.


EDIT: I've seen the first episode now, and I'm very impressed. It's the most serious and adult take on Batman in animation since B:TAS/TNBA, although they've had to bow to censorship by replacing real guns with laser pistols (which still have only six shots, somehow). Bruce/Batman and Alfred are both written well and distinctively; it's a fresh take on both characters, but they're still recognizable. And they're both quite impressive in action.

It's interesting how this Bruce talks about Bruce and Batman in the third person as if they were two different people. Judging from the producer interviews, it seems like that duality is a theme they're going to explore in the show.

The voice cast worked better than I expected from the promos and clips. Anthony Ruvivar isn't in the same league as Kevin Conroy or Diedrich Bader, but he did a strong, effective job -- except so far we've only heard him as Batman and private Bruce, not yet as public-facade Bruce. J.B. Blanc was effective as Alfred. I haven't yet heard enough of Sumalee Montano as Katana or Kurtwood Smith as Gordon to really assess them, but at least Montano is okay so far, and I know Smith's a solid voice performer. Brian George was a little forced as Pyg, but better than the previews suggested. Udo Kier was okay as Toad.

The music was more effective than I expected too. The 3D animation still has qualities I'm not crazy about, but it was reasonably effective, and there were some interesting uses of 3D composition, camera movement, and lighting. My main problem so far is the same one I had with Green Lantern: the sets/locations are too empty. I didn't notice any people or cars beyond those directly involved in the story.

But I'm pleased overall by what I've seen, and I look forward to seeing where the show goes.

 

I liked it quite a bit. My biggest beef is I really (really) hate the design for Mr. Toad and his car that was a little too kiddie cartoonish for me and I didn't think really fit into the rest of the Batman world. Of course, I've said that since the first preview. Other than that I didn't have any real reservations and look forward to more.

 

Green Lantern

Transformers Prime

Ninja Turtles 2013


They all suffer from using this 3D animation. It costs too much to render citizens and other things that aren't main characters/vehicles.


Yeah expect Gotham City to be empty for the most part for Batman to chase people around

 

^Ninja Turtles has managed to have occasional background cars and pedestrians here and there, though not as many as I'd like. Iron Man Armored Adventures has done a decent job with crowds and the like, by the standards of TV-budgeted 3D animation, at least.

 

Actually I remember the streets of Gotham in BTAS being pretty empty as well. The only time we saw crowds of people were when the story demanded it, like at a public function or something. The rest of the time it was like a ghost town.

 

The first episode was ok. The CGI was about what I expected. Pyg and Toad weren't horrible, although Toad's voice could be a bit annoying. I liked the cameos by Stagg and Michael Holt, even though I don't think e'll ever be seeing Stagg's son in law (Metemorpho) or Holt as Mr. Terrific on this show. I'm not sure what to think about Alfred, but its an interesting idea. The voice acting for this show was ok, although I think I'd rank Batman fairly low on the list of animated Batman (he's obviously below Conroy, but I'd put him below Batman The Brave and the Bold's batman and maybe under The Batman as well). He wasn't bad, I just wasn't super impressed after one episode. Overall the episode was good and made me want to watch more. I can see it being a good show, I hope it turns out well.

While I was waiting for the first episode to come on, I watched another episode of The Batman (I've finished 8 episodes of season 4 so far). At this point I think The Batman has won me over as a fan, atleast of the show at this point in its run. If The Batman (A show which had some very bad early seasons and left me with a bad overall impression) can win me over, I'm sure Beware the Batman can. Its definately starting out stronger than that show, and the changes its made, at this point, are interesting instead of annoying like I kind of thought they'd be.

 

It's been confirmed we'll see Metamorpho this season, which (along with the presence of Katanna) makes me think this show is building up to the creation of the Outsiders in the future.

 

Well thats surprising, but it sounds interesting. I guess I should have assumed that having Stagg means having Metemorpho, but I just don't know what to expect from this show.

 

Caught the first episode, "Hunted", today. I've never heard of Professor Pyg or Mr. Toad (at least, not in the Batman mythos). I gather that Pyg is wearing a mask, and is not a man-pig hybrid. But what in the hell is Mr. Toad? A midget in a costume, or is it a real anthropomorphized toad? Whatever he or it is, the character sticks out like a sore thumb in the Beware the Batman universe.

 

^Pyg and Toad were introduced into Batman comics by Grant Morrison in 2007 and have been major players in his run on Batman. Pyg in the comics is a much more twisted figure who mutilates people in horrible ways.

Apparently the comics' Mr. Toad is "a mutated frog man." The way he was animated here, he clearly wasn't in a mask, and Pyg did refer to him as an amphibian. I don't think we know enough about the BtB universe at this point to say what does or doesn't fit in it.

 

^Thanks, now I know where to dig further.

I can accept weird things in a Batman story. The first episode of B:TAS had a man transforming into a giant bat, and I said "OK, why not?". But at least that was explained in passing in the same episode. Killer Croc, too - what is he? A crocodile-human hybrid, or a guy with a skin condition? Either way, I can accept it. I'm not sure Killer Croc was ever explained in any of the DCAU episodes.

I guess I was just surprised at the inclusion of an anthropomorphic toad in a story about a masked villian (typical of a Batman story) trying to capture or kill billionaires in Gotham City. Without the toad, it looked like a story that could be set in Nolan's Batman universe.

 

^Maybe that's why they included Mr. Toad in the first episode -- to clue us in as to what to expect from the series.

 

Well, now I'm ready for more fantastical elements in BtB. I'm looking forward to the next episode; have to set the DVR to record it.

I liked the Batsuit in BtB. It resembled the suit used in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. I liked that Batman will take injuries that he won't shrug off immediately. The new take on Alfred Pennyworth was another surprise, but I like the Batman Beyond vibe it gives BtB. An older experienced fighter gives support to a new vigilante. This Alfred looks like a bruiser.

 

Alfred here reminds me more of Slade from Arrow than he does Alfred. The accent sounds very Australian to me.

 

I liked the little Wonder Woman DC Nation (too) short, kind of a grindhouse riff on her 70s days as a secret agent. Speaking of short, I was surprised to see how short the opening was with what was posted before.