Alan Burnett reveals the first three DC Showcase animated shorts

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Comics Continuum interviewed Alan Burnett about the DC Showcase animated shorts and he revealed that the first three shorts are the Spectre, Jonah Hex, and Green Arrow. The first two were already known, but the revelation that Green Arrow will be featured in the third short is new info. He said that the first three shorts are in the range of 10 minutes long, while the fourth short will be 22 minutes long (although he declined to say which character it'll focus on).

Burnett said that the shorts had their genesis as a replacement for commentary tracks as bonus materials on the DTVs. Basically they got tired of doing commentary tracks and felt they'd already done so many of them over the years for the TV shows and DTVs that fans have heard them talk about the process they go through in making shows and movies many times, so they decided that making shorts would be a better use of time and money in providing bonus material. The shorts will focus on characters that haven't got their own DTV movie yet.

 

[Christopher]

Well, I still miss the commentaries. At the very least, they should have behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Still, the shorts will be good to have.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I use to love audio commentaries. Now its to the point that if I even listen to one its on in the background while I am on the computer and not paying attention much.

Its rare that the participants really have fleshed out ideas of what to say. There are exceptions of course.

 

[AviTrek]

If they can afford an extra 10-20 min of animation per film I'd rather they flesh out the movie with extra content and skip the bonus material. Most of these movies have felt rushed and could really use the extra time.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I like the idea of the shorts buts its hard to understand how they decide on the length of the films.

Budget? Partially I am sure.

Mandated by the studio? Maybe. Though beyond budget issues it hard to see why length issues would be the same for a theatrical release or tv episode.

Dramatic reasons? You would hope that is the main factor. But almost all of these movies have suffered to me on some level.

Perhaps they are so used to working with in the episode format they are not sure how to pace a film? Mask of Phantasm and Return of the Joker being the only exceptions.

 

[Technobuilder]

Which DVD releases will these be on? I'm a fan, but haven't kept up with the releases.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Which DVD releases will these be on? I'm a fan, but haven't kept up with the releases.

The Spectre short is on Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, scheduled for release later this month. The Jonah Hex short will be on Batman: Under the Red Hood, which will likely be released this summer. The Green Arrow short will be on the ninth DC Universe release, which will likely be released in the fall and the title of which has yet to be announced.

 

[Mr Light]

So is "Under the Red Hood" an adaptation of the Judd Winnick storyline which I just read? I actually thought that was a cool story. Of course I had already known about that guy returning for years before reading it!

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

So is "Under the Red Hood" an adaptation of the Judd Winnick storyline which I just read? I actually thought that was a cool story. Of course I had already known about that guy returning for years before reading it!

Yeah, it is an adaptation of that comic book storyline. Winick reportedly wrote the script for the DTV, too.

 

[drychlick]

i just wish they make the main movie longer!

 

[Anwar]

I hope this makes people realize that the DCAU wasn't all Bruce Timm and Paul Dini. Burnett was a big part of it himself. You hear "Timmverse" and "Diniverse" but not one "Burnettverse"...

 

[Christopher]

^That's why I prefer the DCAU label to "Timmverse" or the even more inaccurate "Diniverse" (Dini had very little to do with JL/U). There were a lot of people involved, and it was as much the work of Burnett and Eric Radomski and others as of Timm and Dini.

In fact, Burnett was a producer on several DCAU productions that Timm and Dini weren't involved with at all -- the "extended DCAU" series Static Shock and The Zeta Project and the movie Mystery of the Batwoman. And he was a script consultant on SubZero, the other non-Timm DCAU production. So he's been involved in every DCAU production except JL/U. Which means he's actually produced more of the overall DCAU than Timm or Dini did, though less of the "core" material.

And of course Burnett has quite a history with Batman and DC beyond the DCAU. He started on the final two Super Powers seasons of Superfriends, when it got more serious, and wrote the classic episode "The Fear," the first ever filmic depiction of Batman's origin story, whose serious, dramatic approach was a template of sorts for B:TAS. Since the DCAU years, he's been a producer on works ranging from Krypto the Superdog to The Batman to several of the DCU movies. He co-produced First Flight, Public Enemies, and Crisis on Two Earths and wrote First Flight and the "Deadshot" segment of Gotham Knight.

 

[Technobuilder]

Which DVD releases will these be on? I'm a fan, but haven't kept up with the releases.

The Spectre short is on Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, scheduled for release later this month. The Jonah Hex short will be on Batman: Under the Red Hood, which will likely be released this summer. The Green Arrow short will be on the ninth DC Universe release, which will likely be released in the fall and the title of which has yet to be announced.

^Thanks

I knew about Crisis on Two Earths, but not Under the Red Hood, good to know that the DC Animated DTV market is still on track with the drop off in overall DTV sales across the board.