Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third season

[Christopher]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

I don't understand. Is there a SUPERMAN czar who governs the use of Superman in animated series?

There's a whole legal kerfuffle going on right now with the heirs of Siegel & Shuster suing for the rights to Superman. That might be causing rights problems, though it apparently didn't affect Crisis on Two Earths. But that probably went into production before the problems arose.

Why wouldn't a DC show like B & B have free access to the entire catalog of characters?

Because it's not a DC show. It's a Warner Bros. Television production, which licenses its characters from DC Comics. Yes, they're under the same corporate umbrella, but they're still separate companies. It's not all one big agglomerated mass. Or at least it hasn't been in the past. The new DC Entertainment thing seems to be an attempt to consolidate the various production arms similarly to what Marvel Productions has done.

I would have never thought someone else besides Arleen Sorkin could play Harley Quinn, but whoever played her in "The Batman" did a really good job.

That was Hynden Walch, aka Starfire from Teen Titans, Ace (of the Royal Flush Gang) from Justice League, and Platinum from the Metal Men episode of TB&TB.

 

[Bad Bishop]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

Why wouldn't a DC show like B & B have free access to the entire catalog of characters?

Because it's not a DC show. It's a Warner Bros. Television production, which licenses its characters from DC Comics. Yes, they're under the same corporate umbrella, but they're still separate companies.

I used the phrase "DC show" loosely, forgetting that you tend to jump on minor errors like that.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

Why wouldn't a DC show like B & B have free access to the entire catalog of characters?

Because it's not a DC show. It's a Warner Bros. Television production, which licenses its characters from DC Comics. Yes, they're under the same corporate umbrella, but they're still separate companies.

I used the phrase "DC show" loosely, forgetting that you tend to jump on minor errors like that.

He's also answering your question why Superman and his villains aren't appearing on B & B.

 

[Bad Bishop]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

Because it's not a DC show. It's a Warner Bros. Television production, which licenses its characters from DC Comics. Yes, they're under the same corporate umbrella, but they're still separate companies.

I used the phrase "DC show" loosely, forgetting that you tend to jump on minor errors like that.

He's also answering your question why Superman and his villains aren't appearing on B & B.

Noted.

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

Woot! I really enjoy this show. It's been great fun. Glad to hear of the renewal.

Love this show, wacky and upbeat kinda like Adam West's silly take on the character

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

I'm in the anti-Harley Quinn crowd. The character was okay in The Animated Series, but she dillutes the Joker, who, disposable goons aside, is a one man show.

The Joker's real relationship is with Batman. They hate one another, won't kill each other, but keep fighting like some married couple.

Fanboy gushing...some pretty new villainess and they act like she's a key rogue's gallery player. Fatass, unfit-to-travel-by-plane Kevin Smith named his damn daughter after the character.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

I'm in the anti-Harley Quinn crowd. The character was okay in The Animated Series, but she dillutes the Joker, who, disposable goons aside, is a one man show.

The Joker's real relationship is with Batman. They hate one another, won't kill each other, but keep fighting like some married couple.

Who says a character has to be limited to one relationship? Is it wrong for Batman to have Alfred, Robin, and Commissioner Gordon in his life? Should his whole character be defined by his animosity with the Joker?

Characterization isn't a zero-sum game. Giving the Joker someone new to play off of in a fresh way doesn't take anything away from his interactions with Batman. Rather, it opens the door to new possibilites. It expands his character, allows it to be examined from new angles.

Fanboy gushing...some pretty new villainess and they act like she's a key rogue's gallery player.

That's bull. Harley didn't become popular because she was "pretty." If that were all it took, then Lark and Raven, the Penguin's leggy molls from his Iceberg Lounge in TNBA, would've become major players too. No, Harley became popular because she was a rich, fresh, intriguing and funny character in her own right -- one who's not just an extension of the Joker but could stand alone or partner with Poison Ivy or whatever. She earned her status as a major rogue, and Paul Dini and Arleen Sorkin deserve full credit for making her so engaging.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

By the way..the SHAZAM episode is available on XBOX..We watched it earlier and it was really good! The STARRO plot is getting scary!!! And when you watch the SHAZAM part of the show, look for some old drawing in Dr. Sivania's lab. I swear STARRO is in one of the drawings!!!

Rob

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

I didn't say Batman's only relationship is with the Joker. I said the Joker's real relationship is with Batman, as it was for some 50 freaking years before Batman the Animated Series.

You spelled out the few real relationships Batman has, which is important. All the bullshit Bruce Wayne-whoever romances are fluff...his real relations are as Batman with a handful of characters.

Harley was very much a fanboyish creation. It was about Dini-Timm shoehorning in more paper-doll-figured female characters. (Who the fuck is Roxy Rocket, why should we care? Superman's got Live Wire, yet long-time villain The Prankster never appeared?) That they later pushed Quinn a stand alone villain only backs that up.

That said, she worked for BTAS. She should've just stayed there. (And in that Birds of Prey live actions series that wasn't really good.) She's not a required part of the Bat mythos anymore than Bat Mite or Chief O'Hara. Hell, some people have even decide Robin isn't essential (in some cases, they are right).

 

[Dick Whitman]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

I don't hate Harely but she is very overrated. For awhile there was a thinking among some fans that a Joker story was not complete without her. Even expecting her to show up in Nolans' sequel to Batman Begins.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

I think Harley's pretty funny in a twisted way.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

I didn't say Batman's only relationship is with the Joker. I said the Joker's real relationship is with Batman, as it was for some 50 freaking years before Batman the Animated Series.

You spelled out the few real relationships Batman has, which is important. All the bullshit Bruce Wayne-whoever romances are fluff...his real relations are as Batman with a handful of characters.

Harley was very much a fanboyish creation. It was about Dini-Timm shoehorning in more paper-doll-figured female characters. (Who the fuck is Roxy Rocket, why should we care? Superman's got Live Wire, yet long-time villain The Prankster never appeared?) That they later pushed Quinn a stand alone villain only backs that up.

That said, she worked for BTAS. She should've just stayed there. (And in that Birds of Prey live actions series that wasn't really good.) She's not a required part of the Bat mythos anymore than Bat Mite or Chief O'Hara. Hell, some people have even decide Robin isn't essential (in some cases, they are right).

So, nothing should ever be added to the Batman mythology? Very very little is required for the Batman mythology, but to never add anything, that's silly.

I understand, you don't like Harley. But she's now apart of the Bat mythos and over time the character, like all of them, will change.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

Harley was very much a fanboyish creation. It was about Dini-Timm shoehorning in more paper-doll-figured female characters. (Who the fuck is Roxy Rocket, why should we care? Superman's got Live Wire, yet long-time villain The Prankster never appeared?) That they later pushed Quinn a stand alone villain only backs that up.

Bull. The DCAU shows made a commendable attempt to grow beyond the sexism of the past and add new, strong female characters to the mythos. The fact that those characters endured and that the comics chose to incorporate them is a testament to their success. It's absurd to believe that any enduring characters could be "shoehorned in." That's not the way the creation of an ongoing series happens. Characters are tried out, and if they continue, it's because they work -- because the writers find there are many worthwhile stories to tell about them and because the audience responds positively to them. Characters who don't work, who don't have a lot of potential or appeal, tend not to break out or last long beyond their initial appearances, and they sure don't get picked up as continuing characters in other media and other adaptations. Look at Baby Doll, another Dini attempt to create a distinctive female villain. She only appeared twice, because she just wasn't all that engaging as a continuing character.

I think Roxy Rocket is a fun character. Livewire was never a favorite, but I'm glad she's caught on, because frankly Superman has always lacked for good villains. The Prankster? A guy who plays nasty practical jokes on people? This by you is a worthy adversary for the Man of Steel? At least Livewire has actual superpowers. As Bruce Timm has pointed out, their problem in bringing Superman back to animation was that once you get past Luthor, Brainiac, Metallo, the Parasite, and Mxyzptlk, Superman's foes are mostly just middle-aged guys in suits. They needed to create new characters (or reinvent old ones, as they did with Toyman) to fill out the rogues' gallery and present more of a challenge to Superman. And why shouldn't some of those new characters be female?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

Each successive generation of writers should try to add new characters to the mythos of established superheroes rather than just relying upon what others have created before them, and some of those new characters are going to be - gasp! - female.

Harley doesn't need to be in every Joker story by any means, but she's a great addition to the Batman Rogues Gallery. She was written and performed expertly on Batman: The Animated Series, and it's no surprise that she became so popular. There are some Joker stories that include Harley where the interplay between them, and in particular the Joker's attitude to her, puts on display a whole new level of sickness in him.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

Each successive generation of writers should try to add new characters to the mythos of established superheroes rather than just relying upon what others have created before them, and some of those new characters are going to be - gasp! - female.

Harley doesn't need to be in every Joker story by any means, but she's a great addition to the Batman Rogues Gallery. She was written and performed expertly on Batman: The Animated Series, and it's no surprise that she became so popular. There are some Joker stories that include Harley where the interplay between them, and in particular the Joker's attitude to her, puts on display a whole new level of sickness in him.

WORLD'S FINEST being one such great episode that had Harley's humor in a great way...

Rob

 

[Christopher]

Re: Batman: The Brave and the Bold reportedly renewed for a third seas

Harley doesn't need to be in every Joker story by any means, but she's a great addition to the Batman Rogues Gallery. She was written and performed expertly on Batman: The Animated Series, and it's no surprise that she became so popular. There are some Joker stories that include Harley where the interplay between them, and in particular the Joker's attitude to her, puts on display a whole new level of sickness in him.

Certainly in the context of an animated series subject to censorship on violence, Harley's presence helped add menace to the Joker. You couldn't show him killing people, but showing his abuse of Harley added another kind of malevolence and helped make him a darker, more disturbing character.