"Beware the Batman" in 2013! New Animated Series

[Christopher]

I liked that Batman will take injuries that he won't shrug off immediately.

Yeah... it's weird that they censored the guns but were able to have characters talk about killing people and show characters suffering injuries on camera. That moment where Batman slammed his dislocated shoulder against the truck to pop it back in was kind of brutal for Saturday morning, although it went past quickly and without explanation so it'd be easy to miss.

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

No, it's an English accent. It's not too different from J.B. Blanc's natural accent, and he grew up in Yorkshire.

I liked the little Wonder Woman DC Nation (too) short, kind of a grindhouse riff on her 70s days as a secret agent.

I didn't care for the animation style.

Speaking of short, I was surprised to see how short the opening was with what was posted before.

Networks like to cut main titles to the bare minimum so they have more room for commercials and stuff. DC Nation in particular needs the extra space for their shorts. I remember back when I gave Teen Titans Go! a try (for less than two episodes), I noticed that they showed a full title sequence on the On Demand version but a truncated one on the network version. The same may be true for this.

 

[Pavonis]

They censored the guns? I didn't pick up on that. I figured they were just stylized, like most things are in animation. Batman even counted the rounds fired, and knew when the weapon was empty.

 

[Christopher]

^Yeah, but the shots were bolts of red light and the gun made a "recharging" sound between them.

I recall reading that the original preview art contained more realistic guns, but the network balked after a school shooting and made them change it.

 

[sojourner]

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

No, it's an English accent. It's not too different from J.B. Blanc's natural accent, and he grew up in Yorkshire.

And yet, as I said, it still sounds very Australian to me. I never said it actually was Australian.

 

[TemporalFlux]

Enh. It's alright. I wonder about the Asian chauffeur who acts like a bodyguard and is probably a better fighter than hero. Looks like someone wanted to do a Green Hornet show and had to settle for Batman.

 

[Christopher]

Enh. It's alright. I wonder about the Asian chauffeur who acts like a bodyguard and is probably a better fighter than hero. Looks like someone wanted to do a Green Hornet show and had to settle for Batman.

That's Katana (Tatsu Yamashiro), a character created by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo in 1983 as one of the Outsiders, a team of young heroes led by Batman. So she has a history as a Batman sidekick of sorts. (In the New 52 continuity, she's a member of the Birds of Prey, which is also peripherally linked to Batman.) She appeared in several episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold as one of the Outsiders.

So, uh, no, it's not about Green Hornet. It's about drawing on facets of the Batman saga that haven't been featured onscreen before. And it's probably about giving us a Batman show with more gender and ethnic diversity in its lead cast than we've had in the past.

 

[TemporalFlux]

Enh. It's alright. I wonder about the Asian chauffeur who acts like a bodyguard and is probably a better fighter than hero. Looks like someone wanted to do a Green Hornet show and had to settle for Batman.

That's Katana (Tatsu Yamashiro), a character created by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo in 1983 as one of the Outsiders, a team of young heroes led by Batman. So she has a history as a Batman sidekick of sorts. (In the New 52 continuity, she's a member of the Birds of Prey, which is also peripherally linked to Batman.) She appeared in several episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold as one of the Outsiders.

I love you, Chris. You always assume everyone else is an idiot.

So, uh, no, it's not about Green Hornet. It's about drawing on facets of the Batman saga that haven't been featured onscreen before.

Ah. I must have missed the stories where Katana was Bruce Wayne's chauffeur.

 

[sojourner]

Actually his comment just pointed out the similarities in the use of the character in this case, regardless of whether the character was pre-existing or not.

 

[JD]

I liked it a lot. I don't know if was quite up to the level of BTAS or YJ yet, but I really enjoyed it. I thought Pig and Toad were interesting villains, and I got a kick out of the more active Alfred. I didn't realize Michael Holt was a superhero, I wonder if that was a set up or just a fun name drop?

 

[sidious618]

Missed this. I hope it shows up on iTunes or repeats sometime soon.

 

[Christopher]

Apparently Holt is the second/modern Mr. Terrific. Not exactly a big name, but he appeared in the last season of Justice League Unlimited.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Micheal Holt/Mr. Terrific was chairman of the Justice Society of America I believe during Geoff Johns' run. His intellect is genius level...has Olympic athletic level abilities. He also has the ability to not be detected by modern technology. This of course was all pre New 52.


Finished watching the episode and I absolutely loved it. The animation is indeed going to be something to get used to, but the voice acting and story telling was great. The take on Alfred reminded me of Geoff Johns Earth One Alfred. It was nice seeing Pyg and Toad. Agreed on seeing Bruce dealing with injuries. Katana was also nice to see...and Michael Holt as well. I will be watching this.

 

[Mr Light]

Pilot was okay, but I'm not a fan of the CGI animation (same as with the Green Lantern series). I'd much rather have 2D animation.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Better than I expected/feared. I could actually come to enjoy this show. The new 'Earth One'-inspired Alfred sucks, though.

 

[sidious618]

Watched it today and I loved it. Can't wait for more.

 

[RJDiogenes]

If they didn't have a problem replacing Robin with Katana, I wonder why they didn't also replace Alfred with a character more in line with what they needed.

 

[Christopher]

If they didn't have a problem replacing Robin with Katana, I wonder why they didn't also replace Alfred with a character more in line with what they needed.

Because they didn't have to. Alfred Pennyworth's military/intelligence background has been an established part of his character in the comics for decades, a source of his skills in disguise, deception, and field medicine which have often been useful to Batman. Many stories in the comics have portrayed Alfred as a skilled fighter who was past his prime but still able to put up a good fight when he needed to. Some other screen incarnations of Alfred have had an intelligence or military background themselves. Batman: TAS explored Alfred's history with British intelligence in its final episode, "The Lion and the Unicorn." Michael Caine's Alfred in the movies was explicitly a military veteran.

True, this version is playing up that side of his character more, but that's just a shift in emphasis, no more revisionist than earlier screen versions that ignored that aspect of the character. And since earlier screen Alfreds haven't developed that side of his character much, I'd say we're overdue for one that does.

Besides, what really defines Alfred isn't his job, it's his relationship with Bruce. "What they needed" for this character was a surrogate father figure and aspiring guardian for Bruce and a skilled assistant for Batman, someone who worries about his safety and is able to confront and challenge him about the risks he takes. There is no possible way that Alfred Pennyworth is not the right character for that.

 

[Pavonis]

What do they need from Alfred, though? Someone who has intelligence and insight of their own, who can give advice and provide support to the hero and his mission. How is the new Alfred failing to do that? The main difference is that he's more explicitly a retired intelligence operative.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I don't think it's a "replace Robin" mentality. It's more a showing more characters we've never really seen before. As mentioned before Katana has history with Bruce, as part of the Outsiders, a team he personally handpicked and led. "The Batman" first paired Bruce with Babs and then eventually introduced Robin. It could be the case with "Beware The Batman" as well. It's just too early to tell since it just started.

The design of Alfred seems to have changed as well since the promo pic was released. He for some reason reminds me of Bob Hoskins. This is clearly based on Geoff Johns version from Earth One. He still functions the same...he just has more to bring to the overall picture.

 

[sojourner]

Bob Hoskins???