"Beware the Batman" in 2013! New Animated Series

[Christopher]

^I'm speaking of the earlier scene, when Batman saw him melt and sink into the sewer grate and took a sample of the goop. In the next scene, he was in the Batcave saying that Mason would die if they couldn't find an antidote. At that point, he had no reason to believe Mason hadn't already died.

 

[Nerys Myk]

^I'm speaking of the earlier scene, when Batman saw him melt and sink into the sewer grate and took a sample of the goop. In the next scene, he was in the Batcave saying that Mason would die if they couldn't find an antidote. At that point, he had no reason to believe Mason hadn't already died.

I was responding to kirk5555. You slipped in while I was writing and researching.

 

[kirk55555]

I was responding to kirk5555. You slipped in while I was writing and researching.

you're probably right about the gas. My annoyance with the end of the episode stuff with sapphire kind of made me tune out Metemorpho's exit from the chamber. I still think he was poorly designed and not animated well when it comes to his powers, though.

 

[Redfern]

I don't have anything really insightful to contribute, just a slightly humorous aside.

When a kid of around 5 or 6, I called Metamorpho the "ice cream man" because of his quasi Neapolitan color scheme.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Nick Ryder]

HAHA good one Redfern
--

The show's starting to grow on me - It's not BTAS but it's not as jokey as some other genre cartoons out there, which is nice and the humor is a bit more dry and understated. I'm also kind of getting into the more obscure rogues gallery they're using, which is GREAT. I'm honestly kind of sick of the Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler and Mr. Freeze always always always showing up. I kinda like to see Magpie a bit more simply because I think even the comics don't really go into her a whole lot and honestly I think she's got the possibility to be the new 'Harley Quinn' character that gets really popular in animation and then starts to become a larger character in print later on. Sure she's kinda one note with her 'shiny shiny' psychopath thing, but she could be an interesting amalgam of Catwoman and Harley. Crazy yet a slinky, sexy thief with claws and apparently a healing factor of some kind. I think Magpie would only lose in a fight between her and Catwoman if she somehow got zapped or was really really distracted, I think she would certainly beat the living snot out of a jumped up gymnast like Catwoman who has to rely on gloves for her claws.

Doctor Pyg and Toad... they're... okay. Definitely did not expect to see such a recent addition to the rogues gallery introduced - but I'm not super crazy about them. The more subtle Ras Al Ghul thing is kinda cool, reminds me of how they did it in BTAS.

Metamorpho... well, it's the first time they used him in the show and who knows maybe they keep up with fans are saying and go 'hmm yeah he IS a bit too Hulk-like. I think we can change him a bit and no one will complain.'

Katana's slow build up to having a super ID of her own is actually rather refreshing. I was worried that she'd be introduced in Episode 1 and already by Episode 2 would have a costume and start calling herself Katana.

I think given a season this could be a new favorite series. I know it's almost blasphemy but I wasn't super impressed with BTAS when it first started out, took me most of that first season to really get into it. Keep in mind, when it came out Batman Returns had just come out and really until then the only animated Batman we had was Superfriends and a few random appearances. And really even at that time, the Batman most people knew was the Adam West and Burt Ward Batman.

 

[Christopher]

Doctor Pyg and Toad... they're... okay. Definitely did not expect to see such a recent addition to the rogues gallery introduced - but I'm not super crazy about them.

Yeah, they weren't all that impressive. So far I think Magpie is the most interesting villain they've featured so far, though I'm curious to see more of Lady Shiva (and yes, I know we technically haven't seen her at all yet, beyond one publicity photo).

Katana's slow build up to having a super ID of her own is actually rather refreshing. I was worried that she'd be introduced in Episode 1 and already by Episode 2 would have a costume and start calling herself Katana.

She is already called Katana; Silver Monkey referred to her by that name. I suppose it's the name she used as a member of the League of Assassins.

I know it's almost blasphemy but I wasn't super impressed with BTAS when it first started out, took me most of that first season to really get into it. Keep in mind, when it came out Batman Returns had just come out and really until then the only animated Batman we had was Superfriends and a few random appearances. And really even at that time, the Batman most people knew was the Adam West and Burt Ward Batman.

I wasn't initially impressed with the character designs in the advance publicity I saw for B:TAS, since they looked way too cartoony and caricatured. But I was won over right away when I saw the first episode or two and saw how well they worked in motion and with shading to give them dimension. As for the writing, it took a while to get to be on a par with the art. Well, at least in production order. There's a reason they ran "Heart of Ice" and "Joker's Favor" very early in the broadcast order.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Well my thing with Pyg and Toad was... I mean they were our first bad guys of the series and while interesting - like is Toad a mutant or some sort? Felt like we should have gotten like Magpie first or even some more 'street level' bad guy like Anarchy.

Of course, BtB could very well really make Pyg and Toad interesting and they'll end up being my new favorite villans. But I agree with you Chris, Magpie has the makings of being a breakout character. Lady Shiva would be interesting to see if they play her as more of the 'hand' of Ras instead of just his daughter that has the hots for Batman. Be interesting to see if they bring in Damien somehow down the road.

And by Katana taking a super hero ID, I take her being 'called' Katana as like her codename, but she didn't seem to have the traditional 'Katana' costume or run around with her jade sword - which totally isn't a katana - calling herself that. Like I said, it's nice to see a character grow into the 'sidekick' not just basically have one episode and 'here's a costume, let's go.'

And I totally agree Chris - first few episodes were interesting, but I recall telling my mom at that time when it was on during prime time 'its okay' when she would remind me it was on. It wasn't really until maybe midseason that I really got into it and started to enjoy it. Although the sort of anachronistic style it set up was weird, they had like 30s-40s style buildings and cars and décor, and even old style music, but used computers and cellphones and had fax machines - the height of 90s tech! LOL

I hope DC Animation gives this series a chance to really hit a stride and really go all out.

 

[Christopher]

like is Toad a mutant or some sort?

Apparently yes, according to what little I can find out about the comics character.

Felt like we should have gotten like Magpie first or even some more 'street level' bad guy like Anarchy.

Well, they say they're selecting villains based on what they reveal about Batman and his relationships. Maybe the Pyg/Toad partnership was meant to reflect the Batman/Alfred relationship. Or maybe their environmental extremism was meant to be a more violent reflection of Batman's vigilantism, showing him in a better light by contrast.

Or, as I think I suggested a few weeks back, maybe they wanted the villains in the first episode to be fairly basic so that the emphasis could be more on establishing the leads.

Be interesting to see if they bring in Damien somehow down the road.

I think this Batman is too young for that.

And by Katana taking a super hero ID, I take her being 'called' Katana as like her codename, but she didn't seem to have the traditional 'Katana' costume or run around with her jade sword - which totally isn't a katana - calling herself that.

I think the backstory revealed last week, that she stole the Soultaker from the League upon discovering its power, explains why it doesn't match her codename. Implicitly she was already called Katana before she took the Soultaker.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

First Katana and now Metamorpho. Are the Outsiders in this show's future?

And Tobias Whale was on last week. He's a Black Lightning villain so I'm guessing that eventually Black Lightning will show up.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Professor Pyg and Mister Toad in Morrison's "Batman and Robin" were created to portray a new kind of violent escalation happening in Gotham City to counter Dick and Damian's reign as Batman and Robin. We saw a teeny bit of that reflected chaos in their episode. Using them first as Morrison did also might signal a new "era" of supercrime in the city on the show as well.

I'd not be surprised if the writers were eventually building up to the Outsiders.

 

[Samurai8472]

Did Metamorpho become this generations Clayface? There seemed to be alot of similarities to clayface.

He even suffers from too much changing will kill him.

 

[Christopher]

^Metamorpho was created by Bob Haney and Ramona Fradon in 1965, only four years after the first shapeshifting version of Clayface, Matt Hagen, debuted. (The original 1940s Clayface, Basil Karlo, was just a horror actor in a mask.) So the two characters are from the same generation of comics. Metamorpho's powers are broader than Clayface's, since he can transform the elemental composition of his body rather than just alter its shape.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

^ Not as far as I know. It just started it's final season recently with it's regular Cartoon Network 65 episode allotment (I think, someone can correct me). Also a "gun totting" Alfred isn't too far fetched since he's been shown in the comics as using a rifle plenty of times. One of the most prominent times was during Knightfall (I can't recall any others). We know he has military service.

It was embellished further that he was in MI6 in the BTAS episode 'The Lion & The Unicorn'.

 

[Guy Gardener]

^Metamorpho was created by Bob Haney and Ramona Fradon in 1965, only four years after the first shapeshifting version of Clayface, Matt Hagen, debuted. (The original 1940s Clayface, Basil Karlo, was just a horror actor in a mask.) So the two characters are from the same generation of comics. Metamorpho's powers are broader than Clayface's, since he can transform the elemental composition of his body rather than just alter its shape.

You're right of course but I think that a genealogical-generation is a 5th to a 15th times the duration of time as a Fanboy-generation, and that neither is static or constant in relation to time.

Jason Burr, the scientist Bloke trying to letch Katana, is (one of the many peopel who has been) Kobra or will be Kobra... Who was a major antagonist to the Outsiders.

My hypothesis at the moment is that season 2 of Beware the Batman is going to be called (Beware) Batman and the Outsiders.

 

[kirk55555]

My hypothesis at the moment is that season 2 of Beware the Batman is going to be called (Beware) Batman and the Outsiders.

I don't think there is the slightest possibility of that, but it sounds awesome in theory. Of course, since they need to do everything differently than other shows/media on BTB, the roster would probably be Geo-Force (who is actrually Terra Markov and who has the power to control plants or something), Looker (a male model who has really good vision), Black Lightning (who would have the same powers but, instead of being a teacher would be a former criminal), Katana (still without her actually owning a Katana), Halo (a crazy woman who thinks she's an angel and has wings) and The Incredible Metamorpho Sarcasm aside I do think its much better in theory than in practice. Katana is already nothing like the awesome, actual Katana from the pre Reboot DCU, so I'd hate to see a team of characters I enjoy get the Beware the Batman treatment.

 

[Guy Gardener]

She's talked to her sword I thought, which probably means that her husbands soul is inside the blade.

Halo is adorable.

I like it when Heads of state come into play in these dramas.

The Brotherhood of Evil showed up in the kiddy cartoony Titans Go recently, so I have to wonder what that shows continuity is and what it's connected to... But Tara Markov was ridiculously awesome in the earlier version of Titans Go a decade back.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

My hypothesis at the moment is that season 2 of Beware the Batman is going to be called (Beware) Batman and the Outsiders.

They should save the tittle change for if the want to get past the limit on the number of seasons.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Unless the plan is for an early spin off.

Season three has the producers making two series, one called Batman, and the other called the Outsiders, running sequentially so the toon can take place all year long.

Although how expensive is the computer modelling that a new city would be a ridiculous waste of capital?

What's the limit on Seasons?

Or are you just estimating failure since Young Justice and Green lantern were both cancelled after 2 seasons?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

My interest has started to wane with the recent episodes. It's OK but I'm not "feeling it" right now, hopefully it'll pick back up. I wish the animation was more dynamic, combined with the low detail, it feels a bit empty sometimes. Sometimes the character stuff is OK or there's a good fight sequence but overall it's kind of bleak.

 

[Christopher]

^I agree the past couple of episodes have been a bit mediocre, but B:TAS had a fair number of forgettable episodes early on. (Remember "The Underdwellers," "The Forgotten," and "I've Got Batman in My Basement"?) There's still hope we'll get more episodes as strong as the Magpie one.

By the way, one thing I don't like about this show is that they seem to be committed to using only one-word titles for their episodes. Smallville did the same thing, and it's an annoying practice because it really limits the titles and renders them rather dull. And it's a reminder of Smallville, which isn't a plus.