"The Batman" cartoon from 2007

[RoJoHen]

I didn't even know this show existed until the other day when it popped up on Netflix. I've been in a Batman mood, so I decided to check it out. I watched the first few episodes, and it's supremely mediocre. I almost feel like it's just trying to imitate "Batman: The Animated Series" from the 90s.

Has anybody else watched this show? Does it get better? Right now I'm not too impressed, but I might continue if I hear good things.

 

[Christopher]

It does get somewhat better, although the distinctive "early Batman" mythos and original characters of the first two seasons eventually and abruptly get dropped in favor of a more conventional Batman paradigm. I regretted that change, but otherwise the show did improve over time.

There's also a direct-to-video movie, The Batman vs. Dracula, which was under less censorship than the TV series and able to go darker and relatively more adult. It's not as good as the DCAU Batman movies, but it's a high point of The Batman.

 

[STEPhon IT]

It was unwatchable. I've been soo spoiled by Bruce Timm's Batman, with the artwork, and the serious storylines. It was a gift for Batman fans. I did like The Brave and the Bold; I thought the stories were faithful to the character from a different era and honors the look of the Batman universe, but The Batman was it's own thing.

 

[Timby]

Has anybody else watched this show? Does it get better?

It does get better, to an extent (I seem to recall its final run of episodes being genuinely great), but for me, with a few exceptions it's best served as background noise while one is doing something else.

The key to enjoying it is to not expect anything like the Timm series. The Batman's Joker, for example, is a totally different character from Mark Hamill's. If you can roll with that, it's a decent-enough ride.

 

[Christopher]

It was unwatchable. I've been soo spoiled by Bruce Timm's Batman, with the artwork, and the serious storylines. It was a gift for Batman fans. I did like The Brave and the Bold; I thought the stories were faithful to the character from a different era and honors the look of the Batman universe, but The Batman it's own thing.

I don't follow that logic. The Timm Batman was very, very much its own thing, a whole new aesthetic approach to Batman and to superhero animation in general. It didn't succeed because it was "faithful" to an existing look, but because it created a radically new and unprecedented look that was compelling in itself. It was influenced by the Fleischer Superman cartoons of the '40s, but was also very much in Timm's own artistic style, just as The Batman was in Jeff Matsuda's style. (For that matter, James Tucker brought a lot of his own artistic style to TB&TB, on top of the homages to Dick Sprang, Sheldon Moldoff, Jack Kirby, and other classic artists.)

Certainly one is free to like Timm's design style more than Matsuda's, or vice versa. But it doesn't make sense to say that Matsuda's was somehow less legitimate or less "faithful" than Timm's.

 

[CorporalClegg]

I watched it when it was on in rerun from time to time. I haven't seen every episode, but those I did see, I enjoyed. Sure, it's nothing compared to the Timm series, but that was (is) arguably one of the greatest animated series ever.

I thought the casting was really good. Alastair Duncan as a "classic" Alfred was inspired. When Gotham was first announced, I first thought of him.

And, while Hamill may not have been the Joker, it's not like they pulled some random fellow off the street.

I admit, though, the animation wasn't always the best. And if it wasn't Batman, then there really wasn't anything to set it apart from standard Saturday morning fare.

 

[Christopher]

And, while Hamill may not have been the Joker, it's not like they pulled some random fellow off the street.

Indeed. Kevin Michael Richardson is an amazingly gifted voice actor, and while Hamill's Joker was certainly definitive, Richardson did some really impressive work of his own, including things that Hamill probably wouldn't have been able to do -- like an episode where Batman used VR to get inside the Joker's mind and found it populated with hundreds of different variations of the Joker, every one voiced differently by the endlessly versatile Richardson. Heck, just the fact that a guy as naturally basso-voiced as Richardson could play the Joker as essentially a tenor was amazing in itself.

 

[Scotchy]

The show tries to answer one burning question.... has Bats Gone Bats???

 

[urbandefault]

I watched a couple of episodes today. Did anyone notice that Alfred brought nachos to the Batcave? They were "accidentally" dumped all over him, but I wasn't surprised. Everyone knows that Batman doesn't eat nachos.

 

[kirk55555]

Its an ok show. Just do everything possible to not compare it to any of Bruce Timm's stuff, because it never gets anywhere near as good. It had a few interesting ideas, and some good episodes (especially in the last two seasons), but its not as good as B:TAS, or even stuff like Batman: Brave and the Bold (although you can't really compare B:TB&TB to other shows, except in general quality). I thought it was worth watching, and I'll watch some episodes in from time to time.

I'll definitely give it one thing. Its 1000x better than Beware the Batman, although that is faint praise.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I saw the first ep. of Beware* and I just couldn't get through it. I was disappointed Bruce Timm's style was not incorporated while Green Lantern had it. I didn't like the story and I wasn't interested in the Pyg villain.

 

[Christopher]

I saw the first ep. of Beware* and I just couldn't get through it. I was disappointed Bruce Timm's style was not incorporated while Green Lantern had it.

That's because Bruce Timm actually produced Green Lantern while Glen Murakami produced Beware the Batman. It doesn't make sense to expect one artist to use another artist's style. That's like complaining that Jack Kirby didn't draw like John Romita.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Beware the Batman was pretty underwhelming. The only reason I started watching it in the first place was because it had Tatsu, but I didn't get past the 12th-or-so episode.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, Beware had potential, but it didn't quite come together. I don't think the use of 3D animation did it any favors. And the villains weren't really all that interesting. I don't fault it for trying to use villains who hadn't been seen on TV before -- Batman: The Animated Series was the TV debut of many characters, such as Two-Face, Ra's al Ghul, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Harvey Bullock, Rupert Thorne, Leslie Thompkins, and Lucius Fox, not to mention originals like Harley, Montoya, and Summer Gleeson. But BtB didn't manage to make its "new" villains as memorable.

 

[Mr Light]

I'll watch any Batman cartoon. "The" Batman was ok. It got a lot better in the last couple of seasons when they added Batgirl and then the Justice League. I would rank it above "Beware the Batman". "Brave and the Bold" was the best of the three if you don't mind the deliberate retro angle.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

I was thinking about "The Batman" on VUDU and watching it all. I only caught a handful of episodes back when it was on the air. I was off comic books at time. I recently just caught up with Spectacular Spider-Man and Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes, if that gives you an idea of how far behind I am.

I still need to watch Wolverine and the X-Men, Beware the Batman, Brave and the Bold season 2-3 and a whole host of DTV animated movies.