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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The new Batman animated series

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13:01 / 20.09.04

Teen Titans is acceptable to many people because it's witty and stylized and totally brilliant.

19:37 / 20.09.04

Exactly. Teen Titain is the best written WB cartoon out right now.

21:07 / 24.09.04

When I read the article below, all I could think of was
"RECYCLE, kids -- TO THE EXTREME!!!!" "Bane Extreme"....Ugh.

>> Bane makes his first appearance in Kids' WB!'s The Batman on Saturday, as the villain in the "Traction" episode.

Supervising producer Duane Capizzi described The Batman's version of Bane for The Continuum.

"Our Bane's origin, as eluded to in the episode, is consistent with status quo -- mercenary, subject of experiments in Amazon," Capizzi told The Continuum. "The key thing that sets our Bane apart is in design: he's 'Bane Extreme.' Jeff Matsuda really pushed the envelope with the strength Bane gains from his chemical infusions -- it literally transforms him. He's very intense."

07:44 / 25.09.04

Pah, Bane was never about physical strength, his super-power, like Batman, is that when he put his mind to a particular something no-one could stop him. In Batman's case it's picking apart cowardly and superstitious criminals, in Bane's case it's picking apart men.

XXII:X:II = XXX

09:01 / 25.09.04

I will say that having finally seen the Penguin episode Friday, I liked it a good deal more than the pilot. Certainly a lot more kinetic and visually appealing, though the characterization was still appalling. ("Grandfather Pennyworth would want to know what became of the Cobblepots!" What?! Is Alfred a complete little bitch? Good God, the man is supposed to be a retired assassin!) I thought it would have been better had Penguin's kabuki girls had turned out to be disguised ostriches or something; as it was, despite his supposed sojourn in the East, there was no good reason for their presence.

/+,

16:50 / 26.09.04

Yeah, I have to agree that the pilot was the weakest of all the espisodes to far but there is still something wrong about the show. I think characterization has a lot to do with it. but I also think it's the "exteme" factor. Like why does the penguin have to be a ninja? Why does Bane have to be The Hulk? Why is the Joker so ugly?

I can only dream of what this show could have been in the hands of someone like Genndy Tartakovsky.

20:15 / 04.10.04

I saw the Catwoman episode this weekend and it was utterly forgettable.

XXII:X:II = XXX

05:42 / 05.10.04

I saw the Bane episode on Friday and it didn't do much for me. The fight sequences were okay, but the plot itself was no great shakes, and of course the characterizations were still lame. (Alfred almost should have simpered, "Oh, I can't stay mad at YOU, Master Bruce! Give us a kissums!")

Anyone notice the Spider-Man movie ref as Bats hung from the bottom of the El, a single drip of sweat hitting the ground as Yin turns away? Or is that more a Mission: Impossible thing? Either way, this show continues to snooze.

/+,

15:19 / 05.10.04

Who's Genndy Tartakovsky? The Samurai Jack guy?

XXII:X:II = XXX

08:21 / 06.10.04

And "Dexter's Laboratory." And "Star Wars: Clone Wars." And, I think, the new "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends," though I could be confusing him with Craig McCracken there.

/+,

XXII:X:II = XXX

09:31 / 10.10.04

I saw the Catwoman episode on Friday. Again, nice kinetic visuals in the sequences with them pursuing one another around the skyline, Batman having to chase down the errant Batmobile, and the two of them fighting that army of ninjas, but really, the storyline seems to serve as merely a framework to string together these action sequences, with almost no development whatsoever. Why should I care? Because it looks good? I recognize that TV animation has advanced to this point that you CAN sell a show on image alone, but I'd consider it a snub of the storytelling skills that animators have been honed to compensate for previous visual weaknesses. Lose the former, I say, and the latter is all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

/+,

14:28 / 12.10.04

And I wonder if all those toys that are supposednly activated by watching the TV actually work? Or if they've been selling well at all...?

16:44 / 06.07.05

well, the new show is out and pretty much sucks, but I had to post this - they're doing a Batman vs. Dracula direct-to DVD movie (based on the new Batman cartoon):

THE BATMAN UPDATE

Warner Home Video has announced an Oct. 18 release for The Batman vs. Dracula, a straight-to-DVD animated movie.

Here's how Warner describes the film:

"Gotham City is terrorized not only by recent escapees Joker and Penguin, but by the original creature of the night, Dracula! Can Batman stop the ruthless vampire before he turns everyone in the city, including The Caped Crusader, Joker and Penguin, into his mindless minions?"

The DVD includes the featurette "Science vs. Superstition," in which Batman's computer gives light to the legend of Dracula and all its rumors.

Other bonuses include:

* "City of Knight": Click on a map of Gotham and discover behind the scenes and hidden buttons with short video clips of the making of.

* "Voices in Close Up": Multi-window montage with pop-up trivia boxes and interview footage give intimate interview looks at the voices behind Batman vs. Dracula.

A preview of the film will be spotlighted at Comic-Con International in San Diego next week.

----------------------------------------------

The reason I think this is notable is that Bruce Timm and Paul Dini have often said that they were NEVER allowed to do anything remotely vampiric in the original animated series because of the censors. They wanted to use the obscure 70s Batman villainess/femme fatale Nocturna. The mere concept of vampires was rejected as being too dark, too violent, potentially too sexual, who knows. Timm has joked that they said to the censors - "What if you don't see fangs?" "No." "What if you don't actually SEE anyone get bitten?" "No." "What if --- " "No."

So standards have changed, I suppose, in the past 15 years, with what you can do with an animated Batman. Or maybe it's the different network (WB as opposed to Fox, which was the original host for the Batman animated series, though WB later hosted it in its final episodes).

19:43 / 07.07.05

UK & Ireland people might be interested to know this starts soon on TOONAMI on SKY (and maybe NTL - not sure).

03:58 / 08.07.05

Don't bother... the show sucks.

18:39 / 06.12.06

Since a vigorous discussion about the merits (or lack thereof) of this show popped up in the comics thread, here's the thread about this show bumped -

I know they had Brandon Routh and (I think) the actress who plays Chloe from Smallville do voices recently. They've since added Robin and Batgirl. Yawn.

18:52 / 06.12.06

The show has been running on one of the main Brit channels in the after school slot for a while now, think BBC. I can't work out if it's bad or just bad in comparison to what went before - but I'm going to go for bad. It seems to be trying to do Batman as a youngster, but this was done much better in Batman Beyond - and some of the design is just plain ugly. Still, that's when it's on if anyone is interested, check your BBC (I'm sure) listings between 3-5 daily.

18:23 / 07.12.06

I'm the Bruce Wayne, young sexy and eXtreme. I fight crime in a future time!

And every villain I fight looks like a Rastafarian or a punk-rawker!

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