by Mike Favila, Senior Editor

I know this is sacrosanct in our business, but I have a confession to make: I’ve NEVER seen any of the Batman animated shows before. I’ve run into a snarky Teen Titan episode here and there with my children, but hadn’t had the opportunity to watch this critically loved (and ComicsOnline loved) series before. Almost everybody seems to have a preference between The Batman: The Complete Series and the other Batman show. When this came through our mailbox, I had to snap it up.

This era of Batman is set a little bit chronologically after Matt Reeves dour Batman film, when he’s already got most of his skills together, but isn’t quite the grizzled veteran that’s been portrayed ad nauseum in the comics and DCEU films. The first episode begins 3 years into his first donning of the cape, and he’s still calibrating the Batmobile not to run him over. Maybe this makes me sound like a masochist, but I dig how often Batman gets hurt compared to all the other portrayals in the movies and comics.

Audio/Video

The transfer is pretty clean and does a good job of keeping The Batman: The Complete Series preserved for future viewers.  I’m glad they have it in the 16:9 aspect ratio, instead of the shoddy 4:3 business from the DVD sets.  I’d be hard pressed to find an old CRT shape to watch those on.  The audio is serviceable, and good enough for the purposes of the show.  Musical cues behind the punchlines are not very subtle, but maybe I’m expecting too much.  The theme song evolves from a slow burn detective style soundtrack to a jazzy Cowboy Bebop-like beat in later seasons. The audio is 2.0, but at least it’s in DTS.

Cast

Batman’s supporting cast is played by a who’s who of scifi. I’ll always have a soft spot for Mitch Pileggi from The X-Files, who voices Commissioner James Gordon. I can’t imagine him as anything but a good guy. Ming Na Wen excellent voiceover work as Detective Yin is understated and appreciated. Her dialogue sits perfectly in the pocket, much like every genre show she’s in. Perfect characterization, but not doing a bunch of stuff just to get attention.  In contrast, the cast for the villain’s gallery in The Batman: The Complete Series  really get a chance to let loose. Joker is a little more demonic than usual. Something about the extra long sleeves freak me out, which … I guess is the point. His blood red eyes add a great touch to emphasize the mania. Kevin Michael Richardson does a great job expanding the mythology, even though so many have been in the role.

Gina Gershon as Catwoman is a bit of typecasting, but I won’t complain. I loved her in Bound (and pretty much anything else) and she just exudes pheremones in the role. She’s perfect. I don’t remember the Penguin ever being this agile either. Most of the time, he’s plodding about… like a penguin. I approve of the creative license. I keep waiting for the Kabuki Twins to speak, but it never happens. They never really get into their back story, but I can always wonder. I was getting ready to imagine Patton Oswalt in a costume, but he disappears into his role perfectly as the Toymaker in Season 3. The default nerd voice wasn’t in effect here. However, Kevin Warburton, goes full HAM with Detective Cash in the same episode. I never would have been able to imagine what a bro Tick would be like, but here we are.

Special Features

There’s a number of juice bits in The Batman: The Complete Series Special Features for true diehards, and even newbies like me.

The Dark Dynasty Continues (New Featurette) – Explore the relationship between The Batman and his allies as he evolves from mysterious vigilante to the World’s Greatest Detective.
Joining Forces: The Batman’s Legendary Team-Ups (Featurette) – How the series’ producers adapted the DC “Team-Up-Tales” approach from the comic books to the screen.
The Batman Junior Detective Challenge (Quiz) – Alfred tests your detective skills with The Batman: The Complete Series challenge.
The Batman Junior Detective Exam: Level 2 (Quiz) – Pass The Batman test of knowledge with the level 2 exam.
Building Batman (Featurette) – Detective Ellen Yin investigates The Batman’s true identity.
Gotham PD Case Files (Featurette) – Highly confidential profiles of The Batman’s most dastardly foes.
New Look, New Direction, New Knight (Featurette) – Go behind the scenes to explore the development of The Batman television series.
The Batman: Season 3 Unmasked (Featurette) – Supervising Producer Duane Capizzi talks about the animated series.
The Batman: Season 4 Unmasked (Featurette) – A behind the scenes look into the making of Season 4.

I think the biggest complaint is the exclusion of the Batman vs Dracula film, which seems to be a real downer for most folks. I saw a piece of it on YouTube, and it’s a blast. I didn’t know Jeff Matsuda, a favorite comic artist from my youth was involved as a producer. I’d loved his stuff on Brigade from Image Comics when they were first starting out so it was a nice discovery to know he’d continued on as a creative. He seems to have decided a majority of the visual cues for Batman, and the choices make this iteration stand out.

Overall

If you haven’t seen this before, and want something fun to watch with your kids, The Batman: The Complete Series is a no brainer.  For somebody who didn’t see The Batman: The Complete Series in its original run, this set was a lot of fun, and a great way to catch an episode or two every night.  Rino Romano obviously cares about the role, and the makers took the Bats’ legacy seriously.  There are a lot of great sight gags in the show (Alfred in the Batsuit is a delight), and the producers really took some risks in setting these characters apart from previous iterations.   Though there’s not a ton of evolution of the stories through the show, maybe the consistency is part of the allure.

Rating:

ComicsOnline gives Batman: The Complete Animated Series  5 out of 5 long sleeved Jokers!

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