@@abramsullivan7764And Hamil has since decided to retire from the role, since he no longer has Kevin to act against. Which is such a Joker thing to do!
I actually like the idea that Batman ISN'T an unreliable narrator in 'dreams in darkness.' To me it makes the episode feel like a greater commentary about people we deem as mentally ill in society. The psychiatrist doesn't listen to batman because he thinks he is just "crazy." Mental health is a complicated issue but when you read about stuff like the Rosenhan experiement you realize just how poorly equipped our mental health institutions actually are when it comes to dealing with mental illness and solving peoples problems and how we have the capacity to dehumanize people suffering form mental illness. The Rosenhan experiment has had its fair share of critiques but I think the questions it raises are still worth considering.
@@mattjacobson3616 I don't think I have all the answers you're looking for, but I think one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you need to keep in mind that you need to focus on you, and not what everyone else thinks the solution is. I know that's pretty vague, but it's all I've got. Other than the fact that people have been where you are before and there are a number of people who can help.
Mentally ill people are still threated as lesser people and discriminated by society still. There are only handfull of countries and people within who see them as much of human as everyone else.
Not to mention I think Batman does a fairly decent critique the system that fails those without power. Without crap Gotham is it's a wonder anything gets done.
I’m surprised he didn’t seem to like “it’s never to late”. It’s one of my favorite episodes of this show it’s so dramatic and emotional. It’s such a good redemption story.
My dad grew up with this show, he was so big a fan that he used to buy me so much Batman merch, like toys,pjs, and a dvd box sets of this show. I liked Batman, but I was more into other things at the time. Last month of I finally got around to watching and appreciating how much of a gem this show is, that and Batman Beyond, which I’ve REALLY been enjoying.
i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@galactic85 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@galactic85 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
I love B:TAS! In fact, when it comes to my favorite character Harley Quinn, I consider Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: The New Adventures to be the only true Harley Quinn-s personally. Also, the intro is super iconic
Just remember that Batman the Animated Series invented Harley Quinn (arguably the best female character in the DC Universe); she literally did not exist until she was introduced in a single episode because the Joker needed a sidekick for plot reasons - and she became so popular that the writers decided to include her in future episodes until she became a proper new addition to the Batman rogue's gallery.
It's even better than I remembered and didn't watch this video in full. I rewatched it 2 times, more so than the follow up series, like Superman TAS, Beyond, Justice League etc. it's the best Batman incarnation till this day and all the other Batman adaption still builds on this one, even more so than Tim Burton that actually inspired BATMAN TAS.
While I will always feel that this is indeed a great show, I'm grateful to you for asking that we consider whether our feelings towards this and other stuff from our childhoods are good because of things like nostalgia 😊
This has been one of the few shows from my childhood that I absolutely loved watching again as an adult. I will miss the voice actors in their roles as well. I always forget Batman's voice actor, but I feel he's the best ever among voice actors and live actors. He's the only one I ever heard who seems to both a believable human sounding Bruce Wayne and Batman voice, while simultaneously sounding it could actually fool anything less than a voice analyzer. And Mark Hamill sounds like the most fun he's ever had in life was voicing the Joker. And I love when someone goes through and so positively analyzes what seem to be my favorites from the past. I feel like I managed to enjoy some of the truly greatest shows and movies ever made before I consciously realized what makes then so great.
The best interpretation of Batman in my opinion is that of someone who feels empathy for broken people like him, like his rogues gallery, he can be portrayed as a rehabilitator instead of a punisher. Unfortunately nowadays he’s less of a hero and more of an anti-hero. More about vengeance rather than mercy, and ultimately; Justice.
Batman The Animated Series is still a great show and all the other Batman cartoons and live action movies take inspiration from it. I like The Big O music you added dude, Big O is Batman meets mecha,meets Truman Show.
i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
Something that I think would've given Two-Face's backstory a bit more boldness is if it was Bruce that child-Harvey punched. Like they became life-long friends after, and Harvey always kept his anger in check because he felt he owed it to Bruce or something. Kinda like the dynamic between Bruce and Tommy Elliot, but retrofitted for Harvey.
The episode you showed Feat of Clay Part 1 & 2 are examples of the varying quality the overseas studios would put out. Part 1 was animated by AKOM, the studio that animated The Simpsons and Animaniacs, their turn out for this series was more misses than hits as far the producers were concerned and ceased animating the series after the disastrous results of episodes such as Joker's Wild and Moon of The Wolf. Part 2 was animated by TMS, an animation studio in Japan that housed many famed alumni including Hayo Miyazaki, The producers never ceased to praise their work on the series on many episodes with Feat of Clay Part 2 being the best animation they have done for the series. Also, shoutout to the sadly defunct studio Spectrum that animated On Lether WIngs, Heart of Ice, and Robin's Reckoning Part 1, the studio was founded by former TMS animators and they managed to live up to TMS' standards though sadly not for long as they closed down before BTAS was finished. If only TMS kept working on the DCAU after Superman and The New Batman Adventures, the successor shows would have benefited greatly from their work. At least TMS did the superb animation for Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker.
Batman Beyond shows a really good contrast of 30-40 years later Bruce becoming much more cynical toward the villains in the past, and the ones in the future terry has to face. There’s a bit of it in S4 of BTAS too
can feel the writers did better with arcs then the one offs always felt rushed or over explains stuff that get shown again any ways even the eh ones ill let it run
I didn’t watch batman tas growing up . I watched most of it recently after having watched mask of the phantasm. I can see how it’s arguably the best superhero animated series ever because of the voice acting ,design and because when it’s at its best it’s hard to be topped. However, after watching mask of the phantasm I was lead to believe that all 85 episodes of the animated series were that good and mask of the phantasm was pretty good and it was far from it. Like I said when it’s at its best it’s great but that may be once every 4 or 5 episodes. In between that you have some very disposable stories. It’s very episodic unlike spider man tas or superman tas there is no larger story arc (there’s a couple of 2 parters but that’s all) . Also like all the other animated superhero cartoons of the 90s, it’s largely aimed at kids. It’s not this super mature series with complex stories in every single episode. Like I said I can see how it has a case but it is far from being head and shoulders above every other superhero cartoon like a lot of people say it is.
In a way though I do like how the post-BTAS takes actually let her be more than just the Joker’s battered girlfriend. The series even toyed with having her reform or be her own person only to ALWAYS hit the reset button on any characterization she would get because status quo. I like her in BTAS too but I like how newer stuff lets her grown and change outside the Joker’s shadow.
Agreed, there are some developments with the character In recent years that I like, such as her and poison ivy becoming a romantic couple, but I feel like a lot of times they just try to make her "Female Joker!" Harley Quinn is so much more than that.
@@galactic85 Yeah, her and Ivy are good together, and I like the Harley Quinn cartoon. When I say flanderization, I'm mostly referring to movies and some comics.
@@bigdoubleu117 Luckily West got some love by leaning into his persona and Seth Macfarlane basically handing him a paycheck for years. Macfarlane actually had a rule that they were to make no Batman jokes using West.
"I chose this life. I use the night, I became the night, sooner or later I'll go down. It might be the Joker, or Two-Face, or just some punk who gets lucky. My decision. No regrets. But I can't let anyone else pay for my mistakes." - Kevin Conroy (Batman), Episode 34: "I am the Night" (1992)
@@velvetdarksoul8741 yeah, they had episodes where you could tell the writers were focused on making him more capable in any given situation without much struggle, not like in BTAS where he did have to struggle to outsmart his enemies. I kind of get the reasoning since he’s the only one on the league without otherworldly powers and he needs to be shown to contribute but the focus on him it seemed like a bit of favoritism. Especially when they paired him with Diana and it really became the most noteworthy relationship she had, which was kind of a let down when I thought her villains and supporting cast were rarely given focus and she felt like a League addition rather than being able to function as a star of her own show. And the romance was added when it was already set in stone that it would never lead to anything since the Batman Beyond show set it up that he would end up a lonely man.
I wonder what will Robert Pattinson's Batman will be like in the upcoming movie they showed that he doesn't care about being Bruce Wayne he's more a Batman and he started to let that side of him take over I wonder if we go see him be more kinder and shows his empathy in the movie
@Nightman221k tbf it'd be difficult to show Batman vulnerable in JLU simply because as you said they need to compensate for the fact that he's just a human
8:50 - honestly surprised you didn't mention that The Grey Ghost was played by Adam West, who was Batman in the 60's TV show and was just as much of an influence to a lot of people on the production team making BTAS as The Grey Ghost was to Bruce in that episode, so there's this delicious meta-commentary on thanking the previous generation for inspiring the creatives behind the show. You just know, while watching that episode, that the writers went down to watch Adam West record in the booth so they could get his autograph afterwards. That kind of care and love went into so much of the show that it'll stand the test of time for decades.
Fun fact, the entire idea behind Mr. Freeze was first implemented in BTAS by writer Paul Dini. Before this, he was no more than Mr. Zero, a villain with an ice gun who stole diamonds. BTAS, just like Bruce, saw more in its villains than what first appeared on their surface level.
That's not wholly true. Adam West's Batman is where the name "Mr. Freeze" came from, and the 60's series also gave him a sympathetic motivation for the first time: Being tormented by the life his condition forced on him and wanting revenge on Batman, who inadvertently caused the accident while foiling one of his crimes. Heart of Ice builds on that - to be fair, quite significantly.
@@bf5250 there was also an old story from like...the 70s, where the pre TAS Freeze was trying to turn a woman he loved immortal like him, but she was just using him, it's pretty good, it's called "A Cold Time In The Old Time Tonight"
Such a shame that the live action couldn’t live up to the animated series. Thinking about it now I really don’t think we deserve the DCAU. Because it does everything that the live action adaptations of DC sort of fail to do.
@@osmanyousif7849 I feel like DCAU and the MCU are on equal terms as far as the quality of the characters and storytelling goes. DC live action? We're lucky to get the few good movies we get and they're mostly all Batman.
@@johnb2422 ohhh I would definitely say that Marvel has done a waayyy better job with their MCU than DC has. Right now, Marvel is trying to find their new footing after Endgame but man, when Infinity War came out. It still holds that same sort of quality I had back when I first watched
@@johnb2422 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@Spider-Complexion i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
The Penguins reform episode is one of my favourites simply because it is society that pushes him back into becoming a villain. He tried to make an actual effort to reform, however the socialites in Gotham were manipulating him to make him the butt of the joke. Instead of accepting him, which is what Oswald wants most of all. It adds a bit of tragedy that no matter how much a criminal reforms, there will be some in society that will always see them as a criminal, a villain. And when society will only see you as the villain, why bother trying to show them anything different?
It's my favorite version of Batman because you could tell he was still human instead of a meme. Even in Justice League they leaned into it unfortunately.
@@Horatio787 I think Justice League's version of him was still pretty good and human overall (an episode like This Little Piggy showcased that so well, and we see Batman slowly softening with the team as the show went on), even if there was stuff like Batman avoiding the Omega Beams from Darkseid in the finale.
Babydoll is the best example of Batman's kindness, his empathy, his desire to help people reform. But one episode that FAILS at this is MUDSLIDE. Where all clayface needed was a cure and Batman stops him..
@@Horatio787 It would have looked pretty evident what Clayface was doing. At least ask some questions before getting upset about a lousy break in, Batman
For me, it is Mr. Freeze's intro episode Heart of Ice, where he stop freeze from killing people, but the distain in Batman's voice when the CEO Freeze was after thanks him, just that whole "I stopped him from killing you, but that doesn't make you a victim", knowing the whole reason the CEO was going free was because of his own self imposed code.
Considering how many episodes the series had to quickly churn out in little time, as was a common demand for all TV shows back then, the quality of the episodes can be inconsistent for a modern viewer, and some people may not like the lack of an overarching story arc. But when the show clicks, it really clicks. At its best, it's truly a masterpiece. The high points are so high, influential and definitive for Batman and his villains that I can easily overlook some episodes that might be clunkers here and there. And let's not forget the awesome artstyle, music and voice acting!
Tbh I miss episodic shows .. people this days just shit on this type of story telling to a point that's series that began as episodic where forced to be not(looks ate the mandalorian). doing an awesome episodic show is really hard I say because you need a really strong cast of characters and enough imagination to give them new plots to play whit
That's why I was thrown off. I have the entire series on DVD and I find it odd that the episodes on the first disc are rather random. The show doesn't have a "first episode" that helps introduce the audience to this world like Attack on Titan for example. There's even a random Christmas special with Robin, even though he wasn't there at the beginning. However, when that episode was being made, it was probably December in real life That being said, I don't regret owning this at all. Blessed!
@@DrDolan2000 Hope I can find the last two dvd volumes where I live. I am glad I could find the first two (with Danish language), but the others are nonexistent.
BTAS is great. It's very heartfelt and earnest, and really makes Bruce out as an empathetic, loving man that he SHOULD be written as. It's why I kinda find it a shame that The New Batman Adventures kinda reworked his character into a completely new, less caring person, as well as backpedaling a lot of the character development of characters like Harley Quinn. Sure, you can come up with valid in-canon reasons for these changes, but that doesn't make it less unsatisfying to see happen.
Personally I like that Batman becomes more uncaring. It shows us that he slowly became Batman and started discarding the Bruce Persona more. The more he took on crime, the more he became Batman and pushed away the responsibilities of Bruce. It's also this that allows the shows to play with ideas like Robin getting fed up with Batman's shit. They show that him leaving to become Nightwing made Batman realize how cruel he had become towards criminals so he instead helped the criminal he was brutally interrogating by giving a job at Wayne Enterprises. Superman likewise helped Batman see things differently when they teamed up to stop Joker and Luthor. I feel like the showrunners knew what they were doing by changing up Batman's character. Cause it felt like they wanted to break him down to build him back up. But I can definitely understand why people would find this shift in character off-putting. I think it's just a nice opportunity to explore a Batman who has stared into the abyss too long.
They didn’t “rework” his character in the new adventures of Batman tho. If you paid close attention you’ll realize Batman is a few years older, hell dick Grayson is now nightwing and not robin anymore. In the new adventures, Batman istired of fighting the same guys seeing the people murder and cause grief. His harder and less forgiving nature in the new adventures is because he’s been doing this shtick for years now. It’s realistic that he has less patience’s then he did when he first started in Batman tas. It all combines into the themes of Batman beyond the final installment of this Batman trilogy where he gets to old, still doing same super hero thing and does something he vowed to never do “use a gun” so he retires. Also Harley Quinn’s development wasn’t “back peddled” she’s literally insane she has Stockholm syndrome that’s why she keeps coming back to her abuser “the joker” even in the episode where she helps Batman and denounced the joker she comes back cause she’s literally more twisted than the joker himself.
I agree he still the same Batman from the animated series but he's much more order and more darker we see that he doesn't pull any more purchase anymore he is less caring because he's more Batman than Bruce Wayne and season 4 but in Justice League we saw the Batman from the animated series we see him becoming more caring again more human again being around Superman and Wonder woman and all the other heroes he shows sympathy and he does care a lot about his teammates and he becomes a better version of himself being around the other League members and we start to see his relationship with Wonder woman starting to grow into something more than friends he started to have feelings for her and she started to have feelings for him
I don't think that's necessarily true. we still see the same compassionate and heartfelt Bruce from these episodes later on, specifically in the episode "Double talk" which is sadly the only canonical instance I can think of where a villain reforms.
And worse, when people like Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan portrayed him as a fascist that many socialists, such as Vaush, claim that he is. Now that wouldn’t be a problem if they were seen as non-canon or a an alternative take on the character but, because they were portrayed in film, which is the medium that gets mainstream attention and becomes our culture’s lense, many normies and public view believes that is the real character of the Batman and can’t see him as a hero but, some rich white kid who goes around punching people just for being either poor or mentally ill. And to make matters worse for Batman’s image, everytime you see websites that shows recommendations for people who wants to start reading comics, they always recommend Elseworld stories that deconstructs superheroes and portrays them as horrible people, like the Dark Knight Returns, and The Boys. This is why I believe that people nowadays hates superheroes and think of them as “cops with capes.”
the beauty of the aesthetic of Gotham City, the beautiful soundtrack of each episode, the way in which Bruce Wayne is explored, and more are the reasons why this is a show that you cannot miss
I have had the pleasure of watching this series for the very first time as an adult who is 24 years old. This show was out before I was born in 1998, but it consistently has been my favorite batman adaptation that I have seen so far. Every episode, even the "less good ones" have ben so amazing to watch! I love this series so much!
Not only is it as good as we remember, it's BETTER than we remember. When we were younger. we couldn't truly appreciate how well-written everything was, but now we can as adults.
as someone who did a long term marathon of the ENTIRE DCAU (five episodes a day or so every day until i was done), i can also say that yes. not just batman, but the entire dcau stands as a very good thing overall. sure some episodes are a bit meh, but that's the same with any piece of media. No show is perfect.
I’ve been rewatching this one slowly over the past couple months, and I gotta say the answer is an easy yes. An easier yes than any of the other DC shows talked about here, no question.
How did you manage to do it so slowly. I promised myself not to do more than 2-3 episodes a day but in some cases the temptation was big (especially if they ended with to be continued :D)
Two things can be true: 1.) On average, the typical episode's quality probably skewed closer to the "I've Got Batman in My Basement" end of the scale than the "Heart of Ice" end. 2.) There are still more than enough episodes on - or close to - the "Heart of Ice" end that this show kicks the crap out of most superhero cartoons today, let alone its "competition" in the '80s/'90s.
Anyone else think the flashbacks in Robin's Reckoning is the best animation in the DCAU? Something about the shading, lighting and slick movements just feel beyond all the other shows.
I've accepted that we'll never get a heartfelt kind Batman in live action. It just isn't profitable. When people think of Batman, they think unstable dude beating up criminals. So that's what producers make because it's all people know. Maybe The Batman does it but I doubt it based on how everyone behind the scenes is calling him crazy and unhinged. Even the Nolan films, he's just a brute who yells constantly. There's a scene in Long Halloween where Batman leaves Thanksgiving dinner for Grundy. If they do anything remotely similar to that I will be absolutely shocked.
I think The Batman seems to be going in that direction based on the ending. The scene where he leads the survivors out of the flood is one of my favourite Batman moments of all time
Personally I just watched it for the first time! It took me about half a year. Not every episode was on point or interesting! One of the things that really bothered me was Bruce’s relationship with Harvey Dent as two face. There’s like zero episodes really focusing on how he really feels about losing his friend that turned into a criminal! It’s like Bruce Wayne became Batman to constantly beat him up when he’s being a criminal without really realistically talking with him or trying to get him help? The last season of the series was very weird for me especially with cat woman’s new design. It was so cartoony and so weird! Batman‘s new suit made them look way younger! Batgirl had the best design out of all of them! 😇
Both the episodes Two-Face Part 1 and 2, as well as the episode Second Chance very clearly establish Bruce's remorse over Harvey's state. In all these three episodes, Bruce also constantly tries to reason with Two-Face first before fighting him.
Whenever Batman is in another show or story I always see him as that cool dude but Batman tas is the equivalent of a day in the life of Batman type of content , also I’m happy that you put clayface on the list a lot of reviews don’t give that two parter enough credit.
Is Lowkey's promise to finish reviewing Avatar The Last Airbender as great as we remember? Time will only tell.... Anyway, the answer is always a resounding YES when it comes to the Timmverse
I love this show so much! My favorite episode is Baby-Doll, which I'm glad you covered here. Some episodes that I love that you didn't include here include It's Never Too Late, See No Evil, and Christmas With the Joker.
Chris Nolan certainly thought it was great. He clearly lifted bits of dialogue straight from TAS into his trilogy. In the episode Nothing to Fear, Scarecrow robs a bank, sets the stolen money on fire, then tells his goons: "it's not about money, it's about revenge". Just change revenge to "sending a message" and you have that great Ledger Joker scene in TDK.
I am currently watching the series for the first time and i could say yes it holds up. Visuals is kind of hit or miss but dialogue and stories are great.
Considering how many episodes the series had to quickly churn out in little time, as was a common demand for all TV shows back then, the quality of the episodes can be inconsistent for a modern viewer, and some people may not like the lack of an overarching story arc. But when the show clicks, it really clicks. At its best, it's truly a masterpiece. The high points are so high, influential and definitive for Batman and his villains that I can easily overlook some episodes that might be clunkers here and there. And let's not forget the awesome artstyle, music and voice acting!
i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@matheus5230 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@gracecookie4604 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
Re: "Dreams in Darkness" -- Sometimes its easy to forget that Batman TAS was originally a Saturday-morning cartoon being written for 10 year-olds. This means that for much of the intended audience this would have been GUARANTEED to be their first ever exposure to the "unreliable narrator" plot. Making that first experience a subversion of the trope - "I'm right but all the adults are telling me I'm wrong" - is probably much more effective narrative for the intended audience than an unreliable narrator plot.
Hey there, I just watched this video recently, and I really liked your review of this series. I'm wondering, when will you follow up by reviewing the rest of the DCAU?
Although, would have been nice to hear more of Batman TAS's soundtrack in the video, at the very least during the parts where he was talking about it. I assume its soundtrack is more likely to be copyright claimed?
the underdwellers is a good episode. The emotion on Batman's face when he realizes what is happening to children.. it shows that in his mind this is the worst kind of evil. Something as low as enslaving children. Enraged Batman more than the Joker ever had.
I actually really enjoy Underdwellers and The Forgotten, purely because they felt real. They're not a crazy clown or an ice guy. They're child abusers, human traffickers, and slavers. It's a real evil, that happens every day in our world. When the Underdeweller guy screamed at the kids, I remember being so angry, just like Batman.
Batman has the best superhero animated series( the 92 ones),the best superhero movie(dark knight), the best superhero videogame (arkham city) and the best superhero animated movie (mask of the phantasm). And in 4 days we get the batman.What a time to be a batman fan🦇🦇🦇
The one issue with Dreams in Darkness I have is that the doctors think the idea that a dangerous villain has escaped Arkham and is trying to destroy Gotham is crazy, but for them that happens every week.
Honestly dude. I completely forgot I subbed to you until this vid, but when I clicked and I was like “damn I should give this dude a sub” I guess I’ll turn my notifications on now (Hope you like my unpaid “like and follow” plug)
9:45 - The same way Kevin Conroy's Batman will always serve fond Memories to Me. Along with Everyone else Involved with the production of this Show. 11:18 - It was animated by TMS. The Studio behind the Movie "Akira". :)
Heart of Ice, The Gray Ghost, and Feats of Clay were some amazing stories. I remember fondly my mother watching with me saying how great the show was .
This show was a huge part of my childhood, and just the DCAU in general. The movie based on the show, Mask of the Phantasm, is like one of my favorite movies! Glad to see you really like the show as well!
Every time I think about BTAS, I try to think if any of the live action Batmans reflect anything close to that version, and thus far, I really don't think they do. We don't see the same level of empathy as we do here in any live action era from the 60s camp to the DCU, it's just not the same level. There might be glimpses of it, but nothing comes close. And that's a crying shame. I think we could use more empathy in live action stuff if we can't make Western audiences give a fuck about animation. But no, only pure badass Batman allowed, so he's not allowed feelings or to hope that a villain might better themselves. ~_~
The closest we get to an interesting interpretation is Ben Affleck as Batman if he's just sick of all the crap in his life and going off the deep end. But even then everything else about him is done wrong so I don't know.
The "Art Deco"- inspired buildings, retro-futurist computers, old-style police uniforms and suits with giant shoulder pads all create this feeling of Gotham not just being its own world, but also a world steeped in urban decay. No new high-rise buildings have gone up since the 1960s. The general population is so poor that almost everyone buys from second-hand stores or the Salvation Army. The wealthy families even seem to go so far out of their way to avoid putting money back into the city that they have all their finely tailored clothes made out of cheap-looking materals so that not even their shirts are worth stealing. And then in the middle of it all, you've got this massive communications equipment manufacturing and R+D firm called Wayne Enterprises that's got petabytes of blueprints and warehouses full of prototypes that could fix the city's problems but they're all WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to deploy at a useful scale. Not a WORD is said about any of this in dialouge, but it's all there on screen waiting for the audience to notice.
@@Grizabeebles Never noticed that but it makes sense. I just remember that dream Bruce has where a homeless person asks for money and he smiles and hands him some, then more and more come up to him and there's just this sea of poverty he's trying to help.
Aaaand subbed. Great video dude. I love the batman animated series, I was about 10 years old when the series originally aired and me and my brother would plant ourselves in front of the tv every Saturday morning to watch every episode. This video was a nice reminder of that.
I watched the series for the first time since late last year and I actually really enjoyed it, it was only as soon as the new adventures that I didn't like it as much.
Is Batman: The Animated Series as Great as We Remember??? FUCK YEAH IT IS!!!! Outside the actual comic books, this is THE Batman. I find it sad that Hollywood can't replicate the magic in live action versions.
love the video! I'm a huge timverse fan so TAS, justice league, Superman, some of my all time favorite THINGS to ever come out. I think you did a really good job extrapolating the strengths of the episodes. To add a bit of constructive criticism, I think it would have been good to explain the flow of time a bit between episodes for the two face episode. The thing that always made that episode stand out is that Harvey is an established character BEFORE the two face episode. So we got to see him as a hero as well as a villain.
I maybe a bit of a contrarian when I say I feel it is a tad bit overrated. Now before anyone types anything let me explain! It’s still a great show, and a very important animated show historically speaking. However the one area that I feel that drags it down a bit is many of the mediocre to very childish episodes. Given a current audience and the binging culture many of these episodes like heart of steel, I’ve got Batman in my basement and more can make bits of the show feel repetitive. But this is still a great show and we may not have had more awesome shows like Justice League, teen titans, Avatar the Last Airbender, and more without it. So thank you to Bruce Tim and the team for making this and RIP to those that worked on it that’re no longer with us.
You're explanation of Batman's empathy makes so clear why movie adaptations of Batman haven't worked. Batman has never wanted to just beat the pulp out of jaywalkers, his traumatic experience at a young age made him insanely aware of the sanctity and fragility of life, and at his core he wants to protect that life. His anger does spill over at times, but he is not brutal for no reasons. I sort of disagree with the interpretation that Under The Red Hood gives in that regard. Maybe killing once does make it easier to kill again, but the issue is not that Batman could become a ruthless murder machine, but that even one act fails the mission - to protect life. I think the transition to TNBA where Batman is more jaded is interesting. He is a few years older, and more worn down by the experiences he's done. It's unclear whether the state of Gotham is any better by then. But I think it does set up for the Justice League in an great way, where interacting with Superman, WW, GL and more helps to bring Bruce back around and come out of the darkness he's been falling into.
I say Batman: he Animated Series and X Men: The Animated Series are the two best superhero shows of all time. They were released exactly 1 month and 3 weeks apart from each other and they both had great music, directing, animation, voice work, action, stories, etc.
U have to continue to review the dcau shows like superman the animated series and the new batman adventures and justice League unlimited and even the movies as well like mask of the phantasm
I freaking love all your content it's sad I'm such a fanboi since I'm I love your critical eye and I wish I could emulate it with this but you reviewing one of my favorite series of all time is just *chef kiss* perfection.
I appreciate your thematically appropriate mask, I think this is the first time I’ve ever actually seen an image of your human self. More seriously though, I did enjoy this review a lot and that’s because of the style you chose to make it in, highlighting what particularly worked for you as well as pointing out why binging feels different from doing an episode a week. I definitely hope you do the new Batman adventures and Batman beyond at some point
Yes, yes it is. I still watch it today, and I'm 52. And I liked how Batrman carried over his care for others in Justice League. That episode where they send her to kill the little girl who is using her powers while she is dying, and he just sits there with her and stays with her until she dies ... Great episode.
I still to this day feel this was the greatest animated television show ever made. Just so much was handled just right in portraying this character in such a timeless way that doesn't make this show feel dated. It's one of those reasons the Arkham games were so engrossing as well by using a large portion of the same voice cast.
Some episodes that I love, but you didn't mention (I'm not criticizing you, it's just that there are so many good and great episodes), are: It's Never Too Late, Appointment In Crime Alley, the episodes introducing Batgirl, and more.
Fun fact, Mark Hamill's favorite Joker line is in The Man Who Killed Batman. I think it went, "Without Batman crime has no punchline."
Oh man well that line became a reality we sadly lost Batman rest in peace Kevin Conroy (November 30th, 1955-November 10th, 2022).
@@abramsullivan7764And Hamil has since decided to retire from the role, since he no longer has Kevin to act against. Which is such a Joker thing to do!
I actually like the idea that Batman ISN'T an unreliable narrator in 'dreams in darkness.' To me it makes the episode feel like a greater commentary about people we deem as mentally ill in society. The psychiatrist doesn't listen to batman because he thinks he is just "crazy." Mental health is a complicated issue but when you read about stuff like the Rosenhan experiement you realize just how poorly equipped our mental health institutions actually are when it comes to dealing with mental illness and solving peoples problems and how we have the capacity to dehumanize people suffering form mental illness. The Rosenhan experiment has had its fair share of critiques but I think the questions it raises are still worth considering.
There's never a reason to dehumanize anyone, especially if they aren't hurting anyone.
I agree with both of you. Btw im not ashamed to admit it I've had a breakdown. Can you guys give me any pointers?
@@mattjacobson3616 I don't think I have all the answers you're looking for, but I think one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you need to keep in mind that you need to focus on you, and not what everyone else thinks the solution is.
I know that's pretty vague, but it's all I've got. Other than the fact that people have been where you are before and there are a number of people who can help.
Mentally ill people are still threated as lesser people and discriminated by society still. There are only handfull of countries and people within who see them as much of human as everyone else.
Not to mention I think Batman does a fairly decent critique the system that fails those without power.
Without crap Gotham is it's a wonder anything gets done.
I’m surprised he didn’t seem to like “it’s never to late”. It’s one of my favorite episodes of this show it’s so dramatic and emotional. It’s such a good redemption story.
My dad grew up with this show, he was so big a fan that he used to buy me so much Batman merch, like toys,pjs, and a dvd box sets of this show. I liked Batman, but I was more into other things at the time.
Last month of I finally got around to watching and appreciating how much of a gem this show is, that and Batman Beyond, which I’ve REALLY been enjoying.
Batman Beyond is my favorite. I love it. Terry might actually be my favorite Batman.
i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@galactic85 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@galactic85 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
I love B:TAS! In fact, when it comes to my favorite character Harley Quinn, I consider Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: The New Adventures to be the only true Harley Quinn-s personally.
Also, the intro is super iconic
One of my favorite episodes is It’s Never Too Late, a great tale about Batman’s desire to redeem his villains.
Just remember that Batman the Animated Series invented Harley Quinn (arguably the best female character in the DC Universe); she literally did not exist until she was introduced in a single episode because the Joker needed a sidekick for plot reasons - and she became so popular that the writers decided to include her in future episodes until she became a proper new addition to the Batman rogue's gallery.
It's even better than I remembered and didn't watch this video in full. I rewatched it 2 times, more so than the follow up series, like Superman TAS, Beyond, Justice League etc. it's the best Batman incarnation till this day and all the other Batman adaption still builds on this one, even more so than Tim Burton that actually inspired BATMAN TAS.
While I will always feel that this is indeed a great show, I'm grateful to you for asking that we consider whether our feelings towards this and other stuff from our childhoods are good because of things like nostalgia 😊
Lulz at the guy talking about how great the music in BtAS was while playing music from The Big-O.
This has been one of the few shows from my childhood that I absolutely loved watching again as an adult. I will miss the voice actors in their roles as well. I always forget Batman's voice actor, but I feel he's the best ever among voice actors and live actors. He's the only one I ever heard who seems to both a believable human sounding Bruce Wayne and Batman voice, while simultaneously sounding it could actually fool anything less than a voice analyzer. And Mark Hamill sounds like the most fun he's ever had in life was voicing the Joker. And I love when someone goes through and so positively analyzes what seem to be my favorites from the past. I feel like I managed to enjoy some of the truly greatest shows and movies ever made before I consciously realized what makes then so great.
That's good. For me unfortunately I wasn't even born yet when the show aired in 1992.
The best interpretation of Batman in my opinion is that of someone who feels empathy for broken people like him, like his rogues gallery, he can be portrayed as a rehabilitator instead of a punisher. Unfortunately nowadays he’s less of a hero and more of an anti-hero. More about vengeance rather than mercy, and ultimately; Justice.
Batman: Tool Assisted Speedrun
A classic show with X-Men TAS, Spawn TAS and Superman TAS and Maxx changed comic animation shows
I'm surprised you didn't mention that Joker's Favor was the first EVER appearance of one, Harley Quinn. Still, great video. I love this show.
Batman The Animated Series is still a great show and all the other Batman cartoons and live action movies take inspiration from it. I like The Big O music you added dude, Big O is Batman meets mecha,meets Truman Show.
i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
I'm telling you. This is finally gonna be the one where he says "yes"
I think adding clips and sound from the series itself would make your videos a lot better. Thanks.
Something that I think would've given Two-Face's backstory a bit more boldness is if it was Bruce that child-Harvey punched. Like they became life-long friends after, and Harvey always kept his anger in check because he felt he owed it to Bruce or something. Kinda like the dynamic between Bruce and Tommy Elliot, but retrofitted for Harvey.
No. It is literally the best Superhero Cartoon ever made on this Earth
Clock king is one of my favorite episodes. Such an interesting episode.
Worst villain to date
The episode you showed Feat of Clay Part 1 & 2 are examples of the varying quality the overseas studios would put out. Part 1 was animated by AKOM, the studio that animated The Simpsons and Animaniacs, their turn out for this series was more misses than hits as far the producers were concerned and ceased animating the series after the disastrous results of episodes such as Joker's Wild and Moon of The Wolf. Part 2 was animated by TMS, an animation studio in Japan that housed many famed alumni including Hayo Miyazaki, The producers never ceased to praise their work on the series on many episodes with Feat of Clay Part 2 being the best animation they have done for the series. Also, shoutout to the sadly defunct studio Spectrum that animated On Lether WIngs, Heart of Ice, and Robin's Reckoning Part 1, the studio was founded by former TMS animators and they managed to live up to TMS' standards though sadly not for long as they closed down before BTAS was finished. If only TMS kept working on the DCAU after Superman and The New Batman Adventures, the successor shows would have benefited greatly from their work. At least TMS did the superb animation for Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker.
Batman Beyond shows a really good contrast of 30-40 years later Bruce becoming much more cynical toward the villains in the past, and the ones in the future terry has to face. There’s a bit of it in S4 of BTAS too
Short answer: Yes
3:14 I am vengeance.
A classic series and often considered the best batman cartoon made well deserved
can feel the writers did better with arcs then the one offs always felt rushed or over explains stuff that get shown again any ways even the eh ones ill let it run
I hope your still enjoying JJK Lowart
I didn’t watch batman tas growing up . I watched most of it recently after having watched mask of the phantasm. I can see how it’s arguably the best superhero animated series ever because of the voice acting ,design and because when it’s at its best it’s hard to be topped. However, after watching mask of the phantasm I was lead to believe that all 85 episodes of the animated series were that good and mask of the phantasm was pretty good and it was far from it. Like I said when it’s at its best it’s great but that may be once every 4 or 5 episodes. In between that you have some very disposable stories. It’s very episodic unlike spider man tas or superman tas there is no larger story arc (there’s a couple of 2 parters but that’s all) . Also like all the other animated superhero cartoons of the 90s, it’s largely aimed at kids. It’s not this super mature series with complex stories in every single episode. Like I said I can see how it has a case but it is far from being head and shoulders above every other superhero cartoon like a lot of people say it is.
please review all the dcau shows
Yes that's the plain and simple answer.
I miss the original Harley Quinn from this series, where she was sympathetic. I feel like she's been flanderized in recent years.
In a way though I do like how the post-BTAS takes actually let her be more than just the Joker’s battered girlfriend. The series even toyed with having her reform or be her own person only to ALWAYS hit the reset button on any characterization she would get because status quo. I like her in BTAS too but I like how newer stuff lets her grown and change outside the Joker’s shadow.
Agreed, there are some developments with the character In recent years that I like, such as her and poison ivy becoming a romantic couple, but I feel like a lot of times they just try to make her "Female Joker!" Harley Quinn is so much more than that.
@@galactic85
Yeah, her and Ivy are good together, and I like the Harley Quinn cartoon. When I say flanderization, I'm mostly referring to movies and some comics.
That's because she has been. They tried to make her into DC's Deadpool, but that's gone over like a fart in church.
@@SamtheBravesFan
I mean, to be fair, I hate Deadpool as well.
Fun fact:the gray ghost was played by Adam West, The actor who played Batman in the 60s show.
Just shows how much love and attention to details was put into this show.
The gray ghost is basically the shadow, a old radio hero from around the 40s that inspired Batman to being with. He also has one cheesy movie.
Also also, the actor character was basically an autobiography of Adam West himself after the Batman role.
@@bigdoubleu117 Luckily West got some love by leaning into his persona and Seth Macfarlane basically handing him a paycheck for years. Macfarlane actually had a rule that they were to make no Batman jokes using West.
That was such a great tribute to Adam West.
"I chose this life. I use the night, I became the night, sooner or later I'll go down. It might be the Joker, or Two-Face, or just some punk who gets lucky. My decision. No regrets. But I can't let anyone else pay for my mistakes." - Kevin Conroy (Batman), Episode 34: "I am the Night" (1992)
Maybe the reason we can't get good Batman anymore is because you don't mess with perfection.
And then Batman Beyond goes a proves this statement utterly correct.
The only correct answer: Yes
Edit:Damn I hate to be that guy but thanks for the 200
Obviously yes.
Yes OK absolutely
Damn skippy!!
Or better
I'm not going to watch the video, but this comment should be pinned at the top.
Yes, I always loved how much more vulnerable Batman is in this series
I hate how in the DCAU Justice League they overdid it with making him the most competent man in the room everytime.
@@Nightman221k do you mean the justice league cartoons?
@@velvetdarksoul8741 yeah, they had episodes where you could tell the writers were focused on making him more capable in any given situation without much struggle, not like in BTAS where he did have to struggle to outsmart his enemies. I kind of get the reasoning since he’s the only one on the league without otherworldly powers and he needs to be shown to contribute but the focus on him it seemed like a bit of favoritism. Especially when they paired him with Diana and it really became the most noteworthy relationship she had, which was kind of a let down when I thought her villains and supporting cast were rarely given focus and she felt like a League addition rather than being able to function as a star of her own show. And the romance was added when it was already set in stone that it would never lead to anything since the Batman Beyond show set it up that he would end up a lonely man.
I wonder what will Robert Pattinson's Batman will be like in the upcoming movie they showed that he doesn't care about being Bruce Wayne he's more a Batman and he started to let that side of him take over I wonder if we go see him be more kinder and shows his empathy in the movie
@Nightman221k tbf it'd be difficult to show Batman vulnerable in JLU simply because as you said they need to compensate for the fact that he's just a human
8:50 - honestly surprised you didn't mention that The Grey Ghost was played by Adam West, who was Batman in the 60's TV show and was just as much of an influence to a lot of people on the production team making BTAS as The Grey Ghost was to Bruce in that episode, so there's this delicious meta-commentary on thanking the previous generation for inspiring the creatives behind the show. You just know, while watching that episode, that the writers went down to watch Adam West record in the booth so they could get his autograph afterwards.
That kind of care and love went into so much of the show that it'll stand the test of time for decades.
Fun fact, the entire idea behind Mr. Freeze was first implemented in BTAS by writer Paul Dini. Before this, he was no more than Mr. Zero, a villain with an ice gun who stole diamonds. BTAS, just like Bruce, saw more in its villains than what first appeared on their surface level.
That's not wholly true. Adam West's Batman is where the name "Mr. Freeze" came from, and the 60's series also gave him a sympathetic motivation for the first time: Being tormented by the life his condition forced on him and wanting revenge on Batman, who inadvertently caused the accident while foiling one of his crimes. Heart of Ice builds on that - to be fair, quite significantly.
@@bf5250 there was also an old story from like...the 70s, where the pre TAS Freeze was trying to turn a woman he loved immortal like him, but she was just using him, it's pretty good, it's called "A Cold Time In The Old Time Tonight"
It has some clunky episodes sometimes and has a God-like status that no show can really live up too. That said hell yeah it’s amazing.
Such a shame that the live action couldn’t live up to the animated series. Thinking about it now I really don’t think we deserve the DCAU. Because it does everything that the live action adaptations of DC sort of fail to do.
@@osmanyousif7849 I feel like DCAU and the MCU are on equal terms as far as the quality of the characters and storytelling goes. DC live action? We're lucky to get the few good movies we get and they're mostly all Batman.
@@johnb2422 ohhh I would definitely say that Marvel has done a waayyy better job with their MCU than DC has.
Right now, Marvel is trying to find their new footing after Endgame but man, when Infinity War came out. It still holds that same sort of quality I had back when I first watched
@@johnb2422 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@Spider-Complexion i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
The Penguins reform episode is one of my favourites simply because it is society that pushes him back into becoming a villain. He tried to make an actual effort to reform, however the socialites in Gotham were manipulating him to make him the butt of the joke. Instead of accepting him, which is what Oswald wants most of all. It adds a bit of tragedy that no matter how much a criminal reforms, there will be some in society that will always see them as a criminal, a villain. And when society will only see you as the villain, why bother trying to show them anything different?
I just can’t believe it is you that you
What I love so much about this version of Batman is how empathetic he is! Something that has been forgotten in more recent takes on the character!
It's my favorite version of Batman because you could tell he was still human instead of a meme. Even in Justice League they leaned into it unfortunately.
@@Horatio787 I think Justice League's version of him was still pretty good and human overall (an episode like This Little Piggy showcased that so well, and we see Batman slowly softening with the team as the show went on), even if there was stuff like Batman avoiding the Omega Beams from Darkseid in the finale.
@@matheus5230 He's still good, he just lost the softness that made TAS character so rounded.
Babydoll is the best example of Batman's kindness, his empathy, his desire to help people reform. But one episode that FAILS at this is MUDSLIDE. Where all clayface needed was a cure and Batman stops him..
To be fair, if I remember correctly, he basically doesn't know about that and Two Face is a wanted fugitive. It's more of an accident than anything.
@@Horatio787 It would have looked pretty evident what Clayface was doing. At least ask some questions before getting upset about a lousy break in, Batman
@@Horatio787 Batman's reactionary behavior was just uncalled for if you ask me, and there were better ways to handle the story of Clayface overall
Agreed. Mudslide is a huge misstep. One of the weakest episodes in the show.
For me, it is Mr. Freeze's intro episode Heart of Ice, where he stop freeze from killing people, but the distain in Batman's voice when the CEO Freeze was after thanks him, just that whole "I stopped him from killing you, but that doesn't make you a victim", knowing the whole reason the CEO was going free was because of his own self imposed code.
Considering how many episodes the series had to quickly churn out in little time, as was a common demand for all TV shows back then, the quality of the episodes can be inconsistent for a modern viewer, and some people may not like the lack of an overarching story arc. But when the show clicks, it really clicks. At its best, it's truly a masterpiece. The high points are so high, influential and definitive for Batman and his villains that I can easily overlook some episodes that might be clunkers here and there. And let's not forget the awesome artstyle, music and voice acting!
Tbh I miss episodic shows .. people this days just shit on this type of story telling to a point that's series that began as episodic where forced to be not(looks ate the mandalorian). doing an awesome episodic show is really hard I say because you need a really strong cast of characters and enough imagination to give them new plots to play whit
That's why I was thrown off. I have the entire series on DVD and I find it odd that the episodes on the first disc are rather random. The show doesn't have a "first episode" that helps introduce the audience to this world like Attack on Titan for example. There's even a random Christmas special with Robin, even though he wasn't there at the beginning. However, when that episode was being made, it was probably December in real life
That being said, I don't regret owning this at all. Blessed!
@@DrDolan2000 Hope I can find the last two dvd volumes where I live. I am glad I could find the first two (with Danish language), but the others are nonexistent.
BTAS is great. It's very heartfelt and earnest, and really makes Bruce out as an empathetic, loving man that he SHOULD be written as. It's why I kinda find it a shame that The New Batman Adventures kinda reworked his character into a completely new, less caring person, as well as backpedaling a lot of the character development of characters like Harley Quinn. Sure, you can come up with valid in-canon reasons for these changes, but that doesn't make it less unsatisfying to see happen.
Personally I like that Batman becomes more uncaring. It shows us that he slowly became Batman and started discarding the Bruce Persona more. The more he took on crime, the more he became Batman and pushed away the responsibilities of Bruce. It's also this that allows the shows to play with ideas like Robin getting fed up with Batman's shit. They show that him leaving to become Nightwing made Batman realize how cruel he had become towards criminals so he instead helped the criminal he was brutally interrogating by giving a job at Wayne Enterprises. Superman likewise helped Batman see things differently when they teamed up to stop Joker and Luthor. I feel like the showrunners knew what they were doing by changing up Batman's character. Cause it felt like they wanted to break him down to build him back up. But I can definitely understand why people would find this shift in character off-putting. I think it's just a nice opportunity to explore a Batman who has stared into the abyss too long.
They didn’t “rework” his character in the new adventures of Batman tho. If you paid close attention you’ll realize Batman is a few years older, hell dick Grayson is now nightwing and not robin anymore.
In the new adventures, Batman istired of fighting the same guys seeing the people murder and cause grief. His harder and less forgiving nature in the new adventures is because he’s been doing this shtick for years now. It’s realistic that he has less patience’s then he did when he first started in Batman tas. It all combines into the themes of Batman beyond the final installment of this Batman trilogy where he gets to old, still doing same super hero thing and does something he vowed to never do “use a gun” so he retires. Also Harley Quinn’s development wasn’t “back peddled” she’s literally insane she has Stockholm syndrome that’s why she keeps coming back to her abuser “the joker” even in the episode where she helps Batman and denounced the joker she comes back cause she’s literally more twisted than the joker himself.
I agree he still the same Batman from the animated series but he's much more order and more darker we see that he doesn't pull any more purchase anymore he is less caring because he's more Batman than Bruce Wayne and season 4 but in Justice League we saw the Batman from the animated series we see him becoming more caring again more human again being around Superman and Wonder woman and all the other heroes he shows sympathy and he does care a lot about his teammates and he becomes a better version of himself being around the other League members and we start to see his relationship with Wonder woman starting to grow into something more than friends he started to have feelings for her and she started to have feelings for him
I don't think that's necessarily true. we still see the same compassionate and heartfelt Bruce from these episodes later on, specifically in the episode "Double talk" which is sadly the only canonical instance I can think of where a villain reforms.
And worse, when people like Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan portrayed him as a fascist that many socialists, such as Vaush, claim that he is. Now that wouldn’t be a problem if they were seen as non-canon or a an alternative take on the character but, because they were portrayed in film, which is the medium that gets mainstream attention and becomes our culture’s lense, many normies and public view believes that is the real character of the Batman and can’t see him as a hero but, some rich white kid who goes around punching people just for being either poor or mentally ill. And to make matters worse for Batman’s image, everytime you see websites that shows recommendations for people who wants to start reading comics, they always recommend Elseworld stories that deconstructs superheroes and portrays them as horrible people, like the Dark Knight Returns, and The Boys. This is why I believe that people nowadays hates superheroes and think of them as “cops with capes.”
the beauty of the aesthetic of Gotham City, the beautiful soundtrack of each episode, the way in which Bruce Wayne is explored, and more are the reasons why this is a show that you cannot miss
I have had the pleasure of watching this series for the very first time as an adult who is 24 years old. This show was out before I was born in 1998, but it consistently has been my favorite batman adaptation that I have seen so far. Every episode, even the "less good ones" have ben so amazing to watch! I love this series so much!
Not only is it as good as we remember, it's BETTER than we remember. When we were younger. we couldn't truly appreciate how well-written everything was, but now we can as adults.
as someone who did a long term marathon of the ENTIRE DCAU (five episodes a day or so every day until i was done), i can also say that yes. not just batman, but the entire dcau stands as a very good thing overall. sure some episodes are a bit meh, but that's the same with any piece of media. No show is perfect.
I’ve been rewatching this one slowly over the past couple months, and I gotta say the answer is an easy yes. An easier yes than any of the other DC shows talked about here, no question.
How did you manage to do it so slowly. I promised myself not to do more than 2-3 episodes a day but in some cases the temptation was big (especially if they ended with to be continued :D)
Two things can be true:
1.) On average, the typical episode's quality probably skewed closer to the "I've Got Batman in My Basement" end of the scale than the "Heart of Ice" end.
2.) There are still more than enough episodes on - or close to - the "Heart of Ice" end that this show kicks the crap out of most superhero cartoons today, let alone its "competition" in the '80s/'90s.
Anyone else think the flashbacks in Robin's Reckoning is the best animation in the DCAU? Something about the shading, lighting and slick movements just feel beyond all the other shows.
I've accepted that we'll never get a heartfelt kind Batman in live action. It just isn't profitable. When people think of Batman, they think unstable dude beating up criminals. So that's what producers make because it's all people know. Maybe The Batman does it but I doubt it based on how everyone behind the scenes is calling him crazy and unhinged. Even the Nolan films, he's just a brute who yells constantly. There's a scene in Long Halloween where Batman leaves Thanksgiving dinner for Grundy. If they do anything remotely similar to that I will be absolutely shocked.
I think The Batman seems to be going in that direction based on the ending. The scene where he leads the survivors out of the flood is one of my favourite Batman moments of all time
@@TheSenateOfficial I was genuinely shocked that happened. In a good way
Personally I just watched it for the first time! It took me about half a year. Not every episode was on point or interesting! One of the things that really bothered me was Bruce’s relationship with Harvey Dent as two face. There’s like zero episodes really focusing on how he really feels about losing his friend that turned into a criminal! It’s like Bruce Wayne became Batman to constantly beat him up when he’s being a criminal without really realistically talking with him or trying to get him help? The last season of the series was very weird for me especially with cat woman’s new design. It was so cartoony and so weird! Batman‘s new suit made them look way younger! Batgirl had the best design out of all of them! 😇
Both the episodes Two-Face Part 1 and 2, as well as the episode Second Chance very clearly establish Bruce's remorse over Harvey's state. In all these three episodes, Bruce also constantly tries to reason with Two-Face first before fighting him.
Whenever Batman is in another show or story I always see him as that cool dude but Batman tas is the equivalent of a day in the life of Batman type of content , also I’m happy that you put clayface on the list a lot of reviews don’t give that two parter enough credit.
Is Lowkey's promise to finish reviewing Avatar The Last Airbender as great as we remember? Time will only tell.... Anyway, the answer is always a resounding YES when it comes to the Timmverse
I thought the reason he stopped was due to Viacom copyright striking the project.
@@R0-83-RT yeah, Viacom's the worst
I love this show so much! My favorite episode is Baby-Doll, which I'm glad you covered here. Some episodes that I love that you didn't include here include It's Never Too Late, See No Evil, and Christmas With the Joker.
Chris Nolan certainly thought it was great. He clearly lifted bits of dialogue straight from TAS into his trilogy. In the episode Nothing to Fear, Scarecrow robs a bank, sets the stolen money on fire, then tells his goons: "it's not about money, it's about revenge". Just change revenge to "sending a message" and you have that great Ledger Joker scene in TDK.
I haven't seen any evidence that Nolan even watched the show. The similarity in those two lines you mentioned is probably just a coincidence.
@@galactic85 chances are, Goyer (writer of TDK trilogy and comic book writer) watched it
Please do the whole DCAU
Seconded
I remember the justice leage show was also hella good
I am currently watching the series for the first time and i could say yes it holds up. Visuals is kind of hit or miss but dialogue and stories are great.
Considering how many episodes the series had to quickly churn out in little time, as was a common demand for all TV shows back then, the quality of the episodes can be inconsistent for a modern viewer, and some people may not like the lack of an overarching story arc. But when the show clicks, it really clicks. At its best, it's truly a masterpiece. The high points are so high, influential and definitive for Batman and his villains that I can easily overlook some episodes that might be clunkers here and there. And let's not forget the awesome artstyle, music and voice acting!
@@matheus5230 joker fish comes to mind even if it did give us Harley but over all the show was amazing and gives all the emotions.
i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@matheus5230 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
@@gracecookie4604 i STARTED WATCHING IT ONE week and 4 days ago and iam now on episode 29. It is great so far. When i was a kid i had watched some episodes on tv.(iam 34 now).
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I noticed your voiceovers have become more enthusiastic and interesting recently.
Re: "Dreams in Darkness" -- Sometimes its easy to forget that Batman TAS was originally a Saturday-morning cartoon being written for 10 year-olds.
This means that for much of the intended audience this would have been GUARANTEED to be their first ever exposure to the "unreliable narrator" plot. Making that first experience a subversion of the trope - "I'm right but all the adults are telling me I'm wrong" - is probably much more effective narrative for the intended audience than an unreliable narrator plot.
Hey there, I just watched this video recently, and I really liked your review of this series. I'm wondering, when will you follow up by reviewing the rest of the DCAU?
I like how Lowart is playing the Big O OST in the background since it was the same studio that animated Batman TAS and inspired the anime.
Roger Smith is the batman of his Universe.
Went to the comments just to see if someone else commented on this.
Although, would have been nice to hear more of Batman TAS's soundtrack in the video, at the very least during the parts where he was talking about it. I assume its soundtrack is more likely to be copyright claimed?
the underdwellers is a good episode. The emotion on Batman's face when he realizes what is happening to children.. it shows that in his mind this is the worst kind of evil. Something as low as enslaving children. Enraged Batman more than the Joker ever had.
I wish we could stop making Joker the most important Batman villain. He works, but I'm sick to death of him "defining" Batman.
I actually really enjoy Underdwellers and The Forgotten, purely because they felt real. They're not a crazy clown or an ice guy. They're child abusers, human traffickers, and slavers.
It's a real evil, that happens every day in our world. When the Underdeweller guy screamed at the kids, I remember being so angry, just like Batman.
@@ayoutubewatcher2849 See No Evil is a great small time story that feels very real albeit taking place in a heightened reality
Batman has the best superhero animated series( the 92 ones),the best superhero movie(dark knight), the best superhero videogame (arkham city) and the best superhero animated movie (mask of the phantasm). And in 4 days we get the batman.What a time to be a batman fan🦇🦇🦇
The one issue with Dreams in Darkness I have is that the doctors think the idea that a dangerous villain has escaped Arkham and is trying to destroy Gotham is crazy, but for them that happens every week.
Honestly dude. I completely forgot I subbed to you until this vid, but when I clicked and I was like “damn I should give this dude a sub”
I guess I’ll turn my notifications on now
(Hope you like my unpaid “like and follow” plug)
9:45 - The same way Kevin Conroy's Batman will always serve fond Memories to Me. Along with Everyone else Involved with the production of this Show.
11:18 - It was animated by TMS. The Studio behind the Movie "Akira". :)
I don’t count season 4 as canon for
1 design changes
2 it leads to the other shows and movies
Heart of Ice, The Gray Ghost, and Feats of Clay were some amazing stories. I remember fondly my mother watching with me saying how great the show was .
This show was a huge part of my childhood, and just the DCAU in general. The movie based on the show, Mask of the Phantasm, is like one of my favorite movies! Glad to see you really like the show as well!
Every time I think about BTAS, I try to think if any of the live action Batmans reflect anything close to that version, and thus far, I really don't think they do. We don't see the same level of empathy as we do here in any live action era from the 60s camp to the DCU, it's just not the same level. There might be glimpses of it, but nothing comes close. And that's a crying shame. I think we could use more empathy in live action stuff if we can't make Western audiences give a fuck about animation. But no, only pure badass Batman allowed, so he's not allowed feelings or to hope that a villain might better themselves. ~_~
The closest we get to an interesting interpretation is Ben Affleck as Batman if he's just sick of all the crap in his life and going off the deep end. But even then everything else about him is done wrong so I don't know.
The "Art Deco"- inspired buildings, retro-futurist computers, old-style police uniforms and suits with giant shoulder pads all create this feeling of Gotham not just being its own world, but also a world steeped in urban decay. No new high-rise buildings have gone up since the 1960s. The general population is so poor that almost everyone buys from second-hand stores or the Salvation Army.
The wealthy families even seem to go so far out of their way to avoid putting money back into the city that they have all their finely tailored clothes made out of cheap-looking materals so that not even their shirts are worth stealing.
And then in the middle of it all, you've got this massive communications equipment manufacturing and R+D firm called Wayne Enterprises that's got petabytes of blueprints and warehouses full of prototypes that could fix the city's problems but they're all WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to deploy at a useful scale.
Not a WORD is said about any of this in dialouge, but it's all there on screen waiting for the audience to notice.
@@Grizabeebles Never noticed that but it makes sense. I just remember that dream Bruce has where a homeless person asks for money and he smiles and hands him some, then more and more come up to him and there's just this sea of poverty he's trying to help.
I actually loved some of the episodes you mentioned in the mid-bat section, a couple of them are among my favorites.
Aaaand subbed. Great video dude. I love the batman animated series, I was about 10 years old when the series originally aired and me and my brother would plant ourselves in front of the tv every Saturday morning to watch every episode. This video was a nice reminder of that.
I watched the series for the first time since late last year and I actually really enjoyed it, it was only as soon as the new adventures that I didn't like it as much.
I agree, there were many changes that felt jarring
Is Batman: The Animated Series as Great as We Remember??? FUCK YEAH IT IS!!!! Outside the actual comic books, this is THE Batman. I find it sad that Hollywood can't replicate the magic in live action versions.
love the video! I'm a huge timverse fan so TAS, justice league, Superman, some of my all time favorite THINGS to ever come out. I think you did a really good job extrapolating the strengths of the episodes. To add a bit of constructive criticism, I think it would have been good to explain the flow of time a bit between episodes for the two face episode. The thing that always made that episode stand out is that Harvey is an established character BEFORE the two face episode. So we got to see him as a hero as well as a villain.
I maybe a bit of a contrarian when I say I feel it is a tad bit overrated. Now before anyone types anything let me explain!
It’s still a great show, and a very important animated show historically speaking. However the one area that I feel that drags it down a bit is many of the mediocre to very childish episodes. Given a current audience and the binging culture many of these episodes like heart of steel, I’ve got Batman in my basement and more can make bits of the show feel repetitive. But this is still a great show and we may not have had more awesome shows like Justice League, teen titans, Avatar the Last Airbender, and more without it.
So thank you to Bruce Tim and the team for making this and RIP to those that worked on it that’re no longer with us.
You're explanation of Batman's empathy makes so clear why movie adaptations of Batman haven't worked. Batman has never wanted to just beat the pulp out of jaywalkers, his traumatic experience at a young age made him insanely aware of the sanctity and fragility of life, and at his core he wants to protect that life. His anger does spill over at times, but he is not brutal for no reasons. I sort of disagree with the interpretation that Under The Red Hood gives in that regard. Maybe killing once does make it easier to kill again, but the issue is not that Batman could become a ruthless murder machine, but that even one act fails the mission - to protect life.
I think the transition to TNBA where Batman is more jaded is interesting. He is a few years older, and more worn down by the experiences he's done. It's unclear whether the state of Gotham is any better by then. But I think it does set up for the Justice League in an great way, where interacting with Superman, WW, GL and more helps to bring Bruce back around and come out of the darkness he's been falling into.
Surprised there was no mention of Mad Love
I say Batman: he Animated Series and X Men: The Animated Series are the two best superhero shows of all time. They were released exactly 1 month and 3 weeks apart from each other and they both had great music, directing, animation, voice work, action, stories, etc.
I wasn't even born yet when these shows came out back in 1992.
Forgot to mention Mad Hatter accidentally got Batsy's secret identity correct in his dream episode. What were the odds, huh??
Lock Up= WB/DC's version of Marvel's Frank Castle aka The Punisher.
Ivy must have a complicated relationship with vegetarians, huh??😂😂
U have to continue to review the dcau shows like superman the animated series and the new batman adventures and justice League unlimited and even the movies as well like mask of the phantasm
I’m not even gonna watch the video, I’m just gonna say the answer is yes…..Yes it is.
I hope Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill will pass the mantles to another actor before he passes. Keep the legacy of the Bat&Joker alive in these times.
I freaking love all your content it's sad I'm such a fanboi since I'm I love your critical eye and I wish I could emulate it with this but you reviewing one of my favorite series of all time is just *chef kiss* perfection.
I appreciate your thematically appropriate mask, I think this is the first time I’ve ever actually seen an image of your human self.
More seriously though, I did enjoy this review a lot and that’s because of the style you chose to make it in, highlighting what particularly worked for you as well as pointing out why binging feels different from doing an episode a week.
I definitely hope you do the new Batman adventures and Batman beyond at some point
Whuuut? I actually liked underdwellers one and the one where he lost his memory
I want to marry every single frame of animation of Harley Quinn from this series.
I mean, what?
"Right off the bat" 0:13
See what you did there 😂
Was Batgirl not in the show at all? I was surprised to not hear even a mention of her. Loved the video tho!
Yes, yes it is. I still watch it today, and I'm 52. And I liked how Batrman carried over his care for others in Justice League. That episode where they send her to kill the little girl who is using her powers while she is dying, and he just sits there with her and stays with her until she dies ... Great episode.
I am big Batman fan !! 🙏🏼
I still to this day feel this was the greatest animated television show ever made. Just so much was handled just right in portraying this character in such a timeless way that doesn't make this show feel dated. It's one of those reasons the Arkham games were so engrossing as well by using a large portion of the same voice cast.
Some episodes that I love, but you didn't mention (I'm not criticizing you, it's just that there are so many good and great episodes), are: It's Never Too Late, Appointment In Crime Alley, the episodes introducing Batgirl, and more.
A mask of the phantasm review would be amazing, MOTP is regarded as one of the best Batman movies by some people and for good reason
i remember watching on dvd when i was 10