A suspicious and cowardly lot.
Just a general announcement for those who don't know...
Warner Bros. is finally getting set to release Batman: The Animated Series in its proper DVD box set format.
Volume One doesn't contain several of my favorite episodes of the bunch--such as "Almost Got'Im," in which the Joker, Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc sit down in a bar to play poker and tell stories about the times they nearly killed Batman, or "The Man Who Killed Batman," in which a small-time crook appears to accidentally finish the hero off--but this is a very good start.
The Animated Series is, so far, the only time Warner Bros. has served this property correctly. I enjoyed the first two Batman films, but what the series gets so right are the psychological pitfalls of being the Dark Knight and the nuances and complexities of his foes. Jack Nicholson's Joker was just Jack in makeup, Jim Carrey's Riddler was entertaining but not nearly smart enough to really be the Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face was a complete mistake and Danny DeVito's Penguin lost the touch of class that made Oswald Cobblepot such a compellingly comic figure. I'm not even going into what the film franchise did to Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy.
Ironically, the only villain they got spot-on was Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman--if not as Selina Kyle--and then what do they do? They ruin their accomplishment with this upcoming Halle Berry train wreck.
(I could go on for days about Batman. I won't, but I could.)
Well-animated, brilliantly written and voice-acted, B:TAS was everything I'd hoped it would be and more. I'm greatly satisfied that they're finally putting it in a permanent, archivable format.
Warner Bros. is finally getting set to release Batman: The Animated Series in its proper DVD box set format.
Volume One doesn't contain several of my favorite episodes of the bunch--such as "Almost Got'Im," in which the Joker, Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc sit down in a bar to play poker and tell stories about the times they nearly killed Batman, or "The Man Who Killed Batman," in which a small-time crook appears to accidentally finish the hero off--but this is a very good start.
The Animated Series is, so far, the only time Warner Bros. has served this property correctly. I enjoyed the first two Batman films, but what the series gets so right are the psychological pitfalls of being the Dark Knight and the nuances and complexities of his foes. Jack Nicholson's Joker was just Jack in makeup, Jim Carrey's Riddler was entertaining but not nearly smart enough to really be the Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face was a complete mistake and Danny DeVito's Penguin lost the touch of class that made Oswald Cobblepot such a compellingly comic figure. I'm not even going into what the film franchise did to Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy.
Ironically, the only villain they got spot-on was Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman--if not as Selina Kyle--and then what do they do? They ruin their accomplishment with this upcoming Halle Berry train wreck.
(I could go on for days about Batman. I won't, but I could.)
Well-animated, brilliantly written and voice-acted, B:TAS was everything I'd hoped it would be and more. I'm greatly satisfied that they're finally putting it in a permanent, archivable format.