"The Batman" (2004)TV series 2004-????

Director:

Ginny McSwain

Writers:

J.D. Murray (writer)
Christopher Yost (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

11 September 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Crime | Family | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Bring on The Batman!

Plot:

A young Bruce Wayne is in his third year of trying to establish himself as Batman, protector of Gotham City...

Plot Keywords:

Superhero | Early Batman | Based On Comic Book | Based On Comic | Secret Identity

Awards:

7 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Rino Romano	...	Bruce Wayne / ... (65 episodes, 2004-2008)
Alastair Duncan	...	Alfred Pennyworth / ... (48 episodes, 2004-2008)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 | USA:TV-Y7

Company:

Warner Bros. Animation

Trivia:

The character of Ellen Yin is a direct reference to the character Ellen Yindel in Frank Miller's famous "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" graphic novel.

Quotes:

Alfred Pennyworth: The young man you were expecting apologizes. He won't be able to attend, I'm afraid.
Becky: Let me guess. He's married.
Alfred Pennyworth: To his work.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Batman" (1992)

Soundtrack:

The Batman

Disappointing

Argh, It's like so many people had done so much work for nothing.

Since the "Batman" TV show in the 60's, there has been an ongoing effort with comic book artists and even a couple of filmmakers to return the Dark Knight to his roots, rather than the "Pow!, Bam!" stereotype Howie Horwitz gave him and pretty much all comics. In such efforts, these people had brought up some of the finest pieces in fiction, the extraordinary stories by Dennis O Neal and Neal Adams, "The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller, the first two Batman films by Tim Burton, and of course the fantastic "Batman: the Animated Series".

So now I look at the new "The Batman" on WB, with Adam West and Frank Gorshin as regular voices, all of the old voices and character designs thrown out in favor of the stylization from "The Jackie Chan Adventures" and ostentatious gadgets and vehicles that scream "Toys Toys Toys".

The methodical pace of "TAS"(The Animated Series) has been replaced by a rapid-fire quick change motif, suiting ever increasing attention spans, I'm sure. While in TAS, physical action might sometimes take a back seat to the stories,"The Batman" overflows with Kung Fu, Slow Motion, and Dramatic rapid-Fire Jump Cuts.

The Characters have been "Updated', Batman is no longer square jawed, but has a triangle for a head, Comissioner Gordon is gone. The Batcave has gone back in time about 35 years and is complete with Batpoles and the Apple-red support beams that were prevalent in the old Adam West TV show. The Joker now sports a colorful straight jacket and hair the size of Beachball rather than his stylish purple suit of years past.

While the 'Extreme' approach may appease those with no exposure to engaging storytelling, I prefer TAS, which had strong, character driven stories, a cinematic style complete with orchestrated music, references to the best of all the batman representations, not just Adam West, and most importantly, looked like an actual movie, not a toy commercial.

'The Batman' has flashy animation, color keys that don't variate, CGI, and a ton of flashy camera techniques. But I say that it's all frosting and no cake.