Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
Called simply The Batman, the series focused on a much younger Bruce Wayne (Rino
Romano) who was only into his third year as Batman. His existence was largely an
urban myth when the series began, until he gradually worked his way into the
spotlight as Gotham
City’s
defender. While his Batsuit resembled a modified version of the original one
seen in Batman: The Animated Series(with shorter ears
to make him resemble a boxer, and talons on his gloves), the show had no connection to the previous one or the DCAU. The
series was largely inspired by Batman comics
from the Golden
Age,
although it did take elements from the various incarnations over the years;
particularly the 1960s live-action Batmanseries as
evidenced by the shape of the bat-symbol and the casting of Adam West
as Mayor
Marion Grange (changed from a woman in the comics).
GCPD's finest: Ethan Bennett, Angel Rojas and Ellen Yin.
Batman went up against two types of
antagonists. The first were the GCPD,
headed by Chief Angel Rojas (Edward James Olmos for one episode, Jesse Corti
for the remainder). Rojas viewed Batman as dangerous as any criminal and
assigned two officers to bring him down: Detective Ethan Bennett (whose
appearance was based on his actor, Steve Harris) and his partner,
Metropolis-transplant Detective Ellen Yin (Ming-Na Wen). Bennett largely
regarded Batman as necessary to preserve the peace in Gotham, while Yin took
some time to come around to the idea.
Riddler, Bane, Poison Ivy, a Riddleman, Black Mask, Man-Bat, Mr. Freeze, Temblor, Spellbinder, Firefly, Ragdoll, Killer Croc, Joker, Harley Quinn, a henchman, Penguin, the Kabuki Twins and Cluemaster.
The other type was the standard
assortment of villains. Character designer Jeff Matsuda
took a great many liberties with the appearance of the classic villains, and
many of their stories were heavily revamped for the series. Of the ones
featured in the previous Batman series
was mobster Rupert
Thorne (Victor
Brandt), depicted as younger and sporting 1970s-style
clothing; Joker
(Kevin Michael
Richardson), who was more physical and almost ape-like, sporting
dreadlocks and a straightjacket with bare feet initially before adopting
something closer to his traditional purple suit; Penguin
(Tom Kenny),
depicted as more athletic and capable fighter (inspired by heavyset characters
in martial arts movies), and often accompanied by his silent bodyguards, the Kabuki Twins;
Catwoman
(Gina Gershon),
given a more exaggerated version of the costume appearing at the comics at that
time; Mr.
Freeze (Clancy
Brown), reimagined as a diamond thief who got trapped in a
cryonic freezer that gave him a freezing touch; Firefly
(Jason Marsden),
a professional arsonist who transforms into the unrelated villain Phosphorus
after overexposure to the isotope; Ventriloquist
and Scarface (Dan Castellaneta),
with the murderous puppet redesigned with an outfit reminiscent of Al Pacino
in Scarface;
Man-Bat
(Peter MacNicol), who
developed his formula because of an obsession to want to be like Batman; Bane
(Joaquim de Almeida,
Ron Perlman
& Brown), a South American mercenary whose usage of Venom for extra strength
not only increased his muscle mass, but also turned his skin red; Riddler
(Robert Englund),
a disgraced inventor who turned to crime, adopting an almost goth-like visage; Killer
Croc
(Perlman), given a Cajun accent, he was designed to look like a humanoid
crocodile in a vest; Spellbinder
(Michael Massee),
a mystic who achieved the power of the “third eye” allowing him to create
illusions and hypnotize; Hugo
Strange (Frank
Gorshin until his death, then Richard Green),
the head of Arkham
Asylum who was more interested in learning how the criminal
mind worked than curing them; Poison
Ivy
(Piera Coppola),
a teenaged eco-rights activist who ended up exposed to a powerful plant growth
compound, giving her powers; Maxie
Zeus
(Phil LaMarr),
an eccentric billionaire obsessed with Greek mythology who sought revenge
against Gotham in a specialized suit of armor after losing the mayoral election;
Tony
Zucco (Mark
Hamill), upgraded from a thug to a Mafia don and former
circus performer that accidentally killed his own father; Killer
Moth
(Bennett), Penguin’s gofer that ended up transformed into a moth creature; Harley
Quinn (Hynden
Walch), a disgraced television psychologist whom the Joker takes a liking
to; The
Wrath (Christopher
Gorham) and Scorn
(Daryl Sabara),
an anti-Batman and Robin who wanted to make sure hard-working criminals could
stay free; and the Terrible Trio
(David
Faustino, Grey
DeLisle and Googy Gress),
university students who get ahold of Langstrom’s formula and become aspects of
their namesakes. Because Christopher
Nolan had begun development what would become his Dark Knight Trilogy, the characters of Scarecrow,
Two-Face
and Ra’s
al Ghul were prohibited for use on the series (Bane escaped
this restriction since his film was not yet in consideration). Joker was only
allowed due to his strong connection to the franchise.
Cluemaster, the biggest thing on TV.
Newly adapted for animation was Cluemaster
(Glenn Shadix,
Kath Soucie
as a kid), changed from a failed game show host to an overweight former
contestant on a child’s game show who believed he was cheated out of a victory;
the triple-jointed Ragdoll
(Bennett), who could bend himself to fit into impossible spaces; Gearhead
(Will Friedle),
a crook who could hijack any vehicle via cybernetic implants in his arms; and Black
Mask
(James Remar),
the ruthless head of a criminal organization whose face was always covered by
(what else?) a black skull-like mask (Back Mask was set to make an appearance
on the revival version of the previous show but was never worked into a story).
The Toymaker.
Villains newly created for the show
included Toymaker
(Patton Oswalt),
the former CEO of a toy manufacturer whose dangerous toys led Bruce Wayne to
campaign for their closure; Prank
(Michael Reisz),
a university student who became the Joker’s sidekick; Temblor
(Jim Cummings),
a mercenary that used shockwave-generating gauntlets; D.A.V.E.
(Digitally Advanced Villain Emulator, voiced by Bennett), an AI created by Hugo
Strange whose storage of a combination of insane intellects led him to believe
he was a human trapped in a machine (based on H.A.R.D.A.C.
from the previous series); Rumor
(Perlman), a former bodyguard who decided to kill all of Gotham’s criminals
after he failed to protect his client from the Joker; and Everywhere Man
(Brandon Routh),
a wealthy scientist that accidentally created an evil duplicate of himself.
Straddling the line between new and
classic villain was their interpretation of Clayface. Initially, Clayface was
Bennett after he had been captured and tortured by the Joker, and exposure to
the fumes from Joker’s “putty” gave him the ability to reshape himself; similar
to the Silver
AgeMatt
Hagen version. As Clayface, he did take the form of the
powerful zombie Solomon
Grundy (Kevin
Grevioux) for the episode “Grundy’s Night”. He was eventually
cured in order to make room for the Basil
Karlo version (Wallace Langham
& Lex
Lang).
Karlo was still a poorly-reviewed actor, but this time he stole a formula from Waynetech
that was designed to cure Bennett in order to give himself the right look to
get the work he wanted. After Bennett’s change, Yin’s new partner became Cash Tankinson
(Patrick Warburton).
During the third season, a
direct-to-TV film was shown on Cartoon Network called The Batman vs. Dracula. Written by Capizzi, the film involved Batman going up against the real Dracula
(Peter Stormare)
after he’s accidentally resurrected by Joker and Penguin as they escaped
Arkham. While it may seem an odd pairing, Batman has gone up against several
vampires—including Dracula—in comics, both in canon (such as Detective
Comics #455, 1976) and in alternate
tales (Batman
& Dracula: Red Rain). The film also introduced The Batman’s version of reporter Vicki
Vale
(Tara Strong).
The series departed from the established
mythos further by introducing Batgirl (Danielle Judovits) before Robin (Evan
Sabara). Robin was unavailable until the fourth season due to his being used on
Teen Titans, so a younger
Batgirl was brought in the third season along with her father, Commissioner
James Gordon (Mitch Pileggi), who became a series regular after two previous appearances.
Batman, however, was reluctant to take her on and resisted formally making her
a sidekick until Robin’s debut. The younger heroes developed a sibling-like
rivalry between them. Robin’s origin remained mostly unchanged, with former
Joker Mark Hamill voicing Tony Zucco, the man who killed his parents during a
trapeze act at the circus, and former Batman Kevin Conroy voicing his father.
Batgirl’s costume utilized the original 1960s coloring scheme but looked like a
long dress. Robin’s design remained relatively close to his Titans appearance, however with the
colors of his “R” symbol reversed like in The New Adventures of Batman. Season four would
end up being Matsuda’s last, but before he left, he redesigned Batman to be
more angular; increasing his resemblance to the previous show’s incarnation.
Despite the show’s long run, it
never quite caught on with diehard fans and was criticized with being designed
just to sell toys. The toyetic nature of the series was evident in how many of
the variants in the action
figure line by Mattel
appeared on the show, and how some of the figures could interact with the
Batwave; the computer system Batman used to detect criminal activity and control
a lot of his gear. The show did manage to win its fair share of awards and
nominations. It was nominated for three Annie
Awards between 2005 and 2006, though it didn’t win any of
them. It was nominated for 12 Daytime Emmy Awards,
of which it won 6. It was also nominated for three Golden Reel Awards,
winning one in 2008.
The Batman Strikes! #1.
DC Comics
published a comic based on the show under its Johnny DC
young-readers imprint, which primarily published comics based on cartoons from
Kids’ WB and Cartoon Network. The
Batman Strikes!ran
for 50 issues between 2004 and 2008. It introduced characters not seen on the
show—such as Perry
White, Bruno Manheim,
Cat Grant
and Etrigan—as
well as expanded on the ones that had been. Three collected editions were
released; the first two in 2005, with the third delayed until 2007, collecting
the first 18 issues (excluding #15).
A fourth was planned but never published. The first issue was reprinted in 2004
as a Burger King
giveaway and in 2005 for Free
Comic Book Day. In 2006, Post released a limited-edition chocolate
and marshmallow cereal
to promote the show.
“The
Bat in the Belfry” (9/11/04) – Detectives Ethan Bennett and Ellen Yin are
tasked with capturing the Batman, who is on the trail of the Joker after he
freed inmates from Arkham.
“Call
of the Cobblepot” (9/18/04) – A series of thefts involving birds leads the
Batman to the Penguin, who takes Alfred as a hostage to avoid capture.
“Traction”
(9/25/04) – Three mob bosses hire Bane to deal with the Batman, leaving him
critically injured after their confrontation and Bane free to terrorize the
city.
“The
Man Who Would Be Bat” (10/2/04) – Kirk Langstrom claims to be working on a cure
for the deaf, but secretly works on a project to make himself a true Batman.
“The
Big Chill” (10/30/04) – Batman realizes a cold-seeking jewel thief named Mr.
Freeze is a crook he chased into a cryogenic chamber some time ago.
“The
Cat and the Bat” (11/6/04) – Catwoman gets the upper hand on Batman when she
steals his utility belt to use a batarang for a theft.
“The
Big Heat” (11/13/04) – Batman discovers a connection between his competition
for the children’s hospital and Firefly’s rash of break-ins at various tech
firms.
“Q&A”
(11/20/04) – Cluemaster abducts two people who once humiliated him on a quiz
show in order to enact his revenge.
“The
Big Dummy” (11/27/04) – Scarface and the Ventriloquist plot to rob the gold
reserves from Gotham Bank while Alfred uses online dating to find a girl for
Bruce.
“Topsy
Turvy” (2/5/05) – After Joke escapes Arkham Asylum, he goes after all the
people who locked him away.
“Bird
of Prey” (2/12/05) – Unable to get revenge on Batman, Penguin decides to rob
Bruce Wayne and takes Alfred hostage in the process.
“The
Rubberface of Comedy (Part 1)” (4/30/05) – Joker returns with a putty that can
morph anything into a springing substance and captures Ethan.
“The
Clayface of Tragedy (Part 2)” (5/7/05) – Joker’s putty turns Ethan into
Clayface bringing Yin and Batman together to try and stop him from going after
Rojas.
Season 2:
“The
Cat, the Bat and the Very Ugly” (5/14/05) – Penguin and Catwoman join forces
for a robbery, but a double-cross forces Catwoman to work with Batman to stop
Penguin.
“Riddled”
(5/21/05) – Riddler terrorizes the city by combining his puzzles with bombs in
various locations around the city.
“Fire
& Ice” (5/28/05) – Firefly and Mr. Freeze join forces to steal all the
parts Freeze needs to permanently freeze the city.
“The
Laughing Bat” (6/4/05) – Joker decides to become Batman and injects the real
one with a Joker Venom to make him his arch-rival.
“Swamped”
(6/11/05) – Killer Croc steals what he needs to flood the city’s lower
districts in order to have free reign to plunder them.
“Pets”
(6/18/05) – Penguin steals a device in order to control a rare bird but ends up
attracting Man-Bat instead.
“Meltdown”
(6/25/05) – Clayface’s probation is put in jeopardy when the urge to get
revenge on the Joker becomes irresistible.
“JTV”
(7/9/05) – Joker launches a pirate TV channel and takes the Mayor and Yin’s new
partner hostage, but it’s all part of a much larger plan.
“Ragdolls
to Riches” (7/16/05) – Ragdoll moves in on Gotham City, stealing Catwoman’s
targets before her and giving Batman a new headache to face.
“The
Butler Did It” (8/20/05) – Spellbinder hypnotizes the wealthy’s butlers into
stealing for him, but plans to use their masters for a much larger score.
“Grundy’s
Night” (8/27/05) – Solomon Grundy is resurrected on Halloween and goes after
the descendants of the city’s founders.
“Strange
Minds” (9/4/05) – Batman enters Joker’s mind in order to learn the whereabouts
of the kidnapped Yin.
“Night
and the City” (9/10/05) – Joker, Penguin and Riddler decide to compete in
capturing Batman while Yin’s support of him is discovered by Rojas.
Season 3:
“Batgirl
Begins, Part One” (9/17/05) – Barbara Gordon and Pamela Isley become endangered
when Temblor seeks payment for attacks against polluting companies organized by
Pamela.
“Batgirl
Begins, Part Two” (9/24/05) – Pamela is mutated into Poison Ivy and forces
Barbara to become Batgirl when she captures Batman and Commissioner Gordon.
“A
Dark Knight to Remember” (10/1/05) – Bruce loses his memory, and when Batgirl
tries to stop Penguin’s crime spree herself she ends up captured.
“A
Fistful of Felt” (10/8/05) – Hugo Strange separates Scarface from Ventriloquist
allowing him to be freed from Arkham in service of Strange’s larger plans for
him.
“RPM”
(11/5/05) – Gearhead steals the prize for a charity race and destroys the
Batmobile, inspiring Batman to build a better one to take the villain down.
“Brawn”
(11/12/05) – Joker steals Bane’s Venom and uses it to become a major threat.
“The
Laughing Cats” (11/19/05) – Batman, Batgirl and Catwoman investigate the theft
of a rare leopard only to be lured into a death maze by Joker.
“Fleurs
du Mal” (11/26/05) – With the passing and enforcement of bizarre new laws
causes Batman and Batgirl to investigate, they learn Poison Ivy replaced city
officials with plant clones.
“Cash
for Toys” (2/4/06) – A disgruntled toymaker decides to get revenge on Bruce
Wayne with his dangerous toys, leading to Detective Cash being assigned as his
bodyguard.
“Thunder”
(2/18/06) – On the verge of losing the mayoral race, Maximillian Zeus decides
to take over the city by force.
“The
Apprentice” (2/11/06) – After Batman takes on Batgirl as his sidekick, Joker
decides to get one of his own and turns Barbara’s classmate into Prank.
“The
Icy Depths” (5/6/06) – Alfred’s old friend visits and invites him on a treasure
hunt, unaware that Penguin and Mr. Freeze are after the same treasure.
“Gotham’s
Ultimate Criminal Mastermind” (5/13/06) – Strange programs an AI called DAVE
with the minds of Gotham’s greatest criminals and lets it free to commit
crimes.
Season 4:
“A
Matter of Family” (9/23/06) – Bruce adopts an orphaned Dick Grayson and brings
his family’s killer to justice.
“Team
Penguin” (9/30/06) – Penguin forms a team of villains to take Batman down while
Batman reveals his identity to Batgirl and they learn how to work together with
Robin.
“Clayfaces”
(10/7/06) – Ethan tries to prove himself to Batman by foiling Joker’s plans,
but washed-up actor Basil Karlo steals some of Joker’s putty and becomes the
new Clayface.
“The
Everywhere Man” (11/4/06) – When the replicating Everywhere Man frames one of
Bruce’s friends, Batman tries to prove his innocence.
“The
Breakout” (11/11/06) – Black Mask is freed from prison and captures Batman,
leaving Batgirl and Robin to thwart his plans alone.
“Strange
New World” (11/18/06) – Batman and Robin have to save the city from Strange’s
virus that turns them into zombies.
“Artifacts”
(2/3/07) – A thousand years in the future, the citizenry of Gotham have to
learn about Batman’s history in order to stop the new Mr. Freeze.
“Seconds”
(2/10/07) – Batman and his partners go up against a foe that seems to know
their every move.
“Riddler’s
Revenge” (2/17/07) – When Riddler and Batman are sealed in a crate and sunken
into the harbor, Riddler reveals his origin.
“Two
of a Kind” (2/24/07) – Joker decides to make disgraced TV host Harleen Quinzell
into his new partner.
“Rumors”
(3/3/07) – Batman and Robin have to save the city’s villains from the
mysterious Rumor before he executes them.
“The
Joining, Part One” (4/28/07) – Bruce learns that Wayne Industries has been
distributing alien technology around the world and an alien race is coming to
conquer Earth.
“The
Joining, Part Two” (5/5/07) – Batman and Martian Manhunter attempt to use Wayne
Industries satellites to stop The Joining.
Season 5:
“The
Batman/Superman Story, Part One” (9/22/07) – Lex Luthor opens up shop in Gotham
and recruits its villains in his efforts to destroy Superman.
“The
Batman/Superman Story, Part Two” (9/29/07) – Batman and Robin take on a
Lex-controlled Superman while Lex plots to use robots to take over the world’s
armies.
“Vertigo”
(10/6/07) – Batman teams-up with Green Arrow to take down Count Vertigo.
“White
Heat” (10/13/07) – Trying to upgrade himself leads Firefly to becoming the even
more dangerous Phosphorus.
“A
Mirror Darkly” (11/3/07) – Mirror Master plans to trap everyone in their own
image, but Batman, Robin and Flash set out to stop him.
“Joker
Express” (11/10/07) – Joker makes it so that the citizens of Gotham
hysterically dump stolen loot into the river.
“Ring
Toss” (12/8/07) – Green Lantern seeks Batman’s help to find Sinestro, but the
encounter leaves Penguin with a power ring.
“The
Metal Face of Comedy” (12/15/07) – Joker has a hacker put his mind into
WayneTech nanobots that build him an improved body in his quest to destroy
Batman.
“Attack
of the Terrible Trio” (2/2/08) – A group of college misfits use Langstrom’s
formula to turn themselves into animals to get revenge on those that have
wronged them.
“The
End of the Batman” (2/9/08) – Wrath and Scorn aid the villains of Gotham City.
“What
Goes Up…” (2/16/08) – Black Mask hires the Shadow Thief to break him out of
prison, leading to Batman teaming-up with Hawkman.
“Lost
Heroes, Part One” (3/8/08) – Batman and Green Arrow investigate the
disappearance of the rest of the Justice League.
“Lost
Heroes, Part Two” (3/8/08) – The Joining plans a new attack on Earth while the
Justice League fight robotic counterparts to get their powers back.
Movie:
“The
Batman vs. Dracula” (10/18/05) – Batman has to deal with Joker and Penguin, as
well as keep Dracula from turning the city into vampires.
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