The New Adventures of Batman was the last time Batman and Robin had
worked independently of the Justice League,
having been in their company throughout Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends franchise for over a decade. Four years after that show ended, Tim Burton brought Batman back to live-action
with 1989’s Batman. Starring Michael
Keaton in the title role and Jack
Nicholson as the Joker,
the movie became the top-grossing film of the year and successfully brought
Batman back to his darker roots for the general public that the storylines “Year One”, The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke did
for the comic fans.
In 1990, Warner
Bros. Animation president Jean MacCurdy announced
to her staff that the studio was looking to develop other properties; principle
amongst them was Batman. Bruce
Timm quickly drew up several concepts of how Batman would look in
animation. At the same time, background artist Eric Radomski worked on his own
proposal of an animated Gotham
City. Two months later, MacCurdy put the two together to work on a promo
reel to show the studio what they intended to do for a proposed Batman series.
They came up with a quick concept: Batman encounters a trio of jewel thieves on
a Gotham rooftop and takes them down before the police arrive and he swings off
into the night. The promo largely resembled what the final product eventually
would, albeit a little rougher. It also ended up not being necessary as the
studio greenlit the series anyway to coincide with Burton’s Batman Returns, but the promo led to Timm and Radomski being
placed as producers on it.
 |
| Batman's original Batmobile. |
Joined by producers/writers Paul
Dini and Alan Burnett,
their first task was to decide the overall tone of the series. What they
ultimately settled on was to attempt to make each episode feel as if the
audience had just watched a half-hour movie. They wanted a return to the
darkness that the comics originally embodied, taking great inspiration from Fleischer Studio’s Superman theatrical shorts as well
as Burton’s film. They developed a style they called “Dark Deco,” which was a
combination of noir imagery and art deco design. It gave a timeless quality to
the visuals with the incorporation of police blimps, tommy guns and modern
technology such as televisions and computers with black and white screens. To
achieve the proper mood, the animation was done in reverse by using light
colors on black paper; although initially their color palette was limited to
the selection they had available on Tiny Toon Adventures. They also
allowed their creators the freedom they needed to create, letting storyboard
artists drive action scenes instead of writers putting every little thing in
the scripts.
 |
| Kirk Langstrom transforms into Man-Bat. |
Being first time producers, Timm and Radomski received a lot of blowback
over the decisions they were making in their approach to the show. Executives
and their bosses grew increasingly worried and constantly breathed down their
necks fearing that the show would become an expensive flop. However, after the
rough footage for the first produced episode, “On Leather Wings”, arrived, all
fears were laid to rest and they were allowed to continue fairly unhindered.
They were also given some early access to Burton’s Batman Returns, from which further inspiration was drawn.
 |
| Why they call him "the Dark Knight." |
In casting the show, the producers sought not to find cartoon voice
actors, but actors who happened to be in a cartoon. They wanted the material
treated like it was a stage or radio play, looking for serious performances and
not like it was made just for Saturday morning. That made casting some roles
very easy, and some extremely hard. The hardest of all was of the series’ lead:
Batman. That is until Kevin Conroy came in to audition. Feeling that the
character emanates from a very dark, personal place, Conroy reached down inside
himself and delivered Batman’s lines in a deep, guttural voice that floored
everyone in attendance. Although Batman’s dialogue was kept at a minimum,
Conroy gave Batman what many consider his definitive voice. Conroy also did
something no other actor had done before in Batman animation: he gave Bruce
Wayne a different, higher voice in order to further distinguish the two aspects
of his personality; much the way Keaton was the first to do so for live-action.
Wayne was also portrayed as more of an intelligent and competent person, rather
than the flippant playboy he had been before.
 |
| Batman and Robin. |
Robin (Loren Lester) was included to lighten up the series a bit and give
Batman someone to play off of. However, the producers attempted to balance the
various incarnations of Robin in order to make him different enough from Batman
while still adhering to the tone of the show. Dick Grayson’s origin was kept
intact, but they decided to advance him to college age to explain why he wasn’t
around in every episode and to allow him to access places a younger Robin
couldn’t go. It was decided to give Dick an adaptation of the costume being
worn at the time by the third Robin, Tim Drake, that debuted in Batman vol. 1 #457 (1990) as it was a cooler and more serious
design than the bare legs and pixie boots Dick had worn originally since his
inception. Batman served as both a father figure and partner for Dick, even
though Dick didn’t always appreciate the former.
 |
| "No patrolling until you clean up your cave!" |
Alfred Pennyworth (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), however, served as a father
figure for Batman. Blending elements of the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis incarnations of the
character, Alfred was an MI-6 agent before
coming to work for Thomas (Richard
Moll and Conroy) and Martha
Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau). He
ultimately raised Bruce after their murder and helped him assume his Batman
identity, as well as aided him behind the scenes on his nightly missions.
Alfred was initially voiced by Clive Revill for the first three episodes
produced, but had to bow out due to a previous commitment. Zimbalist assumed
the role for the remainder of his appearances. Initially, Timm and Radomski
didn’t want Zimbalist, desiring a less-warm and authentically British
performance, but writer and frequent collaborator Tom Ruegger convinced them
otherwise.
 |
| Jim and Barbara Gordon receiving visitors. |
Commissioner James Gordon (Bob Hastings) was presented as a staunch ally
of Batman who relied on him to help his department, but still came off as a
competent police officer. Being the same age as his father, Batman viewed
Gordon as a bit of a surrogate father. His real daughter, Barbara (Melissa
Gilbert) made her debut aiding Batman by helping to rescue Gordon from the
human-hating super computer H.A.R.D.A.C.
(Holographic Analytical Reciprocating DigitAl Computer, voiced by Jeff Bennett). She first donned
a costume to pose as Batman in “I Am the Night” to show support for Gordon
after he was framed for a crime when Batman refused to do so. She redesigned
the costume she wore to become Batgirl and take down the man responsible. She
was depicted as being a student at the same college as Dick, and had a
flirtatious relationship with him—although neither knew the other’s identity.
 |
| Bullock and Montoya. |
Two prominent police officers had recurring roles throughout the series.
Detective Harvey Bullock (Robert Costanzo) was the typical slovenly cop whose
clothes were always wrinkled and manners were atrocious. While in the comics he
was a dirty cop, the producers decided to make him just slightly dingy; a good
cop who accomplished things just a bit outside of acceptable law-enforcement
practices. Bullock also resented Batman and Gordon’s constant reliance on him.
On the opposite end of the spectrum was his partner, Renee Montoya (Ingrid Oliu). Created for the
show, she was a more by-the-book cop and openly supportive of Batman, and was
Bullock’s conscience. She was created by Dini as a way to bring ethnic diversity
to Batman’s cast.
 |
| Villain promo image featuring Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Penguin, Joker, Harley Quinn, Mad Hatter, Riddler, Catwoman and Two-Face. |
The producers tapped Batman’s extensive rogues gallery for a who’s who of
Gotham villainy, updating and modifying his villains to be more of a genuine
threat. Amongst his established foes were Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman (whose suit and
hair were influenced by Batman Returns, voiced
by Barbeau) was a socialite and animal rights activist who stole to further her
goals; Oswald Cobblebot, aka Penguin (Paul Williams) was heavily based
on the version that appeared in Batman
Returns, but retained the refined mannerisms and personality from the
comics; Edward Nygma, aka the Riddler (John Glover, who would go on to
have a role in the fourth film, Batman & Robin), was reimagined as a computer programmer
who was cheated by his boss and adopted his alter-ego in order to seek his
revenge; Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow (rendered in
two different designs in an attempt to make his appearance scarier, voiced by Henry Polic II), a scientist
obsessed with fear who used a fear gas to bring it out of victims; Jervis
Tetch, aka Mad Hatter (Roddy McDowall), a scientist who
developed special mind-control technology allowing him to control others from
his hat; actor Matt Hagen, aka Clayface
(given a new design for the show, voiced by Ron Perlman) was transformed
into the shape-shifting mud-like man after he was smothered in a special
make-up that allowed someone to change their features; and The Joker, whose
dark portrayal by Mark Hamill
allowed the character to walk the line between his previous incarnations as
both a silly clown and a murderous psychopath with tremendous effect.
 |
| Batman vs. Man-Bat. |
Amongst the newer included foes were Pamela Isley, aka Poison Ivy (Diane Pershing), a
human with a strong affinity for and some control over plants that led her to
attack anyone that threatened nature; Harvey Dent (Moll) was first introduced
as the District Attorney of Gotham with a dissociative identity disorder
resulting from repressed anger, until being doused with chemicals brought his
other personality to light and turned him into dual-minded Two-Face; Waylon Jones,
aka Killer Croc (Aron Kincaid), a pro-wrestler
with a skin condition that rendered him looking almost reptile-like; Dr. Kirk
Langstrom, aka Man-Bat (Marc Singer of Beastmaster fame as
Kirk, Frank Welker as
Man-Bat), a zoologist who accidentally transformed himself into a man-sized bat
after ingesting a serum he created; the venom-powered strongman Bane (Henry Silva, initially using a
strong Latin accent), whom the producers initially felt was too gimmicky; Ra’s al Ghul (David Warner), the
immortal leader of the Society
of Shadows (rather than the League of Assassins)
who sought to make Batman his heir by pairing him up with his daughter, Talia (original live-action Supergirl Helen Slater and Olivia Hussey); and Arnold Wesker, aka
the Ventriloquist, who
seemed to be the unwilling thrall of his mob boss dummy Scarface (both George Dzundza, sans the
depicted speech impediment featured in the comics).
 |
| Mr. Freeze and his wife, Nora. |
The producers chose to make use of a character recently killed off in the
comics: Dr. Victor Fries, aka Mr. Freeze (Michael Ansara, who initially had
some difficulty with the emotionless robotic voice he was asked to use).
Initially portrayed as a rogue scientist whose ice gun backfired and doused him
in cryogenic chemicals resulting in his needing subzero temperatures to
survive, Dini decided to give him a more tragic backstory. In his first written
episode for the series, “Heart of Ice”, it was revealed Fries was caught
embezzling funds from his employer to secretly work on a cure for his
terminally ill wife, Nora.
His boss, Ferris Boyle
(Hamill, in his first role for the series until he took over the Joker role
when Tim Curry had to drop
out) found out and knocked Fries into a table of chemicals, turning him into
Mr. Freeze. Not only did the episode win the series its first Emmy Award, it gained the series notoriety. The
planned ending, which had Freeze in a cell crying snowflakes, was never done
and ended up being used instead for Batman
& Robin.
 |
| Red Claw planning to skin a Catwoman. |
Along with the established characters, the production crew invented several
new foes for Batman to face: Red
Claw (Kate Mulgrew) was the leader
of a terrorist organization that shared her name and came to odds with Batman
and Catwoman; Mary Louise Dahl, aka Baby-Doll (Alison La Placa and Laraine Newman) was an actress who
suffered an affliction that kept her permanently in the body of a young girl,
and whose diva-like attitude cost her her acting career; Dr. Emile Dorian (Joseph Maher) was a rogue geneticist
who wanted to create the ultimate being by splicing together human and animal
DNA (splicing was later revisited as a fad in the world of Batman Beyond); and the Sewer King (Michael Pataki), who ran a child
slavery ring from the Gotham sewers.
 |
| Joker and Harley Quinn. |
Probably the most prominent new creation from the show was Joker’s
henchwoman: Dr. Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn (Arleen Sorkin). Dini introduced
her in the episode “Joker’s Favor” and considered Sorkin for the role based on
her appearance in a dream
sequence as a jester on Days of our Lives. Dini, friends with Sorkin since
college, incorporated elements of her personality into Quinn. Quinzel was a
doctor at Arkham Asylum
when she fell in love with the Joker after he was captured by Batman and driven
insane. She freed Joker and became his sidekick and lover (despite his horrible
treatment of her).
 |
| Batman with his childhood hero. |
The biggest guest-appearance, however, was not from a character but from
an actor. Adam West, who played Batman in
the 1966 Batman live-action series, was brought on to play The Gray Ghost: a
character from the television show Bruce grew up watching and partially
inspired his Batman alter-ego. The entire character was built around West, and
had he not accepted the role the episode “Beware the Gray Ghost” would never
have been made.
 |
| Batman trying to dissuade Batgirl. |
Warner Bros. ordered 65 episodes
to be produced in order to allow the series to be successfully picked up for
syndication. To accomplish this feat, the series was outsourced to several
different overseas animation houses: Spectrum Animation,
DongYang Animation, Sunrise, Studio Junio, Blue Pencil, AKOM and TMS
Entertainment. AKOM, however, was fired after numerous animation
inconsistencies in the episodes they turned in. The series’ writing staff
consisted of Dini, Burnett, Timm, Ruegger, David Wise, Michael Reaves, Mitch Brian, Eddie Gorodetsky, Henry T. Gilroy, Sean Catherine Derek, Carl Swenson, Jules Dennis, Richard Mueller, Ted Pedersen, Steve Hayes, Randy Rogel, Garin Wolf, Laren Bright, Martin
Pasko, Dennis Marks, Samuel Warren Joseph, Judith & Garfield Reeves-Sevens, Beth Bornstein, Elliot S. Maggin, Steve Perry, Brynne Stephens, Cherie Wilkerson, Mark Saraceni, Marty Isenberg, Robert N. Skir, Mike Underwood, Diane Duane, Peter Morwood, Hilary J. Bader, Robert Goodman, Stan Berkowitz, Rusti Bjornhoel, and Rich Fogel, as well as comic
book writers Marv
Wolfman, Gerry Conway, Buzz Dixon, Len Wein, Joe R. Lansdale, Mike W. Barr, Steve Gerber and Dennis O’Neil. While many
episodes combined various elements of stories throughout Batman’s history, some
were direct adaptations of those stories.
 |
| Accept no imitations. |
Batman: The Animated Series debuted
on the FOX Network’s Fox Kids programming block on
September 5, 1992, airing weekday afternoons and primetime on Saturdays.
However, the Saturday airings were cut short when it performed poorly against CBS’ 60 Minutes. The opening sequence was animated by TMS and largely inspired by
the original demo reel for the show. In an unusual move, the producers decided
not to include a title at the end of the sequence, instead relying on Batman’s global
familiarity to allow audiences to know they’re watching a Batman show. The end
credits featured an image of Batman drawn by Timm that was used on many
promotional items. Each episode featured a special title card with an image
depicting the overall theme of the story, much like the title shot from older
black and white movies.
 |
| The forbidden romance. |
Liking the theme
composed for the Batman films, Timm approached Danny Elfman to compose the
series’ theme. Elfman initially refused and Timm hired Elfman’s frequent
collaborator and conductor Shirley Walker
to do so. Elfman changed his mind and composed a variation of his Batman theme for the intro. Walker was
retained as one of twenty-four composers for the series, earning her fist Daytime Emmy, and served as the show’s
music director. Amongst the primary composers were Lolita Ritmanis and Michael
McCuistion. The score was largely inspired by Elfman’s and maintained many
of the same elements.
 |
| Batman faces the Phantasm. |
Impressed by the success of the first season, Warner Bros. asked the
production team to produce a full-length animated film based on the series.
Burnett handled the story, with Pasko writing the flashbacks that were heavily
inspired by Citizen Kane, Reaves on the climax,
and Dini filling in bits and pieces. Burnett decided to take the opportunity to
do a love story with Bruce to really get into his head, feeling no one had done
that before. The film introduced Bruce’s former lover Andrea Beaumont (Dana Delany) amidst a mystery
surrounding a new murderous vigilante called The Phantasm (Stacy Keach).
Early in production, Warner Bros. decided to change the film from a
direct-to-video release and put it in theaters. This change gave the production
team less than a year to work on the film, which was less than half the time
typically needed to make an animated film upon the completion of the story. In
return, the studio granted them a large amount of control and increased the
production budget to $6 million. Those funds allowed them to add more elaborate
set pieces and create an introduction flying through a computer-generated
Gotham City.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm opened
on December 17, 1993 in over 1,500 theaters. It earned $1,189,975 its opening
weekend and accumulated $5,617,391 total, making it a financial failure.
Critically, however, the movie was praised as one of the best Batman
adaptations; even better than Burton’s films. It did eventually earn more than
its budget through its various home
video releases, and was nominated for an Annie
Award for “Best Animated Feature”, losing to Disney’s
The Lion King.
Meanwhile, FOX ordered an additional season of 20 episodes, which were
largely animated by DongYang (three were handled by Studio Junio). The
producers decided to give a larger role to Robin, renaming the series The Adventures of Batman & Robin with
its first on-screen title card. Walker’s
unused theme was used over a new introduction that featured clips from various
episodes; particularly ones that involved Robin. An alternate opening was
also created, keeping the original music intact with different clip footage
used. The series, now airing primarily on Saturday mornings, concluded its run
on September 15, 1995. Many of the staff and crew went on to produce Superman: The Animated Series, giving the Man of Steel the same
treatment they did the Dark Knight.
Several months earlier, Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting
entered into a joint venture to acquire their own television network. Called The WB, the network was
designed around programs geared towards teenagers and young adults. However,
they did create a programming block for a younger audience. Known as Kids’ WB, the block began
on September 9, 1995, airing principally on Saturday mornings and weekday
afternoons. Warner Bros. began steadily moving their programs from other
networks onto The WB, including Batman when
FOX’s exclusive contract ran out.
 |
| Comparison of the characters between the original run and the revival series. |
With Superman: The Animated Series doing
so well, Warner Bros. decided to bring back Batman
and ordered 24 more episodes. Working
with a reduced budget, the producers weren’t able to give the series the same
cinematic flourishes as they had before. Instead, the series was rendered in
the same simplistic style as Superman, necessitating
a massive redesign to the majority of the characters.
 |
| The new Batman, Batgirl, Robin and Nightwing. |
Batman was given a pouch-laden utility belt, gray highlights on his black
accessories, and the yellow oval was removed from his logo. Bruce Wayne was
given a neatly-pressed black suit and slick black hair, as well as blue eyes
instead of black. Batgirl’s costume was redesigned and recolored to better
resemble the original outfit she wore in Detective Comics #359 (1967). The only ones to remain virtually
unchanged were Harley Quinn, Clayface, Two-Face, Ra’s and Talia. Gotham City
was also given a makeover: always seen under an orange sky with more modern
architecture and technology. Most of the original cast returned as well, with
Tara Strong taking over Batgirl, Liane
Schirmer as Montoya, and Brooks
Gardner as Killer Croc. Conroy’s performance changed slightly, as his voice
for Bruce was no longer distinguishable from Batman’s.
 |
| Tim Drake's got a little captain in him. |
It was decided to introduce a new Robin to the series for greater youth
appeal. The producers brought in the younger Tim Drake (Matthew Valencia), with
Dick having a falling out with Batman between the seasons and adopting his
independent Nightwing persona. Drake was actually an amalgamation of his
character from the comics and the second Robin, Jason Todd. They felt
Drake having parents living in close vicinity to Wayne Manor made little sense,
so Drake was made an orphan surviving on the street until Batman took him in. His
suit was given a basic black and red color scheme with yellow on the inside of
his cape, eliminating green altogether.
 |
| Merchandising logo. |
Officially, the show was known as The
New Batman Adventures (Dini actually wanted to call it Gotham Knights, but that title ended up getting used for a 2008 direct-to-video movie).
It had a different focus from the earlier episodes, giving more screen time to
Batman’s supporting characters than Batman himself. Batgirl especially was
featured more prominently as the producers wanted to take advantage of the
character being in the then-upcoming Batman
& Robin and because Kenner,
manufacturer of DC Comics-based toys, wanted to do a full line of toys around
the characters. To contrast the lighter, more optimistic co-stars, the writers
consciously made an effort to keep Batman’s dialogue as terse and grim as
possible.
The new episodes debuted on September 13, 1997 on Kids’ WB as part of the
hour-long programming block The New
Batman/Superman Adventures alongside a rerun or new episode of Superman: The Animated Series. The new
episodes played out their entire run as part of that block with the shared
opening titles, never getting an opening sequence of its own. When aired in
syndication, The New Batman Adventures episodes
were shown with the original Batman intro.
The title cards prominent in the original run were also done away with in favor
of superimposing the episode’s title over the first scene, the same way Superman’s was done.
 |
| The past and the present: Batman with The Gray Ghost. |
A few other DC heroes made appearances on the show. The scarred Western
bounty hunter Jonah Hex (Bill McKinney) appeared in a
flashback dealing with Ra’s al Ghul; the backwards-speaking magician Zatanna Zatara (Julie Brown) was presented as a
magicless illusionist that Batman had a relationship with during his training
years; reporter Jack Ryder (Jeff
Bennet) who became The Creeper
when exposed to the Joker’s laughing gas and the same chemicals that created
him; Jason Blood,
who was bonded to the rhyming demon Etrigan (Billy Zane) and was a friend of
Bruce’s; and Supergirl
(Nicholle Tom) from Superman: the Animated Series, who
partnered up with Batgirl and appeared to be friends with her. Likewise, Batman
and Robin would appear in three different stories on Superman.
In 1998, a direct-to-video
standalone sequel to Mask of the Phantasm
was released called Batman & Mr.
Freeze: SubZero. The movie featured the original Batman animation style and was intended for a summer 1997 release; however,
it was delayed due to the negative reception to Batman & Robin which also featured Mr. Freeze as a villain. The
movie, written and directed by Boyd
Kirkland, dealt with Mr. Freeze needing to find suitable replacement organs
for his wife and kidnapping Barbara Gordon (Mary Kay Bergman) who was a perfect
match. The film was well-received by fans and critics and won an Annie Award for “Best Animated Home
Entertainment Production.” It was also nominated for a Golden Reel Award in 1999, but lost to Young Hercules.
Four years after the end of the series, a new movie was produced from the
same universe. Written by Reaves from a story by Burnett, Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman featured Batman investigating the
appearance of Batwoman (Kyra Sedgwick) who targeted the
operations of Penguin (David
Ogden Stiers, the only time Williams didn’t voice the character), Rupert Thorne (John Vernon in his final
performance of the role) and Carlton Duquesne
(Richardson). It was the first time Thorne was rendered in the updated style of
the show, necessitating a new character model to be created for him. Batwoman’s
costume largely resembled the suit from Batman
Beyond colored gray instead of black. While most of the original cast
returned, Eli Marienthal was
cast as Robin and Hector Elizondo
took over as Bane. A bonus silent film, Chase
Me by Dini and Burnett, was
included that showed Batman chasing Catwoman around Gotham.
 |
| The first issue of the comic series. |
DC Comics published several comic series based on the show. The Batman Adventures was
primarily written by Kelley
Puckett and drawn by Mike
Parobeck and Rick
Burchett. It ran for 36 issues, 2 annuals and 3 specials. The first annual
introduced new character Roxy
Rocket, who was adapted into a character for the revival series played by Charity James. One special was
an adaptation of Mask of the Phantasm, one was Mad Love by Dini and Timm, which
focused on Harley trying to win Joker’s favor by eliminating Batman, and the
other was Holiday Special done by a number of creative people who worked on the show. The latter two were both adapted into
episodes of the revival series. In 2020, DC began publishing cheap
issue-by-issue reprints of The Batman Adventures under the banner DC
Classics.
 |
| Batman confronts Joe Chill. |
Along with the show’s name change, the comic was rebranded and restarted as The Batman & Robin Adventures. Mostly written by Ty Templeton with Burchett on art, it ran for 25 issues, 2 annuals and 1 special that was an adaptation of SubZero. The Batman Adventures: The Lost Years was a mini-series that explored the gap between both versions of the show, with the first two issues adapted into the episode “Old Wounds” and the fourth being an adaptation of “Sins of the Father.” In 1998, Batman: Gotham Adventures replaced the previous series and was the longest-running, clocking in at 60 issues. Also in 1998, Dini and Burchett produced the special Batgirl Adventures which gave the animated heroine her own spotlight. In 2003, the original title was revived for a second volume running 17 issues. Every issue had two stories; one by Dan Slott and Templeton, and the other by Templeton and Burchett. #15 by Jason Hall bridged the time gap between Mr. Freeze’s last appearance on Batman and his appearance on Batman Beyond. #17 featured Batman confronting Joe Chill, the man who killed his parents. Each series included additional characters that never appeared on the show.
 |
| The animated series' return to comics. |
In 2004, Dini and Timm let their version of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy
have some fun together in the mini-series Batman: Harley and Ivy. The animated universe made a return to
comics in 2016’s Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Adventures by DC and IDW, which featured Batman teaming up
with Nickelodeon’s Ninja Turtles from the 2012
computer animated series. It was in this book that the explanation for
Scarecrow’s extreme makeover in the revival was explained (with the real-world
explanation being Timm hated the original design and wanted him to look even
scarier). Beginning in 2020, DC would reprint various issues of the comics in digest-sized
character-centric collections starting with Batman Adventures
Batgirl: A League of Her Own. That year also saw Dini, Burnett
and Templeton return to the world of the show with the all-new mini-series The
Adventures Continue, which began digitally but later saw physical
print and two follow-ups.
 |
| Super Nintendo version packaging. |
Several video games were released tying into both versions of the series.
The first game to land was 1992’s Tiger handheld.
In 1993, Konami released Batman: The Animated Series
on Nintendo Game Boy. An action-adventure
platformer, players could switch between Batman and Robin, each with a specific
ability. The Adventures of Batman &
Robin was the title of different games produced by different companies for
various systems between 1994 and 1995. The Super
Nintendo version was released by Konami as an action-adventure platformer
where the player guided Batman through levels loosely based on various
episodes. The Sega Genesis
and Sega CD versions were
released by Clockwork
Tortoise, the Genesis
version featuring a two-player mode as Batman and Robin worked through four
different levels and the CD
version was a driving game where levels were advanced by piloting either
the Batmobile or the Batplane. The CD version also contained 16 minutes of original animation
by TMS for the cutscenes, dubbed the “lost episode,” with all the actors
reprising their respective roles. The Sega Game Gear version was
released by Novotrade
Software and featured Batman in another platformer adventure
having to rescue Robin from the Joker. In 1996, Gryphon
Software Corp released The Adventures of Batman & Robin
Activity Center for the home
computer, which was a puzzle-solving game.
 |
| Xbox version packaging. |
In 2001, Ubisoft Entertainment
released several different games. Batman: Chaos in Gotham for
the Game Boy Color
was based on the revamped version of the show. Players controlled either Batman
or Robin in dealing with escapees from Arkham Asylum. Gotham City Racer for
the Sony
PlayStation was a racing game that included clips from the show and 6 music
tracks by Ray Fabi. Batman: Vengeance for
PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Xbox and Windows seemed to take place
in between the two versions of the show as Batgirl aided Batman on his
missions. Most of the series’ voice cast was featured in the game as their
respective characters. Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu pit Batman, Robin, Batgirl and
Nightwing against original villain Sin Tzu (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) created
by Jim Lee.
 |
| The complete series box set. |
Warner
Home Video released VHS
collections containing two to four episodes between 1995 and 1997, four of
which were combined into two DVDs and re-released in 2004. Between 2002 and
2004, four multi-episode collections were released to both VHS and DVD: The Legend Begins, Tales of the Dark Knight, Out of the Shadows and Secrets of the Caped Crusader. The entire series was released to DVD
between four volumes in 2004 and 2005 (2006 for China and Bulgaria). In 2008,
the complete
series was packaged together in a special box that came with a 40-page
collector’s book containing a guide to the disc contents, character sketches
and background paintings. In 2018, the complete series was re-released on
Blu-ray in both a limited
edition collection with assorted extras and the
discs alone.
 |
| Batman Happy Meal toys. |
Kenner produced a line
of action figures, vehicles and playsets under the various show titles from
1992 until 1999, when Hasbro assumed
production of the line with the series Mission
Masters 2. In 2003, Mattel acquired the
license and released several waves of figures and playsets under the Batman
Animated Classics banner until 2010. After acquiring the DC rights in 2019, McFarlane Toys began releasing all-new action
figures modeled after the show’s designs in 2020. In 1992 Parker Brothers
produced a 3-D
board game and the following year Ertl
released a set of die-cast
figures and vehicles. McDonald’s
also got in on the action with a set of 8 toys based on
the original version, while the new version was represented in Jack In the Box’s 2001 Kids’ Meal
toys. In 2015, Diamond Select
began releasing a series of mini-busts,
statues
and vinyl
banks based on the various characters, and DC
Collectibles released action
figures and vehicles from both versions of the show reminiscent of the
original Kenner line.
 |
| Batman: the music. |
Skylark Publishing
published an adaptation
of Phantasm in 1994 and Little Brown & Co. an adaptation of SubZero in 1997. Golden Books
published two
Mr. Freeze books in 1997, while Walter Foster Publishing released How to Draw Batman in 1998. In 1999, Dini and Chip Kidd published Batman: Animated through Harper
Entertainment featuring the behind-the-scenes story of the show. In 2003, DK Children released Batman: The Animated Series Guide by Scott Beatty. Beginning in 2009, Stone
Arch Books published a series
of easy reader storybooks utilizing the same art style and character
designs from Batman. The original
soundtrack for Phantasm was
released by Warner Bros. in 1993, with an expanded
edition released in 2009. La-La
Land Records released three
volumes of the series’ music between 2012 and 2014, and in 2015 Mondo released a die-cut
vinyl single in the shape of a bat and a collectible
vinyl box set.
 |
| Harley's first ongoing series. |
Batman: The Animated Series is
often considered THE definitive version of Batman, marked by fans and comic
creators as their go-to whenever they think of the character and the franchise.
Many things the show introduced were integrated into the actual comics over the
years. Chief amongst them was the popular character Harley Quinn, who made her
official regular DC debut in 1999’s Batman: Harley Quinn #1 (her actual first comic appearance was
in The
Batman Adventures #12). Harley was the star of several of her own
series, amongst other numerous appearances in various comics, and eventually
grew from a psychotic criminal to something of a psychotic anti-hero. Her
budding (no pun intended) friendship with Poison Ivy was also featured and
eventually blossomed (okay, maybe a little pun) into an on-again, off-again romance
previously alluded to. Other notable carryovers included the new backstory for
Mr. Freeze, which led to the character being resurrected in the comics, and the
new appearance for Clayface.
 |
| Montoya as The Question. |
Montoya actually appeared in the comics just before her appearance on the
show, debuting in Batman #475 (1992). Hearing about
the new character, the Batman staff
were intrigued by her and wanted to include her in the comics, and since the
lead time to produce a comic is shorter than to produce an animated series her official
debut was able to beat her intended debut by several months. Over her career,
she had quit the police force and become the second faceless hero The Question,
as well as had a romantic relationship with the Kate Kane
version of Batwoman that was introduced in 52
#7 (2006). The New
52 reboot, however, retconned her costumed career and she was re-presented
as just Bullock’s partner in Detective Comics vol. 2 #41
(2015) before Rebirth
reinstated that part of her life. Eventually, she would again give up being The
Question and would become the new commissioner of the Gotham PD in The
Next Batman: Second Son #1 (2021).
 |
| Animated Batwoman and Kate Kane Batwoman, as drawn by Bruce Timm. |
Speaking of Batwoman, the current incarnation’s costume shared a similar
design to the Batwoman featured in Mystery
of the Batwoman; however, her suit was black, her mask didn’t cover her
whole face and included a wig of long red hair, and she had a cape. The brutal
vigilante Lock-Up
(Bruce Weitz) was adapted in
Robin #24 (1996). Paul Dini adapted Roxy Rocket during his run
on Detective Comics in issue #822. Sewer King
made his delayed debut in 52 #25 (2006). Simon Trent, aka the
Gray Ghost, was split between two characters: a teacher at Gotham Academy in Gotham Academy #4 (2015) and anarchist-turned-hero Clancy Johnson in Batgirl vol. 3 #9 (2010).
 |
| The culmination of the DC Animated Universe: the Justice League. |
Probably the biggest legacy of the show was that it kicked off what would
become known as the DC
Animated Universe; alternatively known as the Timmverse. Batman became the first in a series of
programs that all existed within the same relative universe, including Superman: The Animated Series, Batman
Beyond, Static Shock, The Zeta Project, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, as well as the web-series Gotham Girls. Most of
the series’ cast, notably Conroy (until his
death with the posthumously-released Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice
League) and Hamill (retiring multiple times, with the final
time coming after Conroy’s death), continued on in their respective roles
since the series ended in other shows, video games and direct-to-video movies.
Sorkin would end her run as Harley Quinn with 2012’s DC Universe Online: The Last Laugh and Strong would become her primary voice in most appearances
afterward while also reprising Batgirl often.
Originally published in 2016. Updated in 2023.
No comments:
Post a Comment