Rating:  -
This is Batman the way Batman should be! All other Batman's have patterned themselves after the way this serious was created! Excellent set to own!
Rating:  -
I own all four seasons of this show, i bought them separately. BUT, does anyone know why there is an episode not included in this 4th season? It's missing... An episode where Ras al Ghul puts his soul into his daughter Talhia, which is later revealed to batman in the show, when her lips move it's his voice that u hear ... Does anyone remember this episode on TV ? I do! I've seen it!
Other than that this is great! I watch it all the time!
Rating: -
The last seasons of Batman the animated series are delivered in the final dvd box set.
Rating:  -
When Warner Bros. ordered 24 new episodes of Batman: The Animated Series (BTAS) in the Fall of 1995, it was as if the prayers of one million heroine addicts were all at once answered. Creators Paul Dini and Bruce Timm and our entire crew of suppliers were back on the streets. As much as that promised, however, The New Batman Adventures (TNBA) didn't prove the ultimate fix. What we got instead was two short seasons of a very mixed bag.
Now, I'd like to point out here that, invariably, within any artistic medium, things change. Sometimes the change comes from maturity and growth, and other times it comes from simply the need to be different. Since the original BTAS was, as a whole, near perfect; I have a fair bet that with TNBA, the change came out of the latter.
The biggest and most obvious change was the character modeling. Gone now were the rounded, asymetrical shapes reminiscent of traditional Art Decco traded in for a more angular and squeaky-clean approach. While some characters made the transition without too much tweaking (e.g. Harley Quinn, Commissioner Gordon and even Batman himself), others were completely re-designed. For some of the characters, this was an improvement. For others, it was a catastrophe which still makes me cringe.
Let's start with the successful make-overs. Catwoman looked great. Her new jet black outfit and ghost white eyes (like Batman's) made her more of a symbol rather than a thrill-seeker in a kitty suit. The new Selina Kyle looked great, too, and was modeled after the regular Batman comic continuity as a short-haired brunette. Poison Ivy worked just fine and was also made more true to her comic book persona with chlorophyll saturated skin and eyes. Batgirl, though not a drastic change, looked much better with a sleek new figure sans the baby fat (in fact, they made her a down right babe). Scarecrow, although I thought his second manifestation in BTAS was just right, was made even more frightening with more ghoulish features and a noose around his neck.
What didn't work? JOKER. Why in God's good name they did what they did to the Clown Prince, I'll never truly know. They basically took a wonderfully complex and expressive character model and turned it into a bad cartoon. In fact, the lipless, beady-eyed, three-color shadow of his former self never looked worse, on ANY medium. I'd even take the vintage model of the Joker featured on "Legends of the Dark Knight" over the TNBA version. My God, man... I'm getting worked up just writing about it. If Bruce Timm's goal was to simply make the Joker easier to draw and animate (perhaps to sacrifice quality for consistency) then he surely succeeded. And not even Mark Hamill's brilliance could overshadow this sad fact. Luckily, since most of the Joker episodes were bad anyway, nothing huge was lost... with the possible exception being "Mad Love". Now, with that said, it seemed a lot of fans were able to get over the Joker's new design. I simply could not. And the fact that the Joker's model was changed again for the Batman Beyond movie is testatment that Dini and Timm knew they had made a mistake (see my brief mention of ROTJ below). Freeze and Penguin were other failures, and don't even get me started on the Riddler. I would, however, like to mention Scarface, another model that suffered a terrible transformation (not so much the Ventriliquist as the puppet itself). Once again, all previous animated brilliance was traded in for a block character I could practically draw myself. As with the Joker, however, no big loss considereing how sacharrine and stupid was the one Scarface episode.
So let's talk about some episodes. Right at the outset I'd like to say that half of the episodes aren't even worth mentioning. The rest have varying degrees of good and fall into two categories: those with heart and those with a fast enough pace to thoroughly entertain. Are there a few awesome five star episodes? Yes, but only a few. "Over the Edge", "Old Wounds", and "Growing Pains" are excellent. "Mean Seasons" also comes to mind with a great one-off villian. "Mad Love" would also qualify if it weren't for the half-ass Joker. Those episodes all have true heart and are delivered with the fervent zeal we came to expect from BTAS. The best of the rest would be the well animated and action-packed episodes like "Holiday Knights", "Cult of the Cat", "You Scratch My Back" and "Girls Night Out" (a surprisingly fun team-up of Batgirl and Supergirl versus Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and Livewire).
TNBA did cover some new ground and the first thing you'll notice watching just about any episode is that Batman himself is colder and darker than in BTAS. This serves as both a blessing and a curse. It's cool that Dini and Timm were able to explore a Dark Knight more in line with that of Frank Miller or Jeph Loeb. And on that note, episodes like "Never Fear" and "Old Wounds" go about as far as they could go in an animated network TV show. On the downside, however, is the fact that this leaves the supporting cast of characters -- namely Batgirl, Robin and Nightwing -- to make up for all that lack of heart. Nevertheless, I have to say it works only because Batman would, in truth, harden over time.
Which brings me to the now infamous flashback sequence in the Batman Beyond movie, The Return of the Joker. For those of you not familiar with the Batman Beyond animated series (or if you just never cared to give it a go like me... until recently), it makes no difference. Halfway into the movie, TNBA fans (and BTAS fans, for that matter) get a special treat. Dini and Timm decided they'd show us the final battle between Batman and the Joker in the regular timeline. And, man... is it AWESOME. Remember my rant earlier about how bad the new Joker model looked? Well, guess what? They got it right! If this had been the Joker that was featured in TNBA, I would have shed tears of joy. Suffice to say, you just have to see it. But make sure to see the UNCUT version of the film. The studio version is not at all the same and was toned way down for the kiddies.
I've included a very brief episode guide. (You can see more of my reviews at IGN under the username Lendell Prime.)
Season 1
"Holiday Knights"
Though more of a novelty, a lot of effort went into this episode. The Harley and Ivy segment alone is worth it.
"Sins Of The Father"
Not a lot of effort went into this Two Face episode.
"Cold Comfort"
The name says it all. A perfect example of when you run a character concept right into the snowdrift.
"Never Fear"
A unique romp into Frank Miller territory. I guarantee Dini and Timm had fun with this one.
"You Scratch My Back"
Some great Nightwing and Catwoman ass-kicking here. Cool episode overall.
"Double Talk"
Just a thousand shades of aweful, especially compared to the excellent couple of Scareface episodes in BTAS.
"Joker's Millions"
If you're into old school fie-diddly-dee Joker (like pre-Killing Joke) then you might like this episode based on a vintage Joker tale. Otherwise, Joker's Millions is ridiculous and has no place in the current Batman continuity (sorry, all you old school purists ;-)
"Growing Pains"
One of the few TNBA stories with real heart and a great Tim Drake episode.
"Mean Seasons"
Deliciously dark, this episode has the kind of substance we came to expect from the original BTAS.
"The Demon Within"
Let's just say... interesting. I actually dug the shapeshifting werecat (if only Catwoman could fight like that!)
"Over The Edge"
Awesome. Bane fans will have an added treat.
"Torch Song"
Uh... next.
"Love Is A Croc"
This episode is a crock.
Season 2
"The Ultimate Thrill"
I was thrilled to hit STOP halfway through.
"Critters"
So terrible that Timm and Dini thought they'd do a commentary to redeem themselves. What a waste of a special feature.
"Cult Of The Cat"
Another good Catwoman episode. She's two for two in TNBA.
"Animal Act"
Not bad. Some good Batman/Nightwing stuff here.
"Old Wounds"
My second favorite episode next to "Over The Edge". Tells the story of Dick Grayson's departure from Batman. Good stuff...
"Legends Of The Dark Knight"
Just some old campy fun (if you're into that sort of thing).
"Girls' Nite Out"
I really enjoyed this episode. And I'm actually glad that TNBA relegated Ms. Quinn back to her subservient origins. After "Harley's Holiday" in BTAS, there was really nowhere left for her character to go (she sort of fulfilled her autonymous arc). Let's face it, Harl, you work best as either the Joker's hench wench or as Ivy's girl toy.
"Chemistry"
This wasn't such a bad episode. Ivy's ploy turns out to be quite clever. Oddly enough, the only thing that really doesn't work here is Kevin Conroy's voice acting. Bruce Wayne is way too cold in this episode. But check this out... it's only one of two episodes ever where a supervillian may have actually met her maker. In the finale, Poison Ivy is swept out to sea during a massive explosion, Batman is unable to rescue her, and there is absolutely no reason or indication to make the audience think she survived from potentially drowning.
"Judgment Day"
Ahh... so we do get one good Two Face episode! And this is the other episode where a supervillain gets it!
"Beware The Creeper"
I can't understand why so many Batman fans embraced this one. It's completely ridiculous. And, yet again, the Joker is about as menacing as his Three Stooges henchmen. The most enjoyable thing about this episode is watching Harley continuously reject the advances of a man who's actually crazy about her.
"Mad Love"
If the new Joker doesn't bother you , there's a lot to like here. Hamill does some of his best work and Sorkin is much more understated than usual (though not really to my liking). As brilliant as the graphic novel was, and as faithful as this adaptation tries to be, it never quite gels. Still, some great stuff, and I especially dig the scene between Harley and Batman over the fish tank.
Rating: -
This volume isn't as good as the first three, but at least it ends the original series. There are a few changes that I can't really say I like.
The graphics are considerably different, they seem to be cheaper. The original Robin is a new hero, but there is still a Robin who fights alongside Batman. Bottom line, it's not all that bad.
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