Batman: The Animated Series

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Created by
Starring	Kevin Conroy Loren Lester Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Clive Revill Mark Hamill
Genre	Animated television series
Run time	22 Minutes
Original channel	FOX
Original run	September 5, 1992
	September 16, 1995
No. of episodes	85
Origin Country	c4tdompa
Rating
Website

Batman: The Animated Series is an American animated television series adaptation of the comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero, Batman. It is widely regarded by fans as the most iconic modern representation of the Batman character and mythology, and also as among the most faithful animated series based on a comic book. The dynamic visual style of the series is based of the artwork of producer Bruce Timm. Lacking an on-screen title in the opening credits, the show was originally known only as Batman (and would be referred to as such in episode recaps that summarised what had happened "previously on Batman..."), but was retroactively officially titled Batman: The Animated Series, as clarified by Warner Bros.

The original episodes, produced by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski, were first aired from 1992 to 1995. The show was called simply Batman: The Animated Series in the first season, which aired on weekday afternoons, and then was renamed The Adventures of Batman and Robin when the show moved to weekends to emphasize the crime fighting partnership of the characters and also to allow younger audiences to become more familiar with Robin who was featured in the then soon to be released film Batman Forever.

It should be noted that the title The Adventures of Batman and Robin was originally used in the 1969-70 animated series, created by Filmation and aired on CBS.

After a successful 85 episode run on Fox, new animated Batman episodes were created for Kids' WB! & also went on to air on YTV. Titled The New Batman Adventures, it aired from 1997 to 1999 with 24 episodes produced. They were aired as part of The New Batman/Superman Adventures. Rumor has it that the show was called Batman: Gotham Knights, but there has been no real confirmation of it, and no opening credit title was produced with that name. Only early production art for new episodes have that title and the comic based on this version being called Batman: Gotham Adventures suggests it may be possible. Reruns of The New Batman Adventures, on Cartoon Network for example, were mixed with episodes of Batman: The Animated Series using the same intro sequence.

Some of the creators have gone on record saying that The New Batman Adventures is truly an extension of Batman: The Animated Series. The producers have repeatedly stated and confirmed that the show does take place in the same world, continuity, etc, just a few years down the line. However, The New Batman Adventures episodes have significant enough differences that many fans consider them separate shows. The character designs underwent significant changes, going even further down the stylized path of the original episodes. This was in part due to a lower budget for the series; the new character models would be easier to animate well on the lower budget. Also there were some voice actor changes. Batgirl became a more important character and was no longer voiced by Melissa Gilbert.

1 Overview
2 Influence
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Overview

The original series was partially inspired by Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster Batman film, and initially took as its theme a variation of music written by Danny Elfman for the film. (Later episodes of the series used a new theme written in a similar style by Shirley Walker.) Another strong influence was the acclaimed Superman cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios in the 1940s. The series premiered in 1992, a few months after the successful release of the second Batman movie, Batman Returns. The art style of the original animated series was also partially a reaction against the realism seen in cartoons like The Real Ghostbusters, the second series in some ways was a further extension of that rejection of realism.

Timm and Radomski designed the series by emulating the Tim Burton films' "otherworldy timelessness", incorporating "old-time" features such as black-and-white title cards, police blimps, and a "vintage" color scheme, partially inspired by the Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons of the 1940s, as well as film noir. In their constant quest to make the show darker, the producers pushed the boundaries of action cartoons: it was the first such cartoon in years to depict firearms being fired, as well as Batman actually hitting and punching the bad guys; in addition, many of the series' backgrounds were painted on black paper. The distinctive visual combination of film noir imagery and Art Deco designs with a very dark color scheme was called "Dark Deco" by the producers. First-time producers Timm and Radomski reportedly encountered resistance from studio executives, but the success of Burton's first film allowed the embryonic series to survive long enough to produce a pilot episode, "On Leather Wings", which according to Timm "got a lot of people off our backs."

The series was the first of the modern "DC Animated Continuity/Universe" sometimes known as the "Diniverse" named after producer and writer Paul Dini (in some respects, an unfair label, as Dini is not the constant between all of the series of the DCAU; Bruce Timm is the constant, more accurately it is often referred to as the Timmverse). It was entirely separate from the previous continuity of Warner Bros. DC Comics adaptation cartoons, namely The Superfriends.

The Emmy Award-winning series quickly received wide acclaim for its distinctive animation and mature writing, and it instantly became a hit. Fans of a wide age range praised the show's sophisticated, cinematic tone and psychological stories. Voice-actor Kevin Conroy, for example, used two distinct voices to portray Bruce Wayne and Batman, as Michael Keaton had done in the films. This series also featured a supporting cast that included major actors performing the voices of the various classic villains, most notably Mark Hamill, who defined a whole new career for himself in animation with his cheerfully deranged portrayal of the Joker. As in Burton's movie, Joker has the alias of mobster Jack Napier, which is not always true of the comics. The voice recording sessions were recorded with the actors together in a studio, like a radio play (in the majority of animated films, the principal voice actors record separately and never meet). This adds to the authenticity of the performance.

Image:Juytht.jpg

Mr. Freeze, who was most famously redesigned for the series.

Key to the series' artistic success is that it managed to redefine classic characters, paying homage to their previous portrayals while giving them new dramatic force. Villains such as Two-Face and the Mad Hatter, as well as heroes like Robin (who does not appear in the Burton/Joel Schumacher series until Batman Forever and is here portrayed as a college-age student), are proof of this. Also, the series gave new life to nearly forgotten characters like the Clock King. The best example of dramatic change is Mr. Freeze; Batman: TAS turned him from a clichéd mad scientist with a gimmick for cold, to a tragic figure whose frigid exterior hides a doomed love and a cold vindictive fury. Part of the tragedy is mimicked later in the plot of the live movie Batman and Robin, although much of the drama was lost with the resurrection of the mad scientist image. The most famous of the series' innovations is the Joker's hapless assistant, Harley Quinn, who became so popular that DC later added her to the mainstream Batman comics.

This series became a cornerstone of the Warner Brothers' animation department, which became one of the top producers of television animation and sparked a large franchise of similar TV adaptations of DC Comics characters.

[edit] Influence

This series had a profound influence on the superhero animated genre in that it set a higher standard of writing and animation quality. For example, the original television series adaptation of X-Men which premiered a few months after Batman featured animation that was typical of the artistic standards in superhero animated series. However, several years after Batman became a major television success, another series, X-Men: Evolution was produced, which emulated the Warner Brothers animated series's simplified graphics style (the series was also produced by Warner Brothers). In addition, the success of Batman encouraged The Walt Disney Company management to proceed with their own series, Gargoyles, which strove for the same sophistication as the competition and became a cult favorite in its own right.

Additionally, B:TAS was one of the first truly "serious" American on-going animated series in some time. Prior to that, most animated fare had been lighthearted and bright, even if it was action oriented. B:TAS brought a darkness and seriousness to animation that was almost unheard of at the time, and was more akin to an animated drama than a "cartoon", per se. The storylines dealt with more mature themes, there was no slapstick, although some episodes were touched with sophisticated humor, and the soundtrack itself was more akin to a film soundtrack (owing in part, no doubt, to the desire to make it have a similar feel to the Danny Elfman score of the two Burton films). The animation quality itself tended to be much smoother, with a higher framerate than the vast majority of animated series prior to its premiere.