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Batman: The Animated Series is best Batman.

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HK-47 said:
The one problem I have with TAS and Batman in general is none of the villains can ever achieve rehabilitation. And they tease this so much in Batman media its kinda getting not just boring but frustrating.
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Off the top of my head, Ivy, Harley, Penguin, Clayface, Harvey, Freeze, and Ventriloquist all made varying attempts to go straight, but fate intervened : (
 
Moll's Two-Face and Glover's Riddler are underappreciated. They were great!
 
B-Dubs said:
The episode where Harley tried to go straight was amazing.
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I have a soft spot for the episode where Penguin falls for the socialite and totally swears off a life of crime now that he's found true love, only to find that she was hanging out with him to be the unwitting butt of jokes at her parties.
 
HK-47 said:
The one problem I have with TAS and Batman in general is none of the villains can ever achieve rehabilitation. And they tease this so much in Batman media its kinda getting not just boring but frustrating.
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The Ventriloquist totally is rehabilitated... He straight up kills Scarface for good.

Other villains have made attempts. Harley has had the most human moments, and I guess by the end of the Batman Beyond movie, you see she has broken free and moved on.
 
Guzim said:
"I had a bad day too... once." :'(
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Oh man that still gets me. It manages to be sad and funny all at the same time, it was just such a great moment. Dick's face is priceless.

Mike M said:
I have a soft spot for the episode where Penguin falls for the socialite and totally swears off a life of crime now that he's found true love, only to find that she was hanging out with him to be the unwitting butt of jokes at her parties.
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Oh man, I completely forgot about that one. I seem to remember it being a comic story though, I could be wrong though.

Remember the card game between Two-face, Joker, Ivy and Crock? The ending to that one was really great.
 
B-Dubs said:
Remember the card game between Two-face, Joker, Ivy and Crock? The ending to that one was really great.
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Almost Got 'Em is high art in a series that is 90% hits. Croc's story was great.

Croc: "MY TURN! There I was, holed up in a canyon, when Batman came snooping around..."

*awkward pause*

Ivy (I think): "So what'd you do?"

Croc: "I THREW A ROCK AT HIM!"

*awkward pause*

Ivy: "So Harv, what'd they do with the giant coin?"

Two Face: "They actually let him keep it."

Croc: "...it was a big rock..."
 
Mike M said:
Almost Got 'Em is high art in a series that is 90% hits. Croc's story was great.

Croc: "MY TURN! There I was, holed up in a canyon, when Batman came snooping around..."

*awkward pause*

Ivy (I think): "So what'd you do?"

Croc: "I THREW A ROCK AT HIM!"

*awkward pause*

Ivy: "So Harv, what'd they do with the giant coin?"

Two Face: "They actually let him keep it."

Croc: "...it was a big rock..."
Click to expand...

It's even better when you consider what happens after Joker tells his story.
 
Season 1 of Batman Beyond was not good at all. It didn't pick up until the last few episodes, but the remaining seasons are on par with TAS. I struggled to get through that first season. I actually tried it about 2 years ago and just stopped. Once it popped back up on Netflix, I tried it again and was very pleased with how the show turned out.
 
plagiarize said:
Batman Beyond > Batman TAS. By a teeny tiny bit.

And no, that so called finale they did to it in Justice League Unlimited isn't part of the show. It isn't part of my cannon either. Easily the worst thing in the Diniverse that. They totally destroyed Terry McGuiness in that. Inexcusable.
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I didn't see all the episodes for Beyond but what did they do to Terry?
 
VanillaCakeIsBurning said:
I didn't see all the episodes for Beyond but what did they do to Terry?
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There was a JL episode that retconned him considerably.
The lady in charge of STAR Labs realized that the world would always need a Batman, but Batman was just an ordinary human being who would inevitably die, so they started the Batman Beyond program where they picked out a test subject, overwrote his DNA with Batman's, and then plotted to replicate Batman's childhood trauma with his son. It got called off at the last minute, but the son underwent childhood trauma anyway, so it was a success in the end. That son, was of course, Terry. So they retconned it so that Terry is Bruce's biological son.
 
I'm not sure if I like that. Didn't he have
parents
or something in the original series? I don't remember them hinting at that (
Bruce being his dad
) at all.
 
Any of you who love Batman: TAS and haven't done so yet, watch Mask of the Phantasm. Sooooooooooooo good!!!! It was way ahead of its time, best animation ever. You're welcome.
 
Nonexistinghero said:
It's been so long since I've seen it that I don't remember it clearly. I do remember liking it a lot though. I think that "The Batman" is also excellent. I never saw it all, but what I did see was great. I need to watch the rest of it some time.
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I will forever have a firm place in my heart for the Dini/Timm TAS until I die but I really liked "The Batman", especially the first season's intro music and credits sequence. Really dug their versions of the villains and the risks they took with character canon. Shame it didn't last long and wasn't better received. Guess Brave and the Bold was more palatable to the masses.
 
RaidenZR said:
I will forever have a firm place in my heart for the Dini/Timm TAS until I die but I really liked "The Batman", especially the first season's intro music and credits sequence. Really dug their versions of the villains and the risks they took with character canon. Shame it didn't last long and wasn't better received. Guess Brave and the Bold was more palatable to the masses.
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My issue with THE Batman is that the episodes ranged from being as mature as TAS, and telling good stories as TAS, but then had some silly ass episodes (like the one with Joker on a train or something)? The potential was there for it to be just as good, but it wasn't consistent. Some villains lost thier motivations in this show, too (MR.FREEZE). Also, the episodes seem to run through really fast, but that might just be me.

Also, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who was pleasantly surprised by the awfully titled The Batman vs. Dracula. So good.
 
Mike M said:
Almost Got 'Em is high art in a series that is 90% hits. Croc's story was great.

Croc: "MY TURN! There I was, holed up in a canyon, when Batman came snooping around..."

*awkward pause*

Ivy (I think): "So what'd you do?"

Croc: "I THREW A ROCK AT HIM!"

*awkward pause*

Ivy: "So Harv, what'd they do with the giant coin?"

Two Face: "They actually let him keep it."

Croc: "...it was a big rock..."
Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VXpMIasxWU

:D
 
Why would anyone think The Batman vs Dracula WOULDN'T be good? It's Batman. And Dracula. Sounds awesome from the start to me.
 
Platy said:
I actualy like the redesigns a lot, SPECIALY the bat family !

It might have to do with my favorite episodes (over the edge is a top one) having the redesign.

1XSDnnN.jpg


Dat sleek design, the non vibrant yellow colors, the simplicity of the form and the smaller pallete bordering a pixel art.

97-98 is BEAUTIFUL
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I agree that 97-98 is the best. There was actually one flashback in an episode before the redesign where Batman didn't have the yellow shield. I can't remember which episode, but I remember he jumped on a car or something. I think it was one of the mafia focused ones.

But TAS is the Batman I grew up with and remains extremely influential. I'm sad we don't get more Timm/Dini stuff. Some of the DC Animated Films are pretty good... but it's just not the same.
 
Am I the only one that likes Mystery of the Batwoman? I think it was pretty quality stuff and a nice tie in to what would become the Beyond suit.
 
strobogo said:
Am I the only one that likes Mystery of the Batwoman? I think it was pretty quality stuff and a nice tie in to what would become the Beyond suit.
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I like it. It's weaker than Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker, but it's a decent watch. Even the worst of B:TAS is more watchable than a lot of other stuff.

Except I've Got Batman In My Basement. Man, was that episode a drag.
 
Outside of the comics? Yeah, Best Batman. Although I do like the Batman from the Justice League series. He was more of a dick in those IMO.

I am sick of fans always wanting Conroy to voice him in everything Batman related though. The guy was perfect but he had his time. Give it to other people to play around with the character.
 
VanillaCakeIsBurning said:
I'm not sure if I like that. Didn't he have
parents
or something in the original series? I don't remember them hinting at that (
Bruce being his dad
) at all.
Click to expand...

Terry's
dad dies in the first episode (I think), and while they don't mention it explicitly (it was a retcon after all), there are many instances when Terry and others mention that Bruce is like his surrogate father.
 
This show and Batman Beyond honestly made me a huge fan of Batman. Loved it as a kid, and recently watched through it all on DVD. Awesome series.
 
Robin: You were right, y'know, not bringing me along. You knew I'd take it too personally.

Batman: It wasn't that, Robin. It wasn't that at all. Zucco's taken so much, caused you so much pain. I couldn't stand the thought that he might... take you, too.
 
Morrison's Batman (starting with JLA) > any Batman. His Batman was practically the inspiration for the Batman we see in JL/JLU. But then, I'm not sure people saying animated > comics have even read much of the latter.

Dini comics were not all that good.
 
Rockandrollclown said:
I can honestly say that they painted a sympathetic enough picture of Mr Freeze that I could really never get behind Batman trying to stop him.
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Yep, he's always been one of my top Batman villains since then. Was such a shame what they did to the character in the movies. I hope he appears in the new movies when they get around to make them because I think he deserves his real moment in the spotlight. It would make for a very interesting movie dynamic. A Freeze focused movie could explore a lot of things in the Batman universe and have the audience question some things about Batman and his methods. As well as what qualifies as a villain and if you truly want this person beaten at the end of the film because of the tragedy surrounding his life and what is driving his actions.
 
+1 for Mask of the Phantasm.

I thought that TDKR was pretty rubbish. Love the comic but it hasn't aged super well and the animation in the film was quite poor.

I liked Year One better as far as comic adaptations go.
 
It lead the way for some of my favourite television but I think the pacing and writing is pretty weak in the first three seasons (bar Phantasm of course) The season four shake up really changed the tone in all the right ways, having Batman not always being right was a great start to making it more interesting. Then tying it to Beyond and Superman which led to Justice League and JLU, which is by far the best thing they have ever done.

I do like the original stuff but it's not on the same level of what came later.
 
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