Take out the sidekicks & raccoons, and it would have been as good as The Animated Series from the 90s. This series had some serious versions of the Rogue's Gallery that are even superior to those in TAS (The Animated Series). The stories were mostly well done with the exception of the silliness to get by "standards & practices" nonsense. But the show always seemed rushed, each change or addition of character seemed as if it was being forced through, which is too bad, it was a strong show. Redone and extended, several would make excellent feature length versions. The entire series is now available on Blue-Ray.
They skipped straight into the 3rd year of Bruce's time as Batman and instantly started introducing the Rogues Gallery for each episode, another way it felt rushed and forced, even though the stories were very strong. Probably wouldn't have been better if they spread it out a bit.
One of the major changes that was made was in the shows theme song and, even though it was a great tribute to the 1966 classic Adam West show, it was a mistake to replace the first theme that was written by, U2's, The Edge and gave the show a good grit to it. The characters in the show were strong and some were even better than those of TAS, with some tweaking, it could have been a huge success, with a bit of an alternate worlds feel to it, but they tried to remake TAS and Unlimited instead of something that could have really stood on it's own.
Alfred was a good character on the show but I wish they would have settled more on how to portray him, sometimes he was very strong and other times, not so much, I feel that a better backstory could have made him a better part of the stories, rather than just being there to fix Bruce up and keep the house.
In a one-off movie, that was never once referenced in the series, this Batman took on Dracula, at the time, it was a bit corny and unbelievable for the character at such an early time, but after the series, it was easier to take seriously from the Batman standpoint. The lead up should have been part of the show, even if only as flashbacks from certain characters, it would have had more believability at the time and given more time for story in the film itself. The screenplay for the film was excellent in most of its plots except for a Batman with such limited experience with powered foes, especially the Prince of Darkness himself. They may have done it to try and give this Batman more credibility but that backfired and really left a whole with no follow up on the relationship with Vikki Vale at all. Tying it into the series would have been far better.
First for the show itself, is that they should have never brought in Batgirl and Robin, although they had some good humor moments, it made the show to juvenile and drug it down more then it picked it up. Both of them were just too young and acted that way, and not in the classic sense but more like today's brats and it wasn't a good role model style for either of them. Don't get me wrong, they had a few good episodes but didn't really need to be part of the show, other than some exec's attempt to program to a younger audience and it brought the show down, especially in its potential to cut new ground for an animated Batman.
The character of Ethan Bennett and the first Clayface could have been a great ally to the Bat. He and Bruce had been friends since they were kids, the bond was already there but because he wasn't an established character, they didn't seem to want to take risks with a new twist on the character. His time as a cop could have been extended by one more season before the became Clayface. Although I'd have had him disappear for a couple of seasons then turn up later as part of the League. Could have even had a one season spinoff of him in other places doing the hero thing.
After Ethan was turned into Clayface, his partner, Ellen Yen (who at one time was all gung-ho to get the Batman arrested) became a great ally and she should have stayed, maybe made Commissioner at some point, being the Bats inside person in the Gotham Police Department, that would have been a great swerve away from the traditional version of the Batman world. Unfortunately after Batgirl showed up, Lt Yet went MIA from the rest of the show, which was a major mistake after giving her a great buildup to becoming the Bat's ally in the department.
One character that made absolutely no sense at all from his first appearance was, Chief Angel Rojas, the officer in charge of the precinct that Bennett and Yen reported to. At best he was bad comic relief as each time he was on the screen you wondered how bad the department was that this guy even made the force, let alone became a bureau chief. The man had absolutely no brains or detective skills at all, none, he is the perfect example of a wasted character space. Obviously meant to be a comedy speed bump, he was really just a walking plot hole that went absolutely nowhere.
Another great ally they could have/should have turned quicker was, Cat Woman, which was a very strong and playful version of the character, it stuck a lot to the core of the character and the look was awesome. She was strong and confident, not as back and fourth as the one from TAS, this one had her place and she was good in it, she would have made a great ally on a long term basis and would have pulled off the romance part a lot better then others before.
Another good looking character for the series was Manbat, but unlike others, the backstory on this one wasn't as good as in TAS, this was just another mad scientist but the Manbat character looked awesome and was a bit sympathetic in that form away from his human form. When Mothman changed into the giant moth creature, they should have turned Manbat after showing that his transformation was now permanent, as a new ally to Batman.
As far as villains go, they went with Mr. Freeze as the long term foe for this Batman and it really worked well, the episode "Artifacts" is arguably one of the best animated episodes of Batman in any series. This Freeze had a weak backstory, a two part episode developing the criminal before Freeze would have been better, but as Freeze he was one of the strongest villains ever, he didn't have any sympathy to his character at all, just a criminal out for himself alone, nothing else, his heart was cold as ice already, the freeze made him into a completely heartless adversary. One of the biggest mistakes they made with this one was making him a hired thug for Luthor in the Superman episode, waste of the character and his build.
In Batman's more famous foe, The Joker here was much more a constant thorn rather than an intellectual opponent, a maniacal and very physical one, this Joker could fight. Very little was given in the backstory of this one, but he had fallen into a vat of something, but not by Batman like in so many others. He first shows up after breaking himself into Arkham Asylum. The voice fit the look perfectly, it was outrageous and loud, as were his actions. They could have easily redone the Joker Fish story with this version and it might have come off better than the one in TAS, and that's one of the best episodes of that show, which is saying something. This Joker was more accurate in his maniacal ways and unpredictability but not as keen a mind as the original character, but what he lacked there, he made up for in physical combat against Batman. This Joker also was almost always barefoot, which gave him a wilder more untamed manner, it fit well. There were also a lot of Joker episodes that felt very forced into the series, as if they were trying to force him as the main villain, it really got awkward.
The Penguin in this series was also very physical and well trained, they established early that he's spent a great deal of time in "the Orient" (one of the last uses of that term before it stopped being used for brainless PC reasons). With him he had two deadly Geisha Girls, with big razor sharp knives and mad fighting skills. This Penguin also had a mad obsession with his family name and reputation but always took himself down when he'd tried to use modern lingo like from some rap video. A bit more stuffiness, rather than that modern foolishness, would have done the character more good. His stories of controlling birds was excellent and using them in his crimes and protection was a step up from TAS version, but in TAS version he was a "legit" businessman with a club, rather than abandoned buildings or run down mansions.
With one guy that took a major step up from TAS was, Killer Croc, instead of a dumb freak, we got a former special ops soldier who had volunteered for some "special projects" and turned his new ability to being a crime boss, and it came off really well with an amazing new look. This should have been this Batman's version of Bane, the more than physical opponent but with the mind of a very cunning and intelligent criminal and specially trained skills. In one episode, that probably should have been two, he floods the city of Gotham so he can rule "his swamp". If anyone could have, or should have broken this version of the Bat, it's this version of Croc.
Speaking of Bane, by the time this show came out, Bane wasn't as big of a deal as he once was. He had been showcased in TAS and the films associated with that universe and shown very well, but now, "cut the feeding tube" was a pretty standard bit, although they showed him well in his debut, it was kind of pointless by this time and I believe it would have been better if we'd never even seen him in this incarnation of Batman. By now, Bane just was just a "roid freak" and not that scary anymore, not to mention that he dropped down to just being mob-muscle almost instantly after his first episodes.
Another villain that should have been showcased far more here was, The Riddler, this one was a good intellectual challenge for the Bat and should have been given a lot more respect, even over Joker and Penguin. More time with this one and less Joker episodes would have been a major step up. This Riddler put riddles in his riddles and did so from a very dark but intellectual place of the mind, he came off very well. He had good skill with his staff and double question mark knives, but should have been even better, maybe even once scarring the Bat. The twist with this one, is that he never should have been caught, always having some kind of backup plan to get away, sometimes staying away for longer times, but never being caught. He also had a small sympathy factor as it was his love that betrayed him and pushed him into becoming a criminal.
The biggest standout of this series set of villains was, Dr. Hugo Strange, who started as a member of the Arkham staff and would be moved into the head of Arkham post, but it should have been drawn out longer, much longer, even past the Justice League intro. With Batman only thinking he was behind some crimes, us fans seeing his plans and work behind the scenes, but never quite able to prove it until the aid of Martian Manhunter. Along with Croc, this was the other character that was so much better than TAS version, the way the character deserved, he was truly eerie.
There were other strong villains like Ragdoll and Cluemaster, but they never really did a lot with them past their initial appearances on the show.
Firefly was far better here than on TAS, even though he had a better backstory there with being obsessed with a singing star, but was later turned into, Phosphorus and it basically ruined him for future use, unless there had been more stories before his transformation. The smarter course of action was to work the original backstory into this version, have him give up on the singer and then have Dr Blasedale become a "groupie" of his, as a nuclear physicist, she would have had a fascination with him and his work.
One character that could have been a sympathetic villain could have been, Gearhead, the cyborg criminal racer. We never got a lot of backstory on him but it could have been a good villain, given this Batman's use of computer tech on top of the gadgets. A famous Indy race car driver who, after a near fatal crash discovered he had cancer, in an attempt to save his life, he began mechanically altering his body, eventually replacing his blood with "turbo" and adrenaline like chemical that upped his need for speed and thrills. You have the body dysmorphia and addiction for the motives behind his imbalance.
Another villain with hero potential was, John Marlowe, the Everywhere Man, he developed a technology to copy himself in an unlimited number, whose copies took him prisoner and started an art stealing ring until the Batman exposed the fake. It's possible that he could have altered the device to create temporary copies that had better personality traits and occasionally come in to help when needed in extreme crisis.
In what can best be described as a Halloween episode, we got to see Solomon Grundy (or so we thought), as he rose after 150 years to wreak havoc on Gotham's elite, and if it had stayed that way it would have been a much better episode, with him simply being driven back to the swamp by the stroke of a certain hour. However it turned out to be the Bennett version of Clayface and that revelation made the great episode into a waste. It would have been far better to have brought the monster back as a threat to the city and needing help to stop him.
The one truly sympathetic soul in this worlds Rogue's Gallery has to be Arnold Wesker, The Ventriloquist, who was just an innocent entertainer who developed a split personality into, Scarface, a criminal underworld boss. Wesker was truly the man drug along down the path to crime from his mental illness. Like in TAS they did a rehabilitation episode, and like in TAS the dummy was used to drag poor Arnold back down to crime, but this time by his own doctor, Hugo Strange instead of his bosses former goons. It would have been nice to see one of Batman's foe's "cured" and on to a good life, it would have given the Bat some hope for all the work he was doing.
Lastly is the Justice League that was formed in this universe, which had been formed under Martian Manhunter with Flash, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Hal Jordan's version of Green Lantern. Finally Superman would be introduced and join the League after an adventure with Batman. This was a nice combo and their tribute to the Hall of Justice on their satellite/meteor was very cool but didn't have to go this traditional route and could have been better. Like having Bruce's friend Ethan as a good version of Clayface would be a nice twist, brought in by Manhunter to Batman's surprise.
Batman would have individual adventures with each member of the League and all were very well written. Instead of Superman, Plastic Man, Doctor Midnight, Blue Devil and Dr. Fate could have given some more story options.
Another option for this universe of Batman could have been to have The All Star Squad instead of, The Justice League. Characters like Dollman, The Ray, Star Man, Phantom Lady, Black Condor and maybe even Uncle Sam himself.
The All Star Squadron has never been part of an animated series and this would have been a great opportunity to introduce them to the masses.
Most of this group of the Rogue's Gallery seemed far more apt for the SuperMax prison rather than Arkham, not many of them had sympathetic stories behind them, and were just common crooks with flashy names and gadgets, not any real mental issues.
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