Batman

The Batman follows Bruce Wayne who's in his third year of his career as masked crimefighter "The Batman" whose public presence is that of an urban legend. As we follow a relatively green Batman in his early days we see his first encounters with noted villains, the development of his relationship with the Gotham Police force from public enemy number one to alliance and even witness the origins of his partnerships with Batgirl and Robin.

Running from 2004 to 2008, The Batman was in a unique situation as it was the first Batman related show to be made that would not be related to the DC animated universe or the Kevin Conroy portrayal of Batman that had been the standard since his debut in 1992. The show featured a radical departure in art design with Jeff Matsuda of Jackie Chan adventures forgoing the traditional noir-ish art deco approach in favor of a more "Americanime" design that had been popularized through shows such as Jackie Chan Adventures and Cartoon Network's Teen Titans series. Needless to say The Batman sparked the ire of many fans who didn't appreciate the departure from the previous decade's standards established for the Dark Knight (ignoring the artistic departures in Batman TAS season 4, but I digress) and the show has something of a mixed reputation because of that. While I don't think the show is worthy of most of the derision it's received, I do acknowledge it has flaws that have a tendency to make themselves noticed.

As the show begins in its first season, it's very much a reintroduction to the characters and lore. As opposed to the Batman of Batman TAS who already had a Robin sidekick who was late high school or early college aged, the Batman of The Batman is relatively new to the world of crimefighting often having to work around the police instead of with them and avoiding media and public attention when possible. The reintroductions of various villains are where the series begins to stumble. Because the show now focuses on Bruce/Batman's ongoing growth in conjunction with typical "villain of the week" stories, The Batman has a tendency to truncate villain introductions and arcs for single episode storylines. Some villains don't even get an introduction such as a rather overdesigned character called Gearhead, and others seem to have undergone change simply for the sake of change. Easily the biggest downgrade of the series is the character of Mr. Freeze who in TAS was a tragic figure who spoke eloquently and conveyed a mixture of rage and despair that made him one of the most rich characters on the show. Mr. Freeze in The Batman is now a generic thuggish bankrobber who makes ice puns in a deep gravely voice and dresses like a pro wrestler. This results in Mr. Freeze being one of the most boring characters on the show and feels like it was done solely for the sake of not inviting comparisons to TAS. On the one hand I understand why they did this, but on the other they took a well-constructed character archetype and replaced it with nothing. I'm not opposed to different interpretations of the Character of Mr. Freeze. George Sander's humorous interpretation of the character from the 60s Batman show was silly but still had a level of class that made the character engaging. Here Mr. Freeze felt like one of the generic goons from the show given a voice and ice powers. Kevin Michael Richardson's Joker was also a sticking point for me (but for other reasons I'll get to). Not only do I not like the design, but Richardson's heavy voice doesn't feel like it fits with Joker's madcap delivery style and feels grating. But even taking aside my dislike for the show's interpretation of Joker, the series used Joker way too much. Of the 65 episodes made of The Batman, a little over 20 of them feature Joker or are related to Joker. In comparison TAS consisted of 85 episodes and used Joker 15 times. Joker is a good villain, but when you over rely on one particular villain it ends up leaving your show feeling very repetitive.

The visuals of the show are also rather mixed. While the color palette is more diverse going for a richer display of colors for Gotham than the red and black of the previous series, the show diverges from the more grounded aesthetic of TAS in favor of more exaggerated character designs. For the most part the style works reasonably well and is unintrusive, but there are notable missteps taken. Joker in The Batman doesn't have the style of the TAS Joker and instead of being a funhouse mirror interpretation of comedians like Jerry Lewis and Don Rickles, Joker in this series has an overdesigned "deranged" aesthetic of a straight jacket, long hair, an overly angular face, and bare feet. Riddler has a similar issue, while I like Robert Englund as the voice of Riddler his androgynous figure with a costume based heavily on Marilyn Manson just feels at odds with the voice and the character. It's not unthinkable that a Marilyn Manson inspired costume could work for some of Batman's Rogue's Gallery, but it would need to be someone like Scarecrow or Anarky who have a sense of theatricality to their characters. Riddler isn't "theatrical" he's a know it all who prides on "knowing it all" so the costuming choice doesn't mesh with the character.

With the criticisms out of the way, we can get to the real meat of the show which is the continuing plot threads. While Batman TAS was and remains a good show, it cannot be overlooked that the show was mainly designed in mind with the stories being (relatively) stand alone adventures that didn't require any particular viewing order. The Batman takes a different approach and while the episodes don't work as well as stand alones they do work as parts of a greater whole telling season and multi season long arcs that culminate in satisfying crescendos. Each season for the most part focuses on continuing characters and plot threads who see some level of development for a later payoff. This is where The Batman's strength lies as a TV show, it feels like there's movement of something bigger in the background even if the villain of the week doesn't lead to much satisfaction. We see Bruce/Batman grow in his relationships with his friend/mentor Alfred, see him develop relationships with members of the police during his time as a wanted fugitive laying the groundwork for cementing their partnership, and we see his taking on new partners and becoming less of a brooding figure of myth and more a symbol of un relenting justice for those who've lost hope of getting it. Even some villains (such as Clayface and Hugo Strange) are introduced better here than in TAS because they're established over several seasons worth of development which makes their payoff all the more satisfying. I think in a way this boils down to the main criticism of this show which I also think is it's biggest asset that sets it apart: The Batman is about what it says, The Batman and his growth as a person and hero and this means there's less time devoted to establishing the villains and giving them depth (at least in villain of the week format).

The Batman is a complicated show. It stumbles in many areas (especially in comparison to TAS), but it also succeeds in many other areas not previously explored by giving us an overarching narrative that felt like it was building characters and situations. The development wasn't always as smooth as it could've been, but the show did find a unique approach to the characters and lore that I do think makes it worth a viewing. Like pop cultures staples of James Bond, Godzilla, The Universal Monsters, and too many others to mention, with a historied character like Batman there have been many interpretations of the character and I'm sure there'll be many more to come. This isn't the "definitive" Batman, but it's still a unique approach that deserves to be looked at for what it is, a different approach to classic material.