batman animated series | the m0vie blog

Justice League Unlimited – Panic in the Sky (Review)

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Darren

This September marks the twentieth anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series, and the birth of the shared DC animated universe that would eventually expand to present one of the most comprehensive and thorough explorations of a comic book mythology in any medium. To celebrate, we’re going back into the past and looking at some classic episodes.

Panic in the Sky is an interesting episode, essentially serving as the climax of the conflict between the Justice League and Cadmus. Divided We Fall would focus more tightly on the League confronting Brainiac and Luthor, with an after-thought given to the question of their authority to wield such power. Panic in the Sky, as such, feels a bit torn between positioning all the players (“the big seven”) for that final confrontation, while offering the inevitable conflict between the Justice League and the United States government. As such, it’s really one big extended fight sequence, allowing McDuffie to avoid some of the more complex and compelling issues he’d raised. Still, it’s an effective episode of the show, a fun confrontation, and an illustration of just how skilled McDuffie is at structuring these gigantic arcs with so many plots and characters in the air.

Power Girl Power…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: animation, art, batman, batman animated series, Cadmus, comic book, Comics, dc animated universe, green lantern, justice league, justice league unlimited, lex luthor, paul dini, Steel, superman, Superman Animated Series, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Justice League Unlimited – Flashpoint (Review)

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Darren

While Question Authority kicked off this four-part climax to the arc that had been building through the first season of Justice League Unlimited, it’s Flashpoint that really serves to bring things into focus. Question Authority had been told mostly from the point of view of the Question, an outsider looking in – but Flashpoint explores the consequences of this inevitable conflict for the core of the Justice League. It’s amazing just how thoroughly and carefully writer Dwayne McDuffie was able to explore the concept of the superhero in this cynical post-9/11 world. While Divided We Fall would sidestep quite a few of the issues raised, I’m quite impressed to see them even broached in a half-hour cartoon action series.

All fired up…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: alan moore, animation, art, batman, batman animated series, Captain Atom, christopher reeve, comic book, Comics, dc animated universe, dc comic, dc comics, Dwayne McDuffie, green arrow, justice league, paul dini, supergirl, superman, United States | 6 Comments »

Justice League Unlimited – Question Authority (Review)

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Darren

If Paul Dini’s writing can be said to evoke the best of Batman: The Animated Series, Dwayne McDuffie’s work on Justice League Unlimited fills the same niche. Dini’s scripts tended to generate pathos and tragedy for the massive and varied supporting cast of Gotham City, offering insightful character studies about the broken denizens of Batman’s world. McDuffie’s Justice League work offers a thoughtful and modern examination of traditional characters, often finding moments of character amid epic storylines built around exploring the tapestry of this shared universe. While the late McDuffie was responsible for quite a few memorable episodes of the show, it’s fair to argue that the four-episode climax of Justice League Unlimited‘s “Cadmus” arc capture those strengths almost perfectly – playing to his skills as well as Heart of Ice played to Dini’s.

Luthor’s got a gun…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: animation, art, batman, batman animated series, comic book, Comics, dc animated universe, Dwayne McDuffie, gotham city, justice league, justice league unlimited, lex luthor, Lois, Mantis, McDuffie, paul dini, rorschach, Steve Ditko, superman | 1 Comment »

Batman Beyond – Ascension (Review)

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Darren

Batman Beyond worked quite hard to establish its own identity, as distinct from Batman: The Animated Series. Sure, occasionally familiar villains and characters would make an appearance, and Terry had a fair share of his bed guys who were at least partially inspired by Z-list Batman baddies, but Batman Beyond managed to firmly establish itself as its own thing over its first season. Ascension is a finale that wraps up narrative threads that have been building since Rebirth, giving Terry some measure of emotional closure and also tying up some loose ends that have been dangling since the show began.

Not quite the healthiest form of green energy…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: art, batman, batman animated series, Batman Beyond, Bruce, Christopher Nolan, comic book, Comics, dc animated universe, Derek Power, Freeze, justice league unlimited, Terry | Leave a comment »

Batman Beyond – Meltdown (Review)

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Darren

I was less than impressed with Victor Fries’ last appearance on Batman: The Animated Series in Cold Comfort, written by Hilary J. Bader. So I’ll admit to being quite surprised when she produced the story for Meltdown, a fairly effective conclusion to Mister Freeze’s character arc. Perhaps it’s a result of the bold new setting, or perhaps Alan Burnett’s work on the teleplay, but Meltdown does a rather excellent job wrapping up all sorts of loose ends and fairly effectively using Freeze as an unlikely, yet effective, counterpart to Bruce Wayne.

He never lost his head, and he always kept his cool…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: art, batman, batman animated series, Batman Beyond, Bruce, bruce wayne, Christopher Nolan, comic book, dc animated universe, Freeze, Michael Ansara, Nora Fries, paul dini | 2 Comments »

The Adventures of Batman & Robin – Showdown (Review)

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Darren

Bruce Timm’s animated DC universe introduced me to a wealth of comic book characters I would never have encountered otherwise. While I was familiar with most of Batman’s iconic selection of bad guys, The Demon’s Quest introduced me to Ra’s Al Ghul. Later on, you could see Superman: The Animated Series making a point to introduce other iconic characters like the Flash or Green Lantern. However, Batman: The Animated Series also did its shared of universe-building. While Zatanna introduced the magician as a co-star with Bruce, Showdown is notable for introducing another DC hero with whom Bruce never directly interacts.

Showdownworks superbly as an introduction to the character of Jonah Hex. It certainly works much better than the recent feature film carrying the character’s name.

He’s a sharp one…

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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: Al Ghul, art, batman, batman animated series, Bruce, Brucetimm, Christopher Nolan, comic book, Dark Knight Rises, dc animated universe, Freeze, jonah hex, justice league unlimited, paul dini, robin | 2 Comments »

Superman: The Animated Series – Apokolips… Now! (Parts 1 & 2) (Review)

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Darren

It seems fair enough to concede that Superman doesn’t really have the strongest selection of bad guys ever invented for a comic book character. You can definitely see that in the production of Superman: The Animated Series. While the writers did the best with the material at hand, you get a sense that they knew they didn’t have as many characters to play with as they did on Batman: The Animated Series. So they did two things to help compensate for this fact. The first thing was the decision to structure very clear character arcs for big bad guys like Luthor or Brainiac, where it becomes clear the audience can’t watch the series out of order. The second thing, and the one most relevant to this review, was the decision to incorporate Jack Kirby’s Fourth World mythos into the series.

Feel the power of the Darkseid…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: batman, batman animated series, Bruno Mannheim, crime, Dan, Dan Turpin, darkseid, dc animated universe, Earth, FourthWorld, JackKirby, Maggie Sawyer, Mannheim, metropolis, superman, Theft, Turpin | Leave a comment »

Batman: The Animated Series – Dreams in Darkness (Review)

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Darren

One of the fascinating things about Batman: The Animated Series, apart from the shrewd writing, the careful character development and the skilled animation, was just how well it worked within the grand tapestry of the Batman mythos. The writers would frequently take ideas and concepts scattered across the breadth of the character’s rich publication history, tweak and update them for the small screen, and then go on to rework the concepts for the next generation of writers and creators working on the character.

Dreams in Darkness feels like the perfect example of this chain approach to reworking concepts and characters. It’s very clearly inspired by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle’s Shadow of the Bat story The Last Arkham, but it went on to be a major and obvious influence on Batman Begins. It’s an interesting perpetual character cycle, where the character is constantly renewed and reinvigorated by successive adaptations.

We all go a little mad some times…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Alan Grant, Arkham, batman, batman animated series, batman begins, Christopher Nolan, ChristopherNolan, dark knight returns, Dark Knight Rises, DarkKnight Rises, frank miller, joker, List of Batman animated episodes, paul dini, robin | 2 Comments »

Batman: The Animated Series – Perchance to Dream (Review)

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Darren

Given how much care Batman: The Animated Series put into crafting and caring for the Caped Crusader’s iconic selection of bad guys, it’s often easy to overlook just how skilfully the series handled its central character. Batman has frequently been accused of being far less interesting than his costumed adversaries – particularly in Batman and Batman Returns – so it’s reassuring to note that Bruce Tim and his stable of writers had a very firm grasp on the character of Gotham’s Dark Knight. Perchance to Dream is one of the stories that offers perhaps the greatest insight into who Bruce Wayne is and what he wants. And, perhaps, why he could never have it.

Sweet dreams…

Note: This review contains spoilers. Given the episode aired twenty years ago, I consider it fair game. If you haven’t seen it already, please feel free to come back when you have. It is very good.

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: alfred, alfred pennyworth, batman, batman animated series, Bruce, bruce wayne, Christopher Nolan, dark knight returns, Dark Knight Rises, dc animated universe, FrankMiller, Hatter, Lucius Fox, robin, Selina, superman, thomas wayne, Warner Bros, Wayne Enterprise, Wayne Enterprises | 4 Comments »

Superman: The Animated Series – The Demon Reborn (Review)

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Darren

I’m generally not a fan of excessive continuity in comic book storytelling. I find it insular and exclusive. One shouldn’t need to pick up a twenty-part crossover involving books they’ve never heard of in order to read a story featuring an iconic character, and one shouldn’t feel left out because they weren’t reading comics written twenty years ago receiving an obscure but vital reference in this month’s issue. That said, I do think there’s an element of fun that comes from the idea of all these pulp characters sharing the same fictional space. It allows for a curious mixing and matching of archetypes and ideas, turning old matches into something a bit more exotic. The Demon Reborn finds Superman facing off against Ra’s Al Ghul, and the result is quite fascinating.