THE BATMAN TV SERIES SEASON ONE(2004):
These episodes are NOT in airing order!!
This stars, well, no one anyone ever heard of!! LOL!!! Anyway,
while the main actors are nobodies, this does have some pretty
good actors in it: the original Batman - Adam West, Ron Perlman
(Hellboy), Robert Englund(Freddy in the Nightmare On Elm Street
movies), Frank Gorshin(The original Riddler), Louis Gossett Jr.
(Lucius Fox), Jerry O'Connell(Sliders), Kevin Conroy(The original
animated voice of Batman!), Mark Hamill(Star Wars) & Brooke
Shields(Pretty Baby)!!
Gone are Robin, Batgirl & Commissioner Gordon!! And I'm not
impressed by the two cops that hound Batman/Bruce Wayne,
one being a friend of Bruce's, and the other with an apparent
ax to grind!! At least they kept Alfred, although I'm not real
impressed with they way they are representing him here!!
Batman has a device that tells him when there's trouble in
Gotham, but no explanation of who's sending him the
messages!!
I also don't care for the types of enemies he faces here, as
they are more of the type you would see taking on Superman!!
One more thing, I'm not really crazy with the artwork in this!!
It almost looks like it was made for really young children, but
the stories and the violence are not really for the young!!
DISC 1:
EPISODE 1: THE BAT IN THE BELFRY(Sept. 11, 2004):
This first episode deals with the Joker and his debut in Gotham!
I'm not really impressed so far with the choice of voice actors
in this so far!! Perhaps they'll grow on me, but not sure!! B+
EPISODE 2: TRACTION(Sept. 25, 2004):
This one shows us Bane's first appearance, and he's been hired
by thugs of Gotham to get rid of Batman!! He does a lot of damage
to Batman, and Batman resorts to a "Bat-Bot"!!!! B+
EPISODE 3: CALL OF THE COBBLEPOT(Sept. 18, 2004):
Ozzy Cobblepot makes his debut in this series!! Not known as
the Penguin yet, he crashed a charity event put on by Bruce Wayne!!
There's been a rash of thefts which appear to be done by birds,
and when Batman goes out to keep an eye on things, he's attacked
by two of Cobblepot's side kicks!! He puts two and two together and
gets - The Penguin!! B
EPISODE 4: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE BAT(Oct. 30, 2004):
The cops are lead to Wayne Enterprises by a herd of bats which
flock to the office!! A certain Dr. Langstrom is doing research on
hearing as his niece has gone deaf after having measles, and he's
desperately searching for a cure!!! Or so he says!!!! Enter - The
Man-Bat!! A-
EPISODE 5: THE BIG CHILL(Nov. 6, 2004):
An iceberg in Gotham harbor? And in the summer's sweltering heat?
It can only mean one thing: Mr. Freeze is here!! He's after ice, the
kind that costs a fortune!! And Batman is out to stop him!! A
EPISODE 6: THE CAT AND THE BAT(Oct. 2, 2004):
Salina Kyle makes her first appearance here, as Catwoman!! And
after she tries to pull a caper, Batman and the cops aren't the
only ones after her!! A
EPISODE 7: THE BIG HEAT(Nov. 13, 2004):
This has the first appearance of Adam West(Batman[1966]) as
Mayor Grange!! A dude calling himself Firefly is going around town
and doing, well a lot of damage with fire! And on a side note
here, Bruce Wayne is trying to secure a bid on rebuilding the
children's hospital, but gets out maneuvered by a company
called Gothcorp!! As you would expect, the two story lines
come together eventually!! A-
EPISODE 8: Q & A(Nov. 20, 2004):
A dude calling himself Cluemaster is out after revenge on those
that he blames for his losing on a game show!! B+
DISC 2:
EPISODE 9: BIG DUMMY(Nov. 27, 2004):
Scarface is here(He was also in the earlier Batman: The Animated
Series episode "Read My Lips"), along with his ventriloquist!!
Together they are building a large device to help them to rob
the Gotham depository of all its gold!!
A side story here is about Alfred trying to hook Bruce up with an
online dating site!!! A-
EPISODE 10: TOPSY TURVY(Feb. 5, 2005):
The Joker's back and retaliating against those who put him in
Arkham!! He's entrapping them in giant cards and of course this
brings out Batman to stop him!!
Guest starring here is Henry Gibson(Best known for his work on
the TV show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, he was also on Boston
Legal along with an episode of Star Trek: DS9 ["Profit & Lace"])!! A
EPISODE 11: BIRD OF PREY(Feb. 12, 2005):
Cobblepot is back, and just when you thought he was gone forever!
And so are his playmates!! And they're all after Bat, um, Bruce Wayne!!
And to make matters worse, a television crew is hanging around Bruce
to film "A Day In The Life"!! Truly a mess!!! A
EPISODE 12: THE RUBBER FACE OF COMEDY(Apr. 30, 2005):
And we have Joker back again! This time he's come with "Joker Putty"!!
This is a liquid that turns anything it touches into, you guessed it,
putty!! And the Chief is not happy about all of these goings on, and
puts the Batman, along with any other person dressed up in town,
on his number one hit list!! Which eventually ends up pitting Bruce
against his good friend on the force, Detective Ethan Bennett!!
This actually touches on The Joker's beginnings!! And also Clayface's!!
Continued in "The Clay Face Of Tragedy"! A-
EPISODE 13: THE CLAY FACE OF TRAGEDY(May 7, 2005):
With Detective Bennett now affected by the Joker putty, he's
been transformed into Clayface!! And Clayface is out after revenge
against those he blames for making him the way he is!! A
SPECIALS:
DISC 2:
NEW LOOK, NEW DIRECTION, NEW KNIGHT:
A discussion of the new animated Batman series and how it
differs from the others! With input from: Duane Capizzi(Supervising
Producer/Story Editor), Jeff Matsuda(Producer/Art Director),
Sander Schwartz(President of Warner Bros. Animation) & Michael
Goguen(Supervising Producer)!
BUILDING THE BATMAN:
Designing the The Batman figures and vehicles! With input
from: John Handy(Mattel Sr. Vice President of Design), David
Wolfram(Mattel Sr. Mgr. of Boys Action Design), Steed Sun
(Mattel Staff Designer, Boys Action Design), Ruben Martinez
(Mattel Designer, Boys Action Design), Sean Olmos(Mattel
Sculptor), Manson Cheung(Mattel Digital Analog Sculptor),
Peter Homernbrink(Mattel Staff Engineer) & Cathy Thornburn
(Mattel Producer, Sound Design Studio)! Kinda dorky!!
GOTHAM PD CASE FILES: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL:
A short vignette about the villains and heroes of
Gotham City!!
THE BATMAN JUNIOR DETECTIVE EXAM - LEVEL 2!
Some questions on the series!! Questions asked by
Batman!
THE BATMAN JUNIOR DETECTIVE CHALLENGE!
Again, a few questions about Batman!! Alfred presents
the questions here!
THE BIG CHILL:
A game about Mr. Freeze!
From an IMDb.com customer
This is one of my all time favorite cartoon shows.
The two elements that made up the show had plenty
of action and just enough violence to keep you
interested. And even though it was violent, I still
turned out to be a normal adult and not a psychotic
killer. Too bad that parents groups thought that it
was too violent, or my generation would have been
spared such shows as Shazam, Isis and Super
Friends. - Brian Washington (Sargebri@att.net