This school sees more of Batman than it does of you.
You can't even joke about this.
Understand?
It just slipped out.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Terry McGinnis might be one in a long line of young protégés
that the Dark Knight has taken on,
but the Batman of Neo-Gotham has proven
to be enduringly popular in his own right.
And yet the final episode of Batman Beyond titled "Unmasked"
wasn't even remotely a finale.
It was just a run-of-the-mill adventure.
This has left fans with a constantly lingering question.
Why wasn't Batman Beyond given a proper send off.
I've got some questions I need you to answer.
Of course, you do, boy.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Batman Beyond, created by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini,
and Alan Burnett, was the fourth show
in the DC Animated Universe.
Long before the MCU and the DCEU,
the ongoing animated continuity of DC-based comic book shows
ruled the Kids WB for close to a decade.
On paper, this show shouldn't work.
There are already five highly beloved Robins
that could work perfectly for a protégé story.
Why create a new character?
Well, the answer is simple.
Terry, not having any of the baggage of the Robins,
is a perfect audience conduit.
His fresh perspective on the world of Gotham
allowed an entire generation of fans
to discover the mysteries of the darker side of the DCAU.
The show is a wonderfully precise blend of teen drama,
emotionally raw character development,
high stakes action adventure, and the quintessential neo-noir
that everyone has come to expect from a Batman show.
Have you considered checking into Arkham
for a little R and R, doc.
Because quite frankly, you're nuts.
Fans of the show will know that the third season boasts
some of the most exciting installments in the continuing
adventures of Terry McGinnis.
Gotham's Dark Prince is pushed to the brink
in hair-raising episodes like "Out of the Past,"
the episode that features a reincarnated Ra's Al
Ghul, or the two parter "The Call,"
which showcases a new version of the Justice League.
These are especially fun due to the fact
that Batman Beyond rarely brought back characters
from Bruce Wayne's Rogue's Gallery.
However, in 2001, after just three seasons and 52 episodes,
Batman Beyond ended.
None of the fun or inventiveness that
was showcased in the previous episodes
are anywhere to be found in the final episode of Batman Beyond.
If a few more people knew your secret,
life might be a lot easier for you.
Oh, yeah.
Just like with the Diaz kid.
Remember how easy that got?
"Unmasked," the 13th episode of season 3,
follows Terry as he reveals his face to a young boy,
inadvertently making him a target
of the sinister terrorist cult Kobra.
It's a low stakes adventure of the week episode.
In fact, it wasn't even intended to be the ending of the show.
During the run of the final season,
there were some production hiccups,
and the episode was not aired on the Kids WB.
It was released on Cartoon Network close to six months
after the previous episode was aired.
The lackluster episode is an attempt
at showcasing why Terry is so guarded
with his secret identity.
It all takes place in flashback as Terry tells his best friend
Max about the one time he let his guard down and allowed
someone to see his face.
The fact that it all happens in flashback
makes it feel less than vital.
It's just not a satisfying ending to a series that
basically did the impossible.
It actually created an heir for Bruce Wayne.
Years later, the show would get a spiritual series
finale in the Justice League episode
"Epilogue," which we did an episode about.
Link in the description below.
But that still begs the question,
why didn't Beyond have a finale.
Bruce Timm had this to say.
We never actually got an official cancelation notice.
We eventually just stop making the show,
and we were all moving on to other projects and stuff.
So that's just the way it goes.
That seems a little hard to believe, doesn't it,
that they simply ran their course
and then never thought about doing a final episode?
Well, that's because it's not the whole story.
As the brain trust behind the DCAU
were wrapping up season 3 of Batman Beyond,
they were starting to plan what a season 4 could look like when
word came down from above that Cartoon Network and the WB
were giving the green light to a Justice League show.
This caused everyone involved in Beyond to pivot.
They had 52 episodes, which was the required amount
for children's daytime syndication, so as far
as the higher ups were concerned,
the show had been a success.
No need to put more money into it.
It could now begin to recoup its investment
by running in perpetuity to children of all ages.
From their perspective, the DCAU brain trust
was better allocated to be tackling
the considerably difficult challenge bringing DC's
big seven to the small screen.
Each of you bring something different to the table.
Each of US is willing to make the sacrifices a hero needs
to make even the ultimate one.
Some discussion was also had about continuing Batman Beyond
in the form of a sequel movie.
The plan for this movie would have
featured Catwoman and a recently returned
to Gotham Dick Grayson.
The climax of the film would have
been Dick confessing to Terry that the two main reasons he
left Gotham were that Bruce began dating Barbara
Gordon, something Dick viewed as a betrayal,
and the fact that Terry was secretly a clone of Bruce.
Obviously, the latter of the two plot points
was used in the Justice League episode "Epilogue."
It's a good thing that you're almost a clone of me.
The world does need a Batman, and it always will.
This sequel film never materialized
because Return of the Joker underperformed on VHS and DVD.
Batman Beyond appeared to be dead in the water with a less
than stellar send off.
But unlike so many characters, Terry
didn't get relegated to the dust-covered back issue
bins of history.
The character proved enduringly popular.
Over the course of Justice League,
Terry would appear in "Once and Future Thing--
Part 1-- Weird Western Tales," "Once and Future Thing--
Part 2-- Time Warped," and, of course, arguably the best
episode of the show "Epilogue."
Despite Batman Beyond now having a definitive send off,
the fan clamor for more Beyond episodes hasn't stopped.
At San Diego Comic-Con in a panel discussing the 20th
anniversary Blu-ray box set of Batman Beyond,
Bruce Timm talked about a continuation of the show
saying--
If this thing sells like crazy on Blu-ray,
it creates giant buzz.
That would make it more possible that it'll happen.
It's been a few years since Bruce Timm said that and still
no movement despite constant rumors of a live action Batman
Beyond film hitting somewhere within the broader
plains of the DC Universe.
It's a real testament to the strength
of storytelling quality that the team put together.
Close to 20 years later, this show
is still being discussed, dissected, and re-evaluated.
The fact that the corporate higher ups
didn't see the benefit of continuing
Batman Beyond and the fact that Bruce Timm and company weren't
aware that this order of 13 would
be their final run of the show is a shame.
It really does showcase how much of the television landscape
has changed.
Today, when there's even an inkling
that it might be a character's final at bat,
the creators do their best to send them off into the sunset.
You have real heroes?
They're the ones who have to keep going.
So keep going.
What started out as a blatant cash grab attempt
at pulling in a younger demographic for a Batman
in high school show was developed
into one of the cornerstones of the modern DC Universe.
Terry has a fan base all his own,
a merchandising empire built off of him,
and a constant cry for more content based
on him and all of this in spite of the fact
that his show literally doesn't have an ending.
What do you think?
Can you remember a show that had a bad finale
but still went on to become a classic?
Let us know down in the comments below.
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just like this.