It'd be tough to find a piece of DC Comics media after 1992
that hasn't been majorly influenced by Batman: The Animated Series.
It went way beyond its generation
because it took the best elements of every era of Batman and brought it all under one banner,
giving something accessible and familiar to anyone who is a fan of the character.
Batman premiered on Fox Kids in September 1992.
Created by artist Bruce Timm and writer Paul Dini,
who are both heavily involved in bringing to life the entire DC animated universe,
along with the various games and comic book offshoots.
There was a demand within Warner Bros. for a darker, serialized Batman cartoon
to capitalize on the success of Burton's Batman film.
And since shows like G.I. Joe and Transformers were the standard for action-adventure cartoons at the time
it was a somewhat radical idea to do something more mature in tone with a darker atmosphere and more sophisticated writing.
The animated series was airing at a time where the films were becoming progressively more and more cartoony
and over the top
while, ironically, the cartoon took a grounded, more serious approach to the material.
But it didn't just rely on those adult themes.
Batman's versatility allows the character to be campy, light, and adventurous
or this dark, vengeful creature of the night.
And the animated series struck a healthy balance between both.
It covered the full spectrum of potential with that character.
It was an amalgam of everything people loved within Batman's history.
The camp and fun of the 50s and 60s,
the swashbuckling adventures of the 70s
and the gritty maturity of the late 80s.
And that's what helped it inform the next two decades of Batman stories.
It gave everything else a template to follow and a solid foundation to build on.
That's why Batman's so consistent as a character.
It rooted itself so deeply into the lore
that it significantly changed the source material more than any other adaptation before or any to come after it.
It didn't just add to the mythos, it reshaped it.
Introducing characters like Harley Quinn into the universe, who was conceived as just a throwaway henchman character
but garnered popularity through her original design and interesting dynamic with The Joker
and, of course, the incredible voice acting by Arleen Sorkin.
HQ: You're WRONG! My puddin' DOES love me, he DOES!
And now, she's one of the most prominent characters in the DC universe.
It's also responsible for reinventing former D-list villains like Clayface with "Feat of Clay"
and Mr. Freeze with the Emmy-winning episode "Heart of Ice",
which, to this day, is the greatest example of a sympathetic villain done right.
Mr.Freeze: This is how I'll always remember you...
surrounded by winter, forever young,
forever beautiful.
Rest well, my love,
The monster who took you from me will soon learn that revenge is a dish best served cold.
It explored those hidden shades of grey between strict good and evil lines of cartoons of that era.
It challenged your empathy.
You didn't just get to see Batman kick Mr. Freeze's ass, you had to experience that heartbreak and that cold sorrow.
Understanding the rogues gave you a greater insight into Batman's psyche.
You realize he's not just trying to beat supervillains
he's trying to save these victims of mental illness and obsession.
Heart of Ice worked so well that it became an integral part of Freeze's character across the comics, the games
and even Joel Schumacher took a crack at adapting it with "Batman & Robin".
With the Batman films, Batman himself is always the aspect least focused on.
He has the best rogues gallery, so it's easy for him to be overshadowed by his villains.
They're the main event. They get the best lines, the best scenes, most of them even get top billing.
But animated series was able to take its time and really delve deep into Batman and the life of Bruce Wayne.
And a big part of the exploration was done through the performances.
The voices of Kevin Conroy's Batman and Mark Hamill's Joker
have become the default voices in my head any time I read dialogue from those characters.
They gave life to that text like no one else could.
Conroy's Batman is commanding and authoritative. He's not some snarling psychopath when he's in a cowl.
Batman: WHERE'S THE TRIGGER.
I am vengeance,
I am the night,
I AM BATMAN.
And his transition into the more subdued Bruce Wayne voice is subtle and incredibly effective.
It's a great way to highlight that dichotomy between Batman and his true mask.
Kevin Conroy: He's gotta disguise himself somehow,
so thought, y'know, I came up with this voice, that was more _mysterious_
and, y'know, it was just another sound
that would disguise him
and I thought in order to make that distinct,
Bruce Wayne had to have a very different sound.
So I just made him a lot lighter,
there was a lot of irony in it,
a lot of sarcasm in it,
I played up the humor a lot in the early episodes.
Kristian: And as his foil, Hamill's Joker was both charismatic and utterly terrifying.
He was able to bring that character to a whole new level.
Joker: ...and that's what I want to seee...
A nice, big SMILE.
They went to great lengths to incorporate that essence of Batman into the visual aesthetic of the show.
Knowing how dark everything needed to be,
they started on blackboard and airbrushed in the color of the backgrounds.
It gave the images these rich, authentic shadows
that complemented the themes of the storytelling.
Everything seemed to emerge from the darkness.
There's very little detail, which lended more to the imagination.
It gave Gotham a sense of scale,
being this endless blackened void.
That minimalism also carried over into the character designs.
There was a tendency with the early Filmation cartoons like "Super Friends"
to emulate the look of the comics of that era.
The anatomy, the articulation of the muscles,
which worked great for stills,
but not so much in limited animation.
Everything ends up looking stiff and artificial.
Timm took a much for simplified approach to the character designs,
allowing for more fluidity in the movement,
prioritizing expression over realism.
But two years after Batman ended its original run on Fox,
the style was changed significantly
when the show began airing on the WB as "The New Batman Adventures".
They tried out more streamlined designs for the characters
that closely resembled what was being done on The Adventures of Superman show,
which was airing simultaneously.
Timm didn't want his characters to be bound to the model sheet.
And redesigning the universe every few years helped keep it fresh,
and reflected the house style of the rest of the animated universe.
These cartoons are over 20 years old now,
and there isn't a hint of anachronism to them.
They're as timeless as the Fleischer 's Superman serials.
This was a show that truly respected the source material,
and had a great love and understanding of the characters in that world.
And it's not just one of the best portrayals of Batman.
It's one of the best pieces of animation of all time.
[Tyler, The Creator and Toro Y Moi - Hey You]