Bruce Timm Universe Adoration Thread

So my friend is going into the Navy in two days (and from there probably joining the S.E.A.L.s). We had a big party over the weekend, but the last two nights we've kept it low key with six packs and mini JLU marathons. It's been great since he hasn't seen a lot of the episodes, The Flash is his favorite character.
 
Last edited:
I saw the first episode of series two last night. It starts off Darksied asks Superman(and the league) to help him....cuz apocalypse is under attack... from Brainiac!

I thought that was a brilliant set-up, and i've never even thought that those characters could meet but i suppose there's no reason why they shouldn't. What are people's fave episodes? cuz i thnik that one was pretty good - also the pilot is stand out cool.
 
I'm thinking about buying the first season of Batman: TAS. It's got a lot of great episodes, like "Robin's Reckoning" and "Heart of Ice" (both of which won Emmys). I looked for it at Best Buy, but they were sold out, and all they had from the Timm universe was "Tales of the Dark Knight" (which I have heard is a good episode) as a single release, and of course Gotham Knight, Batman Beyond, and also the Justice League seasons and New Frontier and Superman vs. Doomsday. I understand that there's also a complete series collection for BTAS, but I don't have the money....So since they didn't have the first season of TAS, I decided to just get The Batman season 1. Yeah.

I think there are basically three series that make up Batman: TAS. The first is seasons 1-2 of BTAS. The second series, The Adventures of Batman & Robin, makes up seasons 3-4. The third series, The New Batman Adventures, makes up seasons 5-6. They're all basically the same, but with minor differences. The Adventures of Batman & Robin just emphasizes the partnership of Batman and Robin. But The New Batman Adventures has some character re-designs (i.e. Joker having darker hair and black eyes with white pupils, and no longer having red lips; Penguin looking more like his classic counterpart instead of the deformed Danny DeVito version; Scarecrow becoming more of a corpse-like figure with a noose around his neck) and focuses less on Batman and more on other characters like Batgirl, Robin, and Nightwing (note that the same thing happened to the recent series The Batman - during its later seasons, characters were re-designed and the show started to focus less on Batman). TNAS had memorable episodes such as "Legends of the Dark Knight" and "Mad Love."

So, having not followed the series that much, I'm asking which era you think is best, seasons 1-2, TAoB&R (seasons 3-4), or TNBA (seasons 5-6). Also, which design of the following designs do you think is best for each character:

jokeos.jpg


pengui.jpg


scarecrow.jpg
 
Seasons 1 and 2 of B:TAS. By far. It's darker, the stories are more Batman-centric with a fairly realistic, dark Robin being an occasional guest star, and the art and animation are the best. It's some of the most visually interesting TV ever.
 
Era wise I prefer season 1-2. The dramatic almost opera music, No Robin. It seemed more darker and mature than the ones that followed. Not to say the ones that followed were bad just not as good. Though my favorite Timmverse cartoon = Gotham Girls, IMO Batman 1-2 was the best they made and I can rewatch them over and over (and do) the later ones I can't watch as much.
 
I prefer the later designs (Green Ivy).


the early stuff, the characters are usually off model, and the designs look mongoloid.
 
There were a few improved designs later on, such as Scarecrow and arguably Ivy(I think I prefer the original, though), but the Joker and Twoface were so inferior I think it cancels them out. I'll take occasionally off-model stuff at the price of far more detail too.
 
I liked the early stories but the later designs. I want to watch it all again though. It was like my favourite thing when I was growing up.
 
Planet-man said:
There were a few improved designs later on, such as Scarecrow and arguably Ivy(I think I prefer the original, though), but the Joker and Twoface were so inferior I think it cancels them out. I'll take occasionally off-model stuff at the price of far more detail too.
Click to expand...

I didn't think they changed Two-Face's design at all.
 
It was just a matter of realism and detail. Every curve on Twoface became a razor-sharp set of lines, leading to things like square lips, and the normal side of his face became completely featureless - his hair was just a bald head coloured in black.
 
Planet-man said:
It was just a matter of realism and detail. Every curve on Twoface became a razor-sharp set of lines, leading to things like square lips, and the normal side of his face became completely featureless - his hair was just a bald head coloured in black.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The whole design-style of the later series was just crappy and overly-simplistic. Some of the redesigns were 'cooler' on-paper, but the lack of detail just ruins it. Bruce Wayne looks like he could be drawn by a 9 year old with the line tool on Microsoft Paint.

Batman is definitely cooler in a darker, blacker costume with a large bat-logo rather than the stupid yellow oval thing and no weird bluey shiny accents running through his cape and cowl, but the level of smooth, stylish detail in the original BTAS design is part of what has made the show so everlasting.

If you were flicking through TV channels and you stumbled across 'On Leather Wings' having never seen an episode of BTAS before, you would think it was a movie, no doubt about it. But if you happened across 'Critters' you'd know straight away that it was an episode of some schlocky kids TV show (again, I could draw those pig beasts with blunt crayons).

I really can't get my head around people preferring The New Batman Adventures from a design standpoint.
 
Last edited:
I never liked the design change, not for the costumes, but I felt the animation seemed much more poor. A lot of what made it great was lost in the translation.
 
Gothamite said:
Exactly. The whole design-style of the later series was just crappy and overly-simplistic. Some of the redesigns were 'cooler' on-paper, but the lack of detail just ruins it. Bruce Wayne looks like he could be drawn by a 9 year old with the line tool on Microsoft Paint.

Batman is definitely cooler in a darker, blacker costume with a large bat-logo rather than the stupid yellow oval thing and no weird bluey shiny accents running through his cape and cowl, but the level of smooth, stylish detail in the original BTAS design is part of what has made the show so everlasting.

If you were flicking through TV channels and you stumbled across 'On Leather Wings' having never seen an episode of BTAS before, you would think it was a movie, no doubt about it. But if you happened across 'Critters' you'd know straight away that it was an episode of some schlocky kids TV show (again, I could draw those pig beasts with blunt crayons).

I really can't get my head around people preferring The New Batman Adventures from a design standpoint.
Click to expand...

What about the redesigned Scarecrow? Wasn't that better?
 
The Overlord said:
What about the redesigned Scarecrow? Wasn't that better?
Click to expand...

What's the difference between the BTAS and the TNBA Scarecrow? More detail in the latter. Hence, he's the exception that proves the rule.

Also, did anyone else notice how Kevin Conroy's "Bruce Wayne persona" disappeared in The New Adventures of Batman? One of the coolest and most hilarious scenes in the DCAU is in 'On Leather Wings' when Batman (who has already been talking to Alfred in a grim, smoky voice) answers the phone in a foppish, high-pitched playboy voice. In TNBA, he's just Batman all the time and his voice isn't even all that grim or smoky anymore.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top