Batman Beyond

[gunswordfist]

I honestly don't remember the show at all beyond the crossovers. It didn't last very long, but I assume it was decent.

Besides just remembering the show was boring, but not remembering any images to back it up, I agree.

Also, WATCH LEGION OF SUPERHEROES, EK!!! I'm going to run into the ground about how great that show is. Probably the most underrated cartoon ever.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Even though I had a few episodes of season 3 left before I finished off the TV series, I jumped ahead of schedule and decided to re-watch the movie since I had the time, now.

Man, its just as great as ever. I think its really top-notch on all levels, from writing and story to animation and production values. The voice acting is great as usual, and Mark Hamil gives one of his best performances as The Joker. There are some nonsensical things here and there, and the method by which The Joker returns is pretty ludicrous, even for a cartoon. Yeah, putting your DNA into a microchip and implanting it on someone therefore affecting their subconscious and MAKING THEM LOOK AND TALK EXACTLY LIKE YOU sounds just a teeny-bit to far-fetched, don't you think? That said there weren't really any better alternatives that I could have thought of that didn't involve something as cliche as time travel (and in that regard I'm fine with having that convoluted plot point over fucking time travel), so on that point I could forgive the whole micro-chip thing by comparison.

And really, other than that the rest of the movie is consistently great. I really love how it handles the characterization of Bruce and Terry in this, and their relationship with each other as well. On top of that the action scenes are actually done pretty well here and hold up quite nicely, and the mature themes that the movie tackles really shows how much the writers could get away with on a DTV movie as opposed to what you would see in a regular TV episode, which probably one of the darkest plots that has ever been written and animated for anything in the DCAU.

In all honesty, as far as my personal opinion goes, I think that this movie is on par with Mask of the Phantasm in every respect, and both of those films are easily my favorite 2 things to come out of the DCAU by far.

Anyways, I should also be able to finish up watching the show either tonight or by tomorrow, after which I'll follow it up with the JLU episode Epilogue, and then I'm off to start re-watching STAS.

[gunswordfist]

I thought how he was brought back was pretty ingenius.....but yeah, ridiculous. But BTAS got away with Clayface so it's not a big deal, imo.

So they finally started showed the beginning of the show last week. I haven't seen Rebirth since I was a kid and I either forgot most of it or missed most of it. I got to say that Bruce was WAY too willing to let Terry jump into a suit and fight futuristic supervillains. Seemed a bit odd to me and Terry was done with being Batman until he offered him 'the job', but what can you do? Also, never knew/forgot how Blight became Blight. I've only seen Powers in Inque's first episode since I've been watching it on HUB so that's a relief.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be fair, Bruce DID try to actively stop him, by deactivating the bat suit after he stole it, at first. I think that knowing what its like to lose loved ones (in Bruce's case it was both his parents and in Terry's case it was his father) and also feeling somewhat guilty that it was someone from his company that caused the death of Terry's father, he kind of reluctantly let him use the bat suit to carry out his vengeance of sorts. After that incident, though, it was pretty weird of Bruce to come so quickly and offer Terry the job of the next Batman. It would have made more sense if Terry was more ambitious for something like that and decided to ask Bruce to allow him to have that responsibility, himself.

Also, I just feel that if this weren't for the fact that this show also had to be marketed to younger kids, Terry would have never been a high school student, because it just makes no sense for Bruce to get the next Batman to be someone who has stuff like that in their normal life getting in the way of what they can do as Batman. With Robin and Bat-girl they were just sidekicks so it was OK, but for Terry to be a full-time Batman it would have made more sense if he was someone a bit older and didn't have such "teenage" stuff to worry about. That's not to say that he would have to be that much more mature, as I liked the idea of him needing Bruce as a mentor, but overall it just feels strange and downright irresponsible of Bruce to expect a high school student to be able to deal with the pressure of being Batman. That said, since its a cartoon and doesn't have to be too realistic, Terry was pretty much created to be up to the challenge, so I guess in the end its just a minor gripe on my part.

[gunswordfist]

So I watched all of Curse of Curare this week and thought about skipping watching it because I THOUGHT I saw all of it multiple times but apparently. So, Bruce married Barbara? Uh..what the hell?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

There was never any indication that they ever got married, but instead Barbra implied that they were romantically involved for a period of time, until she got sick of the whole hero business whereas Bruce was not ready to give it up. That would fit in line with the last season of BTAS, where Dick Grayson went off to become Nightwing after leaving Batman and breaking up with Barbra, whereas Barbra as Batgirl tended to stay around and fight alongside Batman in many episodes of the final season. She also clearly had a very noticeable infatuation with Bruce/Batman, so it makes sense she would have had romantic feelings for him at one point in time. Of course, needless to say, in Batman Beyond we found out that it didn't last very long, anyways, which I could have guessed even from just having watched BTAS only.

[gunswordfist]

I think she implied they got married when Terry asked if they were boyfriend/girlfriend and Barbara then made it sound like they were more than just that.

[talonmalon333]

What do you guys like better. Mask of the Phantasm or Return of the Joker?

[Avaitor]

Mask of the Phantasm.

Both are incredible, though.

[Foggle]

I'm not a very big Batman Beyond fan, but I fucking love Return of the Joker. Even though Mask of the Phantasm is one of my favorite animated movies of all time, I think I actually prefer RotJ.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I have to admit, I've gotten more repeated viewings out of RotJ than MotP, but both are brilliant animated feature films that do each of their respective series justice, which is saying a lot in both cases.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Mask Of The Phantasm might be nostalgia since it is what actually got me into the DCAU, but it's a legitimately great story. While I really like ROTJ, I think MOTP is the better general film. Something I would get newbies and complete haters of animation to watch, and something I bet would stick with them as well.

Did you guys ever see the Siskel & Ebert review of it? It's a gooden.

[Avaitor]

I'm still a little surprised that Gene doesn't like Hamill as the Joker myself, but it is cool to see them give credit where credit is due otherwise.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, I had mostly thought MOTP was the better film and ranked it in my top 30 list, but honestly after having watched them both back to back recently, I honestly might have to give the edge to ROTJ, myself. I think both films are amazing, but something about the writing in ROTJ feels a little stronger to me, and I like how Bruce Wayne gets just as much focus in the movie as Terry and The Joker. In fact, you could argue that Bruce Wayne gets MORE focus in that movie than Terry, so it still feels like a true Batman movie. Also, if I had to compare The Joker in ROTJ to his appearance in MOTP, it honestly feels less forced to me in ROTJ, whereas it feels like it could have been any villain in MOTP but they just found a way to write The Joker in their for his sheer popularity.

That said, don't get me wrong, both films are fantastic, and I would recommend MOTP to just about anyone. I just find that over time, I have come to slightly prefer ROTJ.

[talonmalon333]

While I probably prefer MOTP, I think ROTJ was one of Mark Hamill's best performances as the Joker.