Batman Beyond

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm not going to lie, at certain times when I'm in the right mood, I find this to be my favorite of the various DC Batman series. Admittedly I had given this series more re-watches than even BTAS until I got the BTAS complete series set. Its definitely nowhere near as revolutionary as BTAS was, but it was such a captivating series, IMO. It easily could have turned into a cheap "teen drama" version of Batman (and god knows how terrible that would be), but instead it was crafted into something brilliant and even darker than BTAS, and Terry could actually be taken serious as a character to the point in which I could imagine him becoming Bruce's true successor as Batman when he grew older (and the episode Epilogue from JLU kind of confirmed that for me).

One thing I did notice about this particular series was that its later episodes referenced back a lot of earlier episodes, so it didn't feel quite as strictly episodic as BTAS did, but I kind of like that quality about it. Now, I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, BTAS is the better series when all things are considered, and this thread isn't mean to pit this series against it in terms of quality, but I just wanted to give my evaluation of it as a sequel to BTAS (which is what I consider it to be).

Honestly, its my "personal" favorite of the DCAU series.

[Avaitor]

The first season is the best, not just because of the Powers storyarc, but there were some legitimately spooky stuff in some of the episodes from then that later episodes didn't really try to add.

Season 2 was fine, but all the school-based episodes hurt it a little. 3 was a bit of an improvement, but I admittingly haven't seen it full in years, so I can't decide if I like it better than 1 or not. I will say that my favorite episode from the show, "Out of the Past", came from season 3.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm still missing season 2 in my collection (since it pointlessly costs WAY more than the other seasons, same with JLU volume 1), but the first season is easily one of the best thing to come out of the DCAU. So much greatness in there. Season 3 was almost as good, with a lot of really good episodes.

That's not even bringing in ROTJ.

[Aurora]

Glad to see some love for this show. Alot of DC fans treat this one like, the red headed step child of the DCAU. Well maybe, that honor goes to The Zeta Project, but not many know about that one......

One of the things that stand the most outta this series to me was the intro.....The imagery of it defiantly stood out, and it creeped the hell out of me!

The darkness of the show itself was something I wasn't use to at the time so, several episodes were able to make uncomfortable, and quiet honestly....scared.

Yeah, I'm a loser. 

[Avaitor]

Aww yeah, gotta bump this thread.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I still need season 2 of this and JLU to complete my DCAU DVD set, dammit.

I know its not as good as season 1 or 3 (especially 1), but I do love this show.

[Avaitor]

I really lucked out a couple of years ago. A local Target was selling all of the sets, and had them each for about $20, including the second. Since it has twice as many eps as the other two, I picked it up and ran through it all in a few weeks.

They promptly put it up to $35 the next time I went there, but the joke's on them. Season 2 is the weakest, since the focus on school-based stories wasn't called for and Max was a lame addition, but there's still some gold in there hills.

I still need to get season 3, though. Haven't found that in a while, and I couldn't afford it now anyway.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've been re-watching a lot of Batman Beyond, recently. The show has aged really well. The NC was flat-out wrong when he said that it was one of those shows that was just trying to be dark for the sake of it like a pale imitator of BTAS. While it can't quite match the overall level of quality of BTAS (which has a lot more to do with the fact that Terry can never match Bruce Wayne as Batman), its still a great show and for a sequel to something as great as BTAS, its obvious that it can't top it, but it certainly does as good of a job as anyone could do with a series involving a new Batman. Really, its impressive enough that this show didn't turn out to be a piece of shit with a more teen-oriented hero taking the role of Batman, but it actually worked out quite well, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that Bruce Wayne is still a very prominent part of the show, serving much like a mentor-figure to Terry. I'm glad they didn't just put him in the back-seat and make him a very minor character because he wasn't physically up to fighting crime anymore. I like how they make him important in guiding Terry along through his missions, making it obvious that Terry (at least in his early days in the suit) wouldn't be able to survive without his assistance.

I also like that Barbra Gordon gets a good amount of time to shine in the series, especially since she's the only other character featured in the TV series who can really relate to Bruce in any way, being that they used to work together. Well, there was also that crossover episode where Terry meets the older versions of core members of the Justice League, but I don't really count other "outside" superheroes as people that Bruce could relate to at all.

If I had one gripe with the show, it was just that I didn't like any of the high school crowd in that show. I suppose they were purposely annoying and stupid characters just to represent how teens of any generation are usually morons, but being that most of them were Terry's friends they just kind of came off as too goofy to even be given a piece of mind in a Batman cartoon. Of course, with a show involving a teen Batman, its a given that its not going to be anywhere near as sophisticated as an adult Batman. Still, the show pulled off the concept of a new Batman surprisingly well, and IMO it fully deserves its spot on our top 65 animated series list.

As far as season 1 goes, which is all I've re-watched so far, my favorite episode was probably the one with Mr. Freeze, but I still have a few episodes left to go in it before I've finished it, so I may find another episode that I like better.

[gunswordfist]

So, I'm going to watch The Call Pt. 1 and 2 today on Hub. Timeline:

As a kid, I've only seen The Call Pt. 1. For years, I was thinking, "Whoa, why did Superman kill Hawkman? Was it a test or something?" Terry preparing to try and take out Superman after he was seen killing one of the heroes was such a great ending to an episode. For all those years I never found out why...until a few months ago. And I wish I never did. Starro? Freaking Starro?! Are you fucking kidding me? And the fight against Superman and the rest of the league was so fucking stupid. Terry actually electrically charged his suit underwater....and didn't die. My God was that stupid. The Call part 2 also made me realize how stupid a fight between Superman and Terry could be. He should have been crushed in seconds but he somehow got away. I'm only bothering just so I can reenjoy the first episode and watch the first half of part 2.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I'm up to season 3, now. The series has been consistently great, for the most part. Its actually probably even a little better than I remember it. After I finish the TV series, I'll probably end up watching the movie, as well, and then finishing things off with the JLU episode Epilogue.

After that, I plan to re-watch Superman: The Animated Series. I decided to just revisit all of the DCAU series and even re-watch all the way up through JLU, as this is the closest that I'll probably ever get to reading the comic books (as in I'll probably never get the opportunity to read them, so I figure that the animated interpretations are the next best thing). I'll make it a point to skip Static Shock, though. Back when I was a kid I used to think it was OK, but upon trying to watch it now, I just downright hate it. I can't stand the characters and I despite its crossovers and it ends up dumbing down other, much better characters from the DCAU that wouldn't act as stupid in their own shows. Its very much a product of its time and was way too centered on trying to seem "hip and cool" for the younger crowd that it has easily aged the weakest of all of the DCAU shows, and even back when it came out it wasn't a very good show to begin with, IMO.

So, putting that aside, I've already pretty much watched and re-watched a shit-ton of BTAS through my complete series DVD set, and I'm not to far off from completing Batman Beyond. So, naturally that'll make me half-way done with my run through the DCAU shows and all I'll have left after this are STAS and JL/U.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Are you going to watch the Zeta Project as well?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Ah, I actually totally forgot that even existed. To be honest, now that I think about it, I've never watched Zeta Project before. The closest I've ever come to watching it is with the BB episode from season 2 which introduced the character (which I consider to be a pretty good episode), and later with the crossover episode in season 3 which I haven't gotten to re-watching just yet. I find it kind of funny that they just decided to do a spin-off of a character introduced in just 1 episode of BB.

Really, I have no idea whether the show is any good or not. I know that it had a really short run, but I don't know anything beyond that and have no idea what kind of reception it got. Do you know if it was any good? If so, then I might consider checking it out. If not, then I probably won't mind skipping it since I'm sure that it holds little relevance to the rest of the DCAU, story-wise.

[Avaitor]

Honestly, I didn't even really like the Zeta episodes in Beyond. The show did little for me when it was on, and after watching some of it now, I don't think it's all that good.

[Spark Of Spirit]

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

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, personally I did like the Zeta episode myself (the first one, that is; I still have to re-watch the crossover from season 3), so maybe I should at least give the show a try. I don't really expect much from it, though.