{"id":452,"date":"2012-07-19T18:08:02","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T00:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/?p=452"},"modified":"2026-07-17T10:03:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:03:41","slug":"first-impressions-are-key-batman-the-animated-series-on-leather-wings-avaitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/?p=452","title":{"rendered":"First Impressions Are Key: Batman: The Animated Series- “On Leather Wings”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first in a new series of articles that I’m planning on tackling. How I’ll handle other pilots\/premiere episodes will likely vary as I move on from series to series, but as for now, I hope you enjoy this look back on the <\/em>B:TAS debut.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about Batman: TAS<\/em>.<\/p>\n

According to us, it\u2019s the second greatest animated series of all time, and if you like to be technical and not consider something theatrical like the Looney Tunes as an animated series, than it might even be our #1 choice. It changed animation, television, Batman\u2019s history and the comic book industry in general. The series and its interpretation of Batman were so good that Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and crew brought him and his cast back time and time again ever since the series\u2019 original cancellation in 1995 It\u2019s a comic book series that doesn\u2019t talk down to anyone and continually gives us something to watch and enjoy years on.<\/p>\n

Twenty years to exact. The show\u2019s anniversary is in September, and while we have more to say about the show when that comes up, we do have reason to talk about it now- The Dark Knight Rises. Now there\u2019s a lot I can say about Christopher Nolan\u2019s film series, but this isn\u2019t a film blog, it\u2019s an animation blog, so let\u2019s stick to B:TAS<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now, if you were there back in September 1992, you would probably remember the first episode to air on Fox kids was the first part of \u201cThe Cat and the Claw\u201d, the 2-parter which introduced Catwoman. However, in production order, which the DVD sets respect, the real first episode is \u201cOn Leather Wings\u201d, which aired second (part 2 of \u201cThe Cat and the Claw\u201d didn\u2019t arrive until episode 8- don\u2019t ask me, I didn\u2019t run Fox Kids). While it would make sense for me to overlook Catwoman\u2019s debut in the series along with Bane\u2019s, I\u2019ll just stick to \u201cOn Leather Wings\u201d .<\/p>\n

Honestly though, if you want a perfection introduction to this series, just watch the opening. Danny Elfman\u2019s contributions are brilliant, as they perfectly encapsulate the animation. The tricks it uses are famous now, as well- using genius editing to turn the Warner logo into a police jet and forgoing the use of a title card using the show\u2019s logo at the very end are great moves that never get old. All you need is a flash of lightning at the end of the opening to realize what show this is.<\/p>\n

While there isn\u2019t a title card in the opening, each episode of the original 85 episodes of Batman: TAS<\/em> do contain their own distinctive title card to introduce their story (all but one do, that is- bonus points to whoever guesses which episode is card-less), and a little introduction to Shirley Walker\u2019s theme for the episode. \u201cOn Leather Wings\u201d gets black and white title card with a drawing of a bat in it, which works not only to indicate that this is the first Batman adventure we\u2019re going to see the staff tackle and to give us an idea of today\u2019s villain, which we\u2019ll get to shortly.<\/p>\n

We do get a brief shot of the villain, obscured by clouds and shadows, in the very beginning, and more shadow footage of him flying around Gotham. If you still don\u2019t know whom this villain is that I am referring to, whatever, it\u2019s Man-Bat. Don\u2019t know him? Look him up.<\/p>\n

The Man-Bat arrives into Phoenix Pharmaceuticals as we see a security guard doing his job by\u2026 practicing his radio DJ voice? Don\u2019t we all do that in our spare time? I know I do. For his crimes against his job, the Man-Bat strikes the guard and throws him out of the building, as we still see nothing but silhouettes of him.<\/p>\n

Now we zoom up to the mayor of Gotham City\u2019s office, as we\u2019re introduced to him, Commissioner Gordon, detective Bullock, and future District Attorney Harvey Dent. One of the little things that can help to make B:TAS<\/em> veterans realize that this is the pilot is to consider that it seems like the staff wanted to make the mayor a bigger factor in the show\u2019s run, but I honestly think this is the most screen time he got in the entire series.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, it\u2019s a solid introduction to the characters, since we get the gist of Gordon and Bullock\u2019s methods right from the start- Bullock hates Batman and will do anything in his power to take him out, even using the power of others to assist him, while Gordon\u2019s on the fence about the dark knight and wants to consider him more of an ally than a foe. The mayor supports Bullock\u2019s request to hire more help to take on the Batman after the previous night\u2019s escapade, and poor Dent only gets one line of dialogue. There is some nice, subtle foreshadowing into Mr. Dent\u2019s future for fans of the comics, however, and fans have given the show praise for giving Harvey some screen time and development before becoming one of Gotham\u2019s biggest double threats.<\/p>\n

And now we arrive inside Batman\u2019s lair. What is Kevin Conroy\u2019s first line of the series? \u201cGotham police declare war on Batman?\u201d Man, it\u2019s like the question mark is its own sentence the way Conroy says it. The man IS Batman, there is no question.<\/p>\n

Next up to speak is Alfred, and\u2026 the fuck? This isn\u2019t Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. Clive Revill was originally going to be Alfred, but was replaced by Zimbalist not far into the show\u2019s production. For some reason, a couple of the earliest episodes still have Revill\u2019s performances, which are distinctly deeper and more deadpan than the Alfred we grew to love over the course of the show. It\u2019s not a bad performance per say, but when you grow accustomed to one performance for such a vast majority of a run, it\u2019s hard to imagine someone else doing it. It\u2019s even more awkward than hearing Lacy Chabert voicing Meg Griffin in the earliest Family Guy<\/em> episodes.<\/p>\n

But now to more important questions- what kind of woman is named Bambi, and what would Bruce want to do with her? Oh well, this isn\u2019t aimed for the right demographic to answer questions like that. Instead, we get to see the Batmobile, and boy does it kick ass here. It looks like a nice mesh between the original 40\u2019s design and the most recent overhaul used at the time.<\/p>\n

We get a scene of Batman in action, interrupting some hanky panky with merely the use of his shadow and his escaping Bullock\u2019s attack team. Shortly after, we get our first glimpse of Bruce Wayne outside of his Batman suit. Man, looking at Bruce again reminds me of how blocky the character designs for the show was. All the characters have very broad shoulders, thick necks and specific body styling\u2019s- bulky males and slim females. The designs become less haphazard by Justice League<\/em>, after some strange remodelings of various characters for The New Batman Adventures<\/em> and pyramid shaping in Batman Beyond<\/em>. I know that Bruce Timm wanted to make his designs pop out and look unique compared to their comic book counterparts, and they succeeded in various examples, but man, some of them sure look weird.<\/p>\n

Another little facet about the show that I love is Conroy\u2019s voice for Bruce Wayne. It\u2019s cooler and far less harsh than his Batman voice, but the longer this incarnation of Batman went on, the less distinction there became between Bats and Bruce\u2019s voice, to the point where Bruce and Batman\u2019s voices are completely one and the same in Batman Beyond<\/em>, only proving how far Bruce Wayne fell into his role as the dark knight.<\/p>\n

Anywho, Bruce meets up with a scientist who us just a little too fascinated with bats, as he hopes to have his Chiroptera<\/em> \u201cproblem\u201d in his manor solved. Suspicious? You betcha. But also keep an eye on his conversation with the professor\u2019s daughter and her husband. It might just come back.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to make this as spoiler-free for beginners and fans who haven\u2019t seen the episode in ages as much as I can, so I won\u2019t reveal who the Man-Bat is, but I will say the revealing scene is incredible, as is the flight it and Batman take on. I believe the footage of their flight was among the first bits of animation completed, and was shown to Conroy and Mark Hamill, the voice of the Joker. When they saw it for the first time, they were floored. Bruce Timm was impressed, too- enough to call this, their very first episode, his personal favorite.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll end my look back at that. So, \u201cOn Leather Wings\u201d, does it hold up now after how far the series came since its premiere? Mostly. A lot of the core elements were introduced here, it\u2019s a solid story, and Spectrum\u2019s animation is very bright in certain spots. There are so many high points that occur later on in the series that it\u2019s hard to consider it one of the very best, but \u201cOn Leather Wings\u201d is a great series premiere and contains the consistency of a single episode that many other series would kill to have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the first in a new series of articles that I’m planning on tackling. How I’ll handle other pilots\/premiere episodes will likely vary as I move on from series to series, but as for now, I hope you enjoy this look back on the B:TAS debut. Let\u2019s talk about Batman: TAS. According to us, it\u2019s the second greatest animated series of all time, and if you like to be technical and not consider something theatrical like the Looney Tunes…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,13,11,12,15],"class_list":["post-452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-animation","tag-b-tas","tag-batman","tag-batman-the-animated-series","tag-super-heroes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7750,"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions\/7750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}