The following show critique portion of this review was written by my colleague Ben Belcher.
It should come as no surprise that I’m a huge fan of the caped crusader in just about every iteration he has ever had. 2004’s The Batman is a highlight on the animated career of one of the most popular superheroes that the world has ever seen, and it deserves another look. The Batman premiered in September of 2004, and introduced the world to a very different version of the character that we had all gotten familiar with since Batman: The Animated Series premiered in 1992.
First and foremost was the distinct new art style and sound design. Visually, everything was much more detailed, and the overall animation itself was sleek and flowed seamlessly through the action. Even the transitions between scenes were clever. Rather than just fade out or cut directly to another scene, oftentimes The Batman made use of a clever bat-themed wipe with its signature eerie musical sting. Gone were hallmarks like the famous Bat Signal, in favor of a new method of crime detection called “the Bat-wave:” an alert that would sound on Bruce’s devices anytime a crime occurred in Gotham. I’ll be the first to say that this sound was my text notification for probably five straight years. To this day I will hear that sound and check my phone.
The series followed a younger Batman (Rino Romano) still finding his footing with the Gotham PD and meeting many of the colorful members of his rogue’s gallery for the first time. We see how and why they continue to battle against the Batman over time and how their relationships build off each new encounter. We also see how these characters affect the city of Gotham, the police, and the citizenry as whole. Cleverly reimagined versions of each character make a debut here from Kevin Michael Richardson’s twisted and hilarious take on the Joker, to Clancy Brown’s haunting Mr. Freeze, to Ron Perlman as the now Cajun Killer Croc.
While still mostly being an episodic adventure where each episode was its own contained story, there were also elements that were used to build on as the show progressed. Not unlike the slow build-up to Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face in Batman: The Animated Series, The Batman would use its tenure to build up characters and add emotional impact to their stories. For example, anyone who has seen the series will remember Det. Ethan Bennett (Steve Harris) and his tragic tale across the first season.
The biggest distinction that this show has over many of its counterparts is the emphasis on Batman’s being a detective. There is slick and intense action to be sure, but the bulk of the series is devoted to Batman sleuthing out the plans of his rogues and defeating them with brain rather than brawn. The series introduction to the Riddler (Robert Englund) in season two is a great example. There is only one punch thrown, and the remainder of the episode is Batman slowly figuring out where his enemy is and defeating him in a battle of wits. Fantastic stuff. Also might have been a bit of inspiration for Matt Reeves’ current film… but that’s just me speculating.
The Batman is also the very first series in Batman history to give full and proper credit to Bill Finger, the co-creator of Batman, virtually all of his most known characters, and many of Gotham’s most marked institutions (ACE Chemical, Arkham Asylum, etc.) instead of attributing the creation solely to Bob Kane. This is actually a very big deal to me and to many in the comic-loving community, as Finger wasn’t formally recognized AT ALL during his lifetime and for decades after for his contributions to the character, his mythos, and comics as a whole. To see his name listed in the credits is amazing (even if it is only in 14 of 65 episodes).
The series grew over its five year run to eventually include fan-favorite characters Batgirl (Danielle Judovits) and Robin (Evan Sabara) as well as introducing versions of several members of the Justice League in Superman (George Newbern), Martian Manhunter (Dorian Harewood), and more. It was clear that this show wanted to expand and become something larger, but unfortunately it wouldn’t be given the chance. After an impressive five years, and a solid lead-in to a new Justice League animated series, The Batman was cancelled in 2008. That same year would see another drastic change to the Dark Knight with the premier of Batman: The Brave and The Bold, effectively signaling an end to the slightly darker era of The Batman.
The Batman dared to step out of the box created by Bruce Timm and company to try to make something unique that also spoke to the history and character of Batman as a whole. I think they succeeded with flying colors, literally as the case may be in season five, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed rewatching the entire series. In fact, I think I’m going to watch some now.
Video Quality
The Batman: The Complete Series looks mostly good on Blu-Ray with its 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 as it was originally produced. The DVDs were cropped at 1.33:1, which means this correction alone is an upgrade. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment packs 65 episodes over six discs, which is the same amount of discs that house the 54 episodes of Superman: The Animated Series. While that release did not feature many anomalies, the extra two episodes per disc on this set results in some compression artifacts that could have been alleviated with one more extra disc. In addition to instances of blocking and artifacts, this release features banding against many backgrounds. These issues are not overwhelming, but they are worth noting.
Colors are incredibly vibrant and bold throughout the entire set. When comparing this to some of the standard definition clips in the special features, this new presentation blows it out of the water. The animation style is fairly flat but presented with crisp lines. There is no visible damage or dirt that was spotted while checking out these episodes outside a couple of moments that seem to trace back to the source material. Everything looks sparkling new and crystal clear. Black levels run very deep with no crush detected. This presentation is a huge step up from the DVDs in many respects, but an extra disc to help with compression issues and more care paid to the encode would have made this absolutely perfect.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix that is really kinetic and exciting. The series’ opening music always comes alive in your speakers with vibrant notes that get you into the groove for the show. Sound effects carry a real weight within the mix with some substantial activity in the low end. For a cartoon show, it is pretty dynamic sonically with how it balances all of the material. Dialogue is rendered crystal clear at all times without ever being clipped by sound effects or score. The focus of this set may be on the upgrade in the video, but fans of the series will be just as thrilled to have the show sounding as powerful as you would hope. The disc provides optional English (SDH) subtitles for all 65 episodes.
Special Features
- The Dark Dynasty Continues: A new 16-minute featurette with insights from producer / head writer Duane Capizzi, voice director Andrea Romano, director Brandon Vietti, voice actor Rino Romano (Batman), director Sam Liu, writer Steven Melching, and voice actor Alastair Duncan (Alfred). In this piece, the participants discuss the origins of this series, the hesitancy to create something different from Batman: The Animated Series, competing with Batman: Begins and the limitations it put on them, the anime style, bringing a fresh perspective to the narrative and more that fans will want to check out.
- The Batman – Season 3 Unmasked: An eight-minute archival piece in which some of the cast and creative figures discuss the third season of the show, the expanding nature of the show, the importance of Batgirl, the production of the show and more.
- Joining Forces – The Batman’s Legendary Team-Ups: A 25-minute archival piece which explores the decision to fold the Justice League into the show and how it changed the dynamic of the series. There are some fun discussions about how they used the comic book source material to develop storylines.
- The Batman – Season 4 Unmasked: A nine-minute archival piece in which some of the cast and creative figures discuss the fourth season of the show, the shift to more “event” episodes, the production of the show, the addition of Robin and more.
- The Batman Junior Detective Challenge: A nearly six-minute trivia game narrated by Alfred.
- The Batman Junior Detective Exam – Level 2: Another five-minute trivia game, this time narrated by Batman himself.
- Building The Batman: A seven-minute piece which amusingly explores the Mattel toy factory and the people who develop the toys from the series.
- Gotham PD Case Files: A nearly seven-minute exploration of some of the memorable villains from the show.
- New Look, New Direction, New Knight: A six-minute examination of the distinct visual look of The Batman, character designs, the elements that felt sacred for the creatives, artistic influences and more.
Final Thoughts
The Batman: The Complete Series is often overlooked in favor of the beloved Batman: The Animated Series, but this new take on the character is not unworthy of praise for what it accomplishes. While not quite as narratively daring or aesthetically pleasing, Batman is always a fascinating character with plenty of unique adversaries and important figures in his life that provide a striking evolution over these five seasons. The voice cast is memorable across the board with certain performances changing what you think of specific characters. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released a new Blu-Ray set featuring a strong A/V presentation and some entertaining special features. There are some small issues that keep this set from being perfect, but this set is pleasing enough to still recommend. Recommended
The Batman: The Complete Series is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
