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Submitted by Walter L
Batman: The Animated Series was on during regular cartoon hours, but was not your average kid’s program. It was unapologeticly dark and awesome. Some even say it’s the best screen adaptation of the Batman comics.
Whatever it was, there were a lot of us that would religiously plop our behinds down on the couch to watch every afternoon.
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Ha! I still have my bowl and plate set from this show.
This is why I like Batman it was this series the new one is kind of childish IMO.
Hell f-ing yes.
I bought this series on DVD the second it came out. I freaking love this show.
AND they get bonus props for inventing Harley.
i loved this show! batman rocks, this cartoon rocks.
mark hamill as the joker FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!
+1000000000000000, best Joker ever.
Yeah. Even better than that one guy… You know. The one everyone is saying is the greatest Joker just because he OD’d on pills near the end of production.
He’s just completely demented in the best possible way. Joker Fish for the win!
Yes, its because of his overdose that made it an awesome movie, hate all you want Heath’s Joker stole that movie.
Yes, seriously. His role in The Dark Knight wouldn’t have been as big a deal had he not died. It happens with all actors that die young, and 99% of the time the massive attention is unwarranted.
Wow. I am really tired of everyone being so pissed off that Ledger won an award posthumously. Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, he really did do that good of a job? It’s really irritating that people seem to think it’s all about the death. can’t we just agree to disagree instead of being upset over one little award?
Anyway, Ledger definitely left a strong impression on the screen and is probably my second favorite adaptation of the character after Mark Hamil’s take. I literally squealed when I heard he was voicing the Joker in the new Batman game that’s coming out soon. Mark Hamil is my Joker FTUW. ^^
Awww… Yeah!
B:TAS was one of the few reasons I bothered getting out of bed Saturday morning as a kid.
And Mark Hamill’s voice will always be the Joker’s voice to me.
I still hear that laugh in my dream. oO
Is there a word that means beyond epic?
How about ‘biblical’? Batman: TAS is a truly BIBLICAL win, towering over many of the lesser, merely epic wins on this site.
LOL Biblical Win!!! I love it!
The importance of this series cannot be understated. Without it, we may never have had the rest of the DC Animated Universe, which included Superman, Batman Beyond and the Justice League series. The creative team was so superb that some of them are still working on direct to DVD movies, such as the recent Wonder Woman film. I agree that more recent animated takes on the Batman mythos don’t have never the weight as this classic, which is a shame. I know someday I’ll be watching this show with my kids on DVD (or whatever it is then) and still enjoying it.
Even my grandmother who doesn’t even speak English loved this cartoon.
The entire DCAU is pure, epic win. That is how comics should be written. PERIOD. It’s a good balance between dark and lighthearted; it was fairly mature, but never, ever came off as trying way too damn hard, like a lot of modern comics do.
Kevin Conroy IS Batman, and Mark Hammill IS the Joker, as far as I’m concerned. *fangirls*
Kevin Conroy, Christopher Reeve, and Robin Williams all went to Julliard at the same time. So you can say that Batman, Superman, and Robin were room-mates.
Supposedly there is a Batman/Superman animated in the works…waiting with baited breath…
YES!!! I used to watch this show every day when I got home from school! I loved the episodes with Catwoman and Poison Ivy. Oh and remember Harley Quinn? She was awesome!
Harley Quinn was so epic that she got imported to the comics. More like Harley *Win*, am I right? ^^
Between this show, “Rocko’s Modern Life”, and “Aaahh! Real Monsters!”, I can say that I enjoyed a kind of cartoon that kids today just don’t get.
Don’t forget Doug, everybody knew somebody at school that was like every character from that series!!
And i agree. kids today don’t get anywhere near the quality of programmes we used to. But of the epic cartoons that they used to show, Batman is king, by far
Sigh… They need to have a channel for this stuff. Like a midlife crisis channel.
No, not a midlife crisis channel.
Now, an all B:TAS all the time channel, I would SO watch that.
This show and a handful of others are the reason I am so horridly awful at math-related subjects. I got home from school and ZING! My butt was in front of that TV waiting for it to come on. Homework could wait.
But these new shows that dare to call themselves “Batman”, I will dance on their graves when they are cancelled for epicly sucking! Especially this “Brave and the bold” crap they’re shoving down our throats. Only ONE episode with the awesomeness that is the Joker. Bleh.
ok, the brave and the bold was a great comic series, i know i own several from the 60s (i’m 29). The only reason the show has the name is because they think people will remember the comics and say “dang, this must be like the comics i loved so much, sure kids you can watch it!”
LOVED this cartoon – it was half the reason I ever crawled out of bed in time for school, because this was on in the last half-hour before I had to go. Such an awesome, awesome series, and IMO this is how cartoons SHOULD be! None of this “must have a deep family-friendly message” bulltoffee that’s being churned out thanks to the few idiots who blame their violent, psychosis-induced outburts and attacks on ‘what da TV said to me ta do’.
See, that’s what ruins Static Shock for me; every episode has a lesson or moral–sometimes Static even breaks the fourth wall to address the watchers. Playing with guns, racism, et cetera. Easily one of the most heavy-handed superhero cartoon I’ve ever watched.
They still show this on Toon Disney… whoops; I mean “Disney XD”. Doesn’t Disney know that “XD” is an emoticon?
This show is one of the only reasons I’ll ever tune into Disney XD now, but kudos to them for broadcasting it.
Same here. This show and Spider-Man The Animated Series. Remember Venom? He was awesome.
amazing
I for one never liked the dark Batman, or this series. I watched every episode, and none of them made sense.
you didn’t like them… but you watched “every episode”? hmm…
I still find myself humming the Joker Fish tune…
They’re finny and funny and oh so delish! Try one today, they’re Joker Fish!
I still remember Joker quotes from this show, especially from the episode Joekr’s Favor.
“Look at the size of the cake, man!” That line just cracks me up. XD
Epic animation win. The window exploding outwards in the opening sequence = breathtaking.
I have seen incarnations of Batman that I’ve liked since, but Kevin Conroy is my Batman, always, until the end of time. Say “Batman” to me and this is the first thing that comes to my mind.
Mark Hamill’s Joker voice is one of the best voice acting performances ever. Period.
His Joker’s laugh alone is pure awesome. In sound form.
It was this series that:
Brought us Harley Quinn.
Teamed Harley with Poison Ivy.
Re-invented Mister Freeze in perhaps the best animated episode ever made (Heart of Ice).
Gave us Mark Hamill’s voice acting career.
Made art deco incredibly cool again.
Created an established universe (DCUA or Timmverse) that is re-defining the real DC Universe to this very day (we’re still waiting for an animated version of The Question, dammit!).
In Justice League Unlimited the Question actually makes an appearance (and plays a significant role) in many an episode.
I loved this show so much as a kid, I have good memories of watching it on Saturday mornings with my older brother. I really need to get my hands on the DVDs.
Paul Dini is currently the only good writer DC has on Batman right now, and this proves why
Oooh… this reminds me!
Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are still doing the voices of Batman and Joker in the Arkham Asylum game. I cannot WAIT until that comes out!
*happy bounce*
That is one of the many, many, *many* reasons I am going to ask for this game.
Something amazing about this show, is that they actually had guns! Not “invisible guns” or lazer guns. Actual lead-spitting guns. One of the few “kids-cartoon” to allow firearms.
I LOVED this show!! One of the few cartoons I miss from my childhood. The latest Batman incarnations are so awful in comparison. Cartoons have really gone downhill.
This is what cartoons should be.
Even the music was better…from the awesome classical in the opening credits, to the juuuust spooky enough when the Joker started his “fun”. This show wasn’t merely a ‘cartoon’ any more than a graphic novel is a ‘comic book’.
That music is from Danny Elfman’s score that was also used in the 1989 “Batman” movie (the one with Michael Keaton)’s introduction.
there were two with keaton, and you call yourself a fan…
this came on after i was in my adulthood but i never let go of the batman lore…this cartoon blew my mind…i twas sooo not for the afternoon morning set…i hated the last season when warner bros decided to over exaggerate the look to match all of their other churned out stuff (animaniacs, earthworm jim et al) but the seasons before that was seriously awesome stuff to look at….raz al ghoul is my fav…read how they did it its fascinating…ok im 420 and rambling…biblical win indeed
+1 on “this is what Batman is to me”.
The story arc with Raz al Ghoul was awesome. People actually (occasionally) died on this show.
YES. the animated series FTGDMFW. My favorite show as a kid, and I got the collected DVDs for Christmas. It’s just amazing. I remember the movie, Mask of the Phantasm. When that came out on VHS, every time my family went to the video rental store I had to have it, never mind how many times I had already seen it.
Best. Cartoon. Evar. Best Joker evar. And an epic win for Harley’s debut.
My favorite scene in this entire series is when Batman and Barbara Gordon are scoping out a crime scene, and something there suggests an event will happen that night. Batman turns to Barbara and asks: “What are you doing tonight?”
Barbara’s response? She lowers her voice and does her best Maurice LaMarche impression: “The same thing we do every night, Pinky!”
When Bruce looks and her and grunts his incomprehension, she sighs and continues. “Nevermind. Pop culture reference.”
God, I used to ADORE this show and watched it every chance I got.Even my grandfather admitted to watching this series. .
I can’t stand Brave and the Bold. Batman Beyond was tolerable, The Batman is excellent, but Brave and the Bold… It’s a good Joker, but these other, well, kind of laughable heroes Batman keeps teaming up with… Especially Aquaman. B&B’s Aquaman is a total douche.
I think they’re trying too hard to be like the vintage Batman, with the old school costumes and such.
The heros’ dialogue makes me want to puke most of the time. If I wanted terribly cheesy superheros, I’d go watch Boomerang.
…Er, sorry, I started rambling.
The new comic-book cartoons that they’re making are complete garbage. The classic ones actually had interesting plots and intriguing character development – they weren’t afraid to introduce morally ambiguous characters and blur the line between good and evil. Now, it’s all about spoon-feeding 5-year olds life lessons and painting the world in pure black and white, oversimplifying everything…
…like the 1950’s. History repeating.
God I love Harley. And I love the show for making her, and I love the show for being SO FULL OF ADULT JOKES THAT I DIDNT GET TIL NOW
(“Wassamatter, puddin’? Dontcha wanna ride yer Harley? Vroom vroom!”)
Yeah, Christian Bale can have my babies and all. . .AFTER HE’S DONE LICKING KEVIN CONROY’S SHOES.
This show was appointment viewing when I was in high school/college. I watched this, Superman and Gargoyles religiously.
*T*
The batman cartoon before Brave & bold was also awesome. Joker had red eyes, I kid you not, and there was this batman vs. dracula that was equal to this in awsomeness.
ok, ‘the batman’ sucked. period. end of discussion.
B&B sucks as much if not more.
BTAS is the one and only batman animated ever done that would fall into a “good” category, everything else is crap & fail.
No, this is not an opinion, it is law. Learn it, Love it, Know it!
Hmmm… I’m not a huge comic\comic tv show fan, so I guess I didn’t have much knowledge when writing that comment. But thanks for that corecttion. I’m not a huge Batman fan (mostly because his lack of powers just don’t make him seem “super”), but I’ll defenitly keep that in mind.