The Show
I am, and always will be, a fan of Batman. A character born of misery, whose abilities stem entirely from his own drive to improve, Bruce Wayne always was appealing because he was essentially flawed and misunderstood. That was especially true when he was just starting out. His adventures as a neophyte crime fighter were just more exciting and interesting, because he wasn't perfect and might actually lose a battle.

So when it was announced that Warner Brothers would be doing a new Batman series focused on his early years, I got very excited. Then I saw the show. Done in a style that is similar to the "Pokemon" genre of cartoon, only darker, it looks like HBO's "Spawn" cartoon: alternatingly artistic and cheap-looking. What it doesn't look like is "Batman: The Animated Series," the gold standard for animated superheroes. That wouldn't be a big deal if they hadn't tried so hard to make this incarnation of the Dark Knight so...cool.

From the Wayne Manor raves to the villain redesigns, there's a bit too much interest in making The Batman "relevant" to the kids. The last few times that happened, the Bat-tusi was invented, Bruce was teaming up with Scooby and the gang, and the costume grew nipples. So perhaps it's not such a good idea to have Bruce sitting courtside with a couple of hos or recast the Joker as a straightjacketed extreme athlete. They could have just told stories similar to "TAS" in this new art style, but I guess that wouldn't have sold as many toys. After all, the show is made to interact with the Batwave, an electronic toy. I wonder what Paul Dini thinks of that.

These three episodes are the first three episodes of "The Batman," and they introduce this new world, which has no connection to the animated D.C. universe that's been established over the years. Also missing is Kevin Conroy, who had been "the" voice of Batman for over a decade. Veteran voice-over artist Rino Romano does the duties now, and he's not bad at it. It's just hard to take the Batman seriously with that chin.

In these first battles with Joker, Bane and Penguin, the series establishes a definite pattern: crime, detectives Bennett and Yi get involved, villain gets in a physical fight with the Batman, resolution. If you connect the dots in that sentence, you see a definite problem: the Penguin gets in a physical fight with the Batman. In what world would the Penguin fight, no less fight like a ninja? Whatever happened to henchmen? If we are talking Bane, fine, but the Joker, who in this series fights like the X-Men's Beast? Not quite.

Ignoring the established roles of iconic characters is fine when you're setting the series hundreds of years in the future, like "Batman Beyond" did, but if you want an audience to enjoy a present day Batman, there has to be a level of comfort for the viewers. Taking away almost everything known about the character doesn't do that.

If you're an anime fan, you may enjoy the ADHD-type editing and stylized character designs, but any hardcore Batman fan will undoubtedly find themself comparing the show with "TAS" and find this series lacking. Whether it really speaks to its target audience is unclear, as I haven't been a 7-year-old in quite some time.

The DVD
Packed in a standard keepcase, "The Batman" Volume 1 is a one-disc collection of the first three episodes of the series. The DVD features an anamorphic widescreen animated main menu that follows the theme of the series' opening titles, with options to play all three episodes, select individual ones, view special features and change languages. The submenus are static, while language options include English and Spanish soundtracks and English, Spanish and French subtitles.

The Quality
The look of "The Batman" is simplistic, mimicking modern children's anime, with occasional detail and special lighting effects. For the most part, the episodes look very nice, with good color and clarity, and a complete lack of dirt or damage. As is often the case with cel animation on DVD, the thin outlines on the characters can become ragged or pixilated, and some motion becomes blurry or distorted.

The soundtracks are presented in Dolby Stereo, and are very dynamic, with a strong music bed, great special effects and well-defined dialogue. The mix is mostly center focused, but it's a surprisingly powerful mix for a kids' TV cartoon.

The Extras
"Building "The Batman" is a seven-minute extra hosted by the series' Detective Yin. Blending video shot at Mattel Toys and animation from "The Batman", it walks the line between toy commercial and interesting featurette. The various toys designed from the series are shown, while Yin interviews the people who help create them, looking for The Batman. The staffers play along with the joke, and the info on the toy-design process is neat, but overall, it's kind of cheesy.

A trivia featurette, "The Batman: Junior Detective Challenge," seems like a set-top game at first, but it's really just a continuing series of seven video questions, which move very fast. After the last of the four answers provide for each question is read by Batman's butler Alfred, there is approximately one second before the answer is revealed. Any hesitation and you'll be too late. That shouldn't be a problem, considering the kid-friendly level of questioning.

Four cartoon trailers, including two D.C. Comics adaptations, wrap up the package.

The Bottom Line
After "Batman:TAS" single-handedly re-energized the world of cartoons with a mature and artistic vision of the character, it was going to be hard for any series to follow its act. "Batman Beyond" worked, to a point, because it wasn't Bruce Wayne, relieving the show of comparisons. Trying to make the character hipper by having a younger, but just as capable Batman and utilizing an anime-influenced style seems to have sapped the character of the vitality and complexity it had. While this DVD is a bit light on content, presenting only the first three episodes, with some superficial extras, it's relatively cheap as well. But unless you're a hardcore fan who can't wait for a possible/probable full-season collection, this is purely a rental.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.