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Batman: The Animated Series - Volume 1
Warner Bros. // Unrated // July 6, 2004
List Price: $49.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
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Disc One
- On Leather Wings
A monstrous bat-like creature wreaks havoc throughout Gotham City, with the blame placed squarely on Batman's shoulders. - Christmas with the Joker
As Robin pesters Batman to take the night off and watch It's a Wonderful Life, the Joker debuts his own murderous holiday special. - Nothing to Fear
The Scarecrow forces Batman to confront his greatest fear. - The Last Laugh
The Joker celebrates April Fool's Day in style by engulfing Gotham with a gas that causes its victims to burst into uncontrollable, maniacal laughter. - Pretty Poison
District Attorney Harvey Dent's pet project led to the decimation of a rare type of flower, and his new fiancee Pamela Isley exacts her revenge as Poison Ivy. - The Underdwellers
Batman investigates reports of thieving leprechauns and discovers an underground child slavery ring led by the aptly-named Sewer King. - P.O.V.
A major drug bust goes sour, and as three cops are grilled in an attempt to discover where things went awry, they spin three different accounts that together may hold the key to unsolving the mystery.
- The Forgotten
Batman goes undercover to investigate the mysterious disappearances of local homeless men only to find himself amnesiatic and enslaved. - Be a Clown
The Joker takes in Mayor Hill's disenchanted son as his protege and attempts to turn him against Batman. - Two-Face: Parts 1 & 2
The pressures of campaigning prove too much for Harvey Dent to handle, and mobster Rupert Thorne's blackmailing of Dent as to the extent of his mental anguish backfires tragically. - It's Never Too Late
An embattled mob boss fights obsolescence and the personal demons that have been haunting him for decades. - I've Got Batman In My Basement
A prepubescent detective winds up with Batman unconscious in his basement and the Penguin ransacking his home in search of a priceless Faberge egg. - Heart of Ice
A scientist trapped in a sub-zero suit seeks revenge on the bottom-line-obsessed executive that stripped him of his humanity.
- The Cat and the Claw: Parts 1 & 2
As her alter ego attempts to establish a wildlife preserve outside the city, Catwoman stumbles upon a terrorist plot that threatens a viral attack on Gotham. - See No Evil
An ex-con uses an invisibility suit to pull off heists and chat with his daughter outside her bedroom window. - Beware the Gray Ghost
A series of attacks from a Mad Bomber remind Batman of an episode of a television series he watched fanatically growing up, and he ensnares the aging, virtually unemployable actor who decades ago played the Gray Ghost to help uncover the culprit. - Prophecy of Doom
Through megatons of explosives and attempted murder, con artist Nostromo dupes Gotham's financial elite into believing he can peer into the future...to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. - Feat of Clay: Parts 1 & 2
A disfigured actor reliant on a miracle reconstructive cream is forced into a life of crime, and the overdose he's subjected to has a disturbing, transforming effect.
- Joker's Favor
A working schlub that picked the wrong time to snap is blackmailed into a murderous scheme of the Joker's. This episode marks the introduction of fan five Harley Quinn. - Vendetta
As Rupert Thorne finally appears ready to be taken down, Detective Bullock is framed by the hideously deformed Killer Croc. - Fear of Victory
The Scarecrow tries to scare up a little cash by terrifying Gotham's athletes and betting against them. - The Clock King
A tightly-wound efficiency expert finds his life ruined by some well-intentioned advice from Hamilton Hill and, years later, seeks his revenge on the mayor as he faces re-election. - Appointment in Crime Alley
The once-prestigious Park Row area has devolved into the decrepit Crime Alley, and Batman, late for an annual appointment he hasn't ever missed, learns that it's about to be leveled to the ground by a greedy industrialist. - Mad as a Hatter
A lovelorn scientist uses his mind-control technology to bring his fantasies about his beautiful co-worker and mild obsession with "Alice in Wonderland" to life. - Dreams in Darkness
While attempting to stop the Scarecrow from poisoning Gotham's water supply, the Dark Knight finds himself locked up in by a well-meaning psychiatrist in Arkham Asylum.
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Following the visuals of the series, the next obvious subject to tackle is how it sounds. For me, Batman's tone is one of the elements that really sets it apart from most every other animated series, and contributing greatly to that is the orchestral score in each episode. The series also has a phenomenal roster of talent contributing its voices. The main group -- Kevin Conroy as the definitive Batman, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred, Bob Hastings as Commissioner Gordon -- just nail their parts with complete perfection. Very recognizable names also contribute to villains and assorted supporting characters. A complete list would be prohibitively long, but some of the more notable actors and actresses from these episodes are Michael Ansara, Ed Asner, Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Begley Jr., Mark Hamill, David L. Lander, Heather Locklear, Kevin McCarthy, Roddy McDowall, Richard Moll, Kate Mulgrew, Ron Perlman, Alan Rachins, Marc Singer, Jeffrey Tambor, John Vernon, Adam West, and Paul Williams. The campy live action series from the '60s also drew heavily from established Hollywood talent, but the difference here is that the actors don't draw attention to themselves as stars. I don't listen to an episode and think, "oh, that's Kevin McCarthy"; they fit so perfectly and so unobtrusively into the overall framework.
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Video: This DVD release of Batman: The Animated Series looks a bit better than I'd expect to see with an appearance on cable, but the full-frame video doesn't offer nearly as dramatic a difference as that seen in the Batman Beyond and Justice League discs compared to their broadcast counterparts. I don't have any complaints about crispness or clarity, even if this set isn't as razor-sharp as Warner's more recent animated releases. Some mild flaws do creep in, though. There's quite a bit of cel dirt, which isn't a problem specific to this DVD set, but still something viewers deadset on immaculate, clean presentations should go in expecting to see. There's also some aliasing, infrequent crosshatching, and MPEG discoloration. Those will likely go unnoticed by readers with smaller displays, but those watching on a large set may find those particularly distracting. As mentioned earlier, this is a very dark series visually, and it loses something if watched in a brightly-lit room. Turn the lights down before giving these discs a spin.
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Supplements: Every one of the four discs includes at least some supplemental material. In "The Dark Knight's First Night", Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski talk about the test reel they collaborated on in 1991 that eventually landed them gigs as producers on the series. After several minutes of interviews and pencil test footage, their two-minute reel is provided in its entirety, though with a slightly altered soundtrack and multigeneration video quality. Timm and Radomski return for an audio commentary on the first episode, "On Leather Wings". Their discussion frequently isn't about the minutiae of the episode itself so much as bringing the series to fruition and a general overview of producing Batman in those early days. They note the stumbling blocks encountered and overcome at all turns as first time producers of an action-adventure animated series, breaking expectations and taking an atypical approach in an era of laser rifles and parachutes bursting from exploding bubblecraft.
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Each disc includes a set of 16x9 static menus, along with seven episodes that can be viewed individually or consecutively. Each episode is included as a single chapter stop.
Conclusion: One of the best portrayals of the Dark Knight in any form, I'm proud to have this four-disc collection of episodes from Batman: The Animated Series in my collection. I wish Warner would've taken this route initially rather than trickling out four and five episodes a year, and the quality of the commentaries on this set absolutely left me wanting more. Highly Recommended.
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