History Trivia / BatmanBeyondReturnoftheJoker

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The edited version is harder to come across nowadays, being superseded by the PG-13 cut.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: As stated in the DVD Commentary (and previous interviews), Timm and company had ''strongly'' resisted dusting off the old Batman villains during the series. They wanted Terry to stand on his own and clash with his own original villains rather than just repeating what the creators had done on ''BTAS'' and ''TNBA'' (barring justified exceptions like Mr. Freeze or Talia and Ra's al Ghul). Once Warner Brothers commissioned a DTV film, however, Timm and company knew they ''needed'' an epic storyline that would justify such a scale and scope -- and the logical storytelling choice was thus to break their rule and bring back the Joker into the future world of ''Beyond''.

** Despite what many fans had thought and hoped, Poison Ivy is unrelated to the [=DeeDee=] twins.

** Ghoul came about because Michael Rosenbaum's impression of Christopher Walken was never used in previous collaborations.

* SerendipityWritesThePlot: Due to Creator/BruceTimm mandating that Harley would die for her part in torturing Tim, Creator/PaulDini found a compromise that she survived but gave up the criminal life with "Pudding" dead for real, showing she didn't become a KarmaHoudini for breaking a child's mind. This ends up making it stronger (and scarier) when we learn that the [=DeeDee=] twins are her granddaughters, and Joker had coerced them into working for him. Indeed, the implications are that Joker specifically hunted them down because of their relationship to Harley.

* SparedByTheCut: Creator/BruceTimm mandated that Harley Quinn had to die, against Creator/PaulDini's protests, and they laugh about it on the uncut DVD commentary. He said that her torturing Tim Drake crossed a line, and her mental illness and toxic relationship with the Joker was no excuse. Dini found a compromise: Harley "retired" that night after falling down the pit in Arkham, but Barbara says they didn't find her body but the Bat-family hadn't seen her reappear in ages and she's too old to be causing trouble. In the end, "Nanna Harley" appears to bail the [=DeeDee=] twins out of jail, showing that karma did get to her with the Joker recruiting her grandkids. Not to mention she is walking with a cane, like Bruce is, showing she didn't survive the fall or natural aging unscathed.

** The initial design for the Dee-Dee twins was [[http://www.catsuka.com/gengal/batman/beyond/beyond_design_2d27s.jpg very different]] to the finalized film. Probably a good idea that they changed it, as it perhaps gave away the fact that they were Harley Quinn's granddaughters.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The DCAU crew were aware of the negative reception towards the Joker’s design in ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries The New Batman Adventures]]'', so this film features yet another re-design for the Joker that’s presented in the flashback sequence. It combines elements of both his ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' (general appearance and details) and ''TNBA'' (the color scheme and triangular jawline) designs and adds a darker color scheme to his mouth and sharper teeth. This design was re-used for his chronologically earlier appearances in ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' and ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague.''

* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: The reason there is both a cut and uncut version of this movie - the original release date for the uncut version was going to be on [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/BBROTJ.jpg Halloween 2000]], which was unfortunate when it was still during the fallout of the UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} shootings, and movie companies were coming under heavy criticism for violence in films. As a result, the film was postponed, then heavily edited and released as the unrated version on December 12, 2000. Fortunately, the developers still retained the original version in shelves and eventually released it as "the original, uncut version" under the PG-13 rating on April 23, 2002 (just three days after the third anniversary of the Columbine tragedy) following an online petition to have it released.

* RoleReprise: Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin reprise their respective roles of the Joker and Harley Quinn for the first time since the conclusion of ''TNBA''. Likewise, Tara Strong and Matthew Valencia reprise their roles as Batgirl and Robin (though this film ended up being Valencia's final outing as Tim Drake).

* ActingForTwo: Creator/MarkHamill voices both the Joker and Jordan Pryce. This is a deliberate example; Pryce is used as a RedHerring for the returned Joker's true identity and them sharing a voice actor makes the deception all the more convincing.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: As stated in the DVD Commentary (and previous interviews), Timm and company had ''strongly'' resisted dusting off the old Batman villains during the series. They wanted Terry to stand on his own and clash with his own original villains rather than just repeating what the creators had done on BTAS and TNBA (barring justified exceptions like Mr. Freeze or Talia and Ra's al Ghul). Once Warner Brothers commissioned a DTV film, however, Timm and company knew they ''needed'' an epic storyline that would justify such a scale and scope -- and the logical storytelling choice was thus to break their rule and bring back the Joker into the future world of ''Beyond''.

* RoleReprise: Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin reprise their respective roles of the Joker and Harley Quinn for the first time since the conclusion of TNBA. Likewise, Tara Strong and Matthew Valencia reprise their roles as Batgirl and Robin (though this film ended up being Valencia's final outing as Tim Drake).

* SerendipityWritesThePlot: Due to Creator/BruceTimm mandating that Harley would die for her part in torturing Tim, Creator/PaulDini found a compromise that she survived but gave up the criminal life with "Pudding" dead for real, showing she didn't become a KarmaHoudini for breaking a child's mind. This ends up making it stronger (and scarier) when we learn that the [=DeeDee=] twins are her granddaughters, and Joker had coerced them into working for him. Indeed, the implications are that Joker specifically hunted them down because of their relationship to Harley.
* SparedByTheCut: Creator/BruceTimm mandated that Harley Quinn had to die, against Creator/PaulDini's protests, and they laugh about it on the uncut DVD commentary. He said that her torturing Tim Drake crossed a line, and her mental illness and toxic relationship with the Joker was no excuse. Dini found a compromise: Harley "retired" that night after falling down the pit in Arkham, but Barbara says they didn't find her body but the Bat-family hadn't seen her reappear in ages and she's too old to be causing trouble. In the end, "Nanna Harley" appears to bail the [=DeeDee=] twins out of jail, showing that karma did get to her with the Joker recruiting her grandkids. Not to mention she is walking with a cane, like Bruce is, showing she didn't survive the fall or natural aging unscathed.

* QuoteSource:
** NeverForgottenSkill
** ReturningBigBad
** VillainRevealsTheSecret

* RoleReprisal: Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin reprise their respective roles of the Joker and Harley Quinn for the first time since the conclusion of TNBA. Likewise, Tara Strong and Matthew Valencia reprise their roles as Batgirl and Robin (though this film ended up being Valencia's final outing as Tim Drake).

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The edited version is hard to come across.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Anyone who has seen the edited version of this film knows what we're talking about. Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} has a list of changes [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Beyond:_Return_of_the_Joker#Re-editing here]].

* CreatorBacklash: According to the DVD Commentary, Mark Hamill had some creative conflicts with Timm and company during the recording sessions. Hamill came in immediately going right into his customary manic Joker mode, only to be asked to restrain the performance and tone it down to play into this being a different, darker (albeit still manic and funny) Joker. While Hamill groused about the direction, his final performance is lauded as one of his best in the entire DCAU.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: As stated in the DVD Commentary (and previous interviews), Timm and company had strongly resisted dusting off the old Batman villains during the series. They wanted Terry to stand on his own and clash with his own original villains rather than just repeating what the creators had done on BTAS and TNBA (barring justified exceptions like Mr. Freeze or Talia and Ra's al Ghul). Once Warner Brothers commissioned a DTV Film, however, Timm and company knew they needed a storyline that would justify such a scale and scope -- and the logical storytelling avenue was thus to finally bring the Joker into ''Beyond''.

* CreatorBacklash: According to the DVD Commentary, Mark Hamill had creative conflicts with Timm and company during the recording sessions. Hamill came in immediately going right into his well-honed, customary manic Joker mode, only to be asked to restrain the performance and tone it down to play into this being a different (albeit still manic and funny) Joker. While Hamill wasn't happy with the direction, his final performance is lauded as one of his best in the entire DCAU.