These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Batman: The Animated Series
Alternative Character Interpretation: In the episode where the Scarecrow hits Batman with a drug that causes him to lose all fear, Robin has to step in to stop Batman from throwing a mook off a ledge saying that he's lost his fear of killing. This implies that Batman doesn't kill his criminal opponents not because he feels it is wrong or out of some sense of justice, but because he is afraid to.
That's not alternate, really. He is afraid to, in the sense that he's afraid of what he'll become if he gives in to that urge.
And the Fandom Rejoiced: Both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill became so well-known for their roles as Batman and the Joker that any future Batman-based adaptation using their talents are applauded at least for that decision; Kevin Conroy in Batman: Gotham Knights and both of them in Batman Arkham Asylum. In fact, when the latter was being developed, years after BTAS and the DCAU had been finished, Hamill was still the first choice to voice the Joker by the developers. He said he was delighted to reprise the role, though he also announced during production that he would be retiring from the role after the game's release. He chose to relent on this so he could reprise the role for the game's sequel, but still reiterates that he will be retiring after this.
Awesome Music: In many, many ways. The show introduction is famous for the music as much as for its almost-a-storyboard art style. The second intro is less well-known, but also features some epic music. And most villains have their own (often awesome) leitmotifs. BTAS had a unique soundtrack for every episode, a feature that might never happen again.
The first theme spread beyond the show itself, turning up in nearly every DCAU show in either original or remixed form. It remained awesome in every incarnation.
The Sewer King, whose exploitation of homeless children leaves Batman severely tempted to break his Thou Shalt Not Kill rule. The original script was intended to show him as far more violent and harsh, but the network made them tone much of this down.
Boss Biggis does almost the exact same thing, he kidnaps random people off the street, enslaves them and forces them to work in the mines all to satisfy his own greed. Unlike the King however, he's not treated as seriously in-universe, as Batman dosen't hesitate to save him from being blown up, but in some ways he's even ''worse'' then the King as he dosen't care whether any of his slaves die or not, he punishes people over the most minor things by locking them in a box in the hot sun, when one worker gets thrown in, another man protests that he will likely die form being kept in the box, Biggis simply says "That's the idea!".
Roland Daggett is not only corrupt and evil, but actually succeeds in one of his most bloodthirsty schemes.
And here's some more: Red Claw, Arkady Duvall, Gil Mason, Rupert Thorne, Dr. Milo, and Dr. Emile Dorian. Oh, and Warren Lawford aka Fox, from the "Terrible Trio." Even his two cohorts wind up horrified at the lengths he's willing to go. It's worth noting that most of these are just "regular" people and yet manage to be more despiscable than the majority of the supervillains, most of whom have sympatheticqualities.
The Scarecrow experimenting on people by exposing them to their fears... and loving every moment of it. In "Fear of Victory," he is perfectly willing to drop a vial of fear powder on a stadium full of people to keep Batman at bay.
Crowning Music of Awesome: For many, Shirley Walker's Batman overture is even more iconic than Danny Elfman's theme.
Discontinuity: The fans really hate the episode "Critters," seeing it as overly campy and full of Incredibly Lame Puns. Though the producers themselves have a soft spot for it and did a commentary on the DVD to defend it (though Bruce Timm notes up front that he completely understands why it's not everyone's cup of tea).
Harley Quinn, who was originally known as the Joker's "Hench Wench", and had such a huge fanbase that she evolved into her own character and got her own comic book story.
"Thriftie", a girl who only appeared in the episode "Beware the Creeper" working at a clothing store, where she watches completely stone-faced as The Creeper ransacks the store looking for a new superhero outfit, snarking at his comments the whole time.
The Clock King gained such a ridiculously outspoken fanbase on 4chan's comics and cartoons board that it's most likely what led to the introduction of a new version of the character exactly like him in the comics, and possibly contributing to his other appearances before that. /co/'s power to uplift characters with dumb concepts that somehow make them powerful is truly frightening.
By "new version exactly like him" I assume you mean "some new character that shares the name, and has nothing else in common with the character from the show." You're comparing a Batman villain obsessed with knowing how long it takes to do things to a Teen Titans villain with precognition powers.
Before this series, Mr. Freeze was just a generic ice-themed villain. The writers reimagined him as an Anti-Villain with a highly sympathetic backstory, lifting him among the most popular of Batman's villains. Hell, even the much-reviled Batman & Robin took inspiration from it!
Gateway Series: It served as such for a lot of people for Batman.
It also served as one for the production team as this series served as the first building block and cornerstone of the DCAU.
Growing the Beard: While it started off very high quality, early episodes were more action-adventure oriented then the plot oriented nature the series became famous for. "Heart of Ice" was the first dynamite episode and you can see how popular it is on this very page. "Two-Face" parts I and II, before "Heart of Ice" in production order, also has a profoundly grown beard.
Harsher in Hindsight: The interactions of Joker and Penguin inside Penguin's night club, The Iceberg Lounge, in "Joker's Millions" become this in one of the "Arkham Stories" during Arkham City.
In "Make 'Em Laugh" the Joker uses microchips to alter the minds of innocents to make them criminals. ThencomesReturn Of The Joker
Hell Is That Noise: The Joker's laugh, though what really gets it there is hearing it from others affected by his smile toxin.
Brianne Sidall voices Robin in the Adam West style sub-plot in the episode "Legends of the Dark Knight." Scott Menville would later voice Robin on Teen Titans. These actors respectively played the main antagonist and protagonist of Tales Of Symphonia, turning the final boss fight into Robin vs. Robin.
Also, "Legends of the Dark Knight", featured a The Dark Knight Returns Batman in one story, and a 50's Joker, voiced by Michael Mc Kean, in the other. Michael Mc Kean has recently been announced to be part of the voice cast for the animated adaptation for The Dark Knight Returns.
In "Almost Got 'Im," Joker mocks Poison Ivy's use of "exploding pumpkins." A few years, Mark Hamill would be voicing the Hobgoblin, whose signature weapon is the pumpkin bomb.
Alfred's "Are we developing an interest in rock and roll, sir?" from "On Leather Wings", after Atop the Fourth Wall started the Running Gag of Batman hating rock and roll.
"Dreams in Darkness" wouldn't be the last time Scarecrow tries to use Arkham's basement to poison Gotham's water supply with fear gas.
Ink Stain Adaptation: Both the Penguin and Catwoman were originally based on the characters as they appeared in Batman Returns instead of the original comics, resulting in a physically-deformed Penguin and a blonde Catwoman. When the show became The New Batman Adventures and all the characters were redesigned, the Penguin and Catwoman's alter-ego, Selina Kyle, became more in-line with their traditional comics selves (Penguin became normal-looking and Catwoman has black hair); Catwoman's costume in TNBA went the other direction, becoming all-black like the Returns version.
Jerkass Victim: Daniel Mockridge, whom the Riddler kidnapped for screwing him out of royalties for designing a popular video game.
Also, those who credit Bruce Timm and Paul Dini as the "heads" of the series. It was actually Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski as co-producers starting out, but Radomski was more involved with the art direction than the story writing. Alan Burnett was in charge of the plotting team, and while later credited as a producer, Paul Dini was mainly a writer at the time.
The Cameo at the end of that Count Vertigo episode doesn't count
,, and is a more complex character for it; in almost every other appearance, in this series and allothers he shows up in, he is mostly concerned with cheating death, by any means necessary, and becomes gradually more two-dimensional as a result.
Nightmare Fuel: Oh, yeah. This is a pretty dark series. Interestingly, the Nightmare Fuel episodes also tend to be Tear Jerker episodes.
The episode "Baby Doll" revolves around a washed-up actress with dwarfism who takes revenge on her former castmates. She continually switches off between the child voice she did on the show and her real, "adult" voice. This continues to be creepy throughout the entire show until the climax in a hall of mirrors at a carnival, where she sees herself in a funhouse mirror showing what she probably would have looked like without the condition as an adult. She then rages at the Dark Knight for foiling her plan, shouting, "Why couldn't you just let me make believe!?" before breaking down and crying. It perhaps goes without saying that this was an episode written by Paul Dini.
This is a great example of a nightmare fuel episode that also ended up being a tear-jerker episode, as mentioned above. The last time the actress says "I didn't mean to!" is just so tragic; no matter what she just did over the last 20 minutes, it's hard not to feel sorry for her just then.
Clayface, just by his ability that you can probably guess just from his name, can be Nightmare Fuel Personified at times. But the climax to his story, where he loses control over his powers when exposed to too much stimuli in a room full of TV screens, will give all children nightmares!
The "origin story" is disturbing as well. He was using small amounts of the serum to control his appearance. Some criminals he owes money to catch up with him, and inject him with so much serum that he starts melting.
The Joker is creepy enough in the series itself, but in "Mask of the Phantasm" he really skips over into this. When he is captured by the Phantasm and realizes she is going to kill him, Mark Hamill laughs so hard he turns the Nightmare FuelUp to Eleven. Shown here.
The fate of Clayface's "daughter" Annie (she gets reassimilated and is effectively murdered) is this, as well as Squick and Tear Jerker. Also functions as a Moral Event Horizon for Clayface.
Scarecrow's redesign for The New Batman Adventures. Now he looks like a hanged man with the noose still around his neck. Also, you can't make out any physical features beyond his solid white eyes and teeth. Even the producers admit they're not sure there's an actual living person in the costume anymore.
Any episode that had the Ventriloquist and Scarface. Not outright terrifying, but subtly disturbing, given it's basically a man who starts being terrified by a puppet he himself voices.
"Eternal Youth". Poison Ivy turns people into trees and says that the initial layer is just an exoskeleton and it would take months for them to fully transform. The figures themselves, including and especially Alfred, are nightmare-inducing in their own right.
The episode "The Forgotten", where Bruce is captured by a slave camp, and the attack has left him with amnesia. The episode itself is pretty tame on the nightmare department, except for a particular dream sequence. The still disguised Bruce Wayne stumbles into a room full of mirrors, when all of a sudden he hears his own voice laughing. This leads him to stand before a mirror where the pre-amnesia Bruce Wayne is Laughing Mad. With absolutely no warning, the laughing Bruce turns into the Joker, whose arms break through the mirror and pull Bruce in, at which they come out from a sky-scrapper's window, plummeting towards the ground. As Bruce screams, the Joker is still laughing.
