Batman The Animated Series

He wasn't being one.

RIP Mr. Ansara.

His head has actually been cryogenically frozen while he builds a robotic suit with which to commit ice-related crimes.

... Too Soon.

Rest in Peace, Michael Ansara.

You will be missed.

Henry Polic II, the original Scarecrow, dies at 68.

What tragic timing!

Man... Fuck cancer.

Why everyone seems to have cancer nowadays? it's getting really creepy.

Maybe more exposure to things that can cause cancer if you're exposed to them too much.

Don't all things cause cancer according to current data?

Most things, it seems.

So... I've been rewatching old episodes of BTAS while working on my review blog for The Batman, and I seriously didn't expect to love "A Bullet for Bullock" as much as I did. I mean, I liked it fine when I watched it as a young'un, but if anything it's actually aged better now that I'm an adult. I can only think of a few TAS episodes to fit that category.

The jazzy little remix of the TAS theme during the final fight scene kicked ass.

Essentially, life causes cancer. Everything else just exacerbates your chances of developing it, or of developing it in a specific part of your body. Odds are, if you live long enough, you'll develop some kind of cancer. It's a fundamental fact of our biology. How's that for a downer?

Michael Ansara, unless I'm mistaken, was also Sarek, Spock's father, from Star Trek.

I can't remember exactly, but I think "A Bullet for Bullock" was an adaptation of a comic story from the early 80's. Bullock had appeared for awhile with his traditional personality, and then the story showed that in private life he was this lonely guy who annoyed his neighbors and watched old movies a lot.

edited 23rd Aug '15 12:04:39 PM by Robbery

Was TNBA a good season or not?

I think it was good, but not as good as the first 3 seasons.

Early 90s, actually. It took place shortly before Knightfall, even having a Kelley Jones cover.

I enjoyed it, though I know it gets a lot of hate. It was cool to see Nightwing (Russian-esque leitmotif and all) even if he did have a mullet. I agree in that I don't think it was quite as good as the preceding seasons, but I think it had far fewer bad episodes (I should say, though, that even the "bad" episodes of this show were pretty good).

TNBA is... okay. I give it a lot of flak, because a lot of the characters and their dynamics are far more two-dimensional (including Batman himself), the plots suffer as a result, and to a lesser extent the art-shift is rather hit or miss (it's an obvious first try for the DCAU's standard art style, and all in all Superman's designs were a lot better), but it's not terrible.

When it was good, it was really good. Mad Love, Growing Pains, etc. But it's clunkers are more noticeable, like "Cold Comfort." And it had a lot of interesting ideas, just didn't always develop them well or as creatively, and premise-wise and doesn't completely work as a follow-up to BTAS.

However, the DCAU proper is built more off of it than it is BTAS anyway, so it should be appreciated for that as well.

edited 23rd Aug '15 2:07:25 PM by KnownUnknown

Say what you will about the 2016 election outcome, at least we have Mark Hamill's Joker to entertain us with his Trump readings.

We're getting a six-issue digital comic mini-series that's a continuation of The New Batman Adventures. Paul Dini and Alan Burnett are writing, Ty Templeton is the artist, and it'll feature characters new to the continuity like Jason Todd, Deathstroke, and Azrael .

Kevin Conroy will be reading the first chapter of Batman: The Adventure Continues tomorrow on Instagram.

Have you guys read the first chapter? What did you guys think of it?

It's nice.

It's good to see more BTAS stuff.

I hate to bump this, but here's LegalEagle's review of "Trial" from The Adventures of Batman & Robin:

Well, that was fun.

Huh. Seeing a real lawyer kind put his foot to the balls of the Batman creates the villains myth is nice.

Someone should reference this dude every time that gets brought up in comics....though depending on what Origin Joker has, it could be said that Batman is responsible for him, what with the whole Red Hood thing.

There was mini-documentary included with one of the DCU Batman films where a genuine psychiatrist put paid to the notion that Batman is crazy. "He's a bit broody and intense," said the psychiatrist, "but he's not actually mentally ill." And most of his villains don't qualify as insane, either.

I think it’s just Two-Face and Professor Pyg who are considered legitimately insane, right?

As far as TAS goes, the Ventriloquist probably has a case for the insanity defense. He doesn't particularly want to commit crimes, but feels forced to by Scarface, a puppet he's emotionally dependent on. Now, dissociative identity disorder and the insanity defense is kind of a tricky thing, so whether the courts would see it that way, eh.

(Now, depending on comic you can also make the argument that Scarface is honest-to-God possessed and thus the Ventriloquist might actually be sane. But, er, that's another kettle of fish.)

There's also some odd examples. To use the insanity defense, you've effectively got to argue your mental disorder removes your culpability for the crime. Depending on portrayal, Riddler might genuinely suffer from OCD or some form of riddle-based compulsions — but, you know, he usually still consciously chooses to commit crimes.

You sort of have to assume the insanity defense just works differently in Gotham or the DC world. Otherwise the Joker can hem and haw about madness as much as he likes, but he just knowingly tried to gas the whole city, something the courts really frown on.

Edited by Lavaeolus on Sep 1st 2021 at 11:33:05 AM