The Batman that Deserved Better

oh are you here for [Music] some uh Batman I don't normally talk about Western Heroes on the channel at least not in a positive way but I will happily admit that Batman is one of my favorite comic book superheroes if you had a gun to my head I know the internet has a bit of a stick up its ass when it comes to the cape Crusader with some people completely misunderstanding the character thinking that because Batman is a billionaire he spends his I'm beating up the poor which uh sure what are you say Geniuses and

over the course of the years there have been a ton of Batman iterations that play with the idea of Batman in various ways obviously you got the iconic Batman the Animated Series it's probably the most recognizable animated version of Batman around and for good reason since a ton of people who are in my age bracket grew up with this series and was filled with a lot of iconic characters and moments even making things like Mr Freeze's tragic backstory in Harley Quinn oh no Carl I'm so sorry it's a it's a c Harley Quinn you gave

me cancer why would they even make this not going to touch that one but regardless I to enjoyed that series though I'll happily admit that I was more of a fan of the Batman Beyond which was a continuation of the dcau's Batman to me though there was another animated Batman that I honestly found a lot more appealing to my sensibilities it was similar to the original Batman cartoon but still took things in its own Direction and that's 2004's the Batman for today's video I would take a little time and talk about the show and why

I personally enjoyed it and how it stands out from other Batman materials I'm m a com and it's time for the [Music] Batman originally aired on kids WWE this version of the C Crusader focused on the early years of Batman's career of fighting crime where he' just been patrolling the streets of Gotham for 3 years before the series began proper and he was chased by the beles much like the criminals that the Batman fights if there's one thing you can probably tell from the footage being used for the show the art style seems familiar and

that's no mistake the art director and character designer for the show is Jeff matsuda an animator concept and comic artist who's also known for bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day Jackie Chan the famous movie star guy yeah that's the one be on the look out for him sure Bruce what do you want me to do if I find him uh could you get me an autograph yep Jackie Chan Adventures a show that a lot of people have also have a fondness for if nothing else for the mtic nature of

the show one more thing but also for the rather well animated choreographic fight scenes and that does translate into Batman's animation as well bring it on rodent [Music] Boy watch where you're stepping there's actually a focus on martial arts and you can tell that there's being a case for the characters besides Batman because Joker and even the penguin are able to physically fight against the Batman not to downplay the original Batman animated series but the action was more Forefront with this series and as someone who loves fight scenes I can greatly appreciate that time and

Care was actually put into the action and what's better is that they don't actually detract from the narratives of the episode there's also an underlying humor to the series that also wasn't the original Batman animated series either and I attribute that to Dwayne capy I hope I pronounced that right who was also a head writer for Jackie Chan Adventures but also had other notable series under his belt big guy in Rusty Ace Ventura Pet detectives cartoon and The Masks animated series and fun fact there was actually a crossover between those two oh yeah try it

I will after a brief pause for a fresh change of shorts back to the Batman Capi obviously has a bit of a comedic side to him considering his work but that doesn't mean he can't do serious works either he also has done things like Transformers Prime and man doomsday that do have a more serious tone to them what I'm saying is the guy can do some good weaving between comedy and serious writing and that's seene in the Batman show there are plenty of times where Batman isn't his usual stoic self and in times so often

banter as well as with the bad guys but it isn't corny like Batman is still rather green behind the gills and is still trying to find his Batman Persona I'd also be remiss if I didn't bring up the voice acting you guys have already heard the penguin talking in the fight scene I showed earlier but he was voiced by Tom Kenny yes the same Tom Kenny who does SpongeBob and Ice King well well well well come to help with the dusting JY Tom's got good range and even use that voice for Ice King later on

Ice King how many times have we warned you about using Love Potion that's why I'm using honey then there's the Joker he is voiced by Kevin Richardson Joker you're sick you need help well maybe I am a little off but what are you going to do lock me in the Looney Bin had a lot of voices like mer twins from Invincible Trigon from Teen Titans and many others sure he's not the same as Mark Hamill's Joker but I think that's a good thing Richardson managed to make a very entertaining Joker that has a lot of

range and emotion in the role and the voice certainly does fit the character I'm pretty sure that this Joker is a bit divisive with fans mainly because of the design but I'm not really going to say much on that only I can see the appeal and I can also see how some people aren't a fan of him then we got Bruce Wayne and Batman voiced by Reno Romano you know I once toyed with the idea of buying the Gators buying them lunch he's done work for a few Spider-Man games and was the original English dub

for the '90s Sailor Moon Tuxedo Mask but the role I want to highlight is this one well I see that the president's equipped his daughter with Ballistics too yeah same voice actor here I'm not going to go through the voice actors for all the characters but to me there's a lot of talented Works behind here and there's a lot of polish for this cartoon the Bas idea which was simple than of the week episodic series of course there was a bit of an ongoing narrative though especially considering a certain character that we'll get to in

the next section to me one of the better things about this version of Batman is that I was trying something different I think anime and the DNA of anime that is in Jeff matsuda's art style really became the portal to the attitude and the tone and the story Telly there's a line I want to start off with this section is that the Batman has a long and Rich history and the characters been around for 85 years to this point and throughout that time there's been a plethora of stories concerning the character and because of that

reinterpretations of the character can be done so differently without losing who he is and why people enjoy his work this is a younger Batman and well it's not outside the realm of possibility or even original since we have a lot of orang J stories of Batman or when he was young and trying to get his feet wet in the world of crime fighting I've found seeing Bruce Wayne struggling to juggle not only his duties as Batman but also his work as Bruce Wayne to be a thought broken one he's young he learning and it's a

trial by fire that Batman goes through and especially considering that he has to adapt to each of his villains who have different abilities and styles of fighting it makes for entertainment that I enjoyed of course that doesn't stop Batman from trying to talk things out first is this all you have to show for your life Arthur bitterness and revenge you could have done something positive with your talents like Elena did and when it doesn't work we do get to see the great detective shine through in Fair is there anything the great Arthur Brown does doesn't

know History Science literature music biology current events okay name the true identity of the Batman I've read a few opinions online that this version of Batman is just an edgier point of Spider-Man what with quips being dropped every other minute or so now to me that's a gross generalization but I don't really see it that way I admit there was an underlying comedic tone in the show I said that myself and while Batman does deliver quips every now and then I never found them to be on the same level as well I didn't know there

were bears in these Woods okay before we get down to business there's something I have to tell you I'm fresh out of honey I can't believe people found that to be funny I must be getting old but there's nothing like that in this show not from what I can recall at least nothing to that egregious Manner and most of the time these sorts of things went by quick regard I did enjoy the attempts of revamping a lot of was made with the characters Batman certainly did take things more seriously but there were also times where

it was fun to watch now obviously when you look towards things like the original Batman the Animated Series there's a big difference in the writing I'm not even going to say that the Batman is topping Dramatics of things like baby doll or even Heart of Ice if anything that episode is really part of the reason why Mr Freeze became such a beloved villain and why he's one of my favorites and that is lacking in this series this video is about that being said I will give that the Batman man is actually we get development for

Bruce and in turn Batman Batman the Animated Series certainly wins in the case of writing tragedy and drama and I'm not trying to put that down but one of the biggest things I found to be lacking was the development for the ti character Bruce and the OG animated series didn't have a lot of characters to play off of and let's face it a lot of tragic backstories for characters who did get them only had one episode to them and that's to be expected in the Animated Series Bruce was already seasoned as a crime fighter and

had experience doing so he was also in his 30s through the Run meanwhile the Batman's a little younger I can't find an official age so if I'm wrong about this let me know but from my sources he's 26 with 3 years of crime fighting under his belt and that's mostly Petty criminals not the Rogue gallery that Batman would normally get at least not until the series begins proper there's also an obvious distrust between Batman and the police and that's something that is actually used as an ongoing plot line for the show at least in the

first and second season detective we're on the same side tell to the chief I'm the Vandal here you mean to tell me the chief of police considers this vigilante a greater men then the clown Prince of Crime even more so that Bruce Wayne is actually friends with one of the lead detectives that's charged with catching the Batman Ethan Bennett of course Bruce is keeping his identity as Batman from his high school friend but throughout the first season we do see Ethan get to trust the Batman and in turn Bruce decides to trust his secret to

Ethan because the two are friends and to prevent the two from harm each other due to circumstances Alfred how would you feel about bringing Ethan into the fold allow someone besides myself to know the Batman's identity trust isn't the issue Ethan needs to know the truth before circumstances force one of us to harm the other I love this sort of thing because while having a secret identity for Heroes is standard fair this sort of thing is actually thought of and brought up into the it because the two are friends and there's a good chance that

things go horribly wrong if the secret is kept well Ethan you're not the only crime fighter in Gotham I mean uh what about your partner well Yen she's cool I mean she's on top of things good cop my closest friend probably I mean besides you of course I mean we should all have coffee sometime yeah I'm not sure I'm Ellen's cup of tea hey don't let Yin scare you off she only has it out for the Batman listen Ethan I just a second uh yeah me too damn you perfectly timed phone calls but yeah narratively

speaking I like this direction for the Batman it feels more human and more understandable of course you can't have a Batman show without there being some kind of tragedy happening with Ethan being infected by one of Joker's chemicals which eventually causes well hey what was it you wanted to tell me today tomorrow over Hoops deal [Music] [Applause] yep Ethan becomes this series's Clayface and it's brilliant for characterization as through this tragedy a new form of trust is made if you ever need me is it the deepest form of writing no if anything this is a

bit of a play on how Twoface was in the Animated Series where friend of Bruce Is tragically turned into one of his worst enemies due to a villain's actions now that isn't to say it's beat for Beat Just similar elements though I will say that the setup for this was a bit of an adaptation of the famous The Killing Joke especially with this line all it takes is one too many orders to make the C [Music] call all it takes is one Rotten Day to transform a normal man into a monster well in my case

haran day and a chemical bath also cards in the table I do think it's a bit unfair to compare the animated series with the Batman both have their strengths and weaknesses and I've highlighted a few already but both have their own directions with the world of Batman for them th I would imagine that most people would probably prefer the writing of the Animated Series since it really knows how to tug on the heartstrings and has a lot of recognition for its strong writing I get at the only s of Runing with the Batman 2004 cartoon

is that all the cat funds that Catwoman spouts out you should have seen the prey a big shiny [ __ ] cat missed it by a whisker but story structure-wise a lot of the Batman's episodes are pretty interesting especially the first few seasons where there's a lot of experimentation and with season 2 and with the bat signal being established it really felt earned in the end of it of course what I really enjoyed were the villains of the series since they really make the show for me even if they're also one-offs at some points which

isn't a problem really a hero is only as good as his villains and I'm going to be straight with you there's a lot of strong villains in the Batman cartoon I'm not going to go through all of them but I will go through a few of the more notable ones just to give my point I've already talked about this version of clay phase but there are some fun moments to be had with the character pardon me sir your plan now Ste are nice I must concur Jude one you never ever talk to me like that

and two when did you two ever talk at all oh no it was at this moment that he knew he [ __ ] up but funly enough there's also a second Clayface who basically turns himself into the Mudman because he's a failed actor has that rich meaty taste that dogs crave Waggy time it's wagic I'm sorry but you're just not right for the role really because if my look is the problem that I can change I did talk about the Joker and penguin to some degree but I do want to stress that the Joker's introduction

was actually quite entertaining especially since he had the outfit that was reminiscent of a mental patient straight jacket what rational being dresses like you speaking of threads I honestly like that outfit since the star contrast for the original Joker from the animated cartoon shame that he does eventually go back into a look resembling the Animated Series outfit though one thing I did take notice with The Joker Is that one he is a lot more technologically savvy throughout the show he was able to create things for our schemes I've demonstrated that he was able to create

a chemical compound that turned Ethan into clay face but he's also capable of recreating some of Batman's [Music] Tech and I found this joke to be a bit more of a threat at least the guy can go toe-to-toe with the Batman as well stop this thing Joker with what breaks he actually feels like a full-on threat with his schemes and when he's confronted as well I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the time that a joker well ooh I feel like a million Bots dadow machine son listen if I can make an Armstrong reference

in a Batman video you sure as hell know I'm going to do it then there's the penguin not only does he actually have some moves that has showcased earlier but he also has a more fleshed out backstory with Alfred of all people well I for one have certainly heard of the Cobble pots my grandfather used to Butler for them back in England and they were an obnoxious lot it's small touches like that that can add to a character's actions and motivation and it actually is brought up a few times in the series now there's Mr

Freeze he's a character I have a conflicting thought on on the one hand just look at his design and listen to his voice freeze will do Mr Freeze you do not have permission come it's top tier and the fact he's so powerful makes him out to be a real big threat I love the design and the voice choice for him both fit the character and make him sound chilling think about it think fast [Applause] the problem with him though is the backstory I know I said I think it's unfair to really compare this to the

animated version but Mr Freeze's backstory in that was so iconic that essentially became a main stay in almost every iteration of the character afterwards now does that mean you can't do something different with the character of course not personally speaking I would appreciate if there was some remix and revamping of Back stories especially for a new iteration of the series if you're going to change up a lot of the characters and such it's only natural to do so however what we got from Mr Freeze for this one is well I was just Victor freeze then

common bank [Music] robber my diamonds freeze no no [Music] turns out he's just a bank robber who was in a horrible accident though I will say it's an interesting turn that it was because of Batman's lack of experience that created a real monster it's not a horrible backstory for Mr Freeze if anything I like it when it's on the heroes that caus their villains to become monsters makes it a lot more personable in that way I do believe that you could still incorporate Mr Freeze's tragic backstory with this one however and even have a nice

little call back to another piece of Batman me I just have his Jewel theft be motivated to pay for his wife's treatment and while he was being mutated into the Jolly Old snowman have his wife pass away and therefore Mr Freeze become an apathetic monster who's trying to fill the void in his heart with the one thing that could have saved his wife I don't know I'm just a YouTuber I'm not a cartoonist or a cartoon writer at least we got Clancy Brown's voice behind the cold really makes the character sound super Sinister there are

several other villains I could go into for the show like how the Riddler looked like he took some tips from Marilyn Manson Style list oh and then there was Harley Quinn and even did something honestly pretty fun with her [Music] introduction yeah an actual song between her and the Joker but one of the most iconic villains would have to be Dracula yeah you heard me right Dracula was a villain in this continuity for [Music] Batman so the folktales are true there is another bat in Gotham Count Dracula I presume a legend you are apparently intimate

with don't flatter yourself it's actually a made for TV movie where Batman had to deal with the king of vampires who was resurrected to the streets of Gotham and the special really does a great job of making a parallel with the Batman and Dracula even having a contrast of colors between the two and of course there's some awesome action scenes a pretty good soundtrack and honestly some really good atmosphere I don't know I've always loved the idea of Batman going up against the actual Dracula in a movie ever since I was a little kid plus

there are legitimately creepy moments like how the Joker gets turned to a vampire with this scene happening in a blood [Music] bank the movie really U izes the use of colors really well and sets the scenes up with it it makes sense with all the bat connections hell give me a liveaction version of Batman duking it out with Dracula come on that would sell like hot cakes I'm not really doing the special Justice with this video but if you want to see something like this for a Halloween special be sure to leave a like and

comment vampire we get about 3K likes on this video I'm up a Batman versus Dracula for this year's Halloween but to get back on topic I found a lot of the villains in this show to be at the very least fun and entertaining to some degree and if some of the Marine just for one episode or lesser roles they still had an impact the Batman as a Series has five seasons under its belt with 65 episodes to count meanwhile the Animated Series had three seasons if you count the new animated series as well with 109

to 113 episodes and in my own research I had learned that the Batman is a bit of a divisive title which is understandable since it's a reimagining with an ongoing narrative as throughout the first few seasons Batman is slowly acquiring members of the bat Family First with Batgirl in season 3 and then Robin in season 4 also in season 4 we do start getting other DC heroes popping up the first being Martian Manhunter and then in the fifth season other Heroes like Superman the Flash hell the Justice League was a bit of a thing happening

as well but unfortunately the series end before that could take off and there were Rumblings about how there was supposed to be a spin-off series featuring Superman set in the same universe if you want my opinion I appreciate the earlier Seasons since a lot of the time it was Batman having to adapt to the villains and attempt to solve his issues through understanding how to combat each of the individual villains' powers and techniques however as we got into the later season with more and more Heroes being brought into the mix the show began to lose

that little spark to me especially in the fifth season when most of it was focused on showing the new superheroes and became less about being a show about Batman and more becoming an unfulfilled Prelude to a possible Justice League cartoon done in this art style oh great the issue I have with a lot of things I enjoy too many characters taking up too much time it also doesn't help that there was a bit of an important character in the early Seasons who just kind of disappeared Into The Ether Detective Yin who was not only Ethan's

partner detective but also became an Insider contact with Batman for the police but she just faded away around the time that battir showed up oh now what I suppose you're going to show me oh oh oh gee that's very nice oh what is this some kind of magic act at the end of season 2 she just disappears and that really sucks especially since she did have a perfect episode to bring her back in that be clay faces which brought back Ethan as Clayface and she's not even there even you deserve better than this I'm getting

way off topic here however as anyone can Wonder this show did have an uphill battle it came out in 2004 which had to actually compete with the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited which had its run through 2001 to 2006 then there's the teen tit cartoon which was also widely popular at the time and had started a year before the Batman came out so there was a lot of DC material that would give the show a bit of a rough start to really stand out not helped that the art Stell really made the series come

off as a lot more geared towards children and according to an IGN article yeah H yeah I know IGN is terrible but it's a source nonetheless and it does give a somewhat idea of what was said at the time the show which just ended its run last spring never won over Die Hard fans the way the animated series did but it did match the last for five seasons all the same I think it's rather unfair to the Batman yeah there's a lot stacked against it but the show does have a number of great elements to

it is it perfect I just went through some of the issues of the show it's far from terrible though and while I'm not a DieHard Batman fan I do think the show is worth your time I certainly found to be a great time when I went through a watch not too long ago so I think there's only one last thing to say it's been 20 years since this show started and sure it's directly in the shadow of Batman the Animated Series and for good reason too the iconic Batman series has managed to get a ton

of people into the comic book industry and has made a lot of amazing episodes and scenes that people this very day are discussing online but to me I feel like the Batman also deserves a lot of that praise too sure it doesn't have the Deep character writing of some episodes of the Animated Series but that to me isn't an issue the Batman tried something different with the source material and it certainly didn't make the Batman into a joke if anything I don't see it as competition for the Animated Series I just see it as another

piece of the Batman lore and that to me should be something that everyone should like yeah it's a different take with a different art style but variety is the spice of life my friends and you should at the very least give the show an honest chance trust me it's good until next time my friends I'm M A Comon and thanks for watching lers [Music]