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Batman - The Animated Series - The Legend Begins

Batman - The Animated Series - The Legend Begins

List Price: $14.97
Your Price: $13.47
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Needs more
Review: A good start to producing the animated series on Dvd. But, this needs a lot more extras. Extra episodes, extra extras, like deleted scenes, watching the actors rehearse, or reading the scripts would be fun, interviews with the cast, and, since this is for kids :) maybe a few dvd-rom games.
There's just so much more they could do with these DVDs. I'd like to see them take advantage of the opportunities.

Kevin Conroy is awesome. He IS Batman. The artwork is near flawless. I am so drawn into the entire ambience, that I have to catch myself, remembering this is a cartoon. It's not live action. Which, after the dismal Batman & Robin, it's very easy to understand why the animated series seems like live characters, and Batman & Robin seemed more cartoony than the animated series.

Despite the shortage of episodes and extras, I still give this 4 out of 5 stars, or a 92 of 100.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Try again, Warner Bros.
Review: After months of anticipation, I finally bused to my local comic book shop yesterday on my lunch hour and grabbed this DVD along with the other new Batman titles. All I could think about all day was getting home and popping this disc into my DVD player. Batman: The Animated Series was one of the great shows of my early childhood (next to Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters) and having the first five episodes on disc is amazing. There are noticible differences between these early episodes and the ones that followed: the animation is slightly more detailed and darker, Alfred's voice actor is different, Mark Hamil still hadn't quite nailed his famous Joker voice, and the interaction between Batman and Robin has a tinge of campiness. Yet, this is still the definitive Dark Knight.

However, I'm rather sad to say this disc disappointed me. While the episodes are still great, their presentation is completely lacking. There are no chapter stops for individual episodes, like on the Batman Beyond DVD. One would think the perfect place to introduce chapter stops would be where the segements fade to black for the commerical breaks, but there are none. There are no audio commentaries on the disc; Producer Bruce Timm appears at the start of each episode with a brief (less than 2.5 min) bit, but he could have easily done two or three terrific commentary tracks for EACH episode. There are only two extras, and neither of them are any good. There is a "game" that basically pieces together segments from the cartoons, and a featurette on how to draw Batman that lasts less than a minute. The two-minute pilot that Timm used to sell the show to Warner Bros. was supposed to be included, but it's nowhere to be found (unless it's an easter egg). Overall, the disc is as bare-bones as the early DVD releases, and WB's poor extras can't hide that fact.

Still, this is a no-brainer purchase for fans. The disc is affordable, and the quality of the show guarantees repeated viewings. Hopefully good sales of this disc will pursuade Warner Bros. to load up the next few installments.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best animated T.V show ever made by warner bros
Review: Batman is the greatest animated show still running out there with other great classics like batman beyond or batman and robin. You can relive the gotham scene and atmosphere of a great saga of gothams finest Dark Knight. This DVD edition is great to your collection of other titles that have made it big like batman. Great episodes, great storylines and great charecters, what more to say. 10/10.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Dark Knight begins here...
Review: Batman: The Animated Series came out while I was in college, which gave me lots of time to watch it. This DVD includes the first five episodes, with such greats as the Joker, Scarecrow and Poison Ivy. Lets face it, "Christmas with The Joker" might be old when compared to the newer episodes, but it is a classic.
The best part is the series can draw on the vast background and the large selection of characters from the comic books and other sources. This would allow the series to develop story arches, use its own history and even shoot out a few full-length movies.
The DVD has great extras, such as how to draw Batman, conversations with Director Bruce Timm about each episode and a 'Life on the Edge Game'. Even the DVD menus are cool. Good for any fan of the Batman!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Dark Knight begins here...
Review: Batman: The Animated Series came out while I was in college, which gave me lots of time to watch it. This DVD includes the first five episodes, with such greats as the Joker, Scarecrow and Poison Ivy. Lets face it, "Christmas with The Joker" might be old when compared to the newer episodes, but it is a classic.
The best part is the series can draw on the vast background and the large selection of characters from the comic books and other sources. This would allow the series to develop story arches, use its own history and even shoot out a few full-length movies.
The DVD has great extras, such as how to draw Batman, conversations with Director Bruce Timm about each episode and a 'Life on the Edge Game'. Even the DVD menus are cool. Good for any fan of the Batman!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The only batman to watch
Review: Everyone has done a great job reviewing this series so I'll keep mine short. One thing I did want to praise was the excellent job that was done with Mr. Freeze. He had just the right touch of mournfulness to make you really feel for his plight. It makes me shudder to think about the [bad] job Arnie did in the movie. Also, this was a great series until the WB bought the show and changed the animation. Stick with the original and if Warner Brothers tries to slip in a DVD with their newer shows, skip it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superb, one of the best animated shows ever made.
Review: For the last few years I've been longing for a high quality DVD release of this show. Along with the Simpsons and classic Tom and Jerry cartoons, I rank this as one of the best animated shows ever.

High quality animation, fantastic graphic design, great stories and voice acting. Combine this with a darker mature overtone that truly captures the essence of Batman, and you have a classic.

I'm so happy to see this on DVD, and at 5 episodes for [the price] I feel like I'm betting a bargain. Could use some more special features, like artwork from the "Art of Batman: The Animated Series" but besides that everything is excellent.

I'm already anxious to get the next volume!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The saturday morning cartoon of dreams!
Review: Great animation, great stories, wonderful villians. This Batman series show the Dark Knight at his best. Batman's endless arsenal of nifty gadgets fascinated my kids. My younger son is four and he was frightened by some of the stories. The episode featuring the Joker especially disturbed him. The Joker is a brilliant villian, but a bit cold and definitely without a conscience. I recommend this movie for older children and adults. My favorite episode was the one with the Scarecrow. When Batman gets sprayed with Scarecrow's gas and faces his deepest fear, we are able to glimpse a human side of the Caped Crusader that he rarely reveals.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wonderful for Older Kids
Review: Great animation, great stories, wonderful villians. This Batman series show the Dark Knight at his best. Batman's endless arsenal of nifty gadgets fascinated my kids. My younger son is four and he was frightened by some of the stories. The episode featuring the Joker especially disturbed him. The Joker is a brilliant villian, but a bit cold and definitely without a conscience. I recommend this movie for older children and adults. My favorite episode was the one with the Scarecrow. When Batman gets sprayed with Scarecrow's gas and faces his deepest fear, we are able to glimpse a human side of the Caped Crusader that he rarely reveals.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BTAS on DVD is beautiful!
Review: I don't know how many other BTAS fans are aware of this, but Columbia House is releasing the entire Batman TAS on DVD, one DVD every month as a subscription. I received my first DVD in the mail today, and instead of the shows being released in production order (who cares what order they were made in?) they are being released on DVD in the order they first aired (with the exception of "The Cat and The Claw, Part 2" programed directly after "Part I" even though initially, the second part of "Cat" aired one week later than the first. Not only are the episodes in chronalogical order, there are SIX episodes on this first DVD. The episodes are as follows: The Cat and the Claw, Part I; The Cat and the Claw, Part II; On Leather Wings; Heart of Ice; Feat of Clay, Part I; and Feat of Clay, Part II. This disc has three of my favorite episodes, "Heart of Ice" and the two part "Feat of Clay" on it. Also, the discs come in different packaging than the cardboard snap case from WB, the Columbia House case is very slim and made of plastic. The good thing about that is that the entire series will not require a book case of it's own. Also the artwork for the Columbia House DVD is much more attractive than the WB release; Batman standing in silhouette with the Batman logo in front of him. Very dark and brooding and matches the show completely. I hate it when the studios use artwork on their packaging that doesn't truly represent the content and I feel WB has done that with these BTAS discs by making them the character look too rounded and bright and cheery. Uggg.

The only disappointment I have with the Columbia House disc is that the back of the case says the disc features Cast Info and Bonus Materials, but they are not on the disc. I can only hope they will be included in future discs.

I have every episode of the orignal show on VHS that I taped when the show originally aired. Seeing it today for the first time on DVD, the one thing I can't get over is how beautiful the artwork is. The blacks on this DVD are awesome in their depth and richness! I never knew this show could be this gorgeous. The colors are amazing and I feel like I could walk right into the shadows or onto the streets. This is truly glorious.

I think for Batman TAS fans, the Columbia House subscription (I hate those cardboard snap cases and that ugly packaging from WB) is a good way to go.


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