Yeah, I think it was about time I finally get to this.
"Batman: The Animated Series" is often regarded as one of the best animated shows of all time, not only for being probably the best adaptation of the Batman mythos, but also a great show on its own. Even if you knew nothing about Batman beforehand, you could use this show as a launching point. Even to this day, roughly 30 years after it premiered, people swear by it as an amazing show that's essentially a rite of passage for any fan of the medium.
It was always one of those shows that I'd been meaning to get to at some point, and while I had seen some of it before, I never felt the urge to truly sink my teeth into it. Other movies and shows kept pushing themselves in the way at the time, and with a lot of my time focused on school, my attention kept getting taken away to other things. Once the Blu-Ray set was announced, I bit the bullet, got the set as a Christmas gift one year...and then put it straight in my backlog. At the time, I mainly cared about filling up my collection. I figured I'd watch it someday, just not then.
Fast-forward to late 2022 when, tragically, news hit that the voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy, passed away. Even with my limited experience with the show, I knew that his performance was stellar, and from what I hear, he was a total sweetheart of a man, and so I wanted to honor him in some way. So I figured that I'd been wanting to watch the whole show at some point; what better time to do so than now?
So for the past couple weeks, I basically put myself on major binge-mode, putting a stop to everything else and indulging in the entire Blu-Ray set. And now that I've made it to the finish line, I can say all the praise it's gotten is well-deserved. I can't say it's perfect and I wouldn't go so far as to say it's one of my personal favorites, I'll get into the flaws later, but the positives outweighs the negatives to make it a legitimately great series.
As I said, Kevin Conroy's performance as Batman was something I already knew was great, but this version of the character is also regarded as hands-down the best one. Having seen the whole show now, I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment, but as I've come to discover, that isn't solely down to the performance. Kevin did an excellent job playing the character, of course; he's able to fit Bruce Wayne's casual and fun side and Batman's serious and grounded side perfectly.
But this being the best version of Batman also comes down to how expertly written the character himself is. Of all the adaptations out there, this one comes to closest to the essence of who Batman is. He is well-known for being moody and serious, sure, but when he encounters members of his rogue's gallery, he always offers them a chance to redeem themselves, showing compassion for people who are otherwise not really deserving of it. He sticks firmly to his "No killing" rule, and as far as he's concerned, there's always a chance for people to turn their lives around. When he fails to save them, the show manages to dive into the guilt and shame he feels over it, which does wonders in further humanizing him. Batman's fighting against his foes are really just icing on the cake; the cake itself, his internal struggles and never-wavering compassion for even his worst enemies, give him the necessary structure and flavor to make him truly great.
This sentiment also extends to said villains. More often than not, the show gives its roster of villains a sympathetic backstory to give you an idea of who they were before they turned to crime and what caused them to take such a turn in their lives. It isn't even all given in flashbacks, as there are points where the show realizes that a simple line of dialogue can be enough to get the point across. Sometimes, their backstory is merely hinted at with clever dialogue to give the viewer a chance to piece it together, and once it's actually shown, those viewers can get the satisfaction of being proven right. As such, while the villains are of course bad people that have to be stopped, you still can't help but feel at least a little sorry for them. It's the kind of nuance I love in my anatagonists.
When all these elements culminate together and everything's firing on all cylinders, I'm not exaggerating when I say it's hands-down some of the best writing I've encountered in any medium ever, not just television. Episodes like 'Two-Face', 'Heart of Ice', 'Baby-Doll', 'Perchance to Dream', 'Almost Got 'Im', and 'Robin's Reckoning' are examples of stories that have top-notch character work, incredible dialogue, emotional moments that all manage to hit hard, and amazing storytelling that keep you engaged from start to finish. They are so poignant and often heartbreaking that they really stuck with me after I was done.
But even with how serious and emotional the show can get, it's also not afraid to be a comic book show and embrace its sillier aspects. A man dressing up as a bat and fighting a crazy clown is an odd idea on the face of it, and when the show takes advantage of that kind of goofiness, it can result in some pretty funny episodes that don't reduce the darker tone of other episodes. It's the kind of show that takes itself seriously, but never TOO seriously, and I love that.
That's to say nothing of the aesthetics, which are still amazing to this day. The animation still holds up 30 years later, the lighting and cinematography are top-notch, the score is one of the best I've heard in a while, and the voice acting is incredible across the board. I've already praised Conroy, and Mark Hamill as Joker is iconic, but really, everyone does phenomenally, working hard to make these characters feel real every chance they get.
Now, with all that in mind, I did say that I wouldn't put this as one of my favorite shows, so it's time to go into the problems I do have. Don't worry, there's not much. While the writing for the villains is amazing more often than not, you'll undoubtedly have lesser ones that don't hit anywhere near as hard. The Clock King I think is a good early example of this; his backstory is kind of lame, and his character isn't anything to write home about. It's not that he has no character, it's just not very much, especially by the standards of this show. And as I enjoy the goofier episodes, it's often that they don't grab me nearly as much as the more grounded stories, though I'll fully admit that that's just a me thing.
But both of those issues come to a head in the final season, which...I'll be real, I didn't gel with all that much. It's got its share of stellar episodes('Legends of the Dark Knight' and 'Mad Love' come to mind), but the quality is overall significantly lesser than what came before. Truth be told, I don't even mind most of the character redesigns this season did(although Joker's new look is just straight-up awful), it's more than the episodes as a whole aren't as consistently solid as the first two seasons. But hey, this is my first time seeing the show in full, and maybe a rewatch in the future will help me warm up to it. As of now, though, the final season isn't bad, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't expect much greatness out of it.
All those issues aside, however, what else can I say about the show except it's great? All the praise you've heard about it is correct. Honestly, I didn't even go into this show with the intention of doing a review, it was just for myself. It doesn't really need the attention since it's probably already had enough, but I thought it would be interesting giving the perspective of someone who doesn't have the nostalgia factor. Even though I didn't grow up with the show in any meaningful capacity, I can say it's absolutely earned its reputation, I can't put it among my personal favorites, but that shouldn't put you off of seeing the show if you haven't already. If you want the best interpretation of Batman, look no further than this.
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