Batman Beyond

The 1990s Batman animated series is still considered to this day one of the best kid’s superhero shows of the era, or even of all time. As other superhero-based shows continued to pop up later down the line, none could ever compare to the complexity and gothic darkness this show brought to the mainstream. With beautiful, yet unique animation, deeply complex stories and characters, and an atmosphere and tone that made it unlike any other show at the time, which led to many other shows adopting a similar stance on kids’ media. It’s a timeless classic and deserves all the praise it gets. The show led to several spin-offs being made; including one on Superman, The Justice League, and one that was based on something completely different, didn’t have a previous comic to base off of, and was going to do something that was incredibly risky; introduce the world to a new Batman in a futuristic world. Set years in the future of the DC animated universe (the world all these shows shared together), technology has changed Gotham and the rest of the world into a cyberized environment where advancements have been made, yet petty crime is still alive and well. High school student Terry McGinnis (voiced by Will Friedle) finds this out abruptly when his father is murdered out of the blue. Fate seems to align as he finds himself coming across an elderly and seclusive Bruce Wayne (voiced again by Kevin Conroy) who had abandoned the Batman title years ago after a fatal tragic event made him never put the suit on again. Pushed into a corner and realizing that Gotham still needs a hero after all these years, Bruce takes Terry on his as his successor and Batman returns to thwart crime in this new Gotham, although it doesn’t go over well with people on both sides, especially police commissioner Barbra Gordon (voiced by Stockard Channing) who knows firsthand how dangerous It is to work with Bruce Wayne. Despite getting mixed reception upon release, it did grow a cult following from fans and was even successful enough to warrant four seasons and even make its way into the official DC comic book continuity.

This show had a lot of the same people working on it as the original Batman cartoon; Warner Brothers produced it, it was developed by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, writers like Rich Fogel and Hilary Bader returned from past DC animated series, even several of the voice actors returned to reprise their roles for some of the familiar characters. This wasn’t a refresh of an iconic character with unaware talent, it had the same people that had previously shown not only that they could do superhero cartoons very well, but that they could specifically handle Batman unbelievably well. This show was taking a huge risk with its main premise; several different heroes have different people in their worlds take up a familiar title, but Batman is one of (if not THE) most iconic superhero, so not having it be Bruce Wayne is a big difference and had every chance of failing. Thankfully, not only did people seem open to this direction as it kept going, but it would become clear that nothing about this show felt similar from other versions of Batman in the best way possible. This wasn’t going to be another version of the story everybody knows about already, it was a new story with a new character taking the role of the familiar icon, and that made it drastically different from every other Batman cartoon that came out at the time. It felt like it wanted to bring something unique to a familiar environment and while its direction is very bittersweet when it compares to a classic show everybody loves, it shows even more guts to go that direction without hold back in some parts. The problem with this comes from despite definitely not feeling like a redo of the original show, it doesn’t go far enough with its new ideas to fully feel blossomed. This show surprisingly opens up a lot of fantastic possibilities for characters (new and old), storylines and crime-fighting situations, and while it doesn’t ignore these elements, they aren’t delved into enough to really leave an impact. It does unfortunately feel like a watered-down version of its previous in that regard; it has gritty, dark and realistic elements to it that are handled creatively and maturely, but they aren’t tackled or addressed in as strong a way as they would have been, and unlike how Batman, Superman and Justice League felt a bit more distinct from other cartoons at the time from style, visuals and content, Batman Beyond feels like it fits into that early 2000s mold a little bit too much.

For a Batman story to work, you need deep, interesting characters in order for the audience to be engaged and to realize that this environment isn’t as safe or easy to digest as other shows of its ilk. The cast of this show is brand new faces for the Batman world for both the good side and the bad side. While older characters like an elderly Bruce Wayne is a main player, they aren’t as frequent and thankfully don’t take time away from the new characters set up. Terry as the new main character/Batman replacement has some issues. On the one hand, it is nice to see someone new take the mantle of a role as big as Batman and having him trained by Bruce Wayne is a nice touch, making him a teenager adds a new look and feel to the role of such an iconic character, and his suit design with the red accents on this sleak black suit is a great look that helps him stand out, as well as all these new gadgets and technology that enhances his stealthy nature. But he doesn’t really have much character or a distinct personality; he just feels like any regular teenage boy which is really disappointing for the replacement of Batman. He isn’t unlikeable or hard to watch, it’s just disappointing that so much potential for a new Batman just gets resorted back to ‘’young impressionable teen boy’’ that you could see playing any hero. He lacks the pathos that a character like Batman needs to stand out, and his blank slate personality prevents any deep or even new possibilities with a returning Batman being coached by the old, no real conflicting issues or moral views or anything like that.  A lot of his school friends and family are bland forgettable roles, but thankfully they move away from them as the show continues, one of his friends, Max (voiced by the great Cree Summers) is a decent character, but they don’t use her as much as they could have, roles like Bruce and Barbra have a lot of meat to them from past history, but they don’t get much development either, and the villains are the more interesting characters of this show. While they don’t have the iconic feel and twisted depth the original Batman baddies have, some of the larger villain roles have good designs, backstories, and personalities to make them stand out just enough for this show, especially roles like Blight, Shriek, The Royal Flush Gang, The Jokerz (a Joker-fanboy gang), and Inque (imagine Poison Ivy with the powers of Venom).

The animation was one of the main things that looked different from the original. While TMS was the animation company behind Batman the Animated Series, Batman Beyond was handled by South Korean animation company, Dong Yang Animations (who also worked on BTAS, but didn’t helm it). This change didn’t affect too many things in the long run, but there was definitely a distinct shift in quality. A lot of their work was shared with a lot of animated shows of the time that were very similar in visuals, whereas the 1990s Batman visuals were very distinct from any other show at the time. It still has creative designs, impressive colorization, and decent movement, but a lot of the flashy, dramatic, and gothic elements of the show were replaced with a more streamlined cyber-punk aesthetic assisted by the new environments and tone. The look of Gotham City just looks like any sci-fi based city, and it doesn’t stand out as much as its original noir-based environment, however the neon-based color palette, the metropolis feeling and presence, multiple-leveled streets, and even something like the color of the sky being purple helps it feel distinct from a regular city and does give it some points. It doesn’t have the distinct visuals, but it definitely doesn’t look bad. That tech mentality also factors into the music which is nowhere near the same level as the truly iconic scores produced by Shirley Walker (even though she did work on this show) and the replacement pieces by Lolita Ritmanis, Michael McCuistion and Kristopher Carter being quite unmemorable and sadly pretty dated. It’s also written like it has these decent ideas that work in this new environment and take advantage of it in a creative manner; it tackles real-life issues that plague teenagers as well as any city dweller in a manner that fits the sci-fi feel like using patches for drugs and even VR as a form of escapism, but the series doesn’t go adult enough to really dissect these issues. It has the pieces, and it does show them to kids in a non-pandering manner, but it could have been a lot more interesting.

Batman Beyond is honestly better than it has any right to be. For a show with this concept, so many things are working against it; opening up a brand-new slate with such an iconic character in the same universe as one of THE most beloved Batman interpretations of all time, its impressive it held up as much as it did. It clearly left an impact on people, strong enough of one that not only did it turn this offshoot spin-off into a cult following, but also enough to make it into the comics and develop into its own thing. While Batman Beyond is nowhere near as strong or timeless as its predecessor, it’s definitely not a bad watch. It gets stronger as the show continues, and it has its own pros and cons that make it stand as its own flawed yet enjoyable series (that intro is complete garbage though). It probably won’t leave you with incredibly memorable sequences filled with deep, tragic characters, but it will leave with a simple superhero series that, while it should be a lot stronger for something like Batman, isn’t the worst thing for the next generation. Glide on in and see for yourself.