Here's another one of my favorites I remember watching when I was a kid. I didn't have cable until about 1995 or so, but I'd always go visit my grandma during the summer or spring break. She would have Fox and this is the channel it used to air on. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was about 9 or so. This would have been back in 1993 during spring break. It was a Tuesday, I think. The very first episode I saw was entitled Off Balance. I thought I was in for another light hearted kiddy superhero show. Certainly not.
I remember hearing the opening theme and thinking to myself,"Oh cool! A real orchestra rather than some synthosized composition being played by keyboards." That drew me in, and the episode itself got me hooked. It was as if Ihad gone into a movie theater and been blown away by a summer blockbuster. My mom who never has enjoyed cartoons actually sat and watched it. I remember that also. She looked at me when the show was over and said,"My God, are all the episodes this good, do ya think? It feels like this series is made for adults and you kids are just along for the ride. But I think its brilliant."
I was glad to see Batman similar to the way I remembered him from the 1989 Tim Burton film. And when I heard him speak for the first time, I was facinated with the voice.
I remember being amazed as to how Kevin Conroy, the voice of Bruce Wane/Batman, could turn the Batman persona on and off. You'd see Bruce working in his office and dealing with his daily life. He'd sound warm and cheerful, usually. Like he didn't have a care in the world unless that is, some company started cutting down trees in some rain forest. Then we'd hear a bit of Batman emerging. But when he is with Alfred in the cave and among his computer equipment and working the night shift, that is when he takes his Bruce Wane mask off and makes himself at home. Gone is everyone's favorite company man. In his place is a man who refuses to let the city he has sworn to protect go to seed. He's all business. His voice seems to be a bit deeper and darker, but not frightening. We see the man behind the mask when he's in the batcave or out chasing the Joker, if that makes any sense. In a way, I guess you could say that Batman is just wearing a Bruce Wane suit as a disguise during the day. You wanna know who he really is? He's all hero. Don't let his tough exterior fool you. He's got a good heart. After losing his parents at such a tender and young age, he has sworn to never let it happen to anyone else if he can help it. And each of these 109 episodes lets us see what type of a life he leads. And they allow us more complex and interesting confrontations with the villains from his rogue's gallery.
The villains from this particular incarnation aren't your average Saturday morning cartoon baddies bent on world domination. Some of them were good people once. And some of them want to do good and noble things, but they go about doing them the wrong way. Take Mister Freeze for example from the Emmy award winning fan favorite, Heart of Ice. His wife was dying of an incurable disease, so he put her in a freezing unit until a cure could be found for her. But the guy he worked for broke into his office and out of spite, caused him to be exposed to some of the chemicals he used to freeze his beloved.(Wish I could have gotten a play by play of that scene as well as many others from this hit series.) There was a big fire from what I heard and ole Victor Freeze came to believe that his wife was taken from him forever. So he designed this cryogenic containment suit to keep himself alive because he was no longer able to survive above subzero temperatures. Then he set out to punish the man who took his wife from him. But he was willing to take the lives of anyone who stood in his way. He was out for vengence and not justice. That's understandable though. If I ever marry and should someone murder my wife, I'd probably want his head on a platter. You really tend to feel sorry for some of these antagonists like Freeze. And some villains are just plain nuts.
Joker, for example, is a fruitcake. You never know why he's doing what he's doing. I love Mark Hamill's take on the villain. He's the complete opposite of Batman. Joker's all mouth. Let's say you go shopping at one of Gotham's department stores and from out of nowhere, you hear that trademark laugh you've heard on the news whenever footage of him has been shown. You know smiley's here and he's going to hold the place up. You don't have to see him to know. That laugh and those crazy oneliners are enough to anounce him. His soul purpose seems to be to make ole Batsy laugh right before he offs him. He's fun loving, but a psychopath at the same time. And he may be crazy, but he's also crafty and very manipulative. I'm glad this series is filled with Joker episodes because Mark Hamill really redefined this guy. My only complaint is that Bruce Timm never gave us a two part origin episode for this guy. He was just there when the series began to air. Seems like lots of villains got an origin story, but it would have been wonderful to hear how Hamill would have portrayed Jack before he got dumped into that vat of chemicals. I love to write fanfiction, so I started working on something last year just to keep myself entertained and to at least satisfy my own curiosity concerning the origin of Bruce Timm's version of the clown prince of crime. Should we consider the 1989 Burton film as a suitable origin for the guy, I wonder? If so, I guess I'll be satisfied with that. Works for me. I'm not very good at writing fight scenes though. Having never seen some of Batman's moves and all the equipment he uses, its a bit tough. Also, it is difficult for me to describe scenery. I can get characters down with no problems but backgrounds... Well, I'm trying to work on those.
But if you've never seen this series and want to give it a go, it has been released in four volumes on dvd. It can be had at amazon.com or anywhere else on the Net, I guess. Maybe they'll have a sale on a few of those sets when the release of The Dark Knight draws near. Yep, this geek owns them all. Pretty much everything DC AU, actually. Sad, huh?
Well, that's enough geeking out for now. Maybe more later or early tomorrow.
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