Recent comments in /f/Documentaries

BreathBandit t1_jd74wm6 wrote

Yeah, DC has the Arkham games and Injustice, but besides that they really haven't had any standouts to my knowledge.

Marvel has multiple great Spiderman games, Ultimate Alliance, Marvel Vs Capcom, Midnight Suns, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Hulk Ultimate Destruction and the arcade games are generally more well regarded than DC's.

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gdetter t1_jd7426t wrote

I used to watch BTAS as a teen in the 90s. I don't remember it being on Sat morning cartoons in our network area though, as others noted. I'm pretty sure it was on mid- to late-week, but this was 30+ years ago. So, memory being what it is, take it with a grain of salt.

I believe it was on what was the WB network at the time, as I think The Animiacs was on the same channel around the same time as Pinky and the Brain. I'm fairly certain the line-up was The Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, (or flip the previous two shows) and BTAS... because the WB did this phenomenal transition with their WB water tower and theme music into the BTAS intro music/scenes, which resonated with me for some reason.

Even at 47(m), I can still see it in my mind's eye and hear the first five bars, (pardon me if not the right musical term)... maybe a French or some other horn instrument... of the BTAS' very-orchestral intro as animators faded from the WB tower, which went from cheery "Animaniac" colors and music, to a much darker color palette and feel, into the BTAS theme song.

The approach mentally prepared viewers for the shift from fun and cheery -- I almost added "mindless," but, in retrospect, neither The Animiacs nor Pinky and the Brain (while mired in slapstick and 'Narfs') were truly mindless shows (the layers the shows offered, many of which I appreciated as an older teen vs. what a much younger viewer might understand) were phenomenal -- to the much more serious feel/nature of the show (BTAS) to come. I only now truly appreciate this in hindsight... superbly executed.

All that to say, while BTAS was pure gold the whole way around -- I haven't seen it since the 90s, but remember it, and especially Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, fondly... sorry, remember I was a teen boy at the time... not sorry) -- the episode that resonated with me most, even now, is the one where an android version of Batman was created. I had to look this up online... episode 62, "His Silicon Soul." Original air date, November 20, 1992. I was 16 at the time.

I can still "see" the android Batman throw the real Batman into the Batcave's chasm (to Batman's supposed demise) and hear "him" say, facial expressions and voice wracked with pain, grief, and disbelief at the realization of what "he" just did, in a manner that even I could feel to my core at the time as a self-absorbed teen, something along the lines of, "I've taken a man's life."

The voice work. The anguish communicated in those lines made me feel awful for the android. It was like the floor dropped from under my feet. Not an exaggeration... even if for a brief moment, it was a very strange feeling for me at the time. The moment was so impactful, I can remember looking out our sliding glass window after the credits, struck by what I just experienced, trying to process it, and seeing the gray, overcast sky and red- and yellow-toned fall leaves, pasted by a recent rainfall on our Central PA deck. For a 16 year old, that's saying something.

The viewer sees... only after the android sacrifices itself, essentially commiting suicide because it couldn't come to terms with having killed a man (something the BTAS version of Batman would never do)... Batman climb up from the chasm. The discussion that Alfred and Bruce have when Batman reaches the top -- the android having just sacrificed itself/committed suicide -- about the android having a soul... hit me hard for some reason. It was philosophically deep, especially for a teen boy... and for an animated series.

The storyline re-read resulting from the air date research resonated with me and brought it home. I remember thinking, no feeling, that the android believed it/he (the viewer can't help but come to think of it as more man than machine at that point, especially with how writers masterfully set up the storyline) WAS the Batman. Creators, and the fantastic voicework, made you feel the android's belief, which made its grief, and the eventual suicide, so much more meaningful. Amazing.

And, just as Kevin Conroy will, at least in my mind's eye/ear, always be the voice of the Batman, Mark Hamill's fantastic voicework will forever hold a place as the quintessential Joker.

Man, I need to watch this series again.

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S0NNYY t1_jd6yo22 wrote

In somewhat related news: Amazon Studios has ordered two seasons of “Batman: Caped Crusader.” The animated series is being billed as a reimagining of the Batman mythology via executive producers Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, Sam Register and Ed Brubaker... the initial pitch offered up to fans at the 2021 DC Fandome was, to quote Bruce Timm, “more ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ than ‘Batman: The Animated Series.”

https://www.thewrap.com/batman-caped-crusader-show-amazon-jj-abrams-matt-reeves-bruce-timm/

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NtheHouseNaheartbeat t1_jd6t5u4 wrote

To anybody reading this comment, if you have been putting off watching this or dont really have interest in it... Give it a chance. It is very interesting and so worth it. I put it off for a while and when I finally caught time to watch it, I regretted having waited so long.

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NtheHouseNaheartbeat t1_jd6t10s wrote

The Arkham series of games is near flawless. Shame what the latest DC games have turned into. Hopefully they make a teen titans or batman beyond game similar to the arkham series and not live service or monetized to f and back.

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