Right off the bat (so to speak), I should mention that I have had huge mixed feelings about Warner Brother's new animated series, "The Batman." I was (and still am) a huge fan of "Batman: The Animated Series", so it is inevitable that I would have to make some comparisons. This new incarnation of the Caped Crusader gives us The Batman in his younger days, just a couple of years into his lifelong war against crime. Unlike "Batman: the Animated Series", which used an extremely stylized look that transcended time, this new series is definitely set in modern times. And whereas the former was very dark and forbidding, here we have loud and garish colors. Even the way our hero is presented as Bruce Wayne is different. We no longer have the voice of Kevin Conroy (who became THE voice of Batman) and instead are given Rino Romano, whose younger sound lends itself to a less experienced Batman.

His lack of experience is punctuated by his less cynical look at life in general, which would of course grow over the life of his war.

These differences are acceptable for the most part, but if you are a fan of the earlier series as I am, it takes a LOT of getting used to. The differences that I do not find acceptable under any circumstances initially came from the writing of the series during the 1st season. The stories, while interesting, were far simpler in their telling. It's as if the creators were writing down to their audience in the expectation that they were not smart enough or have the attention span to focus on a more complex story. This is not to say that the stories were bad, but they were far inferior to what had come before.

I also have mixed feelings about the way they had chosen to approach the classic villains. Some of them were interesting, such as the Joker, who came across as a straitjacketed clown. He was obviously insane, but lacked any form of personality. His appearance seemed more like a feral wild man in clown make up. Again, it was interesting, but he lacked the complexity of the Joker from the comics and "Batman: The Animated Series" (and Mark Hamill's awesomely insane voicing of the character). But where this new series really went wrong was with the re-invention of Mr. Freeze. In his original incarnation, this was one of Batman's most tragic villains. He was a scientist whose wife was dying, and he devoted his life to the science of cryogenics in order to keep her in suspended animation until he could find a cure for her disease. Of course, the inevitable happens and things went awry, turning him into Mr. Freeze, a man whose heart was as cold as ice. In this new incarnation, he is a petty thief who gets into an accident that turns him into Mr. Freeze. It really cheapens the character, taking away all of the depth that made him such a fascinating villain.

I guess that's my biggest problem with the new series. It seems on the whole that it lacks any real depth. It is a series born of the MTV generation, whose audience would rather not think any more than they have to (just watch MTV's Spring Break specials and you'll see the morons this show will appeal to). On the bright side, all is not lost on the world of "The Batman." There are moments within some of the stories that show promise. Little things, like Alfred's sharp sense of humor are still intact, and the opening sequence (with music by U2's The Edge) is very cool.

Warner Brothers started releasing episodes of "The Batman" a couple episodes at a time, but they finally got their act together and released a full 1st season set earlier this year. They also included several extra features that focused on the show's new design, which included some explanation as to why they went the direction they did. This month, they are hitting us with a DVD release for the 2nd season, with 13 new episodes but a little less in the extra features department.

I did notice that the series improved quite a bit during this sophomore season with several of the episodes benefiting from better writing. This re-invention still requires a lot of sugar to help the medicine go down for fans of the Dark Knight, though. Most of the villainous characters are kind of lame interpretations of their former selves, but a couple in are given a bit of an interesting facelift. Both Clayface and The Riddler are turned into major players with the former going through a huge psychological battle in deciding where his fate is to lead him. The jury is still our for me on The Riddler, but suffice to say I wasn't as opposed to his new look as I was the Joker.

The new DVD set is a little sparse on the special features, this time only offering a bit of a featurette on Season 2. It isn’t a bad featurette, I would just have preferred a few more extras to go along with it.

All in all, "The Batman" is becoming a more entertaining series, just don’t expect the level of multi-dimensional characters and stories that "Batman" The Animated Series" offered in the past.

Episodes:
The Cat, the Bat and the Ugly
Riddled
JTV
Swamped
Pets
Meltdown
The Butler Did It
Fire and Ice
Ragdolls to Riches
Strange Minds
Grundy's Night
The Laughing Bat
Night and the City

Extras: Catching up with Season 2
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 9/12/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
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We'll give The Batman: Season 2 a C+.