Post by astro on Aug 21, 2004 18:15:42 GMT -5
The official press kit package for The Batman was sent to tv critics last week and I gleefully had one land in my hands. The kit is contained in a hinged black box, which opens up to reveal an electronic, blinking "Batwave" signal and wooden batarang. Under these was the CD for the electronic press kit, a booklet (die cut in a bat shape) and an episode DVD. First things first: my review of the episode. Subsequent posts (tonight or Sunday) will contain images of and from the press kit.
The Batman opens with a scene familiar to fans: Rupert Thorne, thugs in tow, is in the midst of a break in. We see, through a skylight above, the end of a blue cape streak by. A batarang whizzes down from out of nowhere and Thorne has his thugs draw their weapons. The henchmen are dispatched from the shadows in a brief, strobe-lit fight, each punch briefly illuminated. Thorne makes a break for it and a rooftop chase ensues as we're given our first real look at the new Batman. Batman catches Thorne, gets to say "I'm Batman," then cue opening sequence.
The main plot will be familiar to most fans: Joker is threatening to unleash his laughing gas on Gotham and it's up to the Batman to stop him. As pedestrian as that is, it's clear from the beginning that this is a totally new vision for Batman and an ambitious attempt to be the next "definitive" version of the hero.
The episode makes a great initial impact. The animation is high-quality and gives the impression that The Batman will not have some of the quality issues that plagued Batman: The Animated Series. Matsuda's character design is a mix of anime and Alex Toth, slightly more realistic than his designs for Jackie Chan Adventures, but still very expressive. It's apparent that great attention was given to giving each character unique ways of moving. Thorne, for instance, runs, jump and lands like big, heavy guy. Batman moves in a way viewers haven't seen before - half ballet dancer/half ninja. His motions are graceful and precise. And fast. Often, we only get a quick glimpse of him jumping or dashing into the shadows.
The scenery is much more realistic than the abstract backgrounds of Jackie Chan Adventures. Gotham is gritty and, well, Gothic. It's closer to the Anton Furst designs for the Tim Burton movies than the smooth, timeless deco of the Batman: The Animated Series. The are few gleaming, shiny surfaces -- everything is textured and seems coated in a thin layer of grime or in a state of decay. Wayne Manor, which now seems situated just outside downtown, is a mix of Victorian, Gothic and industrial themes. The study, with huge windows overlookng the city, has an elevator entrance (that goes to the rest of the house, not the Batcave).
The color palette is subdued, though not quite as dark as B:TAS. At night, Gotham is all blues and greys with green and red skies. During the day, the city is awash in desaturated yellows and oranges, creating a nice contrast from the cool interior of Wayne Manor.
Vehicles are somewhat realistically rendered. The Batmobile is heavy and low to the ground, more angular than curved. It's back end consists of a row of glowing panels which spit bright blue flames.
The main characters and timeframe are all established very early in the episode. From the opening sequence, we move on to being introduced to Alfred, who seems the most unchanged of all. Though younger looking than usually portrayed, his look is essentially the same as it's vbeen for decades. He sports the same combination of fatherly concern, unerring support and sarcastic wit that's been a mainstay since the first Batman movie.
It's quickly revealed that this is Batman's third year in action. We then get a bit of Police Chief Rojas doing a press conference, where we learn that Batman is still officially regarded as an urban myth. Yet the chief has secretly assigned a detective, Ethan Bennett (who happens to be Bruce Wayne's best friend), to capture the Bat. And to help him, Bennett has a new partner, a recent transfer to Metropolis named Ellen Yin.
The Joker, who has broken into Arkham and released a group of prisoners for the sole purpose of creating mayhem, bears the familiar yellowed grin and white face. He's also purely maniacal. Resemblance to past Jokers pretty much ends there. His sinister laugh is now peppered with a sort of beatnik/jazzman's slang. The humor is there, but his tone is more menacing than mocking. The biggest difference is the character's appearance, which goes beyond the raver-gone-bad colored straightjacket, glowing red eyes and long, spiky hair. His craziness now seems embodied in his movements. Often hunched down on his bare feet, he resembles a cross between a spider monkey and a Chinese acrobat, twirling through the air and literally bouncing off walls. In his first meeting with the Bat, he leaps onto the hero's chest, then kicks him in the head by backflipping off of it. To the credit of the show, this Joker is genuinely frightening in a whole new way.
And it looks great. The fight sequences are truly exciting, choreographed as well as any Jet Li film. Despite being on Kids' WB and having been marketed as a kid-friendly show, The Batman doesn't hold back on the violence. Or rather, the creative team has managed to find ways to get it past the almost arbitrary rules of network censors. In several instances, we see Batman swing a punch or kick, hear it connect, then see his opponent reeling back or toppling to the ground. What we don't always see is the actual impact. Other action happens in darkness or, as in one great shot, in silhouette. Similarly, we learn early on that the Joker's trademark smiley gas is not fatal, but merely freezes its victims with the macabre smile on their faces.
There are a few areas where The Batman struggles. The lesser of these is the portrayal of Bruce Wayne. Though Rino Romano makes a fine Batman, as Wayne his voice is too high-pitched and almost adolescent. Even while reflecting on his parents' death or his mission as Batman he just doesn't sound convincingly grim. At the same time, the character design for Wayne may be the show's weakest. Sure, he's supposed to be younger, but he's generically metrosexual and often sports a smile (even when not pretending to be a fun loving billionaire playboy). However, these aspects of the character seem to be part of the creators' new take on Batman. They may develop it over time, or it may just take some getting used to.
Then there's the Batwave. Since the Batsignal doesn't yet exist, Batman receives alerts from the cave computer over a PDA-like device that can also summon the Batmobile by remote control. The audible alarm and blinkng bat symbol on its display doesn't do much to help him hide his secret identity. The Batwave might be a bit of obvious marketing to the toy line for the show. The toys will apparently have an interactive element that responds to actions onscreen. My guess is the Batwave is somehow connected.
The Batman's most significant problem is the writing, which is inconsistent at best. The quality of writing on other current shows (Justice League, Teen Titans) is much better than this episode of The Batman, with believable conflicts between well-developed characters and stories which move beyond, or add to, the comic book mythos. The Batman's plot is boilerplate Batman -- Joker has a giant balloon filled with smile gas. Various other elements are skimmed over or neglected. Batman finds the Joker pretty much by looking at a building and thinking it makes a pretty obvious twisted clown hideout.
The secondary characters verge on cliche. There's the obvious bow to multiculturalism: vaguely Hispanic Chief, black cop, female Asian cop. Bennett is pretty much a take on pre-Two Face Harvey Dent: Charged with upholding the law but very sympathetic to Batman's war on crime. Perhaps too sympathetic; his inner conflict seems shallow as he appears to be giving Batman the benefit of the doubt at all times. Yin is the overachieving Asian alpha-female, a triathlete who's eager to prove herself.
It's as if a lot of effort went into creating a new vision for Batman, but this effort was focused on the hero, the villains, and visuals and atmospherics. For the show to really shine and become something more than action-packed eye candy, there will have to be some great strides in developing character and story. These shortcomings may just be the result of this being the pilot episode in which the premise and characters all need to be established. I certainly hope that's the case.
The Batman opens with a scene familiar to fans: Rupert Thorne, thugs in tow, is in the midst of a break in. We see, through a skylight above, the end of a blue cape streak by. A batarang whizzes down from out of nowhere and Thorne has his thugs draw their weapons. The henchmen are dispatched from the shadows in a brief, strobe-lit fight, each punch briefly illuminated. Thorne makes a break for it and a rooftop chase ensues as we're given our first real look at the new Batman. Batman catches Thorne, gets to say "I'm Batman," then cue opening sequence.
The main plot will be familiar to most fans: Joker is threatening to unleash his laughing gas on Gotham and it's up to the Batman to stop him. As pedestrian as that is, it's clear from the beginning that this is a totally new vision for Batman and an ambitious attempt to be the next "definitive" version of the hero.
The episode makes a great initial impact. The animation is high-quality and gives the impression that The Batman will not have some of the quality issues that plagued Batman: The Animated Series. Matsuda's character design is a mix of anime and Alex Toth, slightly more realistic than his designs for Jackie Chan Adventures, but still very expressive. It's apparent that great attention was given to giving each character unique ways of moving. Thorne, for instance, runs, jump and lands like big, heavy guy. Batman moves in a way viewers haven't seen before - half ballet dancer/half ninja. His motions are graceful and precise. And fast. Often, we only get a quick glimpse of him jumping or dashing into the shadows.
The scenery is much more realistic than the abstract backgrounds of Jackie Chan Adventures. Gotham is gritty and, well, Gothic. It's closer to the Anton Furst designs for the Tim Burton movies than the smooth, timeless deco of the Batman: The Animated Series. The are few gleaming, shiny surfaces -- everything is textured and seems coated in a thin layer of grime or in a state of decay. Wayne Manor, which now seems situated just outside downtown, is a mix of Victorian, Gothic and industrial themes. The study, with huge windows overlookng the city, has an elevator entrance (that goes to the rest of the house, not the Batcave).
The color palette is subdued, though not quite as dark as B:TAS. At night, Gotham is all blues and greys with green and red skies. During the day, the city is awash in desaturated yellows and oranges, creating a nice contrast from the cool interior of Wayne Manor.
Vehicles are somewhat realistically rendered. The Batmobile is heavy and low to the ground, more angular than curved. It's back end consists of a row of glowing panels which spit bright blue flames.
The main characters and timeframe are all established very early in the episode. From the opening sequence, we move on to being introduced to Alfred, who seems the most unchanged of all. Though younger looking than usually portrayed, his look is essentially the same as it's vbeen for decades. He sports the same combination of fatherly concern, unerring support and sarcastic wit that's been a mainstay since the first Batman movie.
It's quickly revealed that this is Batman's third year in action. We then get a bit of Police Chief Rojas doing a press conference, where we learn that Batman is still officially regarded as an urban myth. Yet the chief has secretly assigned a detective, Ethan Bennett (who happens to be Bruce Wayne's best friend), to capture the Bat. And to help him, Bennett has a new partner, a recent transfer to Metropolis named Ellen Yin.
The Joker, who has broken into Arkham and released a group of prisoners for the sole purpose of creating mayhem, bears the familiar yellowed grin and white face. He's also purely maniacal. Resemblance to past Jokers pretty much ends there. His sinister laugh is now peppered with a sort of beatnik/jazzman's slang. The humor is there, but his tone is more menacing than mocking. The biggest difference is the character's appearance, which goes beyond the raver-gone-bad colored straightjacket, glowing red eyes and long, spiky hair. His craziness now seems embodied in his movements. Often hunched down on his bare feet, he resembles a cross between a spider monkey and a Chinese acrobat, twirling through the air and literally bouncing off walls. In his first meeting with the Bat, he leaps onto the hero's chest, then kicks him in the head by backflipping off of it. To the credit of the show, this Joker is genuinely frightening in a whole new way.
And it looks great. The fight sequences are truly exciting, choreographed as well as any Jet Li film. Despite being on Kids' WB and having been marketed as a kid-friendly show, The Batman doesn't hold back on the violence. Or rather, the creative team has managed to find ways to get it past the almost arbitrary rules of network censors. In several instances, we see Batman swing a punch or kick, hear it connect, then see his opponent reeling back or toppling to the ground. What we don't always see is the actual impact. Other action happens in darkness or, as in one great shot, in silhouette. Similarly, we learn early on that the Joker's trademark smiley gas is not fatal, but merely freezes its victims with the macabre smile on their faces.
There are a few areas where The Batman struggles. The lesser of these is the portrayal of Bruce Wayne. Though Rino Romano makes a fine Batman, as Wayne his voice is too high-pitched and almost adolescent. Even while reflecting on his parents' death or his mission as Batman he just doesn't sound convincingly grim. At the same time, the character design for Wayne may be the show's weakest. Sure, he's supposed to be younger, but he's generically metrosexual and often sports a smile (even when not pretending to be a fun loving billionaire playboy). However, these aspects of the character seem to be part of the creators' new take on Batman. They may develop it over time, or it may just take some getting used to.
Then there's the Batwave. Since the Batsignal doesn't yet exist, Batman receives alerts from the cave computer over a PDA-like device that can also summon the Batmobile by remote control. The audible alarm and blinkng bat symbol on its display doesn't do much to help him hide his secret identity. The Batwave might be a bit of obvious marketing to the toy line for the show. The toys will apparently have an interactive element that responds to actions onscreen. My guess is the Batwave is somehow connected.
The Batman's most significant problem is the writing, which is inconsistent at best. The quality of writing on other current shows (Justice League, Teen Titans) is much better than this episode of The Batman, with believable conflicts between well-developed characters and stories which move beyond, or add to, the comic book mythos. The Batman's plot is boilerplate Batman -- Joker has a giant balloon filled with smile gas. Various other elements are skimmed over or neglected. Batman finds the Joker pretty much by looking at a building and thinking it makes a pretty obvious twisted clown hideout.
The secondary characters verge on cliche. There's the obvious bow to multiculturalism: vaguely Hispanic Chief, black cop, female Asian cop. Bennett is pretty much a take on pre-Two Face Harvey Dent: Charged with upholding the law but very sympathetic to Batman's war on crime. Perhaps too sympathetic; his inner conflict seems shallow as he appears to be giving Batman the benefit of the doubt at all times. Yin is the overachieving Asian alpha-female, a triathlete who's eager to prove herself.
It's as if a lot of effort went into creating a new vision for Batman, but this effort was focused on the hero, the villains, and visuals and atmospherics. For the show to really shine and become something more than action-packed eye candy, there will have to be some great strides in developing character and story. These shortcomings may just be the result of this being the pilot episode in which the premise and characters all need to be established. I certainly hope that's the case.