Batman: The Animated Series DVD
I have recaptured my youth with one of the greatest cartoons ever made.
Batman: The Animated Series was fantastically dark, offering a level of depth and character and plot development not found in the standard cartoon.
The DVDs, which are broken up into four volumes (each volume having 4 discs) is polished, though not extravagant. Each volume has a ton of episodes: Volumes 1 and 2 have 28 episodes each, and Volume 3 has 29 episodes. I have not yet purchased Volume 4. I will wait until I get another gift certificate from my credit card rewards program for that one. Each volume also has an average of 3 episodes with a full commentary track by producers and animators.
There are a bunch of extras, with featurettes about how the series got started and the voiceover stars behind the animated series.
The drawback is that the series is a bit heavy on the wallet, though it is comparable to most season box sets for television shows. Each volume hovers in the $31.00 to $35.00 range at Best Buy, and Amazon has them cheaper.
The drawback is that the series is a bit heavy on the wallet, though it is comparable to most season box sets for television shows. Each volume hovers in the $31.00 to $35.00 range at Best Buy, and Amazon has them cheaper.
4 comments:
Your fixation with this show is starting to make me think I need to watch it. I need background info though:
How does it compare with the first Batman movie? The most recent Batman movie? Why was it not on your list of the greatest cartoons ever? Is it that far from being like other cartoons? And finally, explain to me how an animated character can be compelling. I am yet to be swayed, even by Nemo.
Batman: The Animated Series was second on my all time list: http://arajani.blogspot.com/2005/05/top-15-animated-series-of-all-time.html.
I think the show beats out all of the Batman movies only because there are so many more episodes than movies. With so many episodes, it is easier to develop a character and give him more depth over time. Granted I loved Batman and Batman Begins because they offered more material to the mythology of Batman, it's very hard to compare the two. It was nice to see Ra's Al Ghul and Scarecrow in the new movie since I've seen plenty of other stories about them before on the animated show.
To a certain extent, the show loosely stuck to the comic book (with more than one Robin, with one of them eventually breaking off and becoming Nightwing).
The animated series also has the best Mr. Freeze I have ever seen. He's not a stupid Arnold muscle-head, but a scientist torn by emotion. In fact, that's the same reason why Batman himself was so compelling in the series. You didn't quite know what was driving him to this life, but as time went on, you started to know how messed up he really was. Of course, it's a kid's show, so it couldn't go as far as the new movie went in terms of his training, but it was still damn good.
My bad about forgetting it was on your list. I knew I was running the risk of being wrong about that.
So...you call it a kids' show. Hmmm. Maybe I'll be borrowing your copy (rather than buying one myself). I'll have to hide it from my wife. It would be hard to justify watching a cartoon to her. These are the the things you have to worry about in a marriage.
And thanks for the link!
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