Would a toned down Batman:TAS have worked?

[Ian]

Basically, how do you think Batman:TAS would have turned out had they have to work with the restrictions placed on The Batman--no blood, no guns, no deaths (although Batman:TAS was somewhat restricted on that point as well), etc.? Would its other qualities still have stood out as much, or would the standards have been too restrictive for what the writers were attempting at the time? How different do you think it would have been from The Batman? Speculate!

[jv2k]

Actually I don't think Batman:TAS had much more leeway than The batman, I mean they could deal with drug dealers, and mob bosses, and they could use guns. But aside from that there wasn't much else they had over The Batman in terms of content. Not TNBA on the other hand, that was different.

[cameronpoe1986]

Anyway, the point is that whether or not the police are using handguns or lasers doesn't affect the storytelling process.


I think that if the animators had to write in laser guns it would have DRASTICALLY changed the show. B:TAS was very grounded in reality and laser guns would hve just looked ridiculous. But, yeah, B:TAS was pretty limited in what it could or couldn't do. It had drug references, but they were mostly done in a "Don't Do Drugs" type of style.

[Anwar]

I dunno about that, wasn't the whole Clayface origin a sort of metaphor for drug usage and where it leads you?

[creativerealms]

There was the Lauging Fish two people died in it, though they did really underplay their deaths it still happened.

But yes it is the stories that made Batman TAS so great, the stories and characters. The Batman is no where near a well writen, it's best episodes may be above average if even that in Batman TAS.

I mean the first two Clayface episodes while good , great for the batman when compared to Twoface (Which is the best episode to compare them to) you can see how much more solid the story is.

So even if watered down more Batman TAS would still have the great writing it has now and that is what makes it such a good show.

[Fone Bone]

Yes. I know a lot of fanboys believe that the amount of stuff a kiddie cartoon can "get away" with is in direct proportion to how good it is but I've always believed that idea doesn't really hold any water. Spider-Man The New Animated Series had a TV-PG rating and was able to get away with sex, violence and swearing but it had pedestrian characters and boring plots. If the style of BTAS and the art direction, storytelling ability, direction, and voice talent were exactly the same and they had keep a lot of the heavier stuff in check, I believe it would be exactly as good a show as it actually was and possibly considered by the fanbase to be even better ten years later. Art that is produced under restrictions tends to get the creators of it (assuming they are truly talented) to produce some truly groundbreaking stuff. BTAS itself proves this.

The death of Robin's parents is MUCH more heart-breaking than it would have been if it had actually been shown on-screen. If they had been allowed to show it I am not sure it would have evoked the same sympathy from me.

I also fear that the writers may have taken short-cuts if it had been PG material. Mask of the Phantasm was great but I think if they had had a murder in every episode the impact of when a character was killed would be lost somewhat and the show would turn into Law and Order where every death is just the "same old, same old". Why bother writing a clever scene when you can just kill characters off simply for shock value? I think that is the thing that bugs me about the comics.

I'm glad BTAS was a kids show. Having more restrictions on it would not have altered my enjoyment of it a jot. The writers were clever enough to produce amazing stories under a great deal of restriction and I have no reason to think they couldn't have accomplished the same thing under even more.

[Simpler Simon]

The ground-breaking quality of BTAS was a combination of many things....more leeway with violence/mentions of death, writers and creative staff that knew the character and could do it justice, experimentation with the "dark deco" animation style, good quality animation, strong music, etc.

You rarely run into an animated show were everything was so perfectly aligned. There hasn't really been a show since BTAS that got it so perfectly. Take the 90's Spider-Man TAS. A story editor who knew how to do the character justice, but erratic animation, rampant censorship, pedestrian writing, etc.

BTAS wouldn't have suffered too badly with laser guns, but if some of the other qualities hadn't been upheld then yes, there would be problems.

[90'sCartoonMan]

Yes. I know a lot of fanboys believe that the amount of stuff a kiddie cartoon can "get away" with is in direct proportion to how good it is but I've always believed that idea doesn't really hold any water. Spider-Man The New Animated Series had a TV-PG rating and was able to get away with sex, violence and swearing but it had pedestrian characters and boring plots.
I was actually going to mention Spider-Man...the other Spider-Man, that is. It was a Fox show that came after BTAS and was heavily censored and toned down (laser guns and everything), and it still worked.

Now, I know Batman and Spider-Man have two very different tones to them, but "toned down" Batman has worked before on the 60's show and on Super Friends.

But if you're just talking about the restrictions The Batman has, BTAS would've pretty much gone in the same direction. Maybe a little more caution and changes, but I'm sure it would still be awesome.

[Silly McGooses]

Not to get too off topic, but did anyone else ever feel when they were watching the Spider-Man cartoon that they were watching like...a TV spot? because all of the action looked sped up or slowed down and the voices always seemed to be edited funky...

I think that B:TAS would still have been a great show, but I think more stringent rules would have taken away a lot of the great 1930s gangster element and what-not.

I swear It's Never Too Late must have been taken out of circulation. Same with Harley and Ivy. I never saw either untill they aired on CN.