Leit Motifs

[MILatino]

The musical term for those customized mini-theme songs for villians and heroes in B:TAS is called leit motifs. They were wonderful. IMHO they--as well as the orchestration in general--contributed as much as the writing, animation, and acting to the series. (Oddly enough, the campy 60s Batman TV show had them, too.) :p

Specific leit motifs I remember are Joker, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, and Scarecrow for the villians; and Batman, Batgirl, and Nightwing for the heroes.

You can hear the some of the villians' leit motifs clearly as Batman walks past their Arkham holding cells on his way to Scarecrow's cell in "Fear of Victory".

Does anyone know of a website where people can listen to the music of B:TAS?

[Nightflower]

I remember that I loved Catwoman's when I was a little kid, and I think Mad Hatter had one too. I'm not sure of a website that has a collection of the music, but you might be able to find a specific character's theme on a website about him or her. (I found one with Catwoman's theme)

[TimTwoFace]

My website used to have a section that had WAV files of many of the heroes and villains themes (or leit motifs), but that has since been destroyed, much to my dismay. :-(

They didn't really use these themes in the later episodes, though. Why is that?

-Tim

[Toddman]

Originally posted by TimTwoFace
My website used to have a section that had WAV files of many of the heroes and villains themes (or leit motifs), but that has since been destroyed, much to my dismay. :-(

They didn't really use these themes in the later episodes, though. Why is that?

-Tim

They were still around in TNBA and in BB (and even the Static Shock episode "Big Leagues"). But other than the Watchtower, there don't seem to be any themes in JL.

Toddman

[The Game]

Sweet- I loved those little themes and never knew what they were called. I wish I knew where to get them- I want them. The truth is, they really should release the B:TAS soundtrack- there is a petition for it, and I really think Shirley Walker deserves recognition for all those great leit motifs.

[Toddman]

Originally posted by thegame8866
Sweet- I loved those little themes and never knew what they were called. I wish I knew where to get them- I want them. The truth is, they really should release the B:TAS soundtrack- there is a petition for it, and I really think Shirley Walker deserves recognition for all those great leit motifs.

Amen to that. Where is that petition located? I would be happy to sign it.

Thanks for the info, game!

Toddman

[The Penguin]

I always thought they were really cool too.
A soundtrack would be great with the DVDs starting to come out. When you think about it, a soundtrack for something like this wouldn't be quite as hard as putting out an original album. There's of course some re-working involved, but it's mostly a matter of putting all the songs on one disc and slapping a label on it. WB has several record labels for crying out loud!

[Maxie Zeus]

They did some marvelous stuff with the leitmotifs in some of the episodes, if you pay attention. My favorite such moment in is "Perchance to Dream." During the fight in the church tower between Bruce and "Batman," Shirley walkers uses the Hatter's theme, but uses Batman's trumpets to play it. This is before the Hatter is unmasked, but it's a great aural hint as to what is happening.

Gives you chills when you catch it. :D