Chunky Design

[mgibson72]

I dug out an old tape that I hadn't seen in a long time...I had recorded a few BTAS episodes when they were still aired on Fox along with the "Fox Action Theatre" interstitals!

Anyway, while I was watching the tape, it really hit me how the design of Bats and Co. has seriously changed over the years. I watched "Clock King", "P.O.V.", and "Pretty Poison". It was truly weird to see how chunky the characters and vehicles were rendered. Big fat fenders on the cars and Bats actually was drawn with FOLDS in his costume...like it was too big or Bats had little rolls of fat to work off!

The timing was REALLY slow: in one scene when Bats fires a grappling hook, it took a full 10 seconds for the line to shoot, loop around a lamppost and then become taught. 10 SECONDS! Montoya fishes for a pistol in another scene and it was incredible how much time was devoted to unimportant details. The production folks have truly made improvements in pacing as time has moved along...just take a look at 'World's Finest' to see what I'm talking about.

The nice thing is that these older episodes have a real period feel to them. They look and feel like they were produced by Fletcher Studios in the 40's which (I believe) was the desired result.

The only reason I bring this up is the upcoming BTAS DVDs. It will be very strange to see these 'lost' episodes after the incredibly streamlined Justice League and Batman Beyond.

Comments?

[Blue121]

well, i do not remember this too well, as i cant remember the looks of the animation, but this doesnt suprise me too much.

[Karkull]

I always felt the opposite--I though that the pacing on BTAS was more natural and that it was too fast on TNBA. Oh well.

[Heehaw]

I'll have to disagree about all the timing and chunky comments. That show was perfect in everyway, in terms of design. The timing(i.e. editing) was flawless and 10 times more dramatic than the newer stuff.l

[Barb Gordon]

I haven't seen some of the older eps in a while, but I never recall folds in Bats' suit. But I loved the older series had a much more real look to it. I love it, it was great, and nothing ever seemed to move too slowly for me. But everyone has different opinions!

Barb^-^

[mgibson72]

I should clarify my previous comments: I don't think that the older series were bad...quite the opposite! It is simply the dichotomy of design that now exists between BTAS and TNBA that I really wasn't aware of before. Very startling and kind of neat to see such a difference of production values. All good...like seeing two different artists on the same comic book title.

[Heehaw]

I see. Yeah, there are huge differences between old and new school. I just like BTAS for the atmosphere and all the extra little details plus I like most of the character designs better. TNBA seemed to focus more on villains who were more diabolical and simply wanted to destroy the world/Gotham. Not much in the way of intimate little stories, though there were a few here and there.

As for the unimportant detail you mentioned, I don't think any of it was. It all has a purpose for pacing, realism, or whatever. Those characters were like real people, they sounded real, usually moved that way and had emotions.

P.O.V. is one of my favorite episodes. It is beautiful and was a very unconventional story for American TV animation, even to this day.

If Batman looks bloated, it's probably due to bad animation which pretty much guarantee Akom Productions was involved. They couldn't produce anything of quality if they tried, at least not back then. Either that, or it just that he was drawn large. He is after all a big guy.

[Karkull]

Originally posted by Heehaw
I just like BTAS for the atmosphere and all the extra little details plus I like most of the character designs better. TNBA seemed to focus more on villains who were more diabolical and simply wanted to destroy the world/Gotham. Not much in the way of intimate little stories, though there were a few here and there.

I agree--take, for example, the BTAS episode Mad as a Hatter and TNBA episode Torch Song (both of which had similar plots). Now, on the BTAS episode, you actually saw genuine motivation and cared for Jervis Tetch while condemning his actions. There was nuance and drama there. However, on the TNBA episode, you got none of that. Garfield Lynns was just another obsessive creep. No high drama, no sympathy for the villain.

[mgibson72]

The writing and plotlines were, IMO, better in the earlier episodes. But keep in mind that everything was fresh and new in the beginning. It's tough to keep that going after 60+ episodes!

I really liked how streamlined the character designs were later on...the lines are really clean and the characters looked like they were always moving fast even when standing still. The only design I didn't like (and I'm in the minority with this one!) was the redesign of the Penguin. He began as the perfect combination of high-class villian/freak of nature. I just don't think he was interesting after the design change.

At any rate, I loved how 'pixieish' the girls became. Vavoom!