Batman: The Animated Newsletter
Weeks of January 17 - January 22/23, 2000
Volume 3,
Rated: PG for some "low-key coarse language and occasional griping"
THIS ISSUE'S SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: "YOU DRIVE ME CRAAAYYYYY-ZEEE!
I JUST CAN'T SLEEP - I'M SO EXCITED, I'M IN TOO DEEP..." - The
torment in Batman's mind is released in song when he addresses the Arkham bunch.
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
MAKE US LOOK LIKE FOOLS AND SEE YOUR NAME IN PRINT!
Yeah, that's right. Over the past 52 issues, my hasty editing procedures has always left not just a few, but sometimes a whole hord of simple errors, grammatical problems, untrue facts, and whatnot. Here's where YOU come in. If you can find any mistakes in this issue (we're not purposely making mistakes - any mistakes you find will be ones we were too blind to see), we'll print your name in the following issue in a special column. Sound fun?
Come on. Make us look like idiots. We dare ya. Grrrr.
-Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
the tremendously warped editor
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EAGERLY ANTICIPATING...
New episodes are on the horizon! Here's what we can expect in the near future...
'EYEWITNESS'
Batman Beyond #27
Air date: January 22, 2000
Because Commissioner Gordon thinks he sees Batman involved with the untimely death of Mad Stan, Batman must run from the law. Fortunately, Bruce uncovers the truth and proves Batman to be innocent: the murder was a hallucination, engineered by Spellbinder.
'LEGACY (Pt. 1 & 2)'
Superman #44, 48
Air date: February sweeps, 2000?
This two-parter features the final showdown between Superman and Darksied in which he strips Superman of his memory and adopts him as a son in an effort to take over Earth. This is being touted as the FINAL Superman episode EVER. However, I must say that I've read a synopsis of the episode, and it's a doozie.
For synopses of all other upcoming second season BATMAN BETOND episodes, check out of BTAN at this address:
http://www.toonzone.net/wbc/newsletters/btan
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WB ANIMATION SCHEDULES:
(courtesy of Brian Cruz and/or the official BTAS/STAS site)
THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES airs Mondays thru Saturday; BATMAN BEYOND also airs on these days. Check local listings each day for what show is on at what time.
http://www.batman-superman.com/batman/cmp/episodes.html
http://www.toonzone.net/brian/schedules/
http://www.ktla.com/backstage/programming/kids_framed.frm
THIS WEEK:
Mon 01-17-00: Batman #104 Legends of the Dark Knight
B-BEYOND #22 Rats
Tue 01-18-00: Superman #04 Fun and Games
Batman #89 Double Talk
Wed 01-19-00: Batman #70 House and Garden
Superman #19 Target
Thu 01-20-00: Superman #08 The Main Man (Pt. 1)
Superman #11 The Main Man (Pt. 2)
Fri 01-21-00: Batman #103 The Demon Within
B-BEYOND #10 Dead Man's Hand
Sat 01-22-00: Superman #45 The Demon Reborn
B-BEYOND #27 Eyewitness ---------> NEW!!!!
All episodes #86 and onward of BATMAN are considered THE NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES while the original 85 are considered BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (BTAS) episodes.
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CANADIAN EPISODE SCHEDULE
(BTAS/BEYOND on YTV)
(courtesy of our friends at YTV)
-To find the episode guide and airing schedule of BATMAN and BATMAN BEYOND on YTV then please go to
http://www.ytv.com and click on the YTV GUIDE icon at the bottom of the screen. To check out the schedule then click on BATMAN or BATMAN BEYOND in the time grid and it will have the schedule for the current week.
BTAS will air at 7:30am on weekday mornings (in all time zones), and BATMAN BEYOND will air at 2:30pm on Saturday and Sunday. YTV has the rights to show all 109 BTAS episodes. They also have the rights to air the first 26 episodes of BATMAN BEYOND (all of season 1 and the first half of season 2).
THIS WEEK:
Mon 01-17-00: BTAS #90 You Scratch My Back
Tue 01-18-00: BTAS #91 Never Fear
Wed 01-19-00: BTAS #92 Joker's Millions
Thu 01-20-00: BTAS #93 Growing Pains
Fri 01-21-00: BTAS #94 Love is a Croc
Sat 01-22-00: BEYOND #05 The Winning Edge
Sun 01-23-00: BEYOND #10 Spellbound
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CARTOON NETWORK WB ANIMATION SCHEDULE:
"Yabba Dabba Doom"
(courtesy of Brian Cruz)
THE CARTOON NETWORK was able to get the exclusive rights to 52 episodes of the classic BTAS, as well as both animated movies. BTAS airs Monday-Friday at 6pm (ET) and then repeated again at midnight. If our schedule listings is not complete or up to date then please go to either of these sites for the schedule:
http://www.toonzone.net/brian/schedules/batman-cn.html
http://homes.acmecity.com/animation/saturday/352/schedule.html
To see the 52 episodes that the CARTOON NETWORK does show, go to this link:
http://www.toonzone.net/brian/eplists/batman-cn.html
NOTE: The schedules at Brian Cruz' site are currently unavailable; if anyone knows of any other place where people can get listings for BTAS on the Cartoon Network, please e-mail us!
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EPISODE REVIEW: (SPOILERS!)
(by Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton)
All of Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton's reviews of the new-style BTAS episodes and BATMAN BEYOND can be found via these links, which link to "Two-Face's Tower of Tranquility and Terror":
MAIN PAGE:
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/TimTwoFace/index.html
BTAS PAGE:
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/TimTwoFaceText/bats.html
NOTE: ALRIGHT! I've been messing up WHO is writing WHAT for this column for too long now. If you wanna see who's writing each review, just go to the bottom - they all sign it there. Sorry Zanna and Justin! I feel so foolish...agh...*HALF OF MY FACE BLUSHES*
NOTE: To make up for last week's lack of a review for a new episode, I decided to put one review from each of our reviewers, Zanna and Justin, in this issue. It's a two-for-one deal, everyone! Stop complaining already!
<BATMAN BEYOND>
BABEL
Written by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Curt Geda
Animation by Koko, Dong Yang
Original airdate: January 8, 2000
My rating: **** 1/2 (Out of five stars)
First, all Gotham's animals go crazy. Then its citizens lose the ability to speak to each other and havoc reigns over the city. Commissioner Gordon gets an ultimatum she can't ignore. Shriek is back. He's out for revenge and he's stronger than ever.
Good points:
This was a wonderful episode. I enjoyed this story
on many levels. First, it's not another addiction, teenage problem, or genetic mutation story. Most of those were good episodes, but sometimes, a Batman as
a detective, chasing a regular human is a welcome change.
BABEL showed us more of the relationship that has developed between Bruce and Terry. Terry may not live with Bruce as his other "sons" did, but Bruce obviously cares just as much for Terry as the others. Bruce is also proud of him and is just as uncomfortable in showing it as he ever was.
The actors had great lines, and not just for laughs either.
Shriek's new weapon is inventive and effective. Without physically touching anyone or anything, Shriek can disable an entire city.
The writers and artists cleverly depicted the speech distortion. The difference between the sound when the word is spoken and when it is heard is illustrated visually and audibly. Normal words are used when the speaker talks and then the visual cues and camera angles, as well as the sounds are changed when the words are heard at the other end of the conversation. Even when Terry and Bruce communicate through the computers, Terry's computer screen is red and Bruce's screen is blue - almost like having different voices.
Bruce is still Batman, even without the costume. When Barbara delivers Shriek's ultimatum to Bruce, Bruce volunteers to give himself up. He refers to Terry as the "kid" and then restrains Terry from responding to the ultimatum, at least at first.
The viewer sees that Terry is still haunted by his father's death, even if it isn't shown every episode. He has not recovered from it and it is a factor in his taking up the mantle.
Bruce and Terry both miss the fact that other animals, especially zoo animals, could be affected. Max is sharp enough to have thought about the larger effects of the problem. She is a worthy addition to the Bat family.
Terry figures out where Shriek is transmitting before Bruce does. Not even Bruce should be perfect all the time, and it serves to illustrate Terry's intelligence as well.
Shriek isn't killed off at the end of the episode. Only one sound disk is recovered in the rubble, paving the way for future battles with Shriek.
Terry really behaved like Batman in this episode. He was willing to give himself up for an ungrateful city, but first, he will try to outthink and outfight the villain. He is able to slip away when conversing with Bruce (reminiscent of Bruce's disappearances when dealing with Jim Gordon). Even the ending is typical
Batman.
I also liked how the ending mirrored the beginning.
Bad Points:
Terry still doesn't make use of all the gadgets available to him when dealing with problems.
At the zoo, he didn't use any tranquilizers on the animals; he relied on the suit's strength enhancement for all the encounters. At least, he did use the boosters in his boots and the invisibility setting in his suit. Later, when going
to fight Shriek, why didn't Terry have some kind of sound protection for his ears? He should have known that he would be vulnerable to sound attacks.
I would like to have seen more development of Shriek's character and insanity.
Why couldn't Shriek feel the massive vibrations of the towers when they began to fall? It should have felt like a large earthquake standing that close to the towers.
While Terry tried to warn Shriek about the falling towers, why didn't he just zoom over and pull Shriek out of harm's way?
Still, these are relatively minor flaws in a very enjoyable story.
Reviewed by Zanna
(
Zanna_Z@NOSPAMyahoo.com remove NOSPAM to email)
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