Batman: The Animated Newsletter
Weeks of February 21 - February 26/27, 2000
Volume 3,
Rated: PG for some "low-key coarse language and occasional griping"
THIS ISSUE'S SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: "Edward,
Pamela, and Waylon: 'IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN"
___________________________
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
MAKE US LOOK LIKE FOOLS AND SEE YOUR NAME IN
PRINT!
Yep, you heard right! Ever since the issue #1, my
hasty editing procedures have always left not
just a few, but sometimes a whole horde of simple errors, grammatical
problems, untrue facts,
and whatnot. Just no typos - you've gotta be more creative than that! 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
___________________________
THOSE WHO POINTED OUT OUR FAULTS
MARIE/"ULTROS"
-who pointed out the mistake in Question #269 of the quiz last issue
TERRY BEATTY
-who pointed out that he did not ink of Superman Adventures; Terry
Austin did.
JEFF KIM
-who pointed out a grammatical error
___________________________
EAGERLY ANTICIPATING...
New episodes are on the horizon! Here's what we can expect in the near
future...
AT THIS POINT IN TIME THERE IS NO NEWS OF ANY NEW
FORTHCOMING EPISODES.
For synopses of all other upcoming second season
BATMAN BEYOND episodes, check out of
BTAN at this address:
THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES air Mondays
thru Saturday; BATMAN BEYOND also airs on these
days. Check local listings each day for what show is on at what time.
THIS WEEK:
Mon 02-21-00: NO EPISODES
Tue 02-22-00: Superman #01 Last Son of Krypton (Pt. 1)
Superman #02 Last Son of Krypton (Pt. 2)
Superman #03 Last Son of Krypton (Pt. 3)
Wed 02-23-00: Batman #108 Beware the Creeper
Superman #20 Identity Crisis
Batman #102 Old Wounds
Thu 02-24-00: Superman #50 In Brightest Day
Batman #32 Robin's Reckoning (Pt. 1)
Batman #37 Robin's Reckoning (Pt. 2)
Fri 02-25-00: Superman #37 Little Girl Lost (Pt.
1)
Superman #38 Little Girl Lost (Pt. 2)
Sat 02-26-00: Batman #87 Sins of the
Father
B-BEYOND #01 Rebirth (Pt. 1)
B-BEYOND #02 Rebirth (Pt. 2)
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.
____________________________
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 Noon on weekdays (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).
-YTV is moving BATMAN! BATMAN will no longer air
at 7:30am (ET). BATMAN will now air at 12 noon
(ET) Monday thru Friday. YTV is making their early morning shows all kid
oriented, and felt
that BATMAN did not suit that time slot.
THIS WEEK:
Mon 02-21-00: BTAS #09 Be A Clown
Tue 02-22-00: BTAS #26
Appointment in Crime Alley
Wed 02-23-00: BTAS #07 P.O.V.
Thu 02-24-00: BTAS #25 The Clock
King
Fri 02-25-00: BTAS #04 The Last
Laugh
Sat 02-26-00: BEYOND #07 Meltdown
Sun 02-27-00: BEYOND #08 Heroes
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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:
To see the 52 episodes that the CARTOON NETWORK
does show, go to this link:
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!
____________________________
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":
<BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES>
DOUBLE TALK
Written by Robert Goodman
Directed by Dan Riba
Animation by Dong Yang
Original air date: November 22, 1997
My rating: **1/2
Hmmm...what can I say? This was a strange episode.
It introduced us to the new character
designs for the Ventriloquist, Scarface, and, to a lesser extent, Lucious Fox.
The episode begins at Arkham Asylum, where Arnold
Wesker (the Ventriloquist's identity was
never given in a BTAS episode up until this point) is having nightmares of
Scarface stalking
him. The Ventriloquist is now temporarily reformed (reform is never a for-sure
thing in
Gotham!), but the Scarface side to his personality is trying to seduce him
back into a life of
crime through deadly threats.
What can I say about Ventriloquist's new design?
He looks a lot like a slimmer Drew Carey to
me. The one thing that I hate about his design is his neck, or, rather, lack
thereof. Other
characters this season, like Alfred, have no recognizable neck when you look
at them head
on...it's inhuman....
Due to his apparent reformation, Arnold is
released from Arkham and starts living at a Wayne-
owned halfway house run by midgets. Bruce Wayne also personally gave Arnold a
job at Wayne
Enterprises so he'd have some cash to live off of.
In this episode, more than ever, we see Batman's
sympathy for the Ventriloquist...when his old
gangster cohorts confront him in the street (Rhino, etc...), Batman saves him
and tells them
very sternly to leave him alone...and then beats them senseless. Meanwhile, at
Wayne
Enterprises, Lucious Fox (who looks pretty much the same as before) recieves a
shipment of
bonds...worth a tonne of money. (Hint, hint, hint...)
Scarface starts stalking the Ventriloquist again -
this time in real life over the phone...it's
sequences like this one that really make Scarface truly menacing...not to
mention the brilliant
vocalizations that are given to the character...you can easily see that the
"dark, brooding
Batman" shows are not completely gone...
The mystery is that Arnold has gotten rid of his
Scarface puppet...leading the viewer to
believe that his mind is playing tricks on him. But when we see Scarface in a
phone booth
outside his apartment and then see the puppet RUNNING, we know that something
is up.
We soon learn that Rhino and Ventriloquist's old
gang members forced one of the midgets working
at the halfway house to impersonate Scarface so that the Ventriloquist will be
driven into a
frenzy and then be tipped back into the life of crime...which works, sadly.
This is one of those episodes that grows on you
with each viewing, (probably just because you
get used to the new designs faster). It also is a milestone in the BTAS
continuity - it is the
first episode in which nudity is shown. No lie! In the scene where Batman is
fighting Scarface
in the warehouse, you clearly see a number of statues of nude females -
nipples included.
(Schumacher would be proud). This isn't a reason to watch the show for, but it
is an
interesting thing that happens...kind of a perk. (Oooo...bad joke...sorry
about that.) I'll
shut up now before you think I'm a male chauvanist pig, OK?
The only thing I don't like is that the finale to
the episode is just a rehash of "Read My
Lips" and "Catwalk" - Scarface is mutilated via a machine gun,
and then shredded to pieces.
Either way, it's an interesting episode...a new
take on the Ventriloquist's character...a very
welcome one, too. (And I'm a guy that isn't even fond of that character.)
Mr. Tindall was unable to submit an editorial for
this issue. Filling in for him is our good
friend, scooper, and long-time subcriber "Ranger" (aka THX1138) with
some more words o' wisdom.
Enjoy!
BATMAN AND BEYOND
(by Ranger, the Batcave Custodial Engineer)
Greetings ever faithful readers. What an
incredible week to be an Animated Series fan eh? We
saw the end of Superman (well for now anyways) and the rumored end of Terry as
the Bat to a
totally new man in the cape for an automotive safety feature that none of us
can afford. Wow...
Like I said it's a great time to be a fan.
Let's look at the events of the last couple of
weeks. First off...Superman and "Legacy". Never
have I seen on US television an animated tale so dark. Sure...Robotech imports
and all, but
c'mon, this was American TV with one of it's greatest icons beaten down like
never before.
Adding to that fact, the episode ends with no positive resolution which is
almost mandatory
these days in Kids programming. There was blood and violence and harsh
language, no wait that
was me and my astonished cries of joy, in this episode that I just had to
rewind and see again
just to make sure I saw it correctly the first time. How I long for a DVD of
this story arc.
Imagine being able to watch these episodes in their original continuity? Oh
man...I need to
rest. I am getting to excited over Kids programming.
Now you might say "Why does he keep saying
Kids programming?". Well that leads me to my second
point. This isn't just Kids programming anymore and this week proved it. With
the false rumors
of Batman Beyond's cancellation flying around on the net faster than Two-Face
buying up all he
can at a McDonald's 2-for-2 sale (sorry Tim, the humblest of editors) we saw
the huge amount of
support that truly lies out there for Terry and copany. People of all ages
were going crazy
with all sorts of comments and suggestions on how to save a show that really
didn't need
saving. Dini must be enjoying the madness that ensued with this accidental
"out of context"
quote. And the WB...well except for the mild headaches of dealing with a minor
rumor that could
be easily proven wrong...this was a ton of free publicity for them. The WB now
knows again that
children of all ages watch the adventures of Batman and Superman even if it
isn't directly
reflected in those dreaded Neilson numbers. So take heart that we do matter as
fans even if we
don't go around saying "Pika Pika" all day long.
Further proof that the Bat has firmly taken hold
of the public's imagination is the new series
of On Star commercials. I write this little column as the first of the new
commercials plays in
the background. How cool was that to see the cave again in live action? I
don't care if it's
crass and just a tool for some product - I loved hearing Danny Elfman music
again while I gazed
at some guy in the suit. It didn't even matter to me who he was because I was
just so happy to
see ANYTHING that might draw us close to a fifth Bat film. I am easily amused.
It's okay. I
have been told that many times but this time was different. With the new Bruce
Wayne series in
the works and "Return of the Joker" on the way I just feel that this
is a good time to be a
fan. We have Kids Meal toys, a new Ubi Soft video game coming, a whole slew of
comics on the
way (ignore the Harley series - I mean the GOOD comics coming) and tons other
of stuff to
collect in 2000. What more could anyone ask for? Within reason of course...
So all of us need to pat ourselves on the backs
this week for our strong will and buying power.
Our franchise is moving forward and it's picking up steam by the looks of it.
Just remember
that things could always be worse. You could be a Teenage Mutant Turtles fan.
Now there is a
franchise in stagnation. Turtle Power.
