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Batman: The Animated Newsletter
Weeks of March 6 - March 11/12, 2000
Volume 3,
Rated: PG for some "low-key coarse language and occasional griping"
THIS ISSUE'S SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: "SO WHEN WERE THOSE ANIMATED BAT-VIDEO GAMES SUPPOSED TO BE OUT THIS YEAR, ANYWAY?"
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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
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THOSE WHO POINTED OUT OUR FAULTS
BRIAN DAVIS
-who pointed out that OVER THE EDGE has yet to premiere in the UK, but did premiere in Ireland - before it did in Canada and the US, actually.
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EAGERLY ANTICIPATING...
New episodes are on the horizon! Here's what we can expect in the near future...
'ARMORY'
Batman Beyond #31
Air date: March 11, 2000
When the father of one of Terry's friends is laid off from his lucrative research and development job, he develops a super-powered suit in his backyard workshop and turns to a life of crime.
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 03-06-00: B-BEYOND #13 Ascension
Tue 03-07-00: Superman #21 Mxyzpixilated
Wed 03-08-00: Batman #93 Growing Pains
Thu 03-09-00: Superman #43 The New Kids in Town
Fri 03-10-00: B-BEYOND #18 Bloodsport
Sat 03-11-00: Batman #101 Animal Act
B-BEYOND #31 Armory ---------> 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
(BATMAN, SUPERMAN, and 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 will be making some schedule alterations very soon. Thanx to WF's official newsman Mr. Eye, we were able to get a hold of some of them! And here they are...
World's Finest: The Batman/Superman Movie will air March 10th at 6:30pm (ET). This will be the first Superman episodes that YTV airs, and could lead to more...
Batman Beyond will join The Zone beginning Monday, March 13th at 3:30pm (ET). It's unknown how long this will last and if this will include new BB episodes.
THIS WEEK:
Mon 03-06-00: BTAS #23 Vendetta
Tue 03-07-00: BTAS #19 Prophecy of Doom
Wed 03-08-00: BTAS #07 The Forgotten
Thu 03-09-00: BTAS #27 Mad as a Hatter
Fri 03-10-00: BTAS #31 The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
Sat 03-11-00: BEYOND #05 The Winning Edge
Sun 03-12-00: BEYOND #09 Spellbound
NOTE: YTV will air BATMAN & MR. FREEZE: SUB-ZERO at 6:30 pm on Friday, March 10th, as a part of their March Break celebration.
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CARTOON NETWORK WB ANIMATION SCHEDULE:
(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!
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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":
The creative "team" for this column alternates between Zanna and Justin Chen, two loyal subscribers and great friends of ours here. Any other reviews printed here are written by editor Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton. Enjoy!
<BATMAN BEYOND>
THE LAST RESORT
Written by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Curt Geda
Animation by Dong Yang, Koko
Original Air Date: March 4, 2000
Rating: *** of 5
DESCRIPTION: Batman investigates a special boarding school for troubled youths, and finds that the place is more like a prison than an educational facility.
HIGHS: Some interesting ideas, Terry does something without the suit LOWS: Yet another "teen angst" episode, shaky characterizations.
OVERALL: A teen problem episode with a few redeeming plot items.
It seems like forever since we last saw a new Batman Beyond episode, so I was hoping for something good with "The Last Resort". It had one of the best writers of Season 2 (Stan Berkowitz of "Lost Soul" and "Babel") behind it, so naturally I
was expecting something very enjoyable. As it turns out though, this is a (groan) "teen issues" episode...season two's been full of them. However, there are a few interesting twists that raise this ep above mediocrity.
A wild car chase through the skyways of Gotham is an action of Sean, a troubled teen from Hamilton Hill High School. This is just another statistic in the trend of kids causing trouble in the future, and new parental liability laws are really putting pressure on
families to do something about this problem. What better to do than...send them off to someone else? In this case, the "someone else" is a new "tough love ranch" just outside town that promises counseling to get kids back on track. The regular school is becoming a
virtual ghost town, and when even Chelsea Cunningham gets sent away, the few remaining students begin to question this place. Batman investigates, only to find out that the place is being run more like a prison camp than a youth center. Sleep deprivation, attacks on the kids' self esteem,
and vicious guards are all meant to keep the kids in line. For those who don't go with the program, there's ISO, complete sensory blockout to turn kids into vegetebles.
Batman himself can't go to the cops, so he goes in as Terry McGinnis to obtain evidence of the harsh practices there. Unfortunately he runs into some trouble with Sean over a past incident, and ends up with his cover blown and imprisoned within the facility. ISO is in
store for him until he convinces his childhood foe to cooperate with him against the ranch staff. Together they manage to bring down the authority of the man in charge and save the kids.
The premise itself wouldn't have been bad if we didn't have so many episodes dealing with teen problems already. Terry's supposed to be getting more like Bruce and dealing with larger scale things, not playing hall monitor. It just gets old after a while no matter how
it's modified, and that puts a definite damper on everything. Secondly, the characters aren't that great this time around. Sean's near-lunacy is well done, as well as Chelsea's desperation, but the boss of the ranch, a psychologist, isn't explored much. So he wants to break kids'
spirit...is that it? Why are his views like that? We don't know. Plus I felt he got off too lightly at the end, Sean almost kills him but the toned-down policy of these Season 2 eps requires Batman to save the doctor. And then Principal Nakamura at the high school seems like a big jerk, he
gets an opinion from Chelsea and has her shipped off.
What this ep does do is depict the aspects of the captive life well. There are huge telescreens broadcasting images and degrading propaganda to the kids, like something out of 1984 (Good book, read it if you can). The black lined eyes of the deprived kids show the
suffering caused by lack of sleep. Unfortunately we never actually see someone experience the dreaded ISO...it would have been an interesting experience to depict. In this episode Terry once again relies on his own wit to get himself out of a tough situation, proving he's not just a suit
but the man inside as well.
Overall, this is not a "must-see" event, this ep did some things well and others not so well. It's just a matter of opinion whether the good outweighs the bad; to me it balances out, so three stars is my final decision.
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