Batman: The Animated Newsletter
Weeks of April 24 - April 29/30, 2000
Volume 3,
Rated: PG for some "low-key coarse language and occasional griping"
THIS ISSUE'S SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: "YES, BATMAN WILL BE BACK ON THE CARTOON NETWORK."
____________________
APOLOGY
We apologize for not notifying you of our two-week hiatus between this and the last issue of the newsletter. Situations beyond our control came up in our editors' lives, and they took precedent over the newsletter. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
-editor
____________________
EAGERLY ANTICIPATING...
New episodes are on the horizon! Here's what we can expect in the near future...
'SENTRIES OF THE LAST COSMOS'
Batman Beyond #37
Air date: May 13, 2000
Synopsis: Unavailable
'PAYBACK'
Batman Beyond #36
Air date: May 20, 2000
Synopsis: A new vigilante, who calls himself Payback, begins taking revenge on the tormentors of troubled teenagers.
___________________
WB ANIMATION SCHEDULES:
(courtesy of Brian Cruz and/or the official BTAS/STAS site)
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 04-24-00: Superman #37 Little Girl Lost (Pt. 1)
Superman #38 Little Girl Lost (Pt. 2)
Tue 04-25-00: Superman #08 The Main Man (Pt. 1)
Wed 04-26-00: Superman #11 The Main Man (Pt. 2)
Superman #14 Blasts from the Past (Pt. 1)
Superman #17 Blasts from the Past (Pt. 2)
Thu 04-27-00: Superman #44 Legacy (Pt. 1)
Superman #48 Legacy (Pt. 2)
Fri 04-28-00: Superman #01 The Last Son of Krypton (Pt. 1)
Superman #02 The Last Son of Krypton (Pt. 2)
Sat 04-29-00: Superman #03 The Last Son of Krypton (Pt. 3)
B-BEYOND #34 The Eggbaby
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
(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...
THIS WEEK:
Mon 04-24-00: BTAS #59 The Demon's Quest (Pt. 1)
Tue 04-25-00: BTAS #63 The Demon's Quest (Pt. 2)
Wed 04-26-00: BTAS #64 Read My Lips
Thu 04-27-00: BTAS #62 Fire From Olympus
Fri 04-28-00: BTAS #57 Shadow of the Bat (Pt. 1)
Sat 04-29-00: BEYOND #23 Mind Games
Sun 04-30-00: BEYOND #24 Revenant
NEXT WEEK:
Check out
http://www.ytv.com for updated schedules for this week!
_____________________
R.I.P. CARTOON NETWORK WB ANIMATION SCHEDULE?
As of March 27, 2000, Batman: The Animated Series was taken off of the Cartoon Network. Now, coupled with the absence of Batman/Superman on KidsWB next season, it would appear to be virtually impossible to view these episodes.
However, the Cartoon Network has announced that Batman will return in June, possibly in a new format (ie: as The New Batman/Superman Adventures). We'll provide more informaiton as it becomes available.
_____________________
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!
APRIL MOON
Story by Stan Berkowitz & James Tucker
Teleplay by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Butch Lukic
Animation by Dong Yang, Koko
Original Air Date: April 22, 2000
Rating: *** (out of 5)
DESCRIPTION: Batman takes on a group of thieves who have been given artificial body enhancements by a famous doctor.
HIGHS: Attempts to mix several plotlines, Max is kept to a minimum, return to the darker colors.
LOWS: Out-of-place music, hokey looking villains, just plain weird.
OVERALL: This ep is...just...different.
A group of punk kids are given cybernetic enhancements by a known Gotham prosthetics doctor, and use them to commit crimes. The Doc isn't a willing partner in all this, it turns out that the thieves have kidnapped his wife April and demanded that they be given these upgrades in
exchange for her release. When Terry finds out about this, he must defeat the criminals and rescue her.
This episode tried to do a lot of things - it mixed in action, a romantic aspect, unwilling partnerships, and even a betrayal at the end. Some of them were executed better than others, like the partnership and betrayal parts. The doctor's anger at cooperating with these criminals is
very evident, as shown when he breaks down in front of Batman, or when he says "It's a chance to do some good...for a change", when leaving the punks.
Max is given a role in this episode, but it's kept to no more than 30 seconds. Now that's what she should be there to do, give Terry a quick idea if he needs it, not tagging around with him all the time. Bruce is also present, but his lines are also brief; no more walking Terry
through his fights. The colours are also darker in most scenes than in the last few episodes...yes!!
But the above aspects haven't really been the big thing about this episode. The whole feel of "April Moon" wasn't the same as the rest of the eps. From the start, there was always a swinging jazz beat in the background, rather than the usual hard techno/rock tunes. For me,
it was simply out of place.
And then, the villains just looked kind of hokey, especially one guy who had chainsaws in his knees...it seemed like they were always causing him to get stuck somewhere, although it was funny to see his limbs fall off at the end.
The impact of the romance and other supposedly emotional scenes never really hit me that hard though, it just didn't feel right...maybe it was the music. It kind of felt like a cheesy film-noir deal, which isn't what I'm looking for in BB. And they had little swirling blurs when the
Doc went into a flashback...since when did we see THAT on this show?
In the end, I'm still not sure what to say on this episode. I'd still hold it above any of those teen-angst eps any day. It's different to be sure, but too much deviation can alter the concept originally set. If I was looking for lightheartedness I'd watch Superman (the early ones
anyway), know what I'm saying? I have a feeling this was just a "experimental" sort of deal, now I'd like to return to watching some darker material.
