"The Batman" (2004) TV series 2004-????

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Ginny McSwain

Writers:

J.D. Murray (writer)
Christopher Yost (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

11 September 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Crime | Family | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Bring on The Batman!

Plot:

A young Bruce Wayne is in his third year of trying to establish himself as Batman, protector of Gotham City...

Plot Keywords:

Superhero | Early Batman | Based On Comic Book | Based On Comic | Secret Identity

Awards:

7 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Rino Romano	...	Bruce Wayne / ... (65 episodes, 2004-2008)
Alastair Duncan	...	Alfred Pennyworth / ... (48 episodes, 2004-2008)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 | USA:TV-Y7

Company:

Warner Bros. Animation

Trivia:

As with previous Batman animated shows, a past Batman stars as a character in the new show...aka Adam West in "Beware the Grey Ghost" hands off the Batman mantle to Kevin Conroy. In "The Batman" Kevin Conroy plays Dick Grayson's father, in a way handing the Batman torch to Rino Romano.

Quotes:

Catwoman: Hate to cut our first date short, cutie, but I like to leave a man wanting more.

Movie Connections:

Version of Batman (1989)

Soundtrack:

The Batman

Liked it, but . . .

Once again, the cartoon world takes a stab at reinventing Batman. "The Batman" gives us Batman (voice of Rino Romano) in the third year of his crimefighting career. As usual, the origin stays the same: Thomas, Martha and young Bruce Wayne are walking home from a movie when a hold-up man kills Bruce's parents. He swears to wage a war on crime, goes into training in various fields of martial arts, science, athletics in order to become a creature of the night and strike fear in the hearts of the criminal element. The first episode of the new cartoon has Batman still being thought of as an "urban legend" when Gotham detectives Ethan Bennett (Steve Harris, formerly of "The Practice") and Ellen Yin (Ming Na from "ER") being assigned to investigate his comings and goings. He also has his first run in with the Joker (Kevin Michael Richardson), who looks totally different than his usual appearance. However, he IS just as insane as ever.

Since this is early in Batman's career, there is no Commissioner Gordon or Robin in the picture. From the opening credits, all of the well-known villains such as Penguin, Catwoman, Croc and Mr. Freeze will be making appearances in the future. The artwork and the animation are well done. However, the main weakness I find with "The Batman" is the voice of Batman. Romano sounds like a good fit for Bruce Wayne, but he doesn't have that mysterious, tough-guy edge to Batman that Kevin Conroy portrayed so well. But, this is, after all, Batman, so I really have no choice but to at least stick around to see which way things will go: "Batman: The Animated Series" or "Batman and the Super Seven". Time will tell.