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| | Location: Home » Kids & Family » Crime » The Batman - The Complete First Season (DC Comics Kids Collection) | January 8, 2009 |
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| The Batman - The Complete First Season (DC Comics Kids Collection) | 
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| Director: Ginny Mcswain
Actors: Rino Romano, Alastair Duncan, Evan Sabara, Danielle Judovits, Kevin Michael Richardson
Studio: CW Television Network
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $9.33
You Save: $10.65 (53%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $8.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  (69 reviews)
Sales Rank: 5303
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 30 minutes
Number Of Items: 2
Discs: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD68672D
UPC: 012569686724
EAN: 0012569686724
ASIN: B000CEXFZ6
Release Date: February 7, 2006
Theatrical Release Date: September 11, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Garbage January 9, 2007
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
I am a huge Batman fan. Batman the Animated Series is one of the most watched items in my DVD collection. I don't think I'll make it through this atrocity once. It definitely looks as if it's made for kids, but my kids (aged 7 and 10) are not taken in by this charade. They know what the Joker is supposed to look like and how he is supposed to act and sound. This thing is an abomination.
 Casting a long shadow November 24, 2006
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
Characters like Batman and Superman cast long shadows. The aura of these characters is that they have no reality to bind them to. They are borne of our imagination and own psyche and that is why they can be resurrected in the image of different eras in time. They are symbols of our own internal selves, that is why you can draw them up again and again and they never die. Superman represents that part of the human psyche that is beyond destruction and rises uncorrupted no matter what you throw at it, no matter what you do to it. Batman is the exact opposite. Batman is a mortal, tormented soul on the edge that lurks in the shadows, and takes on evil with a dark vengeance. Superman is the real person and Clark Kent is the mask, but Bruce Wayne is the real person and The Batman is the mask. In a sordid sort of way, Superman is like Dr. Jekyll and Batman is Mr. Hyde - two sides of the same coin.
And once again, Batman has been resurrected in this retro series. "The Batman" is constructed in a time before the one depicted in the classical "Batman: The Animated Series", probably a decade or so earlier. Bruce Wayne is in his mid-20's and Batman is not yet the legend depicted in The Animated Series. He has just appeared on the scene of Gotham and started his shadowy crime-fighting career where the law sees him no differently than the characters he is at odds with.
Some of the characterizations are good and you can feel how they gel in given the above backdrop. Sobriety and age doesn't seem to have caught up with an also-younger Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's confidant and surrogate-guardian. He is presented as being slightly perkier and more wisecracking compared to the depiction in The Animated Series.
Batman is defined by the villains he faces and in season one, his old nemeses The Joker, Penguin, Bane, Dr. Langstrom, Mr. Freeze, Firefly, Scarface, and Clayface are all back. The Joker lives up to his maniacal aura and Kevin Michael Richardson's voice doesn't deviate far from the signature personality that Mark Hamill gave Joker in TAS; KMR's voice has more timber and gruffness at times compared to the diabolical cackle of Mark Hamill. I thought the look of the Joker was a bit too "jack in the box" making him look grotesque at first glance. Oswald Cobblepot a.k.a. the Penguin is cast more in the image of Tim Burton's rendition from the movie. Again, Tom Kenny does a good job giving more deviousness to Penguin's character. Bane, Dr. Langstrom a.k.a. The Man-Bat, and Scarface don't deviate much either apart from their color schemes compared to TAS. Firefly looks better. I liked the Firefly character line better in the TAS but this series has done a decent makeup job on him especially with the buzzing audio f/x.
Mr. Freeze is a heresy. The whole Mr. Freeze character in TAS was a masterpiece between his personality as defined by his accident and his quest to save his wife, and Michael Ansara's "poker-faced", emotionless, superb voice characterization completing things full circle. This series has turned Victor Fries into a common thug in a walking icebox for a suit.
However, the delight of season one, as everyone has commented below is the whole Clayface arc. This series has done for Clayface what TAS did for the Harvey Dent/Two-Face and Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze story arcs, and the story and production teams get kudos for the way they draw out the entire Clayface story arc in the fantastic two-episode season finale.
As for the presentation, The Batman is slightly more colorful and more detailed than TAS. Part of the power of TAS was that it was drawn entirely on black and created its ambiance by capitalizing masterfully on abstraction and lack of details in animation, while sticking with a more restrictive color palette comprised of dark, crimson, shadowy colors. This series has more details in the artwork and a wider use of colors. It takes a few episodes to get used to it if you are a die-hard TAS fan. The TAS also mixed in some retro elements such as the cars and buildings at times very aesthetically. The batmobile looks more commercial in this series, more high-tech, but more like Bruce Wayne decided to have Toyota, Honda or Audi build it for him. :-) Arkham Asylum looks better in this series in my opinion; the addition of detail such as the brickwork walls and pipe-grill doors, have done it good. It looks more creepy than cozy and you can see it as this really creepy holding place for mentally insane criminals. It augments the dark aura of the Batman character itself.
Finally the voice characterization of Rino Romano fits given the background. Kevin Conroy's voice was perfect for a mid-30s Batman, who had been "at it" for a decade or more -- an established legend in Gotham, more sure of himself, used to facing whackjobs and weirdos. Kevin Conroy gave Batman "the coming of age" personality. Rino Romano gives personality to a younger Batman, more unsure of himself, just out of adolesence and still coming to grips with what he is becoming. Rino Romano's voice characterization lacks the command and force of Kevin Conroy...which is correct.
All in all, it's a new Batman for a new era and if you like the Batman character, don't miss it.
 A Superb New Vision of The Batman! September 15, 2006
4 out of 12 found this review helpful
The Batman Season One is a new bold, exciting retelling of The Batman's first adventures. Everything about this new series is wonderful. The stories are fresh, full of action and humor. The animation is crisp, sharp, and downright pretty to look at. A must have for all Batman fans!
AWESOME September 9, 2006
3 out of 13 found this review helpful
The only Batman cartoon series I've ever really liked. I love the animation and the story lines are interesting.
Not bad at all August 31, 2006
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I really don't understand the bad reviews for this show.
Yes, the story is changed... it's a new series...
The villains have had an overhall,(the Joker runs around barefoot) Batman's allies are different(no Grissom) and though there is almost Batman Beyond-era technology, the series takes place 3 years after Bruce Wayne became Batman.
Anyone who liked Batman Beyond will most likely find this seried good as well, mabye not as good, but it's a storyline that more than kiddies can enjoy.
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