TV Database The New Batman Adventures (1997)

Two years after the end of Batman: The Animated Series, Warner Bros. revived their biggest brand (possibly because the tamer Superman: TAS was not receiving the kind of ratings they'd like). The revival comes with a revamp in the character designs, however, much to the fans' chagrin.

Personally, I can see why fans would be annoyed. Some of the details here are shaved away into more simplistic designs, whether for budget reasons or as an artistic choice. It results in a Bruce that lost his fringed haircut and instead got a shorter, sleeker hairdo; I much prefer the former as the latter looks like boring and bland, which might be the reason why they used it in the first place as it's easier to draw. It also results in The Joker looking like a more murderous Freakazoid, albeit making his eyes look far more sinister and demonic than the TAS iteration. There's also the Batgirl change: I think it's a good look for her, a sleeker design that accentuates a more gothic and self-confident appearance due to the black lipstick; the TAS design for her made her look too homely. Finally, the Batman suit redesign that gave Bruce the iconic black and grey outfit we've come to known, ditching any blues or yellows. I suppose it was an inevitable modernized design to make Batman's costume more grounded and practical for stealth missions, but there's a reason why there's a big yellow target on Batman's chest - so they wouldn't aim for the mouth - but whatever.

For what it's worth, at least Warner Bros. had the good sense to restore the original TAS intro because that season 2 intro made Batman look like a family-friendly adventure.

This episode is a Christmas anthology episode that largely serves to introduce the new designs and the Bat family dynamic. It's not terribly impressive, having your typical Christmas villain hijinks, save the rather minor detail that The Joker has (implied to have) killed people with his poison this time. Harley and Ivy gets a shopping montage; Clayface gets to fight Batgirl, Santa Bullock and Montoya; and Joker gets to fight Batman and Red Robin (Tim Drake). The Clayface portion of the episode has a nice little moment where Bullock gets nervous about a little girl whose father he had sent to prison, but it's otherwise as average of a storyline as the other two. Seeing Tim Drake also reminds me of the future storyline in "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker", where Bruce had officially ruined another kid's life with his grooming. Dick was right to have bailed.

The only real writing that appealed to me though was the nice little epilogue at the end of the episode where Commissioner Gordon and Batman sit down for a nice cup of coffee.

That is... until Bruce pulled a Batman-Vanish once again. Dick.

Wonder Woman: "I shouldn't be surprised since you indoctrinated Robin into crimefighting at the ripe old age of nine."
Batman: "Robin needed to help bring the men who murdered his family to justice."
Wonder Woman: "So he could turn out like you?"
Batman: "So that he wouldn't."

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As I mentioned in my review for the first episode of TNBA, I feel uncomfortable watching Tim Drake working with Batman because of "Return of the Joker", knowing what's to come. After watching this episode and doing a little research, I found out even more reasons to feel that way: he's an amalgam of Jason Todd and Tim Drake, sharing Todd's backstory and moral ambiguity as a thief. Tim... was doomed from the start.

Batman has a history of many problems in his character portrayal; taking in kids and making them his personal child soldiers is merely one of them. However, in the context of Gotham City, perhaps it's inevitable, and perhaps these kids would have ended up somewhere just as bad anyway without guidance, though that's the only crutch Bruce could stand on as a justification.

I read that Tim's been either overshadowed or just altogether forgotten for the most part throughout DC history, which is a shame because he's the one who brought Bruce to the light again in a pretty dark period of Batman (as I've read), reminding him why he's a hero in the first place. It just makes it more frustrating that we've skipped the darkness of Jason Todd's fate in the first place and do Tim's identity dirty. Just one of many annoyances of this new series (another one being the stripped art deco title cards that gave each episode's opening a unique feel).

I get the reasons why Batman and WB executives did the things they did... but it doesn't make the consequence any less frustrating. Somewhere down the line, a line has to be drawn to say that the fault lies with them instead of "Reason X."

Freeze: "I did not come here to steal bones, Dr. Madsen, I came to steal hope!"

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Ugh.

This was disappointing. Mr. Freeze was one of Batman's more compelling villains because his motivation was the least insane (even if it borders on obsession). The look of the new design is fine (though I much prefer the cool red shades, and Fries' true form this episode is also kinda goofy as it reminds me of Toy Story), but here in this episode, Fries is just sprouting campy lines like it's an Adam West Batman episode.

The comparison of him being isolated and Bruce's surrogate family is a decent parallel, tapping into how Batman's rogues' gallery serves as a reflection for his life once again, but it's definitely more tragic in hindsight if you know what happens to Tim and Bruce down the road (Barbara too, though I guess "Killing Joke" is not canon to DCAU). Bruce and Barbara's flirting would have been cute if not for the surrogacy of their relationship.

The ending of the episode is also a mixed bag as it breaks Batman's no-kill rule, but I guess that rule's always been kinda arbitrary anyway.

A rare case of a Batman villain getting the rehabilitation he needs and making it stick. People have always criticized Batman for not using his immense amount of resources to help Gotham and the villain that he beats up nightly, but this episode disproves such notions, as the Dark Knight uses both his civilian and superhero personas to help Arnold Wesker settle down into an ordinary non-puppet life, whether it's giving him a job, a home, or just beating up bad influences.

Aside from being an effective psychological study of a former villain's attempt to live a crime-free life, the episode also has a very interesting Hitchcockian vibe as it plays on Wesker's paranoia in regards to Scarface's supposed return. As a narrative, "Double Talk" feels like it's the first time it hits the peaks of the original "Batman: The Animated Series", especially with its focus on the psychological battles over the physical ones.

Not a bad episode to move things along between Batman and Dick's new persona, Nightwing. We also get a Catwoman redesign that's a mixed bag for me; I dig her civilian shorter hair that makes her sexier and more confident, but in-costume, her white chin and leather black's somehow boring and tonally dissonant at the same time (not to mention making her mouth an obvious target anyway).

We haven't gotten to the reason for Dick's conflict with Bruce yet, but it's always nice to have interactions between Barb and him.

After watching Superman punching out two giant monsters and then pivoting to this episode's psychological storyline, I don't know if I could go back to watching Superman: TAS again with how little effort Timm had put into the writing compared to his take on Batman.

Take the theme of this episode, for example: what is Batman's greatest fear? One could say it's losing people closest to him like Alfred and Barbara, but I believe it's topped by an even greater fear: crossing the line and become the monster that took his parents. The idea of taking away Batman's fears seems like a no-brainer on paper; without fear, Batman would be able to take down any sadistic villains willing to use his own fears and anxiety against him. Unfortunately, that would strip him of his humanity and make him no better than the fascist many anti-Batman fans love to accuse him of being. It's that thin line of compromise that Bruce is unwilling to cross that makes him such a compelling character as opposed to being a boring godlike being who beats up villains every week (see Timm's Superman).

And you can see how this episode focuses on this fascinating concept through a kinda clever gimmick, subverting the Scarecrow's usual tactic of spreading fear by taking away fear this time. But the key thing is that the gimmick is never the focus on the episode; it's character-driven, not plot-driven. The same could not be said of Superman: TAS, where many episodes revolve around "clever gimmicks" that Superman had to outthink. Oh no, an electric villain! Oh no, someone who uses light to become invisible! Oh no, giant chimpanzee! Oh no, a heat-eating kaiju!

I also like how Tim Drake is at his most Tim Drakest here, in that he stopped feeling like an amalgam of Jason Todd, as he's here 1) trying to stop Bruce from crossing the line, something Jason would have no qualms with, and 2) showing his smarts by not being fooled by Bruce's ruse. Of course, as always, "Return of the Joker" sours everything (and yes, I won't stop saying that every review because it does sour everything), but at least we can have our small victories here.

The Scarecrow redesign's pretty cool. I like how much more inhumane and demonic it looks. Even Paul Dini went, "we weren't even sure if there was an actual guy in the suit anymore." Creepy.