The Batman Review

Hi, this is Loren Lester and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Beyond good, beyond

evil, beyond your wildest imagination. Welcome

to tooncast beyond I am your host Deidre and

Mike and joining me for the first time On this

version of tooncast is JT from Saskatoon. Hello.

Good day to you, sir. How are you? You guys may

remember JT from the Johnny Bravo episode in

tooncast classic and the Zeta project episode

in tooncast classic Yeah, we have to stretch

on that one episode is more so audio versus actual

discussion. Yeah. That was hard to get 30 something

minutes out of out of Zeta. We tried. We tried.

Yes, we tried. And we are continuing the season

of superheroes here on season one of Tooncast

Beyond with the Batman. The Batman. Not the crap

man. with a man not a C and ends with a man thank

you very much you alcoholics aficionados oh come

on like everyone's everyone is allowed their

opinion even though it's wrong the problem is

is that that one alcoholic aficionado does not

want to ever let anyone say the actual title

of the show which is the batman well it's and

you know no names but Well, I respect his opinion

because it's his opinion. Exactly. It's not that

I think his opinion is wrong. It's the fact that

you can't voice an honest opinion around him

without 20 minutes of salamander fingers, salamander

fingers. People listening, I'll go into more

detail of that in the show. by and large it's

like a 60 -40 split 60 % I like this series 40

% I have problems with and you know we'll get

into that so yeah yeah so yes we are here to

talk about the Batman and before we get into

that you're going to hear the second version

of the theme song There you go, folks. You heard

the first season one, season two theme song at

the very beginning of this episode of Tooncast

Beyond, and just then you heard the season three

to season five version. Oh, man. Just to get

the theme song talk out of the way before we

really set the stage for this show. When I first

saw the first episode of this series, I was like,

what? The hell are they doing with that theme

song because the theme song was like This is

not a show meant for kids to me when I heard

the first version of the theme song I was like,

this is like, holy crap Batman is creepy type

of cartoon Well, yeah, I kind of had like that

kind of a gothic sound to it which I Kind of

thought I mean I was creeped out to especially

get the bad man at the end of it there It's just

like yeah Just you know chills up the spine,

but I mean the coolest thing for those that don't

know is the season one and two the theme song

was it was written and performed by the edge

of you too, which was awesome and I really grew

to like that one and then the second version

that we all heard there It's like hey, we can

make it better. Let's make it like the 60s Batman

and I don't mind that homage that's in there

of of that na na na na I don't mind that but

it's like Jesus Christ, pick a theme song. Don't

just copy Justice League after two seasons, change

the theme song. I mean, you know, I absolutely

love both JL and JLU theme songs, but I love

the JLU theme song a hell of a lot better. That's

my preferred one. I mean, the first one's got

that epicness to it, but the second one, I like

that, you know, the power rock version, which

is in the JLU. So, but yeah, I mean, the theme

song aside, Yeah, like I said, I do like the

show. One thing I do want to mention, this is

something we got from the guys over at AA. It

was something that Sam registered, he was like

the exec producer in this series where this is

a guy, like this guy's got uber douche written

all over him, because he actually said in an

interview, and I have read this online, when

just before the show came out, He made a stab

at Bruce Tim's superior work, and I'm gonna say

that right now. This is a good series. It's not

a great series like BTAS but register said that

this show is like the Batman is going to You

know, what do you call it? Appeal to everyone

not just basement dwelling virgins, which I was

like, whoa, whoa Dude, I know you want to like

sell your product and you wanna you know make

a you know carve out a niche for you in this

animation market you do not talk shit about my

batman and you know what still and that and also

not even telling about batman that's just kind

of rude and really ignorant to say something

like that that the only people that like the

tas where basement's like screw you sir so to

set the stage for the batman It is a American

animated television series produced by Warner

Brothers Animation based on the DC Comics superhero

Batman, which I know that we often call Batman

a superhero because of his, you know, incredible

strength of feats and everything else and all

that, but I just don't. like he is a hero i don't

see him as a when i hear the term superhero i

think of x -ray vision or you know powers web

yeah web spitting action stuff like that uh...

the show ran from two thousand four two thousand

on the saturday morning television block kids

wb reruns of the first two seasons in the room

ring channel as of two thousand nine and all

the seasons were aired on uh... cartoon network

as well Although the series borrows many elements

from previous Batman storylines, it does not

follow the continuity set by the comic books,

the film series, nor that of Batman the Animated

Series or its spinoffs. The character designs

were provided by Jackie Chan Adventures artist

Jeff Matsuda. He also directed the ending. The

series won six Emmy Awards. So yeah, and I mean

they'll give an Emmy to anybody though. Yeah,

but you know for a cartoon series I mean I don't

think they look at it that much and I mean just

as you know kind of talk about the character

designs Since you mentioned it there I mean I

grew up reading a lot of comics and I'm certainly

Chipping with like talk about comic talk in this

one but Jeff Matsu is one of those guys that

he always brought a lot of anime manga stylings

to his art like, you know Wildly distended arms

and legs and everything's got like some sort

of tech team and he's got his own style I mean

you look at the design of just Bruce Wayne slash

Batman alone the dudes got a concave face for

like the first two seasons of the show like whenever

you see him from a side profile it looks like

he's got like a crescent moon for a face which

can be jarring to those that are animation fans

and the other thing like you know our friends

over at ANA there they especially Ben talks about

the salamander fingers and you look at specifically

the men the women don't really have it but you

look at the guys and they all the you look at

the joints of the fingers it gets wider and longer

as it goes from the head from the fist you know

yeah so it can be discerning I mean that and

that's a nitpicky thing at best I mean you look

at the character designs I It was a spot on Batman

design, I have to say. It was, and I liked it.

What really freaked me out about this series,

at least the first season or so, was that the

cape appeared to be alive and it appeared to

do whatever the hell it wanted. It was like they

crossed over Jackie Chan Adventures, Batman and

Spawn because his cape, I don't know it. To me,

it just felt like it would do or it would move.

However, it wanted to without him knowing yeah

i think it was it wasn't so much that that i

noticed but it seemed to change like hem lengths

like there are times when he stands up straight

and it kind of covers his feet so it just looks

like menacing or when he's crouching when he's

standing on a rooftop and it seems like there's

like 30 extra feet dragging off down the chimney

and it's flapping in the breeze all majestic

like so stuff like that yeah i mean it's kind

of a perspective thing It's kind of like, you

know Unicron in the Transformers movie how he

was planet mode He's like, yeah the size of a

planet that he transforms into robot form and

he's just standing on Cybertron So it messes

with your eyes. Yeah, I think for a character

we're gonna say it right away The Joker once

they put him into the classic purple and orange

tuxedo So much more easier to take in this series

Yeah, just started off with that like psychedelic

straight jacket. I was like that's not Joker

That's a muck. That's an albino monkey with green

dreadlocks. I Thought you were gonna say an albino

muppet. I was like, yeah, they need to make that

muppet No, but I mean, yeah, I mean that that's

one of the again That's one of the flaws of the

series is I mean, we'll get into later But I

mean just looking at the Joker like it's not

the Mark Hamill Joker, which is my preferred

Joker Well, right, but I mean, at this point

in time, you had to use different versions. I

mean, you know, Mark Hamill is awesome as the

man is and as awesome as his Joker is. He can't

be everywhere, you know, and you can't just,

you know, say, oh, hey, kids, look, Mark Hamill

is in this show. This means it's tied into this,

you know, you know, I guarantee you if Mark had

done this show. any point they probably some

fanboy would have said oh well this means it's

in continuity with the DCAU but Overall, as far

as my first impressions when I first watched

it, I was so turned off by this series. It was

so dark, it was supposed to, it was essentially

supposed to be a quote unquote year one, as far

as at least the first season was, like the first

three or four episodes. My understanding of it

was back then, not now. Let me, let me make this

clear. In 2004, What I understood from seeing

commercials about the show and from seeing the

show on on television Was that it was meant to

be a year one type of thing Bruce was trying

to find his way into being Batman and That's

essentially what the first two seasons are. Oh,

yeah I mean this I mean the whole any time like

every almost every episode in the first two seasons

he's running into a villain for the first time.

I mean, you had a couple of repeats with like

the Trinity of Batman villains, which was, you

know, Catwoman, Penguin, and Joker. I mean, going

back to designs for a second, two of the redesigns

that I absolutely loved in this series, or three

of them, one was, I liked how they brought in

the goggles version of Catwoman. in this series,

you know, voice to perfection by Gina Gershon,

who's just like, hot! I'm sorry, I can't. Your

voice cracked there a little bit, dude. You almost

sounded like a girl. Yeah, I know. Anyway, I

find her extremely attractive there. The two

redesigns that I absolutely loved was first,

I love the Batcave in this series. You know,

it's got like multiple levels. and it has a couple

of nods to the classic Adam West series with

the turntable for the Batmobile when he comes

roaring into the cave and he's got like those

like turbo powered sliding pools where he's on

the garage level and he grabs it and it pulls

him up to like the Batcomputer which I thought

looked really good and the fact that the Batcave

Just the series in general the fact that Bruce

Wayne has taken the time to build like multiple

tunnels and exit and bolt holes Throughout Gotham

for the Batmobile and for himself the other redesign.

I love the first Batmobile I The you know the

fast and furious Batmobile if you will but I

thought it worked for the series because you

know He's this new kid or new hero. He's got

all this technology. I thought the Batmobile

worked. I really Later on I think it was like

third season Where they redesigned it to bring

it more in line with you know the 89 Batman Yeah,

the TAS bevel and I really didn't like that Because

it just didn't it seemed like you know, if you

turn you're gonna have to take like the whitest

turn possible It just didn't work for me. So

yeah, that's kind of like with me throughout

the DCA you Batman stuff like in TAS you had

essentially The Burton Batmobile, but it's an

animated form. Yeah, and then every time that

they updated it It got sleeker. It got blacker

and it got smaller to me. Yeah, if you look at

a better world in Justice League and you see

that scene of Justice Lords Batman and and our

Batman in the Batmobile Metropolis in the middle

of the day that batmobile looks so freaking weird.

Yeah That was the great thing. I love the book

like the first batmobile in the series You know,

it looked like a race car, you know, it goes

like it's got two speeds fast and whoo. What

was that? You know, yeah exactly. Yeah, you know,

that was a great thing I mean other like redesigns

like I love some of the way they redesign some

of the characters I mean Alfred's Alfred you

really can't improve on that. Yeah, you can't

really improve on his design. I mean, his design

over the years and over the different series

has changed a little bit, but essentially he

is the same character model. I mean, there's,

you know, obviously the DCAU version voiced by

Ephraim Zimbalist Jr. is a different animated

style or a different character mockup than this

here, or rather than the one that's in any of

the movies, any of the animated movies, or even

the one that's in Brave and the Bold. Yeah. But,

you know, the character designs overall, I think

the only thing, and this also actually goes to

story and character, the only thing I really

hated about this series, at least in the first

season, is how they used it, at least to my knowledge.

This is my own knowledge from watching other

cartoons. They essentially did not use Matt Hagen

as Clayface. They used Ethan Bennett, a cop.

It's infected by Joker toxin and becomes Clayface.

I did not like that for a Clayface character.

Well, in terms of the origin, no. I mean, I like

the design of Clayface. Once he mutates and,

you know, he goes goo, I think that was a great

Clayface. But the idea that, you know, I kind

of dug the idea that Bruce has got this friend

who's a cop. I think, yeah, that's okay. But

the way that, yeah, he breathes in this gas from

the Joker putty and his body just basically melts.

No, I mean, I like the clay face that they brought

in. I think it was like the third season, which

was Basil Carlo. But they mix a little more because

the original in the comic books, the original

Basil Carlo was basically this old school actor

who put clay makeup on his face. Stabbed people

so in this one. They just gave it's Basil Carlo

and the actor background, but it's the Matt Hagan

You know morphing yeah So at this point how much

of the show have you seen now have you seen all

five seasons every single episode? Yeah, I actually

own the whole I bought the individual season

sets as they came out, so I got the whole thing

Yeah, I've seen The first and second seasons

over and over and over again because of Cartoon

Network and Boomerang at the time when they were

airing them because that's and this is something

that I could actually do a whole podcast on as

far as Cartoon Network. They will take once.

Action show doesn't you know, it doesn't matter

if it's thundercats doesn't matter if it's a

superhero show, whatever They will take that

one show and if it's ready for syndication, they

will syndicate the hell out of the first season

They will replay it replay it replay it replay

it just one season for like six months and I

oh yeah, I got the first season of this show

just Basically boiled into my brain from seeing

it so many damn times. I have only seen The first

two seasons all together and I've seen Bits and

pieces of seasons three and four and I had seen

all of season five because season five was the

only season I actually wanted on DVD one of the

reasons was because They were starting off that

season with the Batman Superman story Mm -hmm,

and I saw that episode on Cartoon Network and

it said tune in next week for part two I tuned

in the next week. They never fucking showed it

Like three weeks to show the part two and I never

friggin I never saw it I never was able to catch

it So I was like when I saw that season five

and it's the team ups I was like fuck I gotta

get this cuz I'm gonna see George Newburn Yeah,

or hear him, you know, cuz I mean just to go

over him quick. I mean season three I mean you

read the week. It says season three introduced

that girl I say they forced it on us cuz that's

also where they gave us that You know creptacular

second version of the theme song Yeah, I mean

in season three. It's just basically That girl

season season three is where they wanted to start

promoting to actual children Yeah, I mean this

the series that saw me in the first season I

mean they had this is the only Batman animated

series where if you see the suit in the show

In a couple of weeks, you're gonna see that toy

on the shelves Because this is the one where

Batman actually had some like two or three alternate

suits I mean he had the the free the the white

Batman suit for dealing with mr. Freeze he had

the batbot And he had like the jetpack with the

bat wings. I mean, but season three introduced

us the bat girl. We also met poison ivy Max one

of the classic Batman villains Maxie Zeus They

had some new guys one of my favorite new guys

he introduced in the third season was Dave Actually,

before I talk about David, I should mention this

season introduced one of the classic Batman villains,

Dr. Hugo Strange, who in his first few appearances

was portrayed by the classic Batman riddler,

Frank Gorshin, who he will be missed. But that

dude, he did a great, creepy Dr. Hugo Strange,

like this kind of rumbling bass. in the bottom

of his gut sort of voice and he created one of

the original characters for the show, my favorite

was Dave where basically Dr. Hugo Strange creates

personality profiles of all of Batman's villains

to this point and loads them into a computer

so he can predict the next crime and throughout

the season you know Strange isn't exactly on

the up and up and he basically lets Dave loose

and Dave creates like this robotic body for him,

and he threatens to reveal Batman's identity,

blah blah blah. I just kind of like that. That

concept's been done over and over again in comics

and other TV shows, like the composite personality.

I really liked it. Season four, we got Robin,

voiced by Evan Sabara, who's like the twin brother

of Juni from Spy Kids. We also got Louis Gossett

jr. As Lucius Fox which no knock in Morgan Freeman

But I would have also preferred mr. Gossett jr.

And the Batman movies like that and you spoke

of Mark Hamill earlier He actually did put in

an appearance in season four. He voiced Tony

Zuko. I just The sad thing about this is because

I haven't Before we started recording this episode.

I only was able to see up to season 2 because

that's all iTunes has is season 1 and season

2 It does not have the other two. It does not

have the other three seasons. It's not on Netflix

It's not on Netflix either so that sucks I'm

gonna actually probably have to go back and buy

season 3 and season 4 because I Really want to

see and hear some of these awesome voice actors.

I cannot Well, Mark Hamill is awesome. I just

can't see him voicing Tony Zuko Yeah, it's you

can tell it's Mark Hamill and he's trying to

do like a tough guy Italian gangster. It's just

But you know, it's Mark Hamill I mean, I thought

it was really cool because I mean they got Mark

Hamill do that voice They got Kevin Conroy to

voice John Grayson like Dick Grayson's dad in

the flashbacks That wasn't the only ones I mean

Season four actually came Brian some of my favorite

voices for villains like they brought in James

Reymar as black mask That was absolute perfect

cast. Yeah. Oh, no, that was great. I love the

just the gruff rumble they got the they brought

in Dave Foley as Francis Gray who I basically

think it's this guy who is the clockmaker and

he gets time travel powers It's basically bet

the Batman's version of the clock King clock

King. Yeah, and One that I really liked I like

the Harley Quinn that they brought into the series.

She was just trying to do You know the classic

mr. J. You know kind of Harley Yeah, I think

the one the one voice or the two voices that

I really liked in the this series because this

series or in this season, sorry they'd had this

episode called Artifacts, which kind of it's

a future episode where Batman's gone and there's

this giant like mecha version of Mr. Freeze trashing

Gotham and they find the Batcave and it also

flashes back to the last time Mr. Freeze threatened

Gotham. You got Jerry O 'Connell to voice Nightwing

in the flashbacks of that episode, which was

really cool. just loved I loved him as Captain

Marvel in that Superman Captain Marvel short

and They also had probably one of my fit up there

with a favorite original villains was everywhere

man voiced by Brandon Ralph also known as Superman

Returns, so I It wasn't a great episode. I just

kind of I like Brandon Ralph I'm a fan so and

the idea that this guy can create like version

like Quantum duplicates or whatever it was called

in that episode. It just it was kind of a fun

thing It was kind of the totally a Silver Age

comic book sort of super villain, you know It's

like Jamie Madd Rocks from X -Men versus Batman

who's gonna win? Yeah, really and then You know

the season four ended with the two -part the

joining which you know started bringing in other

Superheroes finally got John Jones voice by Dorian

Harewood We're like this cyber. It's basically

bat the Batman's version of the Borg minus the

organic component These robot alien robots taking

over the world in the final scene They go to

the watchtower, which basically looks like the

Super Friends Hall of Justice mounted on a meteorite

God don't remind me It exists like I added that

is the one when i was watching season five that

was the one thing that made me never want to

watch this show again is their horrible horrible

homage of the hall of justice and the watchtower

combined into one thing hey kids we can make

it better no i i wasn't a big fan i i i appreciate

the nod You know, but it didn't work. It looks

so fucking stupid. Okay All right Okay Go to

the White House Excavate the White House out

of its out of its out of the ground out of its

plot fly it into space put it on this asteroid

where it's like half leaning down toward earth

you would have people fucking falling out of

the fucking building through space are you fucking

kidding like i appreciate that nod but they could

have done something to where the watchtower was

just a what like a a satellite in space and the

hall of justice could have been like the metro

tower was in jlu where it's on earth and it basically

was the hall of justice i mean I know, but what

I'm saying is like, instead of taking the Hall

of Justice and putting it on something, you know,

putting it on a meteor rock or whatever it was,

or putting it on this thing in space, instead

of doing that, have it, have the actual Hall

of Justice on Earth and then have a separate

satellite be the watchtower in space. Not take

the damn building and put it in space. Oh, God.

No, I get that, I get that, but, you know, but

season five is called the Brave and the Bold

season. And we'll talk about that series eventually.

But it was called The Brave and the Bold season

specifically because like the classic comic book

title, Batman had like basically five team ups

throughout the 13 episode season. He had teamed

up with Hawkman, Green Arrow, Flash, Green Lantern,

and Superman. I cannot believe that the guy They

got his career really started on MTV. Hosting

Singled Out. Played Green Arrow. Chris Hardwick.

I'm a man, man. I just cannot believe that. Honestly,

his voice, I prefer, I loved his Green Arrow.

I mean, I would love to hear a Green Arrow off

between him and I can't remember the guy's name,

but... Ollie in Justice League Unlimited. Ken

Shriner or Ken Shriner. Yeah, it's Ken something.

Yeah. And yeah, Dermot Mulroney as Green Hal

Jordan Green Lantern, which is okay. You need

to tell me that the stripper from the wedding

date, the male escort from the wedding date played

Hal Jordan. Wow. Jeff Johns must be rolling over

in his, well, oh wait, he's not dead yet. Oh,

it's money. Yeah, exactly. You know, but when

I think Dermot Maroney, I think Young Guns Part

One from the 80s. That's what I think of Dermot

Maroney, thank you. You know, then you had Robert

Patrick, like T1000 was Hawkman, which was cool.

I didn't like Charlie Schlatter's Flash. It sounded

like he was trying to do like a Jeremy Piven,

Wally Vest, you know, it just, it did work for

me there, but... Even though I said earlier that...

James Reymar voicing Black Mask was spot on,

it was really great. I do not like, as cool and

awesome as Robert Patrick is, I did not like

his Hawkman because Hawkman to me is James Reymar

from Justice League. That's just who I hear.

When I see Hawkman in animation, I hear James

Reymar's voice. Well, you look at some of the

other voices. I mean, you had Greg Ellis, who

did Dr. Fate in the Brave and the Bold series,

discount Vertigo. You had, okay, Diedrich Bader

put in some time on the series. I mean, it was

okay. Not the greatest villain voice in the series.

I much preferred Miguel Ferrer as Sinestro. And

the one that I, until I was doing research for

this podcast, I didn't realize frickin' John

Larroquette is Neuromaster. I mean, that was

awesome. And even to get even more nerdy, Bud

Bundy made an appearance in this season doing

a voice. David Faustino, yeah. Yeah, he was a

fox when they did the terrible tree. God. Going

back to Diedrich Bader. I don't mind him as Shadow

Thief. Where I mind Dedric Bader is... He has

the worst voice for Batman. Even in the context

of Brave and the Bold, which is actually the

episode that'll come after this one... Even in

that context of what Brave and the Bold is, I

just... I keep flashing I keep flashing to Oswald

from Drew Carey and Lawrence from office space

Okay, I will talk hopefully maybe you let me

be on that episode too because I would like to

defend mr. Bader But I will say I understand

you don't like his voice and that's cool, but

I I didn't like his shadow thief because like

I said I've If you know me at all or have talked

to me for more than five minutes I'm a comic

nerd through and through and I've read as Many

cut that Hawkman comics as I kind of he's one

of my favorite Hawkman villains and it just seemed

like Seems to me that a guy who's a thief who

literally become a shadow and slip in anywhere

would have a slightly more sinister or creepy

voice and Bader's shadow thief just sounds like

a thug And again, going back to James Reymar,

James Reymar did the voice of Shadow Thief in

Justice League Unlimited. It was still his voice,

but you can tell that it was altered just a little

bit to obviously differentiate between Shadow

Thief and Hawkman. Going over the voice cast

really quick, we've kind of mentioned everybody.

I just can't believe they got Reno Romano to

voice Batman Bruce Wayne. I don't dislike the

guy, but as soon as I saw the name, I'm like,

wait a second, what's Spidey Unlimited Peter

Parker doing here? Yeah, it's not like he knows

anybody in the industry. It's certainly Family

Connection certainly didn't help him get this

job. Oh, I didn't even notice that. Oh, shit.

Wow. That's so funny Mom I'm having trouble making

rent Didn't even put that together. Oh my god.

I'm not not I'm not saying at all I'm not saying

that I know but I didn't even put oh wow. Okay,

so moving on I got Michael Richardson as Joker

Kevin Michael Richardson as Joker as much as

I love the man as much as I love KM are His Joker

was way too weird for me. It was cool, but I

Think like I can only take so much of it at once.

Yeah, I think what was wrong with the Joker was

not necessarily Mr. Richardson's performance

It was the fact that they made him like a like

I said an albino monkey with green dreadlocks

that hopped around like he was on a permanent

sugar high I mean the guy was half spider -man

Like I'm sorry like I'm not seeing the Joker

can't try and put up a fight with Batman But

this one he was almost as good as Batman when

it came to the fisticuffs and you know You know

classically that's just not Joker, but you know

Yeah, you look at some of the other voices like

you're telling me off -air I had no idea that

Clancy Brown the the freaking Kurgan from Highlander

is Bane Yeah, Clancy Brown has at least out of

what I'm seeing here on behind the voice actors

comms Side -by -side comparison for the Batman

Clancy has the most voice roles out of the recurring

cast. He's Bane. He's mr. Freeze He's Lex Luthor.

He's Joe chill Yeah, he's Joe chill You got you

know another workhorse of the animation community

Jason Marsden's in here as firefly And like I

said again what I said off earlier the riddler

is voiced by freddy freaking cougar robert england

which was great and this actually made me like

the riddler because for the longest time i just

was not a fan of that character i absolutely

love the btas riddler because it's because one

of the reasons why i more so love it now is because

i know Who the hell it is at this point in my

life I didn't like when I was growing when I

was growing right when I was growing up Watching

the show or when I could watch the show seeing

as how my stepmother would allow me to watch

Batman the Intermittent series Oh, it's too violent.

You'll you'll go out and murder people with plastic

batarangs. Yes Now that I know that it's John

Glover that voiced the Riddler and now that I

can put the face with the voice because he obviously

he was Lionel Luther in Smallville, I absolutely

love the BTIS Riddler. Oh yeah. No, but I like

what they did with the Riddler in this one where

they made him like an information thief. Yeah.

Still got the riddles and he's a little more

high tech. I like that. Uh, he had another, you

know, veteran of the voice industry, Jeff Bennett's

in here. He does ragdoll. You know like a silver

moth. Oh, yeah, I did kill her moth ragdoll killer

moth ragdoll Dave They brought back the real

Lois Lane for the series Dana Delaney Delaney

now that she is hot I don't care how old she

gets she is always I don't know she's she's aging

very well You had you know, I don't care how

many people say that exit to Eden was bad. I

loved her in that movie I've never seen it so

I can't comment. Again, we talked about Chris

Hardwick as Green Arrow, they had Homer Simpson

as Scarface, Dan Castanella, ADA Skinner from

The X -Files, Mitch Pelagi as Commissioner Gordon,

which that is a great Commissioner Gordon. He

just has that voice. Janos from Ghostbusters

2, Peter McNichol as Manbat, and you look at

some of the other voices. Glenn Shaddix was the

Clue Master in this, you know, before he passed,

which was kind of awesome. Jim Cummings did Tumblr.

Phil Lamar was Maxie Zeus. You know, it's just,

they had, even they got Batman Beyond cameo.

He got Will Friedle as Gearhead. Yeah, so I mean

it was just kind of great all around like there

is a lot of people the coolest thing looking

at the voices I got to say is the guy who did

like the groans and the roars for Solomon Gundry

is Kevin Griveau who if you've ever seen The

first underworld movie. He was the werewolf named

raise. He was like that big buff black werewolf

Who if you know that he's also the guy that wrote

that movie Hmm, I've kind of found that claim

you find all sorts of interesting things in doing

research. Yeah I Mean the voice actors is great.

I mean overall I don't think the voice acting

was the worst thing about this is like I said

earlier It was really some of the art style.

It's some of the art style and it's also part

It's also the storylines too. Yeah, they get

some pretty I like I'm not gonna lie. They had

some goofy ass stories in this show. I mean They

brought in like I guess it could be a version

of toy man Like they had the toy maker Cosmo

crank, which was Patton Oswalt They had one where

the Joker's mind gets copied into a bunch of

nanotechnology and becomes like Joker 2 .0 Yeah,

you know, they had all sorts of weird stuff one

of them wasn't a silly the worst episode But

the maxi Zeus episode with Because up until the

Maxie Zeus episode Batgirl is basically just

tagging along annoying the hell out of Batman

Yeah, and somehow she manages to get onto like

the basically she gets onto the shield helicarrier

because that's Maxie's Ship looks like You're

telling me that no one's gonna run across some

15 year old girl in purple tights running around

like it just Batgirl bugged me so much in this

series If they made her older, like say, 21,

22. And not as annoying. If they made her older

but kept the same costume and made her a little

bit hotter, I would have liked her a little bit

better, but seeing as how at this point she's

jailbait, nah. Yes. So. I think one of the worst,

at least one of the worst episodes for me was...

What was the one as of what I can't remember

the name of it, but it's Joker gets a hold of

a vein Baines rig like his Venom rig and becomes

like, you know this buff uber Joker Yeah, I don't

remember what that one was. Oh, it's brawn. It

was brawn and we're Okay, that girl gets to run

around in the back bought suit. I was like no

It's sacrilege for the sidekicks to wear the

batbot suit. Yeah, it's like you're gonna get

cooties all over my bat tech So next up is how

the show stacks up and we have three different

or four different Categories here. The first

category is how does this show compare to other

shows within the same franchise? How does it

stack up against shows in the same genre? And

how does it stack up with shows in its time slot?

And which show from previous decade is this show

most comparable to? Now for the first question

of how does this show compare to other shows

within the same franchise? I have listed here

BTIS, Batman Beyond, and Brave in the Bolt. The

Batman for me? The order goes btas beyond the

Batman and then brave and the bold so it's third

out of the four series What about you? I'd flip

the Batman with brave in the bold just I Think

the brave and the bold like for various reasons

not just avoid and not the voice acting but for

other reasons I think it's a better series than

the Batman Okay, just because it's like I said

earlier. They basically made this for kids, but

more importantly for the toys so yeah i mean

i see it like that and i can really read against

the i've never really watch any of the older

batman cartoons like the film asian series and

yeah that's why i didn't lose those i mean i've

seen the the adventures of them and robin the

uh... the adam west uh... casey case and shows

i've seen those but i've mainly seen them like

you know the scooby -doo movies batman you know

scooby meets batman and robin so that's why i

really didn't list those are really only listed

the actual you know batman cartoons that matter

because the scooby -doo stuff doesn't really

count As far as how it stacks up against show

in the same genre shows that I listed were Superman

the animated series Justice League Justice League

unlimited superhero squad show Avengers Legion

of superheroes. I guess you could also count

Spider -man and X -men and all that stuff because

they're all superhero cartoons. I just didn't

have them listed If you were to make a top ten

list out of out of the ones you just mentioned

it would probably for me it would be in the bottom

of the list it's like i like the series it's

just there's a lot of stuff that bugs me about

it yeah i would definitely out of the ones that

i have listed here i would put it uh i would

put jail jail you first uh superman the animated

series second superhero squad third uh the batman

fourth avengers fifth and then legion of superheroes

sixth Yeah. I don't think the Batman's better

than the Avengers. I think the Avengers is better.

I'm talking about that theme song, and I blame

that alcoholic aficionado as well. That theme

song is just horrid. Compare... I think it's

one of the better... The world is about to break

is one of the better theme songs? No, it's not,

dude. It's not that bad. It's horrible. You just

don't have a soul. I like the Avengers theme

song, it's just for a second there I was like

well if you're talking about United they stand

well then yes the Batman is better than that

no I was talking about the earth's mightiest

heroes I think but anyway anyways how does it

stack up against the shows in its time slot we

actually had to look this up because I didn't

remember what the hell this even went up against

back in the day and one caveat i would like to

mention is you got to keep in mind this show

is on tv at a time when only the kids wb and

the fox box on the fox network were the only

game in town for saturday morning cartoons yeah

i mean cartoon network was doing stuff but they

weren't doing stuff like this yeah but i mean

it's a whole network of cartoons so it's yeah

you know it's just 24 hours versus three hours

on a saturday yeah exactly um ones i have listed

here crypto the super dog legion of superheroes

what's new scooby -doo scooby and shaggy get

a clue shallon showdown mucha lucha and lunatics

unleashed oh god i'm sorry i'll give you the

looney tune show over lunatics unleashed any

day Honestly, the Batman is better than any of

these shows Yeah, no, I mean They're all some

like Shaolin showdown and the legion superheroes

are probably my favorite out of that list. Yeah

Just cuz you know, they actually had a coherent

storyline and there's some pretty good jokes

in the animation was really good I mean legion

of superheroes. I loved almost exclusively because

I I've read almost every series of that that

has ever come out in comic book form. So yeah

You know, but no, it's the Batman and out of

the shows on the WB kids WBA It was probably

one of the better ones at the time. Yeah. Oh,

yeah. I mean it started just as Jackie Chan Adventures

was coming off the air and you know, it's obviously

shared, you know the similar art design and all

that and the kind of you know sure the this What

do you call it? Like the adrenaline rush action

of the series was one of the more popular things

about it. I would say Yeah and which show does

this Which show from a previous decade is this

show most compared to I put down spider -man

unlimited Yeah, you know I because Going back

is like, you know, I loved everything pretty

much everything coming out 80s And I can't really

think of anything there that you could compare

this to so I'd have to agree spider -man and

limited While it while it is basically a direct

sequel to the 90s Fox Spidey cartoon. Yeah, it's

just so poop insane with what they did with the

story it's like spidey's on another planet and

he's got a symbiote costume oh wait it's not

symbiote it's nanotechnology and I like that

I thought that suit was what and again we'll

have to save this for when we get to the air

well we won't get to that but I like that about

the unlimited series because it was a nanotech

suit and I thought that was kind of cool but

uh... anyway Nah, it's just, I watched the first

three episodes and my brain was like, what? But

yeah, it's the only show that I can really think

of that you can compare it to. Yeah, that's true.

Alright, so we are the IGN Replacement crew.

We have four choices. One is, don't ever watch

this show at all. 2. Show is worth a watch view

if you come across it. 3. You should definitely

be DVRing this show. Well, you can't DVR it because

it's not airing anymore. 4. You need to add this

to your DVD collection as soon as possible. I

would give it a 2. I'd do that as well. Obviously,

I've said I own the series. But if you've never

seen it before and you like Batman, you like

Batman cartoons, I'd definitely say it's a look

and, you know, judge for yourself. Yeah. You

know, this is going to appeal to some people.

It's not probably going to appeal to people that

want cartoons to make sense or want comic book

nods in every single episode. Yeah. I know some

of my friends, I sold them on this series. because

my one buddy Jay was like a huge he loved the

Jackie Chan adventures I was like well the guy

that did the art design on that's working on

a new Batman cartoon he's like here it is and

he's like I must watch it okay it wasn't that

bad but he was like okay I'm gonna check that

out but yeah it's it's not for everybody but

if you want to give it a chance you're not gonna

you're not gonna dislike it too much I don't

think It's not as unbelievable as brave and the

bold is yeah Because that's just off the wall

that shit insane. Oh, that was the 1950s comic

books for you. So that's true Alright, so It

is on DVD All five seasons are on DVD. I think

there was it wasn't there a comic book series

with it as well Yeah, there was a comic book

series called The Batman Strikes. It was basically

part of the Johnny DC line like the Justice League

Unlimited comic book was and they had a few characters

in there that never showed up in the show like

Bruno Ugly Manheim, Kat Grant from Superman,

Etrigan the Demon showed up in the very last

issue. Solomon Grundry had a few more appearances

than he did in the show so it was good. It was

a Johnny DC comic. It wasn't that bad. It's kind

of like the Batman TAS comic that came out back

in the day. It's a tie -in at best. I mean, you

really can't say too much about it. Right. Yeah.

I mean, and that's really what they've really

done with most of the DC. Cartoons whether it's

the DCAU or whether it's outside of the DCAU

is they've you know Batman Beyond had a couple

comic book tie -ins Justice League BT you know

the Batman Adventures had you know was a comic

time series yeah um The other thing we should

mention Mike yeah probably should mention early

was the direct -to -dvd movie they did Batman

versus Dracula yeah Which you know we mentioned

it briefly. I'm just saying I thought it was

a pretty decent thing it basically fits between

season four and five yeah Cartoon Network loves

to re -air that sometimes yeah I think the best

thing about that is you know it's basically oh

the most out the insane thing about that movie

is the fact that Count Dracula is buried underneath

Gotham City really I mean that that was the one

I mean everything else that happened the movie

the fact that you know you get to see like a

vamped out Joker which was kind of cool you see

Penguin doing his best Renfield impersonation

They bring in the classic Batman love interest

Vicky Vail the only time she was ever seen in

the series Yeah, and the fact that they got Peter

Stormare who? Peter Stoddermeyer yeah Stoddermeyer?

It's Stonemeyer Stonemeyer it's the People will

know him as the crazy Russian cosmonaut from

Armageddon he played Dracula and he actually

did it really he did it I'm gonna say he played

Dracula like he was a pimp you know just he had

this swagger he had this magnetism to him it

was a really well done performance and he kind

of does the classic you know his his secret identity

is Dr. Alucard who Batman is like he writes up

Dracula in lipstick on a serving plate and holds

it up to a mirror and he's like Ah, I get it.

It's just, it was a decent show. I mean, you'd

have to do an entire episode to really talk about

it. It was good. I liked it. Yeah. The funny

thing about that actor is Michael Bay would use

him again in Bad Boys 2 as a wronged criminal.

Yeah, no any time he shows up he he showed up

in the Constantine movie as Satan himself and

I Love the way he played him. He comes in wearing

like a disco suit and he's just acting just like

nonchalant. I was like Yeah, I buy it All right,

we are gonna take a quick commercial break and

we'll be back to close the show Like animation

come listen to animation aficionados and if you

disagree with us you could be a guest on a future

show available on itunes the zoom market and

animation aficionados .com You can now hear the

GeekCast Radio network while on the go with Stitcher

Smart Radio. Stitcher is a free use and talk

mobile app available for your smartphone. And

when you download Stitcher to hear GeekCast Radio,

you'll have a chance to win money. Downloading

is quick and easy, just find Stitcher in the

App Store. During registration, hit the promo

code box and enter GeekCast Radio, all one word,

to get automatically entered to win $100. The

latest episodes of the shows will be waiting

for you in your favorites. You'll get access

to lots of other amazing shows too. Always available

to you on demand. No sinking. It's Stitcher Smart

Radio. Don't forget to enter promo code KEYCASTRADIO

when you register. Is this thing on? Oh goody!

Why hello there! It's your deviled Uncle Joker

here. I bet you're asking yourself, what could

I be possibly doing here of all places? Well,

I'm laughing at the fact that this new podcast

presented by Geekcast Radio is called Legends

of the Dark Knight. Who the heck knew the bat

was so popular? Ugh! Join Steve, Mike, and sometimes

Taylor for reviews on the greatest DC animated

universe, Cartoon, to ever meet Gotham City.

So join moi for the talk of the town, or I'll

send Captain Cloud after you. He gets mighty

angry when he doesn't get to have his garbage

skull, so put on a nice big smile. and join us

for the next GeekCast Radio Network podcast,

Legends of the Dark Knight! Grab your helmets

because it's time to assemble M .A .S .K. Coming

April 10th, 2012, the GeekCast Radio Network

launches M .A .S .K. Mayhem with your hosts Optimus

Solo and TFU and Mike. This podcast covering

all 75 episodes of M .A .S .K. will feature in

-depth analysis of every episode, talk on the

toys, and more. M .A .S .K. Mayhem will run 30

podcast episodes. You can find us in iTunes and

on www .geekcastradio .com. Get your spectrums

ready, as podcasting is the ultimate weapon.

We're about to do this! Okay, we are back, and

my laugh earlier in this episode was kind of

unjustified, because... Reno Romano and Andrea

Romano are not related. And Reno is Canadian.

You know what? We're not going to hold a Canadian

against them, Mike. I will apologize for insinuating

that. But those are the only two people that

I know of in Hollywood with that last name. So

it was a fair assumption. That's funny. All right.

So final thoughts on the Batman. Like the by

and large I did like the design of the series

I like the fact that it was a lot more action

in it than previous Batman series the fact that

was basically like a Batman you know, it's a

very year one sort of aspect initially and There

were some some of the villain new villains redesigned

villains They like like the Riddler some of the

things I didn't like the penguin it's like crouching

tiger hidden penguins like the penguins a martial

artist on par with batman like no no that's not

right no uh the albino monkey with green dreadlocks

i mean the joker not the the portrayal of the

joker is what i didn't like the once they got

him into the purple and orange tuxedo you know

made it a little easier to swallow uh i like

the fact that they finally brought in commissioner

gordon at some point because i was really worried

they were going to have that uh the new Chief

Rojas through the whole thing. Oh god, I hated

that character. I thought it was really cool.

What's his name? Commander Adama from Battlestar

Galactica. Edward James Olmos. Yeah. He voiced

Chief Rojas in the first episode and that was

the only time he did that. Yeah. I mean, by and

large, like I said in the beginning of the episode,

I like the show in a 60 -40 kind of way. 40 %

I'm not a big fan of, 60 % it's a bit of all

right. Yes. For me, there are a lot of nitpicky

issues. Mainly what really makes me say completely

fuck you to this show is the way that they tried

to homage and failed with the Hall of Justice

and the Watchtower. I know that's a little very,

that's not little, but it's very, very nitpicky

on my part. But I don't like how I don't like

it when shows decide to change their entire focus

midway through like the first two seasons were

super dark it was Batman by himself doing all

this stuff and then by the third year they're

like wait this is a cartoon we have to cater

to children let's change the theme song we can

make it better yes it's like are you fucking

kidding me yeah it's just it's one of those things

that you just want to Find Sam register and the

other people behind the series and stack them

up shit out of them with a sack full of doorknobs

Because he was acting like a doorknob he gets

doorknobs and one thing one interesting bit of

trivia I found out doing research for this they

actually in that first episode bat in the belfry

where you see The guys walking on the bridge

just before the Joker's jack -in -the -box bomb

goes off That's actually Alan Burnett and Bruce

Timm voicing, like doing those grunts and whatnot

of those guys. That doesn't surprise me. I always

found it really awesome that every now and then,

Bruce Timm or Alan Burnett or James Tucker or

Paul Dini would lend their likenesses to animated

characters or lend their voices to animated characters.

One of the reasons why I love the lead Joker

in the lead Joker of the Joker's gang in Rebirth

in Batman Beyond is that it's Bruce Tim doing

the voice of him. Yeah. And I mean, for me, what

made the fact when I found out that Bruce Tim

actually did that, that just kind of shows that

he didn't take what Sam Register said and held

it against him. He's just kind of like, OK. Whatever.

Yeah. it's like that's like too cool for school

it's like and i think that was really awesome

of bruce tim because i mean you look at what

register said and like i said before that was

just a really ignorant thing to say you don't

sit there and and do that Before your show even

airs exactly. It's like don't sit there and bash

the previous I mean, you know what, you know,

we could do an episode We probably will end up

doing like a like a DeLorean time episode on

the adventures of Batman and Robin the the the

Adam West Casey Kasem show at some point in Tooncast

Beyond But you don't sit there and and bash You

know for you didn't sit there and bash the adventures

of Batman and Robin which came before his show.

Yeah You just don't do that. I mean, you know,

you're you're you know, Sam register is entitled

to his opinion everyone is entitled to their

opinions, but If you're in promo mode to get

your new show noticed you don't sit there and

come out and say My show is better because it's

not for 30 year olds who are trapped in their

mother's basements. Yeah, that's That's just

like I said, it's you're an idiot overall if

you want different version of the Batman universe

I would say that this show is at least worth

a watch if you find it online or if you if you

want to buy the DVDs I will go ahead and say

it is probably the crappiest Batman that we've

had as far as overall storytelling and just designs

and all that stuff So I will admit I'm not like

I'm not defending their choice and their name

of it But I will give the animation aficionados

the crap man as far as that goes However, what

really pisses me off about it is they constantly

constantly say it It's like God led up a little

bit. Anyway, yeah So do you have anything you

want to pimp out before we close the show? Well,

I will mention on AA there that I do have my

own podcast. It's called Authentic Geek. You

can find it at AuthenticGeek247 .blogspot .com.

We've kind of taken, me and my co -host Doug

have kind of taken an unintended extended hiatus

due to life, basically. That's why you're here.

Well, no, I'm here because I love working with

you, Mike. Right, exactly. No, I'm working on

reformatting it slightly, like maybe adding a

couple of new elements, just tweaking some things.

And eventually we'll get back to, hopefully soon

we'll get back to recording. It's just, I can't

say for sure when. But other than that, that's

our, that's me, that's what I'm doing. Thank

you for joining us here on Tooncast Beyond. There

are several ways to get in contact with us. We'll

leave feedback for the show. Visit the website

geekcasterradio .com. You can leave the show's

feedback in iTunes. Please do this. Follow us

on Twitter. The show name there is Tooncast Beyond.

Mine is TFG1Mike. What is your Twitter? My Twitter

is at JT from Saskatoon, capital J, capital T,

and capital S on Saskatoon. I'm welcome to new

followers as long as you're not a bot that makes

me have to change my password as what happened

recently Because I'm pretty sure it's like you

Chuck dog Frickin laid men even I think was laid

men or Everybody was after you you've been hacked.

I was like I didn't click anything. Oh wait,

I did So, but hey, that's the internet folks.

There you go. Become a fan of Facebook, go to

Facebook .com slash GeekCast or Radio Network.

Call our voicemail line. Tell us the show you're

leaving the message for and your name. 502 -526

-5821. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Tooncast

Beyond. I wish you'll join us next time when

we'll be continuing the season of superheroes

with Batman, the brave and the bold. Oh, God,

somebody shoot me now. For now, I am TFG1 Mike

with... JT from Saskatoon. Thank you for listening,

until next time. Gee, Mike, it doesn't sound

like you're at all enthused to talk about the

Batman, the Brave and the Bold. He's like, shoot

me now.