DCAU Spotlight: Batman Beyond

I don't know what to say, the monkeys won't do.

And I also don't know what to say about those

crazy producers from the Geek Cop Radio Network.

They're driving me crazy. Hello and welcome to

the 95th episode of ToonCast, brought to you

by the GeekCast Radio Network. I am your host,

Steve, Joe, and Mike, and today I am joined once

again by Steve Megatron, hello. Hello. And the

Cunite Wing. Hello. Hello. Today we are going

to be continuing the DC Animated Universe Spotlight

with Batman Beyond. Woo! Yes. Now, someone asked

in the Ustream chat when I started the pre -show,

because we are streaming this via Ustream as

far as the audio recording and all that. Someone

asked me if we were going to be covering the

latest films here in the DCAU Spotlight. And

he just specifically stated, the DC Universe

animated original movies, while they do have

returning voice actors. And, well, Crisis on

Two Earths is... Crisis on Two Earths is technically

the rewritten version of Justice League Worlds

Collide, which was a movie that was never made.

They will not be covered here in the DC Animated

Universe Spotlight on ToonCast proper. They will

be the first 10 or 12 episodes in ToonCast Beyond

later this year, going into 2012. That's if the

world doesn't end. Hope not. Yeah. That's that.

So, Steve, what have you been up to? Well, for

the most part, just voicing random projects.

Of course, Transformers related and BSing with

people from Shout and pretty much just catching

up on all the re -watching Batman, Batman Beyond,

Beast Wars, all that good stuff. Yes. And what

about you, Nightwing? What have you been up to

since we recorded Superman last week? Not much,

not much. A friend and I are working on maybe

getting a Smallville podcast together next month,

so that'll be fun, but it still has planning

stages, so I have nothing to report yet. Yeah,

like I said in episode 94 of ToonCast, there's

no way in hell GeekCast Radio Network will ever

tackle a Smallville podcast, a full -on review

Smallville podcast. until a complete series DVD

set comes out, which that will come out eventually.

But, yeah, there's no way. Yeah, I don't blame

you. I think that's it. I've just been surviving

in my quote -unquote temporary housing. I mean,

it's a nice little one -bedroom apartment. Like

I said last time, it's, you know. There's boxes

and bags everywhere, and, yeah, I kind of feel

like I'm in a warehouse, for Christ's sake, a

really, really full warehouse. And let's see.

I did two ToyCast specials, even though ToyCast

is not back in full swing yet. Let's see. I've

got From the Command Center stuff coming up.

I got rescheduled for the Robert Axelrod and

Barbara Goodson interview later in March. Just

a bunch of cool stuff. So I think we're going

to get into the history lesson. Batman Beyond,

also known as Batman of the Future, is an American

animated television series created by the WB

Television Network in collaboration with DC Comics

and Warner Brothers Animation. It is a continuation

of the Batman Legacy. It began airing January

10, 1999, and ended its run on December 18, 2001.

After 52 episodes spanning three seasons and

one direct -to -video film, the series was put

on hold for the new Justice League animated series.

Despite the network having announced plans for

a fourth season, however, there was a short -lived

spinoff, The Zeta Project. In the Zeta Project's

first season episode, Shadows, there is a crossover

with Batman Beyond. In this continuity, the story

takes place between the episode Countdown and

its series finale, Unmasked. I should say the

unaired series finale, Unmasked. Batman Beyond

is set in the chronological future of the DC

animated universe, though it was released before

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and

Static Shock. Some characters from the series

appeared two years later in Future Shock. In

an episode of Static Shock, then again in the

Once in the Future thing, episodes of Justice

League Unlimited. The character of Terry McGinnis

was revisited a final time in the JLU episode

Epilogue, which was epic. Yes, it was. Which

tells much about the future of Batman. Batman

Beyond is said to exploit the darker side of

many Batman projects, playing on key elements

such as emotions, personal relations, and fear

of the unknown, the technological malfunctions

such as it was considerably darker than most

of the children's programming at the time. Although

the producer, Bruce Timm, recalls it was conceived

as a kid -friendly Batman cartoon, it was also

the first Batman series to portray the hero as

a teenager. Nightwing, what are your general

thoughts and memories on Batman Beyond? Well,

let's see. When I first heard about it, I was

at a grocery store reading comic books. They

still had comic books in grocery stores back

then. And I was looking through a, I think it

was a Superman animated series comic. And they

had an ad in there for Batman Beyond. And all

that I saw was just this red bat shape. And I

was like, whoa, wait, what? It was like, this

series coming to Kids WB this fall. And I was

like, wait, what? So I started poring over the

internet, searching for everything I could on

it, and I found out about it. And I was like,

all right, this is pretty awesome. Turns out

it was too violent for my nine -year -old brain,

or so my parents said. So I was never allowed

to watch it until I was older. But yeah. I really

do love the show, now that I've gotten a chance

to watch all of it. I think it's incredible.

I think it's maybe actually the darkest of all

the DCAU series overall. I think it's got a lot

of great character developments. It's maybe also

the most original DCAU show so far. Not the best,

but the most original, I think. It took a stupid

idea, really, of a teenage Batman. And they made

it into a really mature, deep, and really special

story. So, yeah. Yeah, exactly. What about you,

Steve? I don't actually recall when I first saw

this. I can imagine it was early 2000s. I just

remember at some point catching various episodes

here or there. And I think it might have been

on WB. I don't know, though. I don't really remember

what station I originally caught it on. But I

thought it was the most epic thing to follow

up the original Batman cartoon, which I grew

up watching. And the fact that they kept a lot

of the continuity flowing between the two. Between

voice actors and some of the villains that happen

to reappear. Being that of Talia, Rache. This

was before I even knew of Return of the Joker.

And I just thought this was the most awesome

thing to have come across since Batman the Animated

Series. Yeah. For me... At the time I was 19,

I had just gotten back into cartoons and just

found out about it. And I actually thought it

was Further Adventures of Bruce Wayne. And I

think I had originally seen Rebirth, and I had

seen a few other episodes, I don't remember.

And I was like, really? And again, this was over

10 years ago. that I had the really opinion.

And, you know, I came to like it. I was kind

of disappointed that it wasn't Further Adventures

of Bruce Wayne, even though his last adventure

is very, very epic. It was very, very, very cool.

One of the things that I thought, the reason

why I thought it was a, not just a continuation

of Batman the Internet Series, but a continuation

of Bruce Wayne's adventures was because of that.

rotating head in the intro of old Bruce Wayne,

and I'm like, wait, that's Bruce Wayne? He's

old. What the hell? So, yeah, that's what I remember

of it, and the music, the voice acting, just

all of it was really, really amazing. There are

some episodes that are kind of meh, but for the

most part, very, very good. Very, very dark.

And like Nightwing said, it's probably the darkest

DCAU series. I mean, there were a few episodes

of Batman the Animated Series that were kind

of dark, but not this dark. Yeah. Getting into

the characters and voice actors, the main characters,

Terry McGinnis is the current Batman, voiced

by Will Friedle. Oh, hey, what's his name? Older

Brother from Boy Meets World. Yes. It's Corey's

older brother. Yeah, Eric. I can't believe I

remember the damn name of the older brother.

The funny thing is, before I go to work every

day, Boy Meets World is on ABC Family. So I get

to watch the first 15 minutes of it before I

have to head out the door. And it's funny watching

the progression of that character go from intelligent

to stupid. Yeah. Yeah. But you can definitely

tell it's the same voice. Oh, yeah. He's also

Ron Sobable and Kim Possible. Yep. Yeah, I found

that out when I was doing some research on him

because I had sent his agent a request for interview,

which... Have yet to get a reply on, but I found

that out and I was like, oh yeah, we so need

Geek Cast Radio promos from Ron Stoppable. That

would be so cool. And everybody knows Bruce Wayne,

the original Batman, Terry's employer, revealed

to be Terry's biological father in Justice League

Unlimited episode epilogue. Spoilers! Yeah, it's

over 10 years old. If people haven't seen it

yet, they should have already seen it. Voiced

by the incomparable Kevin Conroy. The range that

Conroy has, like I pointed out to Steve a while

ago, last week I pointed out to Steve, or it

might have been over the weekend. And Steve didn't

know this, and I'll point it out to him again

once we get to Legends of the Dark Knight, which

will be a future podcast. We'll talk about that

a little bit later. Within the DCAU, Kevin Conroy's

voice is the first voice we ever hear on Leather

Wings in BTS because he voices the helicopter

pilot that the man -bat flies by. Yeah, I remember

that. In the beginning. Conroy has not just the

Batman voice, not just his regular voice as Bruce

Wayne. He has such range with the vocal inflections

from Bruce Wayne to Batman to old Bruce. It's

just so, so awesome. Anything else to say about

Conroy or the old Bruce? I will say that... Sorry,

go ahead. Definitely, I'd have to say I like

how he got to be the young version of Bruce and

go all the way down to the old, even as far down

as himself in the Justice League Unlimited episode

with the futuristic epilogue. You get to hear...

more and more strain get into his voice as the

years go by just because he gets more and more

frail and more crippled. But you can still tell

he's somewhat of a badass or wants to be the

older he gets, even though he's not. He's kind

of adopted the Batman voice the older he gets.

Yeah. What about you, Nightwing? Thoughts on

Bruce, old Bruce? Well, I will say that one thing

that's kind of disappointing is that he mostly

only has one He has the, you know, I'm gruff

and old and cranky. Like, that's all he ever

does for the most part. He has a little bit of

range, but it's more in comparing this version

to the original animated series version that

you see the range. He doesn't get that many opportunities

in this show to really show off his range that

much. That being said, this is still awesome,

but I think actually Terry McGinnis, you know,

Will Friedle has a bit more opportunity to really

show off his acting skill. You know, Bruce is

just sort of, he's awesome, but he is just sort

of there for the most part. He has a couple episodes

where he shines, but he is just sort of there,

which is a little bit sad, I think. Yeah, I know

that Nightwing and I both listen to World's Finest

Podcast over at Earth2 .net. I don't know if

Steve listens to that show or not. Nope. But

when they did their Batman Beyond coverage over

there, they had a Terry alert every time Bruce

would say, Terry. It's like, McGinnis, Terry.

And that's where he really kind of put the range

on it a little bit. McGinnis, get out of there.

Yeah, yeah, really. And it's one of those things

where, and they've even said that this is Terry's

show. Yes, it is a continuation of Batman the

Animated Series. Yes, the first two -parter episode

shows Bruce Wayne's final adventure. But technically,

this is Terry McGinnis' show. He is the new Batman.

They wanted to introduce a new Batman, but still

keep the old roots of the continuity and all

that. And I believe Bruce Timmons even said in

one of the special features on the Batman Beyond

discs that when they were approached for this

Teenage Batman show, They said something about

an old Bruce Wayne, and at the time, the head

guy at WB, Jamie something or other, I forget

what his last name is, said, oh yeah, let's make

him like 80, 90, and really old and really decrepit.

And they had Kevin, I almost called him Bruce,

holy crap. They had Kevin Conroy come in and

read for a really, really old Bruce Wayne, like

really, really old, kind of like what he is.

when he's struggling with his pills and epilogue.

Right, I think he's supposed to be 95 at that

point. Yeah. They originally wanted him to be

that old from the start, and it just didn't feel

right for the beginning of the series. You also

have, which, again, I will probably be referencing

World's Funnest Podcast multiple times in here,

especially with the next character, because they

hate her. I don't know why. Have the female Robin.

Oops, sorry. Maxine Max Gibson, who is a friend

of Terry's who knows his secret and occasionally

helps Batman, and she is voiced by Cree Summer.

Yeah, yeah. I don't hate her. Well, you don't,

but they do. Yeah, I understand the Max hate.

I understand why people would hate her. It's

not just the World's Finest podcast, guys. A

lot of people hate Max. I don't really hate her.

She's just sort of there for me. Like, I could

do without her, but it doesn't really matter.

It's like, okay, she's there. Whatever. I wouldn't

mind seeing her in the old Batgirl costume. I

would. That would kind of freak me out, honestly.

She is just annoying enough that I wouldn't want

her to have any more important of a role. But

as it stands, she's okay. I agree. I still say

the best lines that... that she and Terry had

was in the episode when she found out about him

when she was running her computer program thing.

And at the end, she was like, whatever, McGinnis,

just don't call me Alfred. He's like, okay, Robin.

She's like, who's Robin? Oh, no, it was the other

way around. She said, don't call me Robin. He's

like, okay, fine, Alfred. Oh, okay, yeah, okay.

It was something like that. Yeah, that was pretty

hilarious. Yeah, that was pretty hilarious. Then

you have Dana Tan, who is the incidental, lonely,

pretty much neglected girlfriend of Terry McGinnis.

The very crazy girlfriend. Yeah, the one who

gets creeped out by rat boys. Oh, yeah. God,

I hate that episode. It was voiced by Lauren

Tom. Just great, great voice acting on her. Really,

really great. Even though Dana didn't really

have time to shine. She didn't really have time

to shine or anything. She was pretty much an

incidental character. Yeah, I mean, I actually

don't really like Dana because for the most part,

what she was there to do was to be an obstacle

for Terry. And it's like, I wanted to like her,

but they never really gave me a reason to. So

it's like, all she did was just constantly dump

Terry or tell him he was a terrible boyfriend

or a terrible person and scowl at him whenever

he was late. That's all she ever did until Epilogue,

when she apparently supposedly married him. Because,

you know, he's the goddamn Batman now. Oh, wow.

If we ever get an interview with with Friedel.

We still have to have him say that as well. That

would be amazing. I don't know if he would say

it, and I'm more concerned if we ever get an

interview with Conroy, if he would ever say it.

If he would, he would. That would be so awesome.

And then you have Ace the Bat -Hound. Greatest

character in this entire show. Now, they give

credit to Frank Welker. However, in the commentaries,

it is said that the barking and the playing,

like the barking and the sounds of Ace were Bruce

Timm, one of their storyboarders or animators

or one of their production people, not Bruce

Timm himself, but one of their other production

people, one day just played with that. person's

dog and had him make all the sounds. Yes, I know

that Frank Welker probably did the majority of

it, but I do remember that they, in the commentary,

did not even mention Frank Welker whatsoever.

They said it was somebody else's actual dog doing

the barking. I wonder if maybe it was a thing

where it was like... Frank Welker did other little

sounds that they didn't get the dog to do, like

the actual barks were a dog. Maybe, you know,

when he's like a little whiny voice or whatever,

it's actually Frank Welker. Yeah. Steve, what

do you think of Ace the Bat Hound in this one?

I liked a lot of the roles that he did have,

unlike some of the other characters. He was actually

pretty useful in various scenarios. More useful

than Max. Max was somewhat helpful. I mean, she

wasn't completely useless, but she was... She

was a hacker. Yeah. Okay, that's true. So she

had that going for her. She's kind of like, I

mean, in that sense, she's kind of like Batgirl

and, you know, being able to hack through stuff,

but... Oh, yeah, like Oracle. Yeah. But Ace the

Bat -Hound I liked because one of my more favorite

sequences that he's in, is Return of the Joker.

Yep. How you doing, killer? Yeah. Good, bad dog.

I don't deserve to live. What have I done? I

killed the little rabbit. And, yeah, I'm so glad

that this was a WB show. I'm so glad that all

the DCAU stuff were obviously Warner Brothers

animation cartoons because there's no way in

hell that you would have to pay an astronomical

amount of money to Warner Brothers to use that

little clip from that old Bugs Bunny cartoon.

And then some of the other characters. You've

got Terry's family, Warren and Mary McGinnis,

who are divorced parents. Warren is murdered

at the start of the series, and Terry moves in

with his mother after his father's death. Voiced

by Michael Gross and Terry Garr. For what we

did see of Warren, it was really, really great.

I really liked the character. His mom is just

so absent. I mean, I know the series is focusing

on Terry and focusing on his adventures as Batman

and going through high school and all that, but

I don't know. Well, I think the thing is, though,

they made a rebirth in maybe the best episode

of the entire series, except for... Return of

the Joker, but that's a movie. And that one was

so focused on the emotion of it all and the emotional

impact of the events of the story. So since Warren

was so instrumental in that first episode and

in Terry becoming Batman, I mean, Warren's death

is kind of almost like the death of Thomas and

Martha Wayne. It's what triggers Terry and makes

him become Batman in a very indirect way. So

it's a lot more important. And I think... I think

Terry views Warren a little bit like Bruce views

his parents. But Mary, she's still alive, and

she never really was given very much emotional

reason to exist. She's not very deep that we

see anyway. She's just sort of there, and yeah,

she's not that important. She's like Jonathan

Kent in Superman the Animated Series. Just sort

of there. And see, she's... Like... Throughout,

and people can correct me if I'm wrong, I fully

admit I know nothing of Batman comic history

whatsoever. I just know what I've read here and

there, and I know what, obviously, I've seen

a lot of different Batman stuff on TV and movies

and stuff like that. She almost, to me, is like

a, I don't want to speak ill of Martha Wayne,

but she's almost to me like a live Martha Wayne,

but she's just a neglectful parent. Sort of.

Martha, they haven't given her much development

in the comics, but little we know of her, she

was very near and dear to Bruce's heart. It's

kind of like Thomas Wayne was Bruce's, sort of

his idol, but his mom was the one that he really

loved. So I guess you'd say his dad was his strength

and his mom was his heart. But yeah, here it's

like Mary McInnes does not matter whatsoever.

She's just there to be the mom character. Yeah.

Any thoughts on Warren or Mary, Steve? Warren

was pretty much a strong character for when he

was alive. And for the most part, I mean, you

can see that that's Terry's reason for becoming

Batman. It's also, like, quickly, you know, forgotten.

Yeah, that's true. And with Mary, she's just

kind of, I don't know, she's like another obstacle,

kind of like Dana, just kind of there. Same thing

with Matt. See, I liked Matt. I like him, too.

I don't love him, but I like him. For sarcasticness,

it kind of reminded me of a Boy Meets World moment.

See, I thought... And I could be wrong about

this, but at first, when I first heard Matt McGinnis'

voice, Terry's younger brother, I thought it

was Matthew Valencia, who also voiced Tim Drake

Robin in the new Batman Adventures. But it's

not. It's Ryan O'Donoghue. Well, he looks almost

exactly like Tim Drake. I think he may have done

the voice for Robin in the... In Return of the

Joker? No, the Batwoman. Oh, well, that doesn't

count. No, I don't think so. I think the character

did that. No, no, no. Ray, what I'm saying, Steve,

is Matthew Valencia was the voice of Robin in

the new Batman Adventures, the Tim Drake Robin.

Matt McGinnis is voiced by Ryan O'Donoghue. At

first, when I heard Matt McGinnis' voice, I thought

it was the Tim Drake Robin voice. I thought it

was the voice actor that had voiced Robin in

the new Batman Adventures. But it's not. Well,

they look really similar, those two characters.

They do. Well, of course, then again, all the

Robins and young Bruce Wayne look identical.

Like, young Bruce Wayne looks the same as young

Dick Grayson and young Tim Drake. Not really.

In the comics, they have Jason Todd, who looks

a bit different because he's actually a redhead,

and then he dyes his hair black. But, yeah, all

the Robins and Bruce are very, very creepily

identical. Yep. Except for when you get into

Batman Forever, where Chris O'Donnell had, like,

brown hair. Anyway, not going to go there. Some

other recurring, just recurring, like, hero -like

characters, just side characters, Friends of

Terry, you've got, well, not Friends of Terry,

but some of them are, some of them aren't. Barbara

Gordon, the no -nonsense Gotham City Police Commissioner.

Oh, so she went into her father's line of work.

Good. I always wondered how the hell that happened.

Like, that was one of the biggest mysteries to

me from going from Batman the Animated Series

with Commissioner Jim Gordon to Batman Beyond

with Commissioner Barbara. I'm like, what the

hell happened that she got police commissioner?

Well, that made sense to me because... Well,

it makes sense. I'm not saying it doesn't make

sense. I'm just saying it was a surprise to me

and it was kind of weird. Like, I want to know...

What were the events that led up to either Jim

retired or, heaven forbid, he was shot in action?

You know what I mean? It never tells what happened

to him. Yeah. They sort of explain how she took

over. The fact that the creepiest thing about,

I think, this entire show for me is the fact

that it says that Barbara Gordon and Bruce Wayne

dated at some point. They were a couple after

Nightwing, not me, the other Nightwing, left.

And then I'm like, no, that's the creepiest thing

ever. She's in her 20s and he's 40. And yeah,

he dated her just to keep her as Batgirl so that

she would, you know, stay on the team. I kind

of disagree with you there because my contention

is that Bruce Wayne... Throughout Batman the

Animated Series, all four seasons, whatever incarnation

you want to call it, new Batman adventures, new

Superman, Batman, whatever you want to call the

third and fourth season after when the revamp

episode started, my contention is that throughout

the entire BTAS run, Bruce is anywhere from 30

to 35. And she's in her 20s, so 20s to 25, it's

only a 10 -year difference. I mean, it would

be different if he was, like you said, he was

like 40 or 50 and she was in her 20s. Well, I

think it's more because he was sort of a father

figure to Dick Grayson, who was her age. So it's

like he's dating his adopted son's ex. Well,

you can only go up from Robin, right? Okay, if

you do the math, you figure, okay, if Bruce Wayne

was 18 when he left on his seven -year journey

to learn martial arts and all the sciences, he'd

be going back to Gotham at age, what would that

be, like 25, I guess? 25, yeah? And so let's

say he meets Dick Grayson, young Dick Grayson,

within... the first year of him being batman

um so dick grayson was between eight and ten

we'll just say he's nine uh when that happened

so since he's in college by btas that means that

another 10 years have passed or thereabouts well

about 10 years and then after that there's um

another who knows how many i'm guessing maybe

two or three years between btas and uh tnba so

that means that bruce is in his late 30s at least

at absolute least granted i don't think they

did the math that precisely in the show i'm just

saying if you think about it it's a little wonky

The way you're explaining it just is making me

convulse and hyperventilate over here. No, no.

The way you're explaining it is making me convulse

and hyperventilate over here because the way

you're explaining it, actually, I'm able to see

Teen Titans in continuity now. No, no, no. It's

not true. No, I know. I know. Teen Titans is

not in continuity. I know. I get it. I'm still

of that stance. But the way you're explaining

it with Bruce Wayne being 18. And just starting

out on his journey and coming back and teaching

a young Dick Grayson at 8 or 9 or 10, we all

know that Robin was young. Dick Grayson, Robin

was young in Teen Titans. Yeah. So I'm kind of

seeing it. It's all your fault, dude. Well, no,

there's still plenty of other things. I know,

I know, I know. Teen Titans is not in continuity.

I know, I know, I know. So, Steve. Oh, really

quick before Steve goes, I have to point out.

Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, Commissioner Gordon,

Oracle, whatever you want to call her, was in

the series. The first two seasons of the series,

she was voiced by Stockard Channing. And Stockard,

for some strange reason, scheduling conflicts

or whatever it was, I forget, Bruce Timm mentions

it in the Return of the Joker commentary, could

not do voice for Return of the Joker. So they

recast, and they recast Angie Harmon. Oh, Andy

Harmon. Homer Simpson drool. Anyway, because

she has this really, really husky, sexy voice,

and it really worked, and I actually prefer Andy

Harmon's voicing of Barbara versus Stockard's.

So with that, Steve, any thoughts on Commissioner

Barbara Gordon? She's old. That's all you have

to say? She's really old. This is true. This

is true. She's a cranky old woman. All right,

moving on to her husband, D .A. Sam Young. A

wrinkly old man. The best thing about Sam Young

in the series, D .A. Sam Young in the series,

is that he is voiced by the late Paul Winfield.

When I first heard of Paul Winfield was – I don't

know if you guys ever saw this on A &E. It's

a show called City Confidential. And it's like

one of the – it's kind of like another – not

another – not an Eddie Murphy movie. Holy crap.

What is that? 48 Hours Investigates. It's one

of these like crime shows that – one of these

town shows kind of like – where are they now,

but for... You know what I'm getting at, right?

Yes. You guys get it? Anyway, look up City Confidential.

You'll see. But yeah, which Sam wasn't in too

many episodes. He was in a couple. Curare was

trying to kill him. Yeah, I gotta say, this character...

bugged the heck out of me as a kid because as

a kid, I kind of idolized Nightwing, as you can

tell. Yeah. You wouldn't spell it wrong. Yes.

But no, so as a kid, I kind of wanted to, I wanted

him to end up with Batgirl and then, you know,

in the show when it's like, oh, Bruce is such

a decrepit old man alone in his little castle

and, you know, and Barbara Gordon isn't with

Dick Grayson. She's with some other dude we've

never seen before. and later in the movie we

find out that Tim Drake, the fun little kid from

the series, he's this other cranky old man who

couldn't be Robin anymore. I'm like, this is

terrible. I get ruined by dreams. Any thoughts

on D .A. Sam Young, Steve? He's old, wrinkly.

He's got a better disposition than... Barbara

Gordon. He's very lately featured. One of those

kind of characters that you could give kind of

two craps less about. The character I will agree

with, but the voicing of him from Paul Winfield.

The voice cast for Batman Beyond overall was

awesome. The characters may have been kind of

meh, but that's with any show. But the voice

cast definitely fit the character styles. Yes.

I'm going to run through these last four really

quick, and we'll kind of touch on the last one

a little bit more than the other three. You've

got Howard Groot, who is the nerdy student at

Hamilton Hill High School and a friend of Terry.

His design was based on producer Paul Dini, and

he's voiced by Max Brooks. Yeah, Howard was the

one that decided to get a robot girlfriend. Oh,

yeah. Nice. Yeah. Good old Cynthia. Cynthia,

synthetic, I get it. Exactly. And then you have

Bobby Blade Summer, a popular student. Yes. A

fabulous student at Terry's school, she never

has a steady boyfriend and occasionally goes

out with different boys. Blades seem to be friends

with Terry, Dana, Max, and Howard, and she is

voiced by Melissa Disney. Then you have Chelsea

Cunningham, who is another Hamilton Hill High

School student. She is best friend of Dana and

Terry, a former girlfriend and crush of Nelson,

and she is voiced by Yvette Lowenthal and Rachel

Lee Cook. Oh, yeah, Rachel Leigh Cook voiced

her in Return of the Joker. That's right. That's

a big cast change right there. And then the final

character, the only reason why I'm going to bring

him up a little bit more than the other three

is Nelson Nash. An athlete and bully at Terry's

school who eventually matures and becomes more

friendly during the series. He seems to be popular

with the girls, but never has this than a girlfriend.

He is most likely inspired by Flash Thompson

from the Spider -Man 1994 cartoon. And the comics,

too. Okay, well, I only know... I mean, outside

of that... lame version of Flash in Spider -Man

1 movie. I only know Flash from 94, Spidey. He's

a big character in the comics. I know who he

is in the comics, but I don't know all of the

history of him. And of course, he is voiced by

none other than Robot Chicken himself, Seth Green.

I had no idea about that. Really? You didn't

know that? No, I'd never heard that before. You

couldn't tell? Well, I think I watched the series

before I knew who Seth Green was, so I never

made the connection. Yeah. And getting into...

Do we have anything we want to say about Nelson?

Steve, do you have anything you want to say about

Nelson Nash? I could see definitely where he

was inspired by Flash Thompson. I did not know

that it was Seth Green. But, yeah. A lot of these

tertiary characters, I don't think I cared for

much. I was more so bring on the Batman, bring

on the villain. Okay. Speaking of the villains,

we have Derek Powers, who is the ruthless businessman

whose company Powers Technology merged with Wayne

Enterprises years before. That's another story

I want to see in animation. How the hell did

Bruce Wayne let his company get taken over? He

was very sad and lonely. He forgot to take his

pills and he just didn't, you know, he was too

tired and he couldn't get to the phone in time.

And by the time he crawled over... Oh yeah, that's

it, that's it, yes. And Barbara left him for

an old crinkly guy. An older crinkly guy. And,

of course, after exposure to some nerve gas,

ultimately referred to as a virus, Powers is

treated with extreme radiation and becomes the

radioactive villain Blight, voiced by Sherman

Howard, who played Lex Luthor in Superboy. I

like Blight. I like the look of that character

design. I could give a shit less about Derek

Powers. Yeah, and even as Blight, he didn't do

very much. He was like, rawr, I'm Blight, and

then that's it. Like, he was cool in the ads,

he was a cool action figure, he was a cool, uh,

he looked cool, and he had a cool power, but

he didn't really do very much. He was in, like,

what, two, three episodes? And, you know, I guess

that's true, yeah. Yeah. The whole thing with

Derek Powers in Blight is, after the accident

and rebirth, Powers is trying to hide it. The

whole point is he has to keep up public appearances.

I did like that. I did like that. Yeah, and he's

like, sir, your skin is falling off again. You

don't think I don't know that? Wow, that was

actually a really good impression on my part.

Holy crap. And then you have the Jokers. Yeah.

Oh, God. Gangsters who act out the tradition

of the infamous Joker, however, they are not

students of his. They are merely teenage delinquents

who enjoy vandalism, petty crimes, are usually

apprehended by Batman quite easily, and served

more of an irritation than a genuine threat.

Now, the one Joker in Batman Beyond that I absolutely

love showed up in Rebirth, was the lead Joker,

voiced by none other than Bruce Timm himself.

This Joker was in almost a full -on replica design

of the actual Joker. He was in a purple suit,

had the green hair. The model's a little bit

different than the actual Joker himself, but...

Just Bruce -Tim voicing that character was so,

so cool. Yeah. And they kept, they had said in

the commentaries and stuff, the animators kept

putting that, the animators and producers kept

putting that Joker in so Bruce would have to

voice him. I actually like the Jokers a lot,

even though they're kind of dorky and stupid.

Back when they were first advertising the show,

Kids WB did an amazing job of really setting

the tone for the series. They weren't shy about

the fact that it was dark, it was serious, it

was a dystopian future. And all the ads they

would show, they would feature the Joker's ad,

and they would use them to illustrate the fact

that this was a crime -ridden Gotham. A city

without Batman is terrible. Gotham was dark before.

Now it's a horrible wasteland. And the Jokers,

they represented the fact that even though the

Joker himself wasn't around, his legacy was almost

stronger than Batman's at this point. In fact,

it was. He had taken over almost posthumously.

So I thought their presence was cooler than their

actual characters. But still, I liked it as an

idea. Steve, any thoughts on Derek, Powers, Blight,

or the Jokers? Derek? Powers I thought was pretty

interesting, especially when he got into the

fight with Mr. Freeze. Yeah, that was a good

episode. Yes, that was one of his more memorable

moments. And then as far as the Jokers, I'd have

to agree, I do like the lead Joker. He was the

only one worth really noting besides the ones

that were in Return of the Joker. which were

also featured in the... JLU episode, Once in

a Future Thing. Yes. But other than that, I didn't

really care for the other ones, but I did find

them slightly entertaining, even though they

were pretty much cannon fodder. Yeah, there was

one. There's a few, like, there's, like, different

lead jokers throughout the series. And there's

a few that I absolutely really loved. I loved

Carter Grayson as one of the lead Jokers because

he's supposed to be this A student, and his mom

gives him a hard time, basically tells him he's

a loser, so he goes out and becomes a Joker.

I like the design on Carter Grayson's Joker,

which I'm wondering. I know this isn't possible,

but I'm wondering if he's some sort of descendant

of. Dick Grayson and the Graysons, since his

name was Carter Grayson. That would be kind of

weird, although I think, I'm trying to remember,

I think it was in, was it The Dark Knight Strikes

Again? Or no, it was The Dark Knight Returns,

I think. There was a book, I think it was a Frank

Miller comic book. I think it refers to the idea

that Dick Grayson has become kind of like the

Joker. He has actually adopted the Joker's identity

because in that universe, Batman was such a terrible

parent that he drove Dick into madness. So it's

kind of an interesting connection there. This

series is very heavily inspired by that book.

I mean, a lot of the fashion comes from that

book. You know, the characters, the character

designs. The interior of the Batmobile is exactly

the same as in that book, just it's red instead

of gray. So there's a lot of cool connections

there. Yeah, the Dark Knight Returns did help

a lot with this series. I know that they had

mentioned that with, in the future, no one will

have lapels. Because all the suits are lapel

-less. Some of the other villains, I don't know.

I'll mention the first two here, and I'll mention

a couple of the other ones. I don't remember

a lot of these people. Oh, brain trust. Ugh.

First one is Ink, who was treated with a mutagen.

Ink has the ability to turn her body into liquid.

She's a freelance saboteur, and she's voiced

by Shannon Kenny. She's pretty good. Yeah. Ink,

I would have to say, out of all of Terry's villains,

not counting Bruce's past villains, Ink, I would

probably say, is Terry's antithesis. She's his

joker. She's his biggest villain because he's

never been able to catch her. I don't know if

I quite agree with that. I don't know if she's

quite a personal enough villain for him. She's

not quite his... moral antithesis the way the

Joker is, but I think she's almost more like

his Clayface to me, because she has that shape

-shifting ability, and she's very different.

She's a freelance saboteur. She's more into corporate

espionage. She's a spy. But, you know, still.

I don't know. I actually kind of put the one

-time bad guy, Mr. Fix, as Terry's Joker, the

guy who killed his dad. Yeah, I would too, and

I was going to mention that, but the only problem

is with Mr. Fix and Derek Powers, like Derek

and Blight, or Derek Blight, whatever you want

to call him, specifically, Derek is more of like

old Bruce's bad guy type of deal, because they're

always doing the corporate war and all that crap.

And I will agree that Mr. Fix, because Mr. Fix

was the one that killed Warren McGinnis, it would

be Terry's ultimate ultimate villain, but Mr.

Fix was only in Rebirth. We'd never see him again.

I was kind of surprised at that because they

didn't show the body. He just kind of crashed

into a river. I mean, come on. That's like a

built -in return scenario right there. I'm not

that sad he didn't come back, but if they'd had

a fourth season, I bet they would have brought

him back eventually. At some point. But, I mean,

as far as, like, the actual quote -unquote super

villains, I mean, because let's face it, Mr.

Fix, even though he is the person that killed

Warren, he is a human. There's nothing super

about him. As far as the actual super villains,

Ink would probably be number one on Terry's list,

considering she did get into the Batcave. She

would be number one on the rogues gallery, but

she is more of a clay face. No, no, and I'm not

disagreeing. They even say that, you know, they

didn't want to do, you know, they didn't just

want to do Riddler Beyond, Penguin Beyond, Clayface

Beyond, and all that stuff. But Ink is a Clayface

-type character. All I'm saying is, as far as

the supervillains, the ones that actually have

powers and abilities, she is Terry's number one

bad guy. I think that might be more because she

had the most episodes and she happened to get

the farthest. She tried to drown Terry with herself,

didn't she? I mean, that was kind of freaky.

I don't know. I think what bothers me about her

is that, and this is true of almost all of Terry's

villains, is that very, very, very few of them

are personal. And they're not... They don't really

get inside Terry's head the same way that the

Joker or some of Bruce's other villains do. So,

I mean, the Joker, when he comes back, he does.

Yeah, we'll get to him. But still, I like Ink

a lot. I think she's pretty cool. Any thoughts

on Ink, Steve? I'd have to also agree. I liked

her character throughout the many reoccurrences

that she had. The next one is probably the most

interesting. What, Steve? I said that she's one

of the most better ones that have shown up throughout

Batman Beyond and JLU. Yeah. Well, I don't know.

JLU had some pretty good villains. Well, as far

as Batman Beyond appearances. The next one I

find ranks among my most interesting villains

as far as Batman Man goes, which is Shriek. Walter

Shrieve, who was initially a sound engineer hoping

to improve society with his inventions. And,

of course, at the end of that episode, he becomes

deaf and becomes Shriek. The greatest thing about

the Shriek episode... Was the sound design. Yeah.

I believe, didn't they win an Emmy for this episode?

I think they might have. I think they did. We'll

have to look at it down later in the awards section,

but I think that they did because the whole battle

between him and Batman, it's Shriek turning his

own personal sound volume up, his little, oh,

what the hell are they called, dude? They're

called... the sound amplification things or the

sound damper, I don't know, whatever, whatever

it is that it causes everything else to be silent

and have echo, but he can still hear like you

can hear Batman's footsteps and stuff, that thing.

Um, that was just amazing. Cause there was no,

I, it's one of the things I love about it. There's

no music, no nothing. It's just sound effects.

It's just the echoes. And then of course, once,

um, Terry, unplugs his helmet or whatever, all

the noise comes screaming back because he had

turned it up to full volume and that's what makes

him go deaf. Yeah. I really like Shriek. He was

really, really cool. Yeah, Shriek is kind of,

I think, a bit underrated by most fans. I think

it's worth noting that Shriek is in the episode

Babel. where he uses these twin towers as a giant

tuning fork and scrambles the sound waves of

everything in the city so no one can talk to

each other, like the biblical tower of Babel.

Although, interestingly, everyone speaks in Babel.

Anyway, in that episode, that's the first time

where you actually ever... Where Terry actually

reveals that he is willing to give his life for

the city. I think that's the point where he stops

being just a guy who's trying to make up for

his past sins when he broke that one window and

stole that CD when he was 14. And now he's actually

a genuine selfless hero willing to sacrifice

his own life for the good of all people. And

the good of Gotham. Yes. Not just the good of

all people, the good of the Gotham people. Yeah,

that's true, yeah. Some of the other ones, I'm

just going to run down the line if you guys have

any thoughts. Well, let's get Steve's thoughts

on Shriek, but after that I'm just going to run

down through some of these because some of them

are kind of just so ancillary villains they're

not even really worth discussing too much. But

Steve, what did you think of Shriek? I would

say he was more of a Mr. Freeze -ish villain.

Freeze had, like, the ice, and then this guy's

got the sound projectiles, and he kind of feels,

because he's got the special suit and, you know,

everything else, he kind of feels that void Mr.

Freeze would have had should he have actually

continued through beyond. But I do like this

character because he's... Not your average villain.

He's more of a different type of villain than

what you saw in the original Batman. So, I mean,

it's nice to see a fresh, destructive villain,

you know, just for the hell of it. Yeah. Bombshell,

who is a member of the infamous Brain Trust.

Oh, God, I hated those episodes. Repeller, who

is the supervillain who acquired experimental

suit that could repel matter, making him invulnerable

to almost any type of damage. Eventually it was

revealed that the villain was actually Dr. Suzuki,

a man who was developing technology for Wayne

Powers. Who cares? I know Armory technically

did commit a crime, but I don't see him as a

villain. I see him more as an anti -hero. who

is Jim Tate. He's a brilliant weapons designer

working for a large defense contractor who is

also the father of one of Cherry's friends. Oh,

God. Rat Boy. Do we need to say more? No. I mean,

really? They had Rat Boy already in Batman the

Animated Series. Yeah. Yeah. Peak. Oh, the ends,

yeah. Ian Peake, this was very interesting to

me, this Invisibelt that he used. Of course,

it eventually made him fall forever. Oh, yeah.

But Ian Peake was a really, really cool villain.

And then Spellbinder was another one. I love

Spellbinder. Spellbinder's cool. Yeah, Spellbinder

is like the new Scarecrow. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Yeah. The only good thing about Stalker was that

he was voiced by John Jones, a .k .a. Carl Lumley.

I kind of like Stalker. I don't love him, but

I think he's okay. But, see, I wish, and again,

this is coming from Wikipedia, all this information,

so it's Wikipedia, take it with a grain of salt,

but I don't see, yes, Stalker, he's after Batman,

he's after the... the true hunt, but some of

these villains, like Stalker and Ian Peake, they're

not really actual villains. I mean, you know...

Stalker's kind of like Kraven the Hunter. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. And then you have Curare, who

was a member of the Society of Assassins. She

is awesome. She is badass. Yes. She put that

sword right through his legs. She did, because

she took it right out from the middle of his

legs. I love the episode where they're fighting

in a museum, and Terry, he flips his wrists down

and starts firing bat discs at her rapid -fire,

like a machine gun, and she starts blocking them

all. First off, it's awesome, because Terry is

firing hundreds of bat discs like a machine gun,

but Kirari has her samurai jacksword, and it's

awesome. Yeah. You have anything you want to

say about Kirari, Steve? Just that she's a badass

assassin. Yeah, I want one of those swords. Those

swords are cool. You poke your eye out. The most

comedic villain of all, but yet the most dangerous,

Mad Stan. Mad Stan was awesome. Ah, Mad Stan.

Mad Stan was their chance to put in some sort

of political villain because he is rabidly anti

-government terrorist who rebels against what

he sees as corrupt system. His solution to any

given problem is to blow it up! As such, as an

expert in explosive and his voice and resembles

by Henry Rollins. That's awesome. Mad Stan is

awesome. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's all you

have to say. Mad Stan is awesome. And then, of

course, we're not going to go too much into this

because we've kind of already talked a little

bit more and we're going to talk about more later

in Legends of the Dark Knight. The Joker. Oh,

yes. Yes. Who returned in Batman Beyond Return

of the Joker. In this incarnation, the Joker

implants a copy of his DNA and personality in

Tim Drake. Creepy. Yeah, creepy. Exactly. He

was Joker Jr. The other thing is, how would they

miss a microchip on the back of his head that

has a smiley face? You know, I always kind of

assumed that it was actually hidden under his

skin or in his flesh, but once he turned into

the Joker, it was exposed. I don't know why I

thought that. It was a mole. It was a mole on

the Joker, yeah. He's like, yes, that is the

price I have to pay. Yeah. And then Mr. Freeze

does come back, who is the tragic villain, lives

on in nothing but a mortal head preserved by

Derek Powers. He is used as a test step. Yeah,

exactly. I know it. I would have liked if the

Mr. Freeze episode here in Batman Beyond would

have actually given him a happy ending. Yeah.

I mean, you know, the whole point. Go ahead,

Steve. I was going to say, poor guy. He's suffered

for decades and decades since the original Batman's

era. And then he's sitting here suffering all

the way through and just can't catch a break.

And his wife is pretty much dead. No, she left

him. Well, I'm sure by this point she's gone.

And I believe she is because I believe he goes

to her grave. The whole thing as far as continuity

-wise, when he comes back in the new Batman Adventures,

as the spider had back then, she actually left

him after it was revealed that she recovered

from Sub -Zero, Batman and Mr. Freeze Sub -Zero.

At the end of that movie, it says that she recovered.

Later on in the new Adventures, I believe somewhere

down the line, he says that, you know, She didn't

like what he had become, so she left him. So

he spent all this time. So I can kind of see

why Mr. Freeze, you know, after that happens,

I can see why he's not so much of a sympathetic

villain anymore. But still, in this specific

episode that they used him in, I kind of wanted

him, I saw him as moving on, he was starting

anew, and I kind of wanted him to get, you know,

a really, really good send -off. But no, that

didn't happen. Well, he deteriorated and... he

had one final battle. Yeah. How much let Batman

get away? I'm trying to remember how it happened.

Didn't he... How did he die precisely? I don't

remember off the top of my head. He didn't die?

Yeah. I'm trying to remember what happened. I

think he got encased in ice. And I think a building

collapsed on him. Well, I think... If I remember

correctly, wasn't he trying to, like, stop a

building from collapsing? Right, yeah. So in

the end, I think he kind of, he didn't, like,

redeem himself exactly, but he kind of died a

hero in some sense, which I thought was a decent

way, because I thought Mr. Freeze, in a weird

way, he always had the potential to be a really

noble character. You know, because when he wanted

to be, he could be a noble character. I mean,

even in his first appearance in Heart of Ice,

it's like, yeah, he's doing immoral things, but

at the same time, It's almost like he's fighting

evil people, and he has a legitimate grievance.

So I didn't hate the way he went out, and it

was ambiguous enough that even though it was

probably his final end, you can always say, eh,

maybe he survived, maybe, you know. So it didn't

bother me. But he did save Batman and kept Batman

from saving him. Right. So that Batman wouldn't

die in the explosion with Freeze. That's right.

Because the new Batman is the only one that cared

about him. Yeah, Terry was the only one that

really cared. Bruce was like, oh, it's the same

old Freeze. The next character, extremely, extremely

creepy. Extremely creepy with what happens in

Batman Beyond with this character. Before this,

Wasn't so creepy. After this, very fucking creepy.

Well, he was always creepy with his daughter,

if you go back and watch. He was creepy with

his son, too. Okay, let's not go there. Ra's

al Ghul made a return in the episode Out of the

Past. Living on by possessing his daughter, Talia's

body effectively ending her life, and seemingly

immortal Ra's attends to take over Bruce Wayne's

body and gain control of Wayne Enterprises as

a means of revenge against his former foe. Voiced

once again by the incomparable David Warner,

and Olivia Hussey was the voice of Talia in this.

That's just creepy. You guys are going to have

to go onto YouTube or somewhere or go back and

look at your Batman Beyond DVDs and watch the

episode out of the past. You have to see it.

You have to see this episode because this episode

is creepy as all hell. I mean, it's a great episode

no matter what. Yeah. Wait, what, Steve? I said

you get to see a young Bruce. Yeah, you do get

to see a young Bruce and that's great and all,

but... Specifically speaking of Ra's, creepy

as all hell. Well, I think they play it off as

funny just enough. that it's not so creepy that

you can define it as a literal creepy episode.

I mean, they make light of it. It's creepy, but

it's creepy. Right. No, no, no. I know they make

light of it, but I'm sorry. Any woman that looks

like the way Talia looks in this episode that

kisses me or kisses someone and then has David

Warner's voice, that's going to freak somebody

the fuck out. Well, and see, this is the other

thing, though. Terry says something to Bruce.

He's like, oh, that lady's kind of freaky. And

then he's like, yeah, well, she kissed me. I

know. They do make light of it. They don't go

the creepy route, but just. Just watching it,

it's so creepy to me. I was looking back at the

first ever Ra's episodes, The Demon's Head Part

1 and 2, and honestly, there was always some

weird stuff between Ra's and Talia and all that.

The fact that this guy has his daughter in that

weird sex outfit. And he's, like, offering her

to this guy, you know, Batman. Like, hey, you

can marry her and have children. And it's like,

um. And, like, she's not at all embarrassed to

be like that in front of her dad. And, like,

she's like, oh, yes. And it's like, um. Creepy.

Yes. Again, this is going to be one of those.

times where I'm just going to run down most of

these other ones. Some of them are good. Some

of them are kind of forgettable because we're

kind of running long on the character section

here. You have Dr. Abel Cuvier. Yeah, that's

how they say it. This is the guy that was splicing,

the one that first started the splicing stuff.

I didn't really care for him. Me neither. Bane.

Bane is awesome. Any incarnation except for Batman

and Robin, Bane is awesome. Yep. Chappelle, I

don't even really... Oh, he's the new guy. Oh,

the slapper patches. Yeah, he's Bane's man. That's

right. That sounded so wrong. That sounded so

wrong. I apologize. You said it so wrong. Considering

that, oh, well, I mean, like, Bane was badass

in Batman the Animated Series. In this, Chappelle

is technically the new Bane, like, now we can

say, because when we see Bane, he's old. He's,

like, at least 30 years older than Bruce. I mean,

this guy kind of looks like, oh, Mordred. From

Night of Shadows. Well, he's not actually old.

It's just that the venom devastated his body.

Don't do venom, kids. Yeah. He was probably the

same age as Bruce originally. Yeah, probably.

Combined with the age and the using of the venom,

it just took everything out of him. There were

a lot of, like, don't do drugs episodes of this

show. Yeah. Don't splice animals. Don't do slapper

patches. Don't do... The splicing thing was altering

your DNA. I guess splicing could technically...

It's like tattoos, only with drugs. And changing

your body. Just say no kids. The only reason

why I'm going to bring up Charlie Big Time Bigelow

is because I didn't know this at the time, but

He was voiced by two different people. Before

his mutation, he was voiced by Stephen Baldwin,

who is probably the only Baldwin brother I actually

like in anything that he does. And then post

-mutation, he was voiced by the incomparable

Clancy Brown. I didn't know that. Very cool.

The Royal Flush Gang, a crime family of five

members, the husband, wife, Mr. and Mrs. Walker

as King. And Queen. King was voiced by none other

than the one -time film James Bond, George Lazenby.

Very cool. Queen was voiced by Amanda Donoghue

and later Sarah Douglas. Their daughter, Ten,

Melanie Walker, voiced by Olivia Diabo, who I

believe was also a Bond girl at one point or

another, so you have two James Bond connections

there. Their son, Jack, was voiced by Scott Cleaverden

and later Nicholas Guest. Why does that name

look familiar? I have to click on his name to

see what the hell else he's done. That is familiar.

Oh, he's in Cowboy Bebop as far as anime roles.

Oh, he was in Justice League and Justice League

Unlimited as a couple of ancillary characters.

Sons of Anarchy, live action. Oh, he was Taylor

in Power Rangers Time Force. Oh, that's it. Let's

see. He was in Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan.

He was a cadet in that. Christmas Vacation. Oh,

that's where I remember him from. He was Todd

Chester. Clark Griswold's next -door neighbor

in Christmas Vacation. Come on, Steve. I know

you know who I'm talking about. Elaine's husband

in Christmas Vacation. Todd. I vaguely know.

I know who you're talking about, but I can't

picture the face. He's kind of like a Bruce Wayne

lookalike. He's white. He's got black hair. In

Christmas Vacation, he wore a jumpsuit and glasses.

He was the one that fell down the stairs in their

apartment. I know who he is now. I knew I recognized

that name. And then you had Ace, who was an android

and never had a voice actor. Willie Watt. Actually,

before we get into Willie, let's talk about 10,

Nightwing. Yeah, I like 10. I think everybody

likes 10. But technically, Terry is not an adulterer.

He's a cheater. Even though he and Dana were

broken up at the time, it's like, wow, he's just

going to jump right into a rebound relationship.

Well, I don't know. He's like 16, 17. Whatever.

And it's 10, man. If she won, you'd totally be

like, all right. Yeah, that's true. You have

any thoughts on the Royal Flush Gang at all,

Steve? Other than 10, didn't really like them.

I mean, I like the look of them. I like how they

are uniformed, and I do like the voicing of King

for George Lazenby as King. I thought that was

really well done. But, yeah, I mean, 10 is obviously

the main character out of that group. And then

Willie Watt, who was a nerd at Hamilton Hill

High School who seeks revenge on his classmates.

He was voiced by Scott McAfee. Willie, I don't

know. Willie was one of them. Okay, well, there

you go. I got to be careful, though, because

even though Willie does have a father, Willie

looks like a nerdy Bruce Wayne. They use that

white boy black hair motif a lot in this series.

I guess that's true. Bruce's DNA was easily enough

to obtain. He left it all over town. And then

I had mentioned this guy earlier, Terminal, who

was the popular student at Hamilton Hills High

School, obsessed with being the best. He led

a gang of jokers in an attempt to kill Maxine

Gibson, who was going to be a valedictorian instead

of him, and he was voiced by Michael Rosenbaum.

Oh, great. Yes. Getting into the production stuff

really quick. We're going to take a break after

this. Basically, the series was directed by Butch

Lukic. I can't say his last name. Dan Riva, Kurt

Gaeta. Yes? I think it's Lukic. Lukic. I think

that's what it is, too. I don't know. Dan Riva,

Kurt Gaeta, James Tucker. Writers were Stan Berkowitz,

Hilary Bader, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Rich Vogel.

Neil Adams, Gardner Fox, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson,

just a whole bunch of really, really great writers.

So I think we're going to take a quick break,

and we'll be back with some of our favorite episodes

from Batman Beyond. I am vengeance. I am the

night. I am Batman. There is a song the good

folks sing Song the good folks sing Batman About

a hero on the wing Hero on the wing Batman I

am Gotham's darkest night The villain's darkest

fright Turn on the signal light For Batman Good

work, Caped Crusader. Once again, you've saved

our fair city from those vile miscreants. They

were no problem, Commissioner. For as we all

know, criminals are... A superstitious, cowardly

lot. They plan and plot, but they always get

caught. Their evil schemes all come to naught.

A superstitious, cowardly lot. A superstitious,

cowardly lot. They plan and plot, but they always

get caught. Their evil schemes all come to naught.

Can't Kevin Conroy really sing? That was a really,

really good rendition of Superstitious and Cowardly

Lot. Yes, we're going to get into the actual

show now. As I said, the pilot episode begins

in 2019. We're an aging Batman equipped with

a high -tech Batsuit. takes on the kidnappers

of Bunny Vreeland, the daughter of Veronica Vreeland,

one of Bruce Wayne's many girlfriends. Was Veronica

actually his girlfriend at one point? I think

she always kind of liked him, but he kept her

as a friend. I don't know if they were officially

ever dating. During the battle, Batman suffers

a heart attack which leaves him unable to fight,

forcing him to betray a lifelong principle by

threatening a criminal with a gun. By this point,

Bruce Wayne's assistants, Alfred Pennyworth and

Lucius Fox, have both passed away, and as a result,

Bruce Wayne retires the Batman persona and is

implied by virtue of his lengthy career as Batman

as retaining the Robin Nightwing and Batgirl

costumes, a tragic occurrence in Inspired that

caused Bruce to sever his ties with the Justice

League. and forbid his allies to assume their

alter egos. Events which caused all of this are

revealed in Batman Beyond Return of the Joker.

So that's the introduction to the show. And then,

of course, we have Terry coming in. And, you

know, the Jokers chase him under Bruce's property.

Old Bruce pretty much kicks the Joker's asses.

fairly well and then terry steals the suit and

we've kind of already really talked about terry's

story but yeah this is specifically terry's story

more than just bruce's now um basically what

we're gonna do here is we're gonna go around

the table each of us are gonna pick five favorite

episodes um nightwing why don't you start what

is your uh number five favorite episode all right

My number five is going to be The Call, parts

one and two. It's the episode that actually introduces

the Justice League to the DCAU for the first

time as the Justice League Unlimited. It's got

a great plot twist with Superman being actually

mind -controlled by the evil alien Starro as

an evil Superman. There's some great stuff in

there. It's not an amazing episode, but it's

fun. I like it a lot. It ties in with the Justice

League series later. It's pretty good. Steve,

what is your number five for Batman Beyond? I

would probably say I don't really have a particular

order for any of them. probably say the rebirth

uh because it's just it shows some of what happened

between the animated series and uh beyond I mean

granted it's probably only about like 15 20 years

after you know the new adventures right uh but

but still it shows you know Bruce somewhat able

to take care of himself except for the fact that

he had to grab a gun. So it was kind of nice

seeing, you know, two different versions of old

Bruce and one of which being in the Batsuit itself

before Terry took over. Yeah. My number five

is probably going to be April Moon. Hmm? Hi,

Tim Taylor. My number five is April Moon because

it was such an interesting episode to me with

these new kind of splicers, but they were machine

splicers because they were medical implants.

And the doctor. was under the impression that

this gang had kidnapped his wife, April, or his

fiancée or whatever she was. And this doctor

is fairly old, and April is fairly, fairly young.

So, again, it's one of those, you know, 20-,

30 -year difference relationships, which there's

nothing wrong with that, for the most part, unless

it's really creepy, like Talia and Rache. But

anyway. April Moon, one of the reasons why I

really loved it was because to deactivate this

gang, it was voice activated. It was a certain

phrase. And the phrase was April Moon based off

the song. It was one of those episodes that I

kept... You know how when stuff is in syndication

on TV, sometimes you would catch... Every episode

you would catch would be the exact same episode.

I've seen the April Moon episode so many times

that, I don't know, it just kind of drew on me.

What's your number four, Nightwing? My number

four is going to be Out of the Past. We talked

about that already, where Talia and Rache come

back in the same body. Hilarity ensues. Yes.

Yes. And it's also Bruce's birthday at the beginning

of that episode. Oh, yeah, and it establishes

that he is 80 years old. Yes. Yeah, so that's

a cool little note. Also, that episode has the

Batman the Animated Series theme played with

electric guitar, which is hilarious and awesome.

Yeah, that's so awesome. Steve, what is your

number four? I would have to agree with what

Nightwing just said with Out of the Past. Out

of the Past. Yes. I just like that episode, and

I like the fact that you get Bruce a little bit

younger so that he can fight with Terry against

Rache slash Taliyah Al Ghul. Right. My number

four is going to be a touch of Kurari. For the

simple fact that... It was an awesome episode.

She is an awesome villain for Terry Bat to face.

And I really love the voicing with Stalker Channing

and Paul Winfield as Barbara and NDA Sam Young.

I really liked that episode, and that was a really,

really cool episode, I thought. So that's my

number four. What about your number three, Nightwing?

Oh, let's see. My number three is going to be,

oh, let's see, which one is it? Dead Man's Hand,

the first one with the Royal Flesh Gang. In the

first season, aside from, I want to say, Rebirth,

it's the only episode, I think, that really has

very much real depth of character for, well,

for Terry specifically. But, you know, it deals

with, well, you know, Terry gets dumped by Dana,

and then he meets Ten. And he has a very sort

of, you know, Catwoman -like romance with her

where, you know, I mean, she's sort of the hot,

strange girl. And they basically just fall in

love as teenagers. And they even have that cheesy,

like, you know, teen romance music when they

meet under the clock tower at night. And, you

know, and then they reference Selina Kyle very

obviously at the end. Oh, yeah. I like it a lot.

I like the Royal Flush Gang. I don't love them

in all their appearances, all two of them, I

guess, but I like Ten a lot, and I like this

episode for what it does for Terry as a character.

So, I'll go with that one. What about you for

number three, Steve? I would have to say Meltdown,

and that's because I liked the introduction of

and demise of Mr. Freeze being in the episode.

Yeah. It was like two different generations of

villains fighting to the death with Batman as,

you know, pretty much a bystander. Yep. For me,

for number three, I think I'm going to go with

Shriek. Again, just purely for the sound design

that that episode had. Um, it's not an overall

really, really, you know, it's not like, it's

not like a out of the past or anything like that.

Um, but it's just, it was very, very interesting.

Um, what about your number two Nightwing? Can

I cheat and say Return of the Joker? No. Dang

it. The Joker is not an episode. Dang it, dang

it, dang it. I think it was an episode. We're

specifically talking about the series. We're

not talking about the three seasons. All right,

all right, all right, all right, all right. Now

I have to think even harder because I totally

hadn't thought this far. Okay, I'm going to say

A Touch of Curare, actually. That's just, I mean,

actually, no. I take that back. It's the second

episode with her. The one where she comes back.

It's where – Inkling. Yeah. Yeah. Is that it?

Mm -hmm. Okay, yeah. That's the one where the

League of Assassins has burned her and she's

– Oh, no, no. Oh, okay. Yeah, no. That's – no.

I was thinking of Ink and Ink's daughter. Never

mind. No, that's – Oh, okay. Which one is that?

That's – I know which one you're talking about.

Yeah, I'm looking for it now. What is it called?

Final Cut. Final cut. Yeah, that's it. Yeah,

that one. First off, they call it the League

of Assassins, not the League of Shadows. It gets

points for that. That's awesome. And yeah, that's

the one where she's on the run and she's hunting

down people. And I like that one a lot. So that's

my number two. And Steve, what's your number

two? My number two would be Disappearing Ink.

And that's because not only is... Inc., just

pretty much vengeful against Batman and Bruce,

of course, because she knows that there's a crazy

old man that's behind the wall, you know, and

everything. I just love when Bruce gets into

the fight to save Terry. and he comes in there,

and Ink's coming to clobber him in the face,

and then all of a sudden this massive Batsuit

just encases his body. Oh, yeah, the big old

Batsuit. Yeah, I remember that now. Which puts

a strain on his heart, but he is such a badass

with that suit. Yep. My number two, and it's

actually funny. I didn't think of this until

we went through doing this. I was like, well,

how am I going to think of all these episodes?

Oh, wait, I can go to the Legends of Dark Knight

schedule because they're all listed on the Legends

of the Dark Knight podcast schedule. My number

two actually is... Out of the Past. For all the

reasons we mentioned earlier, specifically for

me, one of the reasons why I absolutely love

that episode is you have... Christopher McDonald

voicing the adults, the older Superman, which

Shooter McGavin, a .k .a. Christopher McDonald,

voiced Jor -El in Superman the Animated Series.

And plus you have that Christopher Carter did

this really, really dark undertone of the Superman

the Animated Series theme as Superman is hover

chasing Terry Bat. And like Nightwing said in

one of the previous takes of this clip, how fast

does this thing go? Mach 3. Is that faster than

a speeding bullet? Yes. I love that so much.

That's one of the best lines. So, yeah. My number

two is... The Call. Wasn't I talking... Wait,

what the hell was I talking about? The Call.

Did I say The Call was my number two? No, you

said Out of the Past. Shit! You talked about

The Call. Yeah. Number two is The Call. We got

it. Go with that. We knew what you meant. Fucking

hell. All right, so Nightwing, what's your number

one favorite episode from the series? Without

a doubt, it has to be Rebirth. I think that episode,

it's by far the most character -driven, deep,

realistic episode of the entire series. It takes

a lot of cues from a lot of different science

fiction movies and novels and graphic novels,

movies like Blade Runner. You've got stormtroopers

from Star Wars basically running around. You've

got all sorts of stuff, and it blends it together

so well, and it gets the message across that

this is a dark Gotham. It feels like a real place,

even though it's animated. You get the sense

that this is a really real place and not a great

place to be. And it gives you a really great

sense of Bruce Wayne's character journey. You

can totally see how he's progressed from... Batman

the Animated Series into this older, grimmer

character. It introduces Terry. He's a teenager

who is whining about his life and has problems,

yet he doesn't come across as whiny or annoying.

He comes across as being actually rather likable.

He's not weak. He's actually very tough. He's

a good fighter. it makes sense that he could

be a young superhero. And they introduced the

dynamic between him and Bruce to great effect

in this episode. It shows so many things. It

really personifies the entire series right from

the start. And I think it's a shame that we didn't

get another episode as good as this, in my opinion

anyway, later. I think the movie definitely was

about this level of quality. I think this together

with Return of the Joker definitely solidified

Terry McGinnis as an absolutely appropriate and

he is the successor to Bruce Wayne, if there

ever could be one, other than probably Dick Grayson.

But I really think this does a great job of showing

him as his own Batman. So, yeah, I love it. Yeah,

very cool. And Steve, what is your number one?

I'm going to kind of cheat. You cannot say Return

of the Joker. It's not part of the series. I'm

not. I'm taking Epilogue. Okay, I'll give you

that. Because technically it's still the end

of Batman Beyond and it doesn't really feature

any JLU. I agree. So I take that because for

the most part it's... It pretty much ties up

the remaining gap left by the end of Beyond and

all the other DCAU. And it shows how everything

became full circle with What's -Her -Face, Amanda

Waller, revealing to Terry, who now appears to

be in his 30s. about, you know, everything that's

transpired over the last, you know, 30 years

and why she felt there had to be another Batman

and, you know, just everything in general leading

up to his rise and continuation of Bruce's legacy.

Yeah. I agree wholeheartedly, and I'm actually

going to cheat more because it's my show and

I can do what the hell I want. My number one

is a three -way tie. Rebirth, Out of the Past,

and Epilogue. Okay. For all the reasons we've

already said. Fine, then I'm cheating too. You

can't use Return of the Joker. No, you cannot

use Return of the Joker. You can't do a three

-way tie. Yes, I can. I call bullshit. It's my

fucking show. I don't care. I call bullshit.

No. Okay. Return of the Joker, it's awesome.

I'm not saying it's not awesome, but it is not

a part of the actual three -season series. It

is a separate film taking on a Batman Beyond

story. It doesn't fit within the season continuity.

It doesn't. Are you saying it's not in continuity?

No, I'm not saying it's not in continuity. I'm

saying it doesn't fit within the season continuity

because they actually made Return of the Joker

in between the second and third season of the

television series. So while the events of Return

of the Joker fit within the overall continuity...

You cannot lump it as a favorite episode of the

television series because it was a direct -to

-DVD movie. I'm with Steve on this one. I think

you're wrong. Well, you're both wrong. Well,

I call bullshit and bullshit on your three -way

tie. You can't do that. I don't care. I can say

whatever I feel. It's a three -way. Mike has

a three -way with Batman. I'd rather have a three

-way with Batman than fuck Barney all day long.

Okay, go have fun at Arby's, McDonald's, and

the bank with your Batman episodes. Anyways,

let's not drag this down. So we're going to move

on to the music segment. Actually, I'm going

to have Steve put in maybe two songs. from the

actual soundtrack of Batman Beyond. I'm not sure

exactly which song I'm going to have him put

in, but you're going to hear some music, and

we're going to take a quick break, and we're

going to come back and talk about the actual

music. We'll be back after this. Yes, that was

some epic music. It was amazing. Yes, it was.

The series music was mainly done by Christopher

Carter, also done by Michael McQuistion, Lolita

Romanis, and Shirley Walker. Oh, she passed away

in 2006, so it was after that. There is a soundtrack,

which is very cool. Unfortunately, it is a Rhino

soundtrack, but it doesn't really have all the

Rhino -like stuff. All the Rhino crap that Rhino

puts in there and stuff that they get. But the

soundtrack has 20 tracks. Very, very, very cool.

A lot of great songs. A lot of great instrumentals.

What did you guys think about the music, Steve?

I liked the techno sounds. Yes. Overall. Yeah.

What about you, Nightwing? I love this show's

music so much. I wish my life were narrated to

rock music like this. This is so much more awesome.

Seriously, I love the fact that they used this

sort of electronic electric guitar rock music

to sort of set the tone for this kind of cyberpunk

future. I think it's weird because it's modern,

yet it feels futuristic. Yeah, yeah, I love it.

I think it's totally fitting, and yeah, it's

awesome. Moving into the Legacy segment, it's

actually, Batman Beyond was, the show was nominated

for four Daytime Emmy Awards, one of which it

won in 2001. I believe it won for the sound stuff

on the Shriek episode. In addition, the show

was nominated for five Annie Awards and won two

of those nominations in 1999 and 2001. In 2009,

IGN .com named Batman Beyond the 40th best animated

television series of all time. Yeah, screw you

guys. Incoming rant. No, there's not going to

be a rant. Just go over to geekcastradio .com

later this week or next week, and you'll hear

our top 100 animated series list of all time.

As far as the influence, the supervillain Stalker

was to have appeared in the Zeta Project episode

Taffy Time, but didn't make it. The second season

episode Rose Gift has an appearance made by the

Braintrust from Batman Beyond. Some post -series

crossovers. In the third season of Batman Beyond,

two -part story called The Call. We've talked

about that already. Justice League Unlimited

revisited the world of Batman Beyond in 2005

with the Once and Future Thing. The Once and

Future Thing 2 Potter was awesome. First of all,

the Once and Future Thing 2 Potter is Justice

League Unlimited's version of Back to the Future.

It honestly is. That's true. I hadn't thought

about it. You go back to 1885 or 1887 or whatever

the date was in the actual episode, and then

you go ahead to 2015 or 2040 or whatever. You

know what I mean? It's one of those things. They

did it wrong, though, because... They did Back

to the Future 2 and 3, but not 1. They should

have had Bruce go back and had to get his parents

together at their dance. No, no, no. It would

have been awesome. No, no, no, no, no. And I

love David Clinton in that. When he shows up

at the Watchtower, he's like, Green Lantern's

like, why are you trying to steal Batman's chili

belt? You're not supposed to see me. You're not

supposed to know I'm here. How do you know that

I'm here? Well, it's the freaking Watchtower,

you dumbass. It has alarms. Epilogue, which is

set 15, huh? Oh, I thought you guys had something.

Set 15 years after the conclusion of Batman Beyond,

epilogue reveals that Bruce Wayne is actually

Chairman Magnus' biological father. Episode is

told largely through flashback sequences. Let's

see, what are the other crossovers? It had a

crossover, Future Shock, which I watched earlier

today. Very, very cool. Yeah, that was the only

real. And there's actually a DC comic tie -in.

Now, I've heard that the comic isn't that great.

It's not. Who is writing the comic? Let's see.

The six -issue limited series, March 1999. Batman

Beyond had its own comic book series running

through November 1999 until October 2001 for

a total of 24 issues, set in the same world of

the show and aimed at younger readers. Originally,

Batman Beyond number three, the monthly series,

was to focus on the terrific trio. From the episode

Heroes, oh lord, we don't need anything to focus

on the terrific trio. Or the terrible trio, or

whatever. Very, very cool. Oh, yeah, no. I don't

know about those older comics, but what I've

heard isn't really good is the miniseries in

2010 that launched last year. There's an ongoing

series now. Yeah. Same creative team too. And

the author, I'm trying to remember his name.

I'm trying to forget his name actually, but what

is his name? What is his name? What is his name?

I'm feeling terrible. I can't remember it. Whatever.

No, not Dan DiDio. It's the other guy, Adam Beecham.

Adam Beecham, yeah. He is known as the guy who

like ruined the... The Cassandra Cain Batgirl

series. Wow. He's not a good writer. He's kind

of the guy they bring in when they don't really

know what to do with something. They're just

like, let's give it to Beach and the fans whine.

But they're buying this book because right now

it's the only currently. It's currently released

Batman Beyond Anything. So if you want Terry

McGinnis, you have to buy that book. And if you

don't like it, then you're screwed. And so, yeah,

it's getting sales because it's a popular character,

but it's not a good book. Yeah. It does have

DVD releases. All three seasons are on individual

DVD sets, which at this point, I'm not sure,

but in 2010, last year, We had Batman Beyond

the Complete Series was released on November

23rd last year. This, along with Batman the Complete

Animated Series, is a limited run item, so you

better go get it now as far as the Complete Series

box set. I actually have it, and I've got to

say, while I'm liking that it does compile all

three seasons into one box set, and it is the

exact same thing, it just has another bonus disc.

The Batman Beyond Complete Series bonus disc

actually has the most special features out of

all the Complete Series DCAU bonus discs. It

has like three individual features specific to

Batman Beyond. Whereas the other, like BTAS and

Justice League, they only have like one feature

for each of those series. I would snatch it up

now before it starts going for outrageous prices.

And don't buy it off eBay or you'll have another

Steve problem with wrong writing. I think Steve's

mad at me still. Anyway, is Steve even here?

Wake up, Steve. Yes, there's also DVDs for Batman

Beyond the Movie, Batman Beyond School Days in

Spell, but just individual stuff, like individual

episode stuff. Then you have Batman Beyond Return

of the Joker, the edited version. And then you

have Batman Beyond Return of the Joker, the original

uncut version. I actually like both versions.

Yeah, you know, I saw the cut version first,

and I didn't feel like I missed very much. I

eventually got the uncut version, which I think

is probably better. Oh, it is. It's not so much

that you're getting a horrible... It's not so

bad. If you watch the cut version, it's not going

to ruin your experience. It's just a couple little

lines here and there and a few little changes.

I guess the Joker's death is different, but it's

nothing that's going to ruin the movie. Yeah,

no. Now here's where you can do thoughts on Return

of the Joker, Steve. What? Ugh. He's not even

paying attention, ladies and gentlemen. All right.

So, yes. And then, yeah, Return of the Joker.

There are also plans. I cannot believe I'm reading

this. But there were also planned Batman Beyond

live action feature to be written by Paul Dini.

However, Warner Brothers shelved the project

and eventually went with Batman Begins concept

instead. In August 2000, Warner Brothers announced

that it was developing a live, action film adaptation

of the TV series Batman Beyond. With Boz Yaskin

attached to co -write and direct, the TV series

creators Paul Dini and Alan Burnett were hired

to write a screenplay for the feature film with

the author Neal Stephenson consulting the duo.

By July 2001, the first draft was turned into

the studio and the writers were waiting to see

if a rewrite would be needed. The studio also,

exploring other takes of Batman and development,

eventually placed Batman Beyond on hold in August

2001. So we could possibly get a Batman Beyond

movie one of these days. I hope so. It'll happen

one day. It could be in like 20 years, but it'll

happen one day. Well, I mean, you know, after,

you know, Christian Bale has his Dark Knight

Rising on Anne Hathaway. Sorry, I had to put

that in there. You know, Christopher Nolan said

that he's moving on after that movie is said.

So, I mean, you know, I wouldn't mind seeing

a Batman Beyond Live Action feature. They would

have to do it right. Get Will Friedle to play

Batman and then get Michael Keaton to play old

Batman. You know who would be awesome as old

Bruce would be... Oh! Crud, I'm forgetting his

name now. Commander Adama from the new BSG. Edward

James Olmos. Oh, yeah. That would be really interesting,

actually. Because he plays the gruff Bruce on

BSG, and it's awesome. That would be very interesting.

All right, so we are going to take a final quick

break. You're going to hear some ads and all

that good stuff, and then we're going to come

back with our final thoughts, and we're going

to finally end this show. Wow, this has been

a long one. Hey guys, this is Optimus Solo from

the Geekcast Radio Network, and I was thinking

the other day that maybe I've been too hard on

the folks over at IGN. I mean, they had to put

some effort into their Top 100 Animated Series

of All Timeless, right? I mean, maybe it's just

me that wants to punch a baby when I read it.

So in all fairness, I thought we should gather

some of the people who were involved with this

list and get their opinions. So what do you guys

think about the IGN list? I didn't think it was

physically possible, but this both sucks and

blows. Okay, anyone else? Dumb, dumb, dumb! Those

dudes are so dumb! I'm afraid to ask, but anyone

else? Epic fail. Homer, they put your show at

the top of your list. You gotta like their list,

right? I stand by my disappointed groan. So I

guess we should do something about it then. Are

you pondering what I'm pondering? I am, brain.

I think we should unveil the Geek Cast Radio

Network's Top 100 Animated Series of All Time

list. I second that emotion. And I know that

our list will be much better than the IGN list.

Do you know why? We watch a lot of TV. That and

the fact that we are teaming up with This Week

in Geek, the Pop Culture Network, Chicken Pop

Pod, and some other great geek sites. By your

powers combined. We will give you a list geeks

everywhere can be proud of. This is Dr. Wily,

and I will destroy Mega Man while listening to

ToonCast! review Beast Wars and Beast Machines

in the very first podcast of its kind. Yes. In

the podcast, we interview voice actors, writers

from the show, and talk in -depth trivia between

everything in between. So, if you're interested,

you can tune in to the now -finished Beast Unleashed

podcast over on geekcastradio .com. Excellent!

Yes! Hey guys, Raphael here of the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. Did you say podcast? Dudes! Doodads!

You're listening to the podcast on the Gatecast

Radio Network. Cowabunga! Do you like retro shows?

Did you grow up in either the 80s or the 90s?

Then tune into Telecast, geekcastradio .com's

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as we revisit some of your favorite shows, such

as Clarissa Explains It All, Salute Your Shorts,

Saved by the Bell, and much, much more, only

on geekcastradio .com. Sword of Omens, give me

sight beyond sight. I see a new episode of ToonCast

coming this week. Welcome to a collaboration

between the Geekcast Radio Network and the Pop

Culture Network. This is From the Command Center,

the podcast. I am your host, TF2, and Mike from

the GCRN, and joining me is Zordon himself. Uh,

uh, wait. I mean, Scotty Cash. That's right,

Scotty Cash from the Pop Culture Network, and

today we're introducing you to the audio version

of From the Command Center, the podcast that

will entail our intake on Mighty Morphin Power

Rangers, the episodes, the seasons, and all that

other good stuff. Now back to the podcast. So,

quickly, final thoughts on Batman Beyond and

Batman Beyond Return of the Joker. Steve, what

are your final thoughts on the actual television

series? Overall, really good. Definitely something

to pick up if you're into Batman or the DCAU.

Pretty much it's a win -win, even with the few

throwaways that are in there, based on the writing

and consistency throughout the entire DCAU. Yes.

And Return of the Joker really quick, Steve?

That would by far have to be my favorite Bat

film. ever, just because of how dark it actually

is. My only thing that I wish is that they would

have actually shown like they did in the animatic

that's on the disc, where Bruce is going through

the basic old catacombs of old Arkham, and you

see the doors of the Riddler, Poison Ivy, and

then you see that Joker hanging from the ceiling.

I think it was just cut for time, though. It

wasn't intentionally put on the cutting room

floor. It was probably cut for pacing. I wish

that they would have had that, and the sad thing

is the Joker's body actually makes a reoccurrence

in an episode of Batman Beyond. Like his dead

skeletal body wearing his purple jumpsuit. It's

actually in an episode when they initiate new

Joker. Oh yeah, that's right. And Nightwing,

what are your final thoughts on the series and

Return of the Joker? Man, you know, this series,

I think, you know, I feel like it kind of defines

some of my comic fandom, kind of like Superman

the Animated Series does. You know, I... Even

though I didn't watch it that much when I was

a kid, I kind of grew up with it anyway. I kind

of feel like I care about Terry McGinnis and

this story. I think it's one of the most original,

unique, and really most powerful and interesting

ideas to come out of superhero animation. I think

it's a great show. You should totally check it

out. Return of the Joker is a great, great movie.

Definitely one of the best Bat films ever made.

It might be my favorite as well, actually. Narrowly

beating out Mask of the Phantasm and The Dark

Knight, probably. It's so much fun. I'm a sci

-fi fan, so if it's sci -fi, it gets a little

bit of an edge. So yeah, I'll echo everything

that Steve said. It's great. For me, the entire

series was just awesome. Yes, there are a number...

of throwaway episodes. I mean, they're a good

chunk of throwaway episodes, but they're also,

out of the 52 episodes, there's also a lot of

really, really good episodes as well. As far

as Return of the Joker, one of the things that

I absolutely love that they showed off was the

differences between Terry and Bruce. Because

in that final Joker battle, he's like, you got

any suggestions, boss? Power on through and don't

talk. Joker likes to talk. Just power on through

and you'll beat him. And Terry's like, wait,

I like to talk too. Yeah, yeah. So it shows you

a difference even though eventually later on

we will find out that obviously Terry is Bruce's

son. It shows you the differences between the

two of them. Oh, man. Okay, Terry's laugh, his

Joker laugh is so creepy. I know. It's so creepy.

It's awesome. Yeah, I know. Oh, man. Yeah, it

is. So thank you for joining us here on ToonCast.

There are several ways to get in contact with

us or leave feedback for the show. Visit the

website, geekcastradio .com. Leave the show's

feedback in iTunes. Please do this. As of this

recording, we have no new feedback, so that's

why I'm not reading any iTunes reviews. You can

follow us on Twitter. The show name there is

GCRN ToonCast, all one word. Mine is TFG1Mike.

Aaron, what is your Twitter? Mine is SuperAaronMan.

That's S -U -P -E -R -A -A -R -O -N -M -A -N.

Mm -hmm. And Steve, what's your Twitter? SCP21.

Yes. Become a fan on Facebook. Go to facebook

.com slash geekcastradionetwork. Call the voicemail

line. Tell us the show you're leaving a message

for and your name, 502 -526 -5821. Just a note

on the voicemail line. If you are calling to

leave any voicemails for Superman the Animated

Series or any of the other DCAU stuff outside

of Batman the Animated Series, please do so.

If you call in after we release an episode, we

will play all final call -ins during episode

100 of ToonCast. Make sure you call in before.

Call in by April 6th. If we don't get to a voicemail

between now and episode 99, we will get to it

in episode 100 because we kind of want to put

a final stamp on this incarnation of ToonCast.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. I'm sure you'll

join us next time when we will be continuing

the DCAU Spotlight with the Batman Beyond spinoff,

The Zeta Project. Oh, God. Kill me now. Bam.

I still haven't found a co -host for this, so

if anybody is interested in talking about Zeta,

I'm assuming that that is going to be an extremely

short show, like 30 to 45 minutes max, because

there isn't a whole hell of a lot of information

on that show. Yeah, Zeta Project, holy crap.

For now, I am TFG1Mike with... Nightwing. And

Steve Megatron Phillips. Thank you for listening

until next time.