Thoughts on The Batman

JLU is over so I'd thought I'd give my thoughts on the first three seasons of The Batman. There has been a lot of controversy over the cartoon that caused the stupid Bat-Embargo on JLU and the question I have to ask was was it worth the embargo?

Not really, no. It sounds beyond petty to not want an entire show on the air just so a great show can be even better, but I'm not above being petty.

I am far from a The Batman basher however. There have been some solid episodes of the show that I really enjoyed such as Riddled, The Batman vs. Dracula DTV which was absolutely brilliant and the super-cute Batgirl Begins 2-parter. The show has been capable of delivering the occasional strong episode but they ARE exceedingly few and far between.

I've actually been kind of "meh" about three of the highest praised episodes of the series that have had some serious kudos directed towards them: The Rubberface of Comedy, The Clayface of Tragedy, and Meltdown. First of all, Chief Rojas is perhaps the most loathesome cartoon character since Peggy Hill and is just extremely unpleasant to watch. Secondly, and this is the big thing, despite Bennett/Clayface being Batman's "personal" enemy I just never really cared that much. I've always felt that Clayface had so many support systems compared to ANY of Batman's other rogues on BTAS OR The Batman that him going over to the dark side seemed absolutely arbitrary and non-sensical. I found Anakin Skywalker's turn to evil easier to swallow. I think Ethan Bennett is just a big baby.

Alfred rubs me the wrong way on the show too as he is way too big of a doofus. Bruce is okay when he isn't listening to rock music during operas and eating nachos. Seriously the pandering this show does towards little kids is mind-numbing and I don't see how after those kinds of scenes the producers can expect ANYONE to take Batman seriously. The thought behind a "more relatable" Batman is absolutely ridiculous. I want to watch a Batman I can hang out with about as much as I want a President I can have a beer with. Well, maybe not, but the show has a real tendency to forget that Batman is supposed to be COOL and what a five year old thinks is cool is a far ways away from what is actually cool.

All that said, the show is kind of entertaining. Even during the cringe-worthy scenes I have never been bored which is something a good deal of cartoons could learn from.

The show's ardent defenders would have me believe that the reason I'm so disappointed in the show is that it isn't BTAS. But that doesn't seem right to me. I was sixteen when BTAS premiered and it was hardly one of the defining cartoons of my childhood. I was old enough to judge BTAS on it's own merits and flaws and I could pretty much tell that while it was a great show it had a bunch of episodes that were much less than solid and wasn't perfect. I had the same expectations from BTAS as I did with this show and it just doesn't hold up to a lot of other cartoons in comparison. To be honest, I felt similarly about Tiny Toons and Animaniacs back in the day and those are considered great shows by most cartoon fanboys so I expect the same thing to happen to The Batman.

By the way, it's no Teen Titans or JLU but the third season theme to The Batman kicks the crap outta most of the DCAU theme songs. It's SERIOUSLY catchy and is perfect for the show.

I'm still looking forward to Scott Menville's Robin this fall to confuse the continuity issues even further which is always fun. :D