The New Batman Adventures

Overview

The New Batman Adventures premiered on Kids' WB two years after Batman: The Animated Series ended its original run on Fox Kids. While working on Superman: The Animated Series, the network approached the creative team asking them if they could do more episodes of Batman, which would air alongside Superman. To freshen the look of the new show, the art style was revamped from Batman: The Animated Series for more consistent and fluid animation, as well as to keep similarity with Superman: The Animated Series. The show also had a significant change in focus from the original series, with episodes focusing less on Batman and more on the many characters that inhabited Gotham City.

Production

Batman was given a sleeker, brawnier appearance with an overall darker costume: the yellow ellipse surrounding the bat emblem on his chest and the blue highlights of his cape and cowl were both removed and his utility belt has pouches instead of capsules and is now light brown instead of yellow, which resembles his appearance in Batman: Year One. His gadgets and vehicles were given a sleeker, redesigned look with a dark color scheme. Bruce Wayne's appearance was also changed from the previous series: his hair was brushed back to highlight his face, with blue eyes instead of black, and his regular business suit was changed from brown to black. Kevin Conroy's voice for Batman became more stern, as well as less distinguishable from his voice for Bruce than in the original series. The writers made an effort to keep Batman's dialogue terse and grim to heighten the contrast between him and the lighthearted supporting cast; this also highlighted his character change from the original series.

Batgirl's costume was changed to a look similar to her original outfit from her comic debut in Detective Comics #359 and in her appearance in the Silver Age of comics, which is now a black bodysuit with yellow gloves and boots, but keeps her blue cape and cowl and yellow bat-symbol and utility belt. Her father Commissioner Gordon's appearance was also altered, with a more slender build and a flat-top hairstyle. Producer Paul Dini said that Batgirl would appear in every episode of the new series because "Kenner wants to do a line of toys, we're taking advantage of the publicity from her being in Batman & Robin, and we just love Batgirl". In addition, Melissa Gilbert was recast with Tara Strong (credited under her maiden name Tara Charendoff) as the voice of Batgirl, as the creative team wanted a younger-sounding voice. While Batgirl did not appear in every episode, she did appear more often than Batman's other partners in the series. She also was Batman's main partner in the series rather than Robin, which differs the series from most Batman television series and in the comics (as Robin is usually Batman's main partner). Unlike the Animated Series, in this iteration Batgirl is from the outset now aware of Batman, Robin and Nightwing’s identities, and they of hers. A flashback sequence in Episode 18, "Old Wounds", explains how this came about.

Tim Drake was introduced as the new Robin in the episode "Sins of the Father". However, Dini remarked that "the Tim Drake origin in the comics as written now didn't work for us with him having a father and living so close to Wayne Manor. It seemed to work fine in the comics, but we needed our own little family unit of Batman, Robin, Batgirl and occasionally Nightwing – and Alfred of course". For these reasons, the production team came up with their own origin for Tim Drake, though they later realized this new origin was extremely similar to Jason Todd. Dini and Timm later revealed that the new Robin was always intended to have Jason's origin story and characteristics of both Jason and Tim. The decision to implement some of Todd's characteristics on Drake came up after Timm and Dini decided to not adapt the violent "Batman: A Death in the Family" comic book storyline for the show. Batman made a new suit which is similar to the first one worn by Dick Grayson and identical to Tim Drake's original Robin costume from the comics, but the color scheme was simplified to red, black and yellow, eliminating green entirely. The costume retained the familiar red short-sleeved shirt, as well as the black cape with yellow inner lining. New elements included black sleeves, gloves, trunks and boots with red leggings. The familiar domino mask had also changed, giving the new Robin a more wide-eyed, innocent look. The color scheme would later appear as Tim Drake's Robin costume in the post-Infinite Crisis comics, while the original costume worn by Dick Grayson was seen in the episodes "Old Wounds" and "Over the Edge".

Dick Grayson, having abandoned his Robin persona as a result of a falling out with Batman, adopted the identity of Nightwing. Grayson's build became sleeker, with broader shoulders, showcasing his emergence as a mature hero in his own right. The short spiky hair that Grayson wore as Robin had grown longer, styled to flow down the back of the neck. In his civilian guise, he wore it in a ponytail. As Nightwing, he wore a V-shaped mask and an all-black unitard with light blue hawk emblem that borrowed some elements of the comics version from the 1990s. The costume also featured collapsible wings under the arms that allowed Nightwing to glide for short distances.

The designs of most of the villains from Batman's rogues' gallery were also redesigned, some more so than others. The Joker was redesigned to have white eyes with black sclera and a purple and green suit. However, this was not well-received by fans, and this led to him being redesigned again for Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000), Static Shock (2002) and Justice League (2002–04), where his appearance was a mix of his look from the original series and this one.

Catwoman's redesign now sported an all-black bodysuit (similar to her appearance from Batman Returns) and her hair is changed from blonde and shoulder-length to short and black while keeping her green eyes, matching her appearance in the comics. The Penguin's redesign resembled his appearance from the Golden Age and Silver Age comics instead of having the animal-like appearance from Batman Returns. The Riddler's redesign now sported a green bodysuit with a question mark in the center and his domino mask and red hair are removed, while his bowler hat is retained. The Scarecrow was redesigned to have long black hair, a zombie-like face, and a dark preacher-like outfit. Henry Polic II was recast with Jeffrey Combs as the voice of the Scarecrow. Mr. Freeze now has a dark suit, no goggles, and red eyes with black sclera. Poison Ivy's appearance also changed, her skin tone is chalk white and her costume is now black with leaf-green highlights. Bane's redesign outfit is completely black with silver accents and his mask no longer has red lenses. Killer Croc received a major redesign with a more reptilian appearance, with Brooks Gardner replacing Aron Kincaid in the role.

Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Clayface, Alfred Pennyworth, and Harvey Bullock were among the few characters who did not receive any drastic change in appearance or color alterations. Harley Quinn is also the only villain aside from the Joker who appeared in six or more episodes. Ra's al Ghul and his daughter Talia also did not receive any drastic re-designs, although their only appearance during this time was in the episode "The Demon Reborn" from Superman: The Animated Series.

Koko Enterprise Co., LTD., TMS-Kyokuchi Corporation, and Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD contributed some of the animation for this series.

The Kids' WB censors were much more flexible with episode content than the Fox Kids censors were with Batman: The Animated Series. Producer Bruce Timm recounted that "when we were at Fox, after every single storyboard, we would get five single-spaced pages of notes on things we couldn't do. On the WB, we usually get maybe two paragraphs of stuff we can't do. At Fox, they were really picky, not just about things you couldn't do, but just in terms of content and story. They had a million opinions about what we should be doing. Nobody bothers us like that at the WB".

Cast

Main article: List of DC Animated Universe characters#Batman: The Animated Series

Protagonists

Supporting protagonists

Antagonists

Supporting antagonists

Episodes

(1) On December 22, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are staying in a hotel when they become depressed over their financial situation and decide to brainwash Bruce Wayne to gain access to his money. However, the control wears off shortly after they return home, enabling him to defeat them.

(2) On December 24, Barbara Gordon is shopping to get a gift for her father while Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya are there investigating a shoplifting criminal. Eventually, Barbara discovers that the culprit is Clayface, who has split himself into several children, and works with Montoya and Bullock to stop him.

(3) On December 31, the Joker hijacks a broadcast of a football game to announce that he has decided not to kill anyone in the following year, but plans to kill several people before then with a sonic bomb. After Batman and Robin stop him, the former meets with Gordon to celebrate the new year.

Notes:

• Based on the comic The Batman Adventures Holiday Special
• This episode takes place after the episodes "Sins of the Father" and "Growing Pains", which introduces Tim Drake and brings Clayface back after his apparent death in "Mudslide".

Note: Based on the comic book story of the same name.

Note: Loosely based on the comic-book story "Who Dies for the Manikin?" (Detective Comics #506, September 1981) and "Dressed to Die!" (Detective Comics #507, October 1981) by Gerry Conway. The antagonist Miranda, or Manikin in the comic books, had her name changed to "Calendar Girl" in the animated series along with adopting an obsession with holidays. Taken from another Batman villain named Calendar Man.

Note: This episode was the final performance of actor Stephen Wolfe Smith (Klarion), who died in 2000.

Note: Loosely based on "The Batman Nobody Knows!" from Batman #250 (July 1973) by Frank Robbins and Dick Giordano and contains a direct adaptation of part of the comic Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

Notes The Creeper (vol. 2) comic series (October 2006 – March 2007) incorporated some of the storyline of this episode to the newly revised original story. Prior to 2006, Creeper had no association with the Joker except for being confused for him in Joker #3 (1975).

Note: Adaptation of the Eisner Award-winning 1994 comic book of the same name by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.

Crossovers

''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]''

Main article: List of Superman: The Animated Series episodes, The New Batman/Superman Adventures

''[[Static Shock]]''

Main article: List of Static Shock episodes

Home media

On December 6, 2005, The New Batman Adventures was released on DVD by Warner Home Video (via DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) under the title of Batman: The Animated Series - Volume Four (from The New Batman Adventures) to coincide with the previous three-volume DVD sets of Batman: The Animated Series.{{cite news | access-date=August 16, 2010

It is subsumed as Season 3 of the original series when it debuted on HBO Max on January 1, 2021.

Feature films

• Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003), a direct-to-video release

Video games

• Batman: Vengeance, published by Ubisoft for the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox consoles as well as Microsoft Windows; featuring the Joker, Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze, and Poison Ivy as antagonists
• Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu, the sequel to Batman: Vengeance, featuring original villain Sin Tzu
• Batman: Chaos in Gotham, a platforming action video game for the Game Boy Color
• Batman: Gotham City Racer, a racing game for the PlayStation

Books

Capstone publishes children's chapter books containing illustrations with character designs from The New Batman Adventures.

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. Allstetter, Rob. (August 1997). "The Dark Knight Returns". [[Wizard (magazine).
2. [[Batman: The Animated Series]] – Volume 2, Robin Rising Featurette. Commentary by [[Paul Dini]] and [[Bruce Timm]].
3. (2004). "Robin Rising: How the Boy Wonder's Character Evolved". [[Warner Bros.]].
4. Kendall, James. (February 25, 2018). "Why The Joker Was Redesigned for Batman: The Animated Series".
5. (5 September 1992). "Batman: The Complete Animated Series".
6. (5 September 1992). "Batman: The Animated Series, Vol. 4".
7. Fallon, Sean. (August 28, 2018). "'Batman: The Complete Animated Series' Blu-ray Box Set Upgraded With Digital Copy".
8. "DC Super Heroes".
9. "The New Batman Adventures – Awards".
10. "The 20th Annual Youth in Film Awards". Young Artist Awards.
11. "27th Annual Annie Awards".
12. "28th Annual Annie Awards".