Johnny H.
The New Batman Adventures is the sequel that The Animated Series deserved, and its style-differentiation is justified yet it still feels like the sibling to its predecessor.The New Batman Adventures has more stylized character designs than before, and while that may be off-putting to some, Batman has never looked sharper than he does here; at least I say that with a lot of love.Batman has always been empowered with rich stories and The New Batman Adventures continues that tradition beautifully. It is a sequel to Batman: The Animated Series, but it stands its own ground just fine.
Adam D'Angelo
The New Batman Adventures (also called Gotham Knights) takes place 5 years after the final episodes of Batman: the Animated Series (B:TAS) and only aired for 24 episodes. This isn't a horrible show, but it just isn't as good as the original Batman Animated Series. I'll start with all the things that I found not to be very good.First thing's first, the animation itself: Gotham isn't dark anymore, the sky is always bright red and orange, B:TAS did this also, but it was drawn on a dark palate, so the colour of the sky was more ominous, in this show, it is too bright. It all just looks like any other kids show and doesn't seem unique like Batman: TAS did with it's dark, cool art style on Gotham. The art style is good, but doesn't remind me of Batman anymore. Every character is comprised of straight lines, squares, and triangles making characters look less human-like. In the original series (B:TAS), characters look more like drawn versions of real people. The animation may be more consistent here than in B:TAS, but it definitely isn't as good. Next: some of the episodes seem too dumbed down and childish, but some of the subject matter is even stronger than in B:TAS.(Two-Face attempting to kill Tim Drake/Robin 2, and some villains get some pretty harsh treatment). This leads me to my next point.Because this is supposed to take place in the future as well as the final episodes of the Batman Animated Universe, many villains do meet their demise or leave forever. Poison Ivy apparently drowns when a cruise ship explodes (though she returns later in Static Shock); Two-Face nearly kills Penguin, Killer Croc, and himself, so he's moved to Arkham forever; Joker falls into the exhaust tower of an industrial plant (though he will return later in the Justice League Animated Series); Catwoman moves away to France leaving Batman, etc... Just because the series is ending does not mean that they have to get rid of some great characters! The villains' motives are pretty bad, too; For the most part, there are none! In B:TAS, we learn that these villains are mentally tormented and their lives are ruined, that's why they act the way they do, in this show, the villains are just committing crimes to progress the story. It's like Batman just doesn't even care about saving whatever sanity there is left in the people that he fights, he just beats them senseless. This Batman is a colder and meaner version of the character, but since he's been doing this job for years, I can see why he is so harsh. Next, the redesigned character models: most of them are awful. Gordon slimmed down about 100 pounds... is he sick? Many villains look STUPID (Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, Mad Hatter, and Killer Croc are among the WORST). Although, I do think that some characters look better (Bane, Scarecrow, Batgirl). Harley is about the same, and Ivy (who is even hotter now) has pale green skin.With the series having some faults, many of the episodes are great- Over the Edge, Mad Love, Beware the Creeper, Girls Night Out, Old Wounds, Legends of the Dark Knight, and Never Fear are my favourite ones here. All of the crossovers featuring Batman in the Superman Animated Series were great, also.The part about this show that really irritated me is how the creators say they love the animation of this series more than the original. On the DVD features of the original Batman Animated Series, they talk about how proud they were with the art style, and how difficult some characters were to animate, but they did eventually succeed with (the difficult animation necessary to animate Clayface, for example). On the DVD features of the New Batman Adventures, the creators essentially say that they preferred this cartoon to the original because of its tighter animation. When the creators casted away the amazing art style of B:TAS it really annoyed me!It's not a bad show, it is very good, but it is not as excellent as the original animated series. At least this show doesn't talk down to its audience, so for that reason, I still commend it. And about 75% of the episodes in this new series are fantastic and worth watching more than once. Superman: the Animated Series, and Justice League: the Animated Series are great follow-up shows to Batman: TAS and The New Batman Adventures, so give them a watch as well.
kyle-mcdonald
This is so to say a sequel to batman the animated and it is pretty much as good as it to and for all the same reasons it has lots of action in it the storyline to it is good the voice over actors are really good such as Kevin Conroy as batman, Mark Hamil as the Joker, etc. The villains are really good such as The Joker, Two-face, Catwoman, Clayface, etc. So i am sure you will not be disappointed with the new adventures of batman because it is really good. So make sure that you watch it on TV or rent or buy the collectors edition because it is really good.Overall score: ********* out of ********** **** out of *****
voicemaster71
I have to admit, I did have to try to get used to the new look of all the characters, since I was used to how the Batman series was portrayed by Fox. But once I got used to it, I fell in love with this series. I actually felt some were given better looks than some others. In this particular series, it says that two years have passed since the Sub Zero video movie. I wasn't crazy about Batman's new (or should I say old)look. I never thought Batman would ever return to the original black bat emblem and a pouch shaped utility belt. I did however feel that Bruce Wayne looked much better, even though he is now portrayed as a man who never smiles and is nearly impossible to make laugh and he is revealed to be a perfect taskmaster. In addition, Kevin Conroy as of this series, used the same voice for both Bruce Wayne and Batman. I this series, Batgirl is now a regular team player and a member of Batman's crime fighting team. While I like the Tim Drake version of Robin in the comics, I didn't care for him in the beginning of these episodes, when Tim was probably 12 or 13, but I got used to him by series end due to his voice changing. I love Nightwing. Dick Grayson's reborn identity. I also like that he and Batman do not get along or at least, there is miscommunication between them.As for the villains. the only thing I did not care about was Joker having no red lips. The Penguin is now a legitimate business man, who operates a club called the Iceberg Lounge. Yet it seems that all the villains have changed radically. As for favorite episodes, mine were" Holiday Knights, Sins of the Father (murder of Tim's father and how Tim suits up as Robin for the first time). Cold Comfort (even though turning Mr. Freeze into an insect body that attatches to a mechanical suit is a bit much), it was still eerie to watch. Over the Edge (what if Batman and Commissioner came to blows), Any episodes with Nightwing (sadly, they only made four of them). Beware the Creeper and Mad Love were superb as well as Legends of the Dark Knight with different variations of Batman being told by several kids. Perhaps my all time favorite episode of this series, is Old Wounds. Where Nightwing tells the new Robin of his final outing as Robin and his falling out with Batman. That is one episode you need to watch. In it, we see Dick Grayson's last adventure as Robin before quitting. One more episode to remember was Girls Nite Out, a Batgirl/Supergirl team up. I only wish they could have made more than 24 of these episodes, though we did get one DVD movie animated in this style. I'm also glad this series is not only out on DVD, but it completed Batman: The Animated Series, over 100 episodes. Give this series a try.
