Batman - The Animated Series, Vol. 2

Get ready for more dark justice as the Dark Knight prowls the streets and skies of Gotham City for the criminal element which infests it in Batman: The Animated Series - Volume Two. This 4-disc set features 28 episodes of animated bliss which include the first appearances of Ra's Al Ghul ("Tron's" David Warner), and his beautiful daughter Talia ("Supergirl's" Helen Slater) in "Off Balance"; and The Riddler ("Smallville's" John Glover) in "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" The set also includes the Emmy-winning "Robin's Reckoning" with corresponding commentary by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski. As always, the voice talents never cease to amaze. The brilliant thought and care put into the series' voice casting is a tradition that continued with the later DC Comics superhero shows, Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited. Here are the contents of this set:

Disc 1:
Eternal Youth
Perchance To Dream
The Cape And Cowl Conspiracy
Robin's Reckoning Part One
Robin's Reckoning Part Two
The Laughing Fish
Night Of The Ninja

Disc 2:
Cat Scratch Fever
The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne
Heart Of Steel Part One
Heart Of Steel Part Two
If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?
Joker's Wild
Tyger, Tyger

Disc 3:
Moon Of The Wolf
Day Of The Samurai
Terror In The Sky
Almost Got 'im
Birds Of A Feather
What Is Reality?
I Am The Night

Disc 4:
Off Balance
The Man Who Killed Batman
Mudslide
Paging The Crime Doctor
Zatanna
The Mechanic
Harley & Ivy

Special Features:
Commentary: "Robin's Reckoning" by Bruce Timm (Producer) and Eric Radomski (Producer)

Commentary: "Heart of Steel" by Bruce Timm (Producer), Eric Radomski (Producer), Kevin Altieri (Director)

Commentary: "Almost Got 'im" by Bruce Timm (Producer), Eric Radomski (Producer), and Paul Dini (Producer)

Commentary: "Harley and Ivy" by Bruce Timm (Producer), Eric Radomski (Producer), and Boyd Kirkland (Producer)

Featurette: "Robin Rising": Detailing the evolution of Robin's character in the series (10:00)

Featurette: "Gotham's Guardians": About the supporting cast of The Batman Animated Series - Includes Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman), Harvey Bullock, Rene Montoya. (10:00)

Featurette: "Voices of the Knight": About the voices behind the characters (10:00)

Well worth the wait, and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

After years of steadfastly ignoring the ardent wishes of its fan base, Warner Brothers is finally continuing to release its landmark Batman: The Animated Series in quailty DVD complete box sets,instead of dolling the episodes out at a sluggish four or five at a time! The "seasons" are somewhat complicated to explain as the Animated saga is actually comprised of three separate "series" that originally aired from 1992-1995, with some of the episodes being replayed in the upcoming "season," hence the designation of "Volume" rather than "Season" in the DVD box set releases.

As has been noted, this 4-disc set features 28 episodes including the first appearances of Ra's Al Ghul, voiced by David Warner, his daughter Talia, voiced by Helen Slater, in the facinating episode entitled, "Off Balance." The set also includes the Riddler, voiced by John Glover, in, "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" This release also includes the Emmy-winning "Robin's Reckoning," which deals with the murder of Dick Grayson's parents and subsequent emotional trauma when Grayson, who is now Robin learns the identity of the killer. This episode includes corresponding commentary by the equally brilliant Bruce W. Timm and Eric Radomski.

The creators of this Animated classic series set to their task after the first Batman movie and somehow managed to capture the essence of the comic book world of Batman, without the gore of the mainstream comic book titles.

In one of the last hand-painted animation shows ever to have been rendered, Batman: The Animated Series is as flawless a rendition of Bob Kane's mythic creation as ever captured on comic paper or film, both live-action and animation. Time will tell, but I believe the Batman Animated saga is worthy of being crowned the greatest animated Superhero series to have ever been produced. Regardless of its place in history, it changed the animated genre forever as well as, ironically, the comic book and film depictions that spawned it. It is pure magic.

The "Dark Deco" design of Gotham City and all of the characters in the Batman mythos were deftly crafted by many of the modern comic industry's greatest talents including: Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and the aforementioned Bruce W. Timm. Every subtle nuance was anticipated and superbly rendered in serious stories that merged the childhood wonder and excitement of comic books with the adult appreciation for drama, humor and tragedy.

Each half-hour episode feels like a movie, and the voice actors who portrayed the characters were so well matched that theirs are now the ONLY voices I hear when I read the comic. Since I'm 48 and have been reading The Batman since I was a kid, that's saying something.

Credit goes to the voice talents of Kevin Conroy, who pulls off the best Batman and Bruce Wayne voices I have ever heard, along with Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars Trilogy) for literally BECOMING the Joker in his voice portrayal. Other steller voice talents belong to Efrem Zimbalist Jr., for a flawless Alfred Pennyworth, the stalwart Wayne family butler; Adrienne Barbeau as the Catwoman Selina Kyle; and Arlene Sorkin as Harley Quinn (a character created in the Animated Series, which in a cool twist, was then introduced into the mainstream comic book titles.)

The talented Shirley Jackson composed the memorable music, which again blends perfectly with the whole to create a true animated masterpiece.

Because these series feature stories of the Dark Knight, it remains utterly amazing that the bulk of the episodes take place in Gotham City at night, but nonetheless manage to have amazing color and true vitality. This striking visual style was given to each character, too, making them seem more sturdy and larger than life but totally believable.

While the background of the characters is outside of the mainstream comic book continuity, the Animated Series remained true to the core of the characters' personalities and motivations more than ANY other rendition. It is so compelling that you can not only see Gotham, but feel, smell and even taste this "fictitious" city!

To watch these shows is to fall permanently under the spell of The Batman, the great loner detective, who was driven to crimefighting after the senseless murder of his parents that occurred in front of him during a robbery when he was a boy.

This Batman is noble, tragic, funny, brilliant, obsessed, selfless, real and completely heroic, elements that were sadly missing in the many movie portrayls of the character and often missing in today's comic book maintstream depictions that too often rely on violence (rationalized as "action") in lieu of honest storytelling.

If you have never seen this show, whether adult or child, you should. And for those of us who watched with utter amazement and joy during its original run, these are hugely anticipated DVD

releases.

Let us hope that the remaining episodes will be released soon, and that the subsequent series, Batman Beyond, which was a look at the Caped Crusader in the future complete with an aging Bruce Wayne and a new "Batman," will also soon be released in full on DVD.

In Batman - The Animated Series, Vol. 2, we see more of the classic episodes that added to the already large legend and popularity of one of comics' most enduring characters.

DISC 1

Eternal Youth - Seeking vengence for "crimes against nature", Poison Ivy sets up a vacation spa for unsuspecting philantrophists she blames for the ruining of the planet. One of those people, however, is Bruce Wayne/Batman's butler Alfred!

Perchance To Dream - One of The Dark Knight's stranger episodes as he confronts not only The Mad Hatter.....BUT HIMSELF!

The Cape & The Cowl Conspiracy - Batman takes on a thief who steals information and rare items by threating his victims with death traps. This time, this thief wants to steal the mask of Batman.

Robin's Reckoning: Pt. 1 - Robin's past is revealed for the first time. We also see the first signs of conflict between Batman & Robin as both hunt down the murderer of Robin's parents seperately! This conflict was explored more in the re-vamped version of BatMan in later years.

Robin's Reckoning: Pt. 2 - The conclusion of Robin's origin as we see him become (briefly) almost as dark as Batman himself as he finally faces off with his parents' killer!

The Laughing Fish - One of the darker Joker episodes as The Joker tries to get a pattened on his grotesque version of fish!

Night Of The Ninja - A part of Bruce Wayne's past is revealed as an old foe returns to seek revenge on him.

BONUS FEATURE: Robin Rising - A unique look at this series' version of Robin. One thing is for sure, he isn't the Adam West version!

DISC 2

Cat Scratch Fever - Despite the threat of returning to jail, Selina Kyle is forced to become Catwoman again to stop a plaque on animals in Gotham but when she becomes infected herself, Batman comes to her aid.

The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne - While investigating a blackmail scheme, Bruce Wayne runs across Dr. Hugo Strange whose hypnotherapy machine can actually read and see thoughts!

Heart Of Steel: Pt. 1 - Dr. Carl Rosom, a genius in automatry/robotics, builds HARDAC to replace humankind after the death of his daughter but when he realizes own creation has plans of his own, he tries to stop it but its too late! Now, it is up to Batman to pull the plug on this super-computer before everyone he knows (not to mention the world) is replaced with robot duplicates!

Heart Of Steel: Pt. 2 - The conclusion to this sci-fish but still great two parter!

If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? - The debut of The Riddler as he seeks revenge on an employer that cheated him out of money for work.

Joker's Wild - The Joker escapes from prison to wreck a casino in his name, not knowing that he's actually being duped in a much larger scheme.

Tyger, Tyger - Catwoman is captured and mutated into a half-woman/half-cat being! Batman must rescue her BUT he must face Tygress, the perfect hybird of human intelligence and cat-like ferocity!

BONUS: Gotham's Guardians - A look at Batman's supporting cast of heroes and villians!

DISC 3

Moon Of The Wolf - A star athlete drinks a steriodial compound that turns him into a werewolf!

Day Of The Samari - Batman returns to Japan to face off with The Ninja! This is pt. 2 (though not officially) from Disc 1's "Night Of The Ninja."

Terror In The Sky - Man-Bat has returned or so it seems! Is Kurt Langstrom becoming this vicious creature again or is someone else taking to the skies?!

Almost Got 'Im - An entertaining look at The Joker, The Penguin, Two-Face, Poision Ivy and Killer Croc's tales of how they almost got BatMan!

Birds Of A Feather - The Penguin tries to go straight for a female who does nothing but use him for her own gain! Now, the jilted bird wants revenge!

What Is Reality? - Batman & Robin fight to save Commissioner Gordon from The Riddler's computer VR game.

I Am The Night - One of the most (if not THE most) emotional episodes as Bruce Wayne nearly gives up being Batman after Commissioner Gordon is nearly killed!

BONUS: Voices Of The Knight - Meet the actors that bring these characters to life!

DISC 4

Off Balance - Batman must team with a mysterious woman to take on Vertigo! This eppy also features the first appearance of Raus Al Gul, one of Batman's greatest enemies!

The Man Who Killed Batman - A bumbling thief seemingly gets lucky and kills Batman! Now, he has all of Gotham (including The Joker) after him!

Mudslide - Continuing the "Feat Of Clay" two parter from Vol. 1, Clayface returns to find a cure at all costs for his condition only to cross paths with Batman.

Paging The Crime Doctor - The brother of gangster Rupert Thorne is forced to perform an illegal operation with the unwilling help of an old collegue.

Zatanna - A woman from Bruce Wayne's past is framed for a crime she didn't do. Batman aids her in finding the real thief!

The Mechanic - The Penguin blackmails Batman's private mechanic into rigging the Batmobile for a trip of doom! I should note that the man voicing Earl The Mechanic in this one is the late, great Paul Winfield!

Harley & Ivy - The two femme fatales team up to take on Gotham, The Batman & The Joker!

This volume is well worth the money! Add this to Vol. 1 & Vol. 3 (plus get BatMan: Mask Of The Phantasm and Batman/Mr. Freeze: SubZero) and you'll have the original collection of episodes!

I SEE NOW THEY ARE COMING OUT WITH THE RE-VAMPED EPISODES IN DECEMBER! YES, MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED! THE STORYLINE WILL NOW BE COMPLETE!

Anyway, the product is worth the $30!

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