The Batman (TV series)

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The Batman
Title card
Genre	Superhero Detective
Based on	DC Comics characters Batman by Bob Kane Bill Finger (uncredited)
Developed by	Michael Goguen Duane Capizzi
Written by	Duane Capizzi (seasons 1-4) Michael Jelenic (season 4) Alan Burnett (season 5)
Voices of	Rino Romano Danielle Judovits Evan Sabara Alastair Duncan Piera Coppola Ming-Na Wen Steve Harris Kevin Michael Richardson Tom Kenny Mitch Pileggi Adam West
Theme music composer	The Edge (seasons 1 and 2) Andy Sturmer (seasons 3–5)
Composer	Thomas Chase
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	65 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Sam Register Tramm Wigzell (for Cartoon Network) (seasons 1–3) Betsy McGowen David Wiebe (season 4) Ian Richter (season 5) (for Kids' WB) (seasons 4 and 5) Alan Burnett (seasons 1–4) Sander Schwartz (seasons 1–5) Duane Capizzi (season 4) Lisa Judson (season 5)
Producers	Linda M. Steiner Jeff Matsuda (seasons 1–4) Glen Murakami (seasons 1–3)
Running time	21–23 minutes
Production companies	Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Warner Bros. Animation DC Comics (seasons 3–5)
Original release
Network	Kids' WB (The WB/The CW) Cartoon Network (2005–2006)
Release	September 11, 2004 (2004-09-11) – March 8, 2008 (2008-03-08)
Related
Batman Beyond (1999–2001) Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008–2011)

The Batman is an American

All five seasons are available on DVD and Blu-ray. In 2005, a direct-to-DVD film titled The Batman vs. Dracula was released. The Batman also received a spin-off comic book series, The Batman Strikes!, published by DC Comics; it was set in the same continuity as the show and featured the same art style.^[1][2][3][4]

Synopsis

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Billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne (voiced by Rino Romano) is secretly The Batman, the costumed protector of Gotham City. The series focuses on Batman's earlier years of his crime-fighting career, as he began fighting crime three years prior to the start of the series, and the Gotham City police do not publicly acknowledge the vigilante's existence. Operating out of a secret lair underneath Bruce Wayne's mansion—known as the Batcave—Batman and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth (voiced by Alastair Duncan), stop crime with the assistance of high-tech gadgets and a supercomputer.

Season 1

At the start of the first season, crime in Gotham is in decline, but Gotham Chief of Police Angel Rojas (voiced in the pilot by

Throughout season 1, both Bennett and Yin are tasked with capturing Batman. During this first season, Bruce Wayne finds himself torn between his responsibilities as Batman and his regular life, though the latter is supported by Gotham's mayor, Marion Grange (voiced by Adam West who played Batman in the 1960s Batman TV series). By the end of the season, Bennett is tortured and mutated by the Joker, transforming Bennett into Clayface. As Clayface, he is forced into hiding, while his partner Yin finally realizes she was wrong about Batman and forms an alliance with him.

Among the villains introduced this season are the

Throughout the second season, Batman continues to act outside of the law even though he has Detective Yin as an ally. Batman begins making a name for himself as a force for good when he saves a group of policemen from certain doom. In this season, his heroic act prompts the officers to support him rather than pursue him as a criminal. In the season finale, Police Chief Rojas finally uncovers Yin's involvement with Batman, forcing her to go on the run. Around this time, Commissioner James Gordon (voiced by Mitch Pileggi), the main law enforcement figure in most of the Batman mythos, rejects Rojas' belief that Batman is a criminal. Commissioner Gordon instead believes Batman to be an ally of the Gotham police force and is particularly impressed when Batman and Yin capture the Joker, Penguin, and Riddler. He is revealed to be Batman's secret ally off-screen and develops a signaling searchlight, the Bat-Signal, allowing Batman to know that the police are firmly on his side.

This season introduces more villains, including

This Batman-Batgirl storyline differs from the comic books. In previous incarnations of the story, Batman's first partner is Dick Grayson, who becomes Robin and joins Batman as his apprentice, later leaving to become Nightwing. The decision for Batgirl to be Batman's first sidekick in The Batman was due to Robin not permitted to be used in the show due to him being used in the Teen Titans animated series, which aired on Cartoon Network and due to the Bat-embargo (a restriction in place regarding usage Batman's allies and enemies in multiple animated shows based on the comics). This season also sees the destruction of Batman's original Batmobile, which is replaced by an updated version for the remainder of the series.

Several more new villains from the Batman mythos are introduced this season, including

With the conclusion of Teen Titans in 2006, the fourth season introduces

The third episode of the season titled "Clayfaces" features a nod to Superman II's diner scene. Two patrons, in the episode, are seen dressed and looking like Clark Kent and Lois Lane from the film, although they are not a couple and not sitting together. The diner is also similarly constructed, and the waitress in the episode is dressed similar to the one in the 1980 film.

More villains with new interpretations are once again introduced, including

This was the final season worked on by Jeff Matsuda and Michael Jelenic, both of whom departed from the show after the season finale.

Season 5

The final season on The Batman, season 5, focused primarily on Batman and Robin, with the pair teaming up with some of the DC Universe's characters to battle different villains. These team-ups included Martian Manhunter,

Most of the villains featured in the season are reinterpretations of those that fought against the DC heroes who teamed-up with Batman. These villains include Lex Luthor (voiced by Clancy Brown, reprising his role from the DC Animated Universe), Mercy Graves (voiced by Gwendoline Yeo), Metallo (voiced by Lex Lang), Count Vertigo (voiced by Greg Ellis), the Toyman (voiced by Richard Green), the Shadow Thief (voiced by Diedrich Bader), Sinestro (voiced by Miguel Ferrer), and the Mirror Master (voiced by John Larroquette). Only the Terrible Trio (voiced by David Faustino, Grey DeLisle, and Googy Gress),^[8] the Wrath (voiced by Christopher Gorham), and Phosphorus are reinterpretations of Batman villains. Phosphorus differs in the show from the comic version, in that Firefly mutates into him, giving him the same radioactive skills and incorporating Phosphorus's insanity, while the Terrible Trio mutated themselves and others into animal hybrids using a mutagen created by Kirk Langstrom.

Episodes

Home media

All of the

• The Complete First Season DVD (2 discs, episodes 1–13) (release date: February 7, 2006)
• The Complete Second Season DVD (2 discs, episodes 14–26) (release date: September 12, 2006)
• The Complete Third Season DVD (2 discs, episodes 27–39) (release date: April 10, 2007)
• The Complete Fourth Season DVD (2 discs, episodes 40–52) (release date: November 20, 2007)
• The Complete Fifth Season DVD (2 discs, episodes 53–65) (release date: July 8, 2008)
• The Complete Series Blu-ray (6 discs, release date: March 1, 2022) the Batman vs Dracula film not included.
• The Batman vs. Dracula DVD (1 disc, feature-length animated film) (release date: October 18, 2005)

The Batman official games

The Batman Plug and Play TV video game

The Batman Plug and Play TV Video Game (a.k.a. Plug 'n Play) was released in 2004 by Jakks Pacific. It features The Batman tracking down notable villains from the show, including The Joker, Firefly, Mr. Freeze, Bane, and Penguin. The game comes with a custom The Batman controller which connects to a TV via RCA connectors.

The Batman: The CobbleBot Caper

The Batman: The CobbleBot Caper is a

The Batman Strikes!

The Batman Strikes! is a DC comic book series featuring Batman and is a spin-off comic book series of The Batman. Part of DC's line for young readers, the series lasted 50 issues in total, with the last issue shipping in October 2008.^[10]

Collected editions

Crew

• Michael Goguen – Supervising producer
• Duane Capizzi – Supervising producer
• Glen Murakami – Producer
• Jeff Matsuda – Producer
• Linda M. Steiner – Producer
• Sander Schwartz – Executive producer
• Alan Burnett – Executive producer
• Kimberly A. Smith – Associate producer
• Sam Liu – Director
• Brandon Vietti – Director
• Seung Eun Kim – Director
• Michael Hack – Casting director
• Ginny McSwain – Casting director
• Andrea Romano – Casting director (seasons 4–5)
• Ginny McSwain – Voice director (seasons 1–3)
• Andrea Romano – Voice director (seasons 4–5)
• The Edge – Theme music creator

Awards

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The Batman received

In 2005, it was nominated for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program, an Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program (Kevin Michael Richardson as the Joker), Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition, and Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Live Action and Animation (for which it won).

In 2006, it was nominated and won Outstanding Special Class Animated Program and Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Live Action and Animation.

In 2007, it was nominated for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program and won Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Live Action and Animation.

In 2008, it was nominated for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program and Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program (Kevin Michael Richardson as the Joker), and won Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Live Action and Animation, and Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing – Live Action and Animation.^[14]

The Batman was also nominated for Motion Picture Sound Editors "Golden Reel Awards" for Sound Effects Editing in 2005, 2008, and 2009, winning in 2008.

Reception

IGN wrote that the series failed to win over diehard Batman fans the way Batman: The Animated Series did, but noted that it remained popular enough to last for five seasons.^[15]

Unrealized Superman spin-off

In June 2006, during an interview about Superman: Brainiac Attacks, writer Duane Capizzi mentioned a Superman series set in the same universe of The Batman, a possibility supported by Superman's revealed existence during the show's fifth season.^[16] Despite this, the expansion was never realized, and Capizzi never again mentioned the spin-off.

See also

• The Batman vs. Dracula
• Batman: The Animated Series
• The New Batman Adventures

References

External links

• DC page: TV series, comic
• The Batman at
  IMDb
• The Batman at WarnerBros.com
• The Batman at The World's Finest
• The Batman at Legions of Gotham
• The Batman at Batman: Yesterday, Today & Beyond
• The Batman at BATMAN-ON-FILM.COM Archived 2007-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
• The Batman (TV Series) from DC Wikia