BATMAN - THE ANIMATED SERIES TV SERIES V. 2(1992):
The best of the animated Batman series', this has
probably the greatest collection of voice actors to
ever grace an animated show! And the stories are
all really engrossing!!
These sets are NOT in chronological order!!! In fact,
this set isn't even all season's one's episodes!! What's
really strange is that all of season one isn't on the
set one and two, but they decided to add two episodes
from season two here!!! No explanations!! But
I have put the dates they were aired so that if you
want to watch them in the order they were aired
you can!!
As for the actors, Kevin Conroy is the best ever voice
actor for Batman, ever(IMHO)!! Also great here is Bob
Hastings as Commissioner Gordon, Efram Zimbalist Jr.
as Alfred & Loren Lester as Robin! And while Brock
Peters(Star Trek movies IV & VI, Star Trek: DS9) is no
Morgan Freeman, he does a decent job as Lucius
Fox!!
DISC 1:
EPISODE 1: ETERNAL YOUTH(Sept. 23, 1992):
Bruce Wayne gets an invitation to a health spa named
"Eternal Youth"!! He has no interest, but he sends Alfred
and Maggie(?) off to scope out the place, little knowing
that he's sending them into great danger, as the place
is owned by Poison Ivy!!! A
EPISODE 2: PERCHANCE TO DREAM(Oct. 19, 1992):
While chasing some hoods, Batman gets knocked out
and wakes up with his life turned upside down!! He's
no longer Batman, that belongs to someone else! His
parents are alive, Alfred has no memory of Bruce being
Batman, and he's engaged to Selina Kyle!! Sounds like
The Mad Hatter is back in business!!
Guest starring returning voice actors Diana Muldaur
(Star Trek: TNG) and Roddy McDowell(Planet Of The
Apes movies and TV series), along with Adrienne
Barbeau(Maud)!! A
EPISODE 3: THE CAPE AND THE COWL CONSPIRACY(Oct. 14, 1992):
A man steals some bonds and is going to sell them to
another country!! Another man gets hold of said man
and bribes him to steal Batman's cape and cowl! Such
strange goings-on!! A
EPISODE 4: ROBIN'S RECKONING PART 1(Feb. 7, 1993):
Somethings going on with Batman, and he tells Robin
that he needs to do some work alone!! This really upsets
Robin, and after some research, Robin discovers a very
dark connection between the dudes that Batman's after
and himself!!
This shows the origin story of Robin!!! And part 1 is mostly
about the early years of Batman with Dick Grayson!! A+
EPISODE 5: ROBIN'S RECKONING PART 2(Feb. 14, 1993):
This one mixes both the earlier parts of Bruce's and Dick's
life with the present!! In it we see how Zucko was a big part
of Batman and Robin's cohesion!!
These last two episodes may very well be the best episodes
of any incarnation of Batman, EVER!!!! A++
EPISODE 6: THE LAUGHING FISH(Jan. 10, 1993):
Wow, after a couple of top-notch episodes, along come this
dud!! Joker's making faces on fish and wants a cut from
everyone who sells fish in any form!! Usually I enjoy the
Joker episodes, but this one was really below par!! B
EPISODE 7: NIGHT OF THE NINJA(Oct. 26, 1992):
A former student along side Bruce Wayne, learning martial
arts, has shown up in Gotham and is wrecking havoc on Wayne
Enterprises, robbing and burning down their buildings!! This
of course brings out Batman and Robin to try to figure out
why! A
DISC 2:
EPISODE 8: CAT SCRATCH FEVER(Nov. 5, 1992):
Selina Kyle(Catwoman) gets 5 years - probation!! She's warned
never to get caught in uniform performing a crime, or she'll have
the book thrown at her!! She's fine with this! But after she gets
home she discovers that her kitty is missing and she goes out
looking for it! While looking, she runs into some thugs trying to
round up stay animals, and this gets her mad, she tries to stop
them, and gets thrown back in jail!! All of this makes sense after
she gets back out and discovers the true culprit behind this, and
a much worse plan!! A
EPISODE 9: THE STRANGE SECRET OF BRUCE WAYNE(Oct. 29, 1992):
A certain judge is being blackmailed, and while she's trying to
pay off her blackmailers, they pull a switch on her, saying that
she didn't give them what they asked for and demanding more!!
Batman just happens to be watching the whole deal go down,
and ends up in the middle of everything as Bruce Wayne!!
This has The Joker(Mark Hamill), The Penguin(Paul Williams) &
Two-Face(Richard Moll) in it!!! A
EPISODE 10: HEART OF STEEL PART 1(Nov. 16, 1992):
A woman drops off a briefcase at the offices of Wayne
Enterprises, and it suddenly comes to life!! It proceeds
to break into a safe and steals some chips, but Bruce
happens to be there and gives chase as Batman!! The
chips cover the research that Wayne Enterprises has
been doing on AI!!
This has the first appearance of Barbara Gordon(who
eventually becomes Batgirl)!!!
Guest starring as Barbara is Melissa Gilbert(Little House
On The Prairie)!! A
EPISODE 11: HEART OF STEEL PART 2(Nov. 17, 1992):
Continued from the previous episode, in this Barbara proves
her worth by helping Batman put an end to the AI threat!!! A
EPISODE 12: IF YOU'R SO SMART, WHY AREN'T YOU RICH?(Nov. 18, 1992):
Puzzle maker extraordinaire Edward Nygma is fired from his job
and boy is he ticked off!! He decides that he's way too smart for
the job he had, and that his smarts should be making him
rich, so he decides to turn to a life of - THE RIDDLER!!! A-
EPISODE 13: JOKER'S WILD(Nov. 19, 1992):
A filthy rich dude decides to open a resort in Gotham,
and he calls it "Joker's Wild"!! Needless to say, not too
many find this funny, but the Joker is the most put off
of them all and plans an escape from Arkham to give
the dude a piece of his mind!!!
Mark Hamill returns as the Joker!! A
EPISODE 14: TYGER, TYGER(Oct. 30, 1992):
Scientist dude kidnaps Selina Kyle(Catwoman) for the
purposes of experimentation!! He proceeds to turn her
into a cat woman!!! A
DISC 3:
EPISODE 15: MOON OF THE WOLF(Nov. 11, 1992):
A man who has aspirations of being a gold medal athlete
goes to a scientist who's come up with a concoction that
will help him with his goal!! Only problem is, said scientist
wants a lot in return!!
Guest starring Tom Hanks' co-star in Bosom Buddies,
Peter Scolari!! A
EPISODE 16: DAY OF THE SAMURAI(Feb. 23, 1993):
Bruce Wayne's old sensei has his prize student kidnapped
and the ninja who did it wants the map that leads to a
secret parchment that holds the secret of an ancient form
of battle that was deemed too dangerous for anyone to ever
use!! He calls upon his old student for help! A
EPISODE 17: TERROR IN THE SKY(Nov. 12, 1992):
The Man-Bat is back, and everyone thinks that it's the
same dude!! But is it? He doesn't remember transforming
and there's evidence that perhaps someone else is up to
his old tricks!!
Guest starring here is Rene Auberjonois(Star Trek: DS9)!! A
EPISODE 18: ALMOST GOT 'IM(Nov. 10, 1992):
One of the more interesting premise for a show, this one
has all of the top criminals from Gotham bragging about
how close they came to ending things for Batman!!
This has Gotham's finest: The Joker, Poison Ivy, Two-Face,
The Penguin & Crock!! Even Harley and Catwoman get into
the show!! In fact, the whole episode is really just about
Catwoman!!!
All the big names guest star here: Mark Hamill(Joker),
Richard Moll(Two-Face), Paul Williams(Penguin) &
Adrienne Barbeau(Catwoman)!! A+
EPISODE 19: BIRDS OF A FEATHER(Feb. 8, 1993):
The Penguin gets released from jail and vows to go
straight! He's quickly ensnared by a young, very rich
woman who wants to throw a party and have him as
the main attraction!! Only, she's doing it for laughs
while he thinks she is attracted to him!! And Bruce/
Batman doesn't know what to make of the whole
affair!! This is one of the stranger episodes!! A-
EPISODE 20: WHAT IS REALITY?(Nov. 24, 1992):
Edward Nygma(The Riddler) is back and he's trying to
destroy all evidence that he ever existed!! No idea
why, but Batman and Robin decide to take the bait
and stop what ever plan he's got!! A
EPISODE 21: I AM THE NIGHT(Nov. 9, 1992):
Batman is having doubts that being the Dark Knight
is what he really should be doing; whether it's doing
any good or not!! This all started when, while doing
his yearly honoring of the death of his parents in
crime alley, Commissioner Gordon gets seriously
injured while pulling a sting on a bunch of hoods,
and Batman was supposed to be there, but he
was delayed when some punks near the spot where
his parents were killed start giving a young man a
thrashing and he intervenes!! This is a great episode!! A+
DISC 4:
EPISODE 22: OFF BALANCE(Nov. 23, 1992):
Back to ninjas! This one has Batman trying to find
out information on a group called The Society Of
Shadows when he's attacked by some ninja-type
dudes who are there to make sure another dude
doesn't spill the beans on the organization!! The
only tip that Batman picked up on this encounter
was that whoever or whatever this group is about
they appear to be out after one of Wayne Enterprises
newest inventions!! Couple this with a mysterious
woman in black and this makes for quite a mystery!
This introduces us to a dude named Vertigo and
a gal named Talia El Ghul, as well as her father
Ra's al Ghul!!
This begins a fairly large arc surrounding al Ghul
and the group that he heads!!
Guest starring here as the voice for Ra's al Ghul
is David Warner(Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered
Country as Chancellor Gorkon! Also he was in
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and in the two
part episode "Chain Of Command" of Star Trek:
TNG as Gul Madred) in his first of five Batman:
TAS episodes! And another guest star is Helen
Slater(Supergirl[1984])!
Also here is Michael York(Austin Powers movies,
Logan's Run)! A
EPISODE 23: THE MAN WHO KILLED BATMAN(Feb. 1, 1993):
A small time hood is given credit for bumping off
Batman while he was helping a gang pick up some
drugs for some mob hot shots!!
Eventually, this gets Harley Quinn and The Joker
involved!!
Guest starring the usual, Mark Hamill and Arleen
Sorkin(who's made a living off of playing Harley in
the several animated series) as The Joker and Harley
Quinn, and also Matt Frewer(The Librarian TV movies)!! A
EPISODE 24: MUDSLIDE(Sept. 15, 1993):
This is a season 2 episode!!
Mat Hagen(Clayface) is back and he's not the glob of
goo he used to be!! Seems that whatever has given him
the ability to transform to whoever he wants is starting
to degrade!!
Guest starring here is Ron Perlman(Hellboy)!! A
EPISODE 25: PAGING THE CRIME DOCTOR(Sept. 17, 1993):
Also a second season episode!!
Crime boss Rupert Thorne's younger brother Matthew is
not happy having been thrown out of the medical profession
and being relegated to being a doctor for the mob!! He tells
his brother as much, and while having this discussion Rupert
has a heart attack and things get dicey in the Thorne family!!
This gets Batman's friend Dr. Leslie Thompkins involved, which
of course brings in Batman!!
Guest starring Diana Muldaur and Joseph Campanella(Mannix,
The Bold Ones)! A
EPISODE 26: ZATANNA(Feb. 2, 1993):
Zatanna is a female magician who, in another life, Bruce Wayne
knew through her father, Zatarra, when Bruce went to him to
learn the way of escapism!! She is in Gotham for a charity show
where she is showing off her skills!!
Eventually, Bruce/Batman gets involved because Zatanna
is blamed for grand larceny which he knows isn't possible!!
This gets extremely silly at the end with people on the
wings of a plane flying in the air!!! A-
EPISODE 27: THE MECHANIC(Jan. 24, 1993):
While chasing The Penguin, Batman and Robin have a wreck
which sends the Batmobile to the mechanic!! One of the Penguin's
henchmen is on his A game and brings the Penguin a dude who
supplies special order parts for cars, and he happens to be the
one who supplies the mechanic with the parts for the Batmobile!!
This makes the Penguin a very happy fellow indeed, and he proceeds
to plan a trap for Batman and Robin!! A-
EPISODE 28: HARLEY AND IVY(Jan. 28, 1993):
The Joker treats Harley crappy one too many times, and she
decides to break out on her own!! She goes to a museum to
pull a heist on her own for the first time, when while grabbing
the gem the alarm goes off and who shows up but Poison Ivy!
They end up helping each other get out of the museum, and
decide to become partners!! A
SPECIALS:
DISC 1:
ROBIN RISING:
The evolution of the character of Robin in the series!!
With input from: Paul Dini(Writer), Bruce Timm(Producer),
Boyd Kirkland(Producer), Kevin Altieri(Director), Eric
Radomski(Producer) & Dan Riba(Director)!
DISC 2:
GOTHAM'S GUARDIANS:
An overall discussion of the characters that appear on the
series!! Interestingly, they never mention Robin!! With input from:
Paul Dini(Writer), Bruce Timm(Producer), Eric Radomski
(Producer), Boyd Kirkland(Director), Alan Burnett(Producer),
Kevin Altieri(Director), Dan Riba(Director)!!! A+
DISC 3:
VOICES OF THE KNIGHT:
With input from: Efrem Zimbalist Jr.(Alfred), Andrea Ramono
(Voice Casting/Direction), Kevin Conroy(Batman/Bruce Wayne),
Adrienne Barbeau(Catwoman/Selina Kyle) & Mark Hamill(Joker),
as they discuss what it was like doing the voice acting!! A+
DISC 4:
On this one there's three previews of other DVDs!
From an IMDb.com customer
This is one of my all time favorite cartoon shows.
The two elements that made up the show had plenty
of action and just enough violence to keep you
interested. And even though it was violent, I still
turned out to be a normal adult and not a psychotic
killer. Too bad that parents groups thought that it
was too violent, or my generation would have been
spared such shows as Shazam, Isis and Super
Friends. - Brian Washington (Sargebri@att.net