Customer Reviews

The Batman: Training for Power Season One, Vol. 1

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If you're going to have any chance of liking this show, you have to completely forget about "Batman: The Animated Series." BTAS was, is, and will remain one of TV's crowning achievements in animation. This new series doesn't aspire to anything that lofty-it's kid-vid. Judge it that way.

I'm 40 years old with a 10-year-old superhero-loving daughter. We watch the show together. We understand this show is a new riff. It has something of an anime influence, and it works. The show looks awesome. The theme music, by The Edge of U2, is very cool. Let's look at the characters. (BTW-don't look for Comissioner Gordon, Batgirl, Robin, Bullock, Montoya-they're not here. At least, not yet)

Batman/Bruce Wayne: He's young, he's just starting, he makes mistakes, and he's still having fun.

Alfred: One of the best parts of this show. Really captures the complex fellow that Alfred is.

Villains on this disc:

Joker: A Joker who is Bruce's equal in hand-to-hand combat? Neither my daughter or I care for this take on Batman's biggest foe.

Bane: Interesting version. Tad over-the-top, but what the heck. The episode does highlight Bruce's brainpower over brawn. The introduction of Rupert Thorne is a nice touch.

Penguin. This one flat-out-works. You really get a feel for what makes Oswald Cobblepot tick. They take the high-society-wannabee aspect of Paul Williams from BTAS, and add a true sense of menace.

Other villains from later in the series:

Catwoman: Get the costume right. My daughter and I call her Mousewoman.

Mr. Freeze: Worst of all the reimaginings. They've taken the most incredible tragic character from BTAS (and the DC Universe in general) and reduced him to a common jewel thief. Pathetic.

Clayface: Awesome. The two-part origin special may be the best episode so far. The production team really found their feet on this one. A Gotham cop gone horribly wrong through no fault of his own. Hearkens back to BTAS's treatment of Victor Fries.

Riddler: Loved it. Looks cool, and so far seems to be Batman's intellectual equal.

Bottom line: Batman can survive any reworking. From the camp of the '60s TV show to Frank Miller's brooding Dark Knight, the icon remains. "The Batman" is a update for a new audience, no more, no less. If you're expecting the glories of BTAS, save your money, and buy the BTAS box sets instead. If you're looking for a little kid-friendly fun, give it a whirl. Although at only three episodes on the disc, you might want to wait. For a better value for kid-friendly superhero action, try the six-episode "Static Shock: The New Kid."

If you're looking for something groundbreaking like B:TAS or "The New Batman Adventures," you'll have to look elsewhere. "The Batman" is nothing new. In fact, it's the kind of Saturday morning show you might have seen in the late-80's. This re-imagining abandons many if not all of the conventions that made the other animated shows great. No longer are the villains multi-layered and complex; rather they are the standard cardboard cutouts that exist solely for the purpose of fighting the hero. Further, Batman mythos mainstay James Gordon is abandoned in favor of two "hipper" more "kid-friendly" replacements that serve the same function. On the plus side, the animation is good; but it is still not enough to make up for the series' shortcomings. I understand the second season was better, but if so, they must have made some major changes. All in all, a disappointment.

Batman is supposed to be the dark knight. This show reminds me of the Batman movies of the 90's which made batman "happier" and more "friendlier". The dialog is also lacking for this show as well. Plus I don't buy the excuse that the reason that this show is dumbed down is because its for kids. The original batman cartoon had just as many toys and had just as many kids watching it and still managed to pull off excellent characterization, intelligent dialog and a great story. You actually felt for the characters. Plus, you don't need to have seen the original animated series or even be a fan to see that 1.)this show is plagued with horrible dialog. 2.) batman is mis-characterized and 3.) that theres absolutely no depth to this series or any of the characters. Just my 2 cents on this show, but go ahead and watch the show and make your own judgement.

This version of Batman is for morons! My 12 years old cousin came to my house to stay in Christmas week. He told me that he watch this miserable show on TV. He told me about the atrocities that criminal producer Sam made with Batman.

I told him that I have Batman cartoons in my DVD stand and he told me he wanted to watch it. Immediately, I picked up my two seasons of the 90's Batman TAS serie and my four animated movies for him to watch. So I put him to watch the first season of Batman TAS. And guess what? He LOVED IT! He also told me he wanted a copy! He told me as we was watching "Uncle, I like this cartoons more than the ones on TV".

Do yourself a favor: avoid like the plague this DVD and buy a Scooby Doo cartoon for your kid, instead of this. He will thank you.

The Batman is WB's current hot, hip action show, completely tossing out the classic, definitive animated Batman from a few years earlier and reimagining him as a younger, less brooding, hipper, cooler toy-selling crime-fighting hero. If that's too much 'hip' for you, it's because the exces seem to think that a Bruce Wayne who listens to pop music and tosses quips out like Spider-Man will make up for the lack of story and characterization in this show.

The Batman's strong points are in its art style and animation. The animation is fluid and engaging, doing things you wish the better Justice League series could do with its limited budget. The art style, rather than mimicking the designs of Bruce Timm, goes in a completely different direction by making the characters more grotesque and exaggerated. It might not work for everyone, but it's still appealing in an 'Elseworlds' kinda way. Jeff Matsuda's work is commendable.

But there's still that issue of story and character, and The Batman really provides neither. Granted some of the early BTAS episodes were mediocre too, but the horrible dialogue here (delivered by experienced but miscast voice actors) is really what makes it so painful to watch. The show is worth checking out once just to see the designs and animation, but it's not worth owning, and in no way worth the 3 episodes/disc investment WB is asking from you. Grab the BTAS sets instead.

The Batman is the latest in Kid's WB's unending crappy lineup trying to imitate anime. In a recent article promoting the equally awful-looking "Loonatics", a WB representitive says "That's on purpose. Kids like anime." Yes, some do, but that doesn't mean that you have to go out of your way to make sure that the stories are paper-thing, and that the characters all look like Pokemon rejects. Either the writers of the scripts are seriously talking down to the audience, something you should never do no matter who the audience is, or they're just idiots themselves. I suspect it's a mixture of both.
In addition, this DVD collects a scant THREE, count them, THREE episodes for a price half of what many multi-disced box sets are. This release may eat your money, but at least it won't eat a lot of your time.

I don't understand how another reviewer kept complaining about this DVD (her son being upset, deciding to just use it as a coaster, etc...) - it's not out until later this month. I suppose she was anticipating how she'd feel when she bought this based on the show that's being aired currently. Of course, that begs the question, why buy the DVD if you hate the show currently being aired so much? Regardless, I'm a big fan of the classic BTAS and can still enjoy this new Batman show - much of the animation is truly stunning and I like the different take on Batman, even if it's not my favorite.

I love batman, but this version of batman is by far the worst version ever created (including all the live action, animation, or comic book versions of batman). I have no clue why they are wasting animation resourses on a crap cartoon like this, when they could be putting it toward quality cartoons like Justice League. Warner Bros. needs to get a clue. I might not be a kid anymore (I'm the ripe old age of 21), but if I ever have kids I can promise you they will not be allowed to watch this. They will be watching all of the Batman the animated series dvds that I bought last month. Please parents (and kids) go buy those dvds (or superman the animated series, or justice league, or batman beyond, or x-men, or even teen titans) instead of wasting your money on this crapola.

in this movie you get to see the first four episodes of The Batman. this is a pretty good complication.

My four year old really wanted a 'Batman' video from Santa, for Christmas. After researching on line for something mildly appropriate for him, rather impresionable, so it fits the bill. Cinamatically speaking it is not so illustrious. Price was right as was actual product condition, except for ripped DVD cover but isn't so bad overall.