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Product Description

In the original five episodes of the Emmy-winning Batman The Animated Series, Batman must battle The Joker, The Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and more to protect Gotham City.

Amazon.com

Taking a cue from the caped crusader's comic book rebirth in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, this 1992 animated series saved the TV Batman from a fate worse than camp and drew an unexpected audience for an afternoon cartoon: adults. The initial five episodes gathered here feature such supervillains as Man-bat, the Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy, but the deliciously demented Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) steals the show in his two appearances, especially in the twisted "Christmas with the Joke." Escaping Arkham Asylum in a rocket-powered Christmas tree, the clown prince of crime preempts a TV showing of It's a Wonderful Life with his own homicidal holiday treat. It's a solid start to a sleek, stylized, smartly written series that only improved with time. Ages 7 and up. --Sean Axmaker

Product details

Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 7.5 inches; 3.2 Ounces
Media Format ‏ : ‎ Multiple Formats, Animated, Color, NTSC, Full Screen
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 50 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ April 23, 2002
Actors ‏ : ‎ Kevin Conroy, Loren Lester, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Bob Hastings, Mari Devon
Dubbed: ‏ : ‎ Portuguese, Spanish
Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
Studio ‏ : ‎ Warner Home Video
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00005Y71J
Writers ‏ : ‎ Boyd Kirkland, Jerry Robinson, Neal Adams, Pat Allee, Randy Rogel
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #133,614 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #3,009 in Anime (Movies & TV)
- #11,545 in Kids & Family DVDs

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Scott Andrews

About time, Warner Bros! First 5 episodes of a great series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 20, 2002

Verified Purchase

It's about time that Warner Brothers finally responded to the years of demand by the fans to release the amazing "Batman: The Animated Series" on DVD. What we've finally gotten is a mixed bag, however. I'm happy to see this first disc of episodes in chronological order (rather than the ridiculous themed releases like what we got on VHS), and hopefully Warner will continue to release the entire series in order and complete; but more episodes on the disc would have been nice! What we get here on this release called "Batman: The Legend Begins" is the first five episodes of the animated series -- based on production order, not airdate order -- (1) "On Leather Wings", (2) "Christmas with the Joker", (3) "Nothing to Fear", (4) "The Last Laugh", and (5) "Pretty Poison". Respectively, these episodes are the spectacular pilot with Man-Bat, a lighthearted Joker story, a pretty good Scarecrow story, another (slightly better) Joker story and the origin story of Poison Ivy. A pretty good introduction to the series, but the best was yet to come! As far as extras go, there isn't much. An introduction by Bruce Timm, a few webgames and CD-ROM links, and a brief documentary. (Where are the commentaries, pre-production drawings, artwork slideshows, and extended documentaries?) ... ... Now, if you've never seen the series you are in for a treat! "Batman: The Animated Series" premiered on television way back on Sep. 5th, 1992 with the episode "The Cat & The Claw, part 1" (not included on this first disc), about three months after the live-action "Batman Returns" had come out. The animated series (unlike the mediocre movies) met with almost universal acclaim. Boistered by fabulous writing from the likes of Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, Michael Reaves and many others, as well as solid voice talent like Mark Hamill (wonderful as the Joker) and Kevin Conroy (this guy IS Batman), the series also intoduced such wonderful characters as Harley Quinn and improved versions of nearly ever Batman rogues gallery villian. In my humble opinion, the animated series is the definitive Batman, better than any of the comic books or movies... absolutely nailing the characterizations of Batman/Bruce Wayne himself, as well as his relationships with police commissioner Gordon, Robin/Dick Grayson and best of all Alfred. The series transcends its origins as a "kids cartoon" to being one of the greatest and most adult animated series ever produced. (In a recent poll, it ended second only to "The Simpsons" as the greatest cartoon series ever.) ... At a rate of only five episodes per disc, it will take twenty-two discs to release the entire series of 109 episodes, and that doesn't even count the 50+ episodes of "Batman Beyond" or the 54 episodes of the "Superman" animated series; these series have not yet been announced, but we can only hope... right, Warner Bros?

170 people found this helpful

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"icedfire"

Oh my Lord...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 28, 2002

Verified Purchase

You know, there are a number of well written televisions shows out there: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons, X-Files, Angel, Friends, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to name a few.
Who would've ever thought that an ANIMATED show would top 'em all?
This is the Dark Knight in his finest form. The movies and the past TV shows are all put to shame by this wonderfully crafted show. The animation is excellent and the writing is way above par (seriously, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and the rest of the staff go head-to-head with Joss Whedon [Buffy] and his team in terms of writing dialogue. They are that dang good.)
So on this delightful little DVD, we are treated to the first five episodes produced:
On Leather Wings: The story is really nothing special, but the animation... oh my gosh. It is breathtaking. It's rich, it's smooth, and it really shows the capabilities of the animation team. Rating: **** (out of 5)
Christmas with the Joker: One of the more underrating episodes. Any episode featuring the Joker is a delight for fans of witty dialogue and this is no different. Again, nothing out of the ordinary, just another fun episode. Rating: ***½
Nothing to Fear: Our first look at the Scarecrow. It's a rather bland episode, mainly because I find the Scarecrow at this stage to be rather bland. A typical payback-gone-wrong story. Rating: ***
The Last Laugh: Joker Episode. Excellent Dialogue. This is another one of those Batman-chases-Joker-through-half-the-city-before-catching-him sprinkled with some great dialogue and a KILLER music track. Rating: ****
Pretty Poison: A villian with a cause. This is probably the most interesting episode on the DVD because we get to witness firsthand the origin of one of the more interesting villians, Poison Ivy. Plus, she's kind of hot (okay, so I'm a little whacked) Rating: ****
The Extras: The reason why we buy DVDs... and for the most part, they're not great. The side commentaries are interesting, but that's probably the only extra that's worthwhile. Everything else just seems like filler. This is what essentially brings the rating down to 4 stars.
The final note: Heck, it's Batman the Animated Series! That reason alone should be enough to make you go out and buy this DVD! Yeah, it's not the collection of the best episodes, but hey, we'll get to the good ones eventually. Meanwhile, this should be more than adequate to whet your appetite for future DVD releases.

2 people found this helpful

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Phillip Vasey

Batman fan

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 15, 2021

Verified Purchase

One of the discs was all scratched up and I couldn't play it but other than that I was happy with my purchase.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2003

Verified Purchase

A good start to producing the animated series on Dvd. But, this needs a lot more extras. Extra episodes, extra extras, like deleted scenes, watching the actors rehearse, or reading the scripts would be fun, interviews with the cast, and, since this is for kids :) maybe a few dvd-rom games.
There's just so much more they could do with these DVDs. I'd like to see them take advantage of the opportunities.
Kevin Conroy is awesome. He IS Batman. The artwork is near flawless. I am so drawn into the entire ambience, that I have to catch myself, remembering this is a cartoon. It's not live action. Which, after the dismal Batman & Robin, it's very easy to understand why the animated series seems like live characters, and Batman & Robin seemed more cartoony than the animated series.
Despite the shortage of episodes and extras, I still give this 4 out of 5 stars, or a 92 of 100.

One person found this helpful

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LhiiSC

This is NOT 2-Disc Set! It's 2 SEPARATE volumes.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

I originally purchased this since my copy of The Legend Begins DVD is warped, so I decided to get this assuming it's 2-Disc Set.
It turns out, it's not 2-Disc Set (on 1 DVD case) that I thought it would be. Instead, it's 2 SEPARATE volumes on shrink wrap with paper.
Pretty disappointed, but I recommend this if you are fan of the series and has yet to purchase the individual volumes (which contains few special features that's NOT on Season/Volume Set and Limited Edition Complete Series Set; such as episode introduction with Bruce Timm (creator)).