Batman-Beyond-TV-Animated
April 22nd 2011 03:46
Batman Beyond - TV Animated - Review
Review:
Batman Beyond took the story of the Dark Knight and moved it 40 years into a techno-noir-anime future where an elderly Bruce Wayne has long since hung up the cape. A brash teenager, Terry McGinnis, stumbles upon Bruce's secret past as a superhero and picks up where Bruce left off as Gotham's newest Batman.
All 52 episodes of Batman Beyond's three-season run have been collected in this boxed set, along with a myriad of audio commentaries and behind the scenes documentaries. All but one of the discs are the exact same discs from the individual season sets, and the only "new" disc contains retrospective documentaries as well as the new doc Secret Origins: The Story of DC Comics. Narrated by Hollywood's newest superhero, Green Lantern's Ryan Reynolds, this piece examines the history of the comic book publisher responsible for bringing Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to the forefront of American culture.
Notably absent from this set is the Justice League Unlimited episode Epilogue, Batman Beyond's de facto series finale. Batman Beyond wasn't renewed for a fourth season and the show's crew weren't notified that the third season would be the last, so the series never received the proper send-off until Epilogue. It never seemed like a problem for episodes from DC Animated Universe shows to be included in the DVD sets of the recent string of feature-length DC animated movies, so it shouldn't seem like such a problem to include Epilogue in this boxed set.
Also missing is the feature-length movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, but I'm almost willing to let them slide on since it wasn't specifically an episode of the series. But Return of the Joker is one of the highlights in the character's history and one of the best animated Batman films, so leaving it out of this set is disappointing. Considering the limited amount of Batman Beyond content (3 seasons, 1 movie, and only 2 or 3 appearances in the Justice League shows), you think it wouldn't seem like too much trouble to collect them all in one set. This entire set is a bit of fan service, so why not go the whole way?
Batman Beyond seems to be making a comeback recently. The story is being introduced into the comic book continuity with a wildly successful six-issue miniseries that has just been renewed as an ongoing series. It's no doubt that Batman Beyond has a following that this boxed set will definitely appeal to.
Grade - B (plus - Average) - The only things keeping Batman Beyond: The Complete Series from getting an A is the absent Epilogue episode and Return of the Joker.
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