Batman The Animated Series 25th Anniversary

[ben6543]

September 5th 1992 Batman The Animated Series made its Debut. It is considered the greatest Batman Cartoon in History. It spawned a few Movies and help launch the Timmverse as well. Also it launched the Career of Kevin Conroy among others.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Great thread - thanks for the memories. I remember the debut of B: TAS back in September of '92. I was in college at the time, and even though I was probably too "old" for cartoons (ha ha) I still tried to check out as many episodes as my schedule allowed; I remember this originally being on in the afternoon, on weekdays.

This remains one of my favorite animated series of all time. Excellent animation style, and I liked the noir/night-time setting (in many of the episodes), as well as the storyline(s) and the music.

I have since bought all of the DVD sets, along with the excellent Mask of the Phantasm.

[Britnasty]

Still Top 5 favorite all time animated series. It's the reason I fell in love with Batman as a child and continue to this day.

I lucked out and got the season sets for 1.99 on Deep Discount a year ago and I have rebinnged the show several times.

[ben6543]

ya I was probably 4-5 when the cartoon came out. Besides this I watched Batman Forever and the Adam West Movie. The burton Movies scared the shit out of me as a kid. This show helped bring me into the world of batman.

Man I had a lot of the toys. I also have the whole series on DVD and MOTP on Blu Ray


Verified account @RealKevinConroy 53m53 minutes ago

'The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing but in rising every time you fail' Emerson. 25 years ago today the journey began!

Verified account @HamillHimself 3h3 hours ago

Mark Hamill Retweeted Batman: TAS

25 Yrs of Mr J Madness! Because he's insane-he's unpredictable. Because he's unpredictable-he's never boring & always a joy to play! #BTAS25

[R3P0]

Happy 25th to BTAS what a great series

[Mandalorian]

Happy Quarter Century to a part of my childhood.

[master gandhi]

I was in elementary school when this came out, so I remember coming home from school and watching this every weekday afternoon. I also saw Mask of the Phantasm in theaters.

I had watched the Adam West show occasionally, and loved Tim Burton's Batman movie. This show kept that love alive even longer, and helped solidify me as a life-long Batfan.

I have all the episodes on DVD, and owned the VHS of Mask of the Phantasm back in the day. I believe I'll finally pick up MotP on iTunes in HD today. It's been on my wishlist ever since the week that the Blu-ray came out.

Feels good to celebrate this show's anniversary the day after my own birthday. Happy 25th, BTAS!

[Michael24]

IMO, the greatest animated series ever. I was in 8th grade when it premiered. I actually missed almost the first two week's worth of episodes because at the time we didn't have cable and our Fox reception was really bad. I'd try to watch it through the snow but could only get fleetingly moments of clarity. I finally badgered my parents into getting cable because all my friends at school were talking about it, and I was missing out. I remember coming home after school one day as the cable guy was leaving, and I immediately ran into the house and turned the TV to Fox, and the first episode I got to see in its entirety was "Appointment In Crime Alley." I was hooked from that point on.

The show was amazing, with great animation, a terrific voice cast and scripts so rich that some episodes I didn't even fully appreciate until watching them again when I was older. Some of the early episodes are really impressive in their maturity and sophistication compared to what other cartoons were like at the time, such as the episode "It's Never Too Late." I recorded lots of episodes on VHS to watch over and over. And the music! I would often take a tape recorder and hold it up to the TV speaker to record certain passages, even with the dialog and sound effects in the way. It was unlike any other music I'd ever heard in a cartoon.

Seeing Mask of the Phantasm in the theater the day after Christmas was great but the real B:TAS-related highlight was meeting Kevin Conroy himself at the Warner Bros. Store in San Jose in 1998. I was in college by then and saw a flyer (which I still have) advertising the appearance on the wall in the film department. It was a thrill to meet him and hear him delivering Batman lines in person.

The show was a big part of my adolescence.

By the way, for those interested, La-La Land Records is celebrating the anniversary with a sale (that lasts until tomorrow afternoon) on their B:TAS soundtracks. Volumes 1 & 4 are $20 each, and Volumes 2 & 3 are $40 each. I have all four already and they are absolutely fantastic, with a wealth of music covering episodes from the entire first season.

http://lalalandrecords.com/Site/BTASV1.html
http://lalalandrecords.com/Site/BTASV2.html
http://lalalandrecords.com/Site/BTAS3.html
http://lalalandrecords.com/Site/BTASV4.html

[Aloha from Hawaii 73]

I can still remember I was in Grong , Norway when I saw "The Underdwellers" , first time I ever saw the show........I was hooked from the start !

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Originally Posted by Michael24

IMO, the greatest animated series ever. I was in 8th grade when it premiered. I actually missed almost the first two week's worth of episodes because at the time we didn't have cable and our Fox reception was really bad.

Your memories mirror my own to some extent, even though I was a lot older. I was going to college & living at home @ the time (to save money), and my family were too cheap to get cable, and I couldn't afford it @ the time either - LOL. So, I had to suffer through crappy reception when this show first came out; this is probably why I didn't stick with it after the first season. Though, it's a testament to the show's greatness that I was willing to suffer through watching a good number of episodes w/crappy reception - I wouldn't have bothered if I hadn't really been into the show.

So, for years I didn't see the show at all - until the DVD releases came out much later.

[Michael24]

A good article from the Hollywood Reporter:

'Batman' at 25: Hirings, Firings and Other Last-Minute Changes Behind the Animated Classic

[Monterey Jack]

Still my all-time favorite interpretation of the Dark Knight. And we wouldn't have Harley Quinn or the tragic backstory of Mr. Freeze without it.

[JamesKurtovich]

I feel bad. I actively avoided this show all throughout the '90s because I thought it was too depressing. I was all about that Nickelodeon.

[ChiefSequatchie]

Welp, the 25th Anniversary came and went without a Blu-ray release announcement maybe we'll see what happens for the 30th.

[Phobics]

This needs a Blu remaster release!! The dvds still look okay though. I love the AS and Conroy is awesome. I'm glad he still does the voice.

[Clark Kent]

The Animated Series is the best Batman adaptation in any medium. I really wish they hadn't starved the budget so much.

I've actually suggested they re-animate the entire series in HD with existing audio, keeping the original character designs. It wouldn't be that expensive considering this is the purest Batman series ever made.

[Alfred E. Neumann]

Re-animating everything isn't necessary.
Creating a HD transfer is good enough (4:3 and 16:9).

[Batmon77]

The New Adventures was a drop off in quality. Both writing and animation.

[borgmatrix]

Originally Posted by Batmon77

The New Adventures was a drop off in quality. Both writing and animation.

If I'm thinking of the right seasons, I loved some of those, such as "Old Wounds", "Over the Edge", and "Mad Love". The designs overall weren't as good, but the animation was smoother and more fluid. And some of the new designs I did much prefer (Bane, Mad Hatter, Batgirl).

[Michael24]

Yeah, I found The New Batman Adventures to be a mixed bag. A lot of the character redesigns I didn't care for. Scarecrow was one of the worst, and pretty much all the female characters looked way too stick-thin. Storywise, I thought when the episodes were good ("Over the Edge," "Old Wounds") they were really good, but when they were bad ("Critters") they were really bad.