DC TV Series ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’: Animated Series From Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves Greenlit

[Sithborg]

So more violence, maybe a bit of swearing? I mean, Batman: the Animated Series got pretty dark as is compared to other animated shows of the time like X-Men and Spider-Man. Not to mention Mask of the Phantasm having a bit of blood, plus both it and Return of the Joker having characters say "My God."

Okay, not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but those shows did get dark and mature when they needed to be.

You are about to get as much intimate knowledge of Timm's kinks as I do about Claremont's.

 

[TheWiseGuy487]

So, uh, you were saying…

*SIGH*

The Bruce/Barbra pairing was pitched by Alan Burnett on Batman Beyond, NOT Bruce Timm. Just like it was pitched by Alan Burnett and Brian Azzarello for Batman: The Killing Joke. Timm was not the almighty creator on these projects... it was a collaborative effort, so suddenly reducing Timm and his great work with this character over the last thirty years to ''Hurr, horny guy better not mess it up!! HaHa' is infantile and reductive.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

So, uh, you were saying…

Yeah... Bruce isn't ****ing Barbara in Batman: Caped Crusader. I'd bet money on that.

You can all relax.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Ed Brubaker was unable to return for season two of the show due to the writer's strike (@45:35):



He is still telling us that it is very different from B:TAS, but it will be PG.

 

[Arachnerd]

Still waiting for a teaser or a release date announcement. Anything at this point.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Also, according to reddit (*ahem*), there was a test screening for episode 1 on November 8th. It has serialised storytelling and is supposedly really, really good.

Apparently they told the audience the show was coming out ''soon''. Although, premiering the show in March/April next year to coincide with Batman's 85th anniversary would be very cool.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Filmfreak]

Oh I thought season 1 was done.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I assume they mean season 2... wonder who they got for head writer?

 

[Gothamsknight]

We have been so dry of news for this that I kinda forgot it was happening, and now that I'm reminded I'm really excited again!

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Define "later" Mr Pipski...

 

[Gothamsknight]

This is still my most anticipated comic book show. So is this a reboot of TAS or is a spiritual successor oor? I'm not sure if that's been clarified yet.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

It has nothing to do with B:TAS or the DCAU continuity. This is a brand new thing being billed as a spiritual successor to B:TAS in terms of style, tone and general quality.

 

[Boom]

At the risk of sounding petulant, what the heck is taking this so long to get released?

 

[Gothamsknight]

It has nothing to do with B:TAS or the DCAU continuity. This is a brand new thing being billed as a spiritual successor to B:TAS in terms of style, tone and general quality.

Good. I think itll be worth the wait.

 

[Primal Slayer]

At the risk of sound petulant, what the heck is taking this so long to get released?

Prime wanting to space out their content as much as possible (even though they have nothing airing right now that people are talking about)

 

[Pennywise]

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Isn't Kevin Conroy's Final Batman Performance - IGN

IGN has learned that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will not, in fact, be Kevin Conroy's final voice performance as Batman. He has two posthumous film and TV roles still to come, and at least one of them is BTAS Batman.

www.ign.com

One of them will be in Bruce Timm's Batman: Caped Crusader, an upcoming animated series that was picked up by Prime Video. While we've confirmed that Conroy did record for the show before his death, we're not entirely sure if he'll be voicing Batman specifically.

 

[Sawyer]

Still think the best thing to do with Conroy in this context would be having him voice The Gray Ghost. Pass the torch a bit, like it was with West.

But I guess we’ll see.

 

[Arachnerd]

Will be good to hear his voice one last time in this, though yeah, I don't think he's voicing Batman. Would be interesting if he voiced Thomas Wayne though.

All that being said, I want. A. release date already.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Still think the best thing to do with Conroy in this context would be having him voice The Gray Ghost. Pass the torch a bit, like it was with West.

But I guess we’ll see.

That would be wonderful

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Here's one with a screenshot from Toonzone:



A shame, but nice to know Timm tried to get him on the show before he sadly left us.

Let's just pray the CRISIS one is accurate. It would make a lovely final sendoff for his Batman.

 

[J.Drangal]

After seeing the trailer for X-Men '97, I hope more than ever that Caped Crusader won't use that same "fake" 2D animation.
Because it embraces neither CGI nor classic hand-drawn animation to their full potential, it remains to me stuck in that in-between, a kind of animated version of the "uncanny valley". I know I'm going to sound like a snob (and probably am) but it just feel a bit inauthentic to me...
I understand that the production context has changed over the years, but I really miss classic handmade animation. One of the few projects where I've appreciated these new techniques is "Blue Eyes Samurai", which seems to me to have struck an interesting balance between its modern production process and a fairly organic rendering.
Still wishing for something more classic for this new show.

I would love to see something like what TMS did on BTAS episodes such as "Fear of Victory", "Two-Face, Part I" or "Feat of Clay, Part II".
I love both BTAS and TNBA styles, but in that studio's hands, the art direction of the original series was simply my favorite. The characters were so alive, dynamic, there was a superb shadow work... it was simply perfect.
If I'm not mistaken, the lesser-known cut scenes from SEGA's "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" were also made by them and I'd kill to see them uncompressed :


Anyway, I'm really hoping to get a glimpse of what's coming soon.
This is by far the Batman project I'm most looking forward to.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Some images seem to be floating about Twitter (or X). People saying they are legit from their sources, but the animation doesn't look all that ''cutting edge'' to be me.

I won't link them here (or anywhere) as that would be disrespectful and the crew have done such a good job preventing any leaks thus far. Still, they are there if you want to peruse them and I'm sure they'll start making noise soon enough.

 

[J.Drangal]

I found these supposed leaks and yeah, I think they're real.
If it's easy to imitate concept art, what appears to be stills from episodes, with all that that implies in terms of "in-between" images with character in transitional poses, is harder to imitate. And even if it's not impossible to, it seems a bit too farfetched to me to imagine someone trying that hard to fool everyone.

Anyway, I'm very happy it's apparently 2D animation, but like you @Pfeiffer-Pfan I can't help but think it may not look as sophisticated as I'd imagined...
Sure, we have to see the thing in motion, but right now it looks visually in the same ballpark of what we get on regular BTAS/TNBA episodes. Not that's it's problem at all (I mean, I'm a fan!), but for a event series like this, having promised "state-of-the-art techniques", it seems reasonable to expect ... more? But like said, I need to see the thing in motion as I'm talking too much out of my *** here and it's just unfair to judge animation on random stills like that.

Now, for the character concept art, I'll be honest, I find it hard to imagine that some of these models are really definitive. I hate to say that, but some of them looks a bit uninspired, and I'd say one of them really kind of looks graphically out of place with the others...

I'm still super thrilled about this show!