With "Batman: The Animated Series" (really the original 80+ episodes for FOX) I just LOVE the fact that Timm and Radomski were incredibly adamant about making the show as cinematic and, yes, mature as possible.
Some people have said that BTAS wasn't as mature as it would seem...but that's not true.
Case in point, look at the episode "See no Evil"...an episode that not only DIDN'T feature a prominent Batman rogue ("The Batman" could've learned something from that), but revolved around an ex-con using an invisible plastic to kidnap his daughter from his ex-wife...I mean look at that...a cartoon character with an ex-wife!
Look at "Vendetta" in which Batman actually takes the time to silently bust into the Gotham Police Department records to help in his investigation of Bullock, and whether or not he may or may not be the culprit in an attempted bombing and abduction...Instead of throwing punches and one liners, Batman's trudging through a dank records room pulling files!
And in the animated movie "Sub Zero" ... How many animated characters, like Gregory Belson, have their own stockbroker!
My point is that that show paid sooo much attention to detail, to thematic and dramactic storytelling...all in an attempt to ground it and make it as real to life as possible.
Now look at "The Batman" or "Brave and the Bold"...in which, despite the fact that both shows were birthed out of the initial success of BTAS, the hero is once again a combination of a one note crimefighter solving his problems with an endless array of fists...or the problems are solved by clues that are juvenile and childish.
It's like pre-TAS action-based cartoons were in a slump...then TAS raised the bar and showed what could be done...and everything afterwards didn't measure up.
Despite this one flaw, I as a fan still enjoy "The Batman" and "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" for what they are.
Sorry, but a lot of your particular gripes with Batman: The Brave and the Bold are totally inapplicable. Batman TAS may have been very mature with the way it was made, but you cannot state as if fact that it IS as mature as it seems, because it is a matter of opinion. In my opinion it isn't as much as it seems (and this is discoutning the rabid fans that think every episode deserves 5 stars and that BTAS explored themes better than every other cartoon) sometimes, because amidst deep episodes like Two Face or Appointment in Crime Alley there'd be a Dreams in Darkness occasionally, an episode praised simply because it has a nightmarish parent death sequence, discounting that the rest of the episode really isn't deep at all, even corn ball, and is really quite iffy.
As for The Batman not having original villains, I think you need to watch it again. The guy from Seconds, Gearhead, Rumor, Tony Zucco, Everywhere Man, Spell Binder and I'm sure I'm missing another. This is not really applicable to Batman: The Brave and the Bold either, since the concept is a teamup show, so two superheroes going after a divorced guy doesn't really work. The show still has invented villains though such as Fun Haus, Slug, Jarvis Kord (my second favourite), Baby Face, K'rull and Equinox (my favourite)
And again, Batman going through police documents is not really applicable to Brave and the Bold either, since this show captures the Silver Age style, this Batman wouldn't do that. Yet if your looking for details just look at all the references and comic details that are so abundant it'd take me a couple of pages worth just to write what I remember.
And again again, criticising Brave and the Bold for not being grounded and real-to-life as possible is a flawed argument, since it isn't about a grounded Batman but one that exists alongside other heroes in the wide DC universe. It'd be like criticising Lord of the Rings for being too fantastic.
I must admit you pegged down one flaw in Brave and the Bold; that the problems are often just solved through fighting, even though a fair share of BTAS eps did this too. Still, some eps have still used better methods of defeating the villain, like Rise of the Blue Beetle in which Jaime uses Kanjar Ro's own weapon against him, Deep Cover for Batman's code communication with Red Hood to release the heroes, Game Over for Owlman's use of the Phase Oscillator (not random technology because it was part of the plot), Batman's use of psychology to sway Batmite in Legend of the Dark Mite and of course the very BTAS way he defeats Equinox...which I won't spoil.
And I never got this saying "I as a fan still enjoy *insert here* for what they are." What do you imply by this?
^^^
Actually, The Batman had a similar villain from "See No Evil" in an episode called "Seconds". The guy wasn't a traditional costumed villain, was an ex-con, and had a broken family, like the invisible guy. The episode did have a happier ending, but it was still good.
That was a better episode than See No Evil too, because the family sub plot was key at the end while See No Evil just didn't do anything with it at the end.
