TV Review: The Batman (2004)
Wealthy playboy Bruce Wayne is in his third year of a double life as the mysterious masked vigilante, Batman. Gotham City police chief Angel Rojas officially claims that “the Bat” is an urban legend in public, but to his subordinates rails against Batman for being more competent at fighting crime than he is. He’s assigned police detectives Ethan Bennett (a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne) and Ellen Yin to find a way to arrest the vigilante. But as normal organized and street crime lessens in Gotham City, new, more unusual criminals appear to fill the vacuum, starting with the clownish but dangerous Joker.
This series aired on Kids’ WB from 2004-2008, taking a break from the DC Animated Universe to create its own distinct continuity.
The first season introduces several members of Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery, with the Penguin getting a considerable combat upgrade from his usual. Bennett and Yin pursue Batman, though Bennett starts to soften on the vigilante after being rescued a few times, which gets him mistreated by Rojas. The Joker abducts Bennett at the end of the season and torments him into a mental breakdown, as well as exposing him to mutagenic chemicals that make Bennett into the shapeshifting Clayface.
The second season has Yin, bereft of her partner, becoming Batman’s secret ally on the police force. This is eventually discovered by Chief Rojas, but a botched operation to capture Batman once and for all results in him being overruled by the new police commissioner of Gotham city, James Gordon.
With Commissioner Gordon now openly in his favor, Batman has a less antagonistic relationship with the police in the third season. Rojas, Yin and Bennett/Clayface all are missing this season, but Batman gets an initially unwanted sidekick in Batgirl, who is Barbara Gordon, the commissioner’s teenage daughter and an expert gymnast.
Which sets the stage in the fourth season for Robin. When circus acrobat Dick Grayson’s parents are murdered by criminals, Bruce Wayne adopts the boy, and eventually Dick pushes his way into becoming the Boy Wonder. Batgirl is finally promoted to full sidekick. Ethan is finally cured of being Clayface (only to have another person take over the role), and he and Yin are namechecked in an episode set in the far future of 2027. The season finale introduces J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter in a plot about an alien invasion, and introduces the concept of the Justice League.
The fifth season is mostly team-ups with the various Justice League members (all male), starting with a Superman two-parter, and concluding with a full Justice League two-parter which is basically “Batman and sidekicks save the League.” At this point, Kids’ WB changed direction and cancelled the show, but it’s a satisfying place to stop.
There was also a TV movie set in the continuity, “The Batman vs. Dracula”, which is on my watchlist for someday, and a spinoff comic book series, The Batman Strikes. The latter address some loose plot threads.
As part of distinguishing itself from Batman: The Animated Series, there were some rather drastic changes in character design, especially for the villains. It takes a bit of getting used to. This series made considerably less use of the “sympathetic backstory” for villains; its version of Mr. Freeze is a callous, greedy jewel thief rather than a tragically misguided scientist in mourning. The setting itself is less the “timeless gothic” of its predecessor, and more then-current day/high tech.
While it is mostly episodic, the seasons do have overall arcs, and time does pass. Barbara Gordon graduates from high school and begins college…with no visible change in appearance.
Content note: As standard for superhero shows, there’s quite a bit of bloodless violence and threats of doom/death. It’s mostly okay for tweens on up, though the Robin episode, where Dick’s parents die, and the one where Ethan is tormented into a mental breakdown, may be a little intense for younger or more sensitive children.
While this is a Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids, it does have jokes for older viewers, such as cameos by Gilligan’s Island characters, a flower shop named Baudelaire’s, and Adam West as Gotham City’s mayor.
While the redesign of Joker is interesting as a take on the character, he’s honestly overused, and I found myself saying, “Joker, again already?’ more than once. Arkham Asylum is a revolving door “prison” (and also holds Batman villains that aren’t usually considered insane), which is directly addressed in one episode, but not in a way that improves security.
The fifth season gets a bit weak in order to stuff in all the guest stars, which apparently was orders from management.
Overall, however, this is a fun series for fans of Batman who aren’t set on one particular incarnation of the character.
