Batman: The Animated Newsletter
Weeks of July 24 - August 6/7, 2000
Volume 3,
Rated: PG for some "low-key coarse language and occasional griping"
THIS ISSUE'S SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: "SUPPORT THE X-MEN MOVIE! THE BETTER IT DOES, THE MORE IT WILL THREATEN THE WB's STRANGEHOLD ON SUPERHERO MOVIES! AND THE MORE THREATENED THEY FEEL, THE MORE COMPELLED THEY'LL BE TO MAKE A QUALITY BAT-FILM!"
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EAGERLY ANTICIPATING...
New episodes are on the horizon! Here's what we can expect in the near future...
THERE ARE NO KNOWN EPISODES ON THE HORIZON. AGH.
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WB ANIMATION SCHEDULES:
(courtesy of Brian Cruz and/or the official BTAS/STAS site)
THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES air Mondays thru Saturday; BATMAN BEYOND also airs on these days. Check local listings each day for what show is on at what time.
THIS WEEK:
Mon 07-03-00: Superman #34 Heavy Metal
Batman #32 Robin's Reckoning (Pt. 1)
Tue 07-04-00: Batman #80 Second Chance
Batman #37 Robin's Reckoning (Pt. 2)
Wed 07-05-00: Superman #21 Mxyzpixilated
Batman #87 Sins of the Father
Thu 07-06-00: Batman #103 The Demon Within
Batman #93 Growing Pains
Fri 07-07-00: Superman #52 Little Big Head Man
Batman #102 Old Wounds
Sat 07-08-00: Bats/Supes To Be Announced
B-BEYOND To Be Announced
NEXT WEEK:
Mon 07-10-00: Batman #69 Avatar
Superman #18 Livewire
Tue 07-11-00: Superman #13 Two's a Crowd
Superman #46 Absolute Power
Wed 07-12-00: Batman #68 Trial
Superman #34 Warrior Queen
Thu 07-13-00: Superman #24 Solar Power
Batman #23 Double Dose
Fri 07-14-00: Batman #109 Judgement Day
Superman #45 Knight Time
Sat 07-15-00: Bats/Supes To Be Announced
B-BEYOND To Be Announced
All episodes #86 and onward of BATMAN are considered THE NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES while the original 85 are considered BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (BTAS) episodes.
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CANADIAN EPISODE SCHEDULE
(BATMAN, SUPERMAN, and BEYOND on YTV)
(courtesy of our friends at YTV)
-To find the episode guide and airing schedule of BATMAN and BATMAN BEYOND on YTV then please go to
http://www.ytv.com and click on the YTV GUIDE icon at the bottom of the screen. To check out the schedule then click on BATMAN or BATMAN
BEYOND in the time grid and it will have the schedule for the current week.
BTAS will air at Noon on weekdays (in all time zones), and BATMAN BEYOND will air at 2:30pm on Saturday and Sunday. YTV has the rights to show all 109 BTAS episodes. They also have the rights to air the first 26 episodes of BATMAN BEYOND (all of season 1 and the
first half of season 2).
*YTV has just got the rights to air episodes #27 - 52 of BATMAN BEYOND. It's unknwon when these episode to air, but expect fall 2000. YTV may air all the episodes through in ONE run, unlike the first 26 episodes.
NOTE: At the time of printing for this newsletter, the "NEXT WEEK" schedules at YTV were not up to date. These are just educated guesses as to what will be on. Check back at ytv.com for updates!
THIS WEEK:
Mon 07-03-00: BTAS #108 Beware the Creeper
Tue 07-04-00: BTAS #109 Judgement Day
Wed 07-05-00: BTAS #01 On Leather Wings
Thu 07-06-00: BTAS #14 Heart of Ice
Fri 07-07-00: BTAS #20 Feat of Clay (Pt. 1)
Sat 07-08-00: BEYOND #17 Lost Soul
Sun 07-09-00: BEYOND #18 Bloodsport
NEXT WEEK:
Mon 07-10-00: BTAS #21 Feat of Clay (Pt. 2)
Tue 07-11-00: BTAS #11 It's Never Too Late
Wed 07-12-00: BTAS #22 Joker's Favorlers
Thu 07-13-00: BTAS #05 Pretty Poison
Fri 07-14-00: BTAS #03 Nothing to Fear
Sat 07-15-00: BEYOND #19 Hidden Agenda
Sun 07-16-00: BEYOND #20 Once Burned
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THE CARTOON NETWORK
BATMAN IS BACK ON THE CARTOON NETWORK!!!!
Thanx to CNX: Toonami Revolution - Batman: The Animated Series is getting more airtime on Cartoon Network; more accuratly, on Toonami. Toonami has a weekend block called Rising Sun which airs shows in morning hours. airing from 9 AM to Noon EST/PST. Rising Sun
will be changed this weekend. Not only will Ronin Warriors be dropped from the lineup, but also, the second airing of Gundam Wing is dropped as well.
So technically, Rising Sun is missing an hour. Surely they're not going to give that mutt an extra hour, so they've but in a American flavor to the block, one a familiar Midnight Run standby while the other is making its debut to Toonami (finally). Batman: The Animated
Series airs on Rising Sun at 11 AM EST/PST while Powerpuff Girls ends Toonami at 11:30 AM EST/PST. This is the new Rising Sun. Check it out! Now you'l have something to watch besides Pokemon! The lineup, as of May 13, is:
9am-Thundercats (One Hour)
10am-Dragon Ball Z (The Garlic Jr. Saga)
10:30am-Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
11am-Batman: The Animated Series
11:30am-Powerpuff Girls
(all times in Eastern Time)
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EPISODE REVIEW: (SPOILERS!)
(by Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton)
All of Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton's reviews of the new-style BTAS episodes and BATMAN BEYOND can be found via these links, which link to "Two-Face's Tower of Tranquility and Terror":
The creative "team" for this column alternates between Zanna and Justin Chen, two loyal subscribers and great friends of ours here. Any other reviews printed here are written by editor Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton. Enjoy!
(I decided to reprint a review of JUDGEMENT DAY in this issue, as this is the newsletter's second anniversary, and this is the most recent episode with a character who loves the number two in it. Enjoy!)
<BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES>
"JUDGMENT DAY"
Written by: Rich Fogel & Alan Burnett
Directed by: Curt Geda
Animation by: Dong Yang
Original air date: October 31, 1998
My rating: ****1/2
A new vigilante is in Gotham, and has sent the Riddler back to Arkham, the Penguin to the hospital in critical condition, and, if it weren't for Batman interfering, would have killed Killer Croc by tossing him off the Gotham Gate Bridge. Now, he's after Two-Face.
Cool premise huh? Much like in "Lock-Up", this episode introduces a new character who takes the law into his own hands, but goes too far. The new vigilante is known only as the Judge, a very Phantasm-esque character with a low booming voice, and dark, shadowy
clothing; the only difference is that this person wears a judge's white curled wig and carries a large wooden hammer instead of a scythe.
We learn that a shifty politician at City Hall is using the Judge, much like how Commissioner Gordon uses Batman to rid the city of crime. Two-Face learns of this person's involvement with the judge, who had already booby-trapped his hideout and turned it into a lethal
gas chamber, and demands information, before setting off to kill him.
Only in the final scenes do we see who the Judge really is.
This episode was nothing short of incredible. No one knew this was coming, and it is easily head and shoulders above the other best episodes of the season, "Old Wounds" and "Legends of the Dark Knight". In fact, the only new-style episode which tops
it is last year's controversial "Over the Edge".
There are many good things in this episode. We get to see Batman work solo again, seeing someone finally come down hard on the Penguin was nice, and seeing how Penguin treats his "customers" was rather interesting - he respects Two-Face's intelligence and
considers Killer Croc to be rather...well...a dim bulb. The sleazy politician which uses the judge to give
himself a better public image was nice, and the Judge's brutality was welcomed with open arms. Dong Yang's animation was suprisingly excellent here, and they even added some CGI work in the final battle. Seeing Alan Burnett return to writing was a wonderful suprise, too. The best thing, in
my opinion, was that we finally get to see Two-Face as the centre of attention. Not since "Second Chance" has there been an episode that delves into his psyche like this. The scenes of where Batman and Two-Face actually work together to save themselves in the gas chamber were
great - even though, once safe, Two-Face beat the crap outa Batman and took off. Even just visually speaking, Two-Face looks a lot better here than he did in "Sins of the Father".
In the final scene, we learn that Two-Face is the Judge. In fact, his good side has split into two personalities, and the extreme-good side, completely separate from the other two, has taken a vow to clean up crime in Gotham by whatever means necessary. (Remember, prior
to his transformation, Harvey Dent was part of the judicial system, as District Attorney - so it was his crime-fightin' blood in the works here.) It's shocking to see what this suggests...if Two-Face can kill Killer Croc with his bare hands, does he qualify as the third-toughest man in
Gotham (behind only Batman and Bane, of course)?
The only bad point was the Riddler's tiny one-line cameo. Sure, he was only a back-up character, but all these cameos are taunting me - because I really wanted to get an entire Riddler episode.
I'm suprised this episode wrapped up so well in just 19.5 minutes! But it did!
This is all just a tip of the ice burg. The episode is great, and you'll love it, guaranteed. It's a mix of action, drama, and mystery, and wraps up perfectly with a really cool shot of Two-Face going crazy in his cell at Arkham.
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EDITORIAL
(by Anne Onymous)
Unfortunately, no editorial has been submitted for this newsletter. Ack...now this issue is just THAT much less brilliant.
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