Batman: The Animated Newsletter
Weeks of November 27 -
December 3, 2000
Volume 3,
Rated: PG for some "low-key coarse
language and occasional griping"
THIS ISSUE'S SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: "COM'N!!! VOTE FOR OUR
SURVIVOR SECTION! THE MORE VOTES, THE MERRIER! AND WE PROMISE, NO LENGTHLY,
POINTLESS, MIND-NUMBING, ANTI-CLIMATIC RECOUNT!"
-editor Tim "Two-Face" Leighton, so sick of both the Canadian
and American election stuff going on right
now
____________________________________________________________________
SPECIAL
NEWS
*'RETRUN OF THE JOKER' COMES EARLY TO CANADA
Hey, all you Canadian fans (like the co-editor and myself),
good news! RETURN OF THE JOKER might be coming to Canada a whole two weeks
earlier than its release date in the United States.An employee at the
Canadian department store chain ZELLERS had this to say (on top of other reports and flyers I myself have seen in papers recently):
"I'm pretty sure ROTJ is coming out on Nov. 28. Why do I
know this, well my buddy works at Zellers and he says that it's gonna be a
big release. They have it marked on the calendar and are getting all
sorts of adds, cardboard cut outs and various things for the display.
Zellers still might be mistaken about the release date, but from what I hear
on the inside it sounds like it's on the way."
So yeah, don't take this as Bible truth or anything, but keep
your eyes and ears peeled. (If I recall correctly, some BATMAN RETURNS
related merchandise was released in Canada prior to its release in the
States back in '92, also at Zellers. Perhaps this is true ever
all...)
I've also seen this release date printed in magazines and
flyers distrubuted at FAMOUS PLAYERS theatres across the
country.
OH, FORGET WE SAID ANYTHING...these rumours have been
proven...TRUE!!! As for what this holds for the American market...well, the
official ROTJ site still states the release date as Dec. 12th, but I suggest
you check with your local video or department store just to make
sure.
And hey, since Canadian censorship laws on movies and TV are
virtually non-existant, perhaps we'll see the unedited version head
north. We've already heard from certain sellers on eBay that they are
unedited. I'll personally keep you posted.
*THE EVER-LASTING QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER BATMAN BEYOND WILL BE
CANCELLED AFTER THIS SEASON...
Yeah, it's back again. We're now hearing rumblings that BATMAN
BEYOND will be canned after this current season (totalling 52 episodes).
This has come time and time again, and lo and behold, no final answer.
Either way, we can't be too careful, so a petition has been created to give this series support and prove to those bigwigs at the WB that we want more
episodes to tie up the loose ends in the previous seasons.
Wanna do your part to keep this series going? Sign
here:
And hey, why don't we ask to bring back the original BTAS
series while we're at it,
too?
____________________________________________________________________
EAGERLY
ANTICIPATING...
New episodes are on the horizon! Here's what we can expect in
the near future...
BIG TIME
Batman Beyond #??
Air date: November 4, 2000
(on GLOBAL in Canada...TBA on the WB)
Synopsis: A friend from Terry's Juvie
days who gets in over his head.
BETRAYAL
Batman Beyond #??
Air date: November 4, 2000
(on GLOBAL in Canada...TBA on the WB)
Synopsis: This episode is a sequel to
"Big Time." Big Time comes back and Terry has to deal with the guilt
he has for having helped turn his friend into a monster.
UNMASKED
Batman Beyond #??
Air date: ???
Synopsis: A
little kid gets a glimpse of the face under the Batman mask.
COUNTDOWN
Batman Beyond #??
Air date: ???
Synopsis:
Zeta and Mad Stan return.
THE CURSE OF KOBRA (Pt. 1, 2)
Batman Beyond #??, ??
Air
date: ???
Synopsis: This two-part episode features a villain named
Kobra.
___________________________________________________________________
KIDS
WB ANIMATION SCHEDULES:
(courtesy of Brian Cruz and/or the official BTAS/STAS
site)
Kids'WB! currently airs BATMAN BEYOND five or six times a
week. Batman airs on weekday afternoons Monday-Friday, as well occasionally
Friday morning before Pokemon. Remember, Kids'WB! is notorious for switching
schedules around at the very last minutes. Batman Beyond currently airs at
11am (ET) on Saturdays and 4:30pm (ET) on weekdays.
Check out these links if
our schedule is not 100% updated:
THIS WEEK:
Mon 11-27-00:
NONE
Tue 11-28-00: B-BEYOND #01 Rebirth (Pt. 1)
Wed
11-29-00: B-BEYOND #02 Rebirth (Pt.
2)
Thu 11-30-00: B-BEYOND #?? Out of the Past
Fri 12-01-00: B-BEYOND #40 Where's Terry?
Sat 12-02-00: B-BEYOND #28 Zeta
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.
_____________________________________________________________________
CANADIAN
EPISODE SCHEDULE
(BATMAN and BEYOND on YTV)
(courtesy of our friends at
YTV)
YTV currently has the rights to air all 109 episodes of
Batman, as well as the current 52 episodes of Batman Beyond. YTV usually
airs these episodes in either chronological order, or in the original order
they aired on Kids'WB! and FOX. Batman now airs at 3:30am Monday - Friday. (Actually, more correctly, they seem to be airing them at 3:40 am - go
figure.) If our schedules are not updated or are inaccurate, please use these
links:
http://www.geocities.com/worldsfinestpage/epsched.htm
http://www.ytv.com/ytvguide
THE FATE OF BATMAN BEYOND ON CANADIAN TELEVISION:
My co-editor Dick Grayson e-mailed YTV last week regarding the
absense of Batman Beyond from the YTV schedule. We got a response, and
here's what they had to say:
"'Batman Beyond' is not part of our current schedule. We
are sorry if this is disappointing for you to hear. We hope you can
understand that it is not uncommon for television stations to move some
programs to another day or time, introduce new shows, temporarily remove
programs, or cancel shows with expired contracts. It is important to
remember that all schedules are subject to change without
notice.
"With this said, your comments have been forwarded to our
Programming Department for future consideration. Please keep in mind that
although we do try to make all of our viewers happy, as a national network,
it can be quite a challenging task."
Maybe it is just gone temporarily - they are under contract to
air all 52 episodes at least twice. However, if you don't want to take any
chances and encourage them to bring it back, e- mail them, Canadian
viewers!
Anyhow, the original BTAS series is still airing, and it will
be shown as follows:
NEXT WEEK:
Mon 11-27-00: BTAS #104 Legends of
the Dark Knight
Tue 11-28-00: BTAS #105 Girls Night
Out
Wed 11-29-00: BTAS #106 Mad Love
Thu 11-30-00: BTAS #107 Chemistry
Fri 12-01-00: BTAS #108 Beware the
Creeper
_____________________________________________________________________
THE
CARTOON NETWORK
Cartoon Network has the right to air all 109 Batman episodes,
as well as all 54 Superman episiodes. Come September, Cartoon Network will
begin airing these. Shows. Batman currently airs during the weekday Toonami
block at 6:30pm (ET). Superman will soon have a set airdate as well. Since
Cartoon Network is unpredictable with their schedules, we are unable to keep up with them. Please, use these links to find out the schedule information you
need:
http://www.geocities.com/worldsfinestpage/airdate.htm
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/TOONAMI/lineup/batman.html
_____________________________________________________________________
EPISODE
REVIEW: (SPOILERS!)
(by Justin Chen and/or Zanna)
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!
This issue, however, with the release of RETURN OF THE JOKER
coming tomorrow, I've decided to put in a review of the most recent
Bat-movie, BATMAN & MR. FREEZE: SUB-ZERO into this issue. Enjoy!
March 17, 1998. The coldest day of the year. Unlike its June
20 counterpart of the previous year, Batman & Robin, Batman & Mr.
Freeze: Sub-Zero is an excellent adventure. This movie was well worth
waiting for. (It was originally due out on July 15, 1997, but was stalled for
about 8 months...)
The reason why this movie is always being compared to Batman
& Robin is because both of the basic plots are the same: Mr. Freeze is
on a quest, doing whatever it takes to revive his love, Nora.
The story begins in the frozen Arctic, taking place some time
after the events of the BTAS episode Deep Freeze, on the fifteenth
anniversary of the day Victor and Nora first met. Fries now lives in a
glacial cave with his wife, two polar bear guardians, and an eskimo boy named Koonak. A submarine (done VERY WELL with intricate CGI work) emerges through
the ice, unknowingly destroying the cave; everyone scatters, and the tube
that Nora is held in falls ever and breaks.
So, the story is set with that scene. A victim of
circumstance, Victor must set off on a quest to find a cure for his wife who
has now been knocked out of suspended animation. This scene and the
preceding "anniversary" scene are very touching, and show that Freeze is not an
evil person at all - his immense love and admiration for Nora controls his
life, so, in his eyes, nothing else matters. Despite his soft side, Freeze
is still a very powerful and menacing adversary. Freeze kills the entire sub
crew in revenge.
The other major relationship (besides Freeze and Nora) in this
movie is the relationship between Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon. They are
very involved with each other now... It's this strong tie that motivates
Robin to save Barbara from Freeze after she's kidnapped in a night club. Why
does Freeze kidnap Barbara in the first place? With Nora having less than two weeks to live, Freeze is growing desperate; an organ transplant is needed
(the organ is not specified, but obviously it's a vital organ), and there
are no deceased donors...so a living one must be found. Barbara has the same
rare blood type Nora has, and has approximately the same body weight, so
Freeze pinpoints her as his target.
But how does Freeze know this? He's not a medical
doctor...he's a cryogenics expert. Not the same thing. This is where the new
major character to the cast is introduced. To help him out, Freeze also
kidnaps his in-debt former colleague, Dr. Gregory Belson. Freeze forces him to assist him, and, in return, promises him access to a huge depository of gold
(which he found in the Arctic). Belson agrees.
Batman himself is actually in this film very little - the
central characters are Freeze and Barbara, who, in fact, spends about two
minutes of the film in her Batgirl outfit. Even Commissioner Gordon isn't
around that much...you'd think he would be, since it's his daughter that was
kidnapped. The detective work Batman and Robin and Alfred go through to find
Barbara (on an off-shore oil rig outside of Gotham) is good. That's about
all that Batman does in the film though...he aids Robin look for his
girlfriend. Nothing spectacular with Batman's role.
Other characters, such as Detective Bullock, Rene Montoya, and
Summer Gleeson (in her last role to date on BTAS) make appearances, but
don't give the movie anything special. That's not to say that the movie is
bad though - far from it. The movie really has a lot of heart in it (I'm referring to Freeze for the most part), and is well written - no corny
one-liners or anything.
The best part about this movie is the animation. To date,
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was the best Batman animated to date. Batman
& Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero's "normal" animation is equal to that of
Phantasm, and the CGI animation is just as good as the opening sequnce to
Phantasm. The difference is that Sub-Zero uses the CGI technology very
frequently, and, very well too, which easily makes it the best animated
Batman cartoon of any sort to date. The submarine at the beginning, some of
the icing effects, a car chase scene (involving Freeze Vs. Dick Grayson), and the computer-generated Batcave are all breath-taking. (Well, the car
chase looks a little odd at parts, but on the whole, it's very good.) The
best CGI effects appear in any scene the Batwing does...it looks incredibly
real and mixes in perfectly with the classical, normal animation in the
movie...unlike the CGI effects on the animated Spiderman cartoon show. Even if the movie's story was terrible, this movie is a must have for all Bat-fans
simply because it's pure eye candy from the beginning to end. The final
fight on the exploding oil rig is the best part of the film - never before
have flames looked so beautiful while deadly.
Overall, I think that Sub-Zero is a good Batman film. Not as
good as Mask of the Phantasm, simply because it's not as deep (or as long,
sadly), or even as good as Batman or Batman Forever in my opinion, simply
because Batman's hardly in it. I think that you could easily see this movie
to be on par with Batman Returns. The story is touching, the bittersweet ending
is a real tear-jerker, the animation is incredible (they could actually
challenge Disney studios with this film), the music is on par with Danny
Elfman's work, and the rest is just pure fun. The only downside is that the
story isn't very deep, Batman isn't in the film for long, Koonak doesn't
even need to exist, and that this otherwise incredible film had to end so
quickly - another 10 minutes would have been fine. Either way, for any
Bat-fan, this is a must have. For just a normal movie fan, I'd still suggest
renting it - for the previously listed reasons. Out of five stars, I give it
****.
___________________________________________________________________
