Batman Caped Crusader Season 1 (2024, Amazon)

[shevek]

Nobody tried this out yet, really? OK, then, looks like it falls to me to give an assessment. I warned you.

The first season of 10 episodes of 'Batman: Caped Crusader' just came out at the beginning of the month.

I originally intended to watch all 10 EPs, but I ended up watching 1-5, 8 and 10.

Penguin is a woman, the Gordons are black, and Harley Quinn is a humorless Asian. Harley and Renee Montoya are chubby lesbians who undertake a public relationship. Actor Basil Karlo (aka Clayface) is obsessed and in love with a black actress who seems to be created for the series but may have been named after Yvonne Craig. One of the two main corrupt cop villains, Flass, is also black. Bruce Timm said in an interview he was going to prioritize diversity, and he did it as he promised, checking as many boxes as he could.

My favorite episode was definitely EP3 "Kiss of the Catwoman", because although they changed the origin of Selina Kyle to a spoiled rich girl who loses her fortune, they used the sexy purple long dress of the 1940s Catwoman, they had her kiss Batman once, and she ends up restrained a few times: she is bolo'd by Batman, and then placed in shackles. Christina Ricci's voice as Catwoman is quite sexy.

I was most disappointed, really, by the Harley Quinn episode, EP5 "The Stress of Her Regard". Dr Harleen Quinzel has a very flat vocal delivery and a total lack of humor. She has no 'origin story'. She doesn't find joy or whimsy in any of her exploits. We never get to understand WHY she does what she does. Does she have any powers? Seems unlikely, but we don't know for sure. We just see her obsessed with torturing rich men to give up their money to charity. She is just a cold heartless dominatrix in a harlequin uniform, and she doesn't really look sexy in it because she is drawn rather chubby with tiny breasts. This whole episode was tedious, and I just wanted it to be over.

Also not very rewarding was "Nocturne" EP8. As you might guess, the antagonist here is Natalia Knight, otherwise known as Nocturna. In all the other versions in the comics and cartoons, Nocturna is presented as a sexy adult woman in some kind of tight vampiric costume. Not here. Instead, she is a super-strong young girl who sucks out people's life energies to survive. We don't see her increase in size or muscle mass while doing her parasitism - she's just automatically strong and wears a generic Morticia Addams goth dress. This episode also goes nowhere, and it's only there to include 'memberberry' cameos of four Batman sidekicks: Dick, Tim, Steph and Carrie, who are merely portrayed as kids in an orphanage. Unimpressive.

By EP10, I got a bit tired of this. Barbara Gordon is an accomplished lawyer, but apparently also has the temerity to run around on the dark streets and foggy waterfront docks firing a gun at Rupert Thorne's thugs? So she's an adventurous brave 'heroine', but not in any way a costumed one. And she has this love/hate relationship with Harvey Dent that is hard to fathom.

Harvey Dent is pretty much the only one who has any kind of evolving story arc in this first season. But it's a weird evolution, like almost the opposite of what you would expect from the character. In the beginning, he is a vain and selfish DA who only does things to advance his career so that he can run for mayor, and he is very dismissive and sexist towards Barbara. But after he gets the acid thrown on him and becomes two-faced, suddenly he has a more compassionate and heroic side, really caring about justice and Barbara. How does it even make sense that a core Batman villain becomes *less villainous* after his transformation and origin?

The ending sets things up for a Season 2.

I also noticed the following anachronisms which were NOT sociopolitical:
- Selina Kyle wields a handheld taser. No way that would have existed.
- Renee Montoya complains that Harleen doesn't answer her messages. Yet I don't see Quinzel having any secretary. Without an answering machine (which didn't exist), how would she know Renee called?
- The biggest oopsie is when Harley demands that one of her rich guy slaves donate all of his money to a 'women's shelter'. Those didn't exist until the 1970s. I checked!

Your mileage may vary, but my assessment is that I was quite impressed with the aesthetics and the animation, but less so by the irrelevance of some of the plots and also the appearance/gender flipping. I'd give this 1st season a 6/10. I'm sad to say that I actually thought the recent modern R-rated Harley Quinn series was more fun and interesting than this supposed Bruce Timm 'return to form'.

Here are some screen shots!

One view of the actress from EP2, Yvonne, with whom Clayface is obsessed. He has her tied to a table with the super-sharp pendulum blade swinging above her. Definitely some sexy peril, although it's for an invented character who has no backstory that nobody cares about.

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Side view of actress Yvonne in the peril situation. Is this character named after Yvonne Craig? Good question: ask Bruce Timm.

Meanwhile Renee Montoya is also shown chained to a chair, but I doubt that's lighting anyone's fire.

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Catwoman tied up.

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Catwoman chained up.

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Catwoman shackled to a huge female cop.

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The Asian Harley Quinn's ridiculous looking costume. Really terrible (IMHO).

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So, what did you think overall?

[Dazzle1]

I thank you for your sacrifice.

This sounds like Timm followed the guideline of the Velma series

[Dazzle1]

I thank you for your sacrifice.

This sounds like Timm followed the guideline of the Velma series

[Lurkndog]

This was intended to be Batman: Year One The Animated Series, but it doesn't hold up to Batman The Animated Series in any way.

In particular, the animation is inferior to the original, which in this day and age should not be, but it is. They do a really awkward job of adding CG elements to the normal art, which is hand-drawn animation done on the computer. The computer generated elements stick out noticeably, they're not shaded at all, and they are animated poorly. This is all stuff that was done better even back in the nineties.

Another thing that doesn't hold together is the pseudo historical setting. They set the show in a pseudo-1950s, but then inject modern progressive politics throughout.

All the sins of modernity are present: race swapping, gender swapping, injection of modern politics into a historical setting, and letting Batman get upstaged by the writers' darlings throughout the show.

It's supposed to remind us of Year One, but Batman has no story arc whatsoever.

Is it worth watching? Maybe, but I generally wound up listening to it in the background while I did something more interesting.

The best part is the Harvey Dent story line, which is nicely scattered throughout the series, before taking center stage for the last two episodes. The voice acting is also good, but not great.

[shevek]

This was intended to be Batman: Year One The Animated Series, but it doesn't hold up to Batman The Animated Series in any way.

In particular, the animation is inferior to the original, which in this day and age should not be, but it is. They do a really awkward job of adding CG elements to the normal art, which is hand-drawn animation done on the computer. The computer generated elements stick out noticeably, they're not shaded at all, and they are animated poorly. This is all stuff that was done better even back in the nineties.

Another thing that doesn't hold together is the pseudo historical setting. They set the show in a pseudo-1950s, but then inject modern progressive politics throughout.

All the sins of modernity are present: race swapping, gender swapping, injection of modern politics into a historical setting, and letting Batman get upstaged by the writers' darlings throughout the show.

It's supposed to remind us of Year One, but Batman has no story arc whatsoever.

Is it worth watching? Maybe, but I generally wound up listening to it in the background while I did something more interesting.

The best part is the Harvey Dent story line, which is nicely scattered throughout the series, before taking center stage for the last two episodes. The voice acting is also good, but not great.

Spot on, but I'm pretty sure with the aesthetic reference to the Fleischer cartoons that the pseudo-period is actually the late 30s or early 40s
when Fleischer was the dominant rival to Disney. There's no mention of a Depression or a looming threat from Germany or Japan, so they probably hit that sweet spot in between the two. That's also the era when gangsters were a big threat.

As far as 'sins of modernity', this is somewhat of a misnomer along with the ironic use of the term 'modern audiences' to criticize progressive injections into period-piece storytelling (also known as 'presentism').

The "modern" or "modernist" time period, was in fact the exact period in which this series is set. Modern art, modern music, modern science, all of that stuff exists in the core of the 20th century, from approximately the mid-1910s (Futurism and Dadaism) down to the 1990s. Mad scientist laboratories with lightning bolts leaping from Tesla coils? That's 'modern'. Modernism believed in rapid technological and societal progress spreading democracy and freedom and hygiene across the globe thanks to the enlightened West.

We are, in fact, now in the 'postmodern period'. So when progressive content creators say they want to appeal to 'modern audiences', they actually mean POSTMODERN. Anything that happens culturally after Francis Fukuyama published his 'End of History' theories (1989-92) falls increasingly into the POSTMODERN category which consists of very little new art being created. Instead, content becomes a collage, pastiche or repeat of old art, while the triumph of social media by the mid-2010s officially usher in the age of the bland and tasteless soundbite. Now, everything really is famous for 15 minutes as Warhol predicted.

This is why we have been in the era of sequels, reworkings and reboots for the past couple decades, and the trend of rehashing the past to fit the current academic and political trends has continued unabated since then with only a few notable exceptions. That's a perfect description of postmodernism, which meshes well with its philosophical outgrowths such as intersectionality and transhumanism.

It's not modernism, even if it's being called 'modern'. The use of a retro-noir setting to reflect current societal agendas, as occurs here in Batman: Caped Crusader, is actually a perfect example of how postmodernism operates.

OK, back to the cartoons. Any other opinions on the series so far?

[Dazzle1]

Almost nothing in Superhero Animation holds up to Batman TAS, especially before they change the imagary to match up with the Superman TAS

[Dazzle1]

Almost nothing in Superhero Animation holds up to Batman TAS, especially before they change the imagary to match up with the Superman TAS

[Lurkndog]

I like to use the term modern to mean "present day." If I want to refer to a historical artistic movement that called itself Modern, I'll add the time period to the name, like "Mid-Century Modern" or "1930s Futurism." Or I'll find a more specific term like Streamline Moderne.

Also I would say we're exiting the postmodern period, FWIW. There is definitely pushback out there, as well as the use of "postmodern" as a term of derision. My personal definition of the term is "illiteracy for smart people."

[shevek]

I like to use the term modern to mean "present day." If I want to refer to a historical artistic movement that called itself Modern, I'll add the time period to the name, like "Mid-Century Modern" or "1930s Futurism." Or I'll find a more specific term like Streamline Moderne.

Also I would say we're exiting the postmodern period, FWIW. There is definitely pushback out there, as well as the use of "postmodern" as a term of derision. My personal definition of the term is "illiteracy for smart people."

That's a good start, but the usual defining term for it is simply "illiberalism".

There has been pushback for decades, but let me clarify: we are not out of postmodernism yet. At this point, nothing has replaced it inside the West yet, while it is either battling with or trying to reconcile with many types of traditionalism entering from outside the West: India, Islam, China, Latin Catholicism, African conservatism, and others.

Postmodernism's latest triumph, for example, was bringing anti-Semitism roaring back across the so-called civilized world - not a good look.
And the 'Tickle vs Giggle' court result in Australia is another example of how pervasive and difficult to roll back this movement is.

Anyway, still interested to hear other opinions on this first season.

[Dogfish]

I really liked it. It's obviously intended as some sort of elseworld in the same way as the Harley Quinn show is, so I just enjoyed it for what it is. Batman in some kind of less-shitty version of the 1940s. People complaining the politics are more liberal than the real 1940s also missing out on the fact nobody's mentioned the small matter of WW2 or Korea. It's very much not our world and it isn't intended to be. And in this version of the world everybody is less racist and less homophobic. Must be nice.

Stray things I liked, first off, I like Harley Quinn having a motive of her own. In this show she is attempting to do for social justice type causes what Poison Ivy does for the environment. The logistics of what she was doing were a bit off though, if you redistribute a billionaire's fortune you can turn around an entire city. She would have done the full Thomas Wayne deal. As pointed out women's shelters didn't exist back then, but with that much money there could be one on every street corner.

I liked the fat version of Alfred and the development of Batman/Bruce. Their relationship is unformed at this point, and it's more interesting than Afred as just Bruce's perfect dad type figure.

I loved the direction they went with Catwoman. Like some kind of screwball femme fatale running around with a cattleprod. I also liked, and this is kind of a regular thing with the show, the dives into comic book/Adam West era silliness. Catwoman has a custom car, also she just happens to have a panther around. Batman does a bit of swordfighting. Penguin has a naval cannon.

I thought Two Face was great too. I loved that they reversed him. Usually the 'bad' side of Two Face is the side that is all evil looking. In this version it was the pretty-boy side of Two Face that was the vengeful murderer, the burned half retained his empathy and humanity. And the way he was drawn was properly grim.

It was interesting how that story played out. Batman failed. He escalated the situation. He's gotten away with it as far as Gotham knows, but it's a big learning curve for him.

Also the hints at the new Joker look weird. I like that. Looks like a huge departure from the Hamil version.

[Lurkndog]

I did like Catwoman, although I can't help but think that they put a lot of Harley into her, even as they took the madcap fun out of Harleen Quinzel.

[Visitor]

They changed which part of Dr. Harleen Quinzel and Harley Quinn was the serious side and which got to be the fun one. They were just trying something different for the major villains so it wasn't a rerun of old scripts.

Like with the Harley Quinn TV series went with an Eartha Kitt version Catwoman and could now have her dating Bruce Wayne which would have panicked the network back in the 60s. Or making the Joker become a responsible family man that cared for his wife's children. You never knew what to expect since they didn't have to follow canon.

[Ernie]

I like to use the term modern to mean "present day." If I want to refer to a historical artistic movement that called itself Modern, I'll add the time period to the name, like "Mid-Century Modern" or "1930s Futurism." Or I'll find a more specific term like Streamline Moderne.

Also I would say we're exiting the postmodern period, FWIW. There is definitely pushback out there, as well as the use of "postmodern" as a term of derision. My personal definition of the term is "illiteracy for smart people."

That's a good start, but the usual defining term for it is simply "illiberalism".

There has been pushback for decades, but let me clarify: we are not out of postmodernism yet. At this point, nothing has replaced it inside the West yet, while it is either battling with or trying to reconcile with many types of traditionalism entering from outside the West: India, Islam, China, Latin Catholicism, African conservatism, and others.

Postmodernism's latest triumph, for example, was bringing anti-Semitism roaring back across the so-called civilized world - not a good look.
And the 'Tickle vs Giggle' court result in Australia is another example of how pervasive and difficult to roll back this movement is.

What a fascinating discussion of the new Batman series.

[shevek]

modern postmodern blah blah blah

What a fascinating discussion of the new Batman series.

That was a week ago already, and everyone else was able to move past it, but nonetheless, it's totally valid to use references to artistic terms and movements to describe what makes this cartoon series different from others. The buildings are art deco. The mood is noir. The tech is mid-century. Those are all aspects of modernism, perfectly fine to mention. Just as much as the humorless Harley Quinn. Conversely, if you're talking about My Adventures with Superman, you've got anime influences from Japan.

[Ernie]

modern postmodern blah blah blah

What a fascinating discussion of the new Batman series.

That was a week ago already, Oh, am I guilty of not staying respectfully abreast of your pronouncements? I hadn't realized there was a time limit on commenting. and everyone else was able to move past it, So your goal is for readers to be able to move past the stuff you post? but nonetheless, it's totally valid to use references to artistic terms and movements to describe what makes this cartoon series different from others. The buildings are art deco. The mood is noir. The tech is mid-century. Those are all aspects of modernism, perfectly fine to mention. Just as much as the humorless Harley Quinn. Conversely, if you're talking about My Adventures with Superman, you've got anime influences from Japan. Hmmm. Thing is, there's no mention ofthe show in either of the quoted passages. Just, in your case, personal politics presented in a manner that insults people who hold views different than yours. A tactic you have used relentlessly for years on a site didicated to superheroines.

[jlocke]

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Madam Peace reminds members that politics are banned on the Superheroine Forum. Would any mods be available to help?

[shevek]

Thing is, there's no mention of the show in either of the quoted passages. Just, in your case, personal politics presented in a manner that insults people who hold views different than yours. A tactic you have used relentlessly for years on a site didicated to superheroines.[/color]

Not sure whom you thought I was directly 'insulting', though. The person I was actually responding to, Lurkndog, *agreed with me*, pejoratively calling postmodernism 'illiteracy for smart people', while I called it 'illiberalism'.

And yes, while I didn't directly mention the show in that particular string of statements, the point was to emphasize that *Batman Caped Crusader* (there's your mention!) was a mishmash of both modernist aesthetics (the art deco and neo-noir stuff) and postmodernist ideology and practice (the practice being the pastiche and rehash, and the ideology being the character changes which all conform to a certain narrative which Bruce Timm outlined before the cartoon came out).

Yes, this forum is about superheroines. But you know, we can discuss superheroine content in bigger cultural contexts, and also discuss content that is 'superheroine adjacent' (the whole subforum about 'General Movies', which usually winds up being sci-fi or horror etc.).

I'm sure you are aware that there have been quite a few dissertations and academic tomes written about superheroines over the years. I actually own several of them, mostly analyses of the Wonder Woman mythos. Would those be out of bounds, too, just because Batgirl or Supergirl wouldn't be mentioned in every single post discussing them?

I'm happy to go back to discussing plenty of other aspects of Batman Caped Crusader, if such a discussion is to be had, but my suggestion on your end would be to chill out a bit, no? But you do you.

[jlocke]

I worry the intellectual masturbation by some members might be bringing down the whole vibe of enjoying sexy superheroines.

Antidisestablishmentarianism. -ism -ism -ism


Mama Bear says, where are the tits?

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[shevek]

I worry the intellectual masturbation by some members might be bringing down the whole vibe of enjoying sexy superheroines.
Antidisestablishmentarianism. -ism -ism -ism
Mama Bear says, where are the tits?

Except for the one Catwoman episode, they're not in Batman: Caped Crusader, I can assure you of that.

[DonShip]

Please, no more Hilary or Sarah. I can't unsee that. Ha ha.

[Ernie]

"This is why we have been in the era of sequels, reworkings and reboots for the past couple decades, and the trend of rehashing the past to fit the current academic and political trends has continued unabated since then with only a few notable exceptions. That's a perfect description of postmodernism..."

"Postmodernism's latest triumph, for example, was bringing anti-Semitism roaring back across the so-called civilized world - not a good look."

All of this pseudo-intellectual mumbo jumbo services the ever-present anti-woke agenda shevek injects into his endless commentary. In reality there is no "perfect description" of postmodernism because it's an incredibly nebulous term that's been around for a very long time. Experts (which shevek surely is not) cannot even approach agreement on the term. Shevek simply uses it as a piggyback for his exhausting assault on another virtually undefinable word - wokeness. But attributing some horrifying revival of antisemitism to postmodernism (ie. wokeness) is an assault on people who don't share shevek's brand of politics. It's offensive, but couched in just enough gobbledygook to provide the opportunity for a "Who, me?" defense if someone has the temerity to challenge it. The fact that all of this keeps happening, again and again and again, on a site devoted to superheroines keeps driving me away for months at a time. Then I come back, and inevitably the same crap reappears. It's annoying and exhausting.

[Dazzle1]

With the exception of Disney Star Wars, badly produced television or movies with a woke agenda tend to be cancelled fairly quickly

Even though KK Star Wars had been a failure they managed to produced the Mary Sue Trilogy

[jlocke]

I think it might be time to recruit some new mods. I've reported several posts that are nothing but political bullshit from the usual suspect, but no response. As the U.S. election nears, this dumbass shit is only going to get worse.

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