During the day,
mild-mannered millionaire Bruce Wayne seems like an
average--albeit wealthy--Gotham City resident, but at night, when
the crime comes out, so does his alter-ego. With the help of his
trusty sidekick Robin, Batman combats the evil forces that are
constantly threatening to overpower Gotham City, including classic
villains such as Penguin, Joker, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and more.
Starring
Kevin Conroy, Bob Hastings, Robert
Costanzo, Richard Moll, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Mark Hamill, and Loren
Lester, among others.
CRITIQUE
If you've read my
reviews for the Volume 1 and Volume 2 sets you know my thoughts on
this show. The stories this time around include the same kind of
darkness in tone and attention to character and plot. New
characters this time around include Batgirl and the chemically
enhanced Bane. Other villains portrayed include Ra's Al Ghul, Mr.
Freeze, The Riddler and Clock King.
While I didn't enjoy
every episode included in this set, the better ones were fun to
watch. My favorite episodes include: The Demon's Quest,
Batman agrees to an alliance between himself and Ra's Al Ghul,
Trial, Batman is captured and tried at Arkham Asylum by the
likes of the Joker, Poison Ivy and Twoface, Bane, Batman
meets a new foe, and Harley's Holiday, Harley is released
from Arkham and later steals Bruce's car resulting in a chase
through Gotham streets. Shadow of the Bat and Deep
Freeze are good, as are a few others.
This Volume 3 DVD
set concludes this incarnation of Batman.
Disc 1:
Shadow of
the Bat: Part One
Shadow of the Bat:
Part Two
Blind as a Bat
The Demon's Quest: Part One
The Demon's Quest: Part Two
His Silicon Soul
Fire from Olympus
Disc 2:
Read My Lips
The Worry Men
Sideshow
A Bullet for Bullock
Trial
Avatar
House and Garden
Disc 3:
The Terrible
Trio
Harlequinade
Time Out of Joint
Catwalk
Bane
Baby-Doll
The Lion and the Unicorn
Disc 4:
Showdown
Riddler's Reform
Second Chance
Harley's Holiday
Lock-Up
Make 'Em Laugh
Deep Freeze
Batgirl Returns
THE VIDEO
Warner presents Batman
in its original 1.33:1 fullscreen format. The video image
appears to look older than it is, but I don't know, I'm not an
expert. However, what I do see in every episode is a lot of
grain and many specks. These appear to be print flaws, however I
feel they don't have a negative impact on the viewing pleasure
overall. Colors look quite nice, but not great. The color
palette is pretty dark, but lighter colors come across with
nice enough clarity. There is a tiny bit of shimmering around the
edges as well as interlacing issues, though sharpness and detail look good in general. I didn't
notice any problems with softness or edge enhancement. Overall,
the video presentation looks fine but also shares some flaws.
Optional subtitles
include English, French and Spanish. One rather frustrating flaw
with the presentation of the shows is there are no chapter
stops.
THE AUDIO
Warner presents Batman in English
2.0 Dolby Surround Sound. Where the video quality is only fine,
the audio sounds pretty good actually. Dialogue is nicely and
clearly spread across the front speakers with good positional
audio and some bass. The sound effects, like explosions and
gunfire, sound just fine, nothing special. The 2.0 track is not
aggressive or anything, but it gets the "action" across with
good results.
Additional
soundtracks include French and Spanish 2.0 dubs.
THE EXTRAS
There is
commentary on Read My Lips by producer Bruce Timm,
writers Paul Dini and Michael Reaves, director Boyd Kirkland,
and composer Shirley Walker that is fairly interesting
offering some good comments on this specific episode, the
Ventriloquist character, and a few general comments on animated
series.
Next is a
video
commentary on House and Garden by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini
and Boyd Kirkland that is very informative and fun to listen
to. This moderated track is conversational and the participants
appear to have a good time. For this video commentary a small
box appears in the lower-right side of the screen that shows
these guys chatting. Some pretty neat stuff.
The third
commentary on Harlequinade by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini,
Shirley Walker and producer Eric Radomski features a great
deal of information on the episode including discussion of the
original treatment and things that got cut. A very informative
track.
Gotham's New
Knight is a roughly 7-minute featurette on the character of
Batgirl, focusing on her introduction to the show and her
development, as well as how Barbara Gordon came to voice the
character. New interviews accompany this piece including
comments from the creative talent.
Lastly there are
several trailers for other DC Comics titles on the third
disc.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Batman: The Animated
Series is enjoyable here and there. The standout episodes were
exciting to watch, but the weak storylines detracted a bit from my
enjoyment. Nevertheless this four-disc DVD set comes recommended. The
commentaries were interesting and I wish there were more.
