The Action Cartoons Thread

[Brian Fowler]

Return of the Joker was amazing, but I found the actual series pretty hit or miss. The good episodes were really fucking good though.

[(BP)]

I liked how much restraint they showed by not making constant references to BTAS. When they did it was really neat stuff like showing Bane in the nursing home. 

[Eivion]

4 hours ago, J.T. said:

I am the only person in the world that watched Batman Beyond:  Return of the Joker.

I'm pretty sure the Natural and myself have stated our love for Batman Beyond in general at least a few times on this board. Return of the Joker is one of my favorite Batman movies.

14 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

Return of the Joker was amazing, but I found the actual series pretty hit or miss. The good episodes were really fucking good though.

I love the series though the hit & miss statement is certainly true. I still wish it had many a more seasons regardless.

[The Natural]

16 hours ago, Burgundy LaRue said:

Legitimately one of the most terrifying movies I've ever watched.  The Joker isn't just crazy.  He's flat-out sadistic, more so than any other version of the character in the past 25-30 years.  If you can sleep after watching ROTJ, you're better than me.

I'm with you. To my knowledge the uncut version of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was only shown the once on UK TV.

12 hours ago, Eivion said:

I'm pretty sure the Natural and myself have stated our love for Batman Beyond in general at least a few times on this board. Return of the Joker is one of my favorite Batman movies.

I love the series though the hit & miss statement is certainly true. I still wish it had many a more seasons regardless.

You're right, Eivion. Thank you.

Long ass Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker review follows...

I liked the start of the film with the prolonged fight between Batman and The Joker’s gang. Though age has stopped the original Batman, Bruce Wayne there are still skills he possesses with the Batarang and beating down Woof.

This is one of the most evil versions of the Joker ever, certainly in the whole DC Animated Universe. People remember Our Family Memories but I forgot how brutal Bonk’s death is. Bonk calls The Joker out and you only see a glimpse of the bottom half of the Joker’s face, the rest is shadowed apart from the red of his eyes which was a nice touch. The Joker points the gun at Bonk and the Bang flag appears and everyone thinks nothing of it for the Joker to pull the trigger again shooting the pole into and killing Bonk. The Joker asked everyone for their loyalty, he did the same to Bonk only to turn and look at the camera: “Oh right, dead”. 

The continuing emphasis to McGinnis by both Bruce and Barbara that The Joker is much different to anyone Terry has ever faced was done very well throughout the whole film. I also liked the speech by Wayne thanking Terry McGinnis for his contribution to upholding the Batman legacy and McGinnis’s telling Bruce how important Batman is to him but is chastised with the suit taken away from him for reasons the viewer finds out later.

Our Family Memories is fucking disturbing and I still remember to this day. There’s the reveal of what’s happened to Robin, the footage showing how it happened and the Joker taunting Batman over his parents murder. Even when Batman is beating the shit out of him, the Joker cruelly says that if he didn’t like the movie, he’s brought slides. The Joker slashes and stabs Batman in the leg with a knife and tries to get Robin to kill Batman with the same gun we saw earlier. Tim kills The Joker with it still able to know right from wrong despite the torture at the hands of The Joker and Harley Quinn. This event understandably affects all involved to the present day and that some pains are so deep and impactful, they never go away. Chilling, man.

At the climax Terry learns firsthand how different The Joker is to other villains. Likewise we learn the difference between Terry and Bruce. Terry uses his mouth and fighting dirty to unsettle The Joker and it’s one of my favourite things about the film.

I have an interest in the hero advising their replacement, if the hero is dead and the replacement wants to carry on the legacy and if the hero is replaced by their villain. We get this in Batman of the Future as the series is called in the UK. I really liked the series but particularly this movie and remains one of the best ever Batman movies.

[The Natural]

Legit chills in my body from my last two posts.

[J.T.]

21 hours ago, Eivion said:

I'm pretty sure the Natural and myself have stated our love for Batman Beyond in general at least a few times on this board. Return of the Joker is one of my favorite Batman movies.

My response to Fowler was quasi-facetious. 

My feelings about BB are the same as everyone else's.   Episodes were definitely hit or miss.

BB never really got its shit together when it came to establishing a new Rogue's Gallery for the new Batman.  Derek Powers / Blight was a bit generic and Shriek, Willie Watt, and Repeller were kinda stupid.. 

The more effective Batman Beyond episodes either had Terry dealing with Bruce's baggage (Mr. Freeze, Bane, The League of Assassins, Kobra) or had Terry going up against villains directly inspired by Batman's old foes (the new Royal Flush Gang, Inque = Clayface, Spellbinder = Kinda Sorta Scarecrow).

I think that Timm and Dini finally figured out that the key to writing good stories for Batman Beyond was to write a good Batman story, not sci-fi story that just happened to feature Batman.

RoTJ is so great because it is the first big step that Terry takes out of Bruce's shadow.  He solves the crime using his methods and his intellect and defeats the original Batman's greatest adversary using his tactics.  It is the moment when Terry finally becomes the new Batman.

[Burgundy LaRue]

I think Timm and Co. may have been overextended by that point, too.  They were wrapping up B:TAS (aka The New Batman Adventures), had S:TAS still going, and were gearing up for JL.  BB came in during all that and while it didn't get shafted per se, the fractured attention wound up hurting a little.

[Eivion]

Quote

BB never really got its shit together when it came to establishing a new Rogue's Gallery for the new Batman.  Derek Powers / Blight was a bit generic and Shriek, Willie Watt, and Repeller were kinda stupid.. 

I quite like Blight if only for his official introduction during that Freeze episode. Also thought the Shriek episode usually turned out rather decent.

Quote

The more effective Batman Beyond episodes either had Terry dealing with Bruce's baggage (Mr. Freeze, Bane, The League of Assassins, Kobra) or had Terry going up against villains directly inspired by Batman's old foes (the new Royal Flush Gang, Inque = Clayface, Spellbinder = Kinda Sorta Scarecrow).

Bane was more inspired by as Bane was old and vegetative ta that point. Was never fond of Kobra in Beyond. Spellbinder actually is an old Bat villain remade for the time frame & style of the show.

[(BP)]

15 minutes ago, Burgundy LaRue said:

I think Timm and Co. may have been overextended by that point, too.  They were wrapping up B:TAS (aka The New Batman Adventures), had S:TAS still going, and were gearing up for JL.  BB came in during all that and while it didn't get shafted per se, the fractured attention wound up hurting a little.

If I remember correctly they weren't even initially involved with the show. It was originally pitched as a Pokemon-style kids adventure show set 100 years in the future with Sons of Batman-type adolescents.  

[J.T.]

12 minutes ago, Eivion said:

I quite like Blight if only for his official introduction during that Freeze episode. Also thought the Shriek episode usually turned out rather decent.

Bane was more inspired by as Bane was old and vegetative ta that point. Was never fond of Kobra in Beyond. Spellbinder actually is an old Bat villain remade for the time frame & style of the show.

I wasn't fond of the concept for Shriek but the narrative of the story was pretty good.

As I said before, Bane was more of a "dealing with Bruce's baggage" episode rather than an inspiration thing. 

I had forgotten all about the Spellbinder.   The BB incarnation just struck me as a pastiche of Hugo Strange and the Scarecrow sporting one of the Mad Hatter's mind control devices.  

Hugo Strange (kinda sorta), Harley Quinn, Scarecrow. Spellbinder..   How many evil psychiatrists has Batman fought?

[odessasteps]

Also probably every head of Arkham

[Brian Fowler]

Dr. Hurt more recently. Airtight he might actually be Bruce's dad, an ancestor of Bruce's who sold his soul to the omega effect of Darkseid, or Satan. Or an actor. *shrug*

[Eivion]

1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said:

Dr. Hurt more recently. Airtight he might actually be Bruce's dad, an ancestor of Bruce's who sold his soul to the omega effect of Darkseid, or Satan. Or an actor. *shrug*

its the middle one. Was he also a psychiatrist? I don't remember.

[Brian Fowler]

Yeah, Grant retconned him as the psychiatrist behind the three mystery Batmans (Batmen?) and the ten days in a box experiment Bruce did.

[The Natural]

[odessasteps]

Good night to watch this

 

[odessasteps]

As mentioned in the comics thread, Cooke passed away tonght. 

[J.H.]

Last I heard nothing has been confirmed, Darwyn Cooke's family hasn't said anything yet last I checked and all posts on twitter saying he died are being yanked by the posters. I just want confirmation, but so bad that I'm being morbid.

James

[The Unholy Dragon]

12 hours ago, J.H. said:

Last I heard nothing has been confirmed, Darwyn Cooke's family hasn't said anything yet last I checked and all posts on twitter saying he died are being yanked by the posters. I just want confirmation, but so bad that I'm being morbid.

James

It's since been confirmed by his family.

[The Natural]

Sad to hear about Darwyn Cooke's passing. I post this as I believe Darwyn was responsible for this cracker:

 

[The Natural]

This by Darwyn Cooke as well:

 

[The Natural]

I liked Batman: The Animated Series on Facebook ages ago and today this showed in my news feed:

Still funny.

[Jingus]

I've repeatedly stated my love for the brilliant, hilarious, irreverent superhero parody Teen Titans Go!  And I have consequently endured LOTS of whining (some here, more elsewhere) about how badly this new version ruins the original Teen Titans cartoon.  I never saw much of that show during its original run; I caught a couple of episodes, but it never really caught me back.  

So, finally, I sat down and watched the whole first season.  My verdict: I was right in the first place.  The comedic Go! version is the better show, period.  

First of all: lots of the bitching I've seen about TTG is how much goofier than it is than the original show.  Problem is, it's not THAT much goofier.  In this season I've seen endless toilet humor gags, and a lot of weird anime-style bizarre character drawings such as "the Titans are now portrayed as literal weeping toddlers to get across their emotional state at the moment".  The original show is, like, about 75% as wacky as Go ever is.  

And frankly, the stuff which Go DOESN'T do is the worst part of the original show.  Holy fuck, SO MANY FIGHT SCENES and most of them are just the same old shit over and over again.  The interminable chases and fights seem to make up literally half the running time of the show, and it doesn't help that so many of them look like we're watching an action scene which is practically identical to the last one.  (Not helping is how bad the Titans really are at their job; over and over again, they get the living shit beaten out of them by opponents they have outnumbered and outpowered.)  As for the show's supposedly "serious teen drama" streak?  Frankly: fuck it.  I don't like it, period.  The "but we're not getting along, guys!" moments are my least favorite part of the whole thing.  It reminds me of the very shittiest moments of any given Whedon show, those "our main team members get into a pointless butthurt shouting match which turns into our Angst Of The Week to overcome".  

Finally: motherfuck Slade.  Terrible villain.  I've heard for years how awesome he was, and now that I see him... he's just some generic guy whose scheme is never even explained.  No identity, no motivation, no powers, no explanation for how he can repeatedly get the better of an entire team full of heroes with godlike abilities (imagine trying to buy a scene where Nick Fury singlehandedly beats up ALL the Avengers).  They never even bother to specify WHY he wants Robin to be his apprentice or what he hopes to accomplish with that.  Slade is literally nothing more than a completely regular guy... except he's only got one eye, so he should be even easier to sucker-punch than a regular guy.  And finally they stick him such a flat and monotonous vocal performance that I can barely even believe that it's actually Ron Perlman who's sucking this hard, just to make REALLY sure I couldn't possibly give a single shit about this guy.  

So, yeah, it's powerfully overrated.  It's not a BAD show, but it's not a great one.  And don't gimme that "but wait until season 4, it gets so much better!", it's already had an entire season to draw me in and it never did that.  I'm not gonna bother watching any more. Meanwhile, you better believe I'm gonna be watching every single episode that Go! ever produces.  

[odessasteps]

Didnt see the whole thing on youtube, but still my favorite titans episode (but admittedly havent watched the doom patrol stuff since it aired).

 

 

[Matt D]

Aren't most people more annoyed about Young Justice.