OK so here’s the deal – I need an excuse. An excuse to revisit one of my childhood memories Batman: The Animated Adventures. I never managed to see the series in its entirety due to the channel it was aired on becoming too expensive for my family and me. But what I did see of it I absolutely adored, including the feature length movies and the eventual follow up series Batman Beyond. And though it’s difficult not to come across as an old phobey whose struggling to remove his nostalgia glasses when saying this, I do believe that cartoons like Batman and X-Men are far better than most of the ones kids are getting today.
Anyway, if a family member barges unexpectedly into my room and demands an explanation as to why I, a grown man, am watching a children’s cartoon show I obviously need an excuse prepared beforehand (It’d be easier providing an explanation for watching porn), so that excuse, dear readers, is that I am watching this animation for a ‘blog’ or ‘review site’. Surely it’ll work, right? If not, I’ll just put my hands up and say “the cartoon is on the screen to distract you from the 16 porn tabs at the bottom of the screen.”
So here it is – hopefully the start of a review of each individual episode of B:TAS. I hope I manage to do better than I did with The Sopranos, where I started reviewing the first few episodes and then ended up binge watching the entire series.
The first thing you notice about the series is the remarkable opening title sequence – a moodily lit chase sequence that perfectly establishes the nature of the Batman character. It’s a great example of visual storytelling. The score from the opening also borrows heavily from the Tim Burton Batman film. Speaking of which, the music in On Leather Wings, and the series as a whole, is outstanding. Shirley Walker and co. did a great job, and their varied and expressive music is an integral part of the series just as much as the characters, voice work, animation and stories.
On Leather Wings is a prime example as the tension-filled score throws us into the city of Gotham, in which a winged beast is terrorising and stealing from pharmacies, injuring doctors and scaring the shit out of anyone who gets close enough. The cops blame Batman, as they do, and it’s up to the man in black- I mean, the man in grey, black, blue and gold- to bring an end to this menace and find out just what is going on.
Sometimes you just have to wing it
Overall OLW is an excellent introduction to the dark, stylish neo noir-esque nature of The Animated Series. Terminology used can often fly over the heads of kids, as it did mine when I was younger, and the episode genuinely provides some scares…if you’re a kid, of course.
Batman’s showcases his detective skills as he attempts to track down the fiend. His relationship with Commissioner Gordon is introduced as is a quick glimpse at a pre-Two Face Harvey Dent.
As anyone familiar with Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde will have guessed when watching, the winged beast, or ‘man-bat’, turns out to be one of the scientists, Kirk, who is unable to fight off his addiction to his alter-ego. The scene in which he reveals himself is a bit weird as I didn’t see a reason why he wanted batman to know unless it was a subconscious call for help. The subsequent chase through the Gotham night sky is a highlight though, and Batman’s fight with man-bat in front of the police is enough to clear his name of the crimes.
Pictured left: Man-Bat. Pictured right: Bat-Man
Batman ends up knocking the beast out and takes him back to his lab, where he develops a way to find a cure. It all ends on a rather uneasy note as Batman is unsure whether the antidote will last.
This episode is a fine introduction to the series and I look forward to watching the rest of them. One of the things I noted was the ‘little details’ that end up making a big different in the long run. For example, when man-bat is fighting Batman a female scientist, one of Kirk’s colleagues, walks in on them and is shocked but cries “Kirk!” so she is obviously aware of his frequent transformations. Man-bat then turns to her and emotes a sad expression before talking off, possibly out of guilt and embarrassment. Its things like that which add depth to the characters and makes the series stand out amongst many of its kid.
My Rating: 8/10
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