It never occured to me that they could do this

[Nique]

Batman (http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/11/batman-lightens.html) takes a lighthearted turn.

I'm ok with this. Like, REALLY ok with this.

[Mirai Gen]

Un-deconstruction? Interesting.

[RickZarber]

Holy hell, that animation is gorgeous.

[Ryong]

Un-deconstruction?

Best. Expression. Ever.

I like how the entire premise of this new series is that it couldn't possibly be darker so they made something lighter instead. The animation is made of awesome, too.

[Funka Genocide]

I'd applaud it for the departure from the attitude driven teen titans schlock but honestly, it's anachronistic and an obvious marketing ploy to get children back into the Batman franchise since many horrified parents have yet to reconcile the modern Batman with their children.

Who wins? 7 year olds and toy marketers.

who loses? Nobody as far as I can tell, especially since we really don't have much to lose as Batman fans since THE BEST JOKER EVER is dead.

all in all, I predict a net gain in wholesome family fun and Hasbro profit margins.

[NonCon]

Not really, you look at a lot of the younger generation and they're into that animu crap, like Yu-Gi-Oh and all that jazz. Most kids shows nowadays, unless they are comedies, are overloaded with angst and grit. I think bringing a little cheer to the table is a brilliant idea.

[MFD]

...THE BEST JOKER EVER is dead.

Wait, Mark Hamill died?

... Oh. You mean Ledger.

[Mirai Gen]

Best. Expression. Ever.
Well it was either that or reconstruction.

[Funka Genocide]

Not really, you look at a lot of the younger generation and they're into that animu crap, like Yu-Gi-Oh and all that jazz. Most kids shows nowadays, unless they are comedies, are overloaded with angst and grit. I think bringing a little cheer to the table is a brilliant idea.

Taking a highly profitable pop icon and expanding it's market base is brilliant?

I always thought something like that was more common sense than brilliance.

to expand: Nothing noteworthy or worthwhile, in an artistic or entertainment sense, will come from making the Batman Happy Fun Hour. It's going to be rehashed, overt moralism with strangely clad archetypes running around performing meaningless and banal tasks. I'm not going to be able to flip on the toob and be entertained, edified or uplifted by any of this, personally, barring the outside chance that a small child is in the room and his guile-less, heartfelt smile brightens my day.

[Archbio]

Why, this is positively unheard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A86qGMVkv8) of!

[Mirai Gen]

See but that show was bad.

Big difference.

[Fifthfiend]

Didn't they just run a more-lighthearted Batman cartoon for like, four seasons?

EDIT: Okay so in order to claim that they're making the WORLD'S FIRST LIGHTHEARTED BATMAN CARTOON I guess they're now calling The Batman "Anime-noir"?

I mean I'm just throwing it out there but like, the one episode of that show I ever watched had Alfred trying to get Bruce into internet dating. I don't know, maybe all the other episodes were about Batman gouging out the eyes of child rapists?

[Ryong]

Didn't they just run a more-lighthearted Batman cartoon for like, four seasons?

I heard that such cartoon was heavily complained at for being too outlandish with some characters. Like The Joker having the build of a gorilla and Dr. Freeze being unstoppable in the future until the future people find a Batman hologram which gives them the only thing that could stop him. Bat-Cold Medicine.

This show actually seems to be a lighter take on Justice League but focusing on Batman a bit, since the other superheroes also show up.

[Krylo]

Post Edit by Fifth: I got a PM from someone saying the Superdickery link below set off their computer's virus protection and when I clicked on it the link tried to hit me with some popups and some kind of ActiveX control. I don't know whether this means that Superdickery is actually trying to put viruses up on your computerings but you know, caveat emptor.

I don't know about this.

I mean, the only reason batman was ever NOT dark and gritty is that comic books writers were... well... I'll just let Superdickery (http://superdickery.com) speak for me.

Entertaining? Sure. Intelligent? Not so much. Campy? Oh hell yes. I mean these are the Rex the Wonderdog people, and in so much as Rex is awesome, he's awesome because he's a dog that rides dinosaurs into battle with like, cavemen or something, I don't know. It's fucking ridiculous. But awesome.

The old Adam West show falls to this too. It was amusing as hell, but that's not because it was good. That's because it was 110% camp.

I mean the guy watched his parents get killed in front of him as a kid, swore revenge, travelled the world learning martial arts specifically to GET revenge, and chose a bat motif because bats are scary.

I'm not seeing where sunshine flowers rainbows and jokes are exactly fitting in his character.

That's not to say a more light hearted Batman isn't possible, particularly when focusing on Batman helping other heroes. It IS to say I'm a bit leery on how they handle it, especially with the supervising producer apparently watching the Adam West series constantly.


At the end of the day, however, it's a cartoon made for kids. I'm not gonna be too heartbroken if it's terrible.

Though I will say this: The trailer/opener/whatever that was looks pretty neat, which is about the only thing giving me optimism for this not being 'bat shark repellent' in cartoon form.

Edit: And The Batman wasn't really light hearted. The Bruce/Alfred interactions were pretty light hearted, yeah, but the villains and fighting and actual 'Batman' parts were less so. I only saw a few episodes too, but I know the one where he fought Bane involved Bruce nearly dying, and making a battle suit to combat Bane while Alfred worried about how Bruce was totally going to get killed, because he's goddamn stupid and won't let himself heal.

[Squall Leonhart]

Lego Batman seems entertaining from what I could look at today. I think this could be a good idea if they do something similar.

[Kerensky287]

I'm sincerely hoping this is the first in a new trend. Things don't need to get darker and more grim. It's fitting sometimes, but eventually you just have an emo explosion. Sure, Batman is a troubled hero, he can't balance life and justice... but he's still the goddamned BATMAN! He's got a crazy utility belt and a reputation that is more effective than HE is.

I'm looking forward to the day that the James Bond series does something similar. Once Daniel Craig is out, the next Bond should be all about the crazy gadgets, taking massive risks for massive reward, and generally reveling in his own genre savvy. The next James Bond should succeed because he knows he can. Maybe he seems delusional... but maybe he knows something no one else does. The big challenge, then, would be to have him succeed at as much as possible with as little as possible at his disposal. Maybe there's a room full of thugs between him and the evil scientist's secret weapon? Maybe he has no guns, but just an elastic band he found on the ground and a few metres of unbreakable string stored in his watch? How would he get out of it? The viewer doesn't know, but everyone knows he'll do it.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

The big challenge, then, would be to have him succeed at as much as possible with as little as possible at his disposal. Maybe there's a room full of thugs between him and the evil scientist's secret weapon? Maybe he has no guns, but just an elastic band he found on the ground and a few metres of unbreakable string stored in his watch? How would he get out of it? The viewer doesn't know, but everyone knows he'll do it.

Ever watch Macguyver?

[Aerozord]

I am mixed about whether batman should be serious or not, yea he is revenge driven and most of his villians are more insane then megalomaniacs. The Joker, if done right, is one of the deepest and most complex comic book characters.

At the same time this is a billionar playboy that spends his downtime fighting crime in a bat costume. In theory dressing as a "bat man" sounds intimidating, but in practice he is a guy in black tights with pointy ears.

Wait, Mark Hamill died?

... Oh. You mean Ledger.

this was my honest reaction after reading that too

[Magus]

This show actually seems to be a lighter take on Justice League but focusing on Batman a bit, since the other superheroes also show up.

This is basically my take on it, it's in the lighter vein of Justice League as opposed to Batman: The Animated Series, focusing more on "superpowers" and less on atmosphere (I know Batman doesn't have superpowers, but there seems to be a definite focus on his gadgets, so that's what I'm getting at).

I'm more a fan of the darker noir-like Batman adaptations, but something like this is okay if it's at least as good as Justice League (it might not be of the same quality in the end, though...)

I think all other things being equal it will be good until Robin shows up, as usual.

[Seil]

Ever watch Macguyver?

Beat me to it.

[Male Human Fighter]

I'm more excited about Elastic Man (Plastic man?) in the screen cap than I am about batman himself. Cool as batman is I've seen him do his bat-thing many many times, I'm really more excited to see a variety of random, more fun characters than what showed up in Justice League. I really just wanna see a dude get spring-legged in the face, if random thug A gets spring-legged in the face the series is awesome, if not everyone involved gets minus 500 dkp.

[Aerozord]

Saw it and, actually not bad. It was more 80's cartoon style then 90's. Which was a nice change of pace. There is a level of depth, though its best you dont think too much on it. But as i said previously think too much on it and you realize how insane 90% of all super hero/villian concepts are.

There were definitely some hilarious moments like when plastic man wont shut up and batman reaches for the eject button

My personal favorite
Plasticman: Are those gorrila's riding pteridactals weilding harpoon guns?
Batman: Its Gorrila Grodd
Plasticman: Its messed up

[Fiye]

Really, the only batman I'll ever need is "Batman: The Animed Series". You can keep your Heath Ledger. I want my dose of Mark Hamil.

As far as this series goes, its a nice chance. I saw "The Batman" once and just gagged. The Joker looked like nothing I could ever imagine.

Maybe I'll catch it if I'm up early enough.