Batman: Caped Crusader Series Production
Being that there's so much Batman stuff out there, especially games and animated movies, Batman: Caped Crusader series got past my radar and never saw this coming. What a surprise it was, however, to see that all ten episodes of the first season were dropped on Amazon Prime last Thursday.
I am among those who grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series when they were airing in the '90s so that they went back to that style of animation made me nostalgic. Some changes may or may not have been necessary. The original head producer for the Animated Series and other Batman-related properties was lured back with the promise that he could add things that were too adult back then. Luckily with the involvement of J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, who would pass up that opportunity?
New Batman: Caped Crusader Intro
For me, there's nothing quite like the original for The Animated Series. At the time, and even now, it has that Fleischer Studios look. You can see it when the Batmobile is racing down the tunnel and in a way, the animation looks a lot better for it. We were also come fresh off of the Tim Burton movies with Elfman's school becoming the standard theme. Shirley Walker, a composer who worked directly orchestrating and conducting with Elfman, would compose the themes for many DC superhero series, including The Flash, Batman, and Superman series. I took notice of her name at the time when she became a favorite. The new intro is moody and downplays the action giving Batman: Caped Crusader a more detective noir feel, the same direction Reeves would take with The Batman (2022). Despite the other series, this intro is as good as the original.
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"In Treacherous Waters" (Synopsis)
Clarence is tied to a chair and questioned by Iggy about leaking secrets to Rupert Thorne. He's told that the boss wants to speak with him and when we see the silhouette of The Penguin show up, we can only assume Clarence is killed. We go to a scene where Thorne's thugs are trying to move crates in a hurry because they're planning to get hit that night and don't want to leave anything behind. One of the thugs fears that Batman will show up who is still a new sighting in Gotham. When he does show up, he takes out Thorne's goons before the warehouse is blown up by a incoming missile. This is the third attack on a Rupert Thorne-connected building in two weeks although they've been determined to be accidental, Batman thinks they're being targeted.
We're then introduced to attorney Barbara Gordon who is Commissioner Gordon's daughter and District Attorney Havey Dent who is trying to bring charges against her client for political points.
Batman sneaks into the police headquarters and finds the name of the fire inspector Willford Lee, who determined the accidents and closed their cases. After a brief interrogation, Lee is forced to give up The Penguin as the one behind the explosions. That night, we go to the Iceberg Lounge, a cruise line in open water near the city where The Penguin (Oswalda Cobblepot), now a woman voiced by Minnie Driver, is holding a fundraiser for the police department. the Commissioner, Barbara, and Harvey are at the event. Bruce Wayne is heading there too with Alfred in a boat. We're then introduced to Oswalda Cobblepot's two bickering sons Ronnie and Aaron. Rupert Thorne is also there and comes face to face with Oswalda, saying that he got a tip from an "itty bitty birdie" and seems to hint at Aaron, which is why he was able to clear the building before it went up. It's clear to The Penguin that Clarence was telling the truth and she killed the wrong person.
Wayne sneaks his way through the ship before he's almost caught by Penguin who is with her sons and her goons. When she accuses one of her sons of selling her out, Ronnie throws the blame to Aaron who is immediately drowned in front of him. Ronnie reaches out to Rupert for help but he rejects him saying that if he sold out his own mother, then he might do the same to him. Penguin later learns that Ronnie was the one and he's escaped in one of the boats. She orders Iggy to find him before he tells everyone about her operation, which is embezzling money from the police department. Ronnie goes to Barbara's law firm for help telling her that his mother is a gangster.
Barbara leaves with Ronnie to go to her father who isn't corrupt when they find they're being followed and then shot at by triplet thugs sent by The Penguin. Batman can neutralize them causing this to be the first Batman sighting for both Barbara and Ronnie. Ronnie and Barbara make it to Gordon's precinct where he warns them that they need to relocate to someplace more private. This is when we find out that Oswalda has corrupt cops, Flass and Bullock on the inside who call her to let her know where Ronnie is. This is when he tells them the reason Thorne's building have been blowing up is because his mother has missiles and a cannon she's been firing on them. Jim Gordon orders the Coast Guard to bring in Penguin's boat while Barbara clears the building of everyone inside.
Batman in the meantime sneaks a submarine under Oswalda's boat as she gets ready to fire on the precinct while she has Iggy try to stop the caped crusader. He throws Iggy overboard and then tries to stop Oswalda who pulls the trigger on the cannon, successfully blowing up the precinct. Batman disappears from the ship and when we see him back at Wayne Manor, he tells Alfred that after looking at The Penguin's empire, he sees that she was keeping Rupert Thorne's thugs in check and by trying to take down her operation, he's accidentally given Rupert's gang more territory
Season 1, Episode 1: Review
These episodes are about 25 minutes long which may be too short for some. I would agree simply because I got into this show, feeling that excitement of the 90s cartoon. I wondered if I was too old for this but some violence and death scenes do make it a bit more adult. Also, aren't these things all made by adults anyway?
I don't know that I initially liked that they turned The Penguin into a woman but I got used to it pretty quickly. Changing the sex and the race of some of these characters is often the source of complaints by fans but you'll have to get used to it. Some of these changes are for the best, especially when Matt Reeves put Jeffrey Wright as Gordon in his movie and even toughened up Alfred Pennyworth, as opposed to how he was portrayed in Tim Burton's movies. I also noticed that there was no daylight in this one which adds to the atmosphere. Can't wait to see more of these cause so far, I'm digging them.
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