Batman Beyond is on Netflix Instant

[Crono]

Just a PSA for all my fellow Batman Beyond fans, and those who haven't yet seen the series. I've been rewatching it since I found it on Netflix last week. The series is nearly 15 years old but has held up fairly well in terms of animation and storyline. Even the intro is still one of the best. I think I was one of the few people who liked the series better than Batman: The Animated Series, though I did like TAS quite a bit as well. It was my favorite show in middle school and freshman year in high school, definitely an underrated gem.

I would love to see a Batman Beyond live-action movie; I think we are at a point where CGI could do it justice, and the Nolan Batman trilogy inserted so many high-tech devices and vehicles (not to mention some similar plot elements - if you watch the series you'll see what I mean) that it's really about time. An unknown could be cast as Terry, and a Clint Eastwood like actor (ideally Clint himself) would be perfect as an aged Bruce Wayne.

Give the series a shot if you haven't yet. The music, voice acting, animation, etc. are all top-notch, and the series grows on you the more you watch.

My desktop and phone wallpaper/lock screen :

 

[OinkBoink]

Used to like this series too. Would love a movie based on it.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I definitely preferred Batman: The Animated Series. The teen angsty stuff is kind of eh in an American action hero context. Although the episode about the fat nerd guy that purchases a violent sexbot was pretty memorable.

 

[Broheim]

I definitely preferred Batman: The Animated Series. The teen angsty stuff is kind of eh in an American action hero context. Although the episode about the fat nerd guy that purchases a violent sexbot was pretty memorable.

I wonder why you'd feel that way :hmm:

 

[Crono]

I definitely preferred Batman: The Animated Series. The teen angsty stuff is kind of eh in an American action hero context. Although the episode about the fat nerd guy that purchases a violent sexbot was pretty memorable.

I've heard that criticism before, but other than the first episode the main character isn't really any more "angsty" than Bruce Wayne was. Bruce definitely seemed to be more driven by the childhood trauma of seeing his parents get killed, though, and Terry seems a little better, uh, adjusted, for lack of a better word. He goes through the same kinds of conflict as the older Batman, though. Seeing Bruce help and chide Terry makes for an interesting dynamic to watch.

Plus, seeing an older Bruce, Barbara and (without spoiling it) other characters deal with some serious issues that didn't quite get resolved in TAS, you really sense more depth and complexity than you would have thought from a cartoon teen super hero. It's not a teen drama at all. Those of you who have seen "Return of the Joker" know what I'm talking about.

A lot of people praise the Justice League crossover stuff, but I've never been a fan of expanded comic book universes and crossovers. The superheroes and villains end up too overpowered (godlike is the way I'd put it), and origin stories seem less consequential. Plus they almost always tend to have discrepancies and plot holes when you try to reconcile the various appearances in different media. I don't mind superheroes reimagined, but always prefer the self-made superheroes who aren't quite as "super" as superman. Never liked Justice League.

EDIT: The Zeta project was another show that got spun-off, if I remember correctly, from Batman Beyond. I can't recall what happened to it, though I did like at least a few of those episodes.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

To be honest I haven't watched it in over a decade, and while the younger Batman himself isn't too bad and I agree that having Bruce in a mentor position worked well, the plots I recall all had a kind of teenaged focus, like the one I mentioned above, or the tattoo/gene-modification "It's my body moooom!!!" episode, and other general high schooly things. Any good action and drama was kind of tainted by an inescapable attempt at making it teen-relevant or whatever.

The Justice League isn't on par with either Batman series, true.

 

[Crono]

To be honest I haven't watched it in over a decade, and while the younger Batman himself isn't too bad and I agree that having Bruce in a mentor position worked well, the plots I recall all had a kind of teenaged focus, like the one I mentioned above, or the tattoo/gene-modification "It's my body moooom!!!" episode, and other general high schooly things. Any good action and drama was kind of tainted by an inescapable attempt at making it teen-relevant or whatever.

The Justice League isn't on par with either Batman series, true.

Yeah, there were definitely some teen-focused episodes.
I don't think they were trying to make it relevant to teens as much as show a dystopian future... and this Batman just happens to be in high school in Gotham. There were enough corporate, underworld, and general mutant/weirdo bad guys of the normal, adult variety to balance out the teen stuff, I think.

I get if you don't like those episodes, but I feel a lot of people missed out on this show at the time because they were quick to judge it, and no one I know ever seems to bring up the series (not that I have a lot of friends who saw it in the first place). Even on the internet there wasn't much discussion of maybe a movie in the future, not until the current Batman trilogy ended. Now I'm seeing that it's possible, at least, to do one, though a Robin or Nightwing one first might be more likely.

Almost all the comic book superheros that were also featured in animated cartoons in the 90s have been made into live action movies now. Spiderman, the X-Men, Batman, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk... there are probably a few more. It's a good way for the studios to capture the attention of a few generations, but especially those who are having childhood nostalgia in their 20s and 30s.

EDIT: This was pretty funny:

Bruce Wayne: These people believe anything they can't explain is magic.
Terry McGinnis: Naturally, you don't believe in that kind of thing.
Bruce Wayne: Of course I do. I've seen it all. Demons, witch boys, immortals, zombies. But this thing... I don't know. It just feels so... high school.

 

[ViRGE]

Used to like this series too. Would love a movie based on it.

There was a movie made of it. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. The last appearance of the Joker in the DCAU timeline, and quite frankly better than any of the individual episodes. The animation is a few steps above too; it was the first "high budget" DCAU work done in digital ink and paint.

 

[OinkBoink]

There was a movie made of it. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. The last appearance of the Joker in the DCAU timeline, and quite frankly better than any of the individual episodes. The animation is a few steps above too; it was the first "high budget" DCAU work done in digital ink and paint.

I meant a non-animated movie like The Dark Knight.

 

[gorobei]

BB is probably the freshest take on the batman concept, especially the bruce mentor role. it really is a great series, with only a few cheese coincidences(lazy writing). while the JL tie in episode should be omitted, i recommend anyone who can watch the first dozen episodes.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I never watched it back in the day but I loved TAS and needed something to watch so I've been watching them for the past couple weeks. I'm about halfway through season 2 and while the teenager stuff does get old it I like the show.

 

[It's Not Lupus]

I loved batman beyond when I was younger. Having recently rewatched the series, I thought it was OK.

I definitely think a live action Batman Beyond movie is the way to go rather than another reboot.

There's also a lot of other good old cartoons on Netflix like X-Men TAS, Spider-man TAS, Sonic SatAM.

 

[Crono]

Just finished watching the last episode, and I thought this was funny and relevant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlZDQTDlUr8

That's just one of Stan's rants, but it's funny that it's specifically the NSA (mentioned in an earlier episodes, as well as the spinoff series "The Zeta Project".
What's odd is that the federal government is actually looking into developing AI and computer's like IBM's Watson to help make searching data and making correlations a lot easier. A Zeta-like humanoid robot (though he was used for infilitration, not queries) could eventually be in the pipeline.

 

[TwiceOver]

Oh. I thought this was the good one. I must be thinking of "The Animated Series", whatever the predecessor to this was.