The Batman

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

Heh...cheers, AerostarMonk. It's frustrating when you like a show that no-one you know watches, because you can't discuss it with anybody. After watching four seasons of the show in quick succession, I had a lot of thoughts pent up, but still, I hadn't planned to write over 1700 words like I just did. I'm glad somebody actually read it!

Just a few more thoughts in response to you guys; I think the reason I'm not so keen on the whole Justice League angle is that it seems quite a major change to the status quo, which the show doesn't really need right now. Something similar happened at the end of Season Two; when I watched the final episode "Night and the City", it felt like the show had finally matured into a formula that worked, and with Batman finally gaining police acceptance and Gordon and the Bat-Signal in place, I thought that the show had built solid foundations for an excellent third season. However, the show instead opted for revolution over evolution, ditching many of the characters and dynamics that had underpinned it and reinventing itself with a zanier theme song, a load of new characters and a sassy sidekick in Batgirl, which in my opinion simply upset the rhythm that it had taken them so long to establish and resulted in an unnecessarily weaker season. To me, Season Four has been the strongest yet, with the writers really having found their groove; I'd hate to see them knock it off course again by adding to many new foreign elements. Then again, the strength of Season Four was partly thanks to the addition of Robin, something which I was equally sceptical over...so we'll just have to see, I guess.

Oh, and I did realise that Killer Moth was kind of a joke villain even in the comics; like you said, what I liked was that he retained his pitiful loser personality even after his body had gone superpowered. I'd like to see him come back, even if I will miss his original droopy, sad-sack appearance.

Mr Marshmallow: Certainly I understand that the likes of Joker and Penguin, as the most high-profile of Batman's villains, are always likely to crop up more often than others, but you still need to keep things fresh. One of the many achievements of B:TAS was keeping its villain appearances fresh and varied, so you don't mind how many times they show up; The Batman hasn't quite got that down yet, and a lot of Joker's and Penguin's appearance's feel a little samey, which risks people tiring of them...

Medikor: Don't get me wrong, I'm not for a second implying that I want Catwoman to strut around in a glorfied bikini like in that Halle Berry "movie". It's not the fact that the costume isn't revealing that I object to; I just don't think it looks very feminine with the huge hands and ears, combined with the fact that females on the show don't tend to be very curvaceous in any case. For Catwoman, a character defined by her femininity and sexuality, I feel it detracts from her character a lot, and Gina Gershon just isn't charismatic enough to sell it with her voice either, no matter how much she plays up the more suggestive lines. She has a few decent plots and good action sequences (especially in the finale of "Ragdoll to Riches"), but this Catwoman feels neutered to me, and I just don't feel the critical sexual tension between her and Batman...and like I said, a sexless Catwoman is no Catwoman at all.