Yes, Gotham was a dangerous city and yes the criminals occasionally shed blood in pursuit of their goals, but said murderous escapades usually didn't take place in front of us. Perhaps due to the fact that it was a kids show, the violence was aggressive and omnipresent without being overwhelming. The world of Batman: The Animated Series was a dark and foreboding one, full of real danger and genuine menace, but its Gotham City was never so battered down by crime and misery that Batman couldn't make a real difference. These weren't cardboard comic book villains but three-dimensional human beings driven to madness and/or crime by tragedy or random bad luck. And let's not forget The Clock King, an OCD fanatic driving to his own brand of anal-retentive vengeance over a chance deviation that ruined his career. Baby Doll went mad trying to recapture her former child-star glory. The Mad Hatter was a heart-sick scientist using his newest invention to trick the object of his affections into loving him. Its version of The Riddler was merely a computer game designer cheated out of royalties. The writers and directors made a point to ground even the flashiest costumed villain with plausible and sympathetic motivations. Be it the random low-level criminal who thinks he accidentally killed Batman, the typecast former television star on the verge of homelessness, the disgraced physician who illegally practices medicine for his brother's mobster cohorts, the former model who was tossed aside after she had to gall to turn 30, or an Olympic athlete who cursed himself by experimenting with an untested steroid, the various heroes and villains were normal people with normal problems. There are eight million stories in this city, and the show did its best to tell every one of them. It wasn't just about Batman and the villains he encountered, but as much about the everyday normal people who crossed paths with these colorful figures. More importantly, the show made a point to focus not just on Batman and his circle of fellow crime fighters but on all of the citizens of Gotham. The world or even the city was rarely at stake, merely the lives of a few innocent Gothamites or the reputation of those who would attempt to protect the city. While other cartoons that came before and many that came after deal with world-changing stakes, Batman: The Animated Series almost always kept its stories explicitly to-scale.
I speak of its pure realism and it's life-size storytelling. But what makes it stand out then is still what makes it stand out now. “It is in that spirit that we are bringing together three master storytellers in J.J., Matt and Bruce – each with their own intuitive understanding and affection for the character – to create a new series that will continue in the same groundbreaking legacy.It proved that kids cartoons could take themselves seriously, play for keeps, and exist as real character dramas.
“’Batman: The Animated Series’ was a masterpiece that shaped the perception of the character for an entire generation of fans,” said Sam Register, president of WBA and Cartoon Network Studios. Meanwhile, Reeves is currently prepping a Gotham PD live-action series that will be a spinoff of “The Batman” film he directed and co-wrote, while Abrams is prepping a number of DC related projects, including “Justice League Dark.” “Harley Quinn” moved over to HBO Max for its upcoming third season after airing two critically-acclaimed seasons on DC Universe, while “Aquaman: King of Atlantis” was ordered at the streamer in Jan. This is the latest animated DC project for HBO Max. “‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ will entertain first time and die-hard fans alike and, with such an impressive creative team in place, we know we have another future Batman classic in the making.” “It is always fun to feed the insatiable appetite fans have for all things Batman,” said Tom Ascheim, president of Warner Bros.
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