Wow, one of my favorite all time cartoons Batman The Animated Series debuted 15 years ago. Makes me feel old. I remember when it first came out. James Harvey over at Toonzone says it best:
Fifteen years ago to the day. Who knew that, as we watched Batman chase down Red Claw and tangle with Catwoman, we’d be watching some of the most iconic and important animation we’d ever bear witness to? Quite an amazing legacy.
THE BATMAN
Writer Stan Berkowitz was the subject of an interview with World’s Finest where he described some of his problems working on the new series. “I wrote my first script for ‘The Batman‘ in early 2006 (the Riddler origin story), and writing it was exactly like writing any ‘Batman’ episode. No difference whatsoever. After that season, though, the network focus-grouped ‘The Batman’ (and ‘Legion of Super Heroes’) and found out that what our very young male audience wanted was more fights, jokes and costumes and fewer female characters. No surprises there, but for some reason, I had an incredibly difficult time adjusting to these new imperatives when I was working on the Green Arrow story for the show’s 07-08 season. The script generated endless notes from just about everyone, and it wasn’t finished until 15 minutes before it was due to be recorded. Not the way I like to work. Before starting on the next script, I asked Alan Burnett if I could see Len Uhley’s Hal Jordan/Green Lantern script for the show, and once I read it, I had a much better sense of the tone the network wanted. I guess the point is, it comes more naturally for me to write for a slightly older audience. But you can’t deny the value of focus groups; the kids will always tell you what they want and don’t want, and if you pay attention, they’ll watch your show.”
