From: bn981@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ryan Mathews)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime
Subject: Re: BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
Date: 9 Sep 1992 09:28:39 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: bn981@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ryan Mathews)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc4.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (OtakuRoach) says:

>In article <1992Sep7.081254.7551@gn.ecn.purdue.edu>, gavigan@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (Ryan P. Gavigan) writes:
>> In article <1616@tnc.UUCP> m0336@tnc.UUCP (RALPH JENKINS) writes:
>> >
>> >And on a totally unrelated note, I just caught Batman: The Animated
>> >series tonight.  I was impressed!  This is the best American animation
>> >series I have seen in quite some time.  It doesn't pander to the
>> >kiddies!  This one looks like a real hit.

Oh, me too!  I was ecstatic!  This is what I have been waiting for.  Mind
you, it wasn't perfect, but you're right, it didn't pander (at least not
to kids :-) ).

Wow.  Actual acting by the voice-actors, rather than just making voices...
Did you catch any of the names in the cast?  They flash the credits so
fast, but I caught Ed Asner.

>> It wouldn't take much to be the best american animated series.  I felt the
>> animation was still very subpar, with movement animation no better than an
>> average say TMNT episode, only with darker scenery.

Ugh.  It's loads better than TMNT.  Oh, it could be better, but nothing
else I've seen on American TV (save for *some* of the Disney Afternoon)
can touch it.  The facial expressions had some real effort put into them.
At one point, Bruce Wayne motions that he wants someone to follow him by
tilting his head, a very subtle motion that I have rarely seen done.

>> Story was typical early american comic book
>> storytelling , with better drama , and in nsome cases melodrama, than nearly
>> anything of recent years, but IMHO, there is still ALOT more room for 
>> improvement.

Oh, sure.  I agree entirely.  But this is a MONSTROUS leap toward what I
want in an American cartoon, and I'm going to enjoy it.

>Just keep in mind one thing: this isn't Japan.  Anime series are weekly
>affairs, but this show is a WEEKDAYS thing (5 episodes instead of 1).
>[which cuts down on the quality]

Yeah.  I really wish they would've put it in prime-time.  As it is, the
"record" button on my VCR is about to get some serious use for the first
time in its life.

>(*)  I can't wait to see the upcoming stories by the regular writers of the
>BATMAN comics.

I watched my first one today (part 1 of the Clayface story), and it
was written by Marv Wolfman.  Is he doing Batman now?  I don't collect
the comic.

BTW, I love that they have the guts to do multi-part stories.  I think
it's better for an action series when you aren't required to wrap it
up in 30 minutes.  (Of course, CITY HUNTER and DIRTY PAIR pulled it off,
but they didn't have as many commericials to deal with, did they?)

			---------- Ryan Mathews
-- 
Email: bn981@cleveland.freenet.edu      DISCLAIMER:  Any resemblence of this
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Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime