So there was a new Batman Show (Caped Crusader)

did you guys know that there's a new Batman cartoon out right now seriously it's Batman CI Crusader and it claims to hearken back to the animated series from the 1990s with its Art Deco animation style it's also got big names attached like JJ Abrams and it claims to be a dark introspective take on the franchise it even currently has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and yet no one is talking about this one for the most part which is weird for Batman because it's Batman still one of the most popular superheroes in superhero universes even as superhero fatigue sets in even the worst interpretations of Batman tend to be talked about so I had to figure out why and I watched the show and I uh found out why I'm going to be honest this one hurts quite a bit actually this is going to be a harsh review at points it's going to be very harsh but I want to make this absolutely clear I'm not mad I'm just disappointed and before I say anything else this isn't like the worst thing ever this isn't shoeer Batman I'm going to be criticized isn't Catwoman but Batman cape Crusader isn't Catwoman to be as forward as I can the show is mid if you're not in the no I'd expect it to be Bland and boring but you might get some entertainment out of it it has many of the tropes and tools that we associate with the Batman Universe but when a show deliberately hearkens back to Batman the Animated Series being middling isn't excusable Batman the Animated Series is a lot of things it's not just one of the best interpretations of Batman of all time even my personal favorite Batman the Animated Series is simply one of the best cartoons not just of the 1990s but of all time it's in the top 30 maybe even the top 20 seriously if you haven't seen the original you are missing out on something fierce it took a deep introspective look at many of Batman's famous Rogues Gallery its take on Mr Freeze brought out the inherent tragedy of the character making one of the most memorable interpretations of him you know for positive [Music] reasons in this universe there's there's only one absolute everything free us with the Fantastic voice acting of Mark Hamill they brought the Joker to life in a brand new way please allow me the honor of shaking hands with the man who did The Impossible the man who killed Batman and the new villains Beyond original standouts like baby doll this is the show that invented Harley Quinn one of the few to the franchise that could rival the Joker in popularity she's had such an effect in pop culture that it's hard to imagine an adaptation of Batman without Harley these days but one of the more understated things I love about the animated series is the kind of humanity that it brings out of Batman Bruce Wayne as a character besides this being a more moral portrayal of the character that we had usually gotten prior it gives some traits that give him an identity that I think a lot of Prior versions were lacking being a super fan of the gy ghost immediately comes to mind I could go on and on praising the original and maybe someday I will take a proper look at the fullon original animated series but we're getting off track here that's not what this review is about the point here is that any show that is trying to invoke the 1990s Animated Series has their work cut out for them there are a ton of different adaptations of Batman with all kinds of flavors from 1960s campy to Nolan gritty and there are a variety of ways to do a Batman adaptation but it is beyond clear to me that this show is specifically trying to not just be another Batman cartoon but an update or a reimagining of the 9s DCA cartoon the art style for one it's undeniably trying to mirror what came before but something more concrete is that Warner Bros approach Bruce Tim to specifically make a Revival of Batman the Animated Series of course as The Story Goes it's not exactly that they wanted to do something that couldn't have been done with the original Show's target audience quote it's more pulp seral mystery fil Noir in real terms the show is now less episodic and it's gu rating up to tv14 so we're getting an edgy reboot of an already dark superhero series give me a second is it wrong that my first thought was this [ __ ] that but to tell you the truth I actually kind of want to call that tv14 thing false advertising I mean there's some blood in it and Bruce says hell a lot people do get murdered but it feels less dark than the original the first episode I'd say is the tip of it the penguin kills one of her sons in Cold Blood and blows up a few buildings but after that your bad [Music] good this review is going to have spoilers by the way there's one episode where Gordon has an open hit and the only guys who die in it is the villains the nocturna episode has her steal the life force of children but it's okay it is made clear that they will all make a full recovery because otherwise that would be too dark for this gritty mature storyline that they couldn't have done in the original Harley Quinn makes sure that all of her victims escape from her exploding Mansion villains die you know unless they don't hey Renee it's me sorry I couldn't make it she fell off a cliff into the ocean you only get a license to do Disney when you're doing Disney and Disney don't own Batman yet there's the threat of death to be fair like once again the open hit on Gordon and that can get kind of tense the start of the first episode has Batman holding a guy in front of an oncoming train to get an answer that reminds me I hate this incarnation of Batman what's Batman's one rule the one rule of Batman Batman does not kill and to be fair he doesn't kill anyone in the show we even see him fail to shoot a guy at Point Blank right at the end because he doesn't like guns but once again them holding a guy in front of an oncoming train to get answers all right though let's say that it was a bluff and Batman really would let the guy get hit by the train episode 4 the entire police force is after Batman they think that he's guilty and that he's a threat in essence they're just doing their job in this regard inside the burning building they see Batman and engage with him so Batman knocks them out and then he just keeps going leaving Behind These knocked out officers who were I remind you just doing their job leaving them unconscious in a burning building I'm not a lawyer but from my Layman's perspective the third degree burns they're getting here kind of look like Batman attempted the second degree and this is immediately before the stupidest moment in the entire show so how does Batman prove that he's a decent guy to Commissioner Gordon I'll tell you how he walks out of a burning room holding two kids one in each arm and then he tells Gordon there's one more and we see a third kid cowering in the room so why is this a problem no why is this a major problem well let's explain how this scene must have played out Batman walked into the room and took two kids and intentionally left a third behind but he only has two hands yeah and he's the [ __ ] Batman with an able bodyi back from where I stand Batman essentially played Sophie's Choice here for no [ __ ] reason there's also a moment where he speeds a car towards police officers once again just doing their job like that isn't going to [ __ ] kill anyone I get it it's a cartoon and if you're arguing that you haven't seen the original go watch the original where these kind of oversights never actually happened yet despite the but let's be nice and say carelessness towards the lives of the Innocents the worst part of the show is how Batman treats Alfred so you said the Situation's escalating and you're wasting my time pennyworth I'm sorry pennyworth yes I I know that's Alfred's actual last name it's more about tone than accuracy for just about the entire season Batman is incredibly dismissive of Alfred and just keeps calling him pennyworth it's very much Rich douche mode and it feels very much like Batman doesn't care about Alfred at all just using him as much of an accessory to what he's doing as the batang every time Batman spouts out pennyworth it's like a prick to the ears and I fully understand what they're doing they're building up to a grand ending of the Season where after a hard Mission Batman finally learns to appreciate penny worth and finally lets out that so well wanted thank you Penny Alfred thanks Alfred it's a fundamental misunderstanding of the character and the audience's desires Batman is a dark character in all but the most Camp of incarnations he's darker than the average superhero at least but even in the dark especially in the dark you need an anchoring force of Light Bruce Wayne caring about Alfred humanizes him in a much needed way because here's the thing about the show this isn't inverted please kill me before he makes me kill kill you Alfred still goes above and beyond for Batman in the series more so than some other incarnations and when he's doing that for a guy who doesn't seem to give a [ __ ] and uses him as nothing more than a tool it just makes Batman come across as an unlikable prick this water can't be over 108° or it'll cause nerve damage I've treated every injury you've ever had master Bruce from scrapes knees to gunshot WS I know what I'm doing you cannot start at zero you need something for the the audience to like about a character as a person at the start and no being a superhero and saving lives doesn't actually count we've had over a decade of gritty superhero reboots that question their moral foundations by now the payoff of that moment at the end is not worth the dislike of Batman as a character for the previous Nine episodes and when you get down to it I have to be honest the best thing about Batman in the show is he's barely in the show a good two-thirds of it work out like this villain is doing something we follow Renee or Barbara try to investigate that Batman gets the answers that must be obtained through morally questionable means and whatever he's doing is 90% off screen then the Normy investigators figure it out and Batman swoops in at the end to beat up the villain there's an idea here being a regular police officer or a detective or whatever in a world with a morably questionable superhero who is probably going to get somebody incredibly hurt and you're trying to figure out who he is or whatever it's actually a really good idea and I'd be all for that unless you decide to call your show Batman this show is called Batman man I want to watch Batman or one of Batman's villains if you wanted to go this route you you could have called it Gotham or whatever or if you really needed the Batman branding Beware the Batman is the title this kind of show really wants you called did Batman Caped Crusader I'm expecting the Caped Crusader front and center they kind of sort of try to do an analysis of the character of Batman I guess episode 3 has Bruce Wayne forced to attend therapy and don't ever do do this ever I get that Harley Quinn is a therapist and it comes to the territory never ever send your main character to therapy it can work but in every time except the two times it actually worked it comes across as nothing more than a think piece by the writer about how much they get the character they're writing about the only connection between your unquestionable intelligence and the sickness destroying your family is that everyone in your family you included use intelligence to justify sickness you seem to alternate between viewing your own mind is an Unstoppable Force it's infuriating it's pretentious and if there was such a thing in writing I'm going to call it cheating not to mention it is completely contradictory to what Harley Quinn actually does in the show she kidnaps these rich people and psychologically abuses them but she doesn't do that to Bruce Wayne for no [ __ ] reason sending your main character to therapy is the equivalent of describing a character's appearance in a book by having them look at a mirror and just listing off details you only do this when you don't know how to describe how a character looks organically if you don't know how to show the complexity of a character organically you have them talk to a therapist this whole life that you've built for yourself it feels so obvious almost a cliche all I hear is I get Batman more than you the audience member and maybe you do but maybe you don't I have realized it was perfect casting all along villain is the part I was born on to play I don't believe your performance you're chewing on scenery relying on makeup effects to enhance weak characterization this is Batman this is a world where a crazy actor trying to kill someone with a theatrical trap and then monologuing about it fits right in what doesn't fit in is this shitty deconstructionist dialogue since it takes me right out of the experience every single time and it happens way too much in the show hey hey did you know that Audrey 2 is a puppet and these actors are being scared of something the can't actually hurt them and this is all just drawings on a page that don't actually exist and your emotions are a lie the 2010s are dead let's leave behind the shits they took please all right but let's play fair the over-the-top actor is totally cliche and can't be taken seriously at all all right fine Fair that's why Batman faces a ghost in a later episode right yeah a literal ghost I'm not saying that you can't have Batman face a literal ghost Batman has faced all kinds of crazy and ridiculous monsters in his history from Dracula to a hot dog man to Scooby-Doo what I'm saying is you can't say that the actor doesn't belong and then have Batman fight a literal ghost like it does it's inconsistent be real or don't Heath Ledger Joker isn't going on about how he can't cross the IRS and dark gritty Batman here shouldn't be ghostbusting using literal sorcery is he going to bring out the bat credit card next if not why not honest question by the way the tone is almost as inconsistent as the animation I will say the look of the show does do a good job of capturing what the '90s cartoon did very well in Stills and only in Stills the problem is that they clearly did not have the budget that the '90s cartoon had it's not as loaded with animation errors as say High Guardian spice but there's a lack of Polish here that makes it look more like a fan tribute than an actual full degree Batman show there's some things that look just very wonky like Catwoman falling here or this mic Rising the biggest distraction though is these bizarrely CGI cars that do not gel with the style at all they also take a lot of shortcuts look you need more than a sound over a still image to convey something but most of all the show just looks stilted there's not a lot of motion to it which is bad because this is theoretically an action show and for Action you need villains and with such an extensive Rogues gallery of great villains it's hard to go wrong when you're doing Batman so how how do they go wrong we have 10 episodes here so that's more or less 10 slots for villains and to the credit they get most of the obvious choices Catwoman Harley Quinn the penguin Harvey Dent so uh can anyone tell me who this guy is this is anamia he uh bang that's it he just likes to make random sounds no powers in the show just Folly sound effects now this guy is not a cape Crusader original in the comic books he's an assassin and has deadly Marksmanship which is not used in the show at all I'm not saying they did him dirty this is actually the most accurate portrayal of comic book on aatopia and it's a perfect example of why he only works in the comics and I do not get why they decided to use him who doesn't work at all here before several fan favorites we have anamat AIA here who shouldn't be adapted into this before we have scarecrow The Riddler poison ivy Bane Mr Freeze Mad Hatter there's one thing to be said about giving more obscure and lesser known Batman villains time to shine but when you're throwing out anamia and Firebug and keeping the Joker locked up you're using your assets poorly and you heard me on that The Joker is in the series I'll make that clear he's the season 1 ending Cliffhanger Stinger the thing that's supposed to coax you into watching season 2 because he wasn't actually in season 1 not really it's the Alfred thing again I understand the logic of why you wanted to save this you didn't want to play your Ace to early but is Batman rule number one Batman's one rule is that he doesn't kill Batman's writer's one rule is that the Joker always comes first always he is the most famous villain for a reason and a good draw for a good number of people yes it's the boring safe choice and I understand that that's the last thing that anyone wants to do these days but Main Street is well worn for a reason it works and if the alternate path worked here you might have an argument instead you have Firebug who is literally just a run-of-the-mill pyromaniac with a flamethrower like bang bang up above he might have been better in the comics but in the show he's just a guy who likes fire but when he puts on his goggles and he sees reruns of Elemental all I can think of is the Pyro from Team Fortress 2 and all I can think of there is how much better that idea is and honestly how much more disturbing that kind of portrayal is it communicates the idea of what this character is so much better instead of going you know Edge for Edge sake nocturna is a completely different character than she usually is different powers different appearance they even changed her age making her a lot younger the only thing they really kept was her brother and her weakness to sunlight and it gets to the point where you have to wonder why are you calling her nocturna you can make original villains you know that is the thing that you are allowed to do they were some of the most popular villains of your forbearers and the one thing that they really did keep nocturna's sensitivity to sunlight barely even factors into her episode honestly this character nocturno or whatever you want to call her wasn't entirely a bad idea a young girl with super strength who needs to steal the life force of others and becomes a kidnapper because of that that's a perfect setup for the dark and gritty thing that you're trying to build what kills it though is the writing she comes across as this very one not drug addict with no real depth and no complexity in what she's doing also there's this moment where she does kill her brother she assumes that he's going to survive but later on Batman just tells her that Anton is dead Anton's dead Natalia no you're lying I know you didn't mean to I didn't kill him I couldn't let me ask you this would you believe some random guy Batman or not telling you that your brother is dead like right in the middle of a fight would you believe them like immediately with no convincing or proding it's a waste and killing off her brother cuts off future potential of the character same as killing off Harvey Dent good God what did you do my man here and just about any Batman adaptation Twoface is one of the most complex tragic of all the Batman antagonists a good guy with heavy career prospects that get shot down when he makes a moral stance that gets half his face burned off and brings out a dark side Cape Crusade asks the daring question that no one bothered to ask what if we made him an [ __ ] all the way through Harvey Dent is such an aoral douche for the first seven episodes he belongs more fighting Phoenix right than Bruce Wayne stepping on toes being corrupt for politicians accepting bribes doing anything and everything to further his career then randomly in episode 8 he decides to grow conscious for like no real reason like he needs to do something nice to get acid in his face because that's the only thing about Harvey Den we want to keep this guy who has been completely selfish the entire time decides to randomly not be selfish and that's what gets his face burned and let's pull off the Band-Aid here this design is horrendous and not the good kind of two- faced horrendous like the best way I could describe it is that the bad side of his face looks like a generic zombie like one you'd put on the front lawn to show trick-or-treaters that your house isn't too scary compare this to some of the other two faces of the past this is what he looked like in the comic book this is what he looked like in the Nolan film FMS in the original animated series and you can see you can you can see I I just realized they burned the wrong side of his face I I got to check something Google okay which side of Harvey D face was burnt the left I thought so wh why did they burn the right side of his face okay I have just been informed that apparently getting burned by acid awakens a more regretful moral side to Twoface that's really dumb for one it's still a moral action that turns Harvey Dent into two faace and he was starting to grow a conscious before the attack because consistency is a foreign language for two after he gets attacked he gets more violent and starts getting into outbursts which is more alien to who he was than the remorseful side so much of the changes feel like they're trying to be clever for the sake of clever which I ically is one of the most stupid things you can do at best it comes across as pretentious at worst you get Harvey Dent here 90% of the people aren't even going to notice that you switch the faces 90% of those who do notice will think that it's just a mistake and 90% of the remainder of that who look into it probably won't agree with your logic it's a change for the sake of changing things and I I think we need to establish this in a reboot adaptation reimagination remaking changing things for nothing other than the sake of changing things is selfish like someone really really wanting to stamp their own identity onto something without crafting their own identity onto something without crafting something to begin with I don't want to make it seem like the show's changes have a 100% failure rate their take on Harley Quinn is certainly a unique one if nothing else and it's a change that really does manage to stand out her episode is worth watching for that alone it's also the one time I think the show's more mature rating actually gives it something of quality and I I suppose I've been stalling on this one long enough this is the only thing about the show that anyone seems to be talking about the penguin she's now a woman and and you're probably wondering why James and I were talking about the overview of the show and we said one of the problems with Batman as he is is there's a lack of good villains you got Catwoman you got poison ivy you got Harley Quinn but it would be really good to have more female villains and off the top of my head I said we never really could figure out what exactly to do with the penguin what's the gimmick for the penguin would be what if we gender flip the penguin I I just want to stay before anything else this interview is terrible like that's an out of context line for the ages one of the problems with Batman is there's a lack of good villains I'm I'm just going to let that line hang in the air like a wet fart he he obviously meant good female villains you got Catwoman you got poison iy you got Harley wait wait what do you what do you mean you got poison you didn't even use Poison Ivy the obvious here's a list of Batman female villains but beyond that this is the kind of answer that pisses off every side of an argument it calls gender flipping the penguin a gimmick you either agree with that and you're pissed for him gender flipping the penguin or you don't agree that it's a gimmick and you're pissed at him for calling it a gimmick to tell you the truth I personally do not give a [ __ ] because the other changes to the penguin are far far worse the Penguin's backstory is such as this he was subjected to Relentless teasing because he was short overweight and ugly some adaptations also make him gross as well this was his motivation to turn evil say what you want about how that plays to the modern audience but it was a motivation it meets the requirements technically female penguin isn't ugly quite the opposite she's loved and endearing meaning they removed her motivation they made her just a generic evil rich sociopath whose only remaining motivation is greed and power and I'd call that a gimmick but that's not really it's less than a gimmick it's boring the most cliched motivation possible all in all Batman cape Crusader is one of those reasons why reimagining is such a dirty word in some circles because it just makes changes pointlessly for the sake of standing out before thinking how or why to make these changes work or how they fit into any context people have only latched on to one change because of culture War [ __ ] and it really is a distraction because the show is just filled with a bunch of changes that make things worse for the arbitrary purpose of standing out from its forebears and that wouldn't be such a bad thing if it wasn't directly trying to capture the spirit of something that is still remembered fondly Cape Crusader doesn't feel so much like Batman it feels like a Batman costume it may look the pars but it doesn't have any of those fancy gizmos that make the theatrics work being unique and different is not as important as you think good as king never forget that so yeah I have to say that I'm not the biggest fan of this one although as I write this a second season has been greenl it's unknown where or when it'll crop up due to a lot of behind the scenes stuff but if a Velma season 2 could sneak out I have no doubts that we eventually be seeing a cave Crusader season 2 and I'm cautiously optimistic because a lot of my problems for the first season were more or less resolved with the end of this one we actually have the joker now and for what it's worth what they do have does look pretty cool Batman now has an attachment to Alfred making him just a bit more human and my issues with Harvey no longer really a whyly [Music]