Batman The Animated Series

Batman the animated series has got be one of the best cartoons to come out of the 90's. I have not yet met anyone that grew up in that time that did not enjoy watching it, even my sister who did not enjoy Batman, loved it. Paul Dini and Bruce Timm did a superb job in creating it and, I believe, they did it because of their love for it. Not for money or ratings like so many other people in the business get wrapped up in. I also find it amusing that Bruce Timm has two Batman character names with his own. "Bruce" Wayne and "Tim" Drake, the second Robin in the series.
I forget which one of them said it, but they both agreed that with each Batman episode they mostly wanted them to stand alone as mini movies. So if each show is about 20 minutes long, that gives them 7 minutes per act. That shows alot of genius in how they used every minute to move the story they were telling. It's also interesting that in the opening scene there are no words. Just Batman racing down the road and fighting average thugs blowing up a bank. They did that so that no matter where you were from you would recognize The Dark Knight.
Aside from Dini and Tim, there is another man who worked on Batman that should be mentioned, Boyd Kirkland. Though Dini and Tim still work on D.C. comic cartoons, Kirkland moved to Marvel and became producer and director of X-men: Evolution, and Wolverine and the X-men. Kirkland directed many Batman episodes, with his pivotal work being the straight to video movie Subzero. He also worked on the big picture movie, Mask of the Phantasm.
Now that I've given the credit where it is due, and given you some pieces of information that you may not have known, Oh by the way Batman was the first cartoon that used a black backround instead of a white one.
He he he, So what was it about Batman that we all loved? Well lets think...we have a superhero. Hold the phone, superhero? Batman doesn't have any super powers,or does he! True many people argue that Batman has no super powers, yet after doing alittle research I discovered that he is rather gifted in a number of ways.
The first way is that Bruce Wayne is supposedly the perfect man, much like Steve Rogers when he became Captain America, only Bruce never took a super soldier serum. His mind, body, and spirit are greater than any normal humans. This is shown several times in the show as he refuses to give up, even when Joker hits him over the head with a wrench. Second is the most knownn trait about Bats, he is the worlds greatest detective. There is no clue the Riddler gives him he can't crack. No goose chase Ras'al Ghul throws him on that he can't follow. Ras even addressed him as Detective, not Batman. Batman's mind is probably his greatest weapon, with it he trained in the ways of Ninjitsu, learned from the greatest escape artists, and used his wealth to make him the perfect one man crime fighting machine. His second greatest weapon is probably his wallet. Being a billionare really help pay for all the cool things in his utility belt, along with the several other Batvehicles.
So those are Batman's true powers, and one of the reasons I think he's a really cool character. Since he doesn't actually have powers it's cool that you know if a bullet hit him he would really get hurt and that it would take alot out of him. Bullets don't hurt Superman, and if Flash got hit with one, well it might slow him down, but no to a degree a normal man could take him on. Thats another thing that made Batman cool, he was human, and he's a symbol of what we could be like if we train hard and never give up.
I could write about Batman all day, but I'm a busy blogger and have other things to do. So I'll leave it at that, though next week I'll write a bit about his villains, which is another huge reason the show did so well. I promise I'll try to discuss all of them equally, and not make it a piece all about Joker. That I'll do some other time :P