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How Batman the Animated Series Changed the Way

Posted By on Sep 5, 2017 |

There'due south before BTAS and after…

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Batman: The Blithe Series — the brainchild of Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski, Paul Dini and a squad of blitheness visionaries — celebrates its 25th ceremony Tuesday, Sept. five, just we've got a whole week of retrospectives planned for you hither at 13th Dimension . For the complete listing of stories, including interviews with creators and animators, click hither.

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Animator J.J. Sedelmaier (The Ambiguously Gay Duo, Beavis and Butt-Head) is one of the most knowledgeable people around when it comes to cartoons. Here, he writes how Batman: The Animated Series dramatically contradistinct the landscape:

A rare daytime visit at J.J.'s studio.

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Past J.J. SEDELMAIER

In 1992, J.J. Sedelmaier Productions Inc. had been open a fiddling over a year and we were about to commence on a serial for MTV Networks called Beavis and Barrel-Head. The drawing industry wasn't exactly thriving, and other than MTV/Nickelodeon (Liquid Television, TheRen &Stimpy Evidence) and Trick (The Simpsons, The Tracey Ullman Show), the level of animation programming that could be enjoyed by kids and adults was pretty low and even so adhered to a "Saturday Morning"-type sensibility.

And then Batman: The Animated Serial striking.

I remember thinking that, finally, something interesting must be happening out on the Due west Coast when it came to mainstream drawing programming! The combination of resurrecting the Dark Knight aspect of the character, as well every bit the strategic staging reminiscent of the Fleischer/Famous Studios Superman cartoons, was fabulous! (Information technology besides took strong graphic influence from Alex Toth, simply was able to practise more justice to the translation of the model sheets into the actual animation than Toth's work received from Hanna-Barbera.) The original opening to the evidence is withal 1 of my favorite animated sequences ever.

What intrigued me most after watching the show for awhile was the understanding and respect that the program seemed to have for the classic comic book and animated works of the past. Whoever was responsible for this truly knew their shit, and wanted to show everybody how information technology could exist translated into a modernistic sensibility. The show besides successfully did what I idea the Tim Burton live-action Batman sagas attempted to achieve only never did – the darkness, the mood. Burton's films and the other Batman movies (prior to Christopher Nolan's) always seemed silly and cartoony. I found the animated serial ironically less cartoony and darker.

The animation was limited, but not in the customary "Saturday Morning" method. This was more along the lines of how anime works – strategic staging in the layout process combined with dynamic posing and terrific timing. The only aspect that I didn't get for (but understood its place in the testify) was the use of shut-ups during down moments with Bruce Wayne, etc. The flat, uncomplicated, graphic design didn't hold upwardly as well if the shut-ups lingered for too long.

But the action sequences were superb – and the option and use of music was spot-on. I soon learned that the principal forces behind the serial' unique production were Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski (producing/design/animation) and Paul Dini (producing/writing).

From the 1998 book Batman Animated, past Paul Dini and Chip Kidd.

Every bit is ofttimes the unfortunate instance with initially successful series production, the prove's graphic style became the new canon for goggle box animation product – especially when information technology came to superhero bailiwick matter. It's like what happened when Ren & Stimpy found success – there was a deluge of R&Due south-inspired cartoons that adopted the await simply weren't able to duplicate what made information technology terrific. Suddenly, all superhero cartoons seemed to look the aforementioned. This may have helped in a branding sense, but I never felt whatsoever of the other spinoffs had the clean originality that the pioneeringBatman: The Animated Series did.

I retrieve it'south off-white to say that it also gave a powerful boost to comic-volume character presence also. Both DC and Marvel seemed to benefit from the renewed interest and response to the use of their characters in animated and live-activeness productions.

DVDs and VHS tapes that J.J. uses for reference.

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MORE: For the complete BATMAN: THE ANIMATED Serial Week Index of features, click here.