Batman: The Animated Series- The Legend Begins/Tales of the Dark Knight

Love animated Batman

It's about time that Warner Brothers finally responded to the years of demand by the fans to release the amazing "Batman: The Animated Series" on DVD. What we've finally gotten is a mixed bag, however. I'm happy to see this first disc of episodes in chronological order (rather than the ridiculous themed releases like what we got on VHS), and hopefully Warner will continue to release the entire series in order and complete; but more episodes on the disc would have been nice! What we get here on this release called "Batman: The Legend Begins" is the first five episodes of the animated series -- based on production order, not airdate order -- (1) "On Leather Wings", (2) "Christmas with the Joker", (3) "Nothing to Fear", (4) "The Last Laugh", and (5) "Pretty Poison". Respectively, these episodes are the spectacular pilot with Man-Bat, a lighthearted Joker story, a pretty good Scarecrow story, another (slightly better) Joker story and the origin story of Poison Ivy. A pretty good introduction to the series, but the best was yet to come! As far as extras go, there isn't much. An introduction by Bruce Timm, a few webgames and CD-ROM links, and a brief documentary. (Where are the commentaries, pre-production drawings, artwork slideshows, and extended documentaries?) ... ... Now, if you've never seen the series you are in for a treat! "Batman: The Animated Series" premiered on television way back on Sep. 5th, 1992 with the episode "The Cat & The Claw, part 1" (not included on this first disc), about three months after the live-action "Batman Returns" had come out. The animated series (unlike the mediocre movies) met with almost universal acclaim. Boistered by fabulous writing from the likes of Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, Michael Reaves and many others, as well as solid voice talent like Mark Hamill (wonderful as the Joker) and Kevin Conroy (this guy IS Batman), the series also intoduced such wonderful characters as Harley Quinn and improved versions of nearly ever Batman rogues gallery villian. In my humble opinion, the animated series is the definitive Batman, better than any of the comic books or movies... absolutely nailing the characterizations of Batman/Bruce Wayne himself, as well as his relationships with police commissioner Gordon, Robin/Dick Grayson and best of all Alfred. The series transcends its origins as a "kids cartoon" to being one of the greatest and most adult animated series ever produced. (In a recent poll, it ended second only to "The Simpsons" as the greatest cartoon series ever.) ... At a rate of only five episodes per disc, it will take twenty-two discs to release the entire series of 109 episodes, and that doesn't even count the 50+ episodes of "Batman Beyond" or the 54 episodes of the "Superman" animated series; these series have not yet been announced, but we can only hope... right, Warner Bros?

You know, there are a number of well written televisions shows out there: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons, X-Files, Angel, Friends, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to name a few.Who would've ever thought that an ANIMATED show would top 'em all?This is the Dark Knight in his finest form. The movies and the past TV shows are all put to shame by this wonderfully crafted show. The animation is excellent and the writing is way above par (seriously, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and the rest of the staff go head-to-head with Joss Whedon [Buffy] and his team in terms of writing dialogue. They are that dang good.)So on this delightful little DVD, we are treated to the first five episodes produced:On Leather Wings: The story is really nothing special, but the animation... oh my gosh. It is breathtaking. It's rich, it's smooth, and it really shows the capabilities of the animation team. Rating: **** (out of 5)Christmas with the Joker: One of the more underrating episodes. Any episode featuring the Joker is a delight for fans of witty dialogue and this is no different. Again, nothing out of the ordinary, just another fun episode. Rating: ***½Nothing to Fear: Our first look at the Scarecrow. It's a rather bland episode, mainly because I find the Scarecrow at this stage to be rather bland. A typical payback-gone-wrong story. Rating: ***The Last Laugh: Joker Episode. Excellent Dialogue. This is another one of those Batman-chases-Joker-through-half-the-city-before-catching-him sprinkled with some great dialogue and a KILLER music track. Rating: ****Pretty Poison: A villian with a cause. This is probably the most interesting episode on the DVD because we get to witness firsthand the origin of one of the more interesting villians, Poison Ivy. Plus, she's kind of hot (okay, so I'm a little whacked) Rating: ****The Extras: The reason why we buy DVDs... and for the most part, they're not great. The side commentaries are interesting, but that's probably the only extra that's worthwhile. Everything else just seems like filler. This is what essentially brings the rating down to 4 stars.The final note: Heck, it's Batman the Animated Series! That reason alone should be enough to make you go out and buy this DVD! Yeah, it's not the collection of the best episodes, but hey, we'll get to the good ones eventually. Meanwhile, this should be more than adequate to whet your appetite for future DVD releases.

One of the discs was all scratched up and I couldn't play it but other than that I was happy with my purchase.

A good start to producing the animated series on Dvd. But, this needs a lot more extras. Extra episodes, extra extras, like deleted scenes, watching the actors rehearse, or reading the scripts would be fun, interviews with the cast, and, since this is for kids :) maybe a few dvd-rom games.There's just so much more they could do with these DVDs. I'd like to see them take advantage of the opportunities.Kevin Conroy is awesome. He IS Batman. The artwork is near flawless. I am so drawn into the entire ambience, that I have to catch myself, remembering this is a cartoon. It's not live action. Which, after the dismal Batman & Robin, it's very easy to understand why the animated series seems like live characters, and Batman & Robin seemed more cartoony than the animated series.Despite the shortage of episodes and extras, I still give this 4 out of 5 stars, or a 92 of 100.

I originally purchased this since my copy of The Legend Begins DVD is warped, so I decided to get this assuming it's 2-Disc Set.It turns out, it's not 2-Disc Set (on 1 DVD case) that I thought it would be. Instead, it's 2 SEPARATE volumes on shrink wrap with paper.Pretty disappointed, but I recommend this if you are fan of the series and has yet to purchase the individual volumes (which contains few special features that's NOT on Season/Volume Set and Limited Edition Complete Series Set; such as episode introduction with Bruce Timm (creator)).

grand son loves it

I am a Batman Freak