I finally picked up the final volume of Batman: The Animated Series the other day (volume 4) and started thinking about where I would go next. If you’re not familiar with the Bruce Timm universe (also refered to as the DC animated universe, or the DCAU), you may not realize just how many shows he’s responsible for, and that he and his staff are so good at establishing and recognizing their own continuity that every series is considered to be in the same canon; all of these shows have crossovers into the others. There are 14 years of continuity, starting with Batman: TAS in 1992 and ending with Justice League Unlimited in 2006.

Being the big sucker I am for complex, long-spanning continuity (Star Trek, Buffy/Angel, etc.) I eventually want to pick up every DVD box set in the DCAU. In case you didn’t know just how much of this canon existed or didn’t even realize it went beyond Batman: TAS, I thought I’d post a list of every show and available DVD box set, to give you a sense of just how much you’ll have to spend and how much shelf space you’ll need to clear if you want to embark on the same journey as I am. Bruce Timm revolutionized animation and story telling in the medium, and though Batman: TAS remains the best show in the canon (in my opinion) the others are certainly worth watching as well.

Batman: The Animated Series

There are four volumes. The fourth is actually a second Batman “series” (originally broadcast in “The New Batman/Superman Adventures”) that takes place in the same continuity and with the same voice actors, but the visual style is updated and it’s set two years later in order to focus on Batman’s partners, so Dick Grayson is now Nightwing and Tim Drake is the new Robin; Batgirl is also a series regular, when she only occasionally appeared previously, and not until the third volume.

Superman: The Animated Series

The Superman animated series came after the original run of Batman. The final season includes some crossover episodes with Batman, including the three-part “Batman/Superman World’s Finest” episode, also available as a DVD movie.

Batman Beyond

Here’s an idea that I immediately bocked at when I first heard about it back in the 90s, but it turned out to be in the same vein as Batman: TAS. Yeah, it’s futuristic and a new guy in the Batman suit, but Bruce Wayne, though an old man, is still calling the shots, and it’s as much about him as it is about Terry. If you watched Batman: TAS but didn’t give Beyond a chance, I advise you to take a chance on it.

Justice League

This is the next logical step after the Batman and Superman shows. Batman and Superman finally in a regular series together, with Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawk Girl, and Martian Manhunter. It’s a different dynamic with an ensemble cast and a wider array of villains but it definately holds true to its roots.

Justice League Unlimited

Similar to “The New Batman Adventures,” this is the same show with a new title. The theme for the final two seasons is basically to see how many of DC’s superheroes could be brought into a single show. There are tons and tons of guest characters, a lot of previously-unseen heroes getting their own episodes. I’ve seen very few of these, but some have complained that so many characters bogged stories down a bit. However, I’ve also heard that the end of the final season has a pretty extensive plot arc to wrap up the series. This is the final show made for the DCAU.

There are two lesser-known shows that are also part of the DCAU, made around the time of the Batman revamp episodes and then Batman Beyond. Static Shock was an original character that Bruce Timm gave his own series. I have never seen it, but I do know that while it was originally a stand-alone show, later epiodes have crossovers with other heroes and villains from the DCAU. It lasted for four seasons but so far only one volume has been released. The other is The Zeta Project, a series about a sentient robot and a spin-off of Batman Beyond (another show I’ve never seen). It ran for two seasons and has yet to be released on DVD.

Movies 

There have also been a number of stand-alone, animated movies in the Bruce Timm universe. The first, and most popular, was the excellent Batman: Mask of the Phantasm from 1993. The most noted next to it is Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Gotham Girls

There is also a three-season series of web shorts made in flash animation starring the ladies of Gotham called Gotham Girls, which ended in 2002. They can still be viewed online, and were also included as an extra on the Birds of Prey boxset just this year. I’ve watched these– they’re mostly comedic shorts and I found them to be a little too silly, but the third season is a big arc and more serious, so it’s worth watching.

Since 2006, Bruce Timm has been producing direct-to-video DVDs for DC, mostly based on graphic novels. These are all completely contained continuities and not part of the DCAU. So far, they’ve been very good and worth watching (with the exception of the most recent Batman Gotham Knight, which I’ve reviewed here). The other two are Superman: Doomsday and Justice League New Frontier.

This is obviously a lot of television to try and buy, but if you’re adventureous, most of it’s out there now. All of these available boxsets can be found on Amazon.com, Suncoast, Hastings, and your local Target or Wal-Mart stores may still carry at least some of the Justice League Unlimited sets, since they were the most recenly released. I’ve been buying mine for between $20 and $30 apiece. If you just want to see some of these episodes, they’re all available for rent on Netflix. Good hunting!

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

All of the sudden, fanboys have one less thing to complain about. For the last six years, there’s been a lot of cursing Warner Brothers from the elite group of fans that were lucky enough to be paying attention to the WB just before it got completely pointless to see a little jewel of a show called Birds of Prey. We’ve been complaining because not only was it yet another worth-while series that was cancelled after only a half-season, but because WB refused to release it on DVD. I never understood this mentality. Back then, WB acted like it was the worst mistake they ever made, presumably because BoP’s ratings didn’t touch Smallville. But if you’re going to cut your losses in a world with DVD box sets, why not release it and make a few bucks off of your lousy investment?

Birds of Prey was a show set in New Gotham, loosely based on the comic book of the same name. The Huntress is actually based on the pre-Crisis Earth 2 version, Helena Wayne (called Helena Kyle in this series), the product of a relationship between Batman and Catwoman. She works with former-Batgirl Barbara Gordon (spitting-image from the comic played by Dina Meyer) who is now the computer genius called Oracle, after the Joker paralyzed her legs with a gunshot. They’re joined in the pilot by Dinah Lance, the future second Black Canary. The show came out of another premise conceived prior to Smallville for a young Bruce Wayne series. It would have happened, except Warner was already developing plans for Batman Begins and they didn’t want Bruce Wayne’s pre-Batman career to be portrayed twice, simultaneously. Kryptonsite somehow got ahold of the pilot script for that series, and you can read it here (and it’s very, very good). So instead, Miller and Gogh went with Superman and thus Smallville was born. But with Smallville’s hugely successful first season, they came up with Birds of Prey, pitched it, and got it made. Unfortunately, it wasn’t received by fans as quickly and it was cancelled after thirteen episodes. Though it’s one of my favorite shows of all time, it did have one inherent flaw that may have helped to kill it– it was Gotham City without Batman. And the only way to do that would have been to either kill him (which is never a good idea– see the blog I wrote way back in November) or have him get scared off by the Joker wounding Batgirl and killing Catwoman. They did the latter, and though Batman is portrayed as legendary and epic in the pilot as I’ve ever seen him, I think it made a lot of fans angry. Batman just wouldn’t do that. But it’s neccessary for the premise to even work, so I found myself able to forgive them for it.

Apparently, Warner finally changed their minds about releasing it. On July 15th, Birds of Prey will finally join the ranks of failed series to be available on DVD, along with such post-canceled DVD successes like Firefly and Patrick Warburton’s live action The Tick. Why did the suits finally change their minds? The obvious answer is The Dark Knight. The series is being released only three days before the film, so it must be a tie-in. They probably figured it would be good hype for the movie and if they were going to make any money on it at all, now would be the time. As much as I’ve been missing this from my shelf for the last five years, I have to say, it was a brilliant move. A lot of people are bound to see it in the store who watched the pilot or maybe even several episodes but it’s been so long they’ve forgotten about it.

But I wonder if there’s another reason, as well. In 2002, there weren’t any big cancelled shows on DVD quite yet, but it was coming. Perhaps some companies are aware of the lighting that struck with Firefly, a show that, in retrospect, never should have been cancelled at all. Box set sales for that show went through the roof, and it was popular enough to make history, being the first series cancelled before a full season that became a major motion picture (Serenity). I think a lot of shows get cancelled before enough people get a chance to try them out. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, Star Trek: The Next Generation struggled to get any attention at all and didn’t really find its legs until the third season. After that, it was the biggest rage on television and had the highest ratings at the time. If a studio releases a cancelled show on DVD now, it’s popularity has a good chance of coming after the fact.

I hope the sales of Birds of Prey go well. If it becomes another phenomenon, I think it could lead to a mini-series or a TV movie. That may be weirder in this case, since the actresses are all six years older now, but I’m still crossing my fingers. Birds of Prey was what Smallville should have been, in story, in character development, in pacing, in everything. It wasn’t the same contrived story every week, wrapped up in a different package, though at the beginning, it did fall back on the freak-of-the-week formula. Happily, it jumped out of that very quickly. Helena and Jesse Reese’s relationship was infinitly more complicated than Clark and Lana’s, and he discovered her secret in just nine or ten episodes, which allowed their relationship to be explored and to grow, while it took Lana six and a half seasons to discover Clark’s, while in the meantime, their relationship went in circles. Birds of Prey created fun new characters while using others from the Batman universe in new ways, but still keeping true to the originals. And, happily, the crew had enough advance warning that the show was being cancelled to make a final episode that wraps up the season arc nicely, without being too rushed, and gives it some closure.

The only special features I know about right now are the unaired pilot (which I’ve actually seen– it’s just like the real pilot, only a much less talented actress is playing Harley Quinn; it’s barely worth your time) and the entire three season run of Gotham Girls, which is a flash animated series of mini episodes featuring characters with their original voices from the Bruce Timm Batman Animated Series. I hope they’ve also included some BoP episode commentaries.

If you never had a chance to see it, pick up a copy or rent it on Netflix. If you’re a Batman fan, it’s definitely worth your time.

 LLAP

 -Cap’n Logan