The Matt Signal: The New Batman Adventures Findings

With the conclusion of The New Batman Adventures that basically completes the entire original run of Batman: The Animated Series. We have a few more stops to go after this, but it seems a good point to check back in on those all important NUMBERS!

No title cards in this season, so see the Season 2 findings for final tallies of those.

Best Directors

Overall while there are some smoother animations and a few of the costume re-designs are good, this is a much less visually striking season of television, ditching the iconic ‘dark deco’ style in favour of red skies and more modern aesthetics, as well as getting rid of the beloved title cards. All of this was a deliberate choice to streamline production and make the show quicker and cheaper to make, and you’d hope if HBOMax does revive it in any fashion they’ll toss far more money at it and restore the discarded elements.

Oh hey, some new directors! Six of them! In fact Dan Riba is the only director this season who had directed for BTAS before!

With the launch of Superman: The Animated Series, and the impending debuts of Static Shock, The Zeta Project and Justice League, it was clear that some of the producers’ energy had to be diverted elsewhere (no new episodes by Timm or Radomski) and resources needed to be shared.

Thus a few TNBA episodes were directed by the animation houses that worked on them, giving credits to Atsuko Tanaka, Hiroyuki Aoyama, Kenji Hachizaki and Yuchiro Yano to mixed results, with Yano going straight to number one overall by directing only a single episode, ‘Over the Edge.’

Curt Geda and Butch Lukic graduated up from the storyboard department and made strong impressions. Geda was the strongest new director who did multiple episodes, while Lukic lucked into getting to direct ‘Mad Love’.

Boyd Kirkland & Kevin Altieri moved on to new pastures, with Dan Riba filling their workhorse role. This dramatically hurt his numbers, slipping from third to eighth.

1. Yuchiro Yano (1) (NEW ENTRY)
2. Bruce Timm (5) (Previously: 1)
3. Curt Geda (7) (NEW ENTRY)
4. Hiroyuki Aoyama (1) (NEW ENTRY)
5. Butch Lukic (5) (NEW ENTRY)
6. Eric Radomski (4) (Previously: 2)
7. Boyd Kirkland (21) (Previously: 4)
8. Dan Riba (17) (Previously: 3)
9. Kevin Altieri (22) (Previously: 5)
10. Kenji Hachizaki (1) (NEW ENTRY)
11. Atsuko Tanaka (2) (NEW ENTRY)
12. Dick Sebast (9) (Previously: 6)
13. Frank Paur (16) (Previously: 7)
14. Kent Butterworth (1) (Previously: 8)

Best Writers

Much like the direction, this season was mostly comprised of new talent, with only Paul Dini, Joe R. Lansdale, Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett having writing credits on BTAS. Former regulars Michael Reaves, Randy Rogel and Brynne Chandler all got pushed out of the top ten by the newbies after being ranked 5^th, 6^th and 7^th respectively.

To me the writing on the show improved with each season, likely due to it becoming clear what did and didn’t work, so Hilary J. Bader, Rich Fogel and Robert Goodman were likely writing to the house style established by Paul Dini.

Speaking of Dini, you may see his sixth place position and freak out, but let’s once again dig deeper. Dini wrote the top nine episodes of my rankings, and many of the episodes that drag his average down saw him sharing writing duties with inferior talent. Also remember all of Bruce Timm’s writing credits are for story only (often alongside Dini), and Boyd Kirkland and Dennis O’Flaherty only wrote one script each, so averages work in their favour.

Our top ten:

1. Boyd Kirkland (1) (NEW ENTRY)
2. Robert Goodman (3) (NEW ENTRY)
3. Bruce W. Timm (5) (NEW ENTRY)
4. Rich Fogel (6) (NEW ENTRY)
5. Dennis O’Flaherty (1) (Previously: 2)
6. Paul Dini (30) (Previously: 1)
7. Hilary J. Bader (6) (NEW ENTRY)
8. Marv Wolfman (2) (Previously: 3)
9. Gerry Conway (2) (Previously: 4)
10. Alan Burnett (8) (Previously: 9)

The bottom still remains broadly unchanged, with the majority of it being people who wrote one episode and weren’t invited back. Steve Gerber is the worst-performing new writer.

Best Performances

I don’t think anybody who debuted in TNBA does enough to dethrone the existing top 10, but I do think I was overlooking some oldies but goodies so have re-shuffled accordingly.

Tara Strong was generally great when given enough lines. Mathew Valencia was surprisingly decent as Tim Drake, with his Robin predecessor, Loren Lester, taking much better to the Nightwing incarnation of Dick Grayson. I was also impressed with the guest appearances of Lori Petty, Sela Ward, Charity James and Karla DeVito.

1. Kevin Conroy (Batman)
2. Mark Hamill (Joker)
3. Arleen Sorkin (Harley Quinn)
4. Diane Pershing (Poison Ivy)
5. George Dzundza (Ventriloquist)
6. Roddy McDowell (Mad Hatter)
7. Robert Costanzo (Harvey Bullock)
8. Richard Moll (Two-Face)
9. Adrienne Barbeau (Catwoman)
10. Alison LaPlaca (Baby-Doll)

Rankings

The communist in me is delighted by my final top 10 being comprised of 3 episodes from season one, 3 from season two, 3 from New Batman Adventures and the theatrical movie.

For a hot minute I was willing to declare this ‘third season’ of the show the strongest of them all, as I really dug the ensemble approach and slightly more mature stories… but then they got into a real rut of animal-themed episodes and sub-standard guest appearances by Etrigan the Demon and The Creeper. I would also punish the season’s mostly inferior art design more when talking about it as a whole in a way that isn’t reflected in the individual episode rankings. But still! Some incredibly strong showings from TNBA, which doesn’t get enough love compared to BTAS in my opinion.

In my first one of these findings columns I identified four types of episode: Villain Spotlights, Villain Ensembles, Batman Spotlights and Ally Spotlights. Obviously there’s some wiggle room on which episodes are classified as what but Villain Spotlight remains the most enduring type as it’s mostly what the show is known for, with 66 out of 109 episodes and 2 movies focusing primarily on one member of the Rogues Gallery.

As for the rest, I counted 8 Batman Spotlights, 22 Ally Spotlights (plus a movie), 15 Villain Ensembles and one true blend of everything (‘Holiday Knights’) that split the difference between the four types. The ratio leaning more to allies and combinations of villains was boosted greatly by TNBA, which was far more of a team-up show.

1. The Laughing Fish
2. Mask of the Phantasm
3. Mad Love
4. Over the Edge
5. Almost Got ‘im
6. Heart of Ice
7. Harlequinade
8. The Trial
9. Riddler’s Reform
10. Double Talk
11. Judgment Day
12. Legends of the Dark Knight
13. Shadow of the Bat Part I
14. I Am the Night
15. Robin’s Reckoning Part I
16. Baby-Doll
17. Sins of the Father
18. Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero
19. The Man Who Killed Batman
20. Perchance to Dream
21. Two-Face Part I
22. Girls’ Night Out
23. Torch Song
24. You Scratch My Back
25. Bane
26. Batgirl Returns
27. A Bullet For Bullock
28. Joker’s Favor
29. Read My Lips
30. Feat of Clay Part II
31. The Ultimate Thrill
32. Catwalk
33. The Demon’s Quest Part II
34. Harley and Ivy
35. Robin’s Reckoning Part II
36. House & Garden
37. Beware the Gray Ghost
38. Mean Seasons
39. Old Wounds
40. Growing Pains
41. Holiday Knights
42. Mystery of the Batwoman
43. Second Chance
44. Mad as a Hatter
45. Heart of Steel Part II
46. Appointment In Crime Alley
47. Two-Face Part II
48. Pretty Poison
49. Deep Freeze
50. Chemistry
51. Harley’s Holiday
52. Lock-Up
53. Shadow of the Bat Part II
54. Feat of Clay Part I
55. Cold Comfort
56. His Silicon Soul
57. Off Balance
58. Vendetta
59. Birds of a Feather
60. Joker’s Millions
61. Heart of Steel Part I
62. Never Fear
63. On Leather Wings
64. Love is a Croc
65. See No Evil
66. The Clock King
67. It’s Never Too Late
68. Make ‘Em Laugh
69. Joker’s Wild
70. Eternal Youth
71. The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
72. The Cat and the Claw Part I
73. Zatanna
74. Day of the Samurai
75. Avatar
76. The Demon’s Quest Part I
77. The Mechanic
78. The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
79. Terror in the Sky
80. P.O.V.
81. Christmas with the Joker
82. Fear of Victory
83. Be a Clown
84. The Worry Men
85. What is Reality?
86. The Demon Within
87. Animal Act
88. Night of the Ninja
89. Fire From Olympus
90. Mudslide
91. The Cat and the Claw Part II
92. Nothing to Fear
93. The Lion and the Unicorn
94. Prophecy of Doom
95. Cult of the Cat
96. Tyger, Tyger
97. Blind as a Bat
98. If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?
99. Dreams In Darkness
100. The Last Laugh
101. Cat Scratch Fever
102. Moon of the Wolf
103. Paging the Crime Doctor
104. Time Out of Joint
105. Sideshow
106. Beware the Creeper
107. The Under-Dwellers
108. The Forgotten
109. Showdown
110. Critters
111. The Terrible Trio
112. I’ve Got Batman in My Basement

Villain Watch

The top 10 have remained broadly unchanged for a long time, with Mr. Freeze dipping down a little and then climbing again. Harley Quinn came a lot closer to dethroning Joker for number on than I expected. Catwoman continued to benefit from being an out and out villain, The Ventriloquist remained strong and Two-Face found new life at the last possible moment. Poison Ivy was underrated for a long time by me, but no sooner had I put her where she belonged than she hit a bit of a slump.

Bane made his way into the top ten thanks to another strong showing in ‘Over the Edge’, while big names like The Penguin, Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul were a little disappointing compared to the other heavy hitters.

TNBA debuted several strong characters in Firefly, Calendar Girl, Roxy Rocket and Superman’s Livewire, while Farmer Brown and Thomas Blake were… less good.

1. The Joker
2. Harley Quinn
3. Mr. Freeze
4. Poison Ivy
5. The Ventriloquist
6. Catwoman
7. Two-Face
8. The Phantasm
9. The Riddler
10. Bane
11. Baby-Doll
12. Mad Hatter
13. The Penguin
14. Clayface
15. HARDAC (and Randa Duane)
16. Ra’s al Ghul
17. Livewire
18. Calendar Girl
19. Roxy Rocket
20. Firefly
21. Killer Croc
22. Scarecrow
23. Lock-Up
24. Lloyd Ventrix
25. Rupert Thorne
26. Mutant Leader
27. Count Vertigo
28. Clock King
29. Klarion (and Teekl!)
30. Nivens
31. Roland Daggett (and Germs & Bell!)
32. Enrique el Gancho
33. Josiah Wormwood
34. Talia al Ghul
35. Sid the Squid
36. Queen Thoth Khepera
37. Maxie Zeus
38. Jimmy ‘Jazzman’ Peake
39. Tony Zucco
40. Man-Bat
41. Rhino, Mugsy and Ratso
42. Hugo Strange
43. Red Claw
44. Arnold Stromwell
45. Mad Bomber
46. Tygrus
47. Kyodai Ken
48. Condiment King/Pack Rat/Mighty Mom
49. Farmer Brown (and Emmylou!)
50. Grant Walker
51. Gil Mason
52. Nostromos (and Lucas!)
53. Cameron Kaiser
54. Dr. Dorian (and Garth)
55. Carlton Duquesne
56. Mad Dog
57. Ubu
58. Thomas Blake
59. Professor Milo
60. Romulus
61. Arkady Duvall
62. Sewer King
63. Boss Biggis
64. Montague Kane
65. The Terrible Trio

Plugs

Eager for more long-form coverage of Batman? Why not check out my podcast with Mike Thomas, The Tape Crusaders, which reviewed every Batman movie and delved a tiny bit into the animated series.

My other recap column, Marvel Mondays, continues its coverage of What If…?

There Will Be Movies continues Ben & Matt’s look back at the 90s each Wednesday. This week it’s Groundhog Day. This week it’s Groundhog Day. This week it’s Groundhog Day. This week it’s Groundhog Day. This week it’s Groundhog Day. This week it’s Groundhog Day. This week it’s Groundhog Day. This week it’s Groundhog Day. This week it’s Groundhog Day. This week it’s Groundhog Day.