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Batman - The Animated Series - Tales of...
Episodes:
“The Underdwellers”, “P.O.V.”, The Forgotten”, “Be A Clown”
Starring
The Voices Of: Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Robert Costazo, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.,
and Bob Hastings
Producer/Director:
Bruce Timm
Feature
length: 89 minutes
Extras:
“Voices Of Gotham City” Featurette, Episode Introductions By
Producer/Director Bruce Timm, “The Line Up” Desktop Game
Languages:
English, French, and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Sound and Portuguese
Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French, Spanish, and Portuguese
Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Snap Case
Sound:
Dolby Surround Sound and Monaural Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 1992/DVD Release: 2003
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Warner
Brothers is releasing a fresh new set of comic book super heroe cartoons on DVD
beginning with their second installment of the popular “Batman: The Animated
Series” under the subtitle “Tales Of The Dark Knight. This DVD features four
more episodes from the first season that include “The Underdwellers” where
Batman fights to free a generation of children held as slaves beneath the
streets of Gotham by the insidious Sewer King. “P.O.V.” has two officers and
a detective detailing their own version of an encounter with the Batman while
the viewer actually sees the action that really happened first hand. “The
Forgotten” has Bruce Wayne posing undercover as a transient only to get
kidnapped and lose his memory. It’s up to Alfred to save Bruce and help him
stop a ring of gangsters forcing the destitute to perform slave labor. Finally
“Be A Clown” has Batman up against his archenemy The Joker, who still has a
score to settle with The Dark Knight.
All
four episodes are presented in their original (1.33:1) television broadcast
aspect ratio with a choice of English, French, and Spanish Language Dolby
Surround Sound and Portuguese Monaural Sound as well as English Captions and
Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and French, Spanish, and Portuguese
Language Subtitles. The picture quality reveals a few flecks occasionally, but
overall looks better than the previous volume released last year “Batman: The
Animated Series: The Legend Begins.” The soundtrack is quite full and clear.
There
are four optional videotaped interviews with series Producer/Director Bruce Timm
that run between 45 and 51 seconds each. In these clips he discusses how at this
point in the series the production team was still struggling to find a voice
that would make this incarnation of “Batman” standout from previous
incarnations and still stay true to the spirit of the comic books. He also
discusses how side characters help to develop the series and how one-shot
villains were made to standout in between the more traditional super villains of
the series. He closes with a discussion on the Joker, focusing on the balance of
creepiness and playfulness would make the psychotic super villain both dangerous
and humorous at the same time. These optional introductions can be viewed
individually without having the episode begin afterwards and the episodes can be
viewed individually or as one reel without the introductions too.
The
“Voices Of Gotham City” (5:23) features videotaped interviews with Casting
Director Andrea Thompson, Producer/Director Bruce Timm, and the voice of
“Batman” himself Kevin Conroy, who likens the character to “Hamlet.” The
featurette discusses the casting of many of the celebrity guest voices that
appeared on the series including Mark Hamill as “The Joker”, Efrem Zimbalist,
Jr. as “Alfred”, Richard Moll as “Two Face” as well as the “Bat
Computer”, Adrienne Barbeau as “Catwoman”, Kate Mulgrew as “Red Claw”,
and Diane Pershing as “Poison Ivy.”
An
easy desktop “who did it?” type game wraps up the extra features on this DVD.
The menus are standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate.
“Batman: The Animated Series: Tales Of The Dark Knight” will debut on DVD-Video
on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 from Warner Home Video.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Text Link Below!
Batman - The Animated Series - Tales of...