Batman the Animated Series

watched the entire run of this series recently, and listened to all the audio commentaries for the episodes they were offered on.  it's a good thing to actually want MORE commentaries, as usually I'm indifferent to them at best.  these are really fun and informative though.

I was so used to the latter sleeker designs that first two sets kind of surprised me.  I thought I liked the original designs more, but found that they were ever so bulky looking now.  of course, I do think they shouldn't have had everyone look like they were on some kind of steroids (take the Flash as a later instance- shouldn't he be thinner if he runs around burning all those calories all the time?).  but I guess if that's the natural "look" for most of the men in that universe then it's acceptable.  I do prefer the sleeker look, though that fourth set had some rather ugly redesigns, like Catwoman and Poison Ivy.  they looked worse, rather than improved. 

it makes me wonder what the time frame for the series was.  obviously Dick Grayson was around as an older Robin, and graduated college during it.  so that probably puts Bruce in his 40s, if he adopted Dick at age 8 or 10.

not that it matters, most of the stories are really good and that's the important thing.  there are a few clunkers here and there, but they are few and far between.  and with 85 episodes, that's a pretty good percentage.

I don't have much to say about the voice acting, since that is stellar in all regards.   Mark Hamill's portrayal of the Joker has yet to be beat though.  Kevin Conroy is so good he could give that guy playing the Batman in dark and gritty movies a lesson or two about how to do that "bat voice".

this is still the best animated Batman, despite my love of the Brave and the Bold cartoon.