Batman Beyond: Season 3

Sort of an innocuous ending for the series but overall quite good.

For a final batch of 13 episodes that more or less capped off this series I have to say I was in a better mood and far less nitpicky this time around. We get some standout episodes this time around including a loooong awaited return for Inque, a slight throwback to The Animated Series with Talia al Ghul, a two parter involving the future Justice League which has some important behind the scenes ties I'll share momentarily, and of course the season and series finale which showcases Terry unmasked but not quite for the reasons you think. I feel the quality of the storytelling is on par if not slightly above the second season, in retrospect that first season was easily the best but let that not dissuade you from enjoying the rest of the show. It's a damn fine piece of television that has garnered a cult following for almost the entirety of my life, and the simple fact that there has been so much spinoff material with Terry in decades past proves it deserves the love. The animation is still rock solid and has some neat visual moments, and while the actual character development is slim to nothing the acting is still gold standard from everyone. It was undoubtedly a treat to finally talk Batman Beyond and though I've really only been a fan for just a notch over a decade I'm glad to say I own it all on video. But all things must come to an end and in a bizarre twist of fate Warner Bros. Animation shelved and ended Batman Beyond in favor of pursuing a Justice League series which is a fantastic show in my estimation and hopefully the day will not be far where I can review that in it's entirety, so the story of future Batman was rather unceremoniously ended and given a tiny bit of an epilogue which...I don't entirely hate but I certainly have questions. I was rather debating on if I should include that cause it really is the sendoff for the series (kinda) but it involves megaton spoilers so it's not really like I could divulge it anyway. Do I wish we got more overarching character progression and development just overall for the show? Of course, even though it really wasn't the style yet in animated shows until a good while later. It's simultaneously an immense blessing and an unfortunate curse for older cartoons, cause on one hand you get your episode of the week, you can just watch it, enjoy it, and move on to the next. Yet on the other hand you kinda want a more expansive involved story especially cause it's original characters, it's a new setting, we don't have, well at that point anyway, 60 years of backstory to know about Batman and his villains. But you know what? It's okay, we've had other stuff come after this that embellishes the world of 2039 Batman and anybody who is curious can dig into that. I still love the show, I love the animated universe it inhabits, and this is just the beginning actually of my own personal dive back into the Batman mythos in preparation for Legacy Of The Dark Knight which I can't wait to play! It was a very good birthday week and a very good show, I give this final season 3 stars, 8/10, and I'll see you very soon for Kombat.

Batman Beyond: Season 2

Boy we upped that episode count like nobody's business.

After a small but respectable 13 episodes in season 1 we jumped all the way to 26 making this the longest season of the show. And after paving the groundwork and setting up the world and characters logic would dictate we vastly expand upon it, which we simultaneously do and yet stick to a good bit of the same. I do strongly appreciate Terry has his own rogues gallery that keeps popping back up while still flourishing some original stories as well, they go kinda out there at times with a backstory episode with Ace, one of Terry's maidenless dweeb schoolmates gets a robo-girlfriend, one of the most fucking gruesome images in children's television is present as the villain early on in the season, we even get a telepathic almost spiritual predecessor to doomed child Ace from Justice League. The variety is strong and we even get a highly welcome addition to the cast in Max who I'm just gonna say it, is a much better candidate for Terry in a relationship than Dana and she's pretty rad as well! I'm right, no questions at this time! Though and I swear whenever I say this I'm not taking shots or giving this show shit I wanna preface that before I say, a lot if not even the overwhelming majority of the episodes this season have pretty...not lackluster but certainly very rushed resolutions. Now am I being a cataclysmic ass for kinda picking on the 22 minute cartoon from the turn of the millenia? Yes, without question. I cannot imagine how difficult it truly is to create a scenario, introduce a threat, make a memorable or compelling story, and have to wrap it up in less than half an hour and have it get gold stars every time. And YET, The Animated Series somehow did with even endings that erupted goosebumps along my body to this day just thinking about it. Maybe slight fatigue was setting in, or maybe the writers didn't have the time frame they needed to make this excellent television but instead very good television, and while indeed the very first time I sat down to watch this season I was game all the way through but right here right now I was taking much more notice of it. Is it absolutely show breaking and I'm gonna eviscerate this series with a flaming buzzsaw? No not at all, I still love the show, I was still engaging with the episodes and some even got big reactions out of me, you just have to acknowledge all the facets. But all the technicals from the animation which is still top notch, to the voice cast who commit lock stock and barrel to the performances, to the music which dear sweet tap dancing Christ was really on my radar this go around and I ain't got no problem saying I'd buy volumes of the score for this series it was that damn good, are on such firm standing much can be forgiven. To throw some favorites out for this season I point to Hidden Agenda which is our first true introduction to Max, Mind Games which has an almost Over The Edge vibe from the last season of The Animated Series to it, The Last Resort which got me raging hardcore at the villain who just reeks of evangelical child absuing pieces of dog shit that makes my skin crawl, and Ace In The Hole because hey I'm a sucker for a Great Dane and it's a compelling story. I like we get more of an expansion with Terry's love life, having Max be an ally who knows the secret is a nice and great shake up, seeing higher stakes in the plot feels like natural escalation, and the more teen after school metaphor episodes are few and far between. Even with it's slight shortcomings and questionable actions from characters on a regular basis, it's still a very very good show and I'll be damned if I said I didn't like it. All in all I give it 3 stars, 8/10, and thankfully next season will not take all flippin' day to finish.