Batman: Caped Crusader (2024—)

Batman: Caped Crusader (2024—)

Season 01: 10 episodes, approx 26 minutes each.

The trailer for Batman:CC got me excited about seeing it, mostly because it's clearly influenced by Batman: TAS. But when I learned that it was co-produced by Bad Robot Productions, alarm bells started to ring in my head. Having now watched the entire first season, I feel that those bells were entirely justified in their warning.

By presenting itself as a kind of spiritual successor to TAS, the creators have no one but themselves to blame when viewers make direct comparisons between the two shows. It's helpful because TAS is the best Batman TV series ever made, so there's no better thing to be inspired by, but the flip side is that it creates certain hopes in the viewer that B:CC Season 01 utterly fails to meet.

Where B:CC succeeds in comparison to its main influence is in the visuals, with a dark and grainy aesthetic that looks beautiful even when in motion, with the same kind of blood red skies that made TAS so distinctive. Even the vehicles, which typically look like badly integrated CGI shit in DC's animated movies, actually look okay.

When the 'influence thrill' settles, however, and one begins to judge B:CC on its own merits, things aren't so rewarding. It becomes painfully apparent after just a couple of episodes that good storytelling and characterisation are severely lacking. Furthermore, it 'modernised' things with gender and racial swaps that serve no purpose other than to pander to current political views - at least, that's true for Season 01; maybe it'll have some relevance in future seasons.

But what's perhaps most telling about that scenario is that merely swapping gender isn't interesting creatively - it's lazy. If the makers felt that more female characters were needed to balance the narrative, then they ought to have created some from scratch, like TAS and BB did. Yes, add more diversity / inclusivity if you feel its beneficial, but make it relevant, not hollow.

It's not made clear what year the series is set. It seems to be in or around the mid 1940-50s, going by the costumes and the architecture, but the 'modern' attitudes that I alluded to above don't fit with those eras, meaning it feels like a weird hybrid of past and present. By extension, much of the technology available to Batman is limited to those eras. That ought to mean a greater emphasis on 'good old detective work', but the balance isn't quite there yet.

What's even more strange is that Batman's onscreen time is less than you might expect. Hamish Linklater does voicework for both he and Bruce Wayne, with a clear distinction between the two personas. His Batman 'serious' voice is a little flat at times, but overall he does well.

Much has been made of showrunner Bruce Timm's involvement, which is certainly a boon, given his history with the franchise in the early days, but the absence of writers like Paul Dini and Michael Reaves is strongly felt. Good writing could've helped offset many of B:CC's failings.

With luck, the lukewarm reception the series received will force the creators to go back and re-evaluate what's important in serial storytelling — which is good storytellers — and then hire some that are more suited to the job. And some good opening music wouldn't hurt; B:CC's is dull.

NOTE: if I choose to watch Season 02 when it arrives, I'll add commentary below this line.