The creation of Batman: The Animated Series in the early 1990s changed the entire approach to The Dark Knight and his DC villains, most notably Mr. Freeze. It was a major hit on the Fox Kids network for four seasons. A total of 85 episodes in the original series is still delighting fans to this day. While it was designed for kids, the show easily appealed to older audiences. This is because much like Tim Burton's two Batman feature films (which are equally important to the change in the public perception of The Caped Crusader), the show found a way of relating to adults. Perhaps this is why the show has a dedicated cult following to this day. In fact, even the history of 'Batman: The Animated Series' is revered.
Part of the reason fans adored the show was due to the visual tone. The boxy characters dwelled in a perpetually dark world that seemed to be caught somewhere between the 1990s and the 1930s. It was a brilliant and unique look that paired nicely with the superb voice acting, dramatic music, and film noir-esque storytelling.
Still, everything must come to an end, and in 1995 Fox Kids axed it...
But then, in 1997, the WB network decided to bring the show back... However, they made series creators Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski, and Paul Dini completely redesign the world they created... Specifically, WB asked them to take a new jab at Batman... Here's why...
A Crisper Look Designed For Children
After 'Batman: The Animated Series' came to a close in 1995, most of the creative team transitioned over to 'Superman: The Animated Series', a show that shared many of the same design elements of 'Batman: The Animated Series'. This is because both Bruce and Paul had their hand in producing it.
But when WB came to them and said they wanted to bring Batman back for 'The New Batman Adventures', basically all of the characters had to be re-imagined.
"When it came time to do Batman again, we were going to be doing them for the WB this time, not for Fox Kids," Bruce Tim said in a fantastic interview with Vulture. "And the WB, they were interested in somehow freshening the show. They said, 'What can we do with this show so it’s not just more of the same?'”
While many creators would have taken offense to this, Bruce Timm saw this as an opportunity.
"It was like, 'Well, great! Because I don’t want to do more of the same, either. In fact, I want to try to change the look of the show a little bit to make it even better.' And so that’s when I came up with the idea of making things super-simplified — really crisp and angular. Fortunately, that’s kind of what the WB wanted, as well as bringing Batgirl and Robin and Nightwing much more into every episode. They specifically wanted to increase the kid appeal, and it was something we wanted to toy with anyway because we liked all those characters anyhow."
These changes were a massive success, specifically in the creation of the signature look of all of the powerful Justice League members until the end of the 'Justice League: Unlimited' series in 2006.
The New Executives Were Also The Reason Behind The Change
According to The Vulture interview, the new network executives were also the reason why the design of Batman and his allies and enemies changed so drastically.
"The WB had come into existence, and that brought in a whole different group of executives with a whole different set of rules," writer and producer Paul Dini said. "A lot of the executives we found we were dealing with, their mindset was completely anti-everything that we had been doing with the characters."
This was a disappointing element for a lot of fans, who adored the dark, heart-felt approach they had been taking to Batman, Robin, and, in particular, the villains.
"There was a different approach to story, and to character, and to the way of looking at these shows, that we felt frankly was passé, old-fashioned. Their approach was: This is for kids, and the idea of doing a show that is a crossover for an older audience, even a college-aged audience, really does not appeal to us, and we don’t even want to think along those lines," Paul admitted.
"We had brought back Batman, and Bruce [Timm] had redesigned it so it was more in keeping with the Superman look. And we liked the show an awful lot. We had a really good writing staff, we had actors we liked, and we could have gone another two or three years on just Batman stories alone, because we also liked where we were taking the relationships."
However, the show only lasted a couple of years. From there, it was replaced with 'Batman Beyond', which kept a similar design although updated the visual style to a more futuristic look.
While many fans weren't thrilled with the design change from 'Batman: The Animated Series' to The New Batman Adventures, at least they still have the original series to re-watch.
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