It's safe to say that when it was first announced that when one of the masterminds behind Batman: The Animated Series was returning to work on another animated series for The Dark Knight that alot of people were really excited. Even more so when it turns out that this show was intended to be the spiritual successor to Batman: The Animated Series and well the new show is finally here and you all just knew that I had to check this show out the very first chance that I got and so then join me as I give you my spoiler filled review of the show that sees Batman take on foes in the nineteen forties with the show in question being called simply just "Batman: Caped Crusader" enjoy.
The plot of this show is when Batman makes a mistake during one of his cases a chain reaction happens all throughout the underworld of Gotham City one that will see batman pushed to his very limits. Now then interms of what I personally thought felt about thew actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I inn all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty not that bad as it is a plot that does allow for a more serialized story but at the same time also act as an anthology series as well with reach episode only being very loosely connected to one another and still have certain story elements to pass over over from one episode to another something which does make this show standout from alot of the other Batman animated TV shows out there and it's something that does work in the context of this show asl well with the plot of this show also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this show is Hamish Linklater as Bruce Wayne / Batman , Diedrich Bader as Harvey Dent and Krystal Joy Brown as Barbara Gordon. Also starring in this show is Jamie Chung as Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn , Minnie Driver as Oswalda Cobblepot / The Penguin , Christina Ricci as Selina Kyle / Catwoman , Eric Morgan Stuart as James Gordon , Jason Watkins as Alfred Pennyworth , Dan Donohue as Basil Karlo / Clayface , Tom Kenny as Joseph Rigger / Firebug , Toby Stephens as James Craddock / Gentleman Ghost , Mckenna Grace as Natalia Knight / Nocturna , Reid Scott as Onomatopoeia , Michelle C. Bonilla as Renée Montoya , Bumper Robinson as Lucius Fox , Gary Anthony Williams as Arnold Flass and Iggy , Haley Joel Osment as Anton Knight , John DiMaggio as Harvey Bullock , Jerry and Wilford Lee and Cedric Yarbrough as Rupert Thorne.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty not that bad. With all of the actors that you expect a good performance from really delivering on the acting side of things but at the same time the acting from certain actors like Jamie Chung and Jason Watkins to name but a few not really being that good not that there bad on there own right because there not but when you have them acting against other actors that we know can really turn in a good performance there performance comes of as being the weaker of the performances with the acting that's in this show really being helped by the script for this show show which is just so good that all this shows cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written as good performance will come out them naturally which is something that really does help the overall quality of the acting that's in this very show.
Doing the animation for this show is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Studio IAM and Studio Grida. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty really good with the show having some really good looking 2D animation that does look like that it came right out of the nineteen forties but at the same time this show does make more use of 3D CGI that does stand out a mile as it's something that does look really bad and it's something that Batman: The Animation Series never did as they knew that it really would clash with ere art style and it's same thing here as having 3D CGI even if it's just used for backgrounds does standout a mile ad it's something that really does take you out of any given episode of the show and while the shows 2D animation does indeed look really good with all of the characters having really some decent designs that some people might disagree with and other may like the character designs the characters do also have some really nice fluid movements to them as well.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
Believe it or not this show was subject to two very minor controversies before it premiered the first one of which was the fact that they changed Harley Quinn to an Indian American and the second of which was the fact that the show features a gender swapped version of The Penguin. Well after watching all ten episodes those issues aren't an issue as both characters are handled really well and while yes Oswalda Cobblepot / The Penguin is the better of the two villains simply because of the fact that she's the more fun villain this new version of Harley Quinn is quite creepy with there being role reversal in Harley's personality as her super villain self is usually portrayed as being more cartoony and funny with her civilian self being the more serious of the two where as with this is show it's the opposite that's true and while there will always be a soft side for the original Harley Quinn this new version of the character does come across as being quite creepy at times and while she only appears in full on Harley Quinn costume for one episode the character does appear in a first few episodes which made her fall in episode five all the more dramatic.
One of the very things that this show does get wrong is the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Alfred. As Alfred and Bruce should always be characters who are close to each other as afterall Alfred was the one who raised Bruce up after the death of his parents and yet in this show Bruce acts really cold to Alfred even just calling him Pennyworth all the time which is something that the character wouldn't do as he views Alfred as being his father figure and the one person that he really trusts the most in Gotham and yet in this show he basically treats him as if he's stranger even referring to him as the help in one episode which is something that just doesn't sit right as it's not in his character to do so this is something that wouldn't be an issue if Bruce had a story arc where he learns to be closer to Alfred over the course of these first ten episodes but he doesn't and as a result of that is the fact that we get a relationship that is fundamentally broken when in not only Batman: The Animated Series but in alot of other Batman media it wasn't broken as all you have to is use some logic and that's really all there is to it and while yes Bruce does finally call him Alfred at the end of the shows tenth episode by then it's something that's to little to late and it's nothing really something that feels earned and more like something that the makers of the show felt like that had to do.
The main storyline in this first batch of episodes revolves around Harvey Dent's descent into madness eventually ending up with him becoming Two-Face at the end of the show's eighth episode. While this plot line was done alot better in Batman: The Animated Series as the writing in that show was alot better then the writing that's in this show it is still something that's done really well and it is something that shows that the makers of this show really do fully understand these characters and this world even on the most basic of levels and because of that is the fact that even tho his storyline in this first batch of episodes isn't given alot of focus as it is something that really only appears in a handful episodes and even then acts more as a B plot to the episode it is still a storyline that's rather effective and works really well but it is something that should have been given alot more of s focus instead of it just being the B plot to most episodes which really is a bit of an issue considering the fact that his storyline forms the basis of the shows final three episodes and yet because of how little care and attention that's it's gotten it feels really more of an after thought.
Now then this first batch of episodes has / had an exact grand total running time of no longer then twenty seven minuets. With each episode having a running time of roughly anywhere between twenty four to twenty six minuets of running time which is something that really does work well for this first batch of episodes as the show doesn't really have alot of there interms of plot and while they do tease a big villain for season two this first batch of episodes spends alot of it's running time in giving us information about the characters ad about this new version of Gotham City and even in setting up things that don't pay off until the shows final few episodes but because you don' really notice them as there done in a way that feels natural and organic you don't really pay attention to them which is something that does work well enough in this shows favor but at the same time tho alot of the running time could have been spent on developing the relationship between Bruce and Alfred as that is something that is key to the Batman character and yet because there's no time dedicated to there relationship it doesn't feel earned when Bruce does finally call him Alfred at the end of the shows tenth episode but I will admit that all of these episodes really do have some really good pacing to them tho.
So now then as this is ah action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty not that bad. As it is something that does place into the whole nineteen forties aspect of the show but at the same time then action that's in this shoe isn't as good as it really could have been either with alot of it just coming across as being rather dull and boring alot of the time and yet when the action does get intense and exciting it's more often then not the best action of the whole entire show with the best example of this being the action at the end of the episode as it's Batman taking on The Penguin and her goons on top of a cruise ship with The Penguin trying to launch this missile at the Gotham City Police Department which is a simple thing but it's effective as it ends tension and it adds stakes to the scene instead of just being an action just for the sake of there being an action scene in the episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
Overall this is a show that while it isn't as good as Batman: The Animated Series was it is still a really good show and one that has all of the potential there to be a really good show if the show can stick the landing whenever it's second batch of episodes does eventually end up being released in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very show in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very show really does earn itself a gran old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all pf the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all pf the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Batman: Caped Crusader fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very batch of episodes that I used in this very review being the really great the official Batman: Caped Crusader fandom wiki page simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very batch of episodes and are really of course on the official Batman: Caped Crusader fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and really as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.