Batman: The Animated Series/Trivia


 * Creator Backlash: "I've Got Batman In My Basement," which named the relevant trope, is not well regarded by the production team. They blame many issues, including the studio mandated appearance of the Penguin and the childish plot, for their current disdain.
 * Executive Meddling: The executives required many changes to be made to the series for reasons based on both decisions of what was appropriate for a kids show and what was likely to get the biggest profit
 * The very successful Tim Burton series of Batman films were one of the main impetuses for the creation of this series, and executive's hoped to capitalize on their success. The design for the Penguin was based on the design of the character as it appeared in the then-current and highly successful Batman Returns, which cast Danny DeVito as a physically deformed and emotionally scarred man that resembled a penguin in shape, as opposed to the comic counterpart, which was a civilized criminal whose nickname came from his ever-present tail-coat and top-hat. Catwoman was likewise turned into a blonde woman to match Michelle Pfeiffer's character, as opposed to her brunette appearance in the comics. Both characters were returned to their original comic appearance after the series was revamped into The New Batman Adventures.
 * Well, in spite of his physical appearance, the Penguin is written as a civilised criminal in a tail coat and top hat. He just happens to also look a little freakish (though nowhere near as much as the film version does). It's ambiguous where his name comes from; probably a combination of his obesity and deformity and his clothes (which is sort-of the same as in the comics). The important thing is how he acts, and if anything this one is even more civilised than the comic book one.
 * Several episodes were actually improved because concern over the detail on-screen in some scenes forced changes to the animation, giving them much more emotional power. Dick Grayson's parents falling from the trapeze showed his parents swinging off screen, with a frayed rope swinging back in and everyone gasping in shock. If they showed any more it would not have been as effective. "Over the Edge" contains another instance. Apparently, when Batgirl is thrown off of City Hall to her death we were originally going to see a police car pull up and then her body would land on the hood. When this was deemed too extreme, Timm redesigned the sequence as though the viewer was in the back seat of the car when the impact occurred. This has the effect of making things far more disturbing. Similarly, "I Am The Night" originally wanted to show Robin getting shot on camera. The network made them change this, so they picked Gordon and did not actually show the shooting. They all agreed this made the scene more powerful.
 * Fake American: Tara Strong, who voiced Batgirl in Gotham Knights, is Canadian by birth, although her parents are American.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Mark Hamill played a one-shot Corrupt Corporate Executive "Mr. Boyle" in the episode "Heart of Ice" before being cast in his now-famous role as The Joker. To this day, some people are still surprised that Luke Skywalker is the Clown Prince of Crime.
 * 1970s-era singer/songwriter Paul Williams as Penguin, later replaced by David Ogden Stiers.
 * Michael Ironside, now better known as Sam Fisher, and who would later appear in the DCAU as Darkseid, made a one-shot appearance as Frank Miller's Batman of The Dark Knight Returns in the episode "Legends of the Dark Knight." In that same episode, Mithos Yggdrasill voices Robin in the Adam West style subplot, which becomes Hilarious in Hindsight when Scott "Lloyd Irving" Menville would come to voice Robin on Teen Titans.
 * Michael Ansara, who starred in several TV Westerns and played Killer Kane in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, was Mr. Freeze.
 * Richard Moll, more well-known as Bull (the Cloudcuckoolander bailiff) from Night Court, provided both the normal and gravelly voices for Harvey Dent/Two-Face.
 * And the Batcomputer.
 * And a random security guard in the pilot.
 * George Dzundza, known to Law and Order fans as Max Greevey, voiced Scarface and in the SubZero movie, Gregory Belson. He also voiced the Ventriloquist (Scarface's main personality) and in the episode "The Laughing Fish," G. Carl Francis. And these weren't his only roles in the DCAU as Perry White proves.
 * Ron Perlman is Clayface.
 * Adam West plays the Gray Ghost from the episode, "Beware the Gray Ghost." From the moment the episode was written, they knew they wanted Adam West as the part; otherwise, the episode would have been scrapped.
 * John "Lionel Luthor/The Devil" Glover is the Riddler.
 * Jeffery Combs is the (second) Scarecrow.
 * Efrem Zimbalist Jr. of 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. is Alfred.
 * The second Alfred, mind--the first was Clive Revill. However, Timm and Dini have always said that they should have just gone with Zimbalist in the first place.
 * And Tara Strong, who would later voice Teen Titans' Raven, makes her debut in the DCAU as Batgirl.
 * The original Batgirl was Melissa Gilbert from Little House On the Prairie.
 * David Warner does the voice for Ra's Al Ghul, who is also to be noted for doing the voice of Jon Irenicus in Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn.
 * B:TAS is notable for featuring a number of Star Trek actors, most notably Kate (Janeway) Mulgrew as Red Claw and John (Q) de Lancie as one of the Penguin's henchmen in "Blind as a Bat."
 * For RoboCop fans, you might recognize Daniel O'Herlihy (The Old Man) as Grant Walker and Robert DoQui (Sgt. Reed) as the doctor who treated Harvey Dent after the accident that helped turn Harvey into Two-Face.
 * The Creeper sounds a lot like a certain other WB cartoon who shall not be named.
 * Juliet Landau gained experience in playing Ax Crazy characters before her role as Drusilia on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
 * Name's the Same:
 * "Be a Clown" reveals that Mayor Hamilton Hill's son is named Jordan. Yep. Jordan Hill.
 * Thanks to bird-Theme Naming, one of Penguin's henchgirls is called Raven.
 * The Other Darrin: Alfred was voiced by Clive Revill for a handful of episodes, then by Efrem Zimbalist Jr. when Revill left to fulfill a theater commitment. A number of villains also were recast for the New Batman Adventures series including Scarecrow, Baby Doll, and Killer Croc. Penguin and Bane were recast in the Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman film. Excluding Batman Beyond, Batgirl went through three actors during the course of the series -- Melissa Gilbert in the early episodes, Mary Kay Bergman for her later appearances and Tara Strong for the revamped episodes in The New Batman Adventures.
 * The Other Marty: Tim Curry was originally cast as the Joker, but he was replaced by Mark Hamill (who had already appeared as one-time villain Ferris Boyle) because Curry's Joker voice was too strenuous to produce.
 * Promoted Fanboy: Mark Hamill was cast as his favorite character. By sheer enthusiasm. Bonus points for becoming one of the most famous portrayals of said character.
 * What Could Have Been: Tim Curry was originally cast to be The Joker, but Paul Dini states he was let go due to the physical strain his Joker voice put on his throat. You can actually hear his Joker laugh (somewhat modulated) in the episode "Be A Clown", coming from an animatronic clown.
 * There were talks of featuring The Sandman in an episode back in '93, but the whole Vertigo/DC divide came into play and cursed it forever. Link. They also wrote a Catwoman Black Canary episode, but the network killed it because Robin wasn't prominent enough in the episode.
 * Al Pacino was offered the role of Two-Face.
 * And Anthony Hopkins was offered Mr. Freeze.