Batman: The Animated Series: Difference between revisions

{{quote| ''"[[I Am the Noun|I am vengeance. I am the night]]. [[Punctuated for Emphasis|I... am...]] '''[[Batman]]!'''"''}}

It drew heavily from [[Frank Miller]]'s 1986 graphic novel ''[[The Dark Knight Returns (Comic Book)|The Dark Knight Returns]]'' and the [[Batman (Film)|live-action films]] directed by [[Tim Burton]] (although some of the latter's baggage, such as the mutated version of the Penguin, caused them some problems). The often-minimalist look of the show was largely influenced by the 1940s [[Superman Theatrical Cartoons]], with character designs resembling those of [[Jack Kirby]], [[Dick Tracy (Comic Strip)|Chester Gould,]] and Alex Toth. The resulting product, revolutionary for its time, was dubbed "dark deco"; it was also the result of co-producer Eric Radomski's standing order to the animators that all backgrounds be drawn with light colors on black paper (instead of dark colors on white paper, as is the industry standard) to ensure that the artwork stayed as dark as possible. Head producer Bruce Timm -- who also took on other roles -- carried his design style over into other shows, thus making ''Batman: The Animated Series'' the first entry in the fully-realized canon known as the [[DCAU (Franchise)|DCAU]].

Most of the episodes took place entirely in [[City of Adventure|Gotham City]], although Batman and Robin occasionally ventured to other cities and even other countries. Besides the [[Rogues Gallery|familiar villains]], this series introduced other characters from the comics, such as Ra's al-Ghul, to the television audience. It even introduced a new character, Harley Quinn, who proved to be so popular that she eventually [[Canon Immigrant|made her way into the comics]]. The series also marked the first major exposure of Two-Face outside of the comics, and its revised origin for Mr. Freeze soon became the definitive version of that story.

The series also had an official tie-in comic, ''[[The Batman Adventures]]'', which also received critical and financial success (most notably, the Eisner-Award-winning ''Mad Love'', which detailed Harley Quinn's [[Start of Darkness|origin]] and was later adapted as an episode of the TV series).

This show now has a [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Best Episode Crowner].

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== A-E ==

** In "The Underdwellers," Batman is logically angry when the child picks up and plays with a decorative gun on the wall of Wayne Manor, since it ''could'' have been loaded.

* [[All According to Plan]]: ''"The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne"'', when Bruce Wayne is chained and Alfred is tied in Doctor Strange's basement:

'''[[The Chessmaster|Bruce Wayne:]]''' Nonsense, Alfred; believe it or not, this is working out, just as I planned.<br />

'''[[Servile Snarker|Alfred:]]''' How reassuring! }}

* [[Ancient Grome]]: At the end of the episode "Fire from Olympus," Maxie Zeus identifies Two-Face as Janus, a Roman god, despite imagining himself to be a modern incarnation of a Greek god. Janus did not have a Greek counterpart and should have been completely unknown to "Zeus."

* [[Animation Bump]]: The episodes that are done by [[TMS Entertainment]] and [[Spectrum]].

** Mr Freeze. His re-imagining from a one-note gimmick villain was so acclaimed that his new, tragic backstory was [[Canon Immigrant|incorporated]] into the DCU canon -- as well as a [[Batman and Robin (Film)|live-action film]]...

** Catwoman, who just wants to protect the animals most of all. The first season showed her genuinely reforming, but by the second season she had fallen back into more criminal habits. A comment by Bruce in ''[[Batman Beyond (Animation)|Batman Beyond]]'' indicates that she probably never got past this.

** Clayface, at least in his first few appearances. Most of his crimes revolve around him regaining his humanity and living a normal life.

* [[Art Evolution]]: The "revamp" to ''The New Batman Adventures'' saw a more streamlined design applied to the character models in order to match ''[[Superman the Animated Series]]''.

* [[Artificial Intelligence]]: The "Heart of Steel" and "His Silicon Soul" arc deals with intelligent computers, and also ponders questions of morality and life for mechanical beings.

* [[Artistic License]]: The world of Batman is, as admitted by the creators, illogical and contradictory; technology from different eras (And many technologies that never existed at all) exist side-by-side and without comment. The creators admit in DVD commentaries and interviews that the contradictions were deliberate in order to create a specific and unique atmosphere for the series, even if practical considerations would normally make them ridiculous (Police blimps were specifically mentioned in the audio commentary for "On Leather Wings," the first episode of the series).

* [[Big No]]: All the time and at least one from every character throughout the series. Poison Ivy gets several in her introduction episode alone.

* [[Bi the Way]]: Paul Dini [[Word of Gay|has confirmed]] that Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy were in a physical relationship while together, [[Hide Your Lesbians|even though they could never explicitly confirm that on the show]].

* [[Blank Book]]: When Bruce was trapped in the Hatter's dream.

* [[Body Horror]]:

** The Man-Bat. {{spoiler|Both of them.}}

** Lock-Up and Roxy Rocket are more minor immigrants. Lock-Up has a similar origin and motive, but appears infrequently, and Roxy Rocket has only had one or two appearances since her first adventure.

** The Sewer King turned up dead in one panel of ''[[Fifty Two|52]]'' when they needed some [[C List Fodder]] villains.

* [[Captive Date]]: In "Mad as a Hatter", Jarvis Tetch tries to win his co-worker Alice's heart after her recent breakup. She is charmed by Jarvis but mistakes his romantic overtures as attempts to cheer her up and she later reconciles with her boyfriend. Jarvis then uses his [[Mind Control]] technology on her and takes her on a "date" at a Wonderland-themed amusement park.

* [[Cardboard Prison]]: [[Lampshaded]] in Lock-Up. Arkham is described as having a revolving door.

** Harley eventually becomes jealous of all the attention that Batman gets from the Joker, and this grows into [[Yandere|homicidal tendencies]].

* [[Clock King]]: Did not invent the trope, but certainly named it.

* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: Bane [[Defied Trope|defies the trope]], waiting until he knows exactly where Batman is and calling him to point out that, if he were a common sniper, Batman would be dead by then.

* [[Comic Book Fantasy Casting]]: Randa Duane's appearance was based upon that of [[Marilyn Monroe]].

* [[The Commissioner Gordon]]: The original appears in his traditional role.

* [[Composite Character]]:

** Clayface is a combo of the first three people to assume the name. He is an actor like the original Basil Karlo version, has the name and powers of Matt Hagen and was disfigured like Preston Payne.

** In "Almost Got 'Im", Two-Face is very aggrieved with Poison Ivy, who claims "we used to date"; in "Trial" she makes a reference to trying to kill Harvey Dent. Both are references to "Pretty Poison", Ivy's debut episode.

** In "House & Garden," as Poison Ivy flees at the end of the episode she looks over a photo album of her time in Gotham. Included in this album is a picture of Bruce Wayne & Harvey Dent (A reproduction of their groundbreaking at Stonegate Penitentiary in "Pretty Poison") and a picture of Ivy and Harley Quinn (A reproduction of their team-up in "Harley & Ivy").

** In "Harley's Holiday," Boxey points out that the last time Harley Quinn showed up at his door she not only destroyed his club, but brought Batman down on him as well. This occurred in "Harlequinade," where Harley was helping Batman find the Joker.

** When the Clock King reappears in "Time Out of Joint," Batman deduces that he is moving very fast and that they are not up against another invisible man. They last faced an invisible foe in "See No Evil," where a man had stolen an invisibility suit and used it to commit robberies and kidnap his daughter from his ex-wife.

** In "Mad Love" the Joker remembers his plan to feed Batman to smiling piranhas, which he had to scrap as he couldn't get them to smile, noting that they were even immune to his scheme from "The Laughing Fish."

* [[Cool Bike]]: Robin used one of these from time to time.

* [[Cool Car]]: The Batmobile.

** Roland Daggett's attempts to control Matt Hagen with his highly addictive facelift-in-a-jar concoction eventually turned the man into Clayface.

* [[Creepy Monotone]]: Both Batman and Mr. Freeze put this to good use.

* [[Crusading Widower]]: Mr. Freeze.

* [[Crush Blush]]: Bruce Wayne meeting Selina Kyle

** And in one hilarious scene in "Fear of Victory", Batman intercepts a telegram believing that it is a fear-toxin laced letter sent by Scarecrow to make the recipient unable to play at his best. It's just an ordinary telegram, and the delivery boy comes to the conclusion that Batman was lying in wait for him because he ''double-parked''.

* [[Distant Prologue]]: "Joker's Favor" opens with Charlie Collins accidentally cursing off the Joker, leading him to be forcibly hired by the Clown Prince of Crime to perform a favor that he has not thought of yet. It takes two years for "Mistah J." to think of something and track Collins down.

{{quote| '''Harley:''' He might get a little rough sometimes, but he ''loves'' me, ''really''.}}

* [[Doesn't Like Guns]]: Is a plot point in several episodes.

** The Riddler's maze in "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" Batman hijacks a flying "Hand of Fate".

{{quote| '''The Riddler''': That is [[No Fair Cheating|grand-scale cheating]], Batman! You're not supposed to tamper with the Hand of Fate!<br />

** Harley's hyena's burst through a wall to attack Boxey after Harley calls for them.

* [[Easter Egg]]: A pretty grim one. In his debut episode, Tim Drake gets smacked once with a crowbar. In the comics, Jason Todd (whose origin story was embroidered a bit for this Tim) suffered a bad beating from the Joker wielding a crowbar as a prelude to his death.

** In "Halequinade," Harley swings atop a chandelier with a significant suspension cord, severs it, and sends it crashing onto baddies with an accuracy worthy of the Batman himself. Naturally, this was also a non-lethal chandelier crash.

* [[The Family for The Whole Family]]: In the Penguin's first appearance, he and his henchmen are continuously foiled by the local children who have [[Batman in My Basement|Batman in their basement]]. This is one of the reasons that the production team does not think very highly of this episode, since they were hoping the series would avoid kid heroes and bumbling villains.

* [[Fan Service]]: Frequent throughout the series for both men and women.

* [[Fashion Show]]

* [[Foot Focus]]: In "Almost Got Him", when Ivy tells her story for some reason she is barefooted through her entire story when she normally wears knee high boots. She even drops her exploding pumpkin in such a way that it focuses on her bare feet when it hits the ground.

* [[Forceful Kiss]]: Seymour Gray, the quiet mousey guy who has not spoken up in his eighteen years at Wayne Enterprises, grabs and kisses Sarah, Bruce Wayne's secretary, after barging into Bruce's office, shouting out his ideas and then loudly quitting the company.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: In "Two-Face" Pt. 1, during Harvey Dent's hypnotherapy session there is a brief lightning flash; during the flash a split-second shot of the left side of Dent's face is hideously scarred.

* [[Freak Lab Accident]]: The Joker, Two-Face, and Mr. Freeze all feature this in their origin.

* [[Genki Girl]]: Harley Quinn.

* [[German Expressionism]]: [[Bizarrchitecture|Exaggerated architecture]] is reasonably common throughout the series, and is especially prevalent in the episode "Growing Pains."

* [[Girls Night Out Episode]]: [[Trope Namers]], featuring [[Batgirl (Comic Book)|Batgirl]] and [[Supergirl]] going up against Livewire, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn.

* [[Girlish Pigtails]]: A villainous example in Harley Quinn.

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* [[Hollywood Homely]]: [[Invoked]]; the prevalence of the trope drives the plot of one episode. Page Monroe is a former supermodel-turned-villain who was fired when she was viewed as "too old." However, once unmasked, both Batgirl and Batman comment that she is still startlingly attractive, but [[Minor Injury Overreaction|she considers herself ugly, which Batman states is because she can only see her minor "imperfections."]] This is also a case of [[Actor Allusion]] as Page Monroe was voiced by Sela Ward, who was famous for having been dumped as a model in favor of younger women.

* [[Homage]]:

** In "Mudslide," Clayface reveals the first name of his accomplice when he shouts... [[A Streetcar Named Desire (Theatre)|"STELLAAAAAAA!"]], and "[[Psycho (Film)|Dr. Bates once owned a motel..."]]

** Fictional example, Batman based the layout of the Batcave on his superhero idol "[[Show Within a Show|The Gray Ghost]]."

** In "Perchance to Dream", Gordon says to Batman "Any idea what it [the mind-control helmet] is?" and Batman deadpans back the final line of ''[[The Maltese Falcon]]'':

{{quote| '''Batman''': Yes. The stuff that dreams are made of.}}

* [[Joker Immunity]]

* [[Joker Jury]]: The Trope Inspirer "Trial."

* [[Jumping Out of a Cake]]:

** The Joker during Harley's debut episode "Joker's Favor."

* [[Kick Me Prank]]: In "The Man Who Killed Batman", the criminals hold a funeral for Batman, who is believed dead. The Joker attaches a "Kick Me" sign to Batman's empty cape and cowl before it is to be sealed in a coffin.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Mr. Freeze, trying to hit Batman, accidentally freezes one of his henchmen's legs. He then blames the accident on said henchman and leaves him for dead while the poor guy begs them to help him. It happens the same way to one of his ice maidens in "Cold Comfort."

* [[Large Ham]]:

** The Joker

{{quote| Batman: (after watching the video) My God.<br />

Mr. Freeze: Yes... it would move me to tears. If I still had tears to shed. }}

* [[Magic Skirt]]:

** Barbara Gordon in the ''New Batman Adventures'' revamp.

* [[McNinja]]: Red Claw, and Batman himself.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: But then, all Batman media have meaningful villain names, even for the original ones (Harley Quinn, anyone?).

* [[Meta Casting]]: See [[Adam Westing]].

** There's also William Sanderson playing a near-[[Expy]] of [[Blade Runner (Film)|J.F. Sebastian]] in "Heart of Steel" and "Deep Freeze."

* [[Moral Myopia]]: In ''Mad Love'' when Harley is reading a newspaper with the front page article titled "Joker Still At Large. Body Count Rises" she is more concerned for the Joker than for the victims.

* [[Most Common Card Game]]

* [[Mr. Alt Disney]]: Grant Walker. A pioneer on animatronics and amusement parks owner, his design of an underwater utopia with no crime is loosely based on the original concept for Epcot Center. He also wants to be frozen like Mr. Freeze, a clear gag on the urban legend that Walt Disney is in cryogenic storage.

* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: Nightwing is, shall we say, quite a ''handsome'' fellow.

* [[My Greatest Failure]]:

** The death of his parents is the ultimate driving force behind Batman, as it is revealed at several points in the series that he blames himself for not being able to save them. This is compounded by Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face, which cost him a personal friend and crime-fighting associate, and which he views in same light as his parents' death.

* [[Mythology Gag]]:

** In "Nothing to Fear", the Scarcrow's fear gas comes out of the air vents in the same manner as Joker's sleep gas in Tim Burton's ''Batman'' film.

* [[Ninja]]: Kyodai Ken.

* [[No Man of Woman Born]]: "No man can take us prisoner!" It is a good thing [[Gotham Central (Comic Book)|Renee]] [[Fifty Two|Montoya]] is ready to step in and take up the slack.

* [[Non Standard Character Design]]: Before her redesign Baby Doll looked suspiciously like a ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures (Animation)|Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' character (doubtless a [[Shout Out]] by Paul Dini). Her redesign brings her more in line with other Bruce Timm characters.

* [[No One Could Survive That]]: They [[Never Found the Body]], but the criminals from "The Man Who Killed Batman" believe that not even he could have escaped the massive explosion that left only his cape and cowl behind.

** Mr. Freeze gets several of these moments as well, since part of his MO is that he is supposedly frozen to emotion. The end of "Heart of Ice" is the most notable of these. {{spoiler|With his helmet shattered by Batman he is helpless as a kitten and sadly claws at Boyle while crying out for vengeance with the little breath he has. Once in Arkham he admits he failed to avenge his wife, begs her for forgiveness and prays that she can somehow hear him in a place where a warm hand waits for his. While ''crying''.}}

* [[Offhand Backhand]]: To the point that a mook's chances of hitting Batman actually ''decrease'' if he attacks from behind. Also played hilariously with the Creeper, who uses it on Joker's mooks and Batman himself.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Charles Collins in "Joker's Favor" ironically gets ''The Joker'' to do this after the Joker tormented him for the entire episode. It becomes a truly satisfying conclusion.

* [[One Steve Limit]]: Averted with the presence of Harvey Dent and Harvey Bullock. Also on a meta-level with Bruce Wayne and Bruce Timm.

* [[Oral Fixation Fixation]]: Harvey Bullock is perpetually chewing on a toothpick, and on one occasion was implicated in a crime because of its presence.

* [[Orphaned Punchline]]: In "Birds of a Feather", Penguin has one: "--and I said, 'But, warden--those aren't ''my'' pants!"

* [[Out of Focus]]: Dick Grayson was originally a [[Recurring Character]], but after the first [[Retool]], he earned [[Regular Character]] status. The second Re Tool, however, made Batgirl a regular as well and added Tim Drake, so Grayson as Nightwing was [[Demoted to Extra|seen far less often]]. Regardless, he was still considered a Regular Character and treated as such by production. (Voice actor Loren Lester was consistently credited in the main cast, as opposed to with - say - recurring guest star [[Mark Hamill]]). [[Word of God]] flat-out admitted this trope as a blunder on their part.

== P-T ==

* [[Panty Shot]]:

** The DCAU-only villainess Baby Doll herself shows this in the Episode "Baby Doll".

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Batman's '''one''' principle is to never take a life. But if you ''dare'' to enslave innocent children to steal for you like The Sewer King did, you better damn well pray that he ''does'' hold onto it...

* [[The Paragon Always Rebels]]: Kyodai Ken.

* [[Reverse Mole]]: Nightwing to Catwoman in "You Scratch My Back".

* [[Revolvers Are Just Better]]: Most criminals use semi-automatic pistols, but whenever Commissioner Gordon and Detective Harvey Bullock draw their weapons they are are traditional revolvers.

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: Of all people, it is Commissioner Gordon who loses control in his thirst for vengeance ([[All Just a Dream|Or does he?]]) When {{spoiler|Barbara/Batgirl}} is murdered he ''loses it'' and ''nobody'' is safe. No, not even ''Batman''.

* [[Robot Girl]]: Randa Duane, H.A.R.D.A.C.'s [[The Dragon|dragon]].

* [[Say My Name Trailer]]: One TV commercial had a montage of several villains saying "Batman!" in varying degrees of disgust - followed by the announcer commenting: "See what everyone's talking about."

* [[Schizo Tech]]: The [[Weapon of Choice]] for the criminal is the tommy gun, TV is largely in black and white and the cars look like they come from the 1920s or 1930s, but this same setting gives us highly sophisticated computer equipment, sentient Artificial Intelligence, machines that can read peoples' minds and CCTV security cameras...and that is not even counting the stuff Batman himself has.

{{quote| Warren: (gets unmasked by Batman) "Wait a minute wait a minute! We can make a deal! A million dollars just to let me go! (Batman angrily whirls him around) TEN MILLION! Think about it, that buys a LOT of batarangs!"<br />

Batman: "Your money's no good here." }}

* [[Second Person Attack]]: Done frequently.

* [[Serious Business]]: The Joker kidnaps and brainwashes three famous comedians all so that he can rig a comedy competition. As he explains, it is not about the trophy, it is about the ''title''.

* [[Servile Snarker]]: Alfred had moments of this.

* [[Sexy Jester]]: Harley Quinn

* [[Shape Shifter Swan Song]]: Clayface.

** In "Fear of Victory," the football player Brian and what is revealed of his life seems to be a reference to the book and film ''Brian's Song''.

** In the episode "Mad Love," the Joker gives a one-liner of "May the floss be with you!" as he tosses a grenade at Batman while exiting a dentist's office. Standard Joker pun, right? But, the voice actor also played [[Actor Allusion|Luke Skywalker]].

** Two-Face's suit is a rather obvious reference to the famous "Scarface" poster.

** In the episode "The Laughing Fish" Joker pulls a wrench out of a box with the words "[[Home Improvement (TV)|Binford Tools]]" written on it.

** A shot where Batman (seen only in shadow) takes apart Poison Ivy's plant monster with an axe perfectly mirrors Mickey's destruction of the broom in [[Fantasia (Disney)|The Sorceror's Apprentice]].

** The second episode of "Robin's Reckoning" has a shout out to [[Akira (Manga)|Akira]] when Dick strikes a similar pose to Kaneda on his bike

** In "Over The Edge", when Gordon is hanging off the roof, the shots are mimicking [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Vertigo]]''.

** The poster for the magician The Great Prosciutto in "Be a Clown" is a cartoonified portrait of [[Alan Moore]].

** Riddler has one just because Batman will not tell him how he survived a seemingly perfect deathtrap.

** Ivy has several in her first appearance. The first is what led to her trying to kill Harvey Dent and the second was when her greenhouse burned down, just driving her deeper into madness.

* [[Visual Gag]]:

{{quote| '''Pamela Eisley:''' Shouldn't we wait for your friend?<br />

* [[Wall Crawl]]: Catwoman does it by digging in with the claws in her suit.

* [[Wasn't That Fun]]: In the episode "The Man Who Killed Batman," while Batman is presumed dead, the Joker holds a "funeral" for him, which ends with Joker tossing the man whom everyone believes killed Batman into the coffin and lowering the coffin into an acid pit while [[Refuge in Audacity|Harley Quinn plays "Amazing Grace" on kazoo]]. After the coffin disappears into the acid, Joker waits a beat and asks, "Well, that was fun, who's up for Chinese?"

** An ex-security guard for Arkham becomes Lock-up. He...well [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|locks up]] who he thinks is the ''real'' source of the problems in Gotham, the lax Police Force, the pushover Doctors, and corrupt Bureaucrats. Ironically, he is probably right.

** After Harvey Dent is transformed into Two-Face he leads an extra-legal war on Rupert Thorne's criminal organization, robbing his operations throughout Gotham, but his ultimate plan is to expose Thorne's activities and get him arrested by the police.

** Ra's al Ghul is the quintessential example, carried over from the comics where his terrorist activities are motivated by his coincern for the environment and the world..

* [[What Do They Fear Episode]]: Every Scarecrow appearance went like this, but it was taken to its peak in "Over The Edge," in which {{spoiler|Batgirl hallucinates her own death and her father turning against Batman, whom he blames for it}}. Add in the much scarier redesign of the Scarecrow for the last season and it is pure Nightmare Fuel.

* [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]: Parodied with Harley in "Girl's Night Out", it being a running gag that she tries to get things open by using an oversize mallet for it to do practically nothing.

* [[White Dwarf Starlet]]: Mary "Baby" Dahl. [[Stealth Pun|In more ways than one]].

* [[Wild Card]]: Catwoman actually fought at Batman's side a little ''more'' often than she fought against him.

* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: Batman is smart enough to not recognize genders in a fight. This is especially true if his identity is at stake. In "Almost Got 'Im" during Poison Ivy's tale, Batman punches Ivy off when she tried to take his mask off.

[[Category:Western Animation]]

[[Category:Nobuo Tomizawa]]