Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Batman Beyond - Episodes 1-4 Reviews

And keeping with my summer Batman related animated shows. This time around we're delving into the future with Batman Beyond.

Episodes 1 & 2: Rebirth


It's the beginning of a whole new era. The year is 2019 and Bruce Wayne isn't quite the Batman he used to be. A new costume but it's clear that age is somewhat catching up with him and within the opening two parter, we see Bruce hand over the mantle of Batman (albeit reluctantly) to teenager Terry McGinnis, who is spurred onto taking over the role when his father died at the hands of Wayne Enterprises's rather corrupt Derek Powers (who gets something of an interesting transformation by the end of this story). It's an interesting passing of the torch with some cryptic hints about Bruce's former allies as well as a reminder of a certain menace with a rather annoying Jokerz biker gang as a recurring menace for the series. Oh and Ace, the bat hound. 7/10

Episode 3: Black Out


Terry's first proper foray into becoming a new Batman and it's a rather inky episode with the main villain being called Inque. For a new nemesis the character was off to a promising start, besting the new Batman at every turn but that was mainly because Bruce didn't exactly prepare Terry as well as he should've done and things certainly get a little too close for comfort when Inque makes it into the Batcave as well, only for a certain villain's gun to come in handy at the last moment. There's also some rather nice scenes between Bruce and Powers as well as a brief meeting of sorts between the new Batman and the new Commissioner Gordon as well. 7/10

Episode 4: Golem


Easily the weakest episode of the first four we've got here. The main plot centred on social outcast Willy being humiliated one too many time by his peers and overbearing father, taking control of the latter's golem and mostly going on a rampage during the school dance before heading to prison and standing up to more bullies there. It's not a terrible episode but just terrible predictable although the scenes with Terry and Dana were pretty decent. 6/10

Next blog will look at the episodes Meltdown, Heroes, Shriek and Dead Man's Hand.

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