Episode 80 we sit down and chat with the current Batman Beyond artist Bernard Chang. We dive deep into his early career and his current and amazing work on Batman Beyond.
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@BATMANShanlian
@LootingKyle
By
Andrew Kiess
Ben Affleck has stepped down as the director of the upcoming Batman film. In a statement reported by Variety, Affleck said the following:
“There are certain characters who hold a special place in the hearts of millions,” Affleck said in a statement. “Performing this role demands focus, passion and the very best performance I can give. It has become clear that I cannot do both jobs to the level they require. Together with the studio, I have decided to find a partner in a director who will collaborate with me on this massive film. I am still in this, and we are making it, but we are currently looking for a director. I remain extremely committed to this project, and look forward to bringing this to life for fans around the world.”
This is far from good news, but the facts here are: Ben Affleck is not going to direct the next Batman movie, he will still be playing Bruce Wayne, and he is looking for a director that he feels comfortable working with. While he will not be in the director’s chair, Affleck by all accounts is still the primary script writer, star, and most likely executive producer on the picture. From a personal point of view, I think there is plenty of reason to remain optimistic, even if cautiously optimistic. Hopefully we will be getting an announcement very quickly as to who the new director will be. In the meantime, we have to come to grips with the fact that not everything is sunshine and roses at the Brothers Warner when it comes to the DC Extended Universe. But as someone once remarked, the night is darkest just before the dawn.
Source: Variety
By
John McGee
WOW! What a night! Did you see all those Harley Quinns? Batmen and Supermen! Jokers and Jack Sparrows—but best of all, that Gotham episode! How did this year’s traditional scarefest top eating candy to your heart’s content? Read on to find out!
The good news:
Tetch is finally reaching the end of his rope. He grabbed his sister’s body and drained her of the last of her poisoned blood. The very, very little of the marketing I saw for Season 3 did nothing to whet my appetite for his character other than the fact that we’d be seeing a Mad Hatter. Now he’s easily become one of the most interesting villains we’ve seen. Ever rhyming (kudos to the writers for bothering with that) he schemes to poison the most powerful people in Gotham with his sister’s blood.
Jim Gordon has to come to grips with his messed up head (and boy does he deliver). He hallucinates facing his demons after lying to Lee about saving her last episode and even Bullock angrily asserting that Jim’s “scared” of the badge. He goes through an elevator with a completely seductive and even vulnerable Barbara. (I have to watch some season 1 episodes again—I’m forgetting what she was like before she was crazy). It was haunting and emotional to see Jim experience life with Lee and kids, failure to Bruce and a tear-jerking conversation with his dad. All hallucinations, all realistic and touching.
Jim Gordon returns as a detective to the GCPD following his soul-searching quest. Finally.
Tetch gets captured and fails to poison the Gotham power heads. Duh.
Penguin, instead of killing Nygma’s girlfriend, tells her that Ed was in Arkham in an attempt to break them up, but it only makes their relationship stronger. They’re made for each other, which means Penguin might ruin it by killing her. The cliché is that Penguin kills people and tantrums when he’s denied what he wants. So hopefully the writers avoid that.
I totally forgot in last episode’s review that Bruce kissed Selina. Now they’re having a little date that she’s late for because “it’s weird for me.” So now she’s in a relationship with a plank of wood. Because that sums up the acting skills we’re getting from Mazouz’s side of this thing. Honestly just watch her. She’s the only one who’s obviously taken classes or just has the talent to show range of emotions and enunciate, say her lines differently each time etc.
The bad news:
The guy seemingly bossing around the Court of Owls lady was wearing the ring that Jim’s dad was wearing in the hallucination. The Court is already being denied proper justice already; now we’re getting sidetracked into Jim’s dad. Great.
Best episode of the year by far. There’s no contest. What a Halloween treat.
9.5/10
This is an older episode from last year that Tom accidently lost and the most unfortunate part of that is that it happened to be the Shanlian on Batman interview with Jon Callan. Jon is a writer for the new animated series Justice League Action. The guys go through Jon’s entire career from how he got started to writing on Justice League Action. Kick back and enjoy another classic interview, Shanlian on Batman style.
The end of the year is near! The fellas gather to exchange gifts and gab about 2016 and what it had to offer for us in the world of Batman. There is no description for this episode other than Everything. Justin Kyle, and Tom wrap up 2016 the right way, come talk about Batman with Shanlian on Batman. Happy New Year!!!
It was reported yesterday via The Hollywood Reporter that Zack Snyder’s “Justice League 2” has been pushed back to make room for Ben Affleck’s “The Batman” movie, which is yet to solidify a release date.
After wrapping Justice League, Snyder is not tackling Justice League 2, as was the initial plan, but rather is focusing his attention on his long-in-development thriller The Last Photograph.
Snyder is still intent on directing Justice League 2, but that movie has been pushed back to make room for Ben Affleck’s Batman stand-alone movie. The move left an opening in Snyder’s schedule for a production that is smaller-scale, at least compared to massive superhero tentpoles he has been working on of late.
This news isn’t really earth-shattering as we all knew that the original plan for “Justice League 2” was scrapped in response to the poor critical reviews of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Right now, everything is solely predicated on what happens with “Wonder Woman” and “Justice League” and if these two upcoming films are both financialyl successful, and the critics/audiences embrace the new direction of the DCEU under Geoff Johns, then we should begin to hear that other films in the DCEU will get the green light, i.e. Justice League 2, Man Of Steel 2, Green Lantern, Teen Titans and many more.
The only confirmed movie post “Justice League” is “Aquaman.” Yes we know that the upcoming “The Flash” film is somewhere in that mix, but without a director and no news on that front, it is a safe bet that the movie’s release date is more than likely going to be pushed back.
So where does this leave Zack Snyder? Will he be back in the chair to make “Justice League 2” after helming his long gestating project “The Last Photograph?” Like it was said previously, everything is predicated on the success of both “WW” and “Justice League”, and if the latter is successful at the box office and the critics love it, then yes, we here at Shanlian On Batman believe that Snyder and company will be back in the director’s chair with JL2. If these films are not successful, then Zack Snyder will remain on in some sort of Executive Producer role. There were many casualties at the studio after “BvS” tanked hard with the critics and the studio tried a quick course correction. Remember Charles Roven? He was the producer who helped produce The Dark Knight Trilogy, Man of Steel and BvS and was just a few of the people who had the keys to the DCEU taken away.
For some of you that think that Snyder wants these movies to tank, let me fill you in on something that needs to be known for you all: Snyder’s Cruel and Unusual Pictures helps co-finance these films in the DCEU they put up their own money to help produce these movies. So that means the rate of return for the Snyder’s is predicated on the success of all of these films. So if the film is successful the Snyder’s and the studio is successful as well. So it is in their best interest to put out the best product that they can, so when we hear that Snyder is just throwing things on the wall to see what sticks is nonsense, trust us, these guys want all these films to be successful both commercially and critically.
So what does this mean for the upcoming solo Ben Affleck Batman film? For starters, Batman is the crown jewel of the superhero film genre and a sure fire box office juggernaut for the studio so getting this film into theaters quickly is something that the studio really wants. It wouldn’t be the biggest surprise to see that film pop up July of 2018 now that the “Aquaman” film was pushed back a few months to October of 2018. For purely sentimental reasons, it could pop up in July 2018 as that would be the 10 Year anniversary of The Dark Knight. That would be great cross promotion for a future “10 Year Anniversary” Blu Ray/DVD release to co-incide with the release of “The Batman” as well. Now that is simply a pipe-dream for us, but who knows stranger things have happened.
So let’s recap, Batman is being pushed up and JL2 is waiting on the successes of “Wonder Woman” and “Justice League” so now that 2017 is almost upon us, it will be an interesting year to see how everything pans out.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
By
John McGee
Welcome one and all! Time for the epic annual Gotham Halloween episode. Every year we get something pretty special given the nature of the show. We’ve seen eyeballs get ripped out of skulls and throats get bitten open. Time to get into the freaky spirit of the year.
The good news:
Tetch is giving Jim impossible choices in order to try and drive him mad. Jim chooses to save the child about to be run over by a truck rather than the newly married couple jumping off the building. Interesting fact: Jim would have been crushed by the couple. He had no time to call the fire department and he can’t catch them. So he really made the only choice he could in the situation. The couple was doomed from the beginning, pretty clearly.
It turned into a fun goose chase of sorts ending with the ultimatum: the two women in Gordon’s life, Vale and Lee, threatened by the Mad Hatter. Tetch’s plan was to shoot the woman Jim loves, so Jim told him to “kill Lee” knowing Tetch would shoot Vale. Jim just gets darker and darker these days.
Vale (other than getting shot) didn’t play a huge role here. She was mostly just the catalyst to Jim to possibly wake him up. Other than hounding Lee about Alice Tetch’s blood she didn’t have much of a stake here.
Alice’s blood is really starting to affect the captain. What’s next for this guy? He really needs to find a cure before it’s too late.
Nygma met a girl!! She’s basically a reminder of his former love lost, whom he killed (mostly by accident). She’s a quiet sweet librarian who believes in love and second chances. What a sweet story.
Honorable mention: the teaser for next week’s Halloween episode, The Red Queen looks fantastic!
The bad news:
I disagree with this Penguin subplot. It doesn’t make much sense that just because Ed helped him out and believed in him that suddenly we have love. Penguin is far more affectionate than he was in the past. Maybe he’s growing soft since he’s mayor? I dunno. But I find it really odd that this is how Gotham represents LGBT: only the utmost psycho on the show (and that’s quite a competitive field) experiences such feelings. I don’t think Penguin is the right man for the job. On top of that, Penguin being denied something he wants (remember Nygma is straight and in love with this librarian lady) sending him off on a murderous tantrum is going to become a Gotham cliché if they keep it up.
Gordon needs to really wake the heck up. He’s getting so far off track that he’s just moping around crying for himself. The teaser for next week shows that this might improve though.
Great episode! We’re getting back. Usually Gotham picks up on/after/around Halloween, and damn is that the case this year again.
9/10
By
John McGee
“Did everyone see that because I will NOT be doing it again.” –Captain Jack Sparrow
That sums up how I felt watching this week’s Gotham episode.
The good news:
We got some classic underground mafia Gotham deal-cutting. Season 1 had high ratings for a reason. Not just because it was novel, but it took the hearts of millions with its clever storytelling and excellent characterizations…and its great power structure struggle. We haven’t seen the likes of that since Season 1.
Ivy made another appearance and teased Selina about it. Finally seeing her again was fun.
Nygma made his return to the GCPD in an entertaining albeit completely clichéd manner. “I’ve missed all of you so much.” Barnes: “What are you DOING here, Nygma?” Cliché. But still, we got a crack about Harvey’s fear of razors.
Penguin has pretty much turned to Nygma now (who wants to betray Penguin and take Gotham for hisself…oh for pete’s sake).
The bad news:
Butch engineered the return of the Red Hood gang (because there’s literally no other idea in Gotham for gang names apparently). And he did so just so that he could kill them all and make himself once again #1 in Penguin’s eyes. However Nygma uses this against him and forces him to try and take out Penguin before thwarting the attempt to make HIM look like #1 before THAT blew up and Butch almost killed Nygma for tricking him…are you tired yet? It makes sense if you really think about it…all Butch really had to do was tell the truth and how Nygma engineered everything and tried to take over Gotham. But no, let’s choke the guy instead. Now Nygma is still #1 in Pengin’s eyes and Butch is on the run. What a mess.
Vale is back and in the sack where the writers pretty much intended for her to be…constantly, as she and Jim openly admit. Until she finally leaves to interview a man for a story…that Jim waltzes in and interrupts. Because NEITHER of these two people can function without constantly harassing the other. Now it’s merely reversed: he’s harassing her. It’s the most pathetic love interest I’ve ever seen on screen. It causes pins and needles just suffering through their scenes. Good grief.
Apparently Jim is giving Lee the ultimate middle finger for her leaving him. He knew she was with a Falcone…she knows the consequences of being with a Falcone…and doesn’t care. Jim doesn’t care. Granted, she did bring it up to him in an argumentative manner. She wants Jim to be worried about her. But kudos to him for not caring. But seriously Lee…leave the man alone. He’s moved on. He hasn’t seen Vale in at least half an hour and you’re delaying his rush back into bed with her.
Also Lee takes the Falcone name and punches Nygma in the face with it. Good girl. Except for the fact that you’re flaunting this Falcone “power” which is the name of an old man who has none anymore before you’ve even married a Falcone. Don’t get cocky in Gotham, girl.
David Mazouz would only help the show at this point by leaving. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Recasting would be less hurtful/weird than his continued agony of being there. He can’t really act at all. Bruce Wayne needs to be played, not filled. You don’t just slug around through Hamlet, and the same goes for Bruce at any age past that of 8 years. He has never once contributed a performance that I’ve been able to say was any good. Even for TV. I’m not saying he needs silver screen standards, but having standards at all would help the kid. Maybe an acting class? Please, just do something. He’s hurting Camren’s Selina Kyle, who he just told “I like you…as more than a friend.” It felt like nails were scraped across cardboard, then a chalkboard, then slowly pulled off by pliers. Please please please replace him with the kid who played young Bruce in Batman v Superman. That kid at least knew how to show emotion. Good grief.
This was one of the more tripped up episodes I’ve seen. Ever. But hopefully the track will right with the reemergence of Jervis next week.
6/10
By
Andrew Kiess
The Last Laugh is the fourth produced episode of Batman the Animated Series. It was the fifteenth episode to air, and made its debut on September 22nd, 1992. This episode once again stars Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker, Bob Hastings (although, not in his usual role as James Gordon—this time as an armored car diver), and introduces Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., as Alfred Pennyworth.
It’s April Fool’s Day in Gotham, and the city cannot stop laughing! The culprit of this case of the giggles though is due to Joker’s latest plot against the city. Joker has commandeered a garbage barge laced with his signature joker toxin, which while floating around the city, is covering Gotham in laughing gas. Batman (wearing goggles in a pre-Zack Snyder’s Nightowl world, by the way) is working in the cave when a commotion upstairs catches his attention. The laughing gas has reached Wayne Manor and Alfred has been infected. Batman heads out in the batboat to confront the clown and put a punchline on the Joker’s scheme.
This episode may be one of the more “child friendly” episodes of the series. Mark Hamill once suggested on Kevin Smith’s podcast that many of the decision in this episode were attempts to get around Broadcast Standards and Practice. Batman has a violent fight with a non-talking robot called Captain Clown. Joker’s toxin does not lead to death, but just insanity. These things highlight the tightrope that the creators had to walk between some of the more serious themes and kid friendly content. The director of The Last Laugh, Kevin Altieri, did this well. Altieri also directed Two-Face, Feat of Clay Part II, and P.O.V, as well as Harlequinade and Harley’s Holiday.
While some may see the child friendliness of this episode as a draw-back, I think that it gives this episode a unique signature and makes it a fun watch. This feel coupled with Shirley Walker’s fun rock-and-roll with a twist of polka mania score, The Last Laugh is a very enjoyable entry of Batman the Animated Series. Episodes like this, however, will later see improvement when Joker is teamed up with someone a little more interesting than Captain Clown.
By
John McGee
What a week! Good to be back, folks! Today I’m gonna give you the rundown of the “one that got away.” No really, this episode was highly entertaining. Jarvis’ scheming is coming to a head, and the best part is next week we seem to be getting a little break from him. He’s mysterious as ever. Now, moving on:
The good news
Selina pretty quickly identified Five as an imposter Bruce (even though they’re identical) which leads him to run off after a conversation with Bruce. Basically the writers are putting Bruce and Selina together and it’s pretty damn awkward to see David Mazouz struggling to look like he feels feelings, but Camren is doing as great as ever in the Selina role.
Gordon is still trying to kill himself every time he hears a clock ticking. Thanks to the Captain for concussing him before the bullet went through his head. Jervis is just fun to watch at this point, and don’t look now, but the creepy creep got Alice…
Meanwhile, the controversy over the candidacy of Oswald Cobblepot is at its peak. Butch is paying off campaign officials to buy the election, but Nygma takes the money back from them in the name of Oswald the night of the election, and Oswald still wins—leading his affections to shift from Butch to Nygma. Think Toy Story with Buzz taking over for Woody.
At the big Jervis showdown, the Mad Hatter lost Alice (because Alice hated him and tried to escape) as she fell and impaled herself by mistake on a pipe. There’s a bad news section on this part below, but I’m leaving this part here because the battle of wits and defeat (for now) of Jervis was well done.
The bad news
The Court of Owls kidnapped Five, meaning they’re probably going to use him against Bruce in the latter episodes. They shouldn’t even be dipping their toes in this acid. It drives me insane that they’re stooping to such low levels but I suppose I’ll have to live with it. No one has yet justified their prominence or even existence to me yet, so I’ll just trudge on and keep yelling at the writers until they realize their error.
Jervis showdown issue: now we’re dealing with the stereotypical “oblivious crazy person.” It’s so funny that just because someone is “mad” on TV they are oblivious to people saying “no” or “you’re wrong.” Ok. So? So why on earth does he converse with Jim Gordon, his enemies, the Sirens, anyone else normally, but when it comes to his sister Alice he doesn’t even listen to her? He listens to his enemies and debates with them, but ignores his own sister when she says things like “go the hell away” “you’re a monster” and “no.” It’s so stupid and a huge cop out.
It’s safe to say that the good news far outweighs the bad this time around, and I’m glad to be back and well. Expect another review your way soon! We’ve had a couple exciting weeks of Gotham!
8.5/10
Shanlian on Batman 