[Blu-Ray Review] Batman: The Animated Series

One of the most anticipated Blu-ray sets of the past decade is finally here! Batman: The Animated Series has finally been released on Blu-ray, and fans are not going to want to miss it.

The Show

I grew up with this series, and it is the number one reason I will always consider myself a DC fan first, even though I haven’t loved many of their movies. Superman: The Animated Series was my favorite show as a kid, but I loved both, and without this one, there would have been no Superman, so I have always credited this show as the reason I’m even a fan of superheroes in general.

This show gave me something to love as a kid, and then made me fall in love with it all over again when I revisited it as an adult. With its brilliant writing, amazing characters, exciting stories, and the fact that it didn’t talk down to, or pander to its audience, Batman: The Animated Series ensured that parents would love it just as much as the kids, and the kids would come back when they had kids of their own.

And not only that, but this show laid the groundwork for the multiple shows to come, and gave future animators, and even filmakers, a template to follow when they wanted to make sure their series was a hit with both kids and adults. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that even the MCU itself would not be where it is today without all the work that was put in to making Batman, Superman, Static Shock, Batman Beyond, The Zeta Project, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and so many other spin-off films and comic books all fit together and work seamlessly as one giant, shared universe.

The Set

This set contains almost everything you want as a fan of the series. Not only do you get every episode of the Original Batman: The Animated Series, but you get the episodes of the “Revamped” versions of the show that followed it around the same time as Superman: The Animated series aired, The New Batman Adventures.

I will say that my review copy was not the complete release, as I was only sent a handful of the disks, so I will be going off official release material here, but so far, it looks like everything from earlier releases was included in this set. All the commentaries, and featurettes, as well as a brand new documentary called The Heart of Batman.

In addition, they also included two of the spin-off films, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero. I find it a bit disappointing that they neglected to include all the original spin-off films, even just Mystery of the Batwoman would have been nice since it wasn’t connected to another series, but the two that are included are arguably the best, so it’s a small nitpick.

Final Thoughts

If you are a Batman fan, get this set. Even if you had the original DVD releases, I would still recommend this set, just for the upgrade in picture quality alone. This show is a masterpiece, and deserves the best picture quality available.

If you have a kid who loves Batman, get this set. If you have kids who just loves superheroes, get this set. If you have a kid who loves animation, get this set! There are some great animated series today, but kids should know what made their favorite shows possible, and Batman: The Animated Series is arguably the grandfather of a good chunk of the best of today’s animation.

If you’ve never seen this show, but are a fan of the superhero genre, I would recommend this set, sight unseen. I never recommend buying things you’ve never seen before, but I am 100% confident that you will love this. It is every bit the masterpiece I thought it was as a kid, and more.