Batman: The Brave and the Bold Vol. 1

 

 

In late 2008, The Cartoon Network debuted a new animated series called Batman: The Brave and the Bold.  Created by James Tucker who had previously worked on Legion of Super Heroes, Justice League, Batman Beyond, and other DC-Comics themed animated series, it is aimed squarely at the 7-11 year old boy demographic with lots of colorful action and a decidedly more lighthearted tone than any animated version of Batman in the last two decades.  Its graphic style is rooted in the late 40s and 50s era Batman comics when artist Dick Sprang re-designed the character.  

The TV show borrows the "Brave and the Bold" name from a comic book series that would team up various superheroes from the DC universe for one-off adventures.  Consistent with that antecedent, each episode of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series pairs Batman with a different character from the DC Universe.

Most episodes consist of Batman and a "guest star" DC hero in an environment far away from Gotham City, with a little bit of character establishment for the guest star, a little bit of Batman as a dead-pan straight man, and a lot of bloodless action violence.  The episodes have pre-credits sequences that feature cameos from other DC Universe heroes and villains as well.  While the show is squarely targeted at young boys, attempts are made to appeal to nostalgic adult fans of the DC Universe with various scripted and visual references to the comics and some sly but innocent humor that may go over younger viewers' heads.  While the series can be an amusing time-passer as a half hour of TV programming, and its bright stylized visuals can be a lot of fun to look at, I found it a bit too formulaic and thin to enjoy sitting through multiple episodes back to back.
 

Terror on Dinosaur Island

Original Air Date: November 21, 2008

Plastic Man (Kenny), finds it tough to shake the bad habits of his criminal past.  Meanwhile he and Batman must travel to Dinosaur Island to foil a plot by Gorilla Grodd (Di Maggio) to turn the world's humans into monkeys.

Pre-credits cameos: Fire and Gentleman Ghost

Evil Under the Sea

Original Air Date: December 5, 2008

Batman visits Aquaman (Di Maggio) and finds himself in the middle of an attempted coup when Aquaman's jealous brother Orm (Langham) secretly teams up with Black Manta (Richardson) to depose him as King of Atlantis.

Pre-credits cameo: Felix Faust

Invasion of the Secret Santas

Original Air Date: December 12, 2008

The android Red Tornado (Burton) has a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit, but so does the human Batman.  Could a Christmas day battle with Fun Haus (Williams) possibly help? 

Pre-credits cameos: Blue Beetle and Sportsmaster

The Video ****

This contemporay animated series airs in 1080i HD on Cartoon Network HD, so one would expect few problems with the DVD presentation.  For the most part that proves to be the case, but the transfer is marred by very thin but pervasive edge halos that will be noticeable on large displays.  Otherwise, compression, contrast, and color are all solidly rendered.

The Audio ****

The English Dolby Digital 2.0 Pro-Logic surround audio features a nicely balanced mix with decent fidelity and a bit of low end oomph during the series' many animated action set-pieces.  Alternate language tracks are presented in Portuguese and Spanish

The Extras *½

The only extras are a collection of promos.  All are presented in 4:3 video letterboxed when appropriate with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio:

• Wonder Woman DTV trailer (1:09)
• Lego Batman video game (1:15)
• Green Lantern: First Flight DTV Behind the Scenes Promotional Featurette (3:01)
• The Zeta Project DVD trailer(1:03)
• Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases DVD trailer (1:05)

Packaging

The DVD comes packaged in an Amaray-sized "Ecobox" with holes in the hard case to reduce plastic use.  I inadvertently poked a hole through the front cover insert while removing the wrapping plastic.   There are no interior inserts.