Batman: The Animated Series changed the way animators created drama, specifically for children. Not only that, but the now-iconic '90s WB series altered the way the entire DC universe functioned as well as the character of Batman himself. While Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever and Batman & Robin may have momentarily ruined the character and his dark world, the foundation of change that Batman: The Animated Series created was just too strong to annihilate completely.
Not only did Batman: The Animated Series create beloved characters (such as Harley Quinn) who have gone on to join the comic and film canon, but it also fundamentally changed previously established characters. In the case of Mr. Freeze, the show completely saved him.
The show's legacy is undeniable, especially to the legions of fans that still feel attached to it after decades. They love the gorgeous dark-art deco of the design, the serious (yet funny) way the characters were explored, Shirley Walker's epic score, stellar voice-acting from legends like Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, and even the cult-classic feature film that spun-off of the series.
But the truth is, this beautiful, haunting, funny, and moving 3 and a half-season show wasn't a gem by fluke. While Warner Brothers may have been skeptical, creators Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Mitch Brian, and their team seemed to know exactly what they were doing.
Here's a brief glimpse into the epic creation of Batman: The Animated Series...
Reinventing The Dark Knight
Before Tim Burton's first Batman movie, mainstream audiences hadn't really seen much of Batman outside of the slapstick Adam West television series from the 1960s. The comics/graphic novels were exploring the character of Batman in interesting ways but the vast majority of audiences weren't running out to buy a comic book. Of course, Tim Burton's live-action feature film was a success and Warner Brothers were eager to create something for a younger audience that was along the same lines, essentially expanding on the changes Tim Burton had made. However, they didn't know exactly what they were getting into when they approached character-designer and writer Bruce Timm.
"I had just gotten done working on the first season of Tiny Toon Adventures when the president of Warner Bros. Animation, Jean MacCurdy, assembled a big meeting," Bruce Timm said in a fascinating interview with Vulture. "She mentioned some of the properties they were looking at, and one of the ones was Batman. The first Tim Burton movie had come out and it was a big hit. And the minute I heard that, it was like, Pow! That’s what I want to do. So I went back to my desk after the meeting, put all my Tiny Toon stuff to the side, and just started drawing Batman. Within a couple hours, I had this vision of Batman down on paper. It was a new take. Ever since I was a little kid, Batman was always one of my favorite things to draw, but I’d never quite managed to come up with a version of Batman that was completely pleasing to me. Every Batman I had drawn prior to that was always based on somebody else’s Batman. This was the first time I’d ever had a concrete, Bruce Timm–style Batman in my head. It was almost like he was just waiting there to be drawn. So the next time Jean had one of those meetings, I brought my drawings to her and I said, 'I was thinking this might be a cool way to go with it.' And she said, 'That’s … that’s perfect!'"
Bruce Timm's angular and boxy style was brought to life by a series of talented artists and writers including Eric Radomski, who helped come up with the idea of creating all of the animations on black paper instead of white. This gave the show its gorgeous film noir atmosphere as well as saved animators many hours of making white backgrounds dark. A lot of this also helped with the designs of all of Batman's allies and his massive Rogue's Gallery.
Getting Free-Reign... Sort Of
Bruce and Eric created a short film (which was the basis of the show's now-memorable opening) to pitch to WB. Their hope was that they would be given high-ranking roles on the show... But they never expected to be rewarded as much as they were...
The studio loved it so much that they basically handed the reigns over to the two of them, despite the fact that neither of them had produced a series before. While this gave them great creative freedom, they managed to worry Warner Brothers on multiple occasions, specifically when it came to the show's subject matter and violence. In an amazing documentary on the show's creation, Bruce Timm claimed he constantly felt like he was going to get fired.
Luckily, they had the support of an amazing team of animators and writers, including Paul Dini, Mitch Brian, and veteran animator Alan Burnett.
In order to by-pass content restrictions set by Warner Brothers (this was a kid's show, after all), the team decided to make the show highly stylized. It was supposed to be the 90s but trapped somewhere in the 1940s... This meant there would be weapons that kids couldn't accidentally find in their parents' closet. It was a smart way to show violence to appease older viewers but not negatively influence younger ones.
Due to the strict content and censorship guidelines set by Warner Brothers, the geniuses behind Batman: The Animated Series had to get really creative with how they told their stories and remain truthful to their unique vision.
Right from the beginning, they knew exactly which direction to always be moving in. In fact, their leaked show bible, tells us that they were extremely specific about the tone, the design, the structure of each episode, the influences, and the emotional core of each character. Thanks to Warner Brothers, they were able to execute this with minimal interference and give an entire generation their first real introduction to The Dark Knight.
