The Batman

The Batman is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation based on the DC Comics superhero Batman. It was aired on Kids' WB and Cartoon Network from 2004 to 2008.

Plot
This animated adventure series of Bruce Wayne -- billionaire by day, crime fighter by night -- starts as Wayne balances life as a free-wheeling bachelor with his role as the Caped Crusader. He's joined on occasion by Robin and Batgirl. Black Mask, Killer Moth, the Everywhere Man and a brand-new Clayface join the Joker, Penguin and Riddler in ceaselessly tormenting Gotham City. Can Batman stop them once and for all?

Why It's The Batman

 * 1) It shares many similarities with the other Batman media, such as the comic books, film series, the 1992 animated series and the other DCAU shows, as they are also shows that have a very dark plot.
 * 2) Great voice acting, especially Rino Romano as Batman.
 * 3) The animation is good and the character designs by Jeff Matsuda (who also worked on Jackie Chan Adventures).
 * 4) The villains are amazing, especially the Joker, Penguin and Riddler. All receive unique interpretations unlike any non-comic writers have seen.
 * 5) The story plot was good for all the seasons.
 * 6) The show's writers weren't afraid to put new spins on the source material, such as having Batgirl as Batman's first sidekick instead of Robin and making Clayface an original character.
 * 7) Ming Wa Nen of Mulan fame stars as one Detective Ellen Yin, and she has a great character arc of learning to work with an accept Batman.
 * 8) Patrick Warburton stars. Nuff said. Except for he plays a hilarious character.
 * 9) Awesome intro. The first two seasons' theme song was done by U2's The Edge (real name David H. Evans) and was a moody sand ominous theme, while Andy Sturmer did a jazzy and epic theme song reminsecent of the 1966 series for seasons 3-5.
 * 10) Great action scenes.
 * 11) It was spawned a comic book called The Batman Strikes and an impressively nightmarish direct-to-video film called The Batman vs. Dracula.
 * 12) Season 5 was incredible amazing, because it has the other DC superheroes in it, including Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow and Hawkman. It also shows the DC supervillains too.
 * 13) The 2-part episode, "Lost Heroes", was a truly epic finale!
 * 14) It includes some obscure villains, such as Cluemaster and Clock King.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) It loses some points for not having classic villains like Scarecrow, Victor Zsasz, Two-Face, Ra's al Ghul and the Mad Hatter, though this is understandable because these five villains were victims of the Bat-embargo and were restricted from being used here because the Scarecrow, Zsasz and Ra's were used in mh:greatestmovies:Batman Begins, Two-Face was used (along with the Scarecrow again) in its sequel mh:greatestmovies:The Dark Knight and there were once plans to include the Mad Hatter in The Dark Knight Trilogy before the idea was dropped.
 * 2) Seasons three onwards jettisoned a lot of stuff and characters from the first two due to [unwarrented] fan backlash, especially what helped it stand out from others, which may turn off some.
 * 3) Due the Bat-embargo, the use of the Joker, Hugo Strange, Batgirl and the Riddler in the show prevented Justice League Unlimited to use these characters in its third and final season, causing huge backlash from fans of the DC Animated Universe.
 * 4) "Grundy Night" should have had two parts, with the second episode having Batman actually fight Grundy.
 * 5) Because Joker is much more thu ggish and animalistic and is voiced by the Black Kevin Michael Richardson, and is up against a white millionaire, one could see some... rather problematic subtext in the show's incarnation of him if you think about it too hard...
 * 6) Supporting character of Chief Angel Rojas is an extremely unlikeable and flat character that keeps railing against the Batman as a menace even when its clear he's at least a big part and at most the sole one in stopping villains. Doesn't help that as the token Hispanic of the show being a fat, idiotic and implied crooked cop doesn't bode too well if you think about it.
 * 7) Mr. Freeze's backstory is quite unappealing, as it made him just a petty criminal instead of the sympathetic villain that the DCAU made him out to be.

Trivia

 * Some have speculated the show takes place in the same universe as Teen Titans, another great DC show.

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