BTAS Ended Prematurely?

[Slash Man]

Honestly, I have no idea why they cancelled Batman: The Animated Series. By the time The New Batman Adventures premiered, Batman Beyond was right around the corner, and so was Justice League. I'd be fine with the series ending... but it seems like it was left unfinished.

Some characters were given satisfying conclusions (Joker, Bane, The Ventriloquist), but some were not... in fact many didn't even get an episode! Take the Riddler for example: after getting his design completely overhauled, he didn't do anything in the series. Aside from a brief fight with Superman/Robin (technically a part of the Superman Animated Series), getting crushed by a huge book, and appearing on a talk show (if you've seen Over the Edge, you'd know this doesn't count). Two-Face was also left with a cliff-hanger at the end of the series' final episode.

Finally, there seem to be many unused ideas/designs. We could have had the Clock King, Lock-Up, Black Mask, the Gray Ghost, the Phantasm, and Man-Bat appear. Instead, the series just kind of dropped off unexpectedly.

[Bobthegoon89]

I don't really like New Batman Adventures. I think they redesigned everything and for me the quality went kinda down. It didn't look as stunning anymore. Not that this mattered when I was a kid but now I see the difference and it's a shame. The reason they did this is they wanted to do something different and you can't argue with that.

Still I wish they could bring back the animated series circa 1992-1995. I'm sure it's possible they are drawings after all. I guess Timm would never want to turn the clock back on any counts. Wish he would as no Batman cartoon since has reached this one's heights. Doubt any ever will.

For me the last episode was "Batgirl Returns" a strange one to finish with where Batman hardly appears. Unless it was The Lion and the Unicorn which was the last in broadcast order. But they got some classic villains in there such as Joker, Penguin and Two-Face so it kinda still had a finale feel.

[HarryCanyon]

I did liked New Adventures of Batman as it was the 4th/5th seasons but on WB instead of Fox and but i did not mind some redesigns as Selina Kyle did looked hot as a brunette and Penguin returned to his original design as Timm said he was glad to get to get rid of the movie designs to do things his way as the studio was meddling with his show. Harley still looks the same while some did not like like Joker's muppet design.

But give this series some credit with some good episodes like Old Wounds, Joker's Millions, Mad Love (the origin of Harley) and Over The Edge.

[Kamdan]

I believe that they had to streamline the designs so that they could be produced more quickly than the original set of episodes. Kind of makes wonder what Superman: The Animated Series would have been if they had more time to animate it. Could have been more like the Max Fleischer cartoons that inspired it all.

[Bobthegoon89]

Very good point Kamdan. Superman's show was great but defintely not in the same class of animation. I knew that instantly when seeing it even as a kid.

[Slash Man]

It was all over budget issues. Even today, animation of the same quality of Batman: The Animated Series would be reserved for feature films. And even those are being phased out, unfortunately. Which makes it even sadder to see the DC animated universe die.