Hey folks, Valkor here. The internets are blazin with pics and vids of Chris Nolan's final film in his Batman Trilogy "The Dark Knight Rises". And while that's all well and good and I'm completely excited for it, I'll do my best to avoid any spoiler material. And thanks to the folks at Warner Home I can get my Bat-fill with no spoilery after taste with the Season two, Volume one of "Batman Brave and the Bold". And this season is lookin all kinds of awesome!
The Brave and The Bold season two part one continues doing what the series is known for and that's team-up Batman with some of DC's finest superheroes against popular and maybe not so popular villains. Each episode is standalone and begins with a short before the main event. Though the series is lighthearted and shows a less serious side of Bats, part one, season two of the series is starting to show its darker side such as dealing with death for example the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne, the death of the original Black Canary, and one guy gets eaten by rats (implied) thanks to The Spectre. But there's plenty of camp that made the series popular such as heaping doses of Plastic Man, a spin on Wacky Races, and Aqua Man taking a much needed vacation… or at least trying to. It's dark, it's crazy, and its way better than the first season. Highlights include:
Chill of the Night – Batman is confronted with the killer of his parents with Spectre (voiced by Mark Hamill) and Phantom Stranger (Kevin Conroy) betting on his soul.
Sidekicks Assemble! – Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad are tired of just being sidekicks and want to take on much bigger roles. Batman offers them the chance to assist in taking on Ra's Al Ghul and his henchmen. Only when he thinks he's sending them to a deserted island, he actually leads them into the lion's den.
Revenge of the Reach – Blue Beetle learns that the scarab that holds his powers is actually linked to an evil alien group known as The Reach. The Green Lantern Corp makes an appearance and wants to take the scarab from Jaime. But Batman believes there's too much good in Jaime to separate the twosome.
A Bat Divided – during a school field trip student Jason Rusch and his coach Ronnie Raymond get caught up in a battle between Batman and Doctor Double X. There's an explosion, which fuses the coach and the student together to form Firestorm. But the same explosion causes Batman to split between three personalities.
This two disc DVD set comes complete with twelve episodes, a few trailers, and not much else. I think you'll be too busy enjoying yourself to worry about any extras. And with that we move on to the TOV Breakdown.
The Good:
After watching half of the first season of "Batman the Brave and the Bold" on DVD and the other half on television, I was instantly hooked on the series; but I missed the darker overtones from Batman: The Animated Series. Season two gives me more of the same cheesiness that the series is known for, tossing in the darker side… and I loved it! By far this is the best of the best and I can't wait to see what the rest of the series has to offer (currently airing on The Cartoon Network). I said in my last review of season one part two that Diedrich Bader (who does teh voice of Batman) deserves the chance to play darker stories and in "Chill of the Night" he shines. Wonderful performance and a great story to boot! Wanna top that? How about him voicing alongside Kevin Conroy in "The Super-Batman of Planet X"? I didn't expect it and it was so awesome! Levels of geek joy were on overload! On teh series as a whole, bader has proven himself worthy of voicing Bats and has really made the role all his own. There's definitie improvements over the first season with a deeper growl and more weight to the voice - almost Kevin Conroyesque, but still owning the part. The animation is still the same and the stories this time around are top notch; not a snoozer in the bunch. So far season two, part one of the series is pretty bad ass!
The Bad:
Still not a season set…
The Ugly:
N/A
Batman The Brave and The Bold season two part one is available now and if you've been wanting to jump into this series to see what all the hub bub is about, I'd say let this be your starting point and go on from there. Though this set will be one tough act to follow. And out of TOV 5 stars I'm giving Season two Part One of Batman The Brave and The Bold 4.5 and it's been Valkor Viewed, TOV Approved.
