Not So Fast, B-Man!

Will wrote a wonderful article yesterday on Batman and his birthday. Well, today is another very special birthday... Harley Quinn's! As I pointed out in my bio, Harley is my favorite villain so I've taken it upon myself to help celebrate her special day.

Harley Quinn first appeared in an episode of the Batman: The Animated Series and she didn't always start out as a villain. Originally, Harley was Dr. Harleen Quinzel. She was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. She felt she could learn more about Joker's psychosis and eventually cure him. Instead, she ended up falling in love with him and becoming his most faithful follower. The Arkham City video game also allows you to explore this story if you choose to collect the extra items in the game. Harley Quinn quickly became part of Batman canon through her popularity.

Since her introduction a couple of decades ago, Harley has become a beloved and important character. She is fan favorite for cosplays, and has been a leading villain in the Arkham video games. Arkham City even gave her an additional downloadable game: Harley Quinn's Revenge.

So raise a giant hammer, put on your best jester outfit, and fall in love with your favorite clown in honor of Harley Quinn - just don't buy her a drink. Harley only turns 20 this birthday, but I'm sure she'd love to go out next year.

Happy Birthday B-Man!

   That's right kids, if we can even call you that any more, it's Batman's birthday...sort of. It's really the 20-year anniversary of what is arguably the greatest animated superhero cartoon ever, "Batman: The Animated Series." Even to this day, it still is highly praised for maturity, voice acting, artistic merit, and faithfulness to the comics. During it's 3+ year run, it received 4 Emmys Awards and was nominated for another 9!

I grew up watching every episode of this legendary cartoon, and for me, when I think of Batman's voice I immediately think of Kevin Conroy. You throw Mark Hamill in as the Joker, and anyone else that tries to play those roles has some stadium sized shoes to fill. Click on THIS to see these two in action.
"Batman: The Animated Series," was THE cartoon that opened up the world of superheros to me. Sure, Superman was pretty cool and had another great series that would eventually blend into this one, but there is something about a regular guy with no super powers trying to change a corrupt, dark, and neglected city that makes me think I could actually do something good.
Granted, if I was as loaded as Bruce Wayne, it would definitely make things a little bit easier. But I digress...Here are some interesting facts about the "Batman: The Animated Series."

Harley Quinn, The Joker's sidekick, was created just for the series and proved to be so popular that she became a regular villain in the comics. Officer Renee Montoya was also later added.

Mr. Freeze/Dr. Victor Fries 's origin was completely rewritten for the series to portray a more tragic, lovesick character that would evoke more emotion in the audience. Originally, he was a two-bit criminal who had an accident trying to create a freeze-gun.

To create the eerie nighttime feeling, the background painters used dark paper instead of the traditional white. This also allowed them to save time from painting large portions of black color as most of the scenes are set at night. The animators coined the term "Dark Deco" for this art style.

Tim Curry was initially cast as the voice of the Joker. After he recorded four episodes, his take on the role was deemed to be too scary, so the decision was made to recast and eventually the role went to Mark Hamill.

At no point in any of the episodes is the title, "Batman: The Animated Series" displayed. The producers decided that since Batman was an instantly recognizable character that anyone in any language would be able to tell what the show was about. The show's first opening sequence is essentially a remake of the pilot used to sell the show to Warner Bros.
However, in all the Seasons 3, 4, and 5 episodes the title "The Adventures of Batman & Robin" was displayed.

When the series moved to Sunday evenings on WB, it marked one of the first time an animated series created specifically as a Saturday morning cartoon had aired on Primetime.

In most episodes, there is a character reading a Tiny Toons Adventures Magazine.

Kevin Conroy is the first person in animation to use two distinct voices to portray Bruce Wayne and Batman. It was his own idea.

After every single storyboard, FOX would send the producers a long single spaced list of restrictions about five pages in length, on things they could not do for example; no child endangerment, no open wounds, no blood, no heavy gun violence, no strangling or neck grabs, no alcohol references, and no smoking. The FOX network was really picky, not just about the censorship, but just in terms of content and story. The network had many opinions on what the producers should and shouldn't be doing.

For a long time, the producers wanted to use Firefly, a character that uses fire as a weapon, but Fox said no completely because they did not allow any character to be threatened or harmed by fire. It wasn't until Batman moved to the WB that Firefly was able to be used.

Al Pacino was initially offered the role of Two-Face.












These facts were taken from IMDB.com. I might have changed some of the wording here and there, but they are all taken from the IMDB website and I claim no credit for writing them.