Batman of the Future: Return of the Joker (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Main Menu Audio DVD-ROM Extras Audio Commentary Featurette-Animatics Featurette Biographies-Character Deleted Scenes Music Video-Crash
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	70:54
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Curt Geda
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Will Friedle Kevin Conroy Mark Hamill Angie Harmon Melissa Joan Hart
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	Kristopher Carter

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement	No
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Dutch French German Norwegian Polish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Batman Of The Future: Return Of The Joker is the first feature length production for the animated television series Batman Beyond.

    The Batman Beyond universe is set approximately fifty years into the future with an aging Bruce Wayne. Due to his age, Bruce is no longer able to physically continue acting as Batman and has since passed the position to the young Terry McGinnis. Terry discovered Bruce's secret identity during an investigation into his father's murder and became the new Batman after borrowing the bat suit. Now working with Bruce, Terry continues the work of Batman and helps protect the residents of Gotham.

    During this feature, The Joker makes his return to the Gotham of the future and torments Bruce Wayne and the new Batman as he plans to take his revenge upon the city. The appearance of The Joker after all this time raises numerous questions for Terry McGinnis and during the investigation the truth about the last meeting between Bruce Wayne and The Joker is revealed.

    This movie helps to bridge the new Batman Beyond universe and the previous Batman: The Animated Series. During the feature, a long flashback shows what happened to numerous characters from the earlier series and answer some of the many questions that the Batman Beyond series has not addressed until now.

Video

    This full frame transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is consistently sharp throughout but some minor edge enhancement may be seen in most scenes. Luckily, due to the animation style this edge enhancement is only slightly distracting and is easily able to be overlooked. No low level noise was detected during the transfer. The shadow detail displayed during the transfer is excellent and is able to accurately reproduce the numerous darkly animated scenes.

    The bright and varied colour palette is accurately reproduced for this transfer. As seen in the television series, many scenes feature high levels of grey, green, purple and brown. This works well with the darker atmospheric scenes and contrasts with the numerous brightly coloured city scenes.

    A small number of MPEG artefacts may be seen at 9:30, 10:10, 22:47, 23:09, 26:05 and 64:54. These are all quite minor and are only slightly distracting.

    As often seen during animated titles with strong line art, some instances of aliasing were present within this transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 15:29, 18:01, 29:16, 43:37 and the closing credits. Due to their short duration, with the exception of the closing credits, each of these artefacts are only slightly distracting to the viewer.

    No film artefacts or grain were present during this transfer.

    A set of white subtitles with a black border are provided in English, Dutch, French, German, Norwegian and Polish. I viewed the English stream and found them to be easy to read and consistently accurate.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The dialogue was always clear and easy to understand.

    As with all animation, there was the expected problems with audio sync. No audio dropouts or other problems were detected during the transfer.

    The effective musical score by Kristopher Carter introduces numerous orchestral pieces in addition to the electronic metal tracks normally associated with the television series. This mixture works very well together and gives an epic scale to the soundtrack.

    The surround channels are used aggressively throughout the audio transfer during the numerous fight sequences and to provide support in the night club scenes. The subwoofer channel is used throughout to support the score and effects such as gunshots and explosions.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Audio Commentary

    This interesting full length commentary features writer / producer Paul Dini, producer / artist Bruce Timm, producer / art director Glen Murakami and director / story board artist Curt Geda. During this commentary, they discuss numerous aspects of the movie including casting parts, hidden references, music, the production team and animation techniques. This commentary is accessed by selecting the option 'A Word From The Creators' from the special features menu.

Animatics (3:22)

    This is a series of story boards with basic production audio for three different scenes. The animation is presented inside a frame on screen with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Unfortunately, numerous analogue tape errors and instances of aliasing may be seen during this sequence.

Documentary (12:01)

    This extra is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. During this extra, the main crew members answer a range of questions regarding the series, the animation process and the music.

Video Character Profiles (5:01)

    This video segment is a series of profiles for the major characters featured in the movie. Information is provided for Bruce Wayne, Terry McGinnis, The Joker, the Dee-Dee Twins and Woof. Viewers should note that this segment does contain some spoilers and should only be viewed after the main feature.

Confidential Bat Footage - For Your Eyes Only (5:19)

    This is a series of story boards for a scene that was not animated due to the initial estimated running time of the feature. It is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Music Video: Crash (3:52)

    This music video by Mephisto Odyssey is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

DVD-ROM Content

    A complete soundtrack listing and a collection of weblinks.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Soundtrack sampler
• Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker Video Game Demo and Website

The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing

    Either version should easily satisfy most viewers.

    Batman Of The Future: Return Of The Joker is a highly enjoyable feature that provides some answers to fans' questions and helps to bridge the gap between the two series.

    The video transfer is quite acceptable and is only marred by some very small and non-distracting artefacts.

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is extremely effective and helps to differentiate this feature from just another extended episode of the television series.

    A very interesting collection of extras is provided on this disc and fans will appreciate an insight into the development process.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall