After witnessing the likes of Justice League, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Beware the Batman being granted Blu-ray releases, fans have probably wondered what’s been the holdup when it comes to Batman: The Animated Series getting the same treatment. Granted, those other shows are more recent and require less in the way of polishing, but that doesn’t change the fact that many of us have been waiting impatiently for such a thing to happen.
Fortunately, San Diego Comic-Con brought us confirmation that the series responsible for first introducing us to Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill’s respective versions of Batman and the Joker will, in fact, be coming to Blu-ray this fall. And though it’s been hit with a minor delay, most are taking it in stride upon the announcement of a digital copy being included.
So, in case you were wondering what the remastered edition may look like, one need only view the video embedded at the top of this article. In it, we see the show’s opening titles cleaned up for HD. Somehow, those involved in the restoration process managed to make the colors more vibrant, yet retain the noir-ish feel we all fell in love with.
As you may recall, the DVD sets that began rolling out more than a decade ago featured some scenes in which the film appeared to be somewhat dirty and/or marred by the passing of time, but it looks like we’re in for something much more pristine this time around.
It’s kind of funny how such a brief clip can inspire feelings of excitement, but therein lies the power of those visuals created by Bruce Timm and company – not to mention Shirley Walker’s phenomenal score. Really, it’s no wonder why legions of folks consider this show to be the definitive portrayal of the Caped Crusader.
Batman: The Animated Series arrives on Blu-ray on October 30th.