Batman - The Brave And The Bold Vol. 1 [DVD]

A popular comic for a great many years, recently revived for a new series, was the brave and the bold. This would feature two superheroes who didn't usually meet in their respective own titles, teaming up to fight a villain together. The majority of these stories would involve batman teaming up with another hero.

This is the first volume of episodes from a new cartoon series that follows the same format. It contains four twenty two minute long episodes, and in each batman and another hero will do battle with a villain. Most begin with a short prologue featuring batman and a hero different to the main one in the episode dealing with a villain very quickly, and these then lead into the main story.

The episodes in question are: rise of the blue beetle, featuring batman and inexperienced teenage hero jaime reyes dealing with aliens who are at the mercy of those who seek to exploit them.

Terror on dinosaur island, featuring batman and pliable ex criminal turned hero 'eel' o'brian dealing with an island containing dinosaurs and intelligent apes.

Evil under the sea, with batman and aquaman fighting villains who have designs on the sea king's throne.

Invasion of the secret santas, featuring batman and the red tornado fighting a villainous toymaker over christmas.

The animation in all of these is nothing sophisticated but it's fine and colourful, and looks like something that could have come out of a comic from the 50's or the 60's. The batman of these episodes is determined and focused rather than grim and gritty, but he can still manage the occasional good one liner.

The other heroes in each episode do learn life lessons, but the writing handles these subtly so they work well and never feel forced or ham fisted.

Probably the most memorable of them is the fourth episode, for some very poignant scenes showing why batman isn't entirely keen on christmas.

There are no extras on the disc.

It has language tracks in english czech and polish

and subtitles in czech hebrew and polish.

all in all four episodes of a fun cartoon that can be enjoyed by bat fans of all ages

bought this for my 4 year old boy - he loved it. Its simple, kiddy friendly, and i dont even mind watching it over & over again myself ! Would recommend.

This Volume 1 collects 4 episodes from the latest Batman animated series Batman the Brave and the Bold. I do like the series, it is fresh and original, and something that hasn't been done with Batman before or at least recently, having him team up with another hero every episode and presenting him as a lighter and more fun character, however I find these epiosdes not to be the best of the show's first season and these ones quickly become less interesting if you have seen later episodes such as "Deep Cover for Batman" and "Game Over for Owlman". They are entertaining but the episodes "Rise of the Blue Beetle", "Terror on Dinosaur Island", "Evil under the Sea" and "Invasion of the Secret Santas" (those episodes on this DVD) are certainly not the best of the series.