Batman: The Animated Series Vol. 4 (Repackaged/DVD)

I gotta say, I love Batman: The Animated Series Volume 4, which is the episodes from The New Batman Adventures. This volume features the final 24 episodes of the Batman series (although it isn't the last time we see Batman, obviously). Also, this is Volume features new animation for every character, as well as the vehicles being redesigned. For instance, Batman's suit goes from a gray suit with the classic Batman Logo, to a gray suit with a new Bat Logo, and a new utility belt. Batgirl's suit is redesigned to match it in the comics, Tim Drake (3rd Robin in the comics, after Jason Todd) becomes the new Robin, and Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing. My personal favorite episodes in this volume are Holiday Knights, Sins of the Father, Cold Comfort, Joker's Millions, Over the Edge, Old Wounds, The Demon Within, Legends of The Dark Knight, and Girl's Night Out. In Holiday Knights, it's a triple segment episode. In the first segment, it's December 22nd. Harley and Ivy are out of Arkham, and decide to hypnotize Bruce Wayne to take his credit cards to go on a shopping spree. In the second segment, it's December 24th, Harvey Bullock is undercover as a Mall Santa Claus to capture a bunch of Child Shoplifters, who turns out to be parts of Clayface. Barbara Gordon is nearby, and becomes Batgirl to stop Clayface. In the third segment, It's December 31st. Joker decides for his resolution to not kill people for 1 year, so he decides to kill a lot of people at the New Year's Eve party in Gotham City. Batman and Robin stop him, and at about 2 am on January 1st, Batman meets up with Commissioner Gordon to say that they're glad to have survived another year. In The Sins of the Father, Batman encounters Tim Drake, who becomes the second Robin to help Batman and Batgirl stop Two-Face from unleashing chemicals in Gotham City. In Cold Comfort, this episode takes place after the DCAU movie Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero, who at the end of the movie, Victor Fries learns his wife is now awake, but doesn't go to be with her. She got tired of waiting, left him, and married her doctor. Mr. Freeze then decides to make everybody else feel how he feels to be alone. It is also the last you see Mr. Freeze until the season 1 Batman Beyond episode Meltdown. In the episode Joker's Millions, one of the Joker's enemies leaves him 250 Million Dollars, which only a part of it was actually real money.In The Episode Over The Edge, Batgirl is exposed to some of Scarecrow's Fear Gas, which causes her to have a nightmare. In her nightmare, she falls off the roof to her death when Commissioner Gordon finds out who she really is. Gordon then goes through Barbara's computer, and finds out that Batman is Bruce Wayne, Robin is Tim Drake, and Nightwing is Dick Grayson. The Commissioner then begins a manhunt against Batman, even recruiting Bane to help him. In Old Wounds, Nightwing reveals to Robin the reason why he quit as Robin. Some time prior, Dick Grayson graduated college. He then was out with Batman one night, and Batman attacks one of the thugs working with Joker in front of his own family. Robin leaves after seeing this. In the end, Dick quits being Robin, and punches Batman right in the face. This episode also reveals that Batman knew who Batgirl was, but never told Robin, and how Batgirl finds out who Batman and Robin are. In The Demon Within, it features Clarion the Witch-Boy, who is attempting to get a Brand Iron that belonged to Morgaine Le Fay (later appears in Justice League), and Jason Blood is attempting to get it as well. When Blood almost loses it in the auction, Bruce steps in and buys the brand for 1 million dollars. Clarion gets it back, to use it to separate Etrigan the Demon from Jason Blood. In the end, Etrigan merges back with Jason Blood. In Legends of the Dark Knight, it has a few kids telling their story of what they think Batman is like (similar to the DC Animated Original Movie Batman: Gotham Knight). In the two segments, the first has Batman and Robin designs from the 1950s comics, and the second features the segment from the Book The Dark Knight Returns.Finally, in the episode Girl's Night Out, it features Batgirl and Supergirl teaming up to fight against Livewire, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn. This is one of my all-time favorite episodes, as it features the girls being the heroes for the first time without Batman or Superman. This volume, like the others of course, feature special features.Special Features included:Interactive Arkham Asylum: Examine the Top-Secret Case Files of the Dark Knight's Many Foes FeaturetteCommentary on Over the Edge episodeCommentary on Critters episodeCommentary on Legends of the Dark KnightEpisodes included:DISC 1Holiday KnightsSins of the FatherCold ComfortDouble TalkYou Scratch My BackNever FearDISC 2Joker's MillionsGrowing PainsLove Is A CrocTorch SongThe Ultimate ThrillOver The EdgeDISC 3Mean SeasonsCrittersCult of the CatAnimal ActOld WoundsThe Demon WithinDISC 4Legends of the Dark KnightGirl's Night OutMad LoveChemistryBeware the CreeperJudgment DayAll in all, Batman The Animated Series Volume 4 is a great volume. I highly recommend you buy this volume, along with the others, especially if you're a fan of Batman. This is one of the greatest series ever created.

People have been giving this volume quite a bit of hate, of which I certainly don't think is deserved. The animation is, of course, different, which is what I think warranted a lot of negative reviews. However, the story writers, production team, and even voice actors (except save Barbara, who gets a more high-pitched feminine voice) are still the same as the other three volumes - the only thing that is changed is the animation. And there is a reason why.The team behind Batman: The Animated Series was also working on Superman: The Animated Series at the same time. Not only did they have to outsource a few episodes to Japanese animation companies (The "Over the Edge" episode's animation was actually outsourced), but they wanted a smooth crossover to be possible between Superman: The Animated Series and the Batman animated series. Since Superman's animation was much sharper, they wanted the new re-vamped batman series to match superman's animation more closely. "Girl's Night Out" is a perfect example of the two worlds of Metropolis and Gotham coming together - this definitely would not have been possible with the old animation.After a two-year break from the Batman animated series, they chose to return to it, with a revamped animation scheme, of which, with these items in perspective, makes sense - they had reasons for altering the animation, of which are all explained in full in this volume's wonderful director's commentaries and extras ;) (And, to go even a step further in explaining this new animation, this new re-vamped animation also paved the way for a smooth transition with the team's "Justice League" TV series, which ran from 2001-2004. So there you go!)The women, in my opinion, look exceedingly better in this volume than previous ones - I like the male animation better in the old volumes (I think it gave them more character), but I digress. There were reasons for this change which are very well-supported reasons.My advice when first watching this volume: skip "Holiday Knights" and watch the rest of the Disc 1 FIRST. "Holiday Knights" is exceedingly childish, and (in my opinion) was a pretty bad way of introducing this new volume to Batman-fans (but yes, yes, I know, they listed these episodes in the order they were created lol). I often wonder if most of these bad rating happened because of frustrations with this first-episode?? So yes, skip that episode and come back to it - you'll thank me later ;)Same great story lines, same voice actors, just a little different animation. Batman is darker and more brooding in this series, which helps promote the need for more of Bat-girl, Robin, and Nightwing. Tim Drake/Robin often serves as a source of genuinely funny/snarky comic relief, and certainly doesn't feel out of place in this series like I thought he would.Overall, get this volume! It's truly a delight, and is certainly exceedingly enjoyable to watch (especially Nightwing's fascinating story line in this scheme of things). There are so many gems in this volume, if you don't get it, you're really missing out! (Mad Love, Nothing to Fear, and Old Wounds are just three of the greats on this volume). So ignore the haters - get this volume! You won't be disappointed :) <3

Exactly what my husband wanted.