With the original run of Batman the Animated Series now over, let’s take a look at some more DATA, shall we?

(Originally published on The Reel World May 16th, 2021)

While writing these reviews I’ve been maintaining a spreadsheet that tracks a LOT of data, which I’ve used as a crude guide to create a series of lists and rankings, which will follow my more formal review of the second season.

Table of contents to jump ahead for your convenience:

1. Season Review
2. Director Ranking
3. Top 10 Writers
4. Animation Studio Ranking
5. Top Composers
6. Best Performances
7. Top Title Cards
8. Episode Ranking
9. Rogues Roundup

Season Review

20 episodes is a MUCH better number to try and mentally grapple with. No more 65 seasons of anything, please. This season was also produced after Season 1 had begun airing and Phantasm had either been fully or mostly produced, so there was a chance to take stock of what was and wasn’t working. More importantly perhaps, Paul Dini seemingly became MUCH more available after completing his duties on the movie, so ends up with a credit on over half the season.

To me it’s no coincidence that Dini’s number of credits skyrocketed, and the second season has a higher average level of quality. Better? Ehhh maybe? Maybe not. At this point there are more Season 1 episodes in my Top 10 than Season 2 ones… but given the debut season is over three times as long, that should be expected. There are also definitely 4 episodes in this season that I would call some of the worst in the entire show. BUT, the average episode scores higher. They just tightened everything up, really. Slightly safer swings? Maybe. But as I say, they seemed to have a better grip on what was working.

Season 2 doesn’t just feature more Harley Quinn, it gives her TWO spotlight episodes. Batgirl literally returns. Catwoman is shifted back over into being more villain than hero and is all the better for it. Mr. Freeze is finally back. Riddler finally gets a great episode. Two-Face and Poison Ivy get better episodes than they’d had in a while. Bane debuts. All fan favourite characters, all shifted in a more positive direction.

The trade-off is Robin is EVERYWHERE this season. Sometimes for a short scene to keep the network happy, sometimes doing way too much. I love Dick Grayson in general, but his BTAS portrayal is frequently bland, a product of Bruce Timm disliking the character. At times this season he’s basically doing everything for Batman. Second Chance found a nice lane for him, making mistakes but Bruce realising he’s being too hard on him, and sewing the seeds for their impending breakup. Networks mandating child characters has always been misguided, but I think the BTAS creative team did the best they could. After all, it was their own so-so written character they were working with.

I think in terms of animation and voice acting things were definitely much safer at the expense of standing out. There are definitely performances I fondly remember, particularly from Arleen Sorkin and John Glover, but Season One was largely defined by big bold debuts of striking characters, and this season is a little bit more autopilot.

Overall, it’s a much easier ask to watch this full season. You’ll definitely have a good time, it’s got a handful of bangers, a handful of clunkers, but it’s perhaps less memorable than Season One?

Director Ranking

Just like last time I feel the need to clarify these rankings are based on raw numbers from my spreadsheet. Every episode gets a point value, and then the directors, writers, composers and animation studios get those point totals averaged by their number of credits. It’s silly!

Let’s start with JUST Season 2:

1. Dan Riba (6 eps)
2. Kevin Altieri (6 eps)
3. Boyd Kirkland (6 eps)
4. Frank Paur (2 eps)

I mentioned in the season review that they stripped things back a little. That definitely applies to the creative team too, with fewer of everybody than in Season One. That means half the Directors in the second season.

I would also say I agree with this order. Dan Riba stepped in from the storyboard department late into Season One, and his episodes did not score highly. Some of that may be he was brought into them late and had little ownership of the final products. Conversely he’s straight to the top here, with a decent cushion over second place thanks to working on four of my top six (Riddler’s Reform, Trial, Baby-Doll and Batgirl Returns)

Kevin Altieri and Boyd Kirkland flip their rankings from Season One thanks to Altieri helming my top episode of the season (Harlequinade). Kirkland actually placed pretty consistently in the middle, while Altieri’s were dotted all over the place.

Frank Paur brings up the rear, having directed the worst episode, The Terrible Trio, as well as the decent but not amazing A Bullet For Bullock.

How has this impacted their overall rankings in the show to date?

1. Bruce Timm (5 eps) (-)
2. Eric Radomski (4 eps) (↑)
3. Dan Riba (10 eps) (↑)
4. Boyd Kirkland (21 eps) (↓)
5. Kevin Altieri (22 eps) (↓)
6. Dick Sebast (9 eps) (↓)
7. Frank Paur (16 eps) (↓)
8. Kent Butterworth (1 ep) (-)

Remember, this overall ranking includes Mask of the Phantasm, which does Timm & Radomski a lot of favours, as well as being attached to ‘The Laughing Fish‘, ‘Almost Got ‘im‘ and ‘Heart of Ice‘. They were obviously heavily involved in EVERY episode as executive producers, but their small number of director credits being on almost exclusively stellar episodes warps the rankings hugely.

Dan Riba’s strong second season work is enough to jump him from 7th to 3rd, just above the two ironmen, Kirkland & Altieri. I guess I agree with that? There’s not a huge amount in it for them. They all do good work.

Then Sebast, Paur and the one-and-done Butterworth. Sure!

Top 10 Writers

Same deal as above. Points assigned to each episode based on its ranking, writers get their point totals added and then averaged by their number of credits. Yadda yadda.

Season 2 Rankings:

1. Mitch Bryan (1 ep)
2. Randy Rogel (2 eps)
3. Paul Dini (12 eps)
4. Gerry Conway (1 ep)
5. Bruce Timm (3 eps)
6. Brynne Chandler (2 eps)
7. Alan Burnett (3 eps)
8. Michael Reaves (6 eps)
9. Marty Isenberg (1 ep)
10. Robert N. Skir (1 ep)

Like everything else, the number of writers reduced between seasons, down from FORTY to just 15. Unlike the Director Rankings where I actually agree with the order the raw numbers dictated, this list is clearly wrong.

Paul Dini is head and shoulders above every other writer on the show, but is a victim of this being an average. He wrote my entire top 4 and then everything in spots 8 to 14. The writing is good to great in every one of these. We’re going to ignore Showdown because he only has a story credit on it. In fact, these Season Reviews make me regret not tracking teleplay vs story, because Bruce Timm only actually got one teleplay credit in the whole show to my knowledge, but coasts off story credits. I’m not downplaying his impact on the show, but whenever anecdotes about creative decisions come up I’m rarely on Timm’s side.

Shoutout to Michael Reaves, deeply entrenched as a story editor at this point alongside Dini and Alan Burnett. I think his actual ability is greater than this ranking reflects, but I have him attached to 3 of the worst episodes in the season, and 3 in the middle, so he suffers. Equal shoutout to his ex-wife, Brynne Chandler, our resident Batgirl expert. She was one of only two women to pen an episode in Season 2, and I like her work in general.

So again, lets take a look at the overall Top 10 factoring in Phantasm and Season 2:

1. Paul Dini (24 eps) (↑)
2. Dennis O’Flaherty (1 ep) (-)
3. Marv Wolfman (2 eps) (↑)
4. Gerry Conway (3 eps) (↑)
5. Michael Reaves (15 eps) (↑)
6. Randy Rogel (9 eps) (↑)
7. Brynne Chandler (7 eps) (↓)
8. Garin Wolf (2 eps) (↑)
9. Alan Burnett (7 eps) (↓)
10. Dennis O’Neil (2 eps) (-)

Okay that’s better. Dini on top where he belongs. Sure, a bunch of writers dragged up by only doing a small number of decent episodes, versus ones who racked up way more credits that have higher highs and lower lows… But still!

Animation Studio Ranking

If you read this column the first time around, Animation & Music were not a part of it. I decided to correct that this time around. Same caveats apply as the writers and directors. More goes into an episode’s quality than animation.

Starting out with the Season 2 rankings:

1. Studio Junio (3 eps)
2. Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (16 eps)
3. Jade Animation (1 ep)

When talking about how Season 2 feels a little more safe, taking fewer swings but also being tighter overall, look no further than Dong Yang racking up SIXTEEN of the twenty available credits. Last time around I had them in fourth place, behind a trio of heavy hitters. Their work is of lower quality than Sunrise, TMS and Spectrum, but they were MUCH more available.

In a kind of funny twist of fate, Studio Junio placed LAST in season one, but redeem themselves with Baby-Doll, A Bullet For Bullock and to a lesser extent Avatar. They probably are still worse than Dong Yang, but the numbers game helps them.

Jade Animation take their place at the bottom. They provided some layout assistance on Season One, got ONE try as the lead animators, produced The Terrible Trio and are never seen again. Rough.

How does this monotonous second season of animation impact the overall rankings?

1. Spectrum Animation Studio (8 eps) (↑)
2. Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co., LTD (6 eps) (-)
3. Sunrise (8 eps) (↓)
4. Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (42 eps) (-)
5. Studio Junio (7 eps) (↑)
6. Akom Production Co. (13 eps) (↓)
7. Blue Pencil, S.I. (2 eps) (↓)
8. Jade Animation (1 ep) (NEW ENTRY)

Basically Spectrum worked on Mask of the Phantasm (alongside Dong Yang), allowing them to leapfrog to the top spot, and Sunrise and TMS’ deadlock is broken by some new episodes entering the ranking.

Studio Junio get to leap from last to fifth, and everything else is the same.

Gosh I miss Spectrum, Sunrise and TMS.

Top Composers

One last time, this is just a data thing, and it takes more than music to make an episode good or bad. I also still know very little about music on a technical level. Judge if you must.

Lets start with Season 2 rankings:

1. Harvey R. Cohen (3 eps)
2. Lolita Ritmanis (2 eps)
3. Shirley Walker (4 eps)
4. Carl Johnson (2 eps)
5. Kristopher Carter (2 eps)
6. Michael McCuistion (3 eps)
7. Brian Langsbard (1 ep)
8. Todd Hayen (1 ep)
9. Carlos Rodriguez (1 ep)

Another drop here, from 22 composers to 9. I don’t think the quality of the music necessarily suffers, as the best ones are still around, and Shirley Walker oversaw ALL the music throughout the whole series.

I don’t really know what to say here. Harvey Cohen scored 3 episodes in the top 10, so slides straight to number one. Basically everyone else had one high and one low, or several in the middle. They’re all good at their jobs!

So lets move to the Overall Composer Top 10:

1. Peter Davidson (1 ep) (-)
2. Kristopher Carter (2 eps) (NEW ENTRY)
3. Harvey R. Cohen (9 eps) (↑)
4. Carl Johnson (6 eps) (↓)
5. Stuart Balcolmb (3 eps) (-)
6. Jeff Atmajian (1 ep) (↑)
7. Shirley Walker (34 eps) (-)
8. Michael McCuistion (10 eps) (↓)
9. Tamara Kline (1 ep) (↓)
10. Peter Tomashek (3 eps) (↓)

Another case of doing a lot of episodes tending to lower your average. Shirley Walker rules, but with THIRTY FOUR credits to her name, she’s naturally attached to some clunkers. Conversely Peter Davidson did Harley and Ivy in season one and nothing else, so gets to keep his overall top spot.

Harvey Cohen climbed, Carl Johnson and Michael McCuistion fell. Lolita Ritmanis fails to place in the top 10. Those are probably the other 4 big names aside from Walker. Kristopher Carter will become one later, and gets to debut high.

Best Performances

This is purely based on vibes, and is based on everything so far, not just Season 2. In fact, I considered dropping this segment entirely this time around because there just isn’t as much go-to material.

HOWEVER! Alison LaPlaca’s turn as Baby-Doll was amazing, so she has to join the list, bumping off Henry Polic II who did have a couple of fun little cameos. Based purely on Season 2, Arleen Sorkin REALLY bolstered her position, stepping up to the challenge of two Harley spotlight episodes. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill upped their game for Mask of the Phantasm, now factored in, but not really changing any placements.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. only got the top spot from me ONCE, but it happened in Season 2, and he was excellent in Phantasm. Conversely, Richard Moll started the show really strong but then Two-Face largely disappeared, and he’s just not QUITE as strong in Season 2, so I think he’s got to go.

1. Kevin Conroy (Batman) (-)
2. Mark Hamill (The Joker) (-)
3. Arleen Sorkin (Harley Quinn) (-)
4. Diane Pershing (Poison Ivy) (-)
5. Alison LaPlaca (Baby-Doll) (NEW ENTRY)
6. George Dzundza (The Ventriloquist) (↓)
7. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (Alfred) (NEW ENTRY)
8. Robert Costanzo (Harvey Bullock) (↑)
9. Roddy McDowell (Mad Hatter) (↓)
10. Melissa Gilbert (Batgirl) (-)

Top Title Cards

Again, pure vibes. Let’s not overthink it. Harley’s Holiday and Make ’em Laugh from Season 2 join my list, and I re-ordered a couple. Just enjoy, they’re all good!

Episode Ranking

Lets start off with Season 2 in a bubble. I established four very loose types of episode last time: Villain Spotlights, Villain Ensembles, Batman Spotlights, and Supporting Character Spotlights. Just like Season One, Villain Spotlights remain the most common type, with 13 of 20 falling into this category. I think this fits with them having time to reflect on the debut season and drilling down into what worked, increasing the ratio a little.

On the other end of the scale there’s NOTHING here that focuses on Batman (Phantasm will be included in the overall ranking next). Given the network insisted on All Robin, All the Time, that makes sense, as Bruce is always sharing the spotlight, and it was just easier to focus on villains.

Notably, the season finale relegated Bruce to a tiny scene and handed the reins to Batgirl and Catwoman, one of the most prominent Supporting Character Spotlights in the whole show.

1. Harlequinade
2. Riddler’s Reform
3. Trial
4. Baby-Doll
5. Bane
6. Batgirl Returns
7. A Bullet For Bullock
8. Catwalk
9. House & Garden
10. Second Chance
11. Deep Freeze
12. Harley’s Holiday
13. Lock-Up
14. Make ‘Em Laugh
15. Avatar
16. Lion and Unicorn
17. Time Out of Joint
18. Sideshow
19. Showdown
20. Terrible Trio

Moving over to the overall rankings (including Phantasm), I think I stand by the placement of the Season 2 episodes in relation to each other, but have a handful of them too high on the overall list. These are: A Bullet for Bullock, Avatar, Catwalk and Babydoll.

1. The Laughing Fish
2. Mask of the Phantasm
3. Almost Got ‘im
4. Heart of Ice
5. Harlequinade
6. The Trial
7. Riddler’s Reform
8. Shadow of the Bat Part I
9. I Am the Night
10. Robin’s Reckoning Part I
11. Baby-Doll
12. The Man Who Killed Batman
13. Perchance to Dream
14. Two-Face Part I
15. Bane
16. Batgirl Returns
17. A Bullet For Bullock
18. Joker’s Favor
19. Read My Lips
20. Feat of Clay Part II
21. Catwalk
22. The Demon’s Quest Part II
23. Harley and Ivy
24. Robin’s Reckoning Part II
25. House & Garden
26. Beware the Gray Ghost
27. Second Chance
28. Mad as a Hatter
29. Heart of Steel Part II
30. Appointment In Crime Alley
31. Two-Face Part II
32. Pretty Poison
33. Deep Freeze
34. Harley’s Holiday
35. Lock-Up
36. Shadow of the Bat Part II
37. Feat of Clay Part I
38. His Silicon Soul
39. Off Balance
40. Vendetta
41. Birds of a Feather
42. Heart of Steel Part I
43. On Leather Wings
44. See No Evil
45. The Clock King
46. It’s Never Too Late
47. Make ‘Em Laugh
48. Joker’s Wild
49. Eternal Youth
50. The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
51. The Cat and the Claw Part I
52. Zatanna
53. Day of the Samurai
54. Avatar
55. The Demon’s Quest Part I
56. The Mechanic
57. The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
58. Terror in the Sky
59. P.O.V.
60. Christmas with the Joker
61. Fear of Victory
62. Be a Clown
63. The Worry Men
64. What is Reality?
65. Fire From Olympus
66. Night of the Ninja
67. Mudslide
68. The Cat and the Claw Part II
69. Nothing to Fear
70. The Lion and the Unicorn
71. Prophecy of Doom
72. Tyger, Tyger
73. Blind as a Bat
74. If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?
75. Dreams In Darkness
76. The Last Laugh
77. Cat Scratch Fever
78. Moon of the Wolf
79. Paging the Crime Doctor
80. Time Out of Joint
81. Sideshow
82. The Under-Dwellers
83. The Forgotten
84. Showdown
85. The Terrible Trio
86. I’ve Got Batman in My Basement

Rogues Roundup

Even if we include Mask of the Phantasm, Season 2 didn’t debut many new villains, and we can only just reach 10 by including the movie:

1. Phantasm
2. Baby-Doll
3. Bane
4. Lock-Up
5. Nivens
6. Queen Thoth Khepera
7. Condiment King/Pack Rat/Mighty Mom
8. Grant Walker
9. Arkady Duvall
10. The Terrible Trio

Six of them are meh to bad. I like the comedians for what they do in their episode, but I can’t in good conscience place them much higher. Nivens is funny, I guess? The gap between this grouping and the genuinely good Lock-Up is large.

If we zero in on that top 4, they’re all-timers in the show. Super memorable, with episodes/a movie named after them. Notably, 3 of the 4 are BTAS originals who have all made their way into comics since (in fact I think 9 of these 10 new villains for Season 2 are original creations!) It’s just that the ratio of good to bad is wayyyy off here.

Moving over to the overall Rogues Roundup, you can see how the top ones do land in the top 20, but most of the rest are towards the bottom [and I in fact think that much like the Season 2 episode placements, Nivens & Queen Thoth are too high here]:

1. The Joker
2. Harley Quinn
3. Poison Ivy
4. Mr. Freeze
5. Two-Face
6. The Ventriloquist
7. Catwoman
8. The Riddler
9. The Phantasm (‘S2’)
10. Baby-Doll (S2)
11. Bane (S2)
12. Mad Hatter
13. Penguin
14. HARDAC (and Randa Duane)
15. Clayface
16. Ra’s al Ghul
17. Lock-Up (S2)
18. Lloyd Ventrix
19. Killer Croc
20. Rupert Thorne
21. Count Vertigo
22. Clock King
23. Nivens (S2)
24. Roland Daggett (and Germs & Bell!)
25. Josiah Wormwood
26. Scarecrow
27. Talia al Ghul
28. Sid the Squid
29. Queen Thoth Khepera (S2)
30. Maxie Zeus
31. Jimmy ‘Jazzman’ Peake
32. Tony Zucco
33. Man-Bat
34. Hugo Strange
35. Red Claw
36. Arnold Stromwell
37. Mad Bomber
38. Tygrus
39. Rhino, Mugsy and Ratso
40. Kyodai Ken
41. Condiment King/Pack Rat/Mighty Mom (S2)
42. Grant Walker (S2)
43. Gil Mason
44. Nostromos (and Lucas!)
45. Cameron Kaiser
46. Dr. Dorian (and Garth)
47. Mad Dog
48. Ubu
49. Professor Milo
50. Romulus
51. Arkady Duvall (S2)
52. Sewer King
53. Boss Biggis
54. Montague Kane
55. The Terrible Trio (S2)