Batman Beyond draws to a close after its third season of 15 episodes, so one more time let’s dig into some FLAWED DATA!

Hey did you know that I maintain a ridiculous spreadsheet in the background and use the data from the rankings to assign ipoint totals to directors, writers and composers??? Of course you did! Let’s check in on all of that, shall we?

Remember, Koko & Dong Yang did every single episode so there will be no Animation rankings.

1. Season Review
2. Director Rankings
3. Writer Rankings
4. Composer Rankings
5. Episode Rankings
6. Rogues Roundup

Season Review

After proving their concept in the debut season, you could feel the show being pulled in too many directions in Batman Beyond Season 2. The network first demanded they ditch their strong main villain, Derek Powers/Blight, and focus more on the teenagers (apparently insisting at least one scene in every episode occur in the high school), and then after Columbine did a complete 180 and nixed anything with kids in danger. I also wonder if the team lost a little interest in their shiny new toy, with Superman still going strong, an impending Beyond movie stealing some resource, and two spin-offs in The Zeta Project and Static Shock getting off the ground.

I say all that because Season 3 did feel like a bit more of a return to form… albeit not a 100% successful one. With the dictats around teen-focus dropped, they instead told stories about mercenaries, cults and organised crime. They brought back Inque and The Royal Flush Gang for more adult stories. Likewise they dusted off Ra’s al Ghul to appeal directly to BTAS fans and put the spotlight back on Bruce Wayne, who took more of a backseat to Max and the other priorities of the second season.

However I will say I missed some of Terry’s classmates, especially Dana, who just never got her time on the spotlight. They gave it a try with ‘Unmasked‘, but that’s nowhere near enough. I also came to enjoy Blade, Chelsea and Howard Groote. Heck, even Nelson had his moments. The protagonist having friends should not be an insurmountable hurdle for good storytelling. I’d like to think if they could do it all again without interference, they’d have kept the teens around but used them more effectively, rather than dropping them almost entirely as a response to being made to use them so much previously. Likewise, Terry’s family were almost entirely absent, and that feels especially wrong given his backstory.

There was also less focus on world-building than in the past. For all its faults, Season 2 definitely grew the world with major concepts like Splicing, the VR machines, and more general technology and social conventions. The creative team either ran out of ideas or decided they’d done enough and would just revel in what they’d made so far, because there’s really not much that grows the world beyond the tremendous debut of the Justice League Unlimited in one of the best two-parters in the entire DCAU.

Speaking of the JLU, they felt like a lifeline to keep the show going to me. Whether you cancel Batman Beyond and replaced it with ‘Justice League Beyond’ or just heavily featured them in a fourth season, there was a perfect opportunity to keep this continuity going while breathing new life into it. It’s not that Terry and the world of ‘Neo Gotham’ weren’t enough or had run their course necessarily, but rather when you hit on something good that opens so many new doors, you should probably open a few. They absolutely nailed the original designs of Aquagirl, Kai-Ro, Micron and Warhawk, and made smart choices with an older Superman and Big Barda substituting for their original wish of an older Wonder Woman. Terry having friction with the elder members while vibing more with the younger made total sense, and likewise his utter hero worship of Superman. They could have expanded Bruce Wayne’s role beyond just Terry’s grouchy mentor given his history with Clark and The League. Maybe Wonder Woman joins the team later after their figure out the rights issues. Maybe Barda’s husband Mr. Miracle shows up. Both of these did happen in the JLU comic books, as well as some other nice additions to the cast. Unfortunately the comic, like Beyond, would not last. Money left on the table in my opinion. I’m sure it was actually more that they wanted to get stuck into the ‘real’ Justice League with a new show rather than continue this cute but lesser version, and it would be undeniably weird to have a JLU show before a Justice League show.

In summary, if Season 2 wounded you, then Season 3 won’t completely heal it, but it will give you more of what you wanted in the first place. Paul Dini is back. Another BTAS villain returns. The Justice League Unlimited debut. Buuuut it’s also clear their heart wasn’t 100% in this show by the end, so the quality is all over the place, with some of the very best and very worst episodes. Context is everything, and perhaps without network interference and their fingers being in so many other pies, a slightly more focused (read: better) version of Batman Beyond would have justified a continued existence.

Director Rankings

Starting out with the third season in a bubble:

1. Butch Lukic (4 eps)
2. James Tucker (4 eps)
3. Kyung-Won Lim (4 eps)
4. Dan Riba (3 eps)

Curt Geda, we miss you! Butch Lukic absolutely earned this top spot on his own merit though, rather than just benefitting from Geda being busy with the upcoming Return of the Joker. ‘King’s Ransom‘ and ‘Inqueling‘ were already two of the strongest episodes of the season, but Lukic really took a victory lap with ‘The Call‘, the two-part episode that won him an Annie award and introduced the Justice League to the DCAU.

Tucker and Lim were actually tied for second by the raw numbers. I’d give Tucker the edge on account of ‘Out of the Past‘ being an excellent episode to offset his three much worse ones, vs all of Lim’s rankingin the middle-to-bottom.

Poor Dan Riba placing last doesn’t sit right with me as he’s more than proven his talent in the past, but two bad and one okay episode is hard to argue with.

How does all this impact the overall Beyond Director list?

1. Curt Geda (10 eps) (-)
2. Butch Lukic (15 eps) (↑)
3. Dan Riba (13 eps) (↓)
4. James Tucker (5 eps) (-)
5. Kyung-Won Lim (7 eps) (-)
6. Yukio Suzuki (2 eps) (-)

Oftentimes the numbers are hugely skewed on account of multiple things going into what makes an episode good or bad, but this feels entirely correct to me.

Writer Rankings

Season 3 only:

1. Alan Burnett (2 eps)
2. Paul Dini (4 eps)
3. Hilary J. Bader (5 eps)
4. Rich Fogel (5 eps)
5. Stan Berkowitz (5 eps)
6. Tom Reugger (1 ep)
7. Robert Goodman (2 eps)

This is exactly why my spreadsheet isn’t really worth much. Burnett’s only two story credits are shared with Dini, who also jumped on a script with Rich Fogel that placed much lower, dragging him down a smidge. Dini still wrote 3 of the top 4, and wrote solo on my second favourite episode of the season, so it’s pretty clear he’s the real champ.

Bob Goodman seems generally beloved by the fandom, and I’m sure he’s a very nice man, but laying claim to the awful ‘Big Time’ character by penning both his episodes was always going to be a one-way ticket to a poor ranking.

And now our Top 10 for the entire series:

1. Paul Dini (6 eps) (-)
2. Alan Burnett (10 eps) (↑)
3. Hilary J. Bader (13 eps) (↓)
4. Stan Berkowitz (17 eps) (↓)
5. Evan Dorkin & Sarah Dyer (1 ep) (↓)
6. Rich Fogel (12 eps) (↑)
7. John P. McCann (2 eps) (↑)
8. Shaun McLaughlin (1 ep) (-)
9. Robert Goodman (8 eps) (↓)
10. Tom Reugger (1 ep) (NEW ENTRY)

Dini was already number one despite a low episode count, but returning to do a lot more really bolstered things for him. Burnett did similar, rising slightly from 4th to 2nd thanks to a co-story credit on both parts of ‘The Call.’

The only two notable changes were Rich Fogel clawing up from 10th to 6th and Bob Goodman tumbling from 5th to 9th. I can’t say either really blew me away at any point, though they’re probably better than all the 1-2 episode writers dotted around them on the list.

Composer Rankings

Remember, I don’t know dick about music on a technical level and I don’t do a good enough job of highlighting it in my reviews… but here’s the third season rankings:

1. Shirley Walker (4 eps)
2. Kristopher Carter (4 eps)
3. Michael McCuistion (4 eps)
4. Lolita Ritmanis (3 eps)

Hey, good for Shirley Walker! The Queen returns! She’s always done fewer episodes of Beyond than her 3 proteges, but all of them were solid in this final season. Carter and McCuistion both had stuff near the top, as well as the middle and bottom, while Ritmanis’ trended a little lower. I’ve always enjoyed how communist they are about dividing up the music work in Beyond.

As for the final tallies after all 3 seasons:

1. Kristopher Carter (14 eps) (↑)
2. Lolita Ritmanis (14 eps) (↓)
3. Shirley Walker (10 eps) (↑)
4. Michael McCuistion (14 eps) (↓)

Sure! Ritmanis & Walker actually tied, but given Ritmanis did more episodes I gave her the edge. Again, these people are all excellent at their jobs, and the music is one of the best parts of Beyond in particular.

Episode Rankings

The Season Review above should do most of the talking, but this really just feels like an even more extreme version of Season 2. The best episodes are excellent, some of the best in the whole show, while the worst are so bad it makes you wonder if the network were wrong to cancel the show.

1. The Call: Part 1
2. Out of the Past
3. Inqueling
4. The Call: Part 2
5. King’s Ransom
6. Unmasked
7. Untouchable
8. Countdown
9. Where’s Terry?
10. Curse of the Kobra: Part 1
11. Big Time
12. Ace in the Hole
13. Speak No Evil
14. Curse of the Kobra: Part 2
15. Betrayal

As for the final tally, with season numbers in brackets:

1. Eyewitness (S2)
2. The Call: Part 1 (S3)
3. Out of the Past (S3)
4. Meltdown (S1)
5. Babel (S2)
6. Shriek (S1)
7. Disappearing Inque (S1)
8. Inqueling (S3)
9. Rebirth: Part 1 (S1)
10. The Call: Part 2 (S3)
11. King’s Ransom (S3)
12. A Touch of Curaré (S1)
13. Spellbound (S1)
14. Lost Soul (S2)
15. Sneak Peek (S2)
16. Zeta (S2)
17. Bloodsport (S2)
18. Black Out (S1)
19. Unmasked (S3)
20. Earth Mover (S2)
21. Rebirth: Part 2 (S1)
22. Dead Man’s Hand (S1)
23. Armory (S2)
24. Final Cut (S2)
25. Once Burned (S2)
26. Untouchable (S3)
27. Splicers (S2)
28. Countdown (S3)
29. Where’s Terry? (S3)
30. Curse of the Kobra: Part 1 (S3)
31. Hidden Agendas (S2)
32. Golem (S1)
33. Ascension (S1)
34. The Eggbaby (S2)
35. Big Time (S3)
36. Heroes (S1)
37. Revenant (S2)
38. Terry’s Friend Dates a Robot (S2)
39. Sentries to the Last Comos (S2)
40. Mind Games (S2)
41. Hooked Up (S2)
42. Joyride (S2)
43. Ace in the Hole (S3)
44. April Moon (S2)
45. The Winning Edge (S1)
46. The Last Resort (S2)
47. Payback (S2)
48. Plague (S2)
49. Rats (S2)
50. Speak No Evil (S3)
51. Curse of the Kobra: Part 2 (S3)
52. Betrayal (S3)

I do think Season 3 was stronger overall than Season 2, though perhaps the episode counts played a factor there. Still, more Season 3 episodes ranked in the very upper echelon, and while the entire bottom 3 is from Season 3, way more of Season 2 is in the bottom 20 overall. That classic addage of higher highs but lower lows, I suppose.

I think the average Season 2 episode is just lower than the other two seasons, while Season 1 reigns supreme. I don’t know if it was split focus, losing interest or just having to grapple with ever-shifting network demands, but it just feels like they tried way harder in those first 13 episodes.

Rogues Roundup

In my Season 2 Review I talked about the diminishing returns on original villains after a phenomenal debut season. I think they fared slightly better here, with Repeller, Deanna Clay and Karros being decent little characters. But there were still plenty to stink up the join like Big Time, Winchell, James Van Dyle, Ronny Boxer and Major. 4of those being generic human characters is no coincidence. Beyond was pretty good at staying away from them, but the few it did use before now were definitely better than what came before.

The real strength of the season was in bolstering what was already working (Inque, The Royal Flush Gang and Mad Stan), while also dipping into the BTAS return well one more time with the iconic Ra’s al Ghul, as well as the debut of Justice League mainstay Starro. Even former ‘meh’ rogues like Kobra and Paxton Powers got much stronger outings this season.

It’s just a shame that former heavyweight Shriek had such a bad final appearance.

1. Inque
2. The Royal Flush Gang
3. Talia/Ra’s al Ghul
4. Mad Stan
5. Repeller
6. Deanna Clay
7. Agent Bennet (and the NSA!)
8. Kobra
9. Starro
10. Karros
11. The Jokerz
12. Paxton Powers
13. Charlie ‘Big Time’ Bigelow
14. Shriek
15. Winchell
16. The T’s
17. James Van Dyle
18. Ronny Boxer
19. Major

And one last time, the overall rankings:

1. Inque
2. Curaré
3. Mr. Freeze
4. Shriek
5. Derek Powers/Blight
6. Spellbinder
7. The Royal Flush Gang
8. Talia/Ra’s al Ghul
9. The Jokerz
10. Mad Stan
11. Earthmover
12. Ian Peek
13. Dr. Cuvier (and pals!)
14. Willie Watt
15. Robert Vance
16. Repeller
17. Armory
18. Stalker
19. Deanna Clay
20. Agent Bennet (and the NSA!)
21. The Mayhem Family
22. The Terrific Trio
23. Kobra
24. Starro
25. Bullwhip’s Gang
26. The Brain Trust
27. Cynthia
28. Simon Harper (and the Sentries!)
29. Karros
30. Paxton Powers
31. Charlie ‘Big Time’ Bigelow
32. Dr. Stephanie Lake
33. Howard Hodges & General Norman
34. Jackson Chappell
35. Payback
36. Falseface
37. Mr. Fixx
38. Winchell
39. The T’s
40. Ratboy
41. James Van Dyle
42. Ronny Boxer
43. Dr. Wheeler
44. Major

8 of the top 10 debuted in Season One, versus one each from Seasons Two and Three. Pretty telling! On the other end of the scale, only one Season One villain occupies the bottom 10, while four are from the final season, and five are from the second.