Special Edition: A Farewell Tribute to TNBSA
by THE OLD MAID
Wednesday,
August 30, 2000
Well, here it is. Tomorrow ends TNBSA's run on regular
television. It
will survive on Cartoon Network, on tape, and on
sites like this one.
Still, it's a shame that such a fine series has
been cut short. So
I'd like to share some thoughts on our old friends
Bats and Superman.
First, why do we like them? Because we are easy to
please -- just
give us the very best. These characters are quality
in a world of
drivel. That's exactly what worries us. Can quality
compete? Can the
characters survive? Yes. If the fans keep them honest.
Superman first. Why has Superman survived? I think
it's because his
character is so focused. An orphan from another
culture is adopted by
a farm family. They instill in him their values
of integrity,
loyalty, generosity, and compassion. He then moves
to the big city,
where he teaches by example. Superman survives because
he represents
ideals that are universal and timeless.
Unfortunately, the fact that he's dependable means
that he doesn't
reinvent himself easily. Oh, new producers tinker
with his powers,
but that's trivial. Superman has a certain Tolkienesque
quality to
him. That is, you can guess exactly what he will
say or think in any
situation without taking the trouble of asking him.
That makes it
easy to write his lines but hard to write an interesting
plot to put
them in.
Having Lois around helps. The dance between Superman,
Clark (the real
personality), and Lois is the most interesting thing
about him. But
he's still hard to write for. Maybe that's why he
gets so little
attention on his own fan sites and boards. It's
been said, it's been
done.
Batman, however, is constantly reinventing himself.
Batman is
SUPPOSED to be inscrutable. He's like higher math,
his life an
alphabet of variables. There is no "solve for X"
to pass the test and
be done with it. You have to solve for X, Y, sometimes
solve for Z
too. Batman is full of contradictions, he's mysterious,
and he's a
more realistic person.
His contradictions? He's got paradoxes galore. Does
Batman belong in
Arkham with his enemies? Does he use Jim Gordon,
or does Gordon use
him? And what about the way Batman treats his Robins?
Both Batman and
Jim Gordon would tear a building apart with their
bare hands if they
thought someone was hurting a child inside. Yet
Gordon does nothing
when Batman takes a child into battle against the
serial killers of
Arkham -- people the police are afraid of. The kiddies
don't seem to
see the problem either. Whatever is wrong with Batman,
it's clearly
contagious.
Then there's the shadow inside the man. I think Le
Guin said it best.
To go into Superman's mind is to bring light to
a dark room. It fills
the space until the only shadow remaining is your
own. To walk into
Batman's mind is to enter a cavern or cave, or a
starless sky at
night. Your feeble light does not shed light so
much as show the
extent of the darkness.
Finally there's the possibility of Batman. Batman
isn't really a
science fiction character at all, just a man with
a severe
personality disorder. His technology exists. The
crime exists. Batman
could exist today. So why doesn't he? Maybe we watch
to figure it out.
Even Batman spinoffs have a built-in audience. The
fans have been
screaming for a Nightwing series for years. Dick
Grayson was
Batman's "firstborn," the one on whom he made his
worst mistakes.
Terry of "Batman Beyond" is the baby of the family
-- by Robin
standards, he's downright spoiled. But I think Wayne
enjoys indulging
him. He has an almost B:TAS sense of humor again.
Still, there are times when the fans have had to
speak up and keep it
honest. Like when someone insists that Batman or
Superman should kill
their foes because that's what the speaker would
do in their place.
(Thank you, I like them just the way they are.)
Or when someone at
the network tries to shoehorn the JLA/JLU into a
Batman series.
Personally I think the Justice League storyline
should be spun off
instead. It's really Superman's baby and much better
off on its own.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not qualified
to pay proper
tribute to the JLA. You see, the Justice League
is the lowest common
denominator for both Batman and Superman. It's as
much as you can
water down these characters and still recognize
them. That's not an
insult, just an observation. Batman in an office,
or Superman without
Clark and Lois (the two people who make him real)
doesn't interest
me. But it doesn't have to, either. The Justice
League is simply
aimed at a much younger audience. There's no need
for profound
psychological drama to create a great children's
show. And a great
children's show deserves its own timeslot.
Maybe someday we'll get that all-heroes network we
were promised. A
Justice League show, our Nightwing series, the proposed
Bruce Wayne
live series, and who knows what else. Right now
we're all feeling
discouraged that thirty-minute commercials like
"Pokemon" can run our
favorites off the air. But cheer up! Ten years from
now, the fans of
today will be the writers, illustrators, directors,
and actors of
tomorrow.
Batman and Superman will endure as long as the culture
that produced
them will endure. They're a way to explore who we
are, what we think
we're doing here, and what we hope to be and do.
Goodbye to today's great series. I'm looking forward
to tomorrow's.
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