So I was watching It's Never Too Late the other day and was really surprised at how adult themed it was. A gangster pushing drugs, kid getting run over by a train. Sure, I can see that some of the episodes are accessible for kids, but mostly it's for an older audience.
I remember when it was on ITV when I was a kid and couldn't watch it because it was too dark. How did they get away with episodes like Never Too Late?
Absolutely fantastic show btw
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The writers knew how to get around the censors most of the time. If Fox Kids/Kids WB told them they couldn't do something, they'd follow the network's orders to the letter and in the process make what they wanted to do even more horrific. You should hear the story about how they managed to kill Batgirl in 'Over the Edge'.
https://www.fanfiction.net/u/5423577/Bobbydrake2000
I love how they had to get around the censors - it made them have to get very creative. I remember checking our tv guide back in the day and noticing that a Batman cartoon series would be aired. I thought it would be one of those 60s or 70s show and was really looking forward to it. Boy was I in for a treat... loved it as a kid and love it now.
http://www.trespasser.nl/misc/pta/pta.pdf -->> Planes, Trains and Automobiles script
I have no idea. I watched the series back in 1992 and episodes like Never Too Late bored the HELL OUT OF ME. It was always about the big villains for me, I loved those, of course now It's Never Too Late is a masterpiece to me and the big villain episodes bore the hell out of me, the question for me is not how did it get on air but how did it find an audience. How did the kids not get bored? I was hooked because of the art but it was always a huge disappointment to see the episode card and realizing it wasn't going to be Poison Ivy or Catwoman.
shareTo me, the series always had good villains, whether they were big names such as the Joker and Two Face or small names like the gangsters and the chain gang group. I liked the contrast between epic stories featuring over-the-top battles with implausible villains and smaller, more personal struggles with more realistic baddies.
That's one reason I still consider Batman: The Animated Series to be the greatest cartoon series ever.
Requiescat in pace, Krystle Papile. I'll always miss you.
I'm guessing not all kids reacted as you did and enjoyed the complex plots and layered storytelling. I know I watched it religiously regardless of the villains because I greatly appreciated the filmmakers' approach to the series.
Requiescat in pace, Krystle Papile. I'll always miss you. Justice was finally served.
I did watch them religiously and I did understand them.
shareWhen it premiered FOX thought it stood a chance in primetime but the ratings just weren't good enough so it was limited to the afternoon timeslot where it was a ratings smash hit.
When theres no more room in Hollywood, remakes shall walk the Earth.share
WASN'T IT a saturday morning show?
shareNew episodes tended to be aired daily, because the first season was around 60 episodes, with reruns on Saturday. The remaining seasons aired both new episodes weekly and on weekends, with a final batch of five left over episodes airing for one week in early September of 1995.
There are old promos for the show online for the first batch of 40 episodes. Pretty neat stuff, and they all say "Catch Batman weekday afternoons"
I wasn't waiting, I was just sitting and breathing. Got a problem with that?
No, it played in the late afternoon so grown-ups coming home from work could watch.
shareI think I'm even more impressed that they were still able to keep the guns on the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eqGup4UGS_A#t=66
Yeah. All those other 90s cartoons like X-Men had those damn cheesy laser guns.
shareI hated those laser guns in X-Men...
But there were some other shows like Exo-Squad where those laser rifles weren't so cheesy. I'll never forget how they lost most of the squad by the time the series was wrapping up, and their main command ship got blown to bits. That show ended on a real sour, sad, depressing, explosive note, but hot dang was it good.
Batman: TAS didn't play around, though. They didn't bother with laser rifles and used more realistic weapons. And oh man the sound effects for the gunfire and explosions in that show were amazing in surround sound.
I'll never forget that episode where Jim Gordon bit a bullet to the chest in that shootout with The Jazzman. He was such a generic villain, an average criminal with a gun. It was that episode that made you realize as an audience member that sometimes just a single bullet -- no matter who fires it -- can end a hero in a heartbeat.
The show was really something.
Kids' shows can be dark too. They were in our day.
"Don't forget to bring a towel. Always remember to bring a towel. You wanna get high?"-Towelie
Even still, Fox BS&P were very strict on what they could and couldn't do. It wasn't until the show moved to WB were they able to get away with more.
There were less restrictions on cartoons back then. Its Never Too Late is a tv classic IMO.
shareI remember watching this on Cartoon Network right before they switched to TNT. That was the UK version of it i think or the Scandinavian dont remember which one we got at the time.
shareWe did not think of fox as 'right wing' as kids--it was the edgy network who pushed stuff like this and x-men. so of course it would be 'different'. This was hip and fun and 'cool' and 'mysterious'. I watched this everyday!!
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