Hey guys. Happy New Year! Hope you guys are having a great start to the year! I know that the last few years have been……….. “Rough.” Didn’t 2020 start with something LITTERALLY On FIRE? That was sign 1. That said; there’s no WAY I was able to finish this post and get it out in the first week of the year. Actually, I’m writing this Saturday, December 31st, 2022, 6:15pm- the last post that I started in 2022. The One Piece 1,071 post I put out I won’t know HOW LONG ago(but having finished it before writing this most- they’re like 10 or 20 minutes apart) was the last post I FINISHED in 2022. I had been thinking it over for a few days now, and I’ve decided that I want to talk about a New Show that’s come to Cartoon Networks’ “Cartoonito” Programming Block. Think “Nick jr” or “Disney Junior-” it’s that.
The show in question is DC’s “Batwheels-” following the adventures of the Vehicles of Batman and his various sidekicks. No, I’m not making it up. I know Teen Titans Go! To The Movies made a whole joke about how “Every Batman Character Gets A Spin-Off!-” and it’s not hard to see why. Between the Pennyworth series on Starz; Joaquin Phoenix’ Joker and it’s sequel that will be featuring Lady Gaga as Harley-Fre@kin’-Quinn; The Batman by Matt Reeves getting NUMEROUS HBOMax spin off’s like a Penguin spin-off, Catwoman, GCPD(Gotham City Police Department), Arkham Asylum, and God knows what else they have planned when they actually get to the sequel- They have a Valid Point. So seeing a spin off show about Batman’s car- wasn’t as big of a surprise as you may think.
So when I heard about it, and saw in on the TV Guide ’cause my family are the only people in the WORLD who still have Cable(which I’m NOT complaining about); I recorded the first 5 or so episodes. Forgot about them for a little bit- didn’t think I would like it as much as I did when I first heard about it, so I just kept putting it off til I actually wanted to check it out. Then I had to go looking for it ’cause I record a lot of random stuff just to play in the background when there’s no good shows on. And then I actually watched it. I liked it. Didn’t “love” it, but I had fun.
For one; I actually kind of like the animation they went with for the show- it makes the Batwheels look “slick,” ya know? I like the design they’re using for the Batmobile; I can’t remember where this look started, but I’ve always like it. I also like the neat visual touch given when he’s being driven vs when he’s in control- you see little “Bat Ears” come up with he’s the one in control. It happens with the Bat-cycle, too. Speaking of: The characters. Bam the Batmobile; BB the Bat-cycle; Buff the Fre@kin’ BAT MONSTER TRUCK; the Bat Wing- or “Wing;” and Redbird- or “Red.” Yeah, they kind of made up a new vehicle for the show- but omitted the Bat Sub/Boat/ Aquatic Terrain Vehicle, whatever the f*ck it’s called.
I remember looking the promo’s for the show and thinking “Why the h#ll did they give BATMAN a Monster Truck?” It just sounds so……… clunky for someone like the Caped Crusader, you know? He’s all about “Stealth” and all that- NOT…….. Monster Trucks!! I stopped to think a little bit, and came to 2 conclusions:
- Mr Freeze freezes the ground a lot, and the Batmobile can’t do EVERY F*CKIN’ THING, so he made a truck that would have the wheels to go over the ice from the get-go. He also has a Toe cable, indicating that he also functions as a Toe Truck.
- This is a “Kid Friendly Batman.” Thus- a sillier, “happier” Batman. There might have been part of him that wanted to make a monster truck, justifying it with the reason I gave you but also just wanted to have a Monster truck.
Look at me, coming up with a theory to explain merchandise for a Kids show. Monster Truck’s just sell well with Kids, I guess. So they just made it for this show. And Redbird was apparently a vehicle that belonged to Tim Drake’s rendition of Robin. I didn’t know that before; I actually have to look up some of this for post, guys. Like; did you know that Robin had a car way back when? Way back in Star-Spangled Comics #113, Dick Grayson was given a car by an unknown criminal to gain access to the Batcave. But he saw through that quick and made a fake car. He would then modify the Batmobile to be the New “Robinmobile” when Bat’s disappeared. I call him “Bat’s” every now and then.
There aren’t many episodes out at the time of me writing this post(Sunday, January 1st, 2023, 5:19pm)- I started recording some of them for the week, and they look to be new. Thank GOODNESS because I was getting a little tired of the same like 5 episodes. That said, I’ve only seen the “Secret Origins” episode once. Liked it. When I heard the description, I had thought of a completely different show. They said “An Event Happened in Gotham that brought the vehicles of the Caped Crusaders and their adversaries to life,” and my though was like- some kind of “Animation Beam” that would bring inanimate objects to life. That did not happen. Rather(MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING): The Batcomputer- “BC-” and M.O.E.(Mobile Operation Expert) are in the Batcave when an Intruder breaks in.
For whatever reason I can’t remember; they can’t get in contact with Bat’s and the others. So they panic and use the AI chips they made to bring the Batmobile to life. “Bam” is tasked with dispatching the enemy, but it gets what it came for and bails back to it’s master- Badcomputer!! His goal is to get rid of the Bat computer, making himself the most advanced AI in the world! But clearly he’ll need help as he’s currently stuck in some sports scoreboard. Thus, he uses the AI chips he had his robot minion steal to create “The Legion Of Zoom,” bringing to life Joker’s van- dubbed “Prank,” Harley’s ATV “Jestah,” Riddler’s Helicopter “Quizz,” Penguins Boat-With-Wheels “Ducky,” and Mr Freeze’s Snow Crawler “Snowy.” In response- The Batwheels are born. And after a rough battle; the Wheels over come the Legion Of Zoom and Badcomputer. And the rest of the series just spins off of that night.
From there; it’s battles against carious members of the Legion of Doom, fighting the actual criminals of Gotham, and just learning stuff that kids need to learn. This show wants to teach kids “Teamwork” and “Build Character,” so a lot of the plots revolve around those ideas. Like a recent episode I watched saw Bam getting called a “Coward” by prank, and he had to learn not to let name calling and such get to him. Liked that episode. Or the Holiday special seeing Wing learning to relax and enjoy time with her friends, rather than fixate on missions and such. Didn’t like that one as much; it didn’t really make sense to me why she was acting like that.
The Bat Family themselves haven’t done much. Batgirl is there– with some………. kind of cringey dialogue in one of BB’s episodes. The Robin they went with for this series is the 5th– Duke Thomas. He apparently became Robin after Damian Wayne’s death– or so my searching has shown. There’s no way that that happened in this series; they probably just picked a name out of a hat for him. The fact that he’s black doesn’t really matter to the series(which is nice; nice they’re not beating us over the head with it), and not really a distinct character. And then you have the man himself. We haven’t even heard mention of Bruce Wayne or anything- don’t even think they’ve referenced the fact that they’re beneath Wayne Manor. Surprisingly, we don’t get to see Alfred either.
The “Bruce Wayne” stuff doesn’t seem to matter………. yet. Not in that I’m expecting this show to have some “Overarching Story Building Up Steam in The Background of episodes-” this is a preschool show. The shows for “Older Kids” are slowly moving away from Serialized storytelling, too. But there might come an episode or a Direct-To-DVD-movie that comes out that’s longer than normal. Or more like an “HBOMax Exclusive” type deal.
……………. I think that’s all I got, guys. I’m not trying to sell you on the show or anything; I know some of you still follow Western Animation, and may even be willing to watch a show like “Batwheels” if it sounds good enough. And I do think that a lot of you will like it. But if you don’t, then it’s whatever. I kind of just wanted to talk about a show I’m enjoying right now. Let me know your own thoughts in the comments. And until the next post, all- Have A Wonderful Day. By~~e!!
