BRUCE WAYNE tv series and... what to do with BATMAN.

Hey there everyone. Harry here. And this time with a bit of a change of pace. TELEVISION NEWS from me... that’s gonna get a main page/ cool news treatment.

Why? Because I will it so.

As you know I have been majorly concerned with uncovering what is going on with all this BS BATMAN stuff. The Feature Film Franchise.... A possible Television show/miniseries thing that we just don’t even know about.

After my last live action BATMAN run... I sort have taken it as a solemn oath to watchdog to make sure that nothing approaching the nippled cod-pieced latex ass from hell ever finds it’s way to screen.... Large or Small.... Norman or Saxon.

I’ve put a bit of a bounty (personal sense of worth not glimmery jewels and gold) upon tracking down the scripts for the various projects. And in my probing, I’ve made connections at DC, WARNER TELEVISION and WARNER FILM. Hell, I’m even making in roads into WARNER PUBLISHING.

Know the saying, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?” Well... I do. And I’ve converted a few. Like ‘Lorenzo’s Hair Oil’ as he/she likes to be known. I’m assured that I will have dibs on any development documents on BATMAN... and I like that. The first parcel arrived, postmarked BURBANK DEC 30th, 1999. I get all types of interesting packages from Burbank. So I instantly tore in.

Much to my delight there was a single sheet of paper that said, “FROM LORENZO’S HAIR OIL.” Oh.... and the pilot script for BRUCE WAYNE, the proposed series from Tollin/Robbins production, and written and executive produced by Tim McCanlies (THE IRON GIANT and DANCER, TEXAS POP 81 screenwriter).

Personally I’m very wary of any BATMAN non-comic stuff being handled by anyone other than BRUCE TIMM, PAUL DINI and ALAN BURNETT or even a pre-raped by Warren Skaaren.... SAM HAMM.... Gods of the written BATMAN page, oh except for Warren...

Quite recently I’ve pondered over the recent Paul Dini/Alex Ross collaboration.... BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME... and frankly wept at the injustice to humanity that has kept Paul Dini from the feature franchise. It’s simply ludicrous to not have this man as the grand poobah of the BATMAN universe, he knows the character so much better than I believe anyone has ever known Batman that it quite honestly awes me.

And as I sat down to read, I pushed all that out of my mind. I’m reading this thing written by someone seemingly new to the world of comic books. Hmmm... perhaps this has been just another assignment piece, right? Well... let’s look at it....

BRUCE WAYNE..... Episode One begins with an old.... tired.... retired even... Alfred. He’s in the BATCAVE... and he is going through a Charles Foster Kane-esque trove of trivial keepsakes from his “master’s life”. Where’s BATMAN.... I truthfully do not know... Is he dead? Crippled? Or out for the evening... it’s never said. But it seems Alfred is arranging the fragment of Master Bruce’s life. An Alfred has.... so many memories and stories and flashes connected to each one.

Who knows more than Alfred, the demons tearing at the soul of this vengeful child of Gotham? In this respect... the format seems to remind me a bit of MARVELS... It’s the story of the young Bruce Wayne.... 17 going on 18. Still unsure of his direction in life. College? Party hound? Business Man? Trouble Maker? Bruce is unsure... and Alfred is trying to carefully guide Young Bruce into becoming... Not Batman.... But merely a MAN.

But the demons in Bruce, are not easily corralled.

The 17 year old Bruce Wayne is an amazing athlete/martial artists... makes NEO look like the pansy that Keanu is. Now mind you.... for a television series.... and the martial arts sequences (and believe you me.... this script calls for same friggin damn hard stuntwork), you would need a great.... GREAT Fight Choreographer.... I’m not talking about Chuck Norris.... I’m talking about wires and flips and the sort of badass stuff that Batman does in 12 action panels, but in one shot. That’s tough... but if they nail it... it’s the sort of BATMAN that we have never seen in the film franchise.

But... the main thing with this script is it is not SUPERHERO/SUPERVILLIAN based. It’s got aspects of WALL STREET (the WayneCorp machinations and behind the scenes struggles), UNTOUCHABLES (corrupt police force, judicial system, lawyers, thugs, crimelords Gotham), Shakespeare (struggle to power and leadership with deeply flawed nobility), MATRIX (hardcore action and thrills), PECK’S BAD BOY (the Yancy Street/Bowery style orphans of crime and punishment) and finally.... all of this comes together with this whole James Bond/birth of Batman type of thing that carries the same sort of resonance that the initial idea and hope we had for the Anakin descent into Vader that these prequels promised us.

Is this the be all end all of BATMAN???? NO.

It is, however, that which we have never seen. It’s real. This Gotham isn’t of the future or of the past.... it’s merely sometime. This isn’t Batman.... he hasn’t quite gotten there yet. He’s about 4 years away. There’s people that still need to die, become bad... This isn’t a dark depressing nightmare... but it’s not a bucket of roses.

Bruce, is a bit of a Tom Ripley.... He has things he puts in basement doors and pretends to never open. He can play the flippant happy kid.... He doesn’t know he’s alone yet. He’s confused.

He likes to go out and beat the shit out of bad guys... thugs in the street hustling to steal your wallet. Penny poaching thieves. He goes into crime alley with his Rolls Royce.... scum edges in from the shadows.... And he Mr. Fucking CLEANS the place.

He has friends.... he hasn’t lost them yet.

He has hopes of love..... he hasn’t lost them yet.

He’s just a scared cocky kid.... he isn’t Batman yet.

In this first script... We have James Gordon... but he’s just a detective. We have Barbara... but she’s just 13. We have Selina... but she’s not kitty-whipping people... well, at least not with a tangible whip. No cheeks have rigor mortised into a smile yet. Harvey Dent is not yet out of Law School. The world isn’t quite yet where we know it will be someday. And there’s all these characters... that don’t yet have a historical place in the pantheon.... Where do they fit? How does this unfold?

Now I don’t know what the plan is for this show just yet. I’ve just read the pilot script. Somewhere.... Probably at DC, WARNERS tv or film... there’s the Series Bible. This is my next target.... My next prize.

From the sound of this first story... this feels like something approaching HOMICIDE, and nothing like LOIS AND CLARK. This feels right.

NOW.... The question that attacks the land is.... Will this series ever get made?

I’ve been talking with some folks over at DC and they tell me that Lorenzo D. is deciding whether or not this TV thing infringes on or is potentially damaging to BATMAN YEAR ONE and/or BATMAN BEYOND.

For years while Warner was developing SUPERMAN as a new film franchise... LOIS AND CLARK ran..... And that wasn’t that good, but it was successful.... It didn’t hurt the SUPERMAN film.... that responsibility fell into the deplorable developmental hands of one ex-hair stylist.

In an ideal world.... This series goes forward... catches the full strength of Warner Bros. Studio Stores, Kenner, etc...

Warner Film.... Begins work on a BATMAN BEYOND movie. That would be ready for 2001. This series would be on Fall 2000 or Mid-season replacement. From what the mesquite trees tell me, it’s a 3 or 4 season story arc.... meaning it ends 2003 or 2004.

Develop the BATMAN YEAR ONE to follow the end of the BRUCE WAYNE series.... which will end, where YEAR ONE begins.

Who knows... in the course of making the TV series.... The actor playing young Wayne... might very well be the perfect person to play YEAR ONE BATMAN.

Only a petty person would stand in the way of this series. It seems to be something new... for something very old. And.... having a comic book treated not as funny or cute.... but rather... as a Drama/Action/Suspense/Mystery series.... well I know I’d definitely give it a look see.

Now just hand over the film franchise to Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.... with Alex Ross as Production Designer, and the rest of the world’s riches will fill your stockholder’s coffers.