Batman: The Animated Series' Creators Came Up With Three Rules They Had To Follow

One part of Batman history that's always up for debate is just which feature film following the Caped Crusader is the best. While there might never be a definitive answer for that, something Bat fans can all agree on is that "Batman: The Animated Series" isn't just one of the best animated iterations of the Dark Knight, but one of the best adaptations of the character ever. Besides reapplying Danny Elfman's hair-raising theme from Tim Burton's movies to the show, along with Kevin Conroy immortalizing himself as the singular voice of Batman, "Batman: The Animated Series" made no attempt to sugarcoat its take on the hero. Gone were the days when ideas like Adam West's Batman fighting Godzilla were tossed around a writer's room. Instead, a more serious and severe version of the character was in mind that would live by a specific set of rules.

In 2017, writer and producer Alan Burnett recalled the significant no-nos the show made sure to avoid at all costs, just as Batman avoided guns. "We had these three rules," Burnett told Vulture in their oral history of the series. "No aliens. No ghosts. And no Humanitas Awards — you know, no pro-social stories. We were just out to have a good time and to give the audience some fun thrills; some real Batman thrills." It was by going in this direction that the show was getting all the right attention, including from a legend from another beloved franchise who could find some fun in an incredibly villainous role.

When "Star Wars" and cult classic "Guyver" star Mark Hamill caught wind that an animated Batman show was in development, his eye was never on the hero's equally iconic nemesis, the Joker. "I actively wanted to get on this show because I was reading about the people they were putting in key positions," the actor explained. With comparisons already being drawn to the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons, he knew it would be something different. "That was their benchmark of quality. I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, they're really going to do this right. It's not going to be aimed at grade-school kids, like some earlier iterations of the Batman cartoons.'"

Initially, Hamill only voiced the business tycoon guilty of killing Nora Fries, Mr. Freeze's wife.  After that appearance, he made it clear he was interested in contributing however he could, which led to his being offered the role of the Joker. Originally, there was some reluctance. "Not only has it been done with Cesar Romero, but it's been done by Jack Nicholson," confessed Hamill. Thankfully, any worries instantly faded the second he got in the recording booth, and he developed one of the most revered versions of the character ever. "I remember listening to his audition, and when he did the laugh, I said, 'That's it. That's just it,'" recalled writer Paul Dini. "The laugh was cruel, it was funny, there was an undercurrent of terrible sadness to it. It was a laugh from a destroyed soul." And just like everything else, it proved that this version of Batman lore was no laughing matter.