Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

I haven't paged through it in a while but I seem to recall the story being fairly graphic and having a lot of dark tones. I'm sure that even the implication of the scene you mentioned is enough to sway it towards getting an R rating too. I'm sure it isn't being glorified but I do think that animation gets away with less of that type of thing easily when it comes to ratings.

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

The Killing Joke seems a bit too dark so I will probably skip it.

I don't know anything about the long Halloween Batman comic. But it seems popular and still doesn't have a movie? It wouldn't have to be R-rated?

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

It's always been my impression that due to content and tone that an adaptation of The Killing Joke would always be Rated R if done as-is. It's been speculated that their previous wanting to avoid an R rated DC Animated title is why it has taken this long for the adaptation to happen.

If you're going to do the book, do it right, or not at all. The R rating seems to be them doing it right. Getting Conroy and Hammill back is icing on the cake.

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

Exactly. Agree 100%. I can't for the life of me understand how the R-rating would be viewed as some kind of misstep by DCAU.

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

I guess I'm not sure why some feel so strongly about the R rating in this case. If you've read the comic the rating seems appropriate. Just because its an animated feature doesn't mean it should be tamed down. Hell I'm surprised the two part adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns wasn't R.

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

^ yeah. and the Joker shoots women and children with a gun in TDKR

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

Pretty much THIS.

If it was toned down, the title would be more than just a metaphor.

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

The problem with adapting The Long Halloween is that it's a very long, intricate story. There is no way it could run as a 70-minute movie without butchering the original comic narrative. Think more like a sprawling 3-hour movie to tell that story. It would be harder to adapt than Watchmen.

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They can just split it into two releases as they did The Dark Knight Returns. I have a feeling it will be made eventually. The Killing Joke was the only one that most of us felt would be off the table, yet here we are.

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Isn't some elements of the Long Halloween in Batman Begins?

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

Only have the first 15. Need to ketchup.

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

Special thanks to hdnmickey, got my steelbook last night for JL vs TT and it looked great, can't wait to watch it soon. Let's hope this situation doesn't happen again, but now that we all are going to be on lookout, maybe this will be a little smoother next time.

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

It had some influence on The Dark Knight. Mainly the stuff with Batman, Gordon, and Dent/Two-Face. The overall story is a lot different though. The Long Halloween is about a serial killer.

Batman Begins does co-opt the famous the sequence with the bat swarm largely from Year One.

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Wached Justice League vs. Teen Titans.

Things I never needed to fucking see in a superhero movie:

1. A woman having sex with a demon.
2. Superheroes playing Dance Dance Revolution
3. Anime-style transformation sequences that wandered in from frigging Sailor Moon. Also, I know that Starfire is one of the the most needlessly sexualized characters in comics, but dressing Raven like that when she's supposed to be a teenager was amazingly unnecessary.

The demonic realm stuff was cool, but I wish the designers had gone a little more nuts with it. The voice cast is still kind of "meh." I don't get why they continue to insist on using O'Mara as Batman. He just doesn't have the gravity. There was some cool stuff in this, but it had too many characters and ideas and was undercooked. The rare moments of actual character development, though a bit secondhand, were nice. This new universe really needs some actual development and fleshing out instead of constant threats of the week.

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I agree that the Sailor Moon magical girl transformation sequence was out of place. Someone on the animation staff had to throw that in there as a gag and got away with it.

The Dance Dance Revolution battle didn't bother me. It was a nice moment showing Damien acting like a normal tween/teenager.

I'm guessing that the final script was two wildly different scripts mashed together. There were elements from a safer Teen Titans adventure and one from a much darker version of the Titans in the final cut.

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

trailer for the Killing Joke (Which is Rated R for Some Bloody Images & Disturbing Content)

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

I agree with most of your assessment. Starfire's costume seemed wildly inappropriate for a woman working with adolescents. While better than some of the other recent DC animes, there were points in the climax where I just felt like I was watching "stuff" and I felt no connection to it.

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We watched it over the weekend and were not too impressed with it either. I would barely put it above Gods and Monsters.

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:thumbsup:

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i guess i was expecting a little more carnage with that. looked ok, but nothing great...

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Still no release date, I guess they are waiting until SD Comic Con.

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Have you ever read The Killing Joke? What carnage were you expecting?

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no. just meant, wanted to see what makes this an R rating...

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Most people do realize the studios ask the MPAA all the time for specific ratings? Don't go into The Killing Joke expecting crazy amounts of violence and profanity.

WB likely targeted an R rating from the beginning for marketing purposes. This is not a theatrical feature, the marketing team likely believes the R rating signals the hardcore fan community it's an authentic adaptation.

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Well, I doubt they would have shown it in the trailer. They can only show so much. Even if the trailer was rated R (green band) it was to just highlight that there's red colored blood throughout - in an animated "kids" film.

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Its mainly for

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

Not a fan of the animation style. I know it's unrealistic to expect the style of Bolland's art (on this type of budget), but on top of the simplicity, it looks like it's moving at like 6 frames a second.

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Yeah, the tone is all over the place. The "adult" stuff in these DTVs just feels so damn out-of-place most of the time. "Look, superheroes saying 'shit!'" It just rarely feels like it belongs.

Yeah, how in the hell does a woman who works with teenagers dress like that?! I get that all of these have to end with a big action climax by nature, but I miss the days of the DCAU. Their elaborate set pieces really seemed cool and exciting, and the dynamic exaggeration of animation was used to cool effect. This just seems like "giant thing smashes stuff while superheroes hit it."

I kind of like Gods and Monsters. It did at least try something a little different.

It's mostly the tone and the subject matter. The source comic is incredibly dark and deals with themes like rape and torture (Alan Moore's weird preponderance for abusing women is a whole other discussion). If you're expecting decapitations and gobs of red paint ala anime, that's probably not going to happen.

How in the fuck Flashpoint Paradox got a PG-13, I will never fucking understand.

It also implies that

The comic mercifully implies more than it shows, but it's really the darkness of the whole tone of the piece. It's about nihilism and Joker's desire to show that pushing someone to the limit can make them as evil as him.

It's the thing about adapting all of these comics for animation: the art styles are just so difficult to translate to animation.

Off-topic, but what IS the frame-rate for animation, especially these DTVs? If it's not 24, how is it encoded that way?

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The video is native 1080P at 24 frames per second. All animated DC movies are created at that resolution. I assume you are asking about key frames and such, but animation frame-rates are a subject far removed from your reference of motion pictures like Batman v Superman and such. It's a field of its own.

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I agree!

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I think WB thought an R-rating for Flashpoint Paradox would hurt sales. I was also surprised that one got PG-13, but the MPAA almost always bends to what the studios want.

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I don't think that's really the case. The MPAA is fairly strict if they feel something deserves whatever rating. They don't just go easy because studios want them to. I haven't heard of that with studios pushing for an R or whatever and getting it just because they ask either but that seems a tad more plausible.

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Artwork has been updated for The Killing Joke:

http://i.imgur.com/YmChmtt.jpg

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Awesome cover art. :thumbsup:

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I haven't picked up a DC animated release in some time, I might actually buy this one just to support the Rated R cause (aside from liking and owning the comic and all too :p)

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http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Batman...lu-ray/155287/
Bluray.com is listing a graphic novel bundle with the movie as a Best Buy exclusive on August 2nd.

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I was hoping for that. I'm all in.

Re: DC Animated Universe Films
 

I would be all in on that if not having bought The Killing Joke three separate times before.