The artistic style and backgrounds were said to be a mixture of 1940's Fleischer Studios "Superman" cartoons style, art deco, film noir, and modern style. The music was rich and full, done in the style of Danny Elfman's Batman movie themes and old crime thrillers by Shirley Walker. This all combined with excellent stories (with some adaptations taken directly from the comic books), made for an adventurous, suspense-filled, and very exciting series, that kids and adults could enjoy.
The voice talent was equally impressive. Kevin Conroy made a perfect Batman/Bruce Wayne. Loren Lester was an ideal Robin/Dick Grayson. Mark Hamill (Star Wars movies) fully embodied the persona and craziness of The Joker. All of the other voice talents were also great and were usually done by TV and movie actors, as well as a host of others. Two very special voice talents that were used came from the 60's live-action "Batman" TV series-Adam West (who played Batman) as Simon Trent/The Gray Ghost and Roddy McDowell (who played the Bookworm) as Jervis Tetch/The Mad Hatter.
One of the most memorable creations of the series was a villainous side-kick for The Joker, named Harley Quinn (voiced hilariously by Arlene Sorkin). She was insanely in love with and devoted to The Joker, even when he cast her aside or left her to be arrested or die (although he always seemed to want her back). Her daffy plots to kill or be a thorn in the side to Batman, were all to impress her "Mr. J" (The Joker). She was always fun to watch and hear.
Many of the episodes, which were taken from classic " Batman" and " Detective Comics" issues, were adapted from some of my all-time favorite comic books from the 1970's.
Kudos to Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski, as well as all the rest of the creative people behind this series.
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