The New Batman Adventures (TV Series) Growing Pains (1998) User Reviews

Things take a sad turn

[Mr-Fusion · 8/10 · 20 December 2016]

'Growing Pains' is one of the darker episodes of the revamp season and it's a memorable one because it brings back a great villain. That's partially it, but it also gives the new Robin something serious to work with. This is a well-executed story, using the Boy Wonder to touch on themes of neglect and an abusive home.

Surprisingly, this isn't one I remember very well from its original broadcast, and I guess that's why it remained fresh to me. It's twisted, but not heavy-handed, and it's definitely a standout in a wildly inconsistent season.

8/10

A true classic episode of a classic series

[stefankostadinov74 · 9/10 · 7 May 2011]

Season 3 of Batman: The Animated Series took an unexpected turn away from the usual formula. The animation was changed to match the graphic quality of Superman: The Animated Series, and to be more child friendly. And the stories were a tad less dark and new characters were added. The new season focused more on the supporting characters such as Robin (Tim Drake), Batgirl, and Nightwing. The new season was like a new "show" which took on the name of "The New Batman Adventures".

However, these changes do not change the fact that The New Batman Adventures was a great series, with many memorable episodes.

"Growing Pains" is my favorite episode. Having great story, great action, and few might say that it is also romantic. The ending is also very emotional, sad endings are always great in B:TAS. It also marks the final appearance of Clayface in The Animated Series. The episode also added further character development for Robin, seeing the girl he loved get absorbed by Clayface, then almost killing him in anger. A sad fact is that Batman gets little to no character development in The New Batman Adventures, except for the episode "Old Wounds", another classic episode.

A must see episode if you are a fan of B:TAS or Batman at all I give it a 9/10

The Youkai Ningen Bemu influence reaches its peak.

[Postal_Dude_Paradise_AZ · 8/10 · 23 March 2009]

Im gonna try to keep it short. I grew up in Italy, in the 80's this country bought like every single Japanese cartoon ever made since the early 60's translated this and showed them all in different channels and hours, so because of this if you talk to an Italian that grew up in the 80's they will tell you that their childhood was marked by some of the greatest Japanese cartoons aver made.

My absolute favorite was Youkai Ningen Bemu or like they called it in Italy, Bem the Human Monster.

It was like the coolest thing ever specially to watch when you are like 7 years old and your fantasy its fervid. It is a straight horror show for kids, if you think about it there is nothing like that, there never was the moods the sounds the backgrounds the characters made it look like a nightmarish horror version of Speed Racer, and it was just awesome.

When The Batman animated series came out i spotted the influence right on, the red backgrounds the way to paint skies, buildings and some of the very animation were just like the Bem show. Now i knew they were heavily influenced by the 40's Superman Fleischer cartoons... but hell the way in the beginning of the 2 first opening of the shows even the pan up that shows Batman first and then Batman Robin and Bat girl on the roof of the building looked just like the Bem show...

The this episode came out and it was the confirmation of all of my suspicions, because it is directly taken from an episode of the Bem Show called in Italy The Eye Hunter or The Wish to See. In this show Bero the monster kid makes friend with a girl that ends up non existing and being a projection of a which hiding in the sewers.

Its amazing how Batman here works exactly as Bem and Robin as Bero.

Well then since this show takes so much from such an obscure great cartoon it speak volumes about how really much the makers of The Batman animated series know about the history of animation! Good work.

Save what? Don't you see? I'm not real.

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 10/10 · 24 January 2015]

This episode of TNBA was definitely one of my favorites, also one of the saddest in the series. In it, Robin, who grew up in a broken family himself according to an earlier episode, rescues a lost little girl from a gang of biker punks (I suppose their plan was to beat her up or something), and learns that she has no idea who she s or where she's from. Thinking she's a runaway, he offers to help her get to a police station but she runs away in confusion. Batman offers little help this time. "There's nothing we can do for her. She belongs in a runaway center," is his seemingly indifferent attitude towards the girl. Robin soon rescues her again when she almost gets squished by a truck, and he affectionately names her Annie (after a Raggedy-Anne doll he sees a nearby pedestrian holding). When Robin discovers that Annie has an abusive father out looking for her, things only get more complicated when it's revealed that this father is one of Batman's old foes... and that Annie is destined to lead a very brief life.

Often Batman episodes reflect the depressing, melancholy occurrences of city life, and this episode provides a powerful message about homeless and abused children. As Robin goes out to look for Annie he comes across a group of homeless people where a family is bundled together in front of a pitiful fire on the ground, and he finds a little boy asleep on a dirty, moldy mattress. It's very sad and this whole episode takes on a much darker tone than usual. The ending, when Annie realizes she's inevitably going to die, is probably the most depressing scene I've seen in a kid's TV program in a long time. Robin offers to save her, and she just says, "save what? Don't you see? I'm not real." This show, made for kids, is more popular with adults and it's no wonder why. There are some very disturbing and sad moments in it and it has much more wisdom in it then most adult shows ever have. It's so pathetic that shows like Family Guy and Futurama are so popular when this show has so much more to offer than a bunch of trashy fart jokes and unoriginal stories. Batman will always have its fans and I'm sure they know what I'm talking about because they've all enjoyed watching every episode.