"The Batman" - Various Artists
Television Show
U2 Related Content:
- "The Batman Theme" (Show Opening) - The Edge (01:00)
- "The Batman Theme" (Show Closing) - The Edge (00:31)
- "The Batman Theme" (Menu without Lightning) - The Edge (00:31)
- "The Batman Theme" (Menu with Lightning) - The Edge (00:36)
- "The Batman Theme" (Sting) - The Edge (00:06)
- "The Batman Theme" (Alternate Menu - Version II) - The Edge (00:30)
- "The Batman Theme" (Alternate Menu - Version I) - The Edge (00:42)
Background Information
For the first two seasons, “The Batman” featured a theme song written and performed by The Edge. For season three, the theme was replaced by one by Andy Sturmer, formerly of the band Jellyfish. The series was an animated television series produced by Warner Bros. animation and aired on the Kids WB block of Saturday morning television. The show first aired September 11, 2004 and ran for five seasons, with the last episode running on March 8, 2008. A direct to DVD movie titled “The Batman vs. Dracula” was released in the fall of 2005.
The Edge was interviewed about his involvement in the title track: “I’m very excited to be a part of what looks like a very interesting new take on Batman. When I’m working on music, and in this case it was no different, I always go for the mood and the rough kind of emotional area that I feel the tune should have. I wanted to do something that was contemporary and had a little bit more threat and a little bit more restraint, because that’s really the character of Batman. I’m really excited to see how it goes. I’m sure it’s going to be a big success.” In a separate interview he would also discuss the theme: “It was really just a case of creating a bedrock of something tough and slightly menacing that wasn’t necessarily too heavy and dark. The great thing about the whole ‘Batman’ idea is that it strips down life to the battle between good and evil. You can relate to different sides of that battle at different times.
The show, “The Batman” lasted five seasons, but the theme song by The Edge was only used for the first two seasons of the television show. The change in theme was an attempt to lighten what was seen as a dark cartoon. Other changes to the show involved bringing in a sidekick for Batman in the form of Batgirl in the same season which necessitated a change in the credits of the television show. The new song did not feature U2 in any way.
As part of the launch of the television show, Kids WB also set up a website featuring content from the show. Included in that content was a download featuring the title theme, which we cover under a separate discography entry.
There were 13 episodes in both season one and two, released between September 11, 2004 and September 10, 2005. Each features the theme from The Edge. Season three started September 17, 2005 and no longer featured the introduction by The Edge, nor did the direct-to-DVD movie, “The Batman vs Dracula”. Both seasons one and two are available on DVD, featuring all 13 episodes from the season across two DVDs. The DVD releases are in 4:3 aspect ratio. They are also available digitally through Amazon and iTunes in the 16:9 aspect ratio.
Each episode opened with a short bit of the story, and then typically a couple of minutes in the title video for the show would play, featuring a 01:00 minute version of the title track. At the end of each episode there were credits for the episode, and an edit of the title track that is 00:30 in length.
The DVD release of the first two seasons introduced some additional edits of the title song. When the menu first starts, you can hear the theme, with some lightning over top, and this particular edit of the song is 00:36 in length. The theme then repeats but without the lightning and this version of the song is 00:30 in length. Both of these edits are instrumental and you do not hear the voice saying “The Batman”. The season two DVD also features a brief 00:06 “Sting” of the voice saying “The Batman” and some sound effects, as part of the Special Features on disc two. On the season sets, the Spanish audio track adds an additional voice over to the opening credits, saying “Batman” after the normal “The Batman” because it is the same audio track except for this voice over which the Edge would have had no connection with, we have not added that as a track to our database.
There were other DVD releases of “The Batman” containing the music by The Edge. One was a promotional DVD shipped with other WB products that contained two episodes of the new animated series. The standalone DVD was labeled “The Batman: 2 Special Episodes from The Batman Series” and it contained “The Rubber Face of Comedy” and “The Clay Face of Tragedy” from the first season. The opening (01:00) and closing (00:30) by The Edge are included on these DVDs, but there are no standalone menus, therefore no additional appearance of edits of this music by The Edge.
There were also DVDs of episodes released under the DC Comics Kid Collection banner. In this case, each DVD was sold separate, and contained three episodes from the series. These predated the release of the full season on DVD. Two volumes were issued. Volume 1 was titled “The Batman: Training for Power” and Volume 2 was titled “The Batman: The Man Who Would be Bat”. Volume 1 was also released in a 3-DVD set with “The Batman/Superman Movie” and “Batman: The Brave and the Bold Vol. 1”