It’s finally here. Batman Beyond: The Complete Series – all 3 seasons, 52 episodes, and 1 film – is available in a gorgeous, (mostly) fully remastered package. And trust me, kids, it’s stinkin’ beautiful.

The show aired from 1999 to 2001 and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, but the quality of these episodes make them look like they aired last month. If you’re a fan of the show, this is what you’ve been waiting for.

Why the “mostly” caveat up top, though? Well, of the 52 episodes, 41 have been fully remastered from either the original 35 mm film source or the original camera negative digital. Unfortunately, due to “time-worn irreparable damage,” the remaining 11 episodes were “Smart Rezzed” from standard def Digibeta video.

According to Warner Bros, “the process provides for significant enhanced resolution and improvement of the original source material in converting from standard to high definition, though it does sacrifice horizontal lines for clearer image and color representation.”

Despite that, we’re still looking at animation that is light years beyond what we saw on TV in 2000 and the previous DVD releases.

The new limited edition box set of the series (which should be on your holiday wishlist, if not your Blu-ray shelf already), comes with a number of goodies, including an exclusive Terry McGinnis Batman Funko Pop and four lenticular collector cards featuring original artwork.

On top of the 52 episodes and the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker feature film, the 6 discs in this set are packed with a bunch of extras. The upside is that there’s a ton of material to dig through, and it’ll give you a HUGE insight into the making of the show.

The downside is that very few of the special features are new to this set. All of the audio commentaries and most of the featurettes are the same that appeared on the DVD season sets. So if you own those sets, there’s not much new here. But if you don’t own those sets (as I don’t), then this is a treasure trove of Batman Beyond love.

The two new-to-this-set bonus features are

• “Nostalgic Tomorrow,” a 53-minute roundtable discussion with Bruce Timm, Kevin Conroy, Will Friedle, James Tucker, Glen Murakami, Andrea Romano, Bob Goodman, and Stan Berkowitz. The discussion covers a lot of similar ground (with many of the same stories) as the vintage special features, but it’s absolutely a Must Watch. If you only watch one special feature across these six discs, it should be this one.
• “Knight Immortal,” a 35-minute retrospective of the Batman character over the years and across media. This short doc has an unorthodox approach since it features interviews with many of the people who brought the character to life, but they’re never shown or named. Bob Kane, Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, Jerry Robinson, Stan Lee, and MANY others are all here, but they’re “nameless” voiceovers over clips from various shows, films, and books.

Folks? I took one for the team and watched ALL of the special features across this set – new and vintage. So, without further ado, here are 19 things I learned while digging through the Batman Beyond: The Complete Series box set…

1. In a creative meeting, the WB Network pitched Bruce Timm and Paul Dini a “teenage Batman” idea. Timm and Dini kicked ideas around in that meeting and immediately got a green light to go to series.
2. Neither Timm nor Dini really wanted to do the show right away since they were still working on The New Batman/Superman Adventures and didn’t want to stray from a traditional take on the character or negate the years of canon they had produced.
3. Working titles for the series included The Tomorrow Knight, B2, and Batman Tomorrow.
4. There was no series bible for the show. They literally made it up as they went.
5. Timm consciously avoided recycling familiar Rogue’s Gallery villains. He didn’t want to fall into the trap of having Joker Beyond, Poison Ivy Beyond, etc.
6. The original intent of the show was to make it more kid friendly. It was conceived as a “teenage Batman” show. In the end, it skewed a lot darker than they thought it would.
7. The pilot episode intentionally opened with an orchestral score to juxtapose the electronic opening credits, which were vastly different from previous Batman series.
8. The opening credits were designed and animated by the legendary Darwyn Cooke. (This one’s a cheat since I already knew that, but how could I not mention it?)
9. To get the 360-degree shot that circles Batman in the opening credits, Bruce Timm stood an action figure on a lazy Susan in his kitchen and gave it a spin.
10. The title music began as a demo called “Smells Like Creamed Spinach” by Kristopher Carter.
11. Will Friedle got the job as Terry McGinnis because Bruce Timm’s wife liked him on Boy Meet World.
12. Bruce Timm is the Jango Fett of Batman Beyond – he’s the voice behind many, MANY background and walk-on characters.
13. At the time, the network never wanted to give a specific age to Bruce Wayne in the show. But Timm and Kevin Conroy always saw him as in his early 80s.
14. Bruce Timm wanted the show to always take place “50 years from now,” whenever “now” happens to be.
15. The Victorian cut of the clothing designs for many of the people who live in “upper Gotham City” was a holdover from Mike Mignola’s conceptual design work.
16. Sherman Howard (who played Derek Powers) also played Lex Luthor in the 1989 live-action Superboy show. He was almost cast as Lex in Justice League, but Clancy Brown was just a little more perfect.
17. In Season 3, Terry almost broke up with Dana and had a rebound fling with Max. The script for that episode enraged Bruce Timm and caused some behind-the-scenes drama between Timm and Alan Burnett.
18. Batman Beyond was, strangely, never canceled. They just had enough episodes for syndication, and everyone simply started working on other projects.
19. You can date the special features in this set (from the show’s original 1999-2001 run, from the 2006 DVD release, from subsequent interviews, or from this 2019 release) just by looking at Bruce Timm’s hair.