The Bat-Family's vehicles are brought to life by the Batcomputer to form the "Batwheels", a team led by the Batmobile or "Bam", to fight crime in Gotham City.
Badcomputer (voiced by SungWon Cho), A.I. computer software inside a scoreboard who wants to replace the Bat Computer as the most powerful computer on Earth.[5]
Crash (voiced by Tom Kenny), Badcomputer's crash-dummy like robot minion.[5]
Prank (voiced by Griffin Burns), Joker's funny and pranking van.[5]
Jestah (voiced by Alexandra Novelle), Harley's fun-loving ATV.[5]
Ducky (voiced by Ariyan Kassam), Penguin's mischief-causing duck on a boat with wheels vehicle.[5]
In October 2020, it was announced that an animated preschool series centered around the Batmobile was in development at Warner Bros. Animation, set to premiere on Cartoon Network's then-upcoming preschool block Cartoonito and HBO Max.[1] According to Tom Ascheim, president of the now-defunct Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, the series was greenlit due to its concept being fit for the studio's focus on preschool projects.[1] Michael G. Stern serves as developer and co-executive producer, with Simon J. Smith as supervising producer, and Steven Fink and Caroline Karmel producing.[11][12] Stern was brought into the project early in development, as WB explored ideas for preschool-oriented DC shows, while Smith was brought after Stern wrote the first scripts for the series.[13] In December 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, with Stern and Smith being promoted to executive producers.[14]
Writing
While writing the series, Stern wanted to avoid "kiddifying" the characters, as he felt children should be introduced to the characters through faithful portrayals and was also requested to respect the characters.[13] For Batman, he wrote the character to stay faithful to most interpretations, with only his violence being toned down.[13] He also wrote the villains with "a lane" that stayed faithful to their classical portrayals while still fitting the target audience, such as portraying Harley Quinn as a fun-loving prankster.[13]
When creating the Batwheels, the writers wanted them to be perceived as "lovable" and "fun" characters for the audience, in order to avoid the children only watching the show for Batman. In order to accomplish this, they tested the personalities for each character with a test group, who received the characters positively.[13] The writers also wanted to avoid portraying the Legion of Zoom as mere copies of their owners, to which they gave each vehicle their own characteristics, such as portraying Prank, the Joker's van, as "a surfer dude".[13]
Music
The series' score was composed by Alex Geringas, while the theme song was performed and produced by Andy Sturmer,[12] who previously composed the themes for the series The Batman and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Sturmer also co-wrote the theme alongside Stern.[12]
Notes
^ abcdThis episode was originally released on November 8, 2022, but was removed shortly thereafter.
