Most shows are starting to get stale by their fourth seasons, especially in the world of animation. A lot of animators have a great idea and a few episodes up their sleeves, but they've run out of ideas as their series starts to cross the 50th episode threshold. The opposite is true of The Batman, a show that started a little weak and actually got more interesting over the years. Season four is the strongest yet released on DVD, as the show introduced a cavalcade of great characters and guest stars. Not only did Robin come on board but the fourth season featured an amazing revolving door of voice actors as villains, including Mark Hamill as Tony Zucco, James Remar as Black Mask, Diedrich Bader as Number One, Ron Perlman as Rumor, Brandon Routh as Everywhere Man, and Dave Foley as Francis Grey. There may be no other show where we'd recommend this, but even if you've never seen The Batman at all, you might want to start with season four.

There's only one, so it's not really a fair competition, but it's a good one. In the 15 minute feature that details the whole season, the creators and writers discuss the decision to bring Robin into the world of this incarnation of The Batman and how it affected the show. It's not just bringing Robin into The Batman, but how they chose this specific incarnation and how it would affect the dynamic between our hero and Batgirl. It's interesting stuff.

There's only one. Warner Brothers has been going the cheap route with these sets and limiting them to two discs and just the episodes with a feature, maybe two. It's hard to complain because it keeps the seasons affordable enough for the kids who want to save their allowance money for The Batman, but a few storyboards or commentaries would have been nice. It's also a little disappointing to continue to experience a show like this in 4:3 and only two channels of sound, but, once again, they're not designing these sets for technophiles and their target audience is less likely to care.

The Batman is a show that didn't quite work for me until the fourth season. It feels more confident and certain of itself, even if it is pitched a little younger than more complex shows like Justice League. Just the guest stars in season four make it worth a pick-up for serious fans of The Dark Knight. And casual ones might even be impressed too.