3D
A & E/Slie Charlotte $oat
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Sights’
Animated
‘Batman’
has super
action
Batman, The Animated
Series, Vol. 3
Bruce Timm, series producer
Warner Home Video
Four-disc set
I haven’t seen “Batman Begins” but it has to
bring a lot to be better than the animated
series fix)m the ‘90s.
Ihis is the series that re^energized the super
hero cartoon format. Yes, there are traces of
animee, but there’s more of a 1920s-meets-the-
’90s thing going on.
Since this was the last season, series director
Bruce Hmm had his folks puU out aU the
stops. Rarely heard from villains got a lot of
play and the regulai' cast of zanies kicked the
craziness up a notch.
How could you not like a series that features
Ra’s A1 Ghul, one of Batman’s earliest foes?
The caped one even teams up with him in
“Demon’s Quest.”
And of course there’s “Bane,” the episode and
character. This is the guy who broke Batman’s
back in the comic book. He was used sparing
ly in the dreadful “Batman & Robin.” He
makes a perfect foe in the series.
What makes this season and series tick is
the writii^ and voices. Kevin Conroy is perfect
as the brooding Batman and playboy Bruce
Wayne. He’s gotten even better in the subse
quent “Justice League” series.
This DVD features few extras. There are
some commentaries on four episodes but not
much else.
No matter. This is still one of the best-ani
mated series to ever grace television. Now if
'limm and company would put together sudi a'
package for “Justice League,”
Winfred Cross
Sights
Original
‘Bewitched a
classic on DVD
Bewitched
Complete First Season
Columbia Tri-Star
Home Video
Black & White
4-disc set
S' h
« >4 V. V
Long before there was the power of three or
Harry Potter, Elizabeth Montgomery twitched
her nose into prime-time success with
“Bewitched,” the long-running ABC series.
Montgomery was Samantha Stephens, a
sexy suburban housewife who had the dii’ty
secret of being a witch, which she tried to keep
from her husband Danin, played by Didc York
from 1962-’69.
Oops, didn’t work. There was no way her
demanding mother Endora (the wonderful
Agnes Moorehead) or hammy father Maurice
(the equally wonderful Maurice Evans) were
going to let that happen. Thei'e was also the
wickedly funny assoiiment of weird I’elatives
that were to foUow that made this one of the
best ‘60s sitcoms.
The series broke lots of groimd. The
Stephens were the first couple to sleep in the
same bed, a significant step for a fledgling
medium. Some also a*edit them as the first
mixed couple (witch-mortal) but I say that
goes to Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (Anglo-
Cuban). And Endora and Maurice were
divorced, or so we thought. That wasn’t your
usual sitcom status.
But it was the chemistiy of the cast that
made this sitcom outstanding. Marion Lome
as the addle-brained A\mt Clara is one of the
best supporting charactei*s in TV histoiy And
the nosey Mrs. Kravitz - Alice Pearce - is one
for the ages.
More than 30 episodes are spread across
four discs with a feW extra features. You can
get a colorized version, but purists wfll have to
have the crisp black and white original. This is
a must have for ‘60s fanatics and those who
love good television.
STARTS FRIDAY, JULY 1
Common discusses
his new album and
old flame
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -Common’s
sixth album is also his short
est, and perhaps his best.
“Be,” which is in stores now,
checks in at a
slender 11
tracks, reminis
cent of short clas
sic rap LPs like
Nas’ “Ulmatic,”
Eric B. &
Rakim’s “Paid in
Pull,” and KRS-
One’s “Criminal
Minded.”
After disap
pointing his
hardcore fans
with his last
effort, the
exploratory “Electric Circus”
in 2002, Common retreated
back into the studio with
longtime fiiend Kanye West
and Detroit producer Jay
Dee. The result was the criti
cally acdaimed “Be,” which
leans on Common’s raw lyri
cal artillery of clever rhymes
and metaphors.
Now 33, the artist bom
Lonnie Rashid Lynn on
Chicago’s South Side spoke
to The Associated Press
about love, life and redemp
tion;
AP: The buzz on this album
is that it’s going to save hip-
hop. Do you think hip-hop
needs to be bom again?
(Dommon: I definitely think
it needs some repairing. I can
say, as a fan, it ain’t been sat
isfying and feeding my soul
the way hip-hop has always
done in the past. I think that
I’m one person that can bring
a balance to it. Hip-hop has
become so much of a busi
ness, so much of a hustle,
that the art of it has lost its
purity and its innocence,
AP; You’ve been dubbed
everything from a sort-of
gangster to socially con
scious. Does the latter fluster
you?
Common; At first it did
because I was talking about
(jod, growing, but I wasn’t all
perfect. I didn’t realize that
once you talked about
(things like) abortion, God,
that people would only come
to expect that. I feel now that
being conscious is a blessing
because that means you are
aware. Like, just because I
am talking about something
conscious, they separated me
fi>Dm Jay-Z. And he might be
talking about getting paper,
but that doesn’t mean we
ain’t part of the same cul
ture.
AP: You’re one of Jay-Z’s
favorite MCs.
(Dommon: That’s an honor,
like gettii^ respect fix)m one
of the greatest. ... Jay-Z
chained the movement of,
like, black society He can
say Yb, I’m wearing button-
up shirts,” and a whole gen
eration of people (is) wearing
button-up shirts instead of
throwbacks.
AP: Oeatively speaking,
what was the lowest point of
your career?
Common; Creatively, it’s
between two albums, “Can I
Borrow a Dollar” and “Elec
tric Circus.”
AP: Perhaps your fans did
n’t believe that the album
essentially came fix)m within
you, rather more from your
then-girlfriend * Erykah
Badu.
Common: (Laughs.) The
album was aU me at that
time I go throu^ changes. If
you look at my career, I start
ed off holding a 40-ounce (of
beer) on my first .cover. I
grow and I go through
changes. I think that there
was a p)eriod in my life that I
was trying to find myself,
maybe trying to find myself.