***Batman Beyond: Season 2***

Standard Screen, 4PC

Teenager Terry McGinniss continues following in the footsteps of his aged mentor Bruce Wayne as the "new" Batman of the 21st century in Season Two of the animated Batman Beyond. In addition to such traditional nemeses as Shriek, Inque, the Spellbinder, the Jokerz and the Royal Flush Gang, Terry-Batman has his gloved hands full dealing with several new threats to the wellbeing of Gotham City, among them Earthmover, who has a talent for creating humanoids out of dirt; Sneak Peek, a unscrupulous--and invisible--TV newscasters; Bombshell, a dangerous telepath; and crazed big-game hunter Stalker. One of the newly minted antagonists, the rogue holographic assassin Zeta, will appear in only a handful of episodes before being spun off into his own series, The Zeta Project. Although Batman Beyond is set in the future, several of issues addressed in the Season Two episodes are sure to strike a chord with contemporary audiences. The late-20th-century tendency by disenfranchised youngsters to experiment with deadly drug combinations is dramatized in an episode wherein Batman confronts the new teen craze of "splicing", or mixing one's genes with animal DNA. In other episodes, one of Terry's lady friends is harassed by a stalker; a "tough love" boot camp for troubled teens turns out to have a deadly hidden agenda; and at least one otherwise scrupulous scientist turns to a life of crime after "downsized" during an economic recession. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide