Knightsong - The Chilling Melodies of Batman (Two Face)

Batman: The Animated Series was a very popular American cartoon produced by Warner Brothers which originally aired from 1992 to 1995. It's dark atmosphere, adult themes and dramatic voice acting helped make the show groundbreaking; Another very important factor that gave the series it's edge was the stunning soundtrack composed by Shirley Walker (1945 - 2006).

Batman: The Animated Series was unlike anything children had ever been presented. Instead of the cartoony and comedic Batman that had been featured in every Dark Knight television adaptation up to that point (like the famous Adam West and Burt Ward live action TV show, and the Filmation toons), this series took place in a world far more similar to Tim Burton's re-imagining of the franchise.

Not only were some ideas from the Tim Burton films directly taken into the show (like the Penguin's plan to take over the Batmobile, and the Joker's origin), the theme music composed by Danny Elfman was also present in the opening animation and heavily influenced the rest of Shirley Walker's work on the series.

The show had a very intense and dark atmosphere, not only because of the art work by producer Bruce Timm, but many of the backgrounds were painted on black paper. This created a film noir like ambient which contrasted heavily with other children animation at the time which were far more colorful and bright.
The characters and their endeavors felt real, as they dealt with legitimate and adult issues like paranoia, death of loved ones, mental illness, politics, unemployment, emotional rejection and complex fears. The fantastic voice acting reflected this, with notable performances by Kevin Conroy (Batman/Bruce Wayne) and Star Wars' Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill (The Joker).

Although there were other contributors to the music in Batman: The Animated Series, Shirley Walker is regarded as the main source of composition for the show. Walker's work featured complex orchestrations with rich melodies, and her musical creation was so perfect with themes so appropriate to each character that if we didn't know any better, we'd say the characters were created for the music, and not the other way around.

The Mad Hatter, The Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow and many other characters were given the honor of exceptional musical themes. In this video, I explore Harvey Dent, ''Two Face'''s theme.

The character of Harvey Dent is presented as a strong, brave and heroic district attorney who is great friends with Bruce Wayne and an ally of Batman. However, his mental disorder and hatred for crime and corruption turn him into a villain himself, a would be anti-hero who is disturbed yet in love with his fiance Grace and this ends up making him a sympathetic character even if a villain. Because of this, Two Face is a groundbreaking villain in super hero cartoons. He is not a figure who is easy to hate. He despises crime and corruption, he is in love and he has been pushed over the edge by his split personality and the evil faces of crime that surround him.

Shirley Walker reflected this character remarkably well with this simple yet stirring melody. Like the rest of the Batman score, the Two Face episodes featured a serious dark soundtrack that is borderline horror music.

Shirley Walker died on November 30, 2006 at Washoe Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, due to complications from a stroke that she had experienced two weeks before. She passed away only eight months after the death of her husband, Don. At the time of her death, Walker had scored more major-studio motion pictures than any other American woman. A memorial service was held at the Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage, and a plaque was placed in her honor. She is survived by her two sons, Colin Walker and Ian Walker.

In 1996, Shirley Walker won her first Daytime Emmy Award as music director for Batman: The Animated Series. She won another Daytime Emmy in music-composition for Batman Beyond in 2001.

Batman: The Animated series received 3 Emmy Awards.

Batman is intellectual propriety of DC Comics and Batman: The Animated Series belongs to Warner Brothers.

Get all your Batman: The Animated Series and other DC Animated Universe stuff at

http://www.wbshop.com/

For all things WB visit the official Warner Brothers website

http://www.warnerbros.com/

For all things DC Comics, including tons of Batman stuff, go to

http://www.dccomics.com/dccomics/

For awesome Batman stuff, go to

http://www.Batman.com

Don't forget to buy Christopher Nolan's Batman: Dark Knight on Blu-Ray and DVD!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• batman
• robin
• scarecrow
• doctor
• crane
• harvey
• two
• face
• dent
• joker
• harley
• quinn
• danny
• elfman
• wb
• kids
• animaniacs
• freakazoid
• jack
• christian
• bale
• heath
• ledger
• music
• musical
• stunning

[tannerrox99]

1 Person was disfigured in a chemical Container explosion.

[Sener]

@tannerrox99 78 people are the night :)

[izarian42]

@Medusa0999 Great line from an amazing graphic novel!

[Medusa0999]

The moon is so beautiful. It's a big silver dollar, flipped by God. And it landed scarred side up, see? So He made the world mad

[Nogard06]

I don't know how you were able to get all the songs...but thank you so much for uploading these!

[EP110692]

It's time Harvey... It's time...

[mdchoc13]

@TheStealthX You know that's what I haven't done, read those scenes and listen to this music, I ought to try that. I think that's one reason why I like Two-Face so much cause the whole since of him hiding something as most people do and the fact his an exact flip of Bruce Wayne who's the same way. Really great character design and that to me is what makes Batman villains the most important cause as history channel put it they're all dark reflections of Batman himself !!

[TheStealthX]

@mdchoc13 Yeah, that and the whole overlaying feeling that there's something just not right with Harvey Dent. Read his scenes in the GN again, whiel listening to this. You really get hte sense that he's trying to hide something...

[mdchoc13]

@TheStealthX Yes I adore as well. For a long time I had a problem with him becoming two-face from getting acid thrown on his face but when I read that novel and saw everything that lead up to it, it made me appreciate that version. I felt very bad for him at that scene! Well written story.

[TheStealthX]

@mdchoc13 Yeah, I suppose. But I do agree with you on teh whole 'Long Halloween' one. I adore that comic. It's so dark, and grim, yet still so enjoyable, you know? And yeah, Two-Face in it was good. They kept building him up, like that bit where he's sitting in the basement in his trousers with his coin, just talking to his wife and you can't see his face. That was such a great panel, even if he hasn't lost his face yet! Two-Face is awesome, no question

[mdchoc13]

I like how Nolan used one of the lines the TDK movie at the end. It was nostalgia for me!!!! I would recite both the end of TDK and the end of btas Two-face part 2...........Really huge two-face fan, even learned how to flip a coin with one hand.