[Kolzig]

This is maybe the coolest Batman animation ever created.
It is made by some art school guys (Digital Animation & Effects School, DAVE) and it features all new voices of ADAM WEST, MARK HAMILL & DICK VAN DYKE.

BATMAN: NEW TIMES is a student project, undertaken by the December 2004 Graduating Class of The DAVE School. Written and Directed by the team of William Vaughan and Jeff Scheetz, this fast-paced animated adventure follows the exploits of Bruce Wayne as his crime fighting alter ego -- BATMAN. Bruce risks everything to deliver GOTHAM CITY from the vile JOKER. The JOKER and his henchmen do all they can to spoil GOTHAM'S New Years Eve party. Animated star HARLEY QUINN joins the fray, throwing everything she can in BATMAN'S way. Expect plenty of twists and turns as The DAVE School Students take you on a wild ride that's sure to leave you breathless.

As part of The DAVE School's one-year animation curriculum, each class spends three months creating a short film. These films are made using the same strategies and pipelines used by professional animation studios. The subject matter in these films differs greatly from class to class. So far we have created a World War II aerial adventure (B17), adapted comic books (Chimera and Giant Fighters), and brought toy concepts to life. Both Psycho Pump and Specidemons(click to view) were based on un-produced toy lines from the brilliant minds at Art Asylum Toys.


Earlier this year we were inspired by Spite Your Face's brilliant stop-motion LEGO epic Spiderman: The Legend of Doc, The art direction of Batman: New Times is also based on a popular toy line. Keeping with the "TOY" theme The DAVE School Students have built a vibrant 3D world out of computer generated Lego blocks. Every set, every prop and every character has been precisely modeled according to strict scale specifications. Almost every location, vehicle and character has been, or could be, built out of Legos. To research this project and aid in set design The DAVE School purchased over 100 pounds of Lego Blocks from dealers on E-Bay!

http://www.daveschool.com/BATMAN/

[Zygomaticus]

Holy Cow, that was good.

[SoccerDude28]

Are they using the Lego Star wars engine??

Originally Posted by Kode

Holy Cow, that was good.

Second.

[Zygomaticus]

One thing I noticed, I never knew Mark Hammil sounded like that. I haven't heard him as Joker in the animated Batman series, though, so I guess I wouldn't know. Guess I always imagined him as whiny Luke Skywalker and expected him to always sound the same

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

Are they using the Lego Star wars engine??

I don't think the two are related in any way. This is more of a student Project (a short animated film, not a trailer for a computer game or anything like that) for some Animation school while Lego Star Wars is a full-fledged video game.

Speaking of which, I'm really looking forward to Lego Star Wars. Played the demo, and honestly, I started to cry at how good it was.

[Kolzig]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

Are they using the Lego Star wars engine??

No, no and NO.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the Lego Star Wars game.

It is as Kode said, a student project from the DAVE school at Orlando, Florida. It is actually the graduation class of December 2004 who made that animation video as their last assignment.

They had been inspired by the amazing Spider-Man stop motion lego animation, this animation: http://spiteyourface.com/spidey.html

Originally Posted by Kode

One thing I noticed, I never knew Mark Hammil sounded like that. I haven't heard him as Joker in the animated Batman series, though, so I guess I wouldn't know. Guess I always imagined him as whiny Luke Skywalker and expected him to always sound the same

Heh heh, it's always a big surprise to people that Mark can change his voice so well for the role of Joker.

Speaking of which, I'm really looking forward to Lego Star Wars. Played the demo, and honestly, I started to cry at how good it was.

I played it too yesterday, it was pretty surprisingly intriguing game. Much better than most of LucasArts modern SW games.

[Zygomaticus]

Originally Posted by Kolzig

I played it too yesterday, it was pretty surprisingly intriguing game. Much better than most of LucasArts modern SW games.

But LucasArts isn't making this, right? It's being developed by Traveller's Games and published by Eidos. I'm sure LucasArts will ultimately have something do with it (since it's their license and whatnot) but over all, I don't think they're much involved in making it.

I can't say whether this is a good or bad thing, though, because frankly, I've always enjoyed LucasArts games. I can't say the same for their Star Wars games, though. I do love Knights of the Old Republic (and am in the process of playing KOTOR2) but I don't count those as part of LA's mainstream Star Wars series.

[JoeX111]

The LEGO Star Wars demo is pretty fun. Let's see Hayden Christensen pull a door apart with the force, dismantle it in mid-air, and then rebuild it into something more useful out of his way. Cool stuff.

[Kolzig]

Originally Posted by Kode

But LucasArts isn't making this, right?

That's what I was meaning, even if I said it quite poorly.