October 13th, 2022 
Jackson Murphy 
The Dark Knight has some new help fighting crime. Family animated series Batwheels premieres this Monday Oct. 17 at 9am on Cartoonito and Cartoon Network, with episodes streaming Tuesday Oct. 18 on HBO Max. Co-Executive Producer Michael G. Stern and Supervising Producer Simon Smith suit up to discuss the vehicles, the style and the multi-generational appeal of Batwheels. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: This show is really fun. As you were getting underway with this, what was the earliest memory you could think of involving Batman?
Michael G. Stern: I grew-up with the Adam West 1966 show in reruns. So my earliest memory is tying a bath towel around my neck and running around going, “ZAM! POW!”
Simon Smith: Same thing. The ’66 show. But instead of a towel, we’d take our school shirt — in England we had to wear school uniforms — and just do the top button up and then take your hands out of your sleeves. That was our batcape. We’d run around. I had a bamboo banister just like a batpole. I’d leap up that and then eventually I broke it. My mom and dad weren’t very happy.
JM: (laughs) It’s amazing Batman can inspire kids at such a young age. Here we are with Batwheels. And as one of the characters mentions in one of the episodes, the Batmobile is “the original radical ride”. Simon, as you were making this show, did you really think about the impact the Batmobile has had for generations?
SS: Absolutely. It’s been an influential vehicle in so many different ways in cinema and on TV. It’s a pretty big responsibility to make sure we got it right for our audience — for the whole family. It was very exciting to be involved in playing in Gotham and playing with Batman and finally figuring out “What’s this character gonna be? What’s he gonna look like? How’s he gonna feel?”
JM: And Michael, tell me about balancing the style and functionality of these very cool Batwheels.
MGS: It really comes down to the fact that they’re also characters. Simon had a big design challenge. When Batman drives them, they have to be just those cool vehicles. It has to look and be cool like that. But when Batman is not there or they’re in the batcave with each other and they come alive as characters, they have to sing as characters with their expressive eyes and faces. All that stuff has to work just as well.
SS: That was the biggest challenge. How do you make a really cool Batmobile that he can get inside of and drive and at the same time be a lovable character. We had a pendulum swinging. There are two words we used for the design: legitimacy and fun. You want to make it a really valid, legitimate Batmobile but a really fun loving character to look at and experience.
JM: They look great and are fun characters. I wanted to ask you guys about their eyes and mouths and their movements and how they glow.
SS: We took an interesting approach. We knew they were going to have digital screens. They’re hybrid vehicles. We wanted to make sure there was an accessibility and familiarity with them. We animated the eyes and mouth every second frame and then the CG cars would be rendered for 24 frames per second. The 2D animation gives that familiar, cartoon feel — to kids watching, and that helps you access the character that Michael has brilliantly written.
JM: And what were the goals with the Batcave — its designs and functionality.
MGS: It reflects the larger philosophy that we have with Batwheels. Keep it cool. Even though it’s for kids, don’t dumb it down. Don’t make a kidified version. Make a cool Batcave. And provide a home. When you do a preschool show, a home is extremely necessary and it’s the comfort zone for the characters. They each have their own little garages and rooms. There are different areas of the Batcave. We tried to make it so that they could have conversations and drive and talk with each other. There are more ramps and tunnels and things to explore. It’s a little more vehicle leaning of a Batcave. But bottom line: it still has to be cool.
JM: It is cool. And it’s also interesting that Batwheels, I think, is a rare kids animated series to primarily take place at night.
SS: We have lots of other DC universes with Batman, and they’re pretty dark. We had to make sure it wasn’t gonna be intimidating or too intense for little ones. We were thinking, “Where’s a safe place that families go at night that they really enjoy?” Theme parks. So the decision was made, “Okay, let’s light Gotham like a theme park.” Everybody loves theme parks and they all feel safe and it’s gonna be fantastic fun. We built Gotham around the color palettes of a theme park to make it as bright and colorful as possible but still be a super cool Gotham to drive around in.
JM: That is so smart. So, our Batman for Batwheels is Ethan Hawke. He’s great! Is he your new favorite Batman?
MGS: Of course!
SS: Without a doubt.
MGS: He’s doing such a fabulous job. He’s amazing. He brought something to it that we didn’t even realize. Our approach to Batman was to keep him cool, just like the Batcave. We wanted to find the humor. So instead of making fun of Batman, which we never do. We never cross that line. We laugh with him. What Ethan brought was this sort of exhausted dad energy. He’s got these young people to take care of — Batgirl and Robin. And he’s sort of the father figure to the Batwheels even though they can’t talk directly to each other. He’s always sort of got that grumble going on that Ethan invented.
SS: He’s been brilliant. He totally dived into the character. He was very complimentary of the writing and the tone of the show, and he totally embraced his version of Batman.
JM: That’s great. I wanted to ask you guys about the one-liners, because as I’m watching these episodes, I’m laughing. They’re funny. But at the same time I think, they have to be some of the most meticulously crafted lines of the series. You want to find that balance. Clearly that’s the case.
MGS: You’re doing this for young kids. You don’t want everything to be over their heads, but you want to make sure they follow everything that’s going on and they’re laughing with you. But on the other hand, you want to make sure you’re allowing them to aspire — to learn a little bit. You want to give them breathing room and keep Batman cool and legit. It allows young kids to see who Batman really is — actually as his character rather than a kidified version. The real Batman.
JM: Sure. Have you talked with Ethan at all about whether he would want to wear a real suit in real-life and become a live-action Batman if there was a project down the line?
SS: No we haven’t.
MGS: No, but I do know there was a story that Ethan turned down the live-action role once upon a time.
SS: Oh yeah. That’s right.
JM: Yeah, that’s right.
MGS: So I know he’s always sort of had it in the back of his mind that this is something he wanted to do. Maybe he was just waiting for something that felt right. He got what we were doing right from the start and it all clicked.
JM: Wow. Isn’t it amazing that you can make dreams come true, in that case. And kids’ and comic book fans’ with this show. It is about the Batwheels. It is about these vehicles. But you devote a lot of screen time, especially in the first episode I watched to Batman and Robin. So it is a legitimate Batman and Robin adventure. How was it trying to figure out the screen time balance?
MGS: It’s funny you should say that because in my mind, for those Batman fans out there, I feel like the story of Batwheels could take place in any Batman universe. It’s actually a plausible Batman story — that the Batcave was under attack and that the bat computer would take her advanced A.I. and use it to bring the bat vehicles to life. It’s not necessarily something for kids. It could actually work as a legit Batman story. That was in our heads all along. As for the balance, we really had to play around with that because there were worries early on that if kids see Batman on the show, are they gonna care about the vehicles or are they just going to want to follow Batman and know what he’s up to? And to our great relief, it was up to us to create really compelling characters out of the Batwheels, and we managed to pull it off. All the testing we did showed the kids LOVE the Batwheels just as much as Batman, so we found that balance by letting the stories be about the Batwheels but still letting Batman and the other human heroes be a presence.
SS: You’re got two shows in one, really. You’ve got Batman and the bat family (Robin and Batgirl) and the human villains, as well as having the Batwheels and their foes at the same time.
JM: Yes, and you do pull that off. And you have the classic villains come in, like the Joker. Do you feel pressure in wanting to make sure the Joker is satisfying for fans?
SS: We’re Batman fans too. (laughs) It’s very easy to tap into what you love about Gotham and Batman and the whole Batman universe, as you’re building up these characters. And it all stems from the writing into the designs. What makes us feel like this is cool and fun at the same time? That’s the dilemma all the way. You keep going until you’re satisfied.
JM: You’re going to satisfy Batman fans of all ages. There are different Batman shows and movies (live-action and animated). Some are targeted just for kids. Some are targeted just for adults. You have found that balance. How does it honestly feel to you guys that you’re serving everybody with this show?
MGS: It feels great. I noticed early on that a big tent was possible for this show. I think the youngest audiences are really underestimated and people treat them in a way that doesn’t make any sense. They don’t allow them to have the experience that you and I have when we go to see a superhero movie or show. I just got to thinking, “Why? Why can’t they experience the same thing we all experience?” That’s how to make them really fall in love with these properties. Once we did that… we were gonna try to make sure we had everybody involved — the whole family involved.
SS: Mike and I both agree that this is a show that four year olds can watch but it was executed in a way that was cinematic and feels like you’re watching a movie as much as [possible]. If a four year old is watching, their older, eight year old sibling will look over their shoulder and go, “Wait a minute. What’s that? That looks pretty good.” And then when they’re watching, the mom or dad comes in and goes, “Whoa. Whoa. Is that Batman? What’s going on there? That looks pretty good.” It’s executed in a way like you would watch any other movie. That’s the goal: a cinematic impression as much as possible. This is a legitimate Batman universe.
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