Batman: The Animated Series turned 25 recently. The Hollywood Reporter has an oral history of the classic TV show:
“As a kid, I had a very conservative Irish-Catholic upbringing. So when Bruce Timm asked me what I knew about Batman, I immediately mentioned the TV show and he screamed, ‘No, no, no! That’s not what we’re doing. Erase that!’ ” says Conroy. “He explained the dark, noir story and Bruce’s vow to his parents which leads to the dual identities. It was sort of Shakespearean tragedy, so I approached it like you would Hamlet or Edgar in King Lear.”
I was on a podcast talking about this show a few months ago, it really does hold up.