THE BATMAN'S MICHAEL GOGUEN

With The Batman kicking off its fourth season on Saturday on Kids' WB!, The Continuum caught up with producer Michael Goguen for a short interview on Friday to discuss the series' new dynamics.

The Continuum: There's quite a buzz about this season. What are you most excited about?

Goguen: Honestly, I'm pretty excited about every episode this season. There is something special about them all; whether it's a new character or a great vocal performance or an amazing guest writer or writers, each week there is something exciting for the fans to look forward to, in my humble opinion.

The Continuum: How important is Robin to the series? Will he be in every episode? How does he change the show's dynamic?

Goguen: Robin is hugely important to the series, just as he is to the entire Batman mythos, in that he helps to humanize Batman, and give him an ally and partner that truly understands his motivation, being the only person close to Batman that shares the same tragic circumstance in his origin story. Robin is in every story this season, and we'll get to see him being trained and growing into a stronger and stronger crimefighter and an intregal part of what is becoming a deeply connected "Bat Family".

The Continuum: What happens to Batgirl?

Goguen: Batgirl continues to work alongside Batman and Robin as an accepted ally and a more loosely connected member of the Bat Family. She and Robin quickly develop a kind of sibling rivalry, with Batgirl feeling just a tad jealous of the strong, deep connection that Batman and Robin clearly have right from the start. Batgirl eventually begins to accept Robin, and in some ways takes part in Robin's training, as well as herself recieving some new training from Batman. As a more independant member of the Bat team, she will appear in several, but not every episode.

The Continuum: How did Harley Quinn and Paul Dini's involvement come about? How does she compare to the previous animated version?

Goguen: We've talked about bringing Harley in from the beginning, but the time wasn't right before now. It just happened that Mr. Dini became available to write the script at the moment we were looking to assign it, which couldn't have been more fortunate! I'm a huge fan of Paul Dini's work, so this made me -- as well as the entire The Batman crew -- very happy.

Harley's personality is pretty close to what we all know, but her story has been adapted to The Batman's world and to our Joker, who's obviously a slightly different animal from the B:TAS version. You'll have to watch the episode to see for yourself how our Harley compares to her previous incarnation, or at least just to hear her and Joker sing a rollicking duet together. How's that for a tease?

The Continuum: This season pushes The Batman's total episodes to 52, a number which can sometimes mean the end of a show even if it's popular. Do you know if there will be another season? Have you started working on another season?

Goguen: Can't say much about that right now, but I will say that the fans can certainly help by continuing to watch and support the show, and encouraging others -- and their children -- to do the same.