(Special thanks to Tim "Two-Face" Leighton for granting permission for me to reprint the interview here.)

MARC ROSENZWEIG: In your personal opinion, do you like the new look or the old look better? The original animated series or the harder, more angular--
KEVIN CONROY: In the old Batman, not Batman Beyond?

MR: No, not Batman Beyond.
KC: I like the older feel of the show, I think most of the audience does, too. I hear that - when I go to these signing things, and I do a number of these every year, and I hear that virtually everybody [prefers the old style]. I'm not sure why they did change the look, to tell you the truth, but I don't hear a lot of positive response about it.

MR: OK. What was your prior knowledge or history of Batman, before you became the voice?
KC: Y'know, I didn't have a lot of background knowledge on it, which I think is why I got it. I had no preconcieved notions at all. I had vague exposure to the Adam West series, but that wasn't Batman - not really, that wasn't the Dark Knight, certainly.

MR: No.
KC: So, when I went in, they had to explain the whole thing to me. "We know you have a theatre background, and we know you don't know a lot about Batman. His parents have been killed - he's avenging their death - he's absurd, he lives in a cave, no one knows about this double life he's leading, do you think you could handle it?" That's the way I related to it. The voice was entirely mine, I just started doing the sound - and as I started doing the sound, I saw all the crew running around back and forth. We had either blown a fuse, there was a fire in there, or I was doing something really right out here. *laughs* And as it turned out, they came running out and said, "That's it! You're it! That's it - we've been looking at hundreds of people and finally found the guy, you're it!" So, it was quite a fluke.

MR: When you do the voice and you have to, like, actually get down in yourself to find emotion, what's your motivation when you do that?
KC: It's just acting. I mean, a lot of the guests who come on the show, as you probably notice from the credits, are really good actors - very good actors. Most of them have never done animation before - a lot of them - and they're always shocked at the performance quality that goes on in the recording studio. Invariably, they say, "You know, you're really acting up a storm in here." I mean, you can hear it in the show. So that's part of why the quality is so high. Bruce [Timm] and Paul [Dini] really said that - they always credit the actors with helping make the show the best it is.

MR: Mark Hamill is--
KC: Just an awesome performer. He's very underappreciated, he really is. I watch him work and play off of people. In the new show, the reputation of the old show was such that on the new show, they could get anyone they want. They got Stockard Channing [Barbara Gordon on Batman Beyond] on that show. Anyone in town would do that show, because it's a coveted thing to do now.

MR: Kind of like it was back in the 60's when Adam West and Burt Ward were in the cape and cowl, too.
KC: Exactly! Everyone was trying to get on that show.

MR: You mentioned earlier your favourite episode was "Perchance to Dream".
KC: I just like that episode because it was very film noirish, it was very dark. Different people have different preferences for different episodes depending on what they're looking at. Artists tend to look at certain episodes as their favourite because the art is so extraordinairy. I tend to look at certain episodes as my favourite because the acting challenge is more, and in "Perchance to Dream", I had a chance to do so many differentcharacterizations of the same man, who all have to be believably the same guy, but all have to be slightly different, because he was at different stages of being drugged. So, that's really challenging, to really clearly delineate what drug he's on, how influenced he is, and yet he's the same person, and yet it's not my voice. For me, it was really fulfilling to, at the end of the day, hear them go, "That was amazing, you were all over the place today and totally believable, and we're so happy you have this job." Every time I see that episode, I remember that. Y'know, it's a nice experience to remember. There are other episodes were the art might be more lush or glorious, some people might prefer other episodes. From an actor's point of view, I just enjoy doing that.

MR: Who's your favourite villain or villainess that you've worked with?
KC: Well, I have to say Mark, hands down. He's just such a good actor. To watch him perform . . . I wish more people could see him actually perform, because all of us sit down. It's a long booking. All of us get tired. Mark never sits down. He can't contain himself. He's so into doing the Joker that his veins start to bulge out of his neck. He starts sweating. He has to loosen his shirt. He starts turning red. You see the sweat coming through his shirt . . . I mean, he just becomes the Joker. When he starts laughing hysterically, people - there are visitors in the recording booth, sometimes - invariably, you look in there and see them like this (shocked) watching this guy, because it's shocking to see what happens to his face when he does Joker. He just goes somewhere else, mentally, and he can do it over and over again, for hours. And that's a real talent. I love working with him. There have been many wonderful voices on this show.

MR: Now, in terms of your own personal career, how much longer do you expect to be doing Batman, Batman Beyond. Are you in talks to bring back the old series?
KC: There isn't. I really doubt if there will be any more of the old show. I don't even know how much longer Bruce Wayne will be in the new show, to tell you the truth, because he's very old. I think they've used the character to segue into this new young Batman. I've been doing it since '91, and we've been on the air since '92, that's an unprecedented length of time to be doing an animated character, so it's been a long run for me. I would love to continue doing it, and I know the audience likes what I do with it, and the creators like what I do with it. I hope it continues, but if it doesn't, it doesn't, and it's still been a great run.

MR: Now, with the voice-overs and the animation aspect of things, have you done anything else besides Batman at this time?
KC: I've done some Captain Planet for Hanna-Barbara. I do more commercial voice-overs, like I said, my career was really geared towards theatre. I did a series called Tour of Duty, a Vietnam show, and I had a sitcom on for a while. Most of my work had been in theatre in New York.

MR: So you were originally from Long Island.
KC: I was born in Westbury, Long Island. I went to St. Bridgette, we moved to Connecticut when I was about 11, so I grew up the second half of my childhood in Connecticut, and then I lived in New York from 17 'til my early 30's. I lived in New York most of my life.

MR: Of the live-action movies you've seen, which is your favorite?
KC: I don't think they compare to the animated show. I don't think it was ever meant to be a live-action show.

MR: No, it wasn't, but in your own personal opinion, is there anything about the live-action stuff that you personally like? Or do you not even watch the movies?
KC: I don't like the movies. I don't think they're very good, and I don't think they were ever intended to be. I think it was a mistake to make them, personally. It's an animated show, it's all in the imagination. There are certain things you can only do with animation, know what I mean? In live-action you're so restricted, even with the incredible technical feats they can do with moviemaking, they're still in a very concrete, tangable world, know what I mean? In animation, it's art - you're in an art world, and you can do anything you want.

MR: Like the original Batman in the comic book.
KC: And there is Batman in the comic, and it's from that world. It's just never translated right, no matter how much money they spent on it, and I don't think it was anyone's fault. They had great, talented people doing them - it was just never intended to be that way. Personally, I just don't think they ever got it.

MR: With the episode "Beware the Grey Ghost," you obviously got a chance to meet Adam West.
KC: Yes, what a gentleman. What a gentleman. He was very, very classy. That's a whole episode that we did together and he did a wonderful performance. I was a little . . . well, not nervous, but I was afraid that it might be a little awkward because I was sort of, you know, treading on his territory, so to speak. But he was very cool about it . . . "No, no, I had a great run with the show and it's your turn now, and you're doing a great job with it, and have fun." It's sort of the way I've been with Will Friedle now, who's doing the younger Batman - it's his turn to play with it, now.

MR: Now to segue into that, what's your personal take on Batman Beyond?
KC: It's hard. I think it's beautifully done, it's more like an MTV video. I always think of an MTV video when I see it. Its very hard angles, its fast cuts, its fast music, it's fast-paced, it's . . . MTV! I know that's the audience they want to appeal to, and if that's what they want to go for, then they've done a really good job. I think it's incredibly well-done, it's a wonderful cast, it's well-written - it's just a totally different show. It's tough to compare them, it's like apples and oranges.

MR: It is.
KC: It's just the same franchise, that's the only thing that's similar. It's just totally a different show - and I love the old show. So, how do you compare? I can't compare, they're completely different. The new show is a wonderful show, it's just completely different.

MR: As far as the treatment of Bruce Wayne, the character, aging him...
KC: Brutal, isn't it?

MR: I mean, putting him in this geriatric state where he actually goes off into seclusion, what are your personal feelings on that?
KC: I feel that aging Bruce Wayne is an interesting way to have the character evolve. I think that it would have been really interesting if they had kept him lighter and powerful. Even though he's old, he's still a legitimate force to be dealt with. I think that would be unique and interesting, and more of a bow to the older audience. This show has a very wide demographic, and I think it would be great to see a senior citizen who could kick some ass. *laughs*

MR: You have done a few episodes with that . . .
KC: Yes, they've hinted at it, but they've never gone there, completely. I think it would be fascinating to really have him back in the costume - we did do one episode. I think that would be very legitimate and very cool if they would do that - sort of a bow to the audience.

MR: They actually touch upon that in the last comic book [Batman Beyond #1 (ongoing)], I don't know if you've had a chance to see DC's version.
KC: No, I didn't...

MR: Bruce Wayne puts on the costume again, the old costume, and goes after Terry McGinness - if you get a chance you should pick it up. It's a new Batman Beyond animated comic book series.
OTHER GUY: Can you say a few words about working with Arleen Sorkin?
KC: I love Arleen, I love Harley. The other half to the success of Mark Hamill is the incredible performance of Arleen Sorkin - the two of them interacting is phenomenal. She's a dream to work with, she's a very talented actress, and when the two of them interact, they go off on tangents together. It's hysterical to watch them take off.

In fact, Mark and I did a QVC radio promo years ago where they were selling Batman posters that we had signed, and nothing was going on for the first few minutes. Then we started doing the voice, we started interacting together as Batman and the Joker, and they said the switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree, the audience went crazy, and they sold out in three minutes - hundreds of these things!

So, when the interaction happens between the actors, real magic happens. With Mark and Arleen, that happens every time they get together. She's phenomenal - the audience responds so well to her because she brings so much to it. She's great.

MR: The character of Harley Quinn was strictly created for the animated series.
KC: Yes, and for her. She was in mind [when Paul Dini created her].

MR: Can you do a Batman impression for us?
KC: I am vengance. I am the night. I . . . AM . . . BATMAN!