In the not-that-distant future (40 years, give or take), Gotham City has advanced in technology... and in the way crimes are committed. Batman has been retired for the past two decades — long enough to have been forgotten by many, and never heard of by the newest generation. In fact, the Joker seems to have made more of an impact than Batman, as the streets are overrun by a gang calling themselves Jokerz, who play up to the old killer clown’s homicidal comedic legacy. It would seem the city still needs a Batman, because the old one never did fully clean things up.

Which is where high school student Terry McGinnis (Will Friedle) comes in. He discovers the secret of that old crotchety recluse, Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy), and, when his father is murdered, takes the last techno-batsuit Wayne wore and goes out to seek revenge. His quest for vengeance becomes a mission for justice. Now in Wayne’s employ, Terry’s adventures continue into this second season of Batman Beyond, with his confidence — and his problems — growing.

Terry is still dating Dana Tan (Lauren Tom), but there’s a new permanent girl in his life. Max Gibson (Cree Summer) is the brainiac of Hamilton Hill High School, and using her data analysis skills, she deduces that Terry is leading a double life. She suspects that he’s actually one of the Jokerz that is currently out to get her, but as the adventure progresses, she finds out Terry’s true secret, and becomes something like his Oracle, which is as close as Terry lets her get to being an aid. "You call me Robin, and I’m outta here," she tells him. To which he dryly replies, "Okay... Alfred."

Max’s knowledge can’t help but get her involved in the adventures, however. In "Hooked Up", she independently investigates a new virtual reality technology that is targeted at emotionally-troubled kids, addicting them to the new world and dangerously affecting their seratonin levels. But when Max becomes addicted herself, she turns to stealing to continue paying for the pleasure, and it’s up to Batman to rescue her from the man behind it all: the deadly master of mind control, Spellbinder (Jon Cypher).

Yet a third girl in Terry’s life pops up in "Once Burned..." The girl named Ten (Olivia D’Abo) from the Royal Flush Gang is back in the thieving business, but there may be more than meets the eye. She claims she’s being forced to steal a ransom from the gangsters of Gotham to free the rest of her family from the Jokerz; Wayne suspects it’s just a ruse. But the real story is one of family manipulation that devastates Ten, making her one of the most sympathetic adversaries of Batman — something akin to Terry’s Catwoman. George Lazenby lends his voice to the character of King.

The series isn’t all grim and grit, though. There’s a decent bit of humor to be found, a prime example being "The Eggbaby". In this episode, Terry is saddled with that perennial high school project known as parenting. In our time, this is still done with a real egg, which the students have to carry everywhere with them and return them at the end of the project unbroken. In the future, the eggs are more baby-sized, and have computers in them that project faces, moods, and sounds, and record all the stimulations the eggbaby receives. When Mom Mayhem and her boys come to town on a theft spree, Terry has to take them down — while carrying his eggbaby and not letting it come to harm!

Mixing some elements of early Spider-Man into the Batman mythos gives this series a completely different outlook, as Terry deals with his responsibilities as Gotham’s defender while also carrying the load of your average high school student. His double life is complicated in that he has to hide it from his mother (voiced by Teri Garr) and his inquisitive younger brother.

"Batman Beyond" continues a longstanding Warner Brothers tradition of excellent voice casting, pulling in names like Michael McKean, Patton Oswalt, Seth Green, Andy Dick, and vocal chameleon Gary Cole (who voices the synthoid Zeta in the launchpad episode for the spinoff series, The Zeta Project.) Stockard Channing ("Grease") continues her role as Commissioner Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl, who’s become a bit like Bruce himself in her old age, and Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum pops up all over the place playing various characters.

Two of the episodes — "Splicers" and "The Eggbaby" — have an audio commentary track from the producers and voice actor Will Friedle, and disc four contains the continuation of the panel discussion about the series begun on the Season One boxed set.

The episodes are presented in their original full-frame format, with audio in English only. Optional subtitles are available in French and Spanish.

Previews on this set include "Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo", "Superman: Brainiac Attacks", and a clip of the Justice League Heroes videogame.