The Dark Knight moves into the next generationBy Helen Lee, syndicated Jan. 10, 1998 Since his humble beginnings as a comic book character in issue #27 of Detective Comics (DC) in 1939, the Dark Knight has become one of the world's well-known superheroes. And 60 years later in 1999, Batman is entering new territory on ''Batman Beyond,'' which airs a sneak preview on the WB Sunday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. ET. ''We were sort of looking at a logical progression of where Bruce Wayne's character and his life might wind up if he follows the same path that we had set in the animated series,'' says Paul Dini, one of the creators and producers of the show. He's talking about ''Batman: The Animated Series,'' which he, Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett created back in 1992 based on the comic originated by the late Bob Kane. Two years later, Dick Greyson as Robin joined Batman in his crime-fighting lifestyle and the show morphed into ''Batman & Robin.'' The series now airs as part of ''The New Batman/Superman Adventures''; new episodes of that series are still on the way. Each of these different incarnations had a similar tone, though aspects like age and costume design were changed. Now the follow-up to those series is a completely original program, without any ties to the comics, that takes Batman 40 years into the future. It will air in its regular time slot at 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays starting January 23. How's it different from other Batman projects? Well, for one thing, Bruce Wayne is no longer the Dark Knight. Taking on the cowl is Terry McGinnis, a high school senior who inadvertently discovers Wayne, now a hermit in his late 70s or 80s. He also stumbles across Wayne's old secret identity as Batman. After Terry's father is killed, he has a bone to pick with the head of Wayne-Powers enterprises; he has reason to believe that Derek Powers is involved. Wayne won't help him, so he steals the Batman costume and starts a whole new legend. Dini says, ''The idea is that being Batman is sort of a lonely existence and that Bruce Wayne -- however he might deny it to himself -- does need somebody around. He does need an ally. By taking on this new, younger Batman, it sort of brings him out and brings him back into the world again.'' Burnett adds, ''Batman Beyond' is from a teenager's point of view…Terry is one level up from being a street kid. He's very impulsive, he thinks with his fists. He's been in trouble for years, he gets into fights easily, so he's got lessons to learn about how he can hold on to that anger and turn it into the drive to be Batman. He's going to make mistakes, he's going to get into trouble, and there are times when he's going to be his own worst enemy.'' Terry's relationship with Bruce promises to be adversarial at best, and is the focus of the new series. Burnett describes it as ''the relationship of an old samurai to a young samurai who has come to train. ''There's growing respect between the two of them, but there will always be some sort of distance, whether it's just age or a difference in their philosophies toward crimefighting,'' he says. Terry will also have all new criminals to battle -- in the first 13 episodes, only one old supervillain will be featured. The show implies that Batman won a victory against those villains, but at a high cost for himself. Still, Gotham City's criminals have certainly left their mark on the future. For example, the new skinheads of this near-future model themselves after a maniacal, oddly attractive killer -- the Joker. But the new criminals are a completely different breed. Dini explains, ''A lot of the crime formerly found on Gotham streets during the old show have moved into the boardrooms now, and you have big corporations fighting it out for power in Gotham the same way gangsters and criminals would fight for power in the old series. So the corporate boardroom is the new supervillain hideout in our series.'' ''We decided in the future that with all the merging of corporations, they might become citadels of evil after a while,'' adds Burnett. Two of the new enemies featured prominently in the first few episodes are Derek Powers, who gained control of Wayne Enterprises in a hostile takeover, and his female spy Inque. The pilot of ''Batman Beyond'' explains the genesis of the supervillain that Powers becomes. Inque, a shapeshifter, appears as a human female but can dissolve herself into a shadow or a puddle. No locks can keep her out. The new Batman has an old ally in Barbara Gordon, whom fans may recognize as the original Batgirl. The fates of his other friends aren't spelled out. But the biggest weapon Terry has in his arsenal is the new version of the batsuit. It allows Terry to fly, augments his strength so he's 10 times stronger than the old Batman, includes magnets in the boots, special infrared lenses and gloves that transmit sound. It's also partially bulletproof. Burnett says, ''It's partly cybernetic in the fact that its wired with accoutrements that appear just by a flick of the wrist or even a thought.'' More than any wonderful toys, however, it's the conflicted character of both ''Batmen'' that's the main draw of this program. Dini says, ''Batman taps into a primal thing. There's something about Batman, regardless of how grim and dark he gets, that appeals to the kid in you in a way you don't understand. It's like you think, if only I could take care of that kid down the street, get all these gadgets and get anyone who makes you mad…I think that's why people have a fondness for badness.'' 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