Underrated show. It also solved the problem of how to do a show about Batman's successor without it sucking for a lack of Bruce Wayne (who, by definition, is the Batmanliest of all possible Batmen).
I was intrigued by an idea floated a while back for a live-action movie version of this with Clint Eastwood (before he became "a director") playing the ancient Bruce Wayne.
I will forever be indebted to Batman Beyond for being the only possible context through which the death of the Joker could be told. And they did it justice.
The italians had a similar intro for Batman TAS, i always wondered ,as a kid, why the italians made their own lame intros for cartoons. The best italian intro is still "sqali della strada".