The Man Who Watched Batman Volume 1 an in Depth Analysis of Batman, the Animated Series

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The Man Who Watched Batman Volume 1 An In Depth Analysis of Batman, The Animated series.

Written By Ken Johnson

The Following review novel is created under Fair use law’s protection of review. Batman, Batman: the animated Series and all other associated characters, episodes, and trademarked terms and properties are all owned by DC Comics, Warner Bros. animation, Bob Kane and DC animation. Please support the official release.

The opinions expressed in this book are strictly that of its author Ken Johnson and do not represent the feelings or beliefs of creators of either Batman: the animated series, any governing or financially backing companies or peoples thereof, or that of any company publishing or representing The man Who Watched Batman or Deadmen Ink Productions in any way

This book is dedicated to: Jeff and Linda Johnson

Without mom and dad, I can’t even imagine getting this far. Not even close. Scott Greenlee and Travis Steffens I couldn’t ask for better test audiences or better roommates.

My friends and family

Always there to review, bounce ideas off of, and always my biggest fans. Compass college of Cinematic Arts You guys gave me the tools to succeed and I’m happy to say that I made something with them. I’ll never forget the amazing year I spent with all of you.

Batman

You have been an inspiration and a hero to me my whole life. You have always helped define my personality, and I have spent more hours than I can count watching your shows, wearing your T-shirts, and arguing whether or not you’d win in a fight against Superman, Aquaman, or any number of fictional characters. It’s been a rough few years for you, but I know that you’ll bounce back. 3

Sara Rule

Best Girlfriend (and if all goes according to plan, by the time you read this, my wife) I’ve ever had and one of my book’s biggest fans. I even read it to her before she went to sleep as a bedtime story. At first, I was worried that my writing was putting her to sleep, but she insists that’s not the case. She has been my biggest fan for as long as we’ve been together, and I hope she will be for a long time yet. I love you babe.

Special Thanks Dirk Manning, Comfort and Adam, Devin Foether, Travis McIntire, and the Michigan comics collective for all your help getting this book into the shape it’s in today

Listed Below are all the amazing Kickstarter Donors that made this book possible. David Conrad Ryan Lohner Ryan J. Smith Dan Fawaz Amy Weiler William D Ian Brandon Bartlett Justin Prine Calvin Tong Tokyo Girl 07 Frances Ahn Joshua Harris Devin Foether Joseph sampson shayan alam amber Gilbert joshua Hinton Lord_ arm andrew Jensen Michael albani nancy Boardman arnton Gray sean hood Brad Deters Chris Bird Cody Wilson Austin Lehrer Joseph Konsouls Travis Mcntire Brian Erickson Julian Higuerey Nunez Anthony 5

Sebastian Ferguson J.R.Blanton John Abell Steven Neeson Tim Berthold Neil Macinnis Joseph Simon Comfort and Adam

No Joke, without all of the amazing people listed on these last couple of Pages, none of the amazing things accomplished in this book would be even remotely possible. Heck, we wouldn’t even have a book if it wasn’t for you guys. It may have taken me 4 months or so to write it, but to publish it has taken over a year. It would've been indefinitely longer if I didn’t have the help of all of you. So for that, you have my eternal respect and gratitude.

Introduction As cliché as it may sound, there really is not any other way I can start this book other than by answering the big question: Why in the world would I write a book about a children’s superhero show? As a child, I was a huge Batman fan. Most people have a grand memory of the first time they saw their hero. Mine, unfortunately, is not as glamorous. The first time I saw the Caped Crusader was the 1989 Batman… on a tiny little television mounted in the corner of my grandmother’s camper. Even with those poor conditions, I still gained a major fondness for the character and started looking for any source of Batman I could find. That is when I ran into Batman: The Animated series. Now, I was young enough that when I saw ‘89 Batman, I loved the movie, but I had no idea what the heck was going on. I just thought it looked cool. With BTAS, I actually had a shot at learning what it was about, who Batman was, and what he stood for. It became an integral part of my childhood. Of all the nerds in school growing up, I was commonly referred to as the kid who watched a lot of Batman. Eventually I was accepted into Compass College of Cinematic arts. While there, I wanted to find something that would interest me. Something I could watch to both relax and exercise my newfound tools to break down and or appreciate film. When I found out that they were running daytime reruns of BTAS, it seemed like a perfect fit. Watching this show as an adult and as a film school student (alumni at the time of this book’s creation), I was blown away by the level of detail, subtext, character development, and absolute love and care that went into making this series. It was like I was watching a show I had seen a million times, but I had never seen it like this. The amount of impeccable craftsmanship that went into this show, alongside an all-star cast and crew of some of the 7 best writers, directors, and voice actors in the industry, made this show one of the most celebrated animated series in the history of the medium. Winner of numerous daytime Emmy’s, holding the record for the longest multi-show continuity of any animated series, and the winner of Time Magazine’s top 100 animated series of all time. To say that this show has had a large impact is an understatement. This is one of the greatest and most influential shows of all time. In this 4 volume series, I will be analyzing every scene, character, melody, animated sequence, and episode, one by one. I will be your unofficial guide through a journey of animated awesomeness. You ready? Let’s go!

The Gotham Night watch This is a super simple guide I have made to guide you through my guide…. Wow that sounds stupid. It is an easy plan, but I find that if you work this book and series into your routine, you are more likely to avoid this book collecting dust (or lost in a digital trash bin). Step 1. Buy Batman: the Animated Series. There are 4 volumes/seasons in total, and each book in this series is based off of one particular volume. Make sure you buy the right one. If you are a big fan, there is a collector’s edition of all 4 volumes put together. Step 2. Each day, pick a time to regularly watch an episode. Whether you prefer to watch it late night movie style, or like an early morning cartoon, just make it a part of your regular daily routine. Step 3. Read the review of the accompanying episode. I recommend watching the episode in the background as you go, and see what else you find. Trust me, these episodes are good enough to watch twice in a row. Well, most of them… Step 4. Rinse and repeat. Step 5. Did you really just Rinse? Man you’re stupid.

Batman in the Classroom During the production of this book, I was given the opportunity to teach BTAS to a classroom of students. I was welcomed to class for three days to teach an exploratory panel on storytelling and writing to a group of middle school children. The result was beyond anything I could have possibly imagined. I remember writing and story classes in middle school, and for the most part, did not find myself the least bit entertained. It was only in high school that I gained a real appreciation for story. These kids, however, were not expecting so much to be learned from what was to them, an ancient superhero show. I am going off on a limb, but I am going to guess that most of the people reading this book are either comic book fans or fans of superheroes or Batman in general. In this classroom, about half the class did not know who Batman even was, and at least 75 percent did not know his origin or villains, nor had they ever seen a single Batman TV show, episode, or movie. It was both heartbreaking and eye opening. It was only then that it hit me. I was standing in front of an open canvas. I had an opportunity to introduce these kids to Batman without all of the stigma or oversaturation or vile from the outside world. It was my job to be their first impression of one of the greatest superheroes of all time. It was a responsibility I cannot say I considered myself ready for, but a responsibility I had no intention of letting slip away from me. To a group of Kids hearing it for the first time, the idea of a young boy (just about their age in fact), having his parents tragically killed and vowing to use his family’s fortune and resources to become a vigilante by night, dedicated to protecting a city so corrupt it probably does not deserve redemption, sounds pretty awesome. It is easy to let the age of a good thing make is seem cliché and forget that it was, and still is, a great set up for an iconic character. These kids were sitting on the edge of their seats listening to the stories of Batman, Robin, Joker, Two – Face, Poison Ivy,

Harley Quinn, and the rest of the gang. I approached these characters with the kids just as seriously as another classroom would approach Huck Finn. Without them even realizing it, they were learning more in one afternoon than they might in a whole book from a normal classroom. Now I am putting Batman on the level with Huck Finn (that crossover needs to happen by the way). A story you can see and analyze in a single day, rather than a single semester, shows principles of pacing and story construction in a way books just cannot accomplish. I could talk all day about how animation and film need to be welcomed into classrooms both in terms of creation, and for use in story and writing classes, but that is a rant for another time. During my classes, I watched two different episodes: Christmas with the Joker and Harlequinade. During these episodes, I analyzed and dissected them and found that these kids were learning more than they realized. They could not keep their hands down. They were asking questions about shot selection, subtext, writing, and even advanced comic book lore. They were infatuated at how deep a simple kids’ show could go. I was more than happy to answer them, but as you might imagine, that lead to more questions. The episodes took almost an hour and a half to watch with all the questions that were asked and answered, but I was blown away by their engagement. They wanted to see more episodes. They wanted to know where to find more episodes. They wanted to know why they do not play more shows like this on TV. (I’m not making that up to make a point. several kids asked that exact question.) These were exactly the kind of questions we need our new generation asking. I am not saying all modern kids’ television is bad. I would be lying if I said I did not wish it was more like my own childhood, but I understand the mentality as a kid where we felt we did not have control. We only had a handful of channels, and only about 5 or 10 that had stuff we actually wanted. We watched what was on TV because it was there. We watched 11 what we liked more, but we would settle for some crap every now and then because it was all we had. Today’s kids have more options than we could have ever imagined. Kids today have YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and every other video streaming service known to man. Almost the entire history of animation from Steamboat Willie to Superman Vs. The Elite is right at their fingertips. Children’s TV show executives continue to get greedier and lazier and shoot down more and more amazing shows every day, only to replace them with shows that not only do nothing to stretch our minds or imaginations, but stifle our potential for creativity by treating us like children in the worst possible way. They can fight back. They just don’t know it yet. This seemingly endless vault of amazing animated shows like BTAS, Justice League, and many, many more are right at their fingertips, but we need to tell them where to look. We as the mentors of our next generation need to pass the torch and keep the legacy alive. We need to support shows that encourage creativity from kids, not pretend they do not have any. By sharing these with our youth, we can give them the tools they need to create the next generation of amazing shows. Batman: The Animated Series still has plenty to teach our youth, and I am honored I was given the opportunity to inspire those kids and encourage them to expand their creative horizons. Several of them said they wanted to write or direct or just help create stories when they grew up. Who knows? Maybe a kid from that classroom will make a BTAS for the next generation. Only time will tell.

Batman Stories As a reward under the Kickstarter campaign i granted a select few an opportunity to to include their favorite personal Batman story from their lives into the book. These are their stories

David Conrad "I was 6 when Tim Burton's Batman was released in June 1989. That film made me a lifelong Batman fan. Not a day went by for years that I didn't wear the Batman ball cap I had received for my birthday, including a family vacation in Missouri the following year where I begged to go to Marvel Cave. Of course, my sole purpose of going to the cave was to get a glimpse of what the Batcave must look, feel and smell like. The only problem was that my height roughly equaled that of the railing and there were a few places with steep drop offs. I was terrified, not that I would fall down a dark shaft of the cavern and get hurt, but that my prized Batman hat would be lost forever in the dark. Soon enough, in June of 1992, came Batman Returns to complete the one-two Burton punch that appeared to result in Batman: The Animated Series, which is perhaps the greatest American animated series ever made. Fortunately, this all happened in the days before the internet told me they were bad movies. Instead, by the time BTAS came out, I was a 9 year old kid who couldn't get enough of Batman regardless of medium, tone or cast. To me, both then and now, there's plenty of room for all interpretations. Even so, it was a great time to watch Batman without even a hint of cynicism; to be in absolute awe of some of the greatest characters ever made and get to see it weekly so masterfully crafted on Fox. 13

We're now living in a time where comic movies are being made constantly and the Justice League will soon be fully realized on the big screen, but any enthusiasm I may have toward the current lineup cannot begin to compare to being that 9 year old kid, wearing his Batman hat, watching new episodes of BTAS for the very first time and loving every second of it."

Cal Tong I recall seeing batman for the first time on television back in the late 60's. OK, I am giving away my age. The character fascinated me back then and he continues to fascinate me today. For some reason, I can correlate the various times of my life with reading batman comic books, watching batman movies, and appreciating Batman the Animated Series. The show was well written, evoked in me empathy for the characters, and always left me wanting to see more. Thank you for writing this book and taking me back in time when the first series appeared on television.

Amber Gilbert While my story might not be a grand one, it makes me smile a tad. I'm known amongst family and friends as a rather enthusiastic collector of Batman. I watch the movies, the animated series, and have begun reading the comics as I've started to collect them. In my collection I'm proud to say I've several wonderful items given to me out of love such as my blanket and ring, but a few I've purchase myself, including the one most relevant to the story my costume.

Nothing special, just a highly padded gray and black one piece with cape and cowl reminiscent of the animated series. Picked it up one year at a little costume shop that I went to with my family. Sitting in the backseat enjoying a nice ride in October and heading to this shop that popped up that was selling Halloween goodies. Naturally this was to be an excellent shopping spree of novelty and macabre delight in and of itself, when low and behold we were being waved into the parking lot.

Guess who it is yet? The caped crusader himself was waving us in. Now obviously I know hopping up and down in my seat and giggling was a bit over the top even for my strong personality but I don't know, I was merely tickled pink. So much so that I even waved to him a few times until he noticed. Most awkward wave back I've ever received. But at least I can say a rather confused Batman was probably laughing to himself at the over eager 20 something smiling and waving at him like he was the character himself. Joseph Ahn It’s popular to say “it’s just for kids, its okay if it’s stupid.” But smart entertainment is important. It’s important for children, it’s important for adults, and it’s important for children who revisit those same stories as adults. No matter what changes have happened in my life, Batman is a character that has always stayed with me, and BTAS has been the version most influential in my life When I was a wee child, around the age of seven or eight, my father sat me down and showed me the wonders of the Tim Burton Batman movies. Though born in the United States, our family had relocated temporarily to Seoul, Korea when my grandfather had unexpectedly past away. Perhaps this was his way of re-immersing me into, Americana because as 15 the opening credits rolled he said to me, “superheroes are America’s mythology.” I sometimes wonder that had my father known how much of an obsession Batman would become for me later on in my life if he would have been more or less eager to show me those movies. Watching the Burton movies are strong memories of my childhood in suburban California. Almost as much as the memories of me hoping my mom wouldn’t have to run errands with me after school so we could go straight home and I could catch Batman the Animated Series on TV. The only toy I remember trying to collect from McDonalds were the Batman toy set and I would subsequently get into a huge fight with a girl in my elementary school because she had the nerve to argue with me that my Batgirl figure was Catwoman. Seriously, why would Catwoman have a bat symbol on her chest? As time went on Batman would reemerge in different forms throughout my life; sometimes as the doofy 60’s series with Adam West other times strange bizarre recreations such as All-Stars. Some were completely nonsensical, such as being cast as Raul from Phantom of the Opera- if you must check it out for yourself its called Batman: Masque.

And as Batman was changing, so was the way I was seeing the world around me. I started to realize my school saw me more as a stereotype of an Asian person than what my grades or even talking with me actually reflected. The religion I was taught was loving and all-embracing showed itself to be full of hate, ignorance and fear-mongering. And friends were as transitory and unreliable as any adult. And all the while I was changing, from care-free and trusting, to cynical, bitter and ultimately self-loathing. Sadly, common changes in a teenager realizing they are Trans.

I was depressed for most of my teenage and young adulthood. I still deal with extreme anxiety and struggle with bouts of depression. And strangely enough, it was a 90’s cartoon and its title character that became my beacon of hope. When the DVD’s were released I relived stories that reminded me about what I loved about my hero, and more importantly that at a certain time I believed I could be like that hero. The difference became the “how” of it. BTAS was and is revolutionary for a great many reasons: the voice acting, the orchestra, the use of colors, filmic techniques, hell the fact that they had non-English speaking characters speak their native language and use subtitles instead of badly accented English. In fact of all the cartoons I revisited, it has the most dignified representation of race, gender and queer cast members you can find from that time. It was often even more progressive than the mainstream movies coming out these days. But what makes me return to the series, over and over, was that they told incredibly human stories. Stories about a larger than life super-hero who is allowed to have moments of highs and lows, be vulnerable and strong, even sometimes right and wrong. And by reliving those stories again and again it helped me use fiction to face my ugly reality and inspired me to find the courage or creativity to face my world. Being like Batman no longer became about wearing the cape and cowl, it became about finding the motivation to overcome overwhelming sadness, finding the strength to be kind in the face of human cruelty, and summoning the diligence to persevere through pain.

Sometimes fiction is more powerful than the truth you live. In the real world people who we think of as heroes can let you down. Heroes of our fiction don’t go away. They are reborn 17 with each knew telling, and each revisit, and as a society and as individuals coming back to our stories to revise, retell and reinterpret them is important. Because as we change, or stories change with us, and sometimes we retell a story in a way that speaks to more people, more powerfully than ever before. And when we come back to these kinds of stories of childhood we relearn the indomitable spirit to change the world that we forget as adults.

Table of Contents

● 4 Special Thanks & Dedication ● 6 Introduction ● 8 Gotham Night watch ● 9 Batman in the Classroom ● 13 Batman Stories ● 23 Opening Theme and First impressions ● 23 On Leather Wings ● 27 Christmas with the Joker ● 33 Nothing to Fear ● 40 The Last Laugh ● 45 Pretty Poison ● 54 The Underdwellers ● 60 P.O.V. ● 69 The Forgotten ● 82 Be a Clown ● 92 Two - Face ● 111 It’s Never Too Late ● 119 I’ve Got Batman in My Basement ● 130 Heart of Ice ● 145 Cat and Claw ● 160 See No Evil ● 170 Beware the Gray Ghost! ● 181 Prophecy of Doom ● 188 Feat of Clay ● 199 Joker’s Favor ● 208 Vendetta ● 213 Fear of Victory ● 221 The Clock King ● 230 Appointment in Crime Alley ● 238 Mad as a Hatter ● 248 Dreams in Darkness ● 258 Season in Retrospect

First Impressions and Opening Theme As this is my review of the Batman Animated Series, this is most likely the best time to talk about the opening theme. For several animation critics, this is seen as one of the best themes in the history of animation. A big reason for this is because the main function of any opening credits sequence is to convince your audience to watch the rest of the show. It is the audience’s first impression of the show as a whole. This opening does an incredible job by highlighting many of the themes and prominent attractions the show has to offer. The First thing that grabs you immediately in this opening is the art style. For anyone who has seen a great deal of television from the 80′s or 90′s, you will notice there is a shortage of shows animated in this style. The world of animation was pulling away from the fantastically color coded era of He Man, Thundercats, G.I. Joe, etc. Moving into the 90′s, most shows were moving towards a more surreal, yet still unrealistic, style of happy animation. For reference, now cult following shows like Animaniacs, Ren and Stimpy, and The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, were all on their original run. So the idea that a TV series that was made in a Chiaroscuro, Art Deco, Dark and Ominous animation style (while it fits the tone of the show), is quite abnormal compared to what was considered popular at the time. The music is just as striking. While the music for the series is from composer Shirley Walker, the opening theme is composed by Danny Elfman. Elfman is best known for his works as the lead composer of Tim Burton’s Oeuvre, and at the release of this series, best known for the Score to Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. (Of which quite a bit of this show is influenced by, but we will get to that.) One of the main reasons this is important is that the five notes of Batman's melody from the movie (bum ba dum baaaaa duuum) is featured quite prominently in this series as a whole. The theme is striking, dark, and will be stuck in your

20 head until you are ninety. It lines up with the on screen action of the opening perfectly. Speaking of which, unlike most main themes that sing a synopsis of the show and show off all of the characters the series will explore, this theme contains no lyrics. Despite the enormous selection of characters in this series, Batman himself is the only main character of to be featured in this theme. The story of the theme follows Batman as he tracks down a duo of bank robbers and leaves them for the police to pick up as he disappears to the top of a skyscraper. That’s it. Very simple and streamline, yet the way they animate it is so fast paced and moving, you get a real sense of how Batman is viewed in this series. Throughout the theme you do not see Batman. You see the shadow of Batman; the legend of Batman. It is as if we are actually seeing Batman the way the thugs would see him: A quick glimpse of a large, frightening creature lurking in the shadows, stalking their every move. In fact, all characters are seen in this matter. The theme contains almost no faces. Mainly chiaroscuro outlines of characters presented in silhouettes. Only a brief glimpse of Batman’s face is given before the ending as he takes down our bank robbers. Then right as that epic theme picks back up on those five notes, we pan up to see Batman perched on a skyscraper, heroically portrayed in silhouette, cape blowing in the wind, only to be illuminated by a lightning bolt striking behind him on the final note (of which I literally just now discovered was a reference to the cover of Frank Miller’s Iconic Comic: The Dark Knight Returns). All that from one minute of animation. As a child, I remember watching that theme, and when that lightning bolt flashed, and I saw him for the first time, I thought to myself “Yeah. That’s Batman.” That opening theme became my earliest impression of how I saw, appreciated, critiqued, and understood Batman. In that 60 seconds, I learned Batman was a character who used shadows and fear as his greatest weapons, He did not 21 kill. He fought for justice. To many, he was not seen as a man. He was a myth; a legend. He was simply: Batman.

BTAS #1 On Leather Wings

Directed by Kevin Altieri Written by Mitch Brian

Kevin Altieri directed the opening episode of the series. Altieri directed 22 episodes of the series and has directed an episode here and there on several other shows before and after. As the reviews go on, I will make mention of more patterns in his style of directing in comparison to others, but it is worth mentioning that Altieri is predominantly an art-focused director. He mainly focuses his career in storyboard design and animation. Outside of Batman, one of his most recognizable credits would be his work as the sequential storyboard designer of the animated epic aptly titled: Dante’s Inferno: an Animated Epic, and as director of more than half the episodes of the late 80′s animated show: C.O.P.S Moving on to the actual series, the impact of this episode is that this is the first time we are seeing a lot of these characters (a theme that will carry through most of the first season). Technically, the first repeating character we are introduced to is the villain ManBat. I was worried at first that this was going to be a drawn out “mistaken identity” plot, but considering Batman’s hidden identity to the world at large, it makes sense that second hand accounts by the police force might mistake him for Batman. They make it very clear to the audience that it is not Batman. Commissioner Gordon, who has been watching Batman for some time now, intelligently recognizes the break-ins from Manbat do not fit Batman’s profile. Commissioner Gordon is established very clearly in this pilot. He is assertive, but not headstrong. Gordon is skilled, calculated, and openly and strongly voices his opinion to the mayor when Bullock suggests making a task force to take Batman out. While other characters 23 on the police force seem to operate on an “any means necessary” mentality, Gordon tries to keep the peace whenever possible. In many interpretations, Gordon is the representation of hope amidst the criminal infested town he is sworn to protect, and that holds true in his introduction. Bullock however, is in many regards the headstrong, shoot first, ask questions later counter to Gordon’s heroism. Bullock is by no means a bad guy (many episodes later on show how good of a guy he can be), but his methods in this episode are very much to Gordon’s disliking. Gordon and Bullock start the series on an organized quest to take Batman down. We know from later in the series Gordon learns to trust Batman, but both are introduced to the show as enemies (not villains, enemies). We see a brief appearance of Bullock, Dent, and the Mayor, but neither gives much character development until they are fleshed out in future episodes. Surprisingly, the Bat Cave is not given a grand introduction in the pilot. Not to say it doesn’t look cool, but they do not introduce it with a big sweep over or really try to show if off. It is just there. The machines in the bat cave are designed very closely to the machines from the Adam West TV Show. Not really that unique to their use, mostly large metal boxes with random buttons, flashing lights and for no apparent reason, a film reel. No seriously, I have no idea why it is there. Anyway, Alfred starts off the series with his trademark humor. Because Alfred has been taking care of Bruce Wayne since childhood, he is one of the very few characters in the show that feels comfortable enough to rip on Batman/Bruce Wayne, and he does not waste that ability. What is weird about this episode, is the first shot of Batman in the entire show: him sitting in front of the bat computer casually reading the newspaper. Not exactly the most powerful opening image, but he does better at that later in the episode. Batman very quickly establishes his mastery and preference for gadgets in this episode as he uses several to break into a crime scene to investigate the workings of the Manbat. He takes a

24 wing sample and an audio recording to a group of scientists. At first glance, the overly bat obsessed, introverted professor seems like the obvious pick for the Manbat, but as we find out later, is merely a red herring. This scene is the first we get to hear the “Bruce Wayne persona.” Voice actor Kevin Conroy has a very distinct and iconic sound to both his Batman and Bruce Wayne personas to disguise his identity effectively. Both feel incredibly organic. Wayne’s voice is calm, smooth and higher pitched, while Batman’s is much lower, slightly coarser, and he often speaks a tad slower. He displays a much laid back attitude and interestingly in the scene, actually plays dumb when science jargon gets thrown around to conceal his supreme intelligence. When Batman does research of his own, he finds the doctors have been lying in order to conceal that one of the other researchers is actually the Manbat. Now at the core design of the character, Manbat was created as a Jekyll and Hyde archetype, and despite the number of times I have seen that done, I think this one does a good job making it work. The man has total knowledge of the creature and is tortured by the creature’s influence. The main problem for him comes when Manbat is able to learn the chemical formula that makes him transform and force him into changing. There is not much to be said for the design of Manbat. He looks fine, but overall is just your standard giant bat creature. The closest comparison I can find is a slightly less scary version of Rothbart’s final form from The Swan Princess. (Yes. I grew up watching The Swan princess. Get over it.) Batman’s final fight still follows the more tactical feel of the whole episode as he uses grappling hooks and other gadgets to stop ManBat, rather than just pummeling him. In fact, Batman does not throw a single punch the entire episode, and the episode remains intense. Batman uses the Bat Computer to help change him back to normal and returns him to the other scientists to keep an eye on him as he recovers. 25

On the whole, this episode functions as a pretty good introduction to the themes and characters of the Batman universe, but Manbat does not quite hold up as well as the villain to start the whole thing off. One of the greater symbolisms of Batman is that all of his villains are representations of varying mental triggers or pieces of his psyche. If Manbat was supposed to represent the duality of his split life and how it affects him on a deeper level, it is lost in translation here. On a positive note, this opening episode does succeed on introductions. This episode is filled with firsts. The first grappling hook, the first bat mobile take off, the first bad guy taken down, etc. Characters are introduced clearly and in memorable ways. Even a great deal of the throw away characters are memorable. Several side characters that only exist in this episode are still given personality and characterization leaving an impact even if they have less than a minute of screen time. This pilot clearly prepares you for the tone, characters, and themes of the show at large. Next we will examine the first of the major villains and the introduction of the boy wonder.

BTAS #2 Christmas with The Joker

Directed by Kent Butterworth Written by Eddie Gorodetsky

It goes without saying that Mark Hamill is one of the most influential actors to ever portray The Joker. He has played the role more times than any other performer. He has influenced countless other actors in their portrayals and has become the gold standard on which all other portrayals of this character are judged. Hamill’s Joker is known as one of the scariest and most intense versions of the character, scaring countless children (myself included) speechless. He is without a doubt one of the most revolutionary actors to ever play what is known as one of the most iconic Villains in the history of modern Fiction. This is what makes it all the more hilarious that this iconic character was introduced to the world singing “Jingle bells Batman smells” while escaping from Arkham riding on a rocket powered Christmas tree. I could not make that up if I tried. In the series, there is quite a bit of experimentation in the early episodes trying to pin down the tone. In particular, the tone of the Joker. Playing it on the safe side, the early version of the joker was played a lot like the Caesar Romero Joker of the 1960′s: a well-crafted character, but safely on the campy side. It would make sense that they would have this episode directed by Kent Butterworth, the show runner of the popular The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. I do not mind the campier approach in the early episodes as much as some others might. For me, part of the fun of the Joker is just how varied his personality can be within one interpretation. If it were not for 27 differences in actors or mediums, I would love to theorize that all Jokers are actually just one character with a very malleable and frantic personality. Anyway, on with the episode. After Joker’s escape, Batman and Robin go out to patrol Gotham looking for him. Robin only appears in certain episodes in the series, and it can be unclear why. Story wise, many people believe this is because the show is said not to take place linearly, but that is a can of worms I do not plan on opening. For now, let us look at the character. Dick Grayson, AKA Robin, is Batman’s trusted ward. He is the moral compass that keeps the Dark Knight in check, always looking after his partner and protecting him from everyone he can, occasionally, even himself. Robin is more spirited, optimistic, and often quicker to action than Batman. The differences in personality and age make for some great banter and character development throughout the series. Robin is a character that a lot of creative minds overlook, but this series is solid evidence of how well this character can work. Robin tries to convince Batman he has nothing to worry about. “Not even the Joker would pull something on Christmas Eve.” He makes a bet with him that if they do not find the Joker, they will head back and watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” (more on that later). Gotham on Christmas seems cheerful, but oddly scarce. A few passing townspeople, a bell ringer, and the night is quiet. For Batman, too quiet. There is a scene in this episode that I really like where Batman almost attacks who he believes to be a mugger, but who is actually picking up a package dropped by a little old lady. I find the scene works so well in this episode because not only does it give Robin a chance to take a jab at Batman for overreacting, it gives a sense that there are in fact still good people in a city as run down as Gotham. In many ways, this is an episode about Batman looking at the good in the world, and this scene is one of the first great examples of that.

After sitting down with a bowl of popcorn, Dick makes a quick jab at Bruce, comparing him to “It’s a Wonderful Life” (once again, I’ll get to this at the end). Joker interrupts the broadcast and makes his threat to Batman and the city of Gotham in the form of an unsettling parody of old staged TV Christmas specials. Joker has an oddly colored Christmas sweater and sits around a set with a fireplace and a raggedy Christmas tree. Joker has kidnapped Commissioner Gordon, Bullock, and an unnamed woman (I am going to assume the woman is Gordon’s wife, but I am not sure), and he has tied them up and gagged them with candy canes. Joker threatens to kill them if Batman cannot find them by midnight. Batman quickly deduces the location of the Joker and he and Joker race their way to Joker’s location, but before Batman can get there, he is interrupted by a message from an unknown broadcasting signal. Later in this series, we will be introduced to Harley Quinn, Joker’s greatest accomplice, and one of the most famous characters to come out of this show. Now we are going to take a brief look at a much, MUCH less known accomplice: Laffy, the helpful little elf. Now before I go forward, I must confess that Laffy is a hand puppet (and by that I mean a puppet made out of his hand), but I must admit, I really like this guy. They tend to use him for some of the darker moments in the episode to make them seem more acceptable (even when they tend to come off more dark). Laffy tells Batman they have only minutes to save the Gotham Train after the railway. I bring this scene up because I like the way he saves the people on the train more realistically. He is not Superman, so he cannot just lift the train and be done with it. I love the fact that they do not come up with some convoluted way to stop the train. He can’t. Batman and Robin work together to save all the passengers. Robin disconnects the passenger cars, and Batman saves the conductor. The train goes up in a fiery explosion. 29

Batman and Robin climb to the top of Mt. Gotham, only to discover it was actually a trap the whole time. Here is where Joker goes from clever and funny, to a scary criminal mastermind. Joker replaces the city observatory telescope with a full size cannon. The cannon starts firing at Batman while Robin slips inside. A dozen full size Joker robots with machine guns for fingers greet Robin. Batman and Robin disable both enemies, and Joker gives them a clue to his actual location that Batman quickly solves. Now in what is by far his second finest moment in this episode, Joker sets a record player inside his base to play music from the Nutcracker. During the music, he commands 30-foot tall nutcracker soldiers and helicopter toys flying through the sky. Batman knocks the planes out of the sky with a baseball bat, and Robin makes a pun so obvious I am not even going to type it out. Joker’s finest moment comes when he reveals he has his hostages hoisted by a rope and pulley above a boiling pot of what the cartoon world would consider lava (probably melted iron). He requests Batman open his present, or he will cut them all loose. Batman opens the present, Joker’s final objective and master plan incarnate. What does he find? A crème pie. No, I am not kidding. A normal crème pie. Batman is quick to throw the gag aside and easily defeats Joker. Our episode ends with Bruce and Dick finally watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Looking back at the episode, I think the relevance in “It’s a Wonderful Life” is in the idea of a man looking out, seeing his own impact, and having a feeling of usefulness. There are defined moments in this episode that imply Batman occasionally losing his faith, or at least his love of Gotham. After all the years of seeing the worst of Gotham, it would be easy to lose hope for making a difference. Robin describes “It’s a Wonderful Life” as “realizing the impact one man can have on a city.” I can definitely see how getting Joker back behind bars and seeing good people in Gotham can give him a glimmer of hope.

Dick: I guess it really is a wonderful life Bruce: (smiles) It has its moments. The animation takes a much more consistent and flowing feel in this episode, and everything looks sharper and smoother. The Christmas elements also make the art style pop on a level that rings a sense of cheer underneath the darkness. The tone of this episode is one of surprisingly balanced opposites. The happy moments are happier and the dark moments are darker than you might expect. It is the first episode that hints towards some of the darker adult themes we will be investigating in the later episodes. Shirley Walker’s music is as brilliant as ever. The intricate way that Jingle Bell’s and Nutcracker melodies are intertwined into the score make for an episode that feels just as much Christmas as Batman. Joker is by far the show stealer of the episode. They go out of the way to establish he is just as hilarious as he is terrifying and intelligent. A lot of people forget sometimes that Joker is not a genius by any stretch, but he is still very smart. He did manage to trick Batman after all. The thing I love most about his goal in this episode is the idea he did all of it just for a Christmas pie in the face. To be fair, that is not the craziest thing he has done in this series, but it is up there. Even if you do not go with that as his plan, he implies earlier in the episode his plan was to make an army of building sized Betty Boop spoof dolls and send them out to destroy the city of Gotham. I think the pie was a slight bit more practical. The pie establishes one of the most important aspects of the Joker. He is one of the only villains that do not want Batman dead. Joker enjoys the cat and mouse game too much to let Batman die, a theme that is examined much deeper in the episode “The Man Who Killed Batman.” This episode is where I really feel the tone and characters of the Batman universe hit their stride, a momentum this series carries consistently into future episodes. “Christmas with the Joker” is not one of the absolute best episodes, but it is one of 31 the best character introduction episodes and one of many great episodes of a spectacular show.

BTAS#3 Nothing to Fear

Directed by Boyd Kirkland Written by Henry T. Gilroy and Sean Catherine Derek

I said in my last review that this series gets darker and tackles more adult themes as it goes on, but I did not expect that to take off so quickly. Nothing to fear begins with Bruce Wayne being chastised by a museum dean in an elevator. He is angry with Bruce for allegedly ruining the name Wayne. He argues that Wayne now just stands for the overgrown ego of an immature playboy. He even states he is glad Thomas Wayne is already dead, so he does not have to die of shame. Harsh words for sure, and the scene clearly shows how much Bruce is hurt by his words. The university is broken into by our third recurring villain, the Scarecrow of this series is one of the more intellectual villains. He is intelligent, has clear goals, and his fear gas is of his own invention. As is the trademark of his character, Scarecrow fires a nerve gas that causes people to hallucinate their worst fears. In the case of the security guard, he hallucinates himself covered from head to toe with red spiders. Although they are far from the first to convey things this way, I love how they show both the onlookers sight of his madness and what he sees. It helps drive home the paranoia when nobody else can see what is causing his freak-out. This is also one of the first episodes that delve into the variety of crimes committed in this show. Most shows keep very clear and usually non-consequential plans (taking over the world, mind control, thwarted destruction). This show not only shows an incredible variety of high crimes, but a large number 33 of these crimes come with either collateral damage or success. This series does explore global take over plots, but it also tackles kidnapping, arson, robbery, eco terrorism, nuclear terrorism, police corruption, mob violence, blackmail, political centrifuge, and in a strange but hilarious joker episode, copyright fraud. (There might be others, but we must move on.) Scarecrow plans to burn down the university from the inside with gas canisters, but Batman shows up to stop him, smart man that he is, wearing a gas mask. Scarecrow is smarter than he looks, however, and hits Batman with a dart containing the same serum. I is a dosage that seems less consistent but longer lasting (probably due to the delivery method). After staggering around the room, Batman manages to grab a piece of fabric from Scarecrow’s mask before he collapses to the floor. Out of the flames, Batman sees his father calling out to him, ashamed of how he has failed him and disgraced the family name. Sprinklers in the building put out the flames, but in the seconds before they are extinguished, Thomas’s face appears as a fire demon screaming before being put out soon after. The police come to investigate the case, but Batman gets away. Scarecrow explains his origins to his lackeys. It is at this moment I realize how truly dark his origin is. Jonathan Crane was a professor at the university teaching psychology. He was always interested in phobias and would even scare girls with live snakes as a child just to get a reaction. Once he becomes a lead professor, Crane begins to experiment with human subjects. He locks a woman in a room with hundreds of live insects, and a man in a room with gas pumped into it and large rats crawling up his body. Now this is creepy on its own, but two things make it much darker. #1. As a kids show, this is one of several instances where symbolism is used to represent how much more dark or villainous a character is than what they can show on screen. #2. When Crane examines his subjects, it is while walking down an extremely long hallway filled with

34 symmetrical doors and rooms. It is fair to imply he has dozens of these such subjects trapped inside of these rooms with who knows what other of their deepest fears: snakes, fire, bats, dangerous animals, and all forms of psychological torture. Who knows where his madness might end? Luckily, the university kicked him out. Crane seeks to take his revenge on the university by destroying it. Bruce sits, sleep deprived and still poisoned, in the Bat Cave. We see a split second of a Wayne Corp. car ad. He continues analysis on Scarecrow’s mask, but so far sees nothing. Bruce confronts Alfred about his visions of his father, and Alfred responds with one of the most heartfelt statements of the series: “Bruce, I know your father would be proud of you, because of how much I am proud of you.” This is the first instance of the show where they touch on Alfred’s true importance in this show. Alfred is far more than just a butler. To Bruce, he is a surrogate father and one of the most influential people in his life. In this version of the show, Alfred is one of very few non-vigilante characters that Bruce trusts in knowing his true identity (other characters know, but outside of Robin and Batgirl, they find out on their own). The head professor of the university is throwing a charity gala, but it is crashed by Scarecrow and his fears. When he is hit with gas, he sees himself with arms of a skeleton. I find it interesting he fears mortality. He is the only character (besides Bruce) that does not have a fear that is immediately dangerous. Everyone else starts cowering and panicking over his or her individual fears. The way they chose to portray the fears vaguely really helps sell the panic. Saying things like “Get them away from me!” paints a mysterious picture where you get to decide what their fears are. Batman comes to crash the party, but the other patrons attack him (my guess is it’s because of Batman’s different poison). Scarecrow tries to get away via a blimp, but Batman grabs onto a tube of fear gas that was connected. Scarecrow sends a lackey to fight Batman, but their fight punctures the 35 blimp with bullet holes, and the blimp hits a building. Now I admit it is a small thing, but compared to other shows, I am really glad this show actually has an understanding of how a blimp works. Most other shows, of this or previous decades, would portray a blimp like a balloon rather than having a skeleton inside. Batman’s fear toxin hits him once again. This time Thomas’s full body shows up in the sky with glowing red eyes calling Bruce a disgrace. Bruce denies the illusion, and Thomas transforms into a skeleton with crooked teeth, a black cloak, and vampiric claws. In his denial, Batman states the most iconic catchphrase of the series: “I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman.” (I will be going over Batman’s mantra in its own segment.) Batman takes out one of Scarecrow’s henchmen who is hit with a fear dart. The animation is quite beautiful as we see his fear of incarceration materialized through claustrophobia. He panics as prison walls close in on him until he jumps out window of the blimp. If not for this being a kid show, it would have killed him. Scarecrow seizes this opportunity and escapes on a makeshift plane attached to the blimp, leaving Batman to save the professor from the exploding blimp that is smashing into the side of a skyscraper (a scene that never would have made it on the air in modern day). Batman now takes samples of the fear gas to identify Crane as Scarecrow, and he comes up with a plan to defeat him. Batman uses Crane’s fear gas against him, turns all of the lights out, and becomes Crane’s biggest fear. At first, Batman appears as an abnormally large bat with an overly real face. As he approaches Scarecrow, Batman appears as a large blue demon towering over him. Batman delivers Scarecrow spinning on Gordon’s ceiling fan for what I am sure is a peace offering towards their alliance in later episodes. The episode ends with Bruce paying respects to his parents, but as he leaves, you see the shadow of the Batman.

The exact meanings of this episode’s two main illusions are difficult to understand for sure. To an extent, Thomas Wayne can be interpreted as a grim reaper to Bruce, as he would blame himself for his father’s death. The idea of that familiar character from his past coming to claim his soul and take him to whatever punishment waits for him. The way that Thomas reaches for him are almost like hands of fate trying to influence Bruce to go somewhere with him. Christian themes are not uncommon in this series, and this will not be the only version of a reaper seen either. What then is the creature that Crane sees Batman as? Looking past just being a scary creature, one could interpret it as looking similar to the blue demon Chernobog, after the god of evil in Slavonic mythology. It was popularized in the original Fantasia in “Night on Bald Mountain.” Assuming the creature is intended to be a blue demon, what then is Crane’s biggest fear? Is it of supernatural beings? Or it could be a much darker and more possible one: a fear that his horrible experiments, schemes, and psychological warfare will lead him to a very true and Painful damnation with Batman as his own Grim Reaper. As Batman carts Scarecrow away to Arkham asylum, Crane sees himself in the arms of a black and blue demon dragged to the pits of Hell. This episode is one of the best origins stories of the series. That is saying a lot considering there are a lot of good ones. Crane is quickly established as crazy smart, intimidating, psychotic, and resourceful. Unlike Joker, his motives are not random. They are incredibly personal, which would normally make him more relatable if it were not for the whole human lab rats as torture victims thing. Although only a few notes long, Scarecrow is given a great theme. Wispy, dark and mostly flutes, it is as if it’s meant to represent blowing leaves on an autumn Halloween night. Scarecrow’s overall design is not drop dead scary, but I do not think it is meant to be. His character is about illusions, and 37 ending the episode with him mask-less lets you always remember he is just a man in a costume. The Arkham Villain Theory is an idea myself and several other bat fans share that all Batman villains are supposed to be representations of different aspects of Batman’s inner psychological structure. This will be a tool I will frequently use to analyze villains. It goes without saying that Scarecrow is a representation of Batman’s fear. Just as Scarecrow is behind his illusion of fear, he is merely a man in mask, and so is Batman. They share a “man behind the curtain” mentality that shows the true mortality of their fragile personas. This is the first episode in the series that brings Bruce’s father up in detail, and it will not be the last where he will appear as a manipulative representation of Bruce’s psyche. In fact, this is the first episode where Bruce Wayne begins to be fleshed out as a separate character. Although the Batman/Bruce Wayne origin is not discussed until later, this is our first look at Bruce’s lingering guilt over his parents’ death. This episode was a very good first outing for the scarecrow. For a person that did not pay attention to him before, I sure as hell am now.

BTAS #4 The Last Laugh

Directed by Kevin Altieri Written by Carl Swenson

This series has the potential for incredibly deep and dark stories that can examine character and theme on a very adult level. This is not one of those episodes, but I am okay with that. This show does a good job of balancing its dark tones with episodes that are less introspective character pieces, but rather swashbuckling Saturday morning fun with Batman, and there is nothing wrong with that in my book. (I honest to God did not even notice the pun until after the book was created.) Setting the framing of the episode, we open on April Fools Day. A barge comes through the center of Gotham River near the docks. A fog of green fumes plume through Gotham’s dock district. This is the first instance of Joker’s Laughing gas. The exact effects of Joker’s laughing gas have changed a few times throughout Hamill’s run, but I like to think that he changes the chemicals every now and then to find out what works. At this stage in the series, it begins to cause patrons of Gotham to laugh uncontrollably. One case even includes a truck driver driving off a lifted bridge into the barge (bailing out at the last minute). Alfred tries to get in the spirit of the holiday by “drawing a bath” with a pen and paper. Not really responding, Bruce more or less ignores him, jumps inside the shower, and asks Alfred to turn on the radio. I find it kind of fitting that Bruce still has working radios despite being in an age where television is commonplace (time period is a strange thing in this show). A large part of Bruce’s mansion is very old fashioned and traditional. I think this is partly because he likes to keep it the same in memory of his parents. The radio tells him about the gas, and he quickly jumps into action to find the culprit. 39

Joker uses a submarine to grab the gold bricks that were transferred in the sunken van. He lets the gas spread through a larger section of Gotham as he pretties himself up to face the town. (He even put perfume on as deodorant.) I waited until this episode to cover Joker’s appearance. This is the episode where his look starts to gain consistency. Many of the more iconic elements of the character stay true in this version: the color palette of green, yellow, and purple, the suit gloves, etc. The main change is his over accented eye makeup that gives him a bandit mask look. I really like how his eyes and teeth are colored yellow. Not only does this solve the problem of making his eyes pop against his white skin, it also makes him look menacing. Also you can tell that joker has the chemical origin as his white skin is over his whole body and not just his face and neck. The barge of gasses opens up, and Joker’s goons pile out of it, comically strolling shopping carts. Hilariously, Joker actually goes the entire episode wearing a space helmet to keep out of the gas. While everyone else cannot seem to stop laughing, Joker and his goons rob the whole city of purses and jewels. They even pick up a man and shake him as his money falls out. Batman sends out a weather balloon to examine the gas. The Bat Computer says the effects are not permanent, but prolonged exposure may cause permanent mental hysteria. After Batman hears laughing from upstairs, he sees Alfred laughing out of control and attacking the living room with a broom until he collapses to the floor. As Batman goes out to find the Joker, we get our first glimpse of the Bat Boat. It is not used often in this show, but it does look cool. It is a streamlined dark blue that blends well into the water, and its enclosed cockpit suggests it might be able to be submerged. A news report shows how the laughing gas is affecting everyone and that Joker’s money was stolen immediately from the stock market. The exact imagery of the scene combined

40 with the mass hysteria paint a picture to show the laughing gas is actually being used as a metaphor for the Black Tuesday Great Depression panic. In particular, people hanging out of their windows laughing intensely, matched with people emptying offices and throwing stuff out the windows. Morbid subtext to be sure. Joker peeks around at Gotham through the periscope of his submarine, and we get a funny old timey gag of Batman appearing in his view and Joker having to double take. Joker and his goons pile out to fight the caped crusader. Joker sends his two masked goons to fight Batman, but it works out about as well as you would think it would work out. Joker then sicks his final goon on Batman, but when Batman punches “Captain Clown,” he discovers he is actually a self- moving robot with super strength. He grabs Batman, spins him in circles, and drops him in a special container of Joker’s design. Joker comically stabs the container to “make some air holes” and then throws it into the barge. The container quickly fills with water and sinks. On his escape, Joker makes a Casablanca reference. It does not have to do with anything; I just think it is kind of neat. In order free himself from the container, Batman uses his remote tie in control of the Bat Boat to command a laser that cuts it in half. I am going to assume the boat can see him with infrared imaging and knows not to hit him. Otherwise Batman would have died Darth Maul style. Batman jumps back into action, but once again, is no match for Captain Clown. I love Captain Clown’s design and movement. His face is designed to look like one of those clown faces you throw skee balls at in the carnival. His movement is menacing as hell too, halfway between Frankenstein and a Terminator. Speaking of Terminator, Batman keeps wailing on him with a piece of rebar, but to no real effect other than knocking off his face to reveal a robot skeleton. Batman pushes him into a trash compactor (this terminator stuff is looking very intentional) and crushes him into a cube. 41

Joker gets really upset that Batman killed Captain Clown and drops a bucket of trash on him. Then he rides Captain Clown’s corpse cube to the incinerator. On the way, we see a very menacing shot of Joker smiling with no dialogue. I bring this up because this five-second scene is used in a lot of visual representations of the character. Batman and Joker chase each other all over the building swinging on hooks, sliding down garbage chutes, etc. They both end up on a catwalk above the main incinerator. This is also the first time we see Joker’s trademark razorblade playing cards (even though they don’t work very impressively). At first Glance, there is not much to be said about the catwalk, but its framing with Batman and Joker very closely resembles the settings of the original Red Hood incident that turned him into the joker in Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke,” and the chemical plant scene with Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman Masterpiece. (I’m sorry. I just really love that movie.) Joker tries to run away, but trips on wire and finds himself dangling over the edge. Joker screams, “Come on Batman! You wouldn’t let me fry!” Batman actually takes a second, smiles, and pretends to think about it. Joker calls out to him again. Translation: “Oh come on I’m not kidding. Help me up already.” Batman helps him up. Alfred cleans up a priceless vase he broke while gassed, and Bruce says he can take it out of his salary for the next couple years. Alfred hangs his head in shame until Bruce says, “Alfred. April Fools.” It may seem that I did not enjoy this episode based on the fact that I did not extrapolate much from it, but that is far from the case. It is just a much more casual kind of enjoyment. I may not have gone deep into Joker’s backstory, but the episode is filled with one liners, puns, and zingers, most of which made me laugh. The action is fast paced, and Captain Clown helps stir up the combat from the typical goons who usually get thrown around.

Both of the Joker episodes so far end with the idea that Bruce is learning to lighten up a bit, but I have yet to see that theme progress in further episodes. My only real complaint for the episode is that it never really drives home a large sense of danger. They say that the gas has long-term effects, but with no ticking clock and no explanation for the gas wearing off, it is hard to feel a real sense of danger. Also, Joker only has two goons and they are incredibly disposable. If it were not for Captain Clown, Batman would have defeated Joker in five minutes. All the criticism aside, an average “simple” episode of this show is still better than most other shows, so I would be lying if I told you I did not recommend this episode. All I am saying is that although this is a great action pace that introduces some great aspects of the Joker, there are far better Joker episodes out there.

BTAS#5 Pretty Poison Directed by Boyd Kirkland Story by Paul Dini and Michael Reaves Teleplay by Tom Ruegger

This particular episode is one I have been excited to get to. First off, this marks the appearance of our first lead female character, and a villain to boot. Second, this marks the first episode with a vanity card credit for series Co – Creator, Paul Dini. Dini is claimed by many to be the heart and soul of this series and the lead writer on the series as a whole. The episode begins on a sepia tone, signifying we are in flashback. The mayor is giving a speech signifying the construction of a new penitentiary, which was made possible by donations of the Wayne Foundation and co-founded by District Attorney Harvey Dent. You can see as these episodes go on how intertwined the Batman universes are with each other. This marks one of the first times those lines begin to blur. A lone, unseen figure is seen taking a single rose plant from the site of the dig to start the foundation as Dent and Bruce both take a shovel and pose for the cameras. That same figure takes a newspaper clipping from that day and mounts it on the wall next to the now potted rose and a clipping about Redwood Lumber & Construction. In modern day, construction equipment is shown tearing up similar roses, setting up for the new building. We skip to five years later and the building is fully functional. A rouge copter flies onto the scene, picks up a criminal, and flies away. Commissioner Gordon receives a call, and the police force rallies behind him, except for Bullock, who doubles back for a donut… Classy. One interesting thing in this scene is the way they frame the shot when Gordon picks up the phone. You see just his shadow cast against the office wall. It is a subtle homage, but

44 homage nonetheless, to the animated Superman series when you would see the shadow of Clark Kent changing into Superman. This series does a great job overall of remembering the old days of DC universe and DC animation. Pamela Isley and Dent share some playful banter about Bruce falling behind juxtaposed with some beautiful footage of Batman chasing the thug. It is a clever gag, and I find that the footage of Batman chasing the criminal does well to show off the now more consistent art direction of the show. A sense of sharpness and more popping colors than previous episodes, although all the various art styles in this show have very unique charms. 213457146900. Congratulations, you know Bruce Wayne’s credit card number. Have fun. In all honesty, the shot of his card on the table does a good job of establishing his hospitality in floating the bill as they exchange pleasantries. Besides, who would try to steal from Batman? They swap stories, but Pamela says she must leave early, not before laying a comically long kiss on Dent. As Pamela struts out of the restaurant, men stop talking and double take. There were a lot of things this show found a way to get away with, and one was a very voluptuous woman. Not necessarily a controversy, but women of this show did a really good job of drawing beautiful women with full figures that were still dressed in flirtatious, but not scandalous, apparel. There have been instances before when they were forced to be toned down. Hence why some female characters might have larger breasts or curvier bodies in some episodes than others. I am not saying this as a reverted complaint, but attractive, classy women are hard to come across these days, and this show drew a lot of them. Dent tells Bruce he is smitten with her and plans to marry her, but Bruce thinks he is definitely rushing into things. All while they laugh through their argument, Dent complains about the heat in the room, until suddenly, he collapses into a plate. 45

Bruce thinks for a second he is faking, but is horrified to find he is not. Gordon receives another call this time telling him Dent is at the hospital. The whole force rushes down to save him…Right after Bullock swings back for another donut… Again, Classy. The doctor informs them all that Dent has been poisoned. Gordon sends Bullock to the Rose Cafe (HINT HINT) to see if anyone knows anything. Bruce waits for a scientist to leave and takes a sample of Dent’s Blood from a microscope. Bullock has a quick but hysterical scene where he is interrogating an innocent, but hilariously stereotypical, French chef about the poison. Bullock gets a lot of crap in this series, but in all honesty, he is a good cop. He even gets an episode of his own in sorts later on. Batman analyzes the poison back at the Bat Cave and finds that the rose used went extinct five years ago (HINT! HINT!), and he is unsure of how to make an antidote without the plant. Bruce goes to the hospital to visit Dent and sees Pamela there. After he walks her to her car, he realizes the poison may have come from the kiss she gave him. After he asks Alfred to do some research, he finds that Isley is a botanist who is a large advocator of saving endangered plants. Batman is unsure of her guilt but finds it might be good to investigate. Pamela says goodnight somewhat creepily to her plants in her greenhouse as she steps behind a curtain to change her clothes. Batman runs inside and nearly falls through a trap door into a pit of mutated cactus, only to realize he is stuck in the clutches of the vines of a man-sized Venus Flytrap. Stepping out from behind the curtain is the femme fatale: Poison Ivy. (Shocker right?) Poison Ivy explains her motives of getting revenge on Dent for the almost extinction of the rose species, and actually uses the word murder in her explanation. She kisses Batman (the first to kiss him in this series but far from the last) in order to poison him, but refuses to give him

46 the antidote. Batman manages to get away from the flytrap with some fancy footwork and hidden knife, but the chemicals are making Bruce see double, triple, and more. Ivy launches an arrow from her wrist launcher, but she misses and accidentally hits the flytrap. She and the plant scream in agony. In her anger, she rapidly fires more shots at Bruce, but continues to miss. Every single shot inadvertently hurts her own plants more and more. One of the skylights falls from the roof and the whole place goes up in flames. Batman dangles from the pit of cacti as Ivy proudly stands overhead with the antidote. Batman, having stolen Ivy’s precious rose, offers it as ransom, but not without some very intentional word usage. “What’s it gonna be Ivy? The weed for the antidote.” Ivy complies, and they both run out of the building. Dent wakes up from his poison coma, and Ivy is sent to jail, the same jail that she was trying to avenge the creation of. The episode ends with a maniacal monologue of Ivy talking to her plant and planning her definite escape. This episode is incredibly well paced, and that is why I am leaving so much of my review until now. I wanted you to feel how well this episode rolls from one event to the next. Even though like I joked around earlier, the mystery is not that hard to solve. The clues are set up quite nicely and leave Batman to figure it all out right when he needs to. The final fight does not really take too much time, so it was important for them to make the main focus of the episode on the mystery. Ivy’s design and costume are great as they define her character’s personality with her plant themed, yet still elegant dress, and her voluptuous figure. They work towards the siren like aesthetic of her character. Her attractive colors draw people into her traps like a Venus Flytrap. On the interpretation of her character, I am glad they did not make her a Meta human. I never liked the idea of people interpreting Poison Ivy as part plant or something along the meta human lines. She is just not quite as attractive with green 47 skin and covered in leaves. Her character is more relatable as an eco-terrorist who might be psychotic rather than actually being able to feel the pain of plants. (That and other theories of her actually having sex with plants, but we are so not getting into that.) The Basis of Iv’s motivations and strategies are quite clear. Ivy is not interested in Taking over the world with plants. She simply wishes to fight back against those who wish to do harm against plant life. The problem comes when you realize that she is almost psychopathically distant from almost all- human life. Giving the character a level of dimension allows us to save time explaining why she’s attacking this group of plant killers for these reasons, and instead focus on deeper levels of her character. Speaking of deeper character levels, Poison Ivy is to no one’s surprise, a part of The Arkham Villain Theory. Poison Ivy is a tough nut to crack on the Villain theory, and this one may sound like a strange one, but I believe Poison Ivy is a representation of Batman’s Conscience. I know off the bat how pretentious that sounds, but hear me out. The conscience is defined commonly as the center of your reasoning of what you personally consider to be right or wrong. It is your conscience that also walk the gray line of morality when personal agendas make you bend your own rules. Although not explored as deeply in this episode compared to others, Poison Ivy’s character is filled with constantly changing, but self justified hypocrisy. Poison Ivy loves plans more than people, but still uses plants weapons and tools in several of her schemes. Poison Ivy wants to preserve the world of plants and is constantly criticizing man’s influence on it, but is seen frankenstiening plant speicies back from the dead, harvesting chemicals and enzymes of plants for experiments, even sacrificing plants to the slaughter as punching bags or minions of her diabolical schemes. Poison Ivy’s end goals are clear and do not change, but the lengths she’ll go to get there are constantly changing. It is through this slow but constant Justification that a vocal eco – terrorist became one of Gotham’s most powerful villains.

Batman’s conscience is also constantly evolving with his surroundings. Even inside of Batman’s conscience, several episodes point to severe gray areas in Batman’s judgment. Batman’s famous no killing policy is challenged both directly and non-directly in several episodes. Even without killing people, Batman’s methods and rules constantly change. To what extent is it ok to interrogate a criminal? Withhold evidence from the police? Cooperate with a super villain? Become romantically involved with a super villain?(this one turns out to be a big one throughout many continuities) Throughout the show, Batman fluctuates greatly from yin to yang on these ideals. One could argue this is simply him adjusting to individual circumstances, but I believe this is Batman succumbing to compromising his own Conscience from time to time to reach is ultimate goal, or in some cases, for his own benefit. One last thing I want to touch on about Poison Ivy. This may sound like one of my more outlandish theories, but I feel very strongly that the creators of this show have written Poison Ivy as a lesbian. Now, I assure you this is not some sort of fan fiction theory or some kind of perverted wish fulfillment. Looking at the character, Poison Ivy frequently shows a outright disgust of man, or at the very least, of masculine culture. The only time Poison Ivy is ever seen in any kind of Romantic position with men is when she is manipulating and trapping them. She uses her femininity as an ultimate weapon against easily fooled men. If that is the status quo with Poison Ivy, Wouldn’t it make sense that the thought of actually being attracted to a man seem unlikely? On top of that her character is constantly blossoming with sexuality and pervasiveness. While commonly seen as a device to allure male audiences to the character, the show makes very clear that she’s not interested. If that’s the case, that sexuality and pervasiveness has to be directed somewhere. In later episode, Poison Ivy’s insistence on surrounding herself with strong, attractive women becomes abundantly apparent. Not to mention her interactions with them 49

(especially one in particular we’ll talk about next season) are noticeably more personal and intimate than with other characters. Even the flowers and plants she cares for so much are all referred to as she. She may not be in love with her plants, or be attracted to them, but it is abundantly clear that this sexually electrified character strongly prefers the presence of the female sex. Let’s also take a minute and talk about that final speech. When I watched that speech the first time, it gave me chills. It feels like it came right out of a Hitchcock movie: ominous, compelling, and powerful. It is easy to forget sometimes because of the childlike nature of the show that these are meant to be hardened psychopaths, and this little scene pulls the curtain back on that just long enough to put you on the edge of your seat before the credits roll. As I mentioned earlier, I think one of the best things of this episode is its use of word choice. Good writing can come not only in what you say, but how you say it. Characters in this episode display impeccable subtext and deception. It really helps make you feel like these are real people talking and not just actors talking over pictures. That said, this is also one of the first episodes that really let a large group of characters interact with one another on a level not seen before now. It is a huge stepping-stone for the ultimate close-knit build of the Gotham universe. Speaking of word choice, I want to talk a minute more about Poison Ivy and Bruce Wayne. Ivy has some incredibly good dialogue in this episode, both in her honest moments and in her deceptive lies. She is very believable in her innocent routine, and it is easy to get swept away in her seductive manipulation. As for her performance as Ivy, I love the way they portray her desire to maintain her tact. You see evidence that underneath her calm and collected, classy routine lies a hot headed and violent woman with a severe grudge against men (which we will get into in future episodes). Bruce on the other hand is given more screen time in this episode than any so far,

50 and his natural charisma carries a lot of his scenes. I also like seeing Bruce doing Batman things in civilian clothes. It really helps sell the idea that they are one in the same. Pretty Poison in its entirety is one of the most polished episodes so far. There is nothing at all to complain about really. Characterization and word choice shine bright alongside incredible pacing, balanced and refined animation, and a great origin story to one of Batman’s best villains.

BTAS#6 The Underdwellers

Directed by Frank Paur Story by Tom Ruegger Teleplay by Jules Dennis and Richard Mueller

This is a hard one to write about. While I praised the last episode for being incredibly balanced and polished, this episode has a few above and beyond moments, but is extremely rough around the edges. This also marks the first time we have what is known as a “one off villain,” a term commonly used to describe villains that were only used for one respective episode of a television show. Some of the villains in this show have proven to be as good, if not better, than certain recurring cast members, while others stayed at one episode for a reason. Our episode begins with two of the stupidest characters this show has seen so far: two guys in their twenties who I am assuming are standing on top of a train playing chicken… Okay, I hate to go on a tangent, but this is the first time in this show I feel I have to call bull s**t. What is your best-case scenario here? You either do not jump and get crushed by the tunnel, or you jump off a city monorail train going 60 miles an hour and land on an immeasurable number of random things, none of which would stop you from breaking enough bones to put you in a wheelchair eating soup from a straw. Even when Batman shows up, he shakes his head as if he is thinking, “Remind me again why I’m doing this? Are they really this stupid?”… Yes Batman, they are. Even dumber than that, one of them has his foot tangled in a giant mass of cables. (I face palmed when I saw that the first time.) Batman has to get them both off the train. Batman succeeds, and with a bad pun, warns them to not be stupid anymore and grapples away…

Just to be clear, not only is this scene stupid, it is entirely pointless. This brings us to one of this episode’s two main problems: This episode wastes time. There is a lot of filler in here that could have been used so much better, but alas, I have to review the filler anyway. A small boy in a green hood and cape made from rags steals a purse from an elegantly dressed, large woman. She shrieks and calls for the police. When the police arrive, she says her purse was stolen by a leprechaun... Okay, I am really trying to stay focused on this review; did the supporting cast of this episode flunk out of middle school? A leprechaun…I know I should just take this as a tongue in cheek joke, but it turns into a running gag that lasts half the episode. Bad move writing staff. Bad move. Moving on, Bruce and Alfred share a quick joke about him refusing to take a vacation before we head back to the main story. We hear some great strings music accompanying a nice set of camera shots that lead down below to the catacombs of the sewers where 30 or so children are seen working away in what looks like an underground sweat shop. Pilling up jewels and cash and other valuables stolen from the streets, towing away at underground soil, it looks like they are mining, but one cannot be sure. One of the kids accidentally hits himself with a hoe and begins to scream before another child covers his mouth in a panic. A bell rings, and all the children scurry to a stage and sit down in front of it. On their way to the stage, we see the children walking one by one towards the end of what looks like a giant red oblivion. This scenery is used quite commonly in a lot of stories involving animation and slavery. My only guess is that it is intended as Holocaust imagery… You know, for kids! On that stage is a tall, lanky man sitting on a throne. He wears renaissance style clothes, a large ring or two on his hands, a red cape, and a pair of glasses with one lens popped out to look like an eye patch. This is the Sewer King. He is 53 without question one of the lamest villains in the entirety of this series. It is hard to pin down exactly why I cannot stand this villain. I think it starts with his outfit. It looks absolutely ridiculous. It is like he dove into a bargain bin at Goodwill, and do not give me “that’s the point.” Even if he is supposed to look like a rag-based villain, who is still stupid by the way, he looks more like he just woke up drunk in the medieval times. The other thing that bugs me is how he tries way too hard. Like many other villains, he has big speeches of grandeur and monologues that make him sound intimidating, but they fail on that very level. He is basically talking gibberish; just a bunch of random sentences saying, “Pay attention to me! I’m evil.” Sadly, he is not. The closest thing you get to scary during this scene is a shadow of what looks like an alligator crossing the frame. Next to that, the Sewer King freaks out that the kid who screamed broke their arbitrary vow of silence and now must “see the light.” He locks him in a room with a single florescent light in it…Scary. Batman begins stalking the sewers after finding a secret passage way to their base. He shines a flashlight at one of the walls displaying the graffiti “Beware the Sewer King.” Batman finds the kid from before and saves him from a passing subway train. He takes him back to the Bat Cave and instructs Alfred to take care of him. What happens next is an overly long sequence of slapstick from Alfred trying to get the kid to eat civilized, bathe, and wash dishes. The scene is completely pointless, and once again, ruins the pace of the episode. It is not even that funny. It is the same joke over and over again, and it makes Alfred look like an idiot. I know now it may seem like I am taking this too seriously, but you will see why later on in the review. Finally, Batman instructs the kid to tell him where the rest of the kids are. Batman takes a few evidence pictures, you

54 know, because he is the only one with a brain in this episode, and moves on to find the Sewer king. You can tell that this whole scenario really bothers Batman. One of the longest running themes in this series is Batman’s empathy for children. Since Batman grew up with no parents, he carries a heavy heart for children. It is frequently mentioned that Bruce donates millions to children’s charities, and his empathy for children is the motivation for the existence of Robin. (This is why it kills me Robin is not involved in the live action movies, but that is a rant for another day.) Batman Rings the bell as loud as he can. Even breaking it off and letting it fall to the floor. All the children run towards him, but so does the Sewer King. The Sewer King sends his pet alligators after him but Batman defeats all of them. As much as this episode bugs me, you cannot deny the awesomeness of Batman fighting a crew of alligators, one of which he suplexes and hog-ties…. Nice. More alligators start attacking Batman, and he picks up the bell by the rope, swings it like a flail, and bashes an alligator with it… once again… NICE. Batman chases him into the sewers but after he slips down an open grate (this episode is getting harder to like), the Sewer King tries to knock him into the alligator filled water below. Batman swings around and kicks him into the water. Batman tries to grab his hand, but the Sewer King refuses with an over dramatic “neveeeeeeer” and falls into the water. The alligators are loyal to him and do not eat him. He runs away. The Sewer King tries to escape down the subway path, but Batman takes him out very easily and angrily pins him to the wall. It is at this point where the saving grace of this show comes in. Batman grabs him and looks him square in the eyes and says, “I don’t pass sentence, that’s for the courts, but this time, I am sorely tempted to do the job myself.” I find it really powerful that although he was not technically a good villain, 55 this is a story that affects Batman on a personal level. Batman anonymously helps get the kids back up to the normal world, probably to an orphanage of some sort, while he watches from the distance looking down at them. This episode, outside of some good set ups of Batman’s character and an alligator fight, is a true disappointment. The more times I watched this episode for the sake of review, I found myself disliking it more and more. It looks pretty. I can give it that I guess. It is one of a small group of episodes that has more of an anime influence, a bit like Akira I would say is a decent comparison. Gritty, older anime. Outside of that, this episode is a good reminder that you cannot win them all. If all episodes were perfect, nothing would set apart the great ones. Regardless of how I am talking, this is not my least favorite episode (we will get there believe me), but it is definitely toward the bottom of my list.

BTAS #7 P.O.V

Directed by Kevin Altieri Story by Mitch Brian Teleplay by Sean Catherine Derek and Laren Bright

Now that’s more like it. After the last episode, this one reassures me on a few worries I was beginning to have about some out of the ordinary episodes. I worried that one-shot villains were not going to be any good and that it was impossible to have an episode be decent without a super villain. This episode not only proves that wrong, but is one of the most experimental episodes in the show’s first season. The episode starts with a pair of police officers heading to a burning shipping yard. The two police officers are (and in police fashion I will be referring to them in last name) Wilks, a rookie on the force, and Montoya, to my knowledge, the only lead female officer on the force (and one of the few Latina characters in the whole show). Impulsive, but quite smart. They both arrive at the scene and pull up next to the officer’s car, but they realize he is inside waking up from being knocked out. Montoya chastises him for not waiting for them, but the robbers bust through the window and make for the exit. They start to run after them, but Bullock tells them there are people inside. Montoya leaps into action and tells Wilks to chase the escapees while she checks out the warehouse. Bullock looks up and sees Batman on top of one of the buildings before passing out again. We fade into our episode’s unique framing device. The three officers are sitting in a dimly lit interrogation room at the police station with Commissioner Gordon and Gordon’s lieutenant. All of them are being interrogated about one of Gotham’s biggest drug lords. The lieutenant starts making 57 accusation that it may have been an inside job, to which Gordon immediately takes offense and dismisses. (A quick side note to remember is that in most continuity, Gordon used to work in internal affairs. His job was to find and take down corrupt or crooked cops.) The format of this show takes shape as each of the three detectives is asked to tell their stories from their own perspective of what happened. This technique is very effective in this episode as you see subtle aesthetic differences in how each character tells or shows their story. To my knowledge, no other episode is framed in this way, and that makes this one a great example of the big chances this show was taking by breaking convention and trusting the intelligence of their audience. Bullock tells his story first. Bullock being hot headed goes in without back up. He spots Batman and runs in after him to “make sure he doesn’t screw anything up.” While I am at the beginning of this story, I would like to point out this is one of the first times in the show that a pistol is shown and used by a main character. Not a ray gun, not a rocket launcher, a pistol. I do not want to turn this into a criticism of how modern shows refuse to tackle contemporary stuff like this, but this show had some guts having pistols, machine guns, knives, bombs, poison, animal violence, and a whole lot of stuff you would not see on television today. Bullock stumbles upon four criminals in trench coats in the shadows. A few mobster types breaking into a safe and stealing a few million dollars. Bullock trips on a can and falls over, alerting the crooks (in the story he blames the whole thing on Batman of course). The criminals attack Bullock and get a royal beating from him too. One of them attacks him with an axe but misses and breaks a fuse box that starts the fire. Bullock is about to pass out from the smoke when Batman comes down from the ceiling and saves him. In Bullock’s version, Batman is a lot grayer looking, a bit more akin to the golden age look of Batman (not really much to draw from that, but worth

58 mentioning). Once again, Bullock lies and blames Batman and claims that he saved Batman rather than vice versa. The next perspective is Wilks’. When he comes around the corner, he claims the suspects completely vanished. When he checks one of the garages, a car starts up and begins to chase him down. Out of nowhere, Batman appears in front of him. In Wilks’ version, this is the first time he has seen Batman, and to his eyes, he appears as a mighty figure captured in a dark blue shadow of cape and cowl. Batman takes down the criminals in the car, but one of them gets away. Batman catches the other one and begins interrogating him for information, and the crook starts spilling his guts. I love the way they animate this scene. The unique thing about the way that Wilks tells his story is how the fundamentals of his character affect his portrayal. He is youthful, optimistic, and a bit child-like at times, and that is the perspective he sees Batman through. The angles all make him look like a big, intimidating, shadowy figure. When he explains Batman using his gadgets rather than listing the gadgets, he sees them as if they were some kind of dark magic, as if they just came out of his fingers. There is even an extra sparkle that comes out of the road spikes he throws to stop the car. This scene does a good job of showing off the differences in perspective Batman can have. To the audience, we see in clear lighting and quality animation exactly what Batman is doing. With the way that Wilks describes it, we get a brief idea of what a criminal might see: a tall shadow. An extended hand and they are hit with something before they can even blink. Out of nowhere, before they know who is in front of them. It is this mystery and this romanticism that makes the Batman persona work. He strikes fear into villains so hard that they will not even think about trying anything in fear that “The Batman” is watching them. Montoya is the last one to be interviewed. She rushes into the building to find the people that Bullock said were still in 59 there when she finds the main gangsters. She begins to fight them, but her shotgun is knocked out of her hands. One of the crooks comes at her with the drill they used to get the safe open, but Batman uses a batarang to knock it out of his hands. Batman takes out the thugs, but seems to be buried alive when he pushes Montoya out of the way of some burning building support beams. (Spoiler alert…. HE’S NOT DEAD!) The animation for Montoya’s story is surprisingly quite anime influenced. Specifically very old anime, almost Akira style animation. The way they use fire and facial design hark to older style animation on a very subtle level with hints of Japanese influence. The only pieces of information they were able to get out of the stories were the interrogated prisoner saying “Doc” and Montoya hearing one say “Hathcock.” The LT. is unconvinced of their innocence and orders all three of them suspended. He asks them to turn in their badges and guns. I found the order in which they turned in the weapons and badges to be telling of each of their characters. Wilks turns his in without hesitation, as he is the youngest and most likely to be cut if he were insubordinate. He does as he is told, even if he does not agree with it completely. Bullock hesitates, but begrudgingly turns in his badge and gun while staring at the LT. and slamming them both on the table. Montoya is stubborn with the ruling and waits until she is specifically asked in order to comply. As we see seen in the later scenes, she is hesitant to give up because she is not willing to give the case up yet. Montoya takes the train home as she brainstorms on a piece of paper what the connection between the two words was. After a few minutes, she realizes that he was saying dock not doc(tor). She gets off the train and heads for the harbor. Montoya goes to the dock alone since she is suspended which leads me to realize how badass this woman is, willingly putting her job and life on the line to confront the toughest drug smugglers in Gotham, unarmed. That is a hero right there.

The criminals pace around Batman who is tied up and hung by his hands as they try to pry open and operate his utility belt. One of them accidentally launches pink paint that is sprayed at his face from the belt. In several of the comic book and TV versions, the utility belt has been shown to have all sorts of defense mechanisms. It is bulletproof, laser proof, unbreakable, and although only paint is shown here, the belt has also been shown to either shock an enemy like an incredibly high voltage Taser, or to blow itself up to protect contents. Food for thought. Batman, in a clever stroke of manipulation, trips one of the thugs into telling him where their boss is. With this information, Batman reveals that he could have escaped at any time and uses a hidden blade in his glove to cut himself down. His hands are still tied together, but that does not stop him from pummeling the larger thug and tossing him by his feet into the bay. The other criminal tries to get the drop on him, but Montoya knocks the gun out of his hand and throws him over her shoulder half way across the room into a steel container. It is a shame she is not prominent in more episodes. Montoya knows how to kick ass. A strange figure signals to several other lackeys to go after Batman and Montoya. The shadowy figure wears a brown overcoat and although his face in unseen, you can see he is wearing a monocle on his left eye. This mysterious character is a civilian interpretation of “the gentleman ghost,” a golden age DC villain whose aesthetic harkens back to the 1800s. This particular version is not a literal ghost, but his lack of a clear face gives that same general feeling. Batman and Montoya make short work of the criminals, but one remaining thug pulls a tommy gun and starts firing. Luckily for Batman and Montoya, he suffers from what I like to call “kid’s show aiming disease,” a strange disease where gun marksmen in kids shows are rendered impossible to hit the broad side of a barn even at near point blank range. 61

Batman grapples the two of them away to the cabin of a crane used on the site. Batman instructs Montoya to stay put and she obliges. I like this honest moment between the two of them. Montoya is brave, but she is smart enough to know that with no gun in this situation, there is not much she can do…or is there? While Batman fights a few more of the thugs that have gotten back up, followed by a gorgeously ominous silhouette shot, Montoya jumps in the cabin and decides to use the crane to help Batman. Montoya, like many characters in the nineties, suffers from “spontaneous construction equipment control disorder” as she knows how to operate it with no experimentation at all. She grabs a large steel crate and drops it right behind the criminals, dropping them all into the water (seriously her aim is inhuman), giving Batman time to stop the second in command thug he dropped in the water earlier. The thug comes charging at him with a forklift, but Batman grabs him and throws him from the machine, all the while the Gentlemen Ghost is making his escape on a large boat. Batman steers the forklift to ramp off the edge of the dock and careen into the side of the boat, making it unable to sail. The Gentlemen Ghost tries to escape on foot, but Montoya uses her incredible construction skills to actually catch him inside the jaws of the crane mouth. (Seriously where did she learn this?) Batman gives Montoya a smile and a slightly self-aware thumbs up. Gordon gets fed up with the lieutenant, takes back the badges from him, and gives them to Montoya because she has earned it from her hard work and honesty. Montoya humbly confirms it was a team effort and that Wilks and Bullock were just as deserving from their bravery at the beginning. Wilks is grateful and immediately takes his badge, but Bullock is slower to give thanks as he is not much of a touchy feely guy. Nonetheless, he takes the badge and thanks Montoya for a job well done.

This episode can be described as a breath of fresh air. The format of this episode is just far enough away from the norm that it breathes a sense of uniqueness and technique that will keep you glued to your seat from beginning to end. While far from the last, this is one of the first episodes to experiment with subtly changing art styles within the same episode. Some of the more finite changes talked about may be overlooked when not looking directly at them, but still are clearly intentional. It hints strongly towards identifying the influences and visual devices used to make these episodes speak to you. They help make each individual episode stand out against the others in a powerful way. Often when it comes to animation, it is what you do not notice that leaves the biggest impact. Even if you do not notice a visual devise or influence, the impact it is meant to evoke will often resonate all the same. The music in this episode is high tension and focused. The episode’s score is very cleverly and meticulously matched with the episode’s action, making the constant and fast paced heightening and releasing of tension reflect in perfect time with the music. The main instrument that makes this piecework is the use of French horns. French horns have a very malleable sound and are often used as either regal battle cries, or as dark and ominous marches of evil. Batman’s theme in this episode is primarily played by French horns and flutes. The horns keep the feeling of grandiose and power while the light trill of the flutes keeps a feeling of unreleased tension. The beautiful thing about good music though, is you do not need to understand the theory behind what makes it work to reap the benefits of its emotional give and take. Officer Montoya reigns as sort of an MVP of this episode because she is a character that, sadly to say, does not receive enough screen time in other episodes, displays clear and interesting personality, incredible bravery, great problem solving, and can take out the bad guys when all those are not enough. This series is filled with powerful and interesting 63 female characters, but unfortunately before this re-watching, I had overlooked this top-notch performance. I do not intend to make that mistake again. Not really much to analyze on the villain front, but the character designs were unique, and their subtle personalities helped me feel out which one was which. The Gentleman Ghost by design leaves me little to talk about, but I enjoy his presence as an example of this shows further connection to DC’s rich, nostalgic past. I would not go out of my way to consider this one of my favorite episodes of all time, but I will say this is an episode that genuinely surprised me. It is an episode that takes bits and pieces of what makes this show great and uses them to turn what would normally be a boring Batman vs. random lackeys episode into one that is truly memorable, unique, and iconic. Although I would normally condone watching this series in order, if you have a friend who you want to see a quick episode to show them what all the fuss is about, this one paints a clear picture of the tone, tension, and the great characters that make this series soar

BTAS#8 The Forgotten

Directed by Boyd Kirkland Written by Jules Dennis, Richard Mueller and Sean Catherine Derek

At the time of this writing, I have yet to construct any form of exact top 10 or 20 films, but it is safe to say that this film is in. it is as arbitrary as the statement sounds: “one of my favorite episodes.” For further clarification, it is debatably the best episode without a super villain. For an episode named “Forgotten,” this episode is quite the opposite. This is one of those episodes that just grabs you and does not let go. It has a personality to it all its own and is an incredibly gripping episode taking the deepest look so far into the mind of Bruce Wayne. This episode is one I often reference when telling people how unique this show can be, or how deep it gets. For sure there are far better episodes, but this is one I want to go out of my way with to make sure it is not forgotten. The episode starts with music from the title card foreshadowing future events with a blues riff on a harmonica. The episode begins with two pigeons flying from a perch through the top of Gotham (we will get back to this). We see a homeless man grabbing old shoes out of the dumpster of a pawnshop. This is one of the first episodes to show the homeless population of Gotham and the first episode to fully focus on poverty. There are some political overtones in this episode, and I will be covering them as honestly to the source material as possible, but it is worth mentioning that the issue of poverty in this show is not slipped under the rug. This episode is very up front about it, and although toned down for children, it still paints a pretty grim picture on its overall perception. 65

Bruce meets with the leader of a soup kitchen in the Gotham slums. They are carrying food to be used for dinner. The two of them share small talk while skinning potatoes. This scene paints Bruce very well in his philanthropy as he does not just throw money at this kitchen, but actually gets his own hands dirty and gets involved. It is a great subtle device to set up not only events later in the story, but make Bruce look good to the audience in the process. For a lot of people, Bruce’s wealth can become an overwhelming crutch and prevent people from relating to the character. Although the series has several instances that show Bruce’s character going above and beyond his wealthy status, this episode helps bring Bruce back to earth as he is seen showing a compassion for the city of Gotham and showing just as much respect to the homeless wandering the street to the mayor of the city. Speaking of the wandering homeless, the owner of the shelter tells Bruce that homeless seem to be disappearing left and right for the last few weeks. Bruce asks him if he has contacted the police. He responds with, “Of course, but the police don’t think homeless people going missing is news.” Harsh words for a children’s show, but they are quite up front and personal with this issue. Not to mention, in comparison to “The Underdwellers,” the issue is handled with much more clarity and maturity. Back at the Batcave, Bruce dawns a disguise involving white hair dye, raggedy clothes, and some aging make up, and makes his way to the alleys of Gotham’s slums. In the scene he grabs the costume, and you notice that it has a name attached to it: Gaff Morgan. No immediate significance in the name, but it does continue to show off another great aspect of Batman’s detective skills. He is a true master of disguise. In several different iterations of the character, Bruce has used everything from ventriloquism, self- voice modulation, and full prosthetic faces with accompanying

66 costumes that match to the teeth. Batman is a master of stealth, but also has an incredible talent for hiding in plain sight. Batman parks his car down the road and walks past a group of vagrants standing around a fire inside a trashcan. Bruce notices a large truck that seems to follow him as he walks into a new alleyway. A black cat jumps out of one of the cans and runs across the alley. Out of the shadows, two shady looking men walk out asking him if he’s looking for a job. Bruce responds in a disguised voice, quickly realizing he’s in a trap. In response, Bruce takes out both of the thugs WITHOUT TAKING HIS HANDS OUT OF HIS POCKETS! It is really a sight to see. The second guy does not even use his feet. He just dodges and lets the guy beat himself up. Unfortunately, the black cat was bad luck for him after all. Bruce is distracted for a split second by the cat, and a third assailant clubs him in the head, knocking him unconscious. Bruce wakes up to find himself in a bunk bed and attached to it by a leg cuff. Two men approach him with introductions. One is a comedic minded man named Salvo Smith and a tall black man named Dan Riley. They explain to him that he has been kidnapped as part of a chain gang, but when they ask Bruce for his name, he finds himself struck with amnesia and cannot remember. The chain gang is in the deep desert as part of an illegal mining operation. The miners all stand in line for slop of what if they are being honest about its contents, is made from rat. Stepping out from the main shack is our villain of the episode. Since they do not name him, I am going to refer to him as “the Foreman.” I love the Foreman. Or for better clarification, I love to loathe the Foreman. Before I get into why I feel the need to explain something. Characterization is the art of using visual or societal clues or techniques in order to define a character with little exposition. In the art design and vocal performance of this character, I know an incredible amount about this character by the time he speaks his first sentence. 67

The Foreman, by art design, is a deplorable embodiment of greed, gluttony, and tyranny. The Foreman is about 6 feet tall. Approximated weight I would say has to be between 400 and 500 pounds if not more. He has a sleazy mustache, a nice purple dress shirt, and a white suit coat. Normally his attire would be a sign of sophistication, but this is overtaken by him carrying an enormous turkey leg in one hand and a hand fan in the other. His nice dress clothes are drenched in barbecue sauce, grease, and sweat stains. His voice is gravely and purposely off putting, as if he only talks with food in his mouth. His demeanor is so repulsive it makes it incredibly fun to despise this villain. He actually complains to his lackeys that they should not break for food and that he does not get fed enough. Then in a morally disgusting display of his power, He throws one of his miners “In the Box”; a large steel cage with solid walls that grows incredibly hot in the sun’s heat. Bruce tries to save him out of instinct, but Riley holds him back. Alfred realizes that Bruce Wayne didn’t come home last night and begins to investigate his absence. Down in the mines, the three main miners start talking about how they got there. Salvo was an unemployed vagrant who was kidnapped, while Riley was working at the naval yard, while also volunteering at the rescue mission Bruce was volunteering at. The mention of the rescue mission begins to jog Bruce’s memory, but he is interrupted by a cave in. Everyone is all right, but the other inmates confirm how unsafe the mine is. Alfred continues his investigation of Batman’s absence. A lot of people do not realize that Alfred is actually one of the smartest and most resourceful characters in the DC universe. He is not a feeble old man; he is a former British secret agent (and an S class ranked one at that). He has his own set of martial arts skills, and as shown in later episodes, has insurmountable willpower. He is certainly not a character to underestimate.

Once he tracks down which of Bruce’s cars he took out last night, he activates a tracker to find its location. Bruce walks down a hallway of mirrors with no lights and dark purple walls. They are not normal mirrors however, but rather funhouse mirrors. Bruce looks perplexed into them as his reflection changes size and shape. He hears a familiar laughter coming from behind him. He turns around to find the other wall has morphed, and now only one mirror across a long purple, darkly lit wall stands in front of him. In the reflection of the mirror is a man in a brown suit laughing hysterically. Upon walking closer to the mirror, the man turns out to be “Bruce Wayne” or rather a version that is dressed and acts like his normal self. The sound of his laughter begins to warp and with the blink of an eye, the reflection turns into a horrifying laughing Joker. Joker’s hand breaks through the mirror and pulls Bruce into the reflection as the mirror further shatters. Bruce and Joker tumble down a vertigo inducing skyline of Gotham City, Joker laughing as he goes until the whole screen is engulfed in burning flame. The screen lands on Bruce now in his normal suit standing amongst the city of Gotham left to ruin. A newspaper floats past the frame like tumbleweed. Bruce looks at the shambles of the rescue mission. A man comes from behind him and holds his hand out. Bruce reaches into his pocket and hands him a dollar. A woman in a red coat follows him immediately with her hand extended, but as Bruce reaches to hand her a dollar, he finds himself immediately surrounded and overwhelmed with homeless beggars desperately holding their hands out for help. Bruce pulls away from them, but with no path to walk away, he sheds a single tear in sadness. Bruce jumps out of his bed at the chain gang in horror and shock. All was but a dream, but still no memory. I will be analyzing this scene later on in the review, but needless to say, this is one of the most heartfelt moments of the season, if not the series itself. 69

Bruce remains to focus on “dock street rescue mission” but still doesn’t know what it means. The next scene opens up with an inside the mouth angle of the Foreman eating a submarine sandwich. Disgusting, but effective. Salvo tries to make a joke under his breath, but the foreman hears him and orders to throw him in the box. Riley implies that the box will kill him, and the Foreman confirms “That’s the idea.” This time, Riley takes action and slugs one of the lackeys. The Foreman sends the rest of his lackeys after him, but Bruce enters the fight. They take out quite a few of them, but are eventually overpowered and thrown in the box. Alfred Follows the car’s tracker to a junk yard and grabs the tracker from underneath the car. He spots the shady looking characters from the earlier scene and secretly places the tracker underneath their truck. Bruce and Riley sit in the “Boxes” sweating themselves to death. Riley starts losing his tact as he starts trying to hold on to memories of his family. When Riley screams, “I lost my family,” Bruce’s eyes open wide with revelation as he has a strange dream flash before his eyes. Bruce sees himself as a young child in a black void playing with his mother and father. Thomas throws Bruce up in the air, but rather than fall into his dad’s arms, Bruce falls out of frame. A small flash is seen in the back of the frame. Tumbling from its place is Thomas and Martha’s tombstone, which breaks into pieces as it zooms into the word “Wayne” and dissolves into a black void filled with nothing but confused, roaming bats. All of a sudden, the bats all fly towards a lone skyscraper surrounded by spotlights in all directions. Standing at the top of the skyscraper is a shadowed, cloaked figure. The figure turns around to reveal the clear and intimidatingly close scowl of “The Batman.” One beautiful match cut later and Bruce finally has his memory back. He uses his re-found skills to bust his way out of the box. The Foreman’s lackeys and dogs chase Bruce into a

70 large canyon, but Bruce is able to lose them by taking to higher ground with some fancy-free climbing. Alfred uses the Batwing to find Batman in the canyon. Despite my previous mentions of his valor, flying appears to be Alfred’s Achilles heel. The Batwing flies itself, but Alfred and the computer have a hilarious banter before landing, almost cutting Bruce’s head off in the process. This is the first time in the series so far the Batwing has been used. Its overall design functions very much as a space age update of the burton design. Slick and built for one passenger, it carries the iconic bat signal design and a cockpit modeled closely to that of a jet. The exact voice of the machine implies a direct tie in to the Bat cave master computer. At nightfall, we see the Foreman sitting in front of a meal of (and I’m not exaggerating.) eight potatoes, a full turkey, a whole bowl of mashed potatoes, a submarine sandwich, four eggs, a chicken drumstick, a full pitcher of milk, and what appears to be the leg of a cow. This guy’s got a problem. Batman crashes through the door carrying a lackey in each hand, and throws them at the Foreman’s table. The Foreman picks himself back up and grabs his shotgun, but in a hilarious display, he actually roars as he aims at Batman. Batman disappears into the darkness of the mine. The Foreman screams “One thousand dollars for Batman’s head!” To put in perspective how low this is, in a future episodes, Two-Face has a two million dollar bounty on his head. In the nineties Spider-man animated series, Spiderman is put on bounty for one million (a bit low but comparatively high), and to top it all off, in the Arkham Origins game, an early year Batman is worth 50 Million dollars cash. That is one cheap Foreman. Batman hides in the shadows as the lackeys look for him. Batman easily takes them out one by one. The Foreman has them turn out the lights and has them use their helmet lamps. Little do they know, this is going to make it way worse. 71

When the lights go out, the animation style changes to a very noir like color palette. Characters are seen primarily in silhouette. It is only after the Foreman accidentally drops his lamp and starts a fire that the animation goes back to normal. I love the use of practical situation changes to motivate the changing animation. It keeps things artistic, but still fast paced. The Foreman’s lamp catches fire to explosives and Batman quickly saves himself and the Foreman by forcing them both down a water shaft leading to a lake outside the mine. The Foreman is arrested and all of them return to their families. After finally revealing who he is, Bruce tells him that he can help them find a job at Wayne Tech Enterprises. Alfred pulls up the car and the two of them drive away into the city. If you have made it this far into the review I have probably made quite clear that I love this episode. It is a very strange departure from the norm and functions as sort of a western else world’s story. The plot of this episode actually feels like a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western, in a good way. It is a great episode to either watch, as a piece of the series, or as a piece all on its own. The dream sequences of this episode are just amazingly deep. And it wasn’t until watching this episode a third or fourth time I knew how much there was to go over. With the first dream sequence, the purple walls may at first seem coincidental, but I believe they are intended as a metaphor for the influence the Joker has on Batman’s subconscious, as reflected in the morphing sequence. There is also evidence of Bruce’s Batman identity trying to sneak out as well. If you listen carefully to the beginning of the scene, there is a sound effect of a group of bats. None are seen; just the sound, a subtle cue that pieces of his memories are sneaking through. Bruce’s reaction to the image of himself turning into the joker does not seem to faze him as much as you would think, which leads me to the idea that he is unable to recognize his own self in the mirror despite the physical similarities.

Part of this also points back to the mirror theory. What if Bruce can’t recognizes himself because all the mirrors he sees himself with are warped? Maybe that is why they are funhouse mirrors. They are metaphors for Batman’s inability to clearly identify himself. His image of himself in his head is warped, unclear, fighting for dominance against one of the other biggest mysteries, understanding the madness of the Joker. As for the reason for the face warp, that is a little bit harder to pin down. One theory is like I just stated, it is meant to represent thoughts or identities fighting for attention inside his head. Another theory would be that they are trying to make a statement about how Bruce and Joker are more similar than they think when they are brought to absolute basics as they are in this scene. My theory is rather that Joker is a representation of Batman’s repression. According to the law of the villain theory, I believe Joker is a representation of the potential for madness found in all of us, brought into a physical character. In several of Joker’s escapades, Joker acts strictly for his own individual goals with no consideration for the safety of others. Joker is supposed to represent the guy we do not want to admit we want to be. The ability to be fearless and take whatever we want from the world without regard for society or law or even human life. Joker is a power fantasy brought to a literally insane extreme, but what does this have to do with the warping sequence? The Joker in Bruce’s head is a direct representation of his repressed madness. It is an incarnate of Bruce’s fear of going mad trying to regain his memory. It is a representation of a Batman with no sanity. If Joker is Bruce’s repression incarnate, it makes sense that Joker’s presence in this scene is Bruce having a nightmare about watching himself slip into madness (taking the Joker’s form), being grabbed by his madness, pulled into the rabbit hole (the mirror), and spiraling downward with madness laughing all the way. All through a skyline of Gotham a location still locked away in his sub conscious (remember 73

Bruce has not seen or heard the word Gotham since he lost his memory). The second part of the dream is a lot easier to tackle. The desolate remains of the rescue mission paint together a broken memory he is trying to recover. Bruce is wearing his normal clothes again, which implies in this sequence he may have a better grip on his identity, but not as good of one as he would like. When the beggars start panhandling, he is quick to help, but quick to pull away in tears when he realizes his inability to help them all. So why these dreams? What does this second one mean? Why show them together? Both of the dreams cover different aspects of the same theme: Bruce’s worry about not regaining his identity. One showing his fear of slipping into madness, and the other showing his ability to make an impact being torn away from him, but the question still remains: Why two dreams? I believe the reason is because the dream of slipping into madness is meant to represent Bruce, and the second dream of shedding a tear as he is surrounded by people screaming for help and standing there unable to represents Batman. Both tie back to a central fear of what is lost if his memory is never recovered and solid reasons his mind is working so hard through these dreams to recover. The sequence where Bruce regains his memory is short, but still has some great moments to explore. When his parents throw up Bruce, and Bruce falls down without them, it does a really good job of showing Bruce’s shock and misery involving the incident. It is kind of used as a clever way to convey the same emotions without showing the alley shooting. Part of the reason for this is maybe they thought that showing a graphic scene like that this early in the show would be too graphic and would frighten rating they needed to establish credibility to try darker things. Keep in mind, they did use guns in this show, but so far, there has not been a main character that has been shot by a gun directly and died.

One other thing I am not sure what to make of but I want to be very clear that this is intentional: Martha Wayne is mixed race in this episode. This is the only episode she is drawn this way. It is set up against a black backdrop so there is no room for error. Martha’s skin is significantly darker than Thomas or Bruce’s. I really cannot think of a specific reason why it is this way. Hopefully, the reason was not that it was retconned after this episode. On the next scene, the spinning grave does not come out of nowhere; it comes out of a flash in the top left corner. The flash works to represent the bullet in a simplistic and memorable way. The cracking Gravestone makes a nice transition piece and helps keep up the feeling of loss and destruction of this moment and immediately followed by the BTAS. The bats have a lot more meaning than just the obvious connection to the Batman origin. Not only does the skyscraper Batman stands on work towards the idea of Batman’s mission in looking over Gotham, but the fact that the bats lead all the way to him illustrate the journey he takes to get to the creation of the character of Batman. Only at that moment do you match cut to the normal clip and Bruce becomes Batman again. It is nice to see someone finding a way to explore the origins of Batman without doing the alley scene for the billionth time. Especially if you are not putting up an effort to make it something unique and not phoning it in. As mentioned previously, this episode effectively uses some great animation techniques to change things up. My favorite is the way that they use color palette to express light levels in the dark cave. It helps not only with the stealth of the scene, but it treats the audience with enough intelligence to be able to tell the difference between what the audience can see and what the characters can see. If I had to pick one thing though that makes this episode really stand out, it is its astonishing music. The score of this episode takes a simple five note melody and morphs it by 75 playing it in multiple different tones with different instruments (just like the opening theme). Depending on the mood, it is an establishing accompaniment, a suspenseful echo, a western showdown theme, a mournful cry of defeat, or a Batman themed battle cry. Outside the use of the main cadence, the rest of the music really stands tall by showing off the western aesthetic and tone. In some instances, it is the music you do not notice that can shine the brightest. I notice the music in this episode because of numerous listenings, but I am sure most people will not pick up on many of its subtleties unless listening for it. Regardless, it still will evoke the same emotion. Forgotten is a top-notch episode. An absolute must see for any Batman fan. It is not technically an origin episode, but it breaks down Batman to its essential elements. If you are trying to pitch this series to someone new, I highly recommend this episode as a starting point. It will surely not be…. Well…you know the Joke.

BTAS #9 Be a Clown

Directed by Frank Paur Written by Ted Pederson and Steve Hayes

In my last few reviews, I have made defense of the episodes in this show that do in fact take on less climactic or deep topics and rather find they indulge in more casual or campy affairs. As I have briefly touched on previously, I not only do not mind, but also actually quite like these episodes. It is true that this series has some very deep introspective episodes that will challenge you as a viewer and as a Batman fan, but that is not every episode. If it were every episode, the series would become emotionally exhausting. This show has episodes that are not necessarily deep, but still maintain an incredible amount of character and consistent strive for polish that this series never lets fall by the wayside. This show, although it has a few episodes I do not like, never seems to “phone it in.” If an episode doesn’t work, it never seems to be from a lack of effort, a trait that I am glad to say comes across in this simple, but nonetheless incredibly entertaining episode. The episode starts with a very clever homage to Reaganomics…. No seriously, it is a 40’s style ad for a suburb featuring an old fashioned, happy family with parents wearing cowboy hats. You can’t tell me there is no subtext to be drawn there. In many ways, this does reflect somewhat with the mayor, who is one of our main characters for the episode. In episodes featuring the mayor, He presents his political views as a callback to an old-fashioned family value aesthetic. He tends to shy away from the more corrupt aspects of Gotham and insists deeply in looking at Gotham through beautiful, yet rose colored glasses. 77

The Mayor of Gotham is at ground breaking for his new neighborhood he is building for the people of Gotham, reassuring that Gotham can be a safe and affordable place to live. The Mayor is in an election year and is trying to convince the people of Gotham that Gotham can be one of the safest and family friendly places to live under his watch. Unfortunately, irony rears its ugly head as a police chase crashes through a nearby fence and almost hits some people in the crowd. This is a subtle thing, but I love that even with no dialogue, you can feel personalities coming from the two thugs in the car. One of them is stone faced and confident, and the other is more panicked and jittery. My prediction would be it is a well- experienced criminal who is “taking the new guy out on the route.” This little explanation is drawn from a few seconds of footage. This is the detail I spoke of. Great to see it put to use even on very small moments. The car gets a flat tire and crashes into a piece of construction scaffolding that falls over onto the stage. The two thugs jump out of the car and immediately spray Tommy gunfire at the police. From out of nowhere, Batman swings down riding an I beam from the building and clotheslines both of them. Normally I would comment on how that would break all of their ribs, but hey, cartoon logic. The thugs land in the dumpster and set Batman up for a good one liner. The press go after him, but are not fast enough to catch him. Trying to make cash in on current happenings, a news reporter approaches the mayor as he climbs out from under the scaffolding with a sarcastic remark about the “safety of Gotham.” The mayor insists that this was merely an isolated incident. During his attack on vigilantes, he insists that Joker and Batman are cut from the same cloth. This upsets a channel surfing Joker who pays particularly close attention to the mayor, claiming that he wants to make Gotham as safe as his own home, a statement Joker wants to turn into a personal challenge.

This is a trait of many villains, the Joker in particular, I quite enjoy. Although their reasons are vast, all the best villains of this series operate crime for very personal reasons. Some do indulge in robbery or stealing, but most are not in it for the money. They are in it for something that means far more to them. That being said, this is only one of many times that Joker will convolute an entire scheme for only the sake of his own ego. That’s it. People’s lives in danger, thousands of dollars in damage, kidnapped innocents, all so Joker can show someone up, prove someone wrong, or make a statement about the most trivial thing imaginable. Two lines of dialogue. Two lines of dialogue are all that got this criminal psychopath to embark on the dark and deadly scheme we are about to examine. We see the Mayor harassing his butler Franklin about hanging decoration for his son’s birthday party. Considering that Alfred is the only other butler seen in the series up until this point, the comparison goes an extra mile to show the lack of respect the Mayor has for his “Help.” He insists he wants everything perfect because some very important people are going to be at the party. In a priority telling moment, he realizes he does not know where his son is. We are introduced to Jordan, the Mayor’s eccentric son. We see him cooped up in his room practicing his showmanship and magic tricks. The Mayor opens the door, clearing toys out of the door way as he enters. He chastises Jordan for not being ready for his party, and you can tell Jordan does not like the way his father talks down to him. Jordan says he does not want to go to the party because he knows his dad is just using it as a political PR stunt. The only kids there are the kids of his dad’s Politic friends. “It’s not even really my party.” Unfortunately, The Mayor does not want to hear it and orders he be downstairs in five minutes. The Mayor invites people in, shakes hands, and poses for a few photos. There is a really good gag in this scene too where a photographer blatantly lies to the Mayor about getting a shot of him and the senator. You can see that one of the other 79 kids is miserable before he even makes it in the door. Jordan continues to complain, but the Mayor insists he has a special surprise waiting for him, which in a cut away we see is a birthday clown. Now knowing that Jordan loves showmanship and magic, you might think this is a rather nice present, but with the Mayors wording, it is quite obvious this is a negligent case of “Ummm Ya! All kids love clowns right? That’ll work.” Making the situation worse yet, is the audience’s realization that this is no ordinary birthday clown. In fact, it is a clown we are all familiar with. This next scene is my favorite of the episode just for how well it displays that Joker could destroy Gotham in a heartbeat if he really wanted to. This scene has so many possible points he could have assassinated every political figure in Gotham in one place at one time. It is maddening to think he is so egotistical that he did not see the point in doing it because he was too busy trying to show up the Mayor for quite honestly no reason other than because it is something to do. Joker introduces himself as Jekko The Magnificent. (For those curious about my name choice, I will be using the name Jekko to refer to when Joker uses the Jekko voice.) Immediately, his potential for destruction is clear as he sets off fire cracker juggling balls (could’ve been bombs), hits the Mayor with a joy buzzer (self-explanatory), and makes doves appear out of thin air. (Okay maybe that last one was innocent.) Jordan is fascinated with Jekko’s magic tricks and asks Jekko how to become a great magician. Jekko tells him to run away from home, find a good magician, and steal his act. After the Mayor tries to get Jordon to blow off Jekko and say hello to “Mr. Wayne,” he runs out of the party in a tantrum. Jekko however says that he has saved his best trick for last. After making some fittingly cheesy puns at the expense of his big finale, Jekko puts a dynamite candle with a Joker face on it at the center of the birthday cake.

Bruce Wayne makes his way into the party and insists on carrying in his own present instead of giving it to Franklin. I do not know what Bruce got him but I am assuming he got him something good. On a passing note, there is a really good episode of Justice League where Wonder Woman and Batman show up to Superman’s birthday. Batman got him cash. No idea how much cash, just cash. As Bruce walks into the party, Jekko skips past him running out of the party. As he leaves, Bruce hears Joker’s laugh leak out of his performance. Bruce investigates the party for anything suspicious. Quickly he recognizes the large sparkling stick of dynamite with a joker face on the side. He pushes his way through the crowd and pretends to trip in front of the cake, knocking it into the pool. The water dilutes the explosion, and nobody is hurt.

The police have shown up on the scene and the Mayor is furious. He is making orders to Bullock to put every man they have into finding out how that madman got into his party and put everyone in danger. In character, Bullock is eating a piece of birthday cake rather than writing anything down. Gordon walks in on the scene revealing that Joker tied up the real Jekko and stole his van and costume up the road. It is only at this point that Bruce (not the boy’s father mind you) notices that Jordan is missing. Joker pulls the van into an abandoned amusement park. Jordan slips out the back of the van and looks in wonderment at the park before him. Joker watches a TV report where it is revealed that the Mayor blames the party explosion on an electrical fire. Joker laughs at the cover up but is shocked to figure out that Jordan is missing. Jordan reveals himself and after being briefly upset, Joker realizes that this could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Bruce, Commissioner Gordon, and the Mayor watch the footage of the party and suspect the joker as a likely 81 culprit. The Mayor is deeply saddened by his son’s disappearance and feels responsible. He promises he will change if he ever sees his son again. Bruce takes notice of the Prosciutto sign the Joker was holding. Joker shows Jordan a sword-swallowing trick. Jordan seems to be starting to get nervous. Joker gets a distress call from the security system and sees that Batman has broken into the park. Jordan’s father told him Batman was a bad man and so Jordan goes along with Joker in wanting to stop him. Jordan stands outside to grab Batman’s attention. Batman tries to convince Jordan he is in trouble, but Jordan is too scared of Batman to listen. Joker starts attacking Batman with razor blade playing cards. Joker climbs up a really good-looking spiral staircase and then throws a gas filled card (after they both throw out some good old fashioned puns) and knocks Batman unconscious. The Joker, in a hilarious character moment, leaves Batman’s fate to “Madra the fortune teller,” a mechanical fortune machine. We do not ever get to see what the fortune was, but I can guess it was nothing good for Batman. Batman finds himself in a strait jacket inside a water tank upside down. Joker wears a showman hat and carries a cane and talks up the routine by referencing it as a main routine of Harry Houdini. Jordan seems concerned that Batman cannot get out, but as I am about to explain, he is going to be just fine. You see, it is common knowledge Batman is a jack-of- all-trades, but the series gives us a deeper view in the episode “Zatanna” of his experience. During this time, Bruce was a star pupil of “The Great Zatarra,” the greatest escape artist known to the DC universe. Batman escapes from the straight jacket in seconds. Unfortunately, the glass is a lot more difficult to get out of. Jordan freaks out and grabs the stage axe and makes a big crack in the side of the glass. Joker takes the axe away and tears off his Jekko Face to reveal his real one. Jordan fights back with a seltzer bottle and runs away. Now I think the reveal

82 shot is great, but I think they missed a great opportunity to have the seltzer melt away his Jekko mask. The scene works fine, but that would make is so much better. Batman pushes with all his might and breaks the case open and grabs his utility belt. After running in fear from a few other rides, Jordan hides from joker in the roller coaster. Batman turns on electricity to the park so that he can find Jordan sooner. Joker however, uses this as an opportunity to get away as he starts up the coaster and takes Jordan along with him. Batman grabs the train next to him and tries to catch up. Joker tries to blow Batman up with explosive infant dolls. (Sometimes I feel the desire to emphasize I’m not making this stuff up.) Batman’s train blows up, but he was able to leap to Joker’s. Batman and Joker fist fight for a bit as Jordan panics about the upcoming coaster twists and turns. Joker is thrown from the train and lands on a conveniently placed bounce castle. Batman asks Jordan to reach for him, but Jordan still does not know if he trusts him. Can’t exactly say I blame the kid, as he has been told nothing but how much of a terror and menace Batman is. Luckily, Jordan decides to trust Batman, and they both grapnel away to safety and escape without a scratch. That is more than I can say for the amusement park however, which is absolutely decimated and collapses in on itself. The Mayor sits in his backyard still distraught over losing his son. He sits in sorrow examining Jordan’s magician hat. It is once again a really good example of the show using non-vocal storytelling. They treat the audience like they have the intelligence to understand the scene. A lot of other shows constantly over explain everything, but this show luckily has more confidence in you than that. It does not take a genius to see that the hat is supposed to show the Mayor growing to understand his son and his passion. The mayor is nearly brought to tears when re united with his son. Jordan is very happy to be re united with his father. The final main shot of the piece is a simple feel good 83 moment of Batman standing in the background giving Jordan a smile and thumbs up. This episode has a lot of great moments going for it. The Mayor and his son play very well off of each other and it is really interesting seeing that the Mayor is the one learning the lesson this episode. He does not have the screen time that other characters have, but his change is apparent and heartfelt regardless. It can be difficult to write characters in a way that lets them start as “bad people” and still have them be likable, and the Mayor is definitely relatable as a character even if we see him through the lens of his son who sees him as self- obsessed and uncaring. Jordan also comes up as a shining example of a well- written child. A strange occurrence in children’s fiction ironically is the inability to write quality child characters in shows that feature an adult protagonist. Jordan is charismatic but easily manipulated. He is a character you can understand, root for, and care enough to worry when he falls into trouble. Jordan may not go through a massive change through the episode, but he is nonetheless a very important character in his father’s transformation. Unlike The Under dwellers, I feel a real character in Jordan and not just a child-sized frame. Although he is not featured again, I would welcome Jordan in other episodes that feature the Mayor. Similar to Jordan, Batman works to influence and mold the Mayor throughout the episode. As Bruce Wayne, he is by the Mayor’s side, quick to comfort him and in subtle ways, he leads on that he has Jordan’s best intentions in mind. As I discussed in The Under dwellers, Batman/Bruce has a largely protective personality with children, so it makes sense he cares very much for seeing Jordan get home safe. Bruce helps the Mayor come to terms with his mistakes, while Batman puts that compassion to action in walking right into Joker’s trap to save Jordan’s life. Batman could have very easily taken credit and changed his perception with the largely anti-bat Mayor, but

84 instead sacrificed that chance for the sake of letting the Mayor make amends with his son. The Joker is on the top of his game in this episode. He is scary, smart, charismatic, and slick. I mean to be fair, he always is, but this episode especially so. Joker shows in probably the most public way yet that he cares more about the rush of chaos than the success of his destruction. He is a thrill seeker with an insane thirst for chaos. He shows a great amount of personality in both the writing and performance. A sense of consistency to his chaos if you will. In the zanier portrayals like this one, it is important that the Joker never loses his edge and this episode never loses it for a second. The shining technical aspect of this episode is its cinematography. Yes I said cinematography. Cinema is the lens we view the medium through, not the device we use. Not to mention stylistically, that is what this episode is trying to replicate. The animation and shots of this episode lean heavily towards a real camera perspective; long moving shots, pans, zooms, and mid shot movements, all lean towards giving the episode a very real camera aesthetic. This episode is top notch. I would not say it is one of the best, but it does do a great job hitting a lot of great points. It is heartfelt, action packed, well written, well animated, and the characters previously established in the series, all do a great job of exploring a new story from new perspectives. This show is built with characters that appear several times, and each time explores different perspectives or transformations of each character. This was not the first time we saw the Mayor, and it will not be the last, but this episode does a great job bringing a likable and relatable character out of him. This episode will not make you cry, but it will entertain those looking for some heart to go along with their heroics.

BTAS #10 & #11 Two – Face Directed by Kevin Altieri Story by Alan Burnett(Part 1 and 2)

Teleplay by Randy Rogel (part 1) Written by Randy Rogel(Part 2)

This is an episode I have been looking forward to. Previously in this series that dip into the dark, psychedelic, and heart wrenching aspects of this show. This two parter plunges into that ocean and does not have any intention of coming up for air. This set of episodes digs deep into advanced character, impossible choices, regret, police corruption, and the creation of one of the greatest Batman villains ever. For the multi part episodes in this series, I will make mention where the divide is and will make quick notes on the stories pace that far in, but will still wait until the end in order to give deep analysis. In other words, I will do my best to evaluate these episodes as individuals and as a combined story. Without further ado, let’s get started. The music during the opening slide sets up the scene of the first scene with its use of echoing instruments. It breeds a sense of emptiness and mystery. The opening scene has a lot going on and based on the length and number of these dreamscape stories, I am going to analyze them as much as possible here instead of at the end. We see Dent running through a sort of gray void. He hears a strange voice calling his name and then leans over trying to catch his breath. A dark and raspy voice calls out to him. Dent looks around the room, but sees nobody. Dent holds onto his head and screams for the voice to keep away. Dent frantically walks farther into the void. He is confronted by a figure standing in the shadow. It is the source of the dark voice. Dent says he wants no part of him. The voice stretches out a

86 hand and the hand is hit by a spotlight. He flips a coin into the air. The coin makes a very distinct noise, which Dent can’t stand the sound of and covers his ears begging him to stop. The figure simply states, “Come on Dent. It’s Time.” Dent wakes up in a pool of sweat from his night terrors. Let’s start with the location. Obviously the location is meant to be a visualization of Dent’s mind, but what is significant about the way they portray it? Well almost everything involving Dent’s persona leads back to a theme of justice or chance. For a character that sees everything as Two – Face as black and white justice, it is interesting both colors are virtually absent in the environment. Dent wears a gray suit with a white shirt. The backgrounds however are all in shades of gray. Never quite black or white but variations in-between. The battle between Dent and Two-Face seems to be boiling up before the transformation has occurred. When “The Dark Voice” appears in front of him, not just as a silhouette to save his identity, but it brings true black into the scene for the first time. A quick metaphor to show what he represents. There is also a lot to grasp from the wording of Dent’s line, “I want no part of you.” A clever foreshadowing of when the two of them will later become one. The yellow light coming over the coin can be interpreted a few different ways. One could be that it is supposed to emphasize a new perspective, as it is a color that appears nowhere else in the dream. It may actually be possible it is meant to represent justice. While blue is usually the color assigned to justice (as displayed in Batman later on in the Dark Knight trilogy’s color theory). The exact shade of yellow used under the spotlight is used only in two very distinct areas of the show: The police spotlights of Gotham PD, and the Bat signal. Another option is that it represents a spiritual presence or that flipping the coin is supposed to mean “It’s in God’s hands now.” The first is far more likely, but it does paint an interesting perspective on how spirituality could be further applied to this series. An issue we will be tackling in a later episode. 87

To say that Dent wakes up in a panicked sweat would be an understatement. Other characters have awoken like this in the series, but never one so drenched in sweat and eyes so bulging from fear and shock. Adding to the effect is realizing Dent actually was sleeping on his office couch, showing he probably was not even intending to sleep. This gives a simple example of his psychosis starting to escalate to dangerous levels. Dent is led by his right hand man, Carlos. Also in the scene we see his desk nametag confirming he is district attorney. On the desk next to it is a picture of his beloved fiancé Grace, yet another shining example of the awesome female representation in this show. Carlos informs him “Commissioner Gordon started the raid.” Dent remains almost silent as he storms out of the office. Dent arrives on scene and we have a both comedic and frightening moment where Gordon’s response to “How’s it going?” is met with opposing gunfire. I love how they chose to use an action rather than dialogue to convey what was an obvious message in a clever way. A policeman informs Gordon that a swat team is in place, but Gordon commands they wait for his order. The thugs are seen stealing from a crate from the US Army Gotham Armory. Several crates are shown, but out of the one they open they pull out a bazooka. A shadow is shown in the background as Batman takes them out one by one. We also see a really awesome tap on the shoulder gag from Batman and one of the criminals. We watch from the exterior as the whole police force reacts to all sorts of crashing and pummeling noises coming from Batman’s attack. One villain comes careening out the window and we see the bazooka shoot straight up and detonate harmlessly in the air. The majority of the criminals run out so scared they offer themselves to the police just to get away from Batman…. Nice. As Batman leaves the scene (only to be seen in the distance and silently thanked by Gordon), news reporters start

88 to trickle in. When asked about the raid, Dent takes credit for planning the raid and is happy to see another one of Rupert Thorne’s criminal rings broken. Rupert Thorne is a Mobster villain created for this show in particular, but we will get to him later. Dent also makes a quick but noticeable reference to the fact that he is up for re-election; a solid connecting point to why he is hamming it up so much for the cameras. As the crowd cheers, one of the thugs makes a vague threat at Dent and pulls away from the cop who handcuffed him just long enough to kick mud onto Dent’s suit. Various thugs begin to laugh at him, but Dent snaps, throws him in the mud, and threatens to tear him apart. This being the first time we see Dent switch personalities, it is very important we look at the telling signs they use. First off, we hear the recurring music from the opening scene. Previously used as a metaphor, we also see the background of the scene turn red to symbolize rage. The sweat and bulging eyes appear again, but this time is obviously different context, yet the familiarity still makes them a worthwhile device. And last but not least, the angered face he makes is very clearly a foreshadowing to his unfortunate accident to come. (Spoiler alert: Two – Face is an episode about Two – Face.) The only thing shockingly missing is the voice. A telling sign that Dent has not completely switched over, an important detail to remember for later. Dent snaps out of it after Commissioner Gordon grabs him and gets him to snap out of it. Gordon pulls him aside to get away from the press. Gordon questions him about his well- being. As much as Dent tries to shrug it off, it is obvious that Gordon senses there is more going on than he is aware. News reports play out coverage of the proceedings, and as the TV is muted, we are introduced to our villain. A great deal of the time superhero shows tend to phone it in on villains that do not come from the comics. Often treated as “Filler Villains”, they are met with lazy writing, lack of personality, and overall blah ness that can put a bad taste in 89 your mouth over an entire episode even if it had otherwise good elements. I am proud to say, Rupert Thorne, not only flies above that trend, but is an antithesis of notions like “He doesn’t have powers. Why bother?” or “He’s a Gangster. That’s all the character we need.” Rupert Thorne is cunning, an incredible strategist, and one of the best crime syndicate based villains in this show or any other. Thorne discusses plans with two of his accomplices, an hot headed generic man, and a seductress style right hand woman dressed in red (I normally would explain this trope but it’s so common, I don’t feel the need this time.) Rupert dismisses the idea of killing Dent because it would draw too much attention. He wishes to dig up some dirt on Dent so they can make him lose the election and they can get a district attorney they can manipulate. Candice, the woman in red, claims Dent is so clean, there is no way they could find any dirt on him. Thorne replies with another great foreshadowing, “The brighter the picture, the darker the negative.” Dent holds a campaign fundraiser at the Wayne mansion. In another nod to good symbolism, an ice sculpture of Lady Justice sits on his main table. The sculpture is well constructed, but it is noticeably melting. One could leave the meaning at justice falling apart, but the melting ice also looks similar to Dent’s sweat in the earlier scenes. The shot is framed the exact same way. Coincidence? Possibly, but hey, it is my hypothesis. Grace thanks Bruce for sponsoring the fundraiser, and Bruce tells her that he is just glad he can help. As established in Pretty Poison, Bruce and Dent are very close friends. Practically surrogate brothers, an important, yet tragic detail knowing our eventual fate. Dent leaves the podium and is politely approached by a supporter before he is distracted by a voice from across the room. The voice is Grace making a joke about setting a date for the wedding. Bruce makes a quick jab about stealing her if he does not make a move. I know that he would not actually do it,

90 but knowledge of Batman’s ummm let’s call it “James Bonditude” makes this joke extra funny. Carlos approaches Dent whispering, “The Judge just threw out the case against Thorne’s men.” He tells them that part of the warrant went mysteriously missing. Dent once again flips the switch and goes berserk. He grabs Carlos and throws him against the table knocking over the ice sculpture and breaking it in half. Bruce tries to break him out of it, but he only comes to when Grace jumps in front of him. Although we have seen this transformation before, this one shows an escalation in his condition. Dent’s transformation takes far less time and although not quite hitting all the way to Two – Face, his voice does go lower than before when he gets to his angriest. Also in this instance he is lashing out at close friends, not a snot nosed crook. The red coloring is more prominently shown throughout the frame; even in shots Dent is not part of, a simple and re-occurring example of his actions’ lasting influence. The final important aspect is the way he snaps out of it. Grace is commonly used in this series as the best mirror to Dent’s humanity. For a Character built on a split personality, it works so well to have Grace as a character who literally always sees the good in him. The second he sees her, the red disappears and his eyes turn from rage to fear, all in the course of about a second. It sets up how much influence she has on him, even at his worst. Dent apologizes, but his response implies that he might have more memory of this incident than the last. Horrifyingly this would imply that the line between his sides is getting grayer. Dent tries to brush it off, but Bruce insists it was more than just a slip. That he was “like another person.” Grace reveals to Bruce that Dent sees a psychiatrist but is embarrassed to talk about it because of his campaign. Bruce is proud of him for getting help. Dent asks him to keep it quiet and Brue ends with a “wink wink” line of “if there’s anything I know, it’s how to keep a secret.” It is after this we approach the moment we 91 have all been waiting for. One of the greatest scenes in the entire show’s four-year run: Dent and the “Psychiatrist.” We open the scene with a black void and a pocket watch swinging back and forth like a pendulum. We see a reverse of Dent looking at the watch. As the watch is eyes swaying left and right, notice that 80 percent or so of Dent’s face is blanketed in darkness. This effect remains throughout most of the scene. We also see a beautiful effect as the reflection off the pendulum shines a bright but temporary light on his face. The psychiatrist tells Dent he is now in a deep sleep. She asks if he can hear her, and he nods. The psychiatrist says she would like to speak with “Big Bad Harv.” Dent seems to struggle when he says, “He’s not interested.” Just then, a strike of lightning crashes across the screen and we see one of the series’ most iconic shots. A flash of light over the side of his face reveals about a second of the Two – Face form cast in only light. The reason I bring up it being cast in light is because it gives the illusion of a photonegative. (Now where have I heard that before?) This is the first time in the series we see the Two – Face…. Well, Face. I don’t want to talk about the face until its true reveal, but needless to say, this scene is just as thought provoking as it is bone chilling. Dent takes a moment to compose his thoughts and then begins to twitch as he changes sides all the way for the first time. His whole demeanor warps; his contorts as it did when he was angry, he begins to more casually slouch in the chair, his eyes droop to a maniacal stare, and he begins to flip the lucky coin in his pocket with the same constant noise as in his dream. He Leans forward and utters only one word in a dark and terrifying voice: “Speaking.” The Psychiatrist confronts Big Bad Harv about him and Dent not getting along so well. Harv shrugs it off and tells her he is a wimp. The Psychiatrist tries to justify Dent by saying that when Dent was young, he felt guilty about his angry feelings and tried to hold them in until they manifested into Big

Bad Harv. She explains how Dent needs to learn to control his feelings. Things get scary when Big Bad Harv reveals that he is not only a full-fledged personality, but is fully cognitive and aware. He puts it together if Dent gets help and gets his anger under control, he will disappear. He begins to rage and throws a coffee table across the room and full size lamp out the glass window. He grabs his psychiatrist violently threatening to kill her. The Psychiatrist snaps her fingers and breaks Dent of his trance. Dent regains control. Now what makes this transformation different and better than any other is not what they do, but rather what they took away from the scene. The visual cues of the red have been taken away entirely. This combined with the final voice switch shows Dent finally reaching a 100 percent switch. The device that makes this scene so intense however is the complete lack of music. This is the first time in the series they use this technique and It is not used often. The second Big Bad Harv comes out, all music disappears and the scene feels so tense you could hear a pin drop. The raw and vulnerable approach to the scene turns Dent’s transformation from a child’s dark fantasy to something surreal and quite terrifying. As effective as the music in this series can be, having it taken away can make you feel so close to the action it is almost uncomfortable. It increases the feeling of danger. When you add that with the fact that it is the only time so far Dent makes a direct threat to kill someone, you have a scene for the ages that has gone down in history as one of the greatest in BTAS history. Dent drops the coin (on heads I believe, it can be difficult to know for sure). This time, he has no memory of what Big Bad Harv did. Seeing his condition worsening, the psychiatrist suggests that he admit himself to a psychiatric ward for a few days, but Dent refuses because of the election. Instead, he schedules more sessions. The scene ends as we pan away to a well color-coded 93 red door to the office, and the reveal of Candice eavesdropping from outside. Dent is later seen at another campaign event where Carlos announces Dent is currently winning by a landslide. Shortly after in celebration he announces to Bruce and Grace he is going to announce his wedding date to Grace during his acceptance speech, which leads grace to tears. Dent is called away to a phone call, but is shocked to find Thorne on the line. Thorne coyly says he wants to offer Dent a deal, but Dent’s not interested…until Thorne threatens to release his Psych paperwork to the press. Dent heads towards a car he is instructed to get into parked outside. Grace asks him what is wrong, but Dent shrugs her away. Bruce tries to approach him at the elevator, but when Bruce asks him if he is in trouble, Dent responds with a symbolic, “You don’t know the half of it.” The car barrels down the road, but Batman is in fast pursuit. Before the car can get away, Batman uses a tracker gun to tag the car. Bruce follows the signal in the Bat Cave to an old factory. Thorne begins to read Dent’s psych report aloud to annoy him. He reveals that when Dent was a child he had a bully that constantly pushed him around until one day he got fed up of getting beat up and slugged him. The next day, he heard the boy was in the hospital. He was there for appendicitis, but Dent thought he almost killed him and tried never to show his anger again. That repression became Big Bad Harv. Thorne continues to prod at Dent and his duel identity, and Dent is pushed to his breaking point. In a telling moment, Big Bad Harv shows he can disguise his voice and sneaks up to Thorne and tosses him across the room. This transformation is by far the most complicated. Dent starts with usual signs, but this time everything seems to morph together. Dent’s facial expressions contort rapidly around his eyes and jaw, the main contortion point around his later

94 transformation. The sweat and music are back and so is the red glow. What is new to this one is the constant flashing images. Glimpses of random thugs laughing at him and contorted audio of their laughter. We also see a shot of the flipping coin under the yellow spotlight again, accompanied by that iconic flipping sound. It is also noticeably longer than the other transformations, but the more frantic nature shows off how intense Dent’s battle for control is. Leaving us with a final moment where we are not sure which Dent we will end up with. Dent tries to take out Thorne, but Batman stops him. There is a split second when “Dent” hears Batman’s plea for peace, but Big Bad Harv remains in control. In the midst of some amazing action shots of Batman fighting the henchmen, Thorne grabs the file and tries to make a run for it. Big Bad Harv and Batman are not far behind, but the henchmen are slowing Batman down. One of Thorne’s men gets to the door before Batman and tries to fire at Harv with a machine gun. Batman knocks him out, but messes up his aim, and his bullets hit a high voltage box causing exposed wires to go flying all over. One of the wires falls into a vat of chemicals and causes a large explosion that sends Harv flying across the catwalk. When Batman runs to him to check if he is all right, Batman looks appalled at the disastrous results. Dent lies in a hospital bed, half of his face covered in bandages. The doctor said he was lucky and that a good plastic surgeon can probably heal most the physical scarring, but Bruce comments that is not what he is concerned about. We also get a very quick scene of Thorne pondering whether Dent is still a problem for him. Back at the hospital, we get a note for not recreation of the Burton movie’s joker surgery scene as Dent’s realization of his face makes his scream in madness. He storms out of the room and as Grace spots him, she is so shocked that she faints. “Two – Face” says goodbye to Grace and walks away. 95

The design of the Two – Face is by far one of my all-time favorites. The light blue is a nice contrast to the on the nose black or red interpretations. Combining that with the white hair of his evil side, it almost gives him an appearance like a Ghoul or Frankenstein. The enlarged eye is not only effective on an overall scary level, but it works because the eye balance matches the expression it is going for: a constant state of rage, which we have previously established, leads to Dent widely exaggerating his eye opening. I also like that even with the animated option of making the line exact, it appears jagged and follows the contours of his face. Every element works together to make not only a long lasting and iconic design, but also one that is clearly set up by the episode devoted to creating this tragic villain. Part 1 works great for the uninitiated, but this is where I can give credit where due to the previous episodes subtlety getting people familiar with Dent, so that when we got to this episode, the audience is quick to get invested in his story. Pacing wise, the story is fast paced and sets up several great plot points and cliff hangers that make part 2 such an amazing follow up. Part 2 opens with a man looking out the spy hole of a building’s “Room 222”. Two Face pulls up driven by a few of his henchmen, and the location is revealed to be Rupert Thorne’s bookie joint. We get our first look at the coin, which is now revealed to be a two headed silver half dollar with George Washington on it, and one side has now been badly scratched. Many have asked over the years why the coin is two headed. The two faces joke seems like a quick explanation, but it is not the only reason. According to the comics, Dent’s father was extremely abusive and an alcoholic. He would constantly torture Dent by telling him he would beat him if the coin was heads and leave him alone if tails. It being a two-headed coin, Dent was always beaten. For some reason, Dent has kept that coin all these years. In this series though, it makes more sense

96 to have him keep the coin. Big Bad Harv is the one who constantly uses the coin, and Harv is the one who represents Dent’s repression. Therefore it stands to reason that he would hold onto a symbol of that. The bookie joint has a nice look to it, a little bit like a casino. We see a couple of older men taking bets from patrons all lined up watching about seven or eight televisions of races and games. After an opening door bust gag, Two – Face and his men storm into the place. The men begin to rob the place and we get a listen of a brand new song. Music for this two parter continues to be awesome, and this new song works with the same two level back and forth as the last theme, but at a faster and more intense tempo and tone. While looting the safe, one of the thugs tries to steal a large stone ring off one of the patrons, but Two – Face says “jewelry wasn’t part of the deal. We have to flip for it.” The henchmen think he is crazy, but Two – Face flips the coin and it comes up heads. Two – Face tells him to leave it, and when the henchmen refuse, he knocks it out of his hand and screams at him. Shortly after, they take their loot, make a threat to Thorne’s men to give him a message, and get on their way. Match cut to Thorne’s hideout and we get a reveal that this is six months since part 1 and that Two – Face had stolen 200 thousand dollars at the last raid. In frustration, Rupert Thorne gives out a bounty of two million dollars for Two – Face. We now continue Bruce Wayne’s part of the story with one of the season’s best dream sequences. We see Dent running in a panic threw a maze of crooked buildings. A dark figure follows behind him, but it comes into focus as Batman. Dent runs out to a drawbridge. Batman screams out to him to let him help. But Dent screams back that he blames him for not doing anything when he noticed Dent was in trouble. Batman argues how much he tried, but Dent turns to Two – Face and screams at him in anger that it is his fault he is like this now. The bridge collapses underneath, and Dent yells “Why couldn’t you save 97 me?” as he falls in agony. When Batman looks down into the abyss, he sees his parents standing underneath a light post. They stand crying as Thomas looks up and asks, “Why couldn’t you save us son?” Bruce wakes up completely out of breath in shock. The frame zooms out to reveal he was asleep in front of the bat computer surrounded by his work. Showing how engulfed in his life Two – Face has become and how it tortures him he could not stop it. The bent buildings work as a great metaphor for inner turmoil, but also it shows off the German expressionist influence of the show as a whole. Specifically, it reminds me of the buildings in the horror classic “The cabinet of Dr. Cagliari.” The scene’s dialogue does well to represent the scene under Bruce’s perspective, including Dent knowing his true identity. The chasm does well to represent falling deeper into the levels of Batman’s mind. Which shows to reason that closer to the center we find the deeper seated inner tortures of his subconscious in the form of his parents’ death and his own regret of their fate. Batman makes some soliloquy about what has become of Two – Face and wondering what he dreams about. He makes a solemn vow he will save him. Grace cries over a picture of Dent when she hears a knock at the door. She is greeted at the door by what looks like a policeman and a detective, but is actually Candice and an imposter police officer. She gives him a beeper to contact them if she ever hears from him. After they leave, Dent conveniently pulls up and stares into Grace’s window. A quick reprise of the original episode theme sets the mood perfectly. Two – Face counts the 650 thousand he has taken from Thorne. As he puts the money into his wallet, he sees a picture of him and Grace that stops him in his tracks. His henchmen suggest he go see her, but when the coin lands bad side, he says they have more important things to do. He plans to finish off throne once and for all. Batman and Alfred ponder a possible pattern in Two – Face’s crimes involving 2’s and Alfred as usual is quick to find

98 a great one liner. Taking this information forward, Batman feels that Two – Face may be approaching end game with Thorne. Batman mounts the Batcycle and comments to Alfred he feels Dent is still in there, to which Alfred worries will make him all the harder for Batman to take down. Two – Face and his men break into an attorney’s office looking for information about Thorne. Inside the offices, they find Thorne’s missing file. Under the discovery that the document he was looking years for was blackmailed and bribed out of police custody, Two – Face decides he will use it to take down Thorne like Thorne took him down. As they make their exit, Batman appears in front of an open window. Batman tries his best to appeal to Dent, but Two – Face does not want to hear it. When Batman mentions Grace however, his tune changes. Both seem on the verge of agreement, but when one of the henchmen interrupts, it lets Two – Face get the drop on Batman. They both continue to fight as Two – Face tries to leave, but Two – Face knocks Batman unconscious. The real mastery in this scene is the shot composition. Two – Face’s constantly changing emotions are perfectly captured, as the angles will carefully alter to show either both sides of his face, or a profile showing only Dent’s. A clear and effective metaphor for Batman’s ability to play to Two – Face’s humanity. This is also reflected in the subtleties of Two – Face’s voice as throughout the scene, he also alters from Dent and Two – Face, not in a Jekyll and Hyde level, but dynamically and subtly throughout the scene. A Janitor awakes Batman and we get a quick shot implying he may have bruised or broken ribs. When he grabbed Two – Face, he took with him a few pieces of fabric he ripped, and a pack of matches from a ripped pocket. Two – Face is driven by his henchmen when he notices the Manicheans of a wedding store. He visualizes Grace’s face on the bride and is overcome with thoughts of her. He demands the henchmen stop the car, and he flips his coin. I find it peculiar 99 when he fantasizes Grace into the bride, he does not fantasize himself as the groom, most likely because he can no longer see himself as human. Grace hears her phone ring and finds Two – Face on the other line. She is brought to tears at the idea that he wants to see her. He tells her to take the car across the road and it will take her to him. She hesitates to bring it at first, but Grace takes the tracker. Rupert Thorne gets word that his files were stolen and freaks out so much that he pulls his phone from the wall and throws it at his men. He demands that Dent be taken care of tonight. Candice receives a signal from the tracker and tells everyone that it is time to move. Grace walks into Two – Face’s hideout only to find him waiting at the end of the room. The room is exactly half lit and he is wearing a white cloth over the deformed half of his face. Grace runs to embrace him, but Two – Face will not let her remove his mask and rejects her when she calls him Dent. Dent explains that he constructs his base as a reflection of himself: A perfect economy of order and chaos. He describes his choice to live under chance. “Whether you’re rich or not, whether you live or die, whether you’re good or evil, it’s all arbitrary. ” Grace tries to talk him down and removes the veil from his face. She finally has Dent in control of his mind again, but is interrupted when Thorne storms in after taking out his henchmen. Thorne has Two – Face surrounded. They reveal the tracker scam to Two – Face, and he loses his trust in Grace. Batman arrives at the establishment but is very obviously still in terrible pain. Thorne starts tearing the Hideout apart looking for the file, but Two – Face refuses to tell him where it is hidden. Thorne begins to caress Grace’s face as he threatens to hurt her if Two – Face does not reveal the location of the file. Two – Face caves. He grabs the file from a hidden compartment underneath the roulette table. Dent hands over the file, but Thorne

100 commands that for both of them to be killed. Thorne’s men prepare to shoot Two – Face, but a batarang cuts his hand. Although badly injured, Batman still manages to take out several henchmen by himself, and Two – Face takes out a few of his own. Cindy is taken out by Grace in a brief but awesome girl fight. When all the rubble is cleared away, Rupert Thorne is trapped in the center of a fallen chandelier. Two – Face grabs a machine gun from one of the henchmen and points it at Thorne. What is amazing about this scene is how perfectly they set up the thematic we-have-already-established-the-lighting metaphor for the room. Two – Face finds the gun just on the edge into the dark side, and Thorne is trapped right between the light and dark sides. The scene makes perfect sense without noticing these things, but the scene packs a bigger punch when you do notice. Thorne begs Two – Face not to do it, but Dent will not listen. Batman screams for him to let the law handle it, but Two – Face scoffs at him saying the only law he carries about is the law of averages. Dent flips his iconic coin into the air. Thorne's face is drenched in sweat as the coin flips through the air. In a last ditch effort to save Thorne, Batman uses his remaining strength to empty a box of coins from the casino throughout the air. When Two – Face cannot find his own coin, his whole mental structure goes into shock, rapidly changing from personality to personality. He screams in uncontrollable agony while looking for his coin. Grace grabs him trying to get him to snap out of it and there is a beautiful shot of Grace and Two – Face’s human side, each shedding a tear, as Two – Face comes to his senses. Two – Face willingly checks himself into the Arkham asylum. Commissioner Gordon asks Batman if there is any hope for Dent. He says, “Where there’s love, there’s hope…but a little luck couldn’t hurt.” Batman drops Dent’s coin into a fountain. Our final shot is watching the coin drop heads at the bottom of the water. 101

This set of episodes tells an incredible, tragic tale of one of the most personal villains. Two – Face is deep, sadistic, unpredictable, and incredibly entertaining to watch. Two – Face is a villain that never crosses a line to an unlikable or unredeemable level of villainy. The ways in which Dent fights back work really well despite the fact they never go for the cliché of having Two – Face and Dent talk to each other. As far as Dent’s role in the Arkham villain theory, I think Two – Face is a representation of Batman’s duel identity. The ever-ongoing battle between what Bruce Wayne desires/fights for and believes is right, and what Batman’s constantly fighting for. As a whole, this episode holds up in its claims as one of the best stories this series has to offer. The pacing is spot on, the characters are multidimensional, the music is absolutely astounding, the writing is damn near perfect, and the animation and direction gives us some of the best individual scenes this show has to offer. It truly is “One of the Best.”

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BTAS #12 It’s Never Too Late

Directed by Boyd Kirkland Story by Tom Ruegger Teleplay by Garin Wolf

Religious themes are never an easy topic to talk about when it comes to animated series. Generally when TV series tackle religions like Christianity, Judaism, or Muslimism they are often portrayed as either completely inaccurate hyperboles, or insultingly missing the mark out of ignorance. Needless to say, the idea of it being portrayed decently in a children’s animated TV show about Batman seems like a laughable idea. Although for anyone who understands the basic structure of an introduction paragraph, you know where this is going. This series actually does a pretty good job with its incorporation of religion. How you may ask? Using the last thing you’d expect out of a conversation about religion in a superhero show: subtlety. Our episode begins with a young girl retrieving a ball from the front of a large gated community. Two men in suits peer down at the girl from a second story window. The girl doesn’t say anything, but it is apparent she is uncomfortable being anywhere near the place. The way the scene is shot actually resembles the “old fashion values” look of “Be a Clown”, despite the fact that here it’s used for an opposite effect. Inside the building, we see a news report talking about the ongoing mob wars between the previously explored Rupert Thorne and longtime kingpin Arnold Stromwell. Commissioner Gordon goes on record during a press Q&A saying that Mob activity is intensifying because he believes that Arnold Stromwell is on his way out of the business since he’s losing his edge against the younger Thorne. The report turns tragic as they announce that Arnold Stromwell’s son Joseph has gone 103 missing. Outraged by the report, Stromwell breaks the remote control with his fist. Stromwell is outraged at his son’s disappearance and denies the accusations that he’s all washed up. He wants the mob war over with and demands a meeting with Rupert Thorne that night. Stromwell finds himself rattled over the thought that Thorne has kidnapped his son. Although they may both be mob bosses,Throne and Stromwell, could not be more different characters. Stromwell appears to work with a much more loyal and tight knit group of lackeys rather than Thorne’s group of random lackeys. There is also a more obvious sense of humanity present in Stromwell. His concerns for ending the bloodbath of the mob wars speaks towards an older and more calculated approach to crime: Prepared for bloodshed, but will avoid it as much as possible. Clean and calculated is his way, while Thorne is more shock and awe. We cut to the exterior of “Pete’s Restaurant” where Thorne is sitting at a table with his men. Thorne signals for Pete to escort out a sleeping vagrant at one of the tables. The Vagrant turns out to be a disguised Batman who places a listening device underneath the table. Thorne jokes around to his men to play it cool and make Stromwell feel welcome. Thorne makes is abundantly clear that this meeting is a set up. He says that they have till the count of five after Pete leaves to get out of there and then no more Stromwell. Stromwell and his men pull out of the gated community, with a shot surprisingly similar to that of the Bat mobile leaving the cave, and find themselves waiting in front of a set of railroad tracks. Hearing the noise of the warning bell and watching the changing lights, Stromwell seems to fall into a fear induced trance. One of the more subtle aspects of this scene is the way the series has drawn consistency to its nightmares. The facial animation and expression on the victim draw many similarities. Another interesting comparison is the use of a very specific flute synth present in all these sequences. It’s also the primary instrument used in the melody of Two – Face’s theme.

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The dream opens up to the first ever use of sepia tone in the show. A flash back shows a train yard and an old fashion train with exhaust smoke coming out. Two young boys walk along the railroad tracks and are arguing about the petty crimes that the young Arnie Stromwell has been committing. He brags that one day he’ll rule Gotham. The warning bell begins to flash and ring as the spotlight of an incoming train can be seen in the distance. In a pillar of black smoke, a full speed train with a signal spotlight comes charging down the tracks towards them with its horn blazing. The second child runs off the tracks, but Arnie’s leg is stuck between the rails. Arnie trembles as he stares the train down in front of him. After a horrifyingly well-animated shot of the train from first person point of view, Arnie barely manages to free his leg and jumps off the tracks at the last minute. To his horror, Arnie realizes he has jumped onto a parallel set of tracks and another Train is right in front of him. As he stares towards what he believes is imminent death, Arnie flashes back to his adult self and snaps back to normal. A train of similar make and model passes in front of him. He lets the train pass and moves onward. In our first piece of religious imagery, we see Batman standing among the gargoyles of a large cathedral. Batman looks down to an intersection as Stromwell is driving past. Stromwell looks up towards the Cathedral with a blank expression and turns back unchanged. The interesting thing about the scene is the fact that they don’t show a reverse shot of Batman not at the Cathedral. This implies that we don’t know whether or not Stromwell actually saw Batman or not. I personally believe that he did see him. It’s revealed later in the episode that Stromwell does not fear Batman, so it makes sense that he does not flinch when he notices him.

Batman walks into the office of the church priest. Batman warns him that the Mob war is going down tonight and that he needs to be there for Arthur. The priest says he wishes 105 he could give up on Stromwell, but Batman says he doesn’t think he means it. Stromwell walks into Pete’s Restaurant. After some awkward introductions, Thorne suggests that they let both their men leave the room and talk man to man, to which Stromwell complies. After putting up with Thorne coyly wasting time, Stromwell grabs him by the collar and demands that Thorne tell him where his son is. Stromwell throws Thorne across the room. Thorne claims it wasn’t him on the grounds that he doesn’t mess with family (which according to the last episode is a complete lie). Stromwell lets him go. In a gesture of kindness, Thorne offers to use his advanced connections to help him find Joseph. Extremely reluctant to take his help, Stromwell swallows his pride and sits down to talk with Thorne. Thorne makes small talk with Stromwell as he makes his way towards the back door. With one last smile from Thorne, Stromwell realizes that he’s been set up, but the lights go out and there’s no time to escape. At the last second, Batman appears out of the shadows of the room. The lackeys outside jump at the sound of the building going up in smoke when the bomb detonates. The detonation is one of the most active and violent explosions so far in the show. Adding to that, the timing on the detonation is, to the second, perfect. Thorne says five seconds from when the lights go out. Counting the time until detonation: it’s five seconds, a brief pause for Thorne’s men to panic that it didn’t go off, and then BOOM. It’s just delayed enough to throw you off guard. Stromwell’s men start to panic, but one of them insists that they need to leave before the cops show up. Thorne and his men slip away from the scene while Batman carries Stromwell out the back door just before the building collapses. The fire department looks over the wreckage with Commissioner Gordon and we get an, on the street, witness screaming about how he saw Batman. He describes Batman as a mysterious demonic figure, a dark angel swooping up Stromwell like a bat from Hades.

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Batman attempts to interrogate Stromwell about the gangs, but as we established, he isn’t afraid of Batman. Batman takes Stromwell to the alley that he sold drugs to in his youth, but Stromwell denies it even when Batman accuses the drug manufacturing racket he currently runs. Batman takes Stromwell into a drug rehab center in the slums. Stromwell doesn’t want to go in, but Batman is quite persuasive. They both walk into a room that has Joseph lying on a hospital bed and Stromwell’s ex–wife sitting in the corner. Stromwell is furious to find out that someone was selling drugs to his son. His eyes widen in horror when his ex–wife tells him that it was his own men who sold the drugs to Joseph. Batman confronts Stromwell about how the gang wars have led to his misery. He convinces Stromwell to come clean to the police and take down the mob empires with him. Stromwell hands Batman the file about the gangs, but Batman is smart enough to realize that the books are fakes. Stromwell holds up Batman with a Hunting rifle from his wall. Batman tries to talk him down, but Thorne’s men attack them both when a canister of tear gas breaks through the window. Batman puts on his gas mask and tells Stromwell not to move. Two lackeys come in after them, but Batman disposes of both of them quickly. After hearing machine gun fire, Thorne comes in with a few more of his men only to find the two henchmen tied up. Thorne and his men run through the back alleys and find Stromwell running through the train yards. Stromwell escapes them by hiding underneath one of the train cars. Batman gets the drop on two more of Thorne’s men with a great first person splash shot in the Adam West Style. The Priest from earlier holds out his hand and reveals that he was the other child from the flashback. Stromwell slips into the flashback again, only this time watching the events himself. This time, we see the tortured look on Stromwell’s face as the other boy pushes him out of the way of the second train, costing him his right leg. Stromwell is brought to tears as 107

The Priest begs for him to end the madness and save his own life while he has the chance. Without warning, Thorne finds them and prepares to shoot them both, but Batman swoops in just in time and knocks the machine gun from his hands. Thorne is knocked unconscious and Batman escapes before the police arrive. The episode ends as Stromwell agrees to give his statement to Commissioner Gordon and our final shot is Batman looking off into the distance and the ominously lit cathedral. It’s Never Too Late is a brilliant example of properly using religion in storytelling without coming from a preachy point of view. In fact, the episode never actually uses the word religion, or God or anything directly relating to the subject. They simply use the thematic elements it portrays in its subtext. Symbolic imagery of heaven and hell or Angels and demons can go a long way to express emotion or character. Even if people aren’t themselves religious, they can understand its symbolism. The subtext is mainly used towards two characters: Batman and Stromwell. Batman is commonly connected to the mythos of a dark guardian or dark angel. Seeing Batman standing over the cathedral with the gargoyles puts him in a similar symbolic position. In scripture, the gargoyle was a creature meant to drive evil spirits away from the cathedral. This is a great comparison to how Batman protects the city of Gotham from the evils of its corruption. Stromwell is often drawn to religious subtext through the episodes title and main theme: It’s Never Too Late. Connecting Christianity to Stromwell’s largest struggle, this episode takes the theme of redemption and stares it right in the face. Michael, Stromwell’s childhood friend and future priest, works as a perfect representation of Stromwell’s conscience and also a perfect connecting point towards the show’s deeper religious meaning.

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Often in media priests and other figures of faith are used as metaphors/representations of the beliefs of a religion or sometimes used to represent Christ himself. In this episode, Michael is used as a direct metaphor for Jesus’ teachings and, debatably, his crucifixion. In the episode, Michael constantly works to warn Stromwell of his evil ways, even though he knows his attempts may be in vain. Michael becomes tired and frustrated in his attempts to save him, but still as a child, even as unworthy as he was, Michael is willing to potentially sacrifice himself for Stromwell. Michael’s strides for showing mercy to Stromwell are a reflection of the way Christ is portrayed in his redemption for people who refuse to heed his warnings, and his eventual sacrifice for the unworthy. All things considered, this episode in particular covers some of the darkest subject matter in the whole show: arson, drugs, addiction, divorce, and the tragic loss of Michael’s leg during his childhood. This episode makes no attempt in holding back from it’s audience and looking at these characters, acts, and even Gotham itself as dark as they actually are. However, with that darkness comes the greater sense of resolution, redemption, and resonance that this episode leaves its watchers with. This is an episode that I think will be overlooked by a lot of people because of its lack of super villains, but I highly recommend this one for its hard hitting portrayals of Gotham and its characters. It’s an episode that I have found sticks with me far after watching. Its themes and morals are long lasting and I think everyone could stand to learn a thing or two from this episode’s use of proper religious subtext. This is definitely a solid recommendation.

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BTAS#13 I’ve Got Batman In My Basement

Directed by Frank Paur Written by Sam Graham and Chris Hubbell

Did you ever watch “Home Alone” as a child? Of course you did. In its time it was one of the most popular movies of its day and is still viewed as one of the best children’s films ever made. It is without question a treasure, in a world of it’s own. What does this have to do with anything? Well, let me ask you this: Have you ever watched Home Alone and said, “this movie is good, but you know what it could use? More Batman.” No? Well apparently Frank Paur did. Evidently he liked the idea so much that he made an episode of the show based around that concept. Does it work? The answer just might surprise you. First I’d like to take a minute to talk about our episode’s director “Frank Paur”. Over the course of Paur’s episodes, not every episode but most, Paur seems to show a few patterns that lean towards defining his directing style. A good example of one of these patterns that shows up this episode is his adoration for 50’s style Americana. He loves to constantly pay homage back to this, especially in his art design. Considering that he’s also an animation art dept. leader on several projects, he’s had an opportunity to hone his craft in showing how these 50’s aesthetics can be accomplished even in a series that takes place in the 1990’s. Our episode begins with two criminals, disguised as window washers, breaking into a skyscraper, most likely a museum, to steal a priceless Faberge egg. Batman gets the drop on them. The second that they think they’re safe Batman swoops in, but Batman turns out to be not the only one doing the swooping. Out of nowhere, Batman is attacked by a vulture,

110 a rather unusual sight in Gotham, but I guess that explains why it’s able to catch Batman off guard. Not to mention that despite the fact that you don’t know this for certain until the next scene, it’s not your average sized American Vulture. Batman is able to fend off the vulture, but not before the other criminals get away. Batman is perplexed, but finds birdseed at the crime scene. This sets up the idea that the Vulture was part of a trap. We cut to a city block set in Frank Paur’s trademark 50’s Americana style. In Fact it’s probably one of the 50est looking and feeling episodes in this whole show. We see our main protagonists sitting on the front porch of a suburban house opening up their new Jr. Detective kit. I really like that the content, sand, and even the packaging evokes the feeling that he bought it from the back of a comic book. It’s a nice touch and helps to define the mystery solving adventurer aesthetic we find in our protagonists. Sherman is our first hero, a bit on the nerdy side, but he has a heart of gold and a sense of bravery that seems almost inhuman. He gets scared, but that doesn’t stop him from jumping into action. Roberta is the Watson to his Holmes. She is a lovable sidekick and often the moral center and logical, strategic side of the team. Roberta is not fearful, but she’s also the one to think more clearly and not jump into a situation without a plan. She is also a bit of a tomboy, to the point of symbolically riding a light blue bicycle and wearing a baseball cap. She’s spunky and forward, but never unlikable. Two local bullies harass Sherman and Roberta. One of them, named Frank, steals Sherman’s binoculars and starts teasing him by holding them out of his reach. Roberta grabs the binoculars from him and throws them back to Sherman. Frank looks up at what he thinks is a falcon, But Sherman takes a look with his binoculars and determines it’s a “Giant South American Vulture”. Intrigued by the new mystery he has stumbled upon, Sherman, informs Roberta that “It’s Adventure Time!”(ok, ok, not those exact words but you get the idea.) 111

Our duo of investigators follows the vulture to an abandoned birdseed factory. Yes. Really. The two thugs from earlier slouch around the factory warehouse. Then one of them notices something suspicious across the room, but he doesn’t see the two kids hanging above the rafters. A trap door opens from the floor to reveal the Penguin inside of a large steel cage– shaped elevator. The Penguin is definitely one of the more overlooked and underestimated of Batman’s Rogue gallery. He is also one of my favorites. I think this character has a lot of personality, and I love seeing the different interpretations as time goes on. To say that Penguin is one of the more sophisticated villains is an understatement. Penguin revels in his higher-class persona and is one of the few villains that actually commit crimes for financial gain. He steals and runs mob racket strictly to maintain his own higher-class lifestyle. Similar to the Burton interpretation that will come after it years later, this Penguin is born with actual birth defects. He’s hunchbacked, has a long beak like nose and has three fingers on each hand. His deformities may serve as an explanation for his addiction to the high life. He wears a black tuxedo, a large manacle, and a cigarette holder similar to that of Cruella Deville. The Penguin is one class act. Penguin calls for his pet Vulture, now known to be named Scrap, and gives him a slab of meat as a reward for helping get the egg. The other two try to ask for credit, but they are scolded for needing Scrap’s help. They hand over the egg to Penguin while the two kids crawl across the catwalk. They are spotted by Scrap who swoops in to attack them, but Batman comes out of the shadows, traps Scrap in a net, and opens up a floodgate trapping Penguin and his henchmen in birdseed. Sherman trips over a conveyer belt switch and both of them start being pulled towards a large grinder. A birdseed bag getting chewed up does a good job of setting up the fear in the kids. Batman grabs them from the belt and jumps from place to place to get them through the door. He manages to get them

112 there just fine, but you can tell Batman is not used to carrying two people at once. He then yells at them to get out as fast as they can. Penguin breaks out of the seed and runs to attack Batman. Batman runs back to fight him, but is hit with a gas bomb launched out of one of his trick umbrellas. Batman summons the Batmobile remotely, but passes out in the driver’s seat before he can get an antidote. Penguin quickly sicks his goons on the two children. They both pull Batman inside the vehicle and Sherman starts pressing buttons looking for a way to escape. During this sequence we discover that the Batmobile contains tank missiles, a flamethrower, wheel spikes, poisonous gas, and even a full set of anti–air missiles. The kids stumble their way into driving the Batmobile and manage to lose Penguin and his men in the process. A strange occurrence seeing as the Batmobile is a Manual Transmission. I also love how even when Penguin is gripping the Batmobile, for dear life, he still tries to make sure his hat and monocle don’t fall off. Its small touches like this that make these characters come to life. Batman comes to as we find out Sherman and Roberta have taken Batman to Sherman’s basement. You can tell by the posters and Jr. Detective equipment scattered around the place that Sherman is a bit of a hero worshiper. He even has a Wanted poster for joker above his couch. They give Batman a glass of milk to try and revive him. Batman barely makes out the words “Capsule” and “Visor”. Roberta reaches to call the police, but Sherman insists it’s their responsibility to keep Batman’s identity a secret and that the police would want to unmask him. We get a brief scene with the Penguin where he reveals that the gas will keep Batman out of commission for a few days. We also get a first person shot of him cleaning his monocle. If you pay close attention to the scene, you will notice that the monocle is completely decorative. A well fitting touch of detail to his character. 113

Sherman’s mother stands at the top of the stairs in another 50’s homage shot as she screams down to Sherman that she wants to know what he’s up to and he better not be trying to make gunpowder again. Roberta is quick on her feet and gets away with it by telling her the exact truth, “We just saved Batman Ms. Grant. And now we’re hiding him from some bad Criminals”. “Well that’s nice dear. Just don’t make a mess.” It’s a simple gag, but one of my favorites because the acting is spot on. Ms. Grant heads out to the store, and doesn’t spot Frank and his friend picking up a brick from the front yard. They start playing with the brick and accidentally find the Batmobile hidden under some cardboard boxes. Sherman runs out to tell them to get lost, but they don’t listen. When asked about it, Sherman can’t come up with a good lie for such a weird car just sitting there and tells them it’s the Batmobile. They don’t believe him at first, but the more they look at the car, they start to think it couldn’t be anything else. Frank stumbles upon antitoxin found in the driver’s seat visor. Sherman quickly figures out what it is and grabs it from Frank, but before he can get it to Batman, Scraps dives down to attack them. Sherman sneaks away and gives Batman the Anti–Toxin. Frank and his friend escape Scraps and run downstairs to find that Batman really is there. Frank tries to take off Batman’s mask, but Sherman tackles him out of the way. He tries to warn them that they don’t have much time before the Penguin arrives. Roberta reaches for the phone to call the police, but Scrap has bitten through the phone lines. With Batman still unconscious, Sherman realizes it’s up to them to stop the Penguin. Sherman takes Batman’s utility belt off his waist and runs upstairs to put his scheme into motion. On a quick side note, it’s worth mentioning that the way in which Sherman takes off the belt implies that Batman told him how to do it. I say this because in other points in the show, or in other shows in this continuity, Batman has some very powerful deterrents set to stop people from taking off his mask

114 or belt. These traps include gas, flash bangs, or an electrical charge powerful enough to take down an elephant. Considering that Frank almost grabbed his mask, there are a lot of lucky kids in this episode. Penguin uses his umbrella to break the house locks. Sherman runs up stairs and tells Roberta to be ready for “Operation Fowl Play” (get it?). Penguin criticizes the droll and outdated décor of the 50’s style home. (It’s so fitting it’s almost Meta). The traps that the kids set are effective, but surprisingly violent. One criminal is sent toppling down the stairs and the other steps on explosives, that were set up on the staircase, sending him flying onto the couch and toppling it over. Penguin sarcastically blames the accident on the cheap furniture. Sherman and Roberta run downstairs and hit Penguin with Batman’s Bolas. Penguin lets them think he’s caught, but then cuts the ropes with his umbrella. They run into the basement, but the bullies tell them Batman isn’t awake yet. Penguin and his men regroup and run down the stairs. Penguin steals back the egg and in a surprisingly dark display, uses his umbrella as a bone saw and begins moving towards Batman’s neck. Batman wakes up just in the nick of time and pushes Penguin away. Penguin’s ace up his sleeve is a short sword made out of the shaft of the handle of the umbrella. In an act of awesomeness, Batman grabs a screwdriver from the work desk and spars penguin with it. Batman plays possum to get Penguin to let his Guard down and kicks him, unconscious, into some broken shelves. Ms. Grant starts screaming about how destroyed the house is, but when she goes downstairs to scold Sherman, she is stunned to find out that Batman is actually down there. Batman greets her with a hilariously formal “Ma’am”. Sherman then makes a quick joke to Batman asking him if he’s single. Batman smiles. A good joke on its own, but another example of 115 a joke where knowledge of Batman’s Womanizing nature makes it that much funnier. Sherman puts two newspaper clippings about the crime on his basement wall. One of them gives him credit for stopping Penguin (Batman wouldn’t want to be involved with the press) and the other says that Scraps was given to the Gotham Zoo. Frank and his friends are now working for Sherman’s Jr. Detective agency and they are sent on surveillance for a neighbor that is having his newspaper stolen. Roberta and Sherman head out to Mrs. Fineman’s house to find her missing cat. The episode ends with a shot of Batman checking in on Sherman and seeing the good that he has inspired in all four of them. Frank Paur may have used this 50’s aesthetic before, but I think this is the episode where all those pieces just mesh together. The 50’s Americana elements of this episode not only give it a unique tone, but also help to create a cast of characters that wouldn’t probably exist in a normal context. The episode itself is not a mystery, but the problem solving adventure aspects of the episode are intriguing and relatable. I really get the feeling of what it would be like as a child to spontaneously run into Batman. It’s a framing device that countless writer try and fail to pull off, but these writers have it down pat. The 50’s elements also work in contrast to Penguins upper class personality as he constantly scoffs at the simple and unsophisticated aesthetic of Sherman’s neighborhood. The episode’s format also works very well for Batman as he’s written in as an escape route that’s been blocked off. The episode is written from the perspective of Sherman and Roberta. The main mechanic of this device is that things that would normally be easy for Batman are major threats to them, but that device can only work if Batman is out of the picture. Enter: Penguin’s gas. Now just because the two kids don’t do everything themselves to save the day, doesn’t make them boring. They actually accomplish quite a bit in the episode and do manage to save Batman’s life, twice. And for the segments

116 that Batman is awake, He does a great job emphasizing that the children’s safety is his number one concern. As we’ve discussed previously, Batman’s connection and protective nature towards children is a constant theme throughout the series. This episode highlights that theme in a compelling and subtle way. For a character that can sometimes get the short end of the stick, I’m glad to see that Penguin is presented loudly and proudly in his debut performance. Penguin is shallow, stuck up, prissy, and treats everyone around like he’s better and more sophisticated than them…I love this guy. A lot of villains in this show are certifiably crazy, but Penguin is just hilariously self-absorbed. He’s not nuts, he’s just greedy. In all honesty, he’s a lot more human than the other villains because his motivations actually make sense for a sane person. On the other hand, that’s not to say because Penguin isn’t crazy that he is any less unique or interesting to watch. Penguins deformity obviously separates him visually from the average villain, but his sophistication and bird themed preferences give him a quirky personality that might not land him in Arkham, but give his character enough definition for repeat occurrences to feel welcome. Kids aren’t often that well written in Children’s shows…. It sounds very strange when I read it back to myself, but it’s surprisingly true. I’ve talked before about how this show does it better than anyone, and this episode is a shining example of that. This episode has not one, but 4 child characters. To be fair, Frank’s friend is just a carbon copy of Frank, but besides that, these characters have a lot of personality. Sherman and Roberta make an awesome team. They don’t fall into a straight man funny man formula, but they play off of each other very well. Sherman knows when to jump into action, and Roberta knows when stop a minute and think. Sherman is impulsive and excited, but sometimes doesn’t think things through. Roberta isn’t quite as impulsive, but she is cunning and intelligent. Sherman is the one with the ideas, 117 while Roberta is the one with the answers. Frank starts out as a pretty boring standard villain, but his voice actor does a good job of showing his change throughout the episode. He’s not evil; he’s just a bit of a bully. This show doesn’t cover bullying from a real serious perspective often, and this is not one of those times, but for what it’s worth Frank and his friend do just fine. Aligning with the Arkham Villain theory, I believe that Penguin is supposed to represent Batman’s Gluttony. It would so inline Penguin’s desire for the upper class and the sophisticated. His constant desire and obsession for these things can make a great parallel to the temptation Bruce Wayne faces in keeping up his playboy ruse. The temptation that Bruce could also become addicted to the same playboy personality he tries so hard to fake on a daily basis. If there were one last thing I wanted to talk about on this episode, it would be the music. Penguin’s theme music is the musical identity of this episode. The theme is light and bouncy, but the lower notes of the song give almost a bumbling feeling that seems to comically reflect Penguin’s girth in almost a vaudeville kind of way. In the main versions of the theme, an interesting fact is that the theme is played on a xylophone, which in it of itself is a bit of an oxymoron. Although the sound of a xylophone can fit Penguin’s profile, it’s clean and precise, it is in no way sophisticated. This leads me to an interesting conclusion about the heart of Penguin’s character: Penguin is not defined by his sophistication; it’s defined by his obsession with being/trying to be sophisticated. As hard as he tries, Penguin’s deformities and short temper hold him back from the High-class man he is deep down. All of that was taken away from a couple notes of music. That’s how great the music can be in this show and how much it can say about its material. On top of that, occasionally the instruments for the melody do change, but never to contradict the former. They merely play the song as more of a warning of impending danger. That or on occasion, it will blend

118 back and forth with Batman’s theme in order to show the power struggle between the two. If I had to sum up this episode in one word it would be “execution”. Between Penguin’s interpretation and the Americana feel that Paur has tried so hard to create, I feel like this is the episode that the stars aligned for Frank Paur. The Americana feel is executed perfectly, the music is astounding, and this is one of the clearest and most compelling interpretations of the Penguin I’ve seen. It’s by far my favorite version of the Penguin. However, it is not my favorite episode of the Penguin, but that is a story for another day. Until then, this story is sure to keep you entertained. It’s as masterfully nostalgic as it is ingeniously crafted.

119

BTAS #14 Heart of Ice

Directed by Bruce Timm Written by Paul Dini

This is one of those episodes I’ve been waiting to review from the very beginning. This episode not only has a lot to talk about, but it also has a great deal of behind the scenes material to draw from. The season 1 DVD contains a featurette that talks briefly about the episode and there is also an episode of Kevin Smith’s Fat Man on Batman podcast with the episodes’ writer Paul Dini that provides a commentary track for the episode itself. I definitely recommend both of these for those interested in this episode and I will be covering that information here, but only as it becomes relevant. I just want to make it clear; this episode leaves a lot to talk about. Well that reason and there’s also a lot to talk about because it’s really damn good. I’ve talked briefly about Paul Dini and Bruce Timm Before. Individually they are the heart and soul of the series. Dini is an overseeing writer and Timm is the series’ producer and is credited as one of the few people that you could argue “invented the show”. What makes this episode so important though is that this is the first time both of them work together full time on an episode. Timm has main director credit and Dini has Full writing credit. Believe me, having both of them in the main chairs makes a huge difference in the outcome. Anyway, let’s move on to the show itself. The opening scene of this episode absolutely encapsulates the episode and the character of Mr. Freeze. The opening credits actually blend right into the main show for the first time. The main credits are met with a flurry of snowflakes falling down in front of the frame. The shot pans to a spinning Ballerina inside of a snow globe. As the shot begins to zoom

120 out, we see that not only is the snow from inside the snow globe, but we start to see a purple hand holding the snow globe, and shortly after, a darkly lit Mr. Freeze. You can’t see his whole suit, but we see his glass helmet and a metallic pattern over his shoulders. Half of his face is seen inside the glass, and his eyes slowly open to reveal that they are actually rounded and red as if they were mechanical. While all of this is going on, Mr. Freeze is giving a soliloquy about someone that the ballerina represents and the person who took her away from him. The speech is dark and dramatic and combining that with the mystery of who or what he is, creates an incredible amount of tension and suspense. Mr. Freeze’s voice is emotionally cold and slightly mechanical. When Dini talked about how they were going to make the character feel new, they were fixed on the idea of making the character emotionally cold and shut down as a reflection of the ice theme of his powers. The interpretation and execution is downright near flawless and the voice not only maintains that sense of emotionlessness, but the mechanical nature of the voice helps match up with the suit he now wears to keep himself alive. It creates a man vs. machine aspect of his character that builds upon his subdued personality. All that put together, and Mr. Freeze can range from intriguingly dark to downright terrifying. Our next scene gives us a black and white news report talking about that even in the middle of a summer heat wave, Gotham is being attacked by a new founded ice themed villain who has created winter like conditions with what witnesses are calling a freezing gun. She cuts to a quote taken from the CEO of Goth Corp., whose company is the sole target of these attacks. CEO Ferris Boyle says he doesn’t know what this villain has against his company, but they’ve always looked at his company as “the people company”. The reporter “Summer Gleason”, (oh yes this episode has it’s share of ice puns. Only difference is these ones don’t suck), signs off the broadcast as we get a fun snapshot of a group of kids playing in the snow, 121 being chased off by a security guard, and then pelting him with snowballs when his back is turned. The TV we’re watching turns out to be Batman’s Batcomputer, which Batman turns off after the report. Batman evaluates the robberies, while Alfred makes a quick joke. Batman explains that individually, the stolen materials are harmless, but assembled by the right person, they could be used to make a super powerful Freeze cannon. There’s only one piece left and only one Goth Corp. plant that makes it. This scene is quite short, but one thing I find of interest is that the drawing in this scene portrays Batman‘s cowl as being more Blue than black. Technically, the cowl is always slightly blue, but the coloring is more prominently blue here. Possibly this is to reflect the ice and water aesthetics of the episode. Security stands guard outside of the Goth Corp. plant. They only have two men so it’s obvious they haven’t figured out the crime pattern like Batman has. The guards try to stop Mr. Freeze and his men but Freeze arrives in an armored van going 70 with no intention of stopping. The guards jump out of the way as the van breaks through the security gates. Meanwhile, Batman is in hot pursuit behind them in the Batmobile. Batman manages to stay right on Freeze’s trail, but Mr. Freeze uses his ice ray on the road and sends the Batmobile careening into a wall. Mr. Freeze uses his ice gun again to break through a security door and instructs his men to load a series of canisters into the truck. More security finds Freeze, but he seals off the entrances. Batman swoops in and takes out all the criminals. Batman throws a batarang at Mr. Freeze, but Mr. Freeze freezes it in midair and it falls to the ground. He warns Batman that his vendetta is personal and he has no desire to fight Batman, but Batman insists that it is in fact his problem. Batman tries to swing away from Mr. Freeze’s ice ray, but is eventually caught and falls into a pile of canisters. One of Mr. Freeze’s men is also frozen by a missed shot from the waist down. Mr. Freeze adjusts his ice gun and encases Batman in a

122 layer of ice. This gives Mr. Freeze and his men enough time to get away. The henchmen with the frozen legs begs for help, but Mr. Freeze instructs the rest to leave him. He emotionlessly tells him he should have stayed out of his way. He grabs another henchmen’s pant leg begging for mercy, but he refuses to disobey his master. Batman breaks out of the ice, but they’ve already all gotten away. All except the henchmen that was hit with the ray. All things considered, this feels like a really dark scene. The actor that plays the man left behind does an incredible job portraying his horror. It doesn’t matter if we know that he won’t die. All that matters is that he believes he is going to die. Batman saves him and puts him into a chemical bath back at the Batcave. The machine itself looks similar to the recovery chambers seen on dragon ball z (wow I never thought I’d put those shows together). The actual mechanics of the machine are matched with sounds and devices similar to what you’d see in a Frankenstein movie. The aesthetic of this does fit in with the previously established Batcave, but is just different enough to show it’s meant to have specific meaning for this episode. As Batman tries to revive the henchmen, Alfred makes mention to the cold he has formed. Obviously someone as tough as Batman would normally have an incredible immune system, but you can’t get encased in solid ice and not expect to at least get the sniffles. Batman says he has no time to worry about the cold, as Bruce Wayne has a meeting with Ferris Boyle. Boyle greets Bruce into the office and makes a quick jab at Bruce’s Playboy nature. “Hey Bruce. You still the terror of Gotham’s night scene?” Some days you just gotta love wordplay. Bruce struggles with his cold, but assures Boyle it’s nothing. Boyle says he has no idea who would want to attack his company. His only guess is an ex-employee who was caught using company money for personal reasons, but he tells Bruce he died in a company accident. In a very nonchalant way, he tells Bruce that he sent his men after him, there was a fight, an 123 explosion, and they lost him. Disturbingly unmoved by the notion, Boyle goes on in anger about how he was wasting his company’s money, or in his clarification, his money. He confesses to Bruce that all the family company mentality is just crap for the press to eat up. “When the wage slaves start acting like they own the place, it’s time to pull the plug.” They just keep that wordplay coming don’t they? Boyle receives a message that the Humanitarian society is here to see him downstairs and Boyle begins to put his Public face back on. Bruce tries to hide his disgust for Boyle and hides it under his cold. He makes a begrudging exit. Boyle speaks to the reporter again at a humanitarian event and spews out more company family crap. The TV watching this report is interrupted by Mr. Freeze’s ice ray, blowing up the television. Mr. Freeze continues to soliloquy about how he knows Boyle is a fraud and that that compassion and understand was never there when “She” needed to hear them. Mr. Freeze sits on a throne made of ice as he stares deeply into his ballerina dancing in his snow globe. Mr. Freeze instructs his men on the assembly of the cannon. Batman looks through old newspaper clippings trying to find a link to the accident Boyle mentioned to Bruce. The reason for the accident was covered up so Batman needs to hack into Gotham’s private files. After hearing Batman continually sneeze, Alfred hands him a thermos. “Knock out gas?” “Chicken soup. It’s the only way to fight a cold”. Alfred is never without a good quip in this show and this episodes dark tone leave his elevating humorous moments all the more welcoming in contrast. Batman sneaks into the building by disguising himself as security and telling the guard on duty he’s got the night off. The guard not only doesn’t see through it, but struts out of the room like a million dollars. Batman scurries through a filing cabinet and finds some suspicious photos and a videotape. The tape is a set of video diaries from scientist Dr. Victor Freis. Freis believes he may be on the verge of discovering

124 humanities first true version of immortality. His invention was a cryogenic chamber that he used to preserve his beloved wife Nora, who is diagnosed with a terminal disease. His hope is that the chamber can keep her alive until a cure can be invented years later. During the recording, Boyle crashes into the room with two security guards. Boyle is outraged that the project was suspended months ago, but Freis has kept Nora alive using company resources. Boyle demands they disconnect the machine, but Freis begs them not to as disconnecting the machine will likely kill her. Boyle is too obsessed with his lost money to care and the guards are ordered to dismantle it. Freis panics and grabs a pistol form one of the guards and points it at Boyle. Boyle plays innocent and tries to apologize and come to a truce, but when Fries lets his guard down, Boyle kicks him into his chemical table; spilling chemicals, and causing a explosive fog of blue and white smoke. Snow begins to engulf the room as Boyle and his men exit. Fries is covered in snow and ice as he tries to grab onto his wife’s chamber, but falls to the floor unconscious. This particular scene is not only the best of the episode, but is debatably one of the most important scenes in the history of the animated DC universe. No, I’m not exaggerating. This particular version of Mr. Freeze’s origin has become so iconic to the character, most people think this is the way it’s always been. Before this show, Freeze had no real definition or personality. He was just another ice themed villain. When this show aired, the origin story created by Paul Dini was so beloved, to this day; it is the basis of almost every Mr. Freeze origin known to the DC universe. Everything from the Rocksteady games, the God-awful Shoemacher movie, to the New 52 Continuity to almost everything in between. Without question, Mr. Freeze’s origin from this episode is the most important and influential scene to ever come out of the DC animated universe. Well, that and the scene is just amazing on its own. The performances are perfect, the situation is absolutely relatable, and it makes Mr. Freeze by far one of the 125 most tragic villains in the entire show. It’s as heart wrenching of a scene as it is legendary. Batman is truly moved by Fries’ story. So moved he doesn’t hear Mr. Freeze sneaking in behind him. Freeze comments “It would move me to tears if I still had tears to shed.” Mr. Freeze then traps Batman with his ice ray. Batman wakes up hanging upside down inside of a snow- covered cave. It’s a strange comparison, but I find the scene is similar to that in Return of the Jedi when Luke is fighting the snow monster. A fitting comparison considering that Mr. Freeze is occasionally compared to Darth Vader, (and Boyle is played by Star Wars’ Mark Hamil). Batman tries to make peace with Mr. Freeze by showing sympathy towards his wife; But Mr. Freeze says that he has become frozen and dead to emotion. Batman deduces that Freeze’s suit is a result of the accident and Mr. Freeze confirms that he is no longer able to survive in above zero temperatures. He talks with Batman about how tonight he plans to take out Boyle once and for all, even if innocent people will have to die in the process. Mr. Freeze leaves Batman to go off on his scheme, meanwhile once he is out of sight, Batman uses all of his might to break free of the cave.

What makes this scene work so well is the tone in which Batman and Freeze talk to one another. As one of the smartest of Batman’s villains, a non-confrontational conversation between these two feels like a melding of two great minds. They feel as impressed by each other’s intellect as they are threatened by it. It’s as if they are playing chess with their minds, and they’re words are the pieces. It makes what would normally be an exposition, heavy, useless scene into an iconic, true introduction of these characters and their power dynamic. Mr. Freeze pulls up in front of Boyle’s award banquet with the giant ice ray. There’s a good quick gag about a Valet offering to park it, but Mr. Freeze ignores him and uses the ray to seal the building shut with ice. Batman barely escapes out the

126 back door, only to be almost hit by Mr. Freeze creating giant walls of ice all around the perimeter of the building. As the award is about to be given to Boyle, the window breaks and the room is filled with cold wind and snow. As Freeze’s goons reach to increase the power, Batman stops them by throwing an icicle. Batman swoops down and steals back his utility belt. Freeze runs away to find Boyle and in a very clever quick scene, breaks a fire hydrant and then freezes the water with his own ice ray to ride the ice up into the building. Mr. Freeze bursts into the ballroom to find Boyle standing there with no idea of who he is. Mr. Freeze reveals his identity and begins to freeze him. He doesn’t Freeze Boyle like he does with Batman. Instead, he freezes him from the feet up slow and thick. He definitely is doing it this way because he wants Boyle to suffer. Boyle begins to beg Mr. Freeze to let him go and Mr. Freeze gives the best line in the episode. “You beg? In my nightmare I see my Nora behind the glass. Begging to me with frozen eyes. How I’ve begged to see that look frozen on you”. Batman runs into the room to stop him, but Freeze has him overpowered. Freeze reveals his suit triples his physical strength. He has Batman suspended and strangled by the neck. In a surprisingly effective last ditch effort, Batman grabs the chicken soup thermos from his cowl and smashes Freeze’s helmet and burns his face. Freeze struggles to breathe the warm air and falls unconscious. Batman gives the evidence of Boyle’s cover up to the reporter and gives a final sneer to Boyle as he leaves.

Mr. Freeze sits without his suit in an ice-covered cell in Arkham asylum holding his snow globe once more. He gives his most beautiful speech yet as he hopes that somewhere, someday, he’ll find Nora waiting for him. Freeze touches the glass as he thinks of Nora, but his coldness stops the Ballerina from moving and the snow globe turns white as it freezes. The show pans out to see Batman watching over freeze and the sympathy he carries for his tragic fate. The episode ends with 127

Batman running away into the night sky next to the most beautiful moon so far in the series. This episode is one of those episodes that make me want to say such crazy and inappropriate things as “If you have not seen this episode, you’re not a real Batman fan.” I obviously don’t mean that, but for the love of Gotham! YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS!!! This episode is considered to be one of the best constructed episodes of the series and it would be very difficult for me to disagree. The actual craftsmanship of this episode is jaw dropping. The art design stays true to the Batman universe while also introducing several unique elements to the episode that support its themes and ideals. The episode itself shifts towards a very blue and white color pallet as a way to show the coldness and isolation portrayed in the episode thematically. Batman’s Cowl, although always part blue, makes its blue more visible in this episode and the color blue is used on several other things in the episode from the beam of Freeze’s ray to the tint of the Security footage. Several other characters in the episode wear blue and Freeze’s suit also contains a lot of blue. Even the lighting of the episode makes black objects or clear ice to appear slightly blue. Dr. Fries’ cryochamber and Batman’s Chemical chamber draw symbolic comparisons to one another. It not only draws immediate comparison between the two as scientists, but it also sets both of them with an eerie sense of darkness in the experiments they conduct. It gives them both a feeling of a Frankenstein moment where they feel like, to an extent, they’re playing God. Speaking of Frankenstein, the story of Frankenstein has been a constant influence to this character from the beginning, but this series is one of the first to actually do something with that. He’s always been named Victor, but this is an episode where that feels part of his character. Even before the accident, there is a neurotic, or out of the ordinary, feeling to Freis. Our first introduction to his human character is already showing him

128 stretching the boundaries of science and trying to bend the mortal coil. That in no way takes away from the fact that he is doing all of this for a noble cause, but we only see his character after he has made his decision to cross lines that most people wouldn’t even consider getting near. For being one of the most human of the Batman Villains, it’s ironic how inhuman and robotic the character can be. As the villain Mr. Freeze, the voice actor was told over and over again to give less and less emotion until you are left with the emotionless, haunting, monotone the character is known for. Despite the lack of emotion in his voice however, his emotion still comes through in his writing and his line delivery. The way in which the character brilliantly can convey no emotion, and yet all the emotion he needs at the same time, is a contradiction that shouldn’t work, but does. The mechanical filter on his voice helps this portrayal as well. The gravel of the filter hides changing intonation in his voice in a natural way so that he can still maintain a quality performance with a one-tone voice. Mr. Freeze’s behavioral acting is often described as “Shakespearean”. Not only does Freeze’s Story sound like a Greek tragedy, but the soliloquy and monologue based speech patterns give the character that sense of self-absorbed importance. Even when speaking with others, he speaks in few longer stanzas. It gives a feeling as if he speaks with others in a way that feels very much like an emperor or a tyrant. This mentality once again points to Freeze’s common comparison to Darth Vader; an emperor himself, who also carries conversations in a similarly self-obsessed manor. Ferris Boyle is a good villain for this episode and luckily doesn’t dip into one-dimensional territory. One of the biggest assets this character has going for him is that this role was the audition role for famed Joker actor Mark Hamill. This was the role when Hamill first got involved in the show, and then later was invited to audition for the Joker. As far as his role as Boyle goes, he still does a great job. His fake smile for the press routine in contrast his deeper self-obsessed greed gives his 129 character just enough dimension to be interesting, but not relatable enough for him to be likable. There isn’t an extreme amount to talk about with Batman in this episode as far as character development, but there are a few of his reactions that point to some deeper levels of his character. The first of these is Bruce Wayne’s utter disgust for Boyle’s policies on how he treats his company and his employees. Several episodes of this show give examples of how Wayne goes out of his way to treat his employees far above average. He is an actual people company. As pointed out by this quirk in other villains like the Penguin, we already know that Bruce despises gluttony and greed. So seeing a rival company that lies about such a good reputation is something that he would be utterly disgusted by. Not to mention that the family company mentality was one of his Father’s most important tenants when he founded Wayne corp. in the first place. So it makes sense that Bruce would be furious of someone making a mockery of it. The second of these was the sympathy that Batman feels after learning of Victor and Nora’s fate. Seeing as Batman was motivated to vigilante status because of a loved one he lost, it’s understandable that he relates to someone in a similar situation. On an even deeper level, you get a sense that Batman might feel an even deeper compassion for him seeing as Freis not only feels a sense of responsibility for Nora, but that he tried everything in the world to save her, but ultimately failed. You can imagine the comparative thoughts coming from Batman. If Bruce had the option to try and save his parents, even bending the rules of death, would he? Moving on to Nora, It can be difficult to talk about an innominate character, but I believe that discussing her is extremely important to this story. Two particular details are left out about her character; both of which I believe the episode gives subtle room for interpretation towards. The first of which is defining what the meaning of the snow globe is. The obvious answer is that it’s a working metaphor and reminder of the

130 frozen capsule she remained trapped in, but looking deeper into Freeze’s dialogue, there is solid evidence that she may have actually been a ballerina. This would also explain why the ballerina looks so much like her. The second question is what the incurable disease that she suffered from was. The episode gives very little evidence of what Nora was suffering from; my educated guess would be a tumor. Having the show take place in the 90’s, the idea of it being inoperable and I’m guessing it’d be a disease that’s thematically fitting.

The music of this episode isn’t quite as prominent as it is in other episodes, but that doesn’t mean it’s not as good. I think it’s mainly because the music in this episode doesn’t show off as much as in other episodes. Mr. Freeze’s theme however, is amazing. Its melody is very mysterious, eerie, and has just the right amount of a winter/Christmas sounding bounce in the counter melody. In a way, the theme reminds me a little bit of the theme of Edward Scissorhands, but darker. The thing about the theme that I find the most fascinating is the fact that I don’t think that the theme is supposed to be Mr. Freeze’s. It’s Nora’s. The theme only shows up in scenes when Freeze is talking about Nora and the song itself seems to represent her. The theme is pretty, elegant, delicate, and it seems to bounce and float. It actually sounds like something a ballerina would dance to. The song is played mostly on a flute. An instrument usually associated with innocence and goodness, and yet the minor key of the theme overlays the theme with a sense of sadness and darkness. The song isn’t about Nora. The song is Nora. This episode is also one of the first episodes in this series that actually confronts death directly. In previous episodes, characters are threatened with death or Bruce mourns his parents who are already dead, but this is the first episode where someone died directly because of a present character’s actions. We don’t actually see Nora die, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. Not only that, but Mr. Freeze is openly tortured 131 by these actions in a way that Batman never was with his parents. Freis felt even closer to her and lost everything in his journey to bring her back to him. A journey that in his heart he hasn’t given up on. When Freis ends the episode, he begins to cry and beg forgiveness from Nora because he thinks he’s failed her and he hopes that somehow, somewhere, she hears him. This particular stanza is potentially one of the better spiritual moments of this show. The phrasing of the line sounds like Mr. Freeze is talking about finally meeting Nora in heaven. He speaks the line “Some place a warm hand waits for mine”. My interpretation is that he’s talking about Nora waiting for him in the afterlife. At first this theory sounds far fetched, but in a later episode, Freeze discusses how he believes the accident has made him immortal and that if he lives forever, He and Nora will never be reunited. As far as Mr. Freeze’s role in the Arkham villain theory, it’s a bit more spot on than most, although no less fitting. (Pun unfortunately inevitable), Mr. Freeze is supposed to be a representation of Batman’s Coldness. Freeze is a character that believes himself to be unable to feel emotion and Batman is a character who is constantly rejecting his emotions. Bruce/Batman is constantly pushing people away and potentially hurting those that he cares about for the sake of their safety. He rarely lets anyone get close enough to him that he could get hurt. The downside of that is, Mr. Freeze is a representation of Bruce/Batman’s largest fear about isolating himself. He will lose all those who care about him by pushing them away and he will end up like Freeze: emotionless, cold hearted, and alone This episode is probably the closest I will ever get to saying the word “perfect” in a review. The episode itself is the animation equivalent of High art. It may not be my absolute favorite episode, but it is objectionably one of the best-made episodes. If you have a beating heart, I’m sure there is something about this episode you will grab on to and enjoy. In

132 my life, I have never met a person who did not fall in love with this episode, and I don’t plan on finding one anytime soon. You would actually need to have a heart of ice not to fall in love with this tragic, animated masterpiece

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BTAS #15 & 16 Cat and Claw

Part 1 Directed by Kevin Altieri Part 2 Directed by Dick Sebast Parts 1 and 2 Story by Sean Catherine Derek and Laren Bright Teleplay by Jules Dennis and Richard Mueller

It is to be expected that coming off of an episode like Heart of Ice, debatably one of the best of the whole show, it can be easy to be disappointed at the next episode for not being as good. That being said, outside of that bad taste in my mouth going into this review, these two episodes struck me about the same as The Underdwellers did. There was great character, good occasional lines, decent action, but I was constantly distracted by a bad overall plot and a horrible and uninteresting villain. That is in no way to say that these episodes do not have value though. In particular, there are two things to know about this episode. The first of, which is the more obvious, is that this is the introduction episode for Catwoman. Personally I really like this version of Catwoman, but I wish she got a better introduction episode as she does deserve some respect in this version, but I’ll get to that later. The second thing of note is this was actually the first episode to air. Often with TV shows like this, they will release a mid-season episode before the premiere as a sneak peek just to entice interest in the premiere. These two episodes for most people were the first impression they had on BTAS…. I’m not sure that’s a great thing though.

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Our episode begins with Catwoman scaling the side of a building. It is worth mentioning that this Catwoman is using special claws that allow her to climb the walls. She does not have any mutation or supernatural abilities of any kind in this version. People often go back and forth on whether or not Catwoman has powers, and this version chooses to leave her as a cat burglar only and not a Metahuman. Although I have seen both versions of the character work effectively, and there are Metahumans in this show, I think it works better for this version. Her portrayal works similar to Poison Ivy’s in a good way: She does not act like a cat, she is not part cat, she does not have cat powers, she is not sexually aroused by cats, she is an activist who loves cats, and when she turns to crime she themes herself accordingly. The other unique aspect of Catwoman’s character is that so far in the series, as odd as it sounds, she’s the only main Batman Villain who is into crime purely for financial gain. Most are in it for revenge, public status, or for the sake of spreading chaos or panic. Penguin comes the closest, but he steals in order to fulfill his compulsion for sophistication. He’s not interested in stealing for money, he does it for class. For a character most people accuse of being generic and boring, I was surprised to find such a unique trait. Catwoman uses her claws to cut the glass window of a wealthy sleeping woman. After Catwoman cuts the hole out, she then commands her cat assistant, Isis, to jump through the whole and steal the woman’s prized necklace. According to online sources, Isis is supposed to be a Siamese. This version however must have had Catwoman dye her fur as they are typically dual toned. Isis looks carefully at the necklace in the display and the visuals imply that Isis is able to focus her eyes to see security beams that humans wouldn’t be able to see. I am unaware if cats can actually do this, but I’m going to put it in the “superhero logic” category. 135

Batman spots Catwoman as she exits the building. She jumps to the ground when she hears Batman coming after her. The animation on this episode has a few cool, but inconsistent moments. One of the better of these is the design of Batman’s face as he scowls at Catwoman. It is reminiscent of the style used in the iconic “Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns”. Catwoman tries to flirt with Batman, but Batman shrugs it off. Catwoman then makes a run for it. The tradeoff between Catwoman and Batman has always been that Batman is stronger but slower, and Catwoman is quicker and has more agility. This series follows that rule very well. Even without powers, Catwoman leaps off the side of the building and latches to a flagpole with her whip to get back to the rooftops. She is surprised to find Batman waiting for her in the shadows when she gets there. The two of them then continue on in a beautifully animated chase scene that ends in a brief fight scene where Catwoman makes a slash in Batman’s cape. (Which based on your own interpretation ranges from an impressive to laughably impossible feat.) Catwoman and Isis run across the street, but Isis is stunned and startled when an oncoming truck’s high beams hit her. Luckily for Isis, Batman dives in and gets her out of the way before the car can hit her. Catwoman calls Isis with a whistle and is seen blowing Batman a kiss before escaping. Batman looks up at where she stood with a flirtations whistle and remarks about the piece of Isis’ hair that she left behind. Batman and Catwoman’s first encounter is pretty well handled and establishes the flirtatious nature that this relationship is built on. The mechanic has always been to juxtapose differences between the relationship between Batman and Catwoman and the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. We will see how the latter relationship is handled later in the episode. Bruce Wayne is seen attending a charity bachelor auction for a mountain lion based Wildlife Reserve. Bruce is called up to the stage and the women in the crowd begin to bid on him.

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Starting at $500, the price continues to go up and up and up until a voice in the back of the room screams out $10,000. The voice from the back of the room is Selina Kyle. Bruce stares at her as she stands under the spotlight at the back of the bar. Bruce surprisingly gets flustered and nervous talking to her, and after she says that he’s not obligated to go on the date, he insists on taking her out. Bruce and the others hear gunshots outside and when Selina and her assistant turn to look where it came from, Bruce disappears. This scene has another example of a unique animation style, but it’s one used other places in media. In this technique, main characters in a scene are animated normally while background players are painted dark blue. This symbolizes their lack of importance as they appear like outlines blending into the backgrounds. Some say this is done for budgetary reasons on scenes with large crowds of people, but this show has enough crowd scenes I’m going to assume Altieri did this in order to help guide the eye through such a busy scene. Batman tracks down the gunfire coming from a cell of well-experienced criminals that are stealing a truck of army supplies and weapons. They are seen keeping the cops at bay by shooting a Vickers out the back door of the Truck. Batman jumps onto the truck and strategically crashes it. Commissioner Gordon shows up with several officers to take over the situation. Gordon informs Batman that Red Claw, an extremely dangerous terrorist, has been spotted. Batman is advised to keep a look out. Selina Kyle gets ready for her date in her lofty apartment surrounded by her several cats. She continues to make jabbing, obvious statements about how she’d rather be going out with Batman. Usually, I welcome these double meaning jokes, but the actor’s delivery just feels on the nose. Bruce welcomes her at the door with flowers and a compliment, but she is quickly called away by her assistant for a phone call with her lawyer. Selina is furious when she finds out that the company Multigon International has overturned a legal matter and purchased the 137

Mountain Lion Reserve that she was donating money to at the auction. Selina apologizes, but Bruce comes to the rescue by nonchalantly picking up the phone and asking her what time she would like a meeting with their president. Multigon’s office is, not so subtlety, covered in taxidermy animal head mounts. Mr. Stern, Multigon’s president, informs her they are committed to use the land to make a five star resort. Selina claims the land is so far in the middle of nowhere, it’s practically worthless for anything but a reserve. Mr. Stern insists it’s their best strategy and “politely” shows them to the door. Selina storms out with threats to inform other animal rights groups. After they leave, a door opens from behind his desk and reveals Red Claw, but low and behold, the episodes big twist, Red Claw is a Woman!!!...So? I want to make sure I state this clearly and accurately here because this differentiation is incredibly important. In the past, I have praised this series for its incredibly important work in establishing strong female characters, but just because a female character is strong, does not mean that a character is good. Is Red Claw strong? Yes, she’s incredibly strong, skilled, and known in the episode as “The most dangerous terrorist in the world.” Is she a female character? Yes. She is a female character working as a main villain who fights Batman and Catwoman and has her own goals and objectives. So she covers the basic requirements, but those aren’t the traits that make a good character. The answers to these questions are only a skeleton on which interesting characters are built upon. Here are some questions that better define my point and my feelings toward this character. Does she have depth? No. Her character is given little to no personality outside of “I am a woman who fights men so that makes me awesome.” Does she have any unique traits that set her apart from other Characters? Once again, No. The most unique thing about her is the fact that she’s foreign, but they don’t explore or use that at all. It’s just there to say “I am a

138 villain with a somewhat eastern accent so I’m obviously evil and scary” Does she enhance or influence the story or any other character in a way other than just not being on “their side?” You guessed it, no. Her character is completely replaceable in the context of the episode. All important or personal responses she has from characters are generic lines that could be said to virtually any other character and still have the same result. This shows how generic and literally replaceable her impact is on the episode. Finally, does her character or her goals leave a lasting impact of any kind? Absolutely not. Not only did I not remember this character until I re-watched them here, but I’ve had to constantly take closer looks at this character numerous times just to try and remember what little personality she does have to work with. I may sound like I’m being too hard on Red Claw, but I stand up to the point that “BTAS is better than this.” This kind of lazy, phone in villain is exactly the kind of cliché’ that this show strives so hard to overcome. This breakdown is one I will continue to use on other characters so I want to make it clear that this is not a simple unnecessary rant. The parking garage is accompanied with some slightly better Batman/Catwoman references. Batman breaks through the ceiling of a mob kingpin and interrogates him for information about Red Claw. The Kingpin claims that he doesn’t know anything, but he’ll see what he can find. Catwoman breaks into the Multigon offices and uses the secret code she remembered from the first visit. I find it funny that the song on the key piano is Beethoven’s Ninth and there’s the whole cats have nine lives thing. Probably coincidence, but I like it anyway. Several trick doors open up and Catwoman begins taking photos of the files inside of a safe. Red Claw continues with a lecture to her men about a military train they plan to rob that has some unexplained super weapon on it because …well the plot said so? I’m not sure. They don’t give any better reason than “because we’re the bad 139 guys”. Security cameras catch Catwoman taking photos of the documents and they head to the office to take her out.

Isis senses something is wrong and insists they get out, and Catwoman is able to escape into the ventilation system before security makes it into the room. One of the henchmen goes in after her, but she comically stops them with a long maze of spikes that are shaped like cats. Catwoman escapes to the roof, but Red Claw is right behind her. With nowhere else to go, Catwoman takes a wild leap to a building rooftop she can barely reach. She tries to pull herself up, but Red Claw fires at her with a personal grenade launcher. She misses the direct hit, but sends Catwoman plummeting towards the pavement. Batman saves her just in the nick of time with a surprise swing of his Grapnel gun. Catwoman embraces him with a kiss. Batman is surprised at first but, after they land, Batman clearly starts to enjoy it. Catwoman thanks him for saving Isis. Batman tries to remove Catwoman’s mask, but Catwoman refuses. Batman warns her that her crime fighting way stands in the way of the obvious attraction they have for one another. Catwoman catches him off guard and uses it as an excuse to get away. Catwoman returns to her home and her assistant greets her with a robe that she comedically wears over her costume. The episode ends with the reveal of one of Red Claw’s men spying on the two of them and discovering her secret identity. I won’t say much about this episode separated from the parts, but I will say from a wait till next week to see the next one perspective, I’m not engaged. As far as establishing Catwoman and her relationship with Batman, they’ve already done that. I already have her character in my head and I understand her dynamic with Batman. The second part just serves as an excuse to stretch out the plot with Red Claw. Which would be fine if I gave a damn about her character or her plans. I don’t. Regardless, I am an unbiased Reviewer and will continue with the part accordingly.

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One thing of note about this second episode is that is not directed by Kevin Altieri. Instead, TV writing veteran, Dick Sebast, directs it. Considering his storyboard resume is actually quite impressive, I have high hopes for the second half, and Sebast has not only directed some other amazing films, but some of my favorite BTAS episodes, I’m nervous about his reputation on sequels. I don’t exactly know how I feel about episodes of Batman: the animated series being made by the man who made “The Secret of Nimh 2: Timmy to the Rescue”. Regardless, I promise to approach the episode fairly and judge it on its own merits. The episode begins with the Mob boss from the first episode walking under a dark bridge in the middle of Gotham’s equivalent of Central park. He seems suspicious of his surroundings and for good reason. Batman walks out of the shadows and catches him off guard. Batman then confirms the meeting was premeditated. After the Mob boss tries to hold some information as black mail to keep Batman out of his mob’s way, Batman starts to threaten the use of force against him and his gangs. The mob boss confesses to rumors of a train heist going down tonight and that nobody local to Gotham is making the hit. Batman talks to Commissioner Gordon about the rumors, but Gordon confirms there are no trains going through Gotham that night. Batman suggests he check military trains that would be off the grid. We cut to some beautiful shots of the military train traveling in the middle of the night. One of the solders gives us our first confirmation that the weapon is in fact a Biochemical Virus. There’s also a real good face palm moment when one them taps hard on the lid of the chemical crate with the butt of his rifle…. I’m sorry, but I’m uncomfortable with you protecting my country anymore. Using a rocket sled on the tracks, Red Claw and a small group of her men climb on to the surprising unprotected caboose of the train and use a bazooka to break the chains 141 between cars and leave the car with the most solders falling behind them. They use a gas grenade on the others. Batman swoops in and takes out several of the henchmen in a brief but well-handled fight scene. In the designated Face Palm Moment of the episode Red Claw, The “most dangerous terrorist in the world”, Blasts open the crate containing a biochemical bomb, with a shotgun blast… I don’t feel like I have to explain what’s wrong with this scene so I’m going to move on before the logical side of my brain explodes. As unimpressive as the reveal that Red Claw was woman was to the audience, Her banter response with Batman is easily the best line(s) of the episode. “Red Claw? A Woman?” “Is that a problem for you Batman?” “Not at all. I’m an equal opportunity crime fighter”. As often as these episodes can make me groan, it’s impossible to watch those lines and not smile. Batman tries to take out Red Claw, but she warns Batman that the bomb will destroy everything within a ten-mile radius. Batman is forced to let her go. Commissioner Gordon screams over his phone to a military general about how he was not given knowledge of this train and blames that for the theft of the bomb. Immediately afterword, we get a great reveal that Commissioner Gordon has a separate phone in his desk specifically for calls from Batman. Bruce Wayne is speaking to Gordon, in one of the very few scenes in the whole series, which features Bruce Wayne speaking In the Batman voice. Gordon confirms that Red Claw is putting up a 1 Million dollar demand in exchange for not destroying Gotham. Bruce pulls up to pick up Selina Kyle for their next date. Bruce and Selina share some actually well written secret identity hinting while Bruce tries to test the waters on whether or not they are being followed by a red car. Unfortunately for them, the red car begins to ram them. The cars begin to hit each other back and forth, until Batman pulls a U turn and plays chicken to drive the other car off the road. Bruce and Selina walk back up to her room and Bruce asks her if she’s alright and to tell him if she’s in danger. Selina

142 is flattered and kisses Bruce on the cheek. Bruce confesses he has feelings for her, and the two of them part ways. Selina’s assistant meets her inside as Selina is changing into her Catwoman costume. Selina discusses that there are hidden bunkers underneath the resort site. We also get our first look at the fact that her claws, like a real cat, are retractable. She tells Isis that she is going alone. Alfred speaks with Batman in the Batcave where they find a cat hair on Bruce’s Jacket. He puts two and two together to discover Isis is the link that reveals Catwoman’s secret identity. Selina’s Assistant is making, what I’m guess because this is a kids show is, orange juice. A henchman from Red Claw breaks into the apartment and begins to sneak up on her. Just as he’s about to attack, she sees his reflection in the glass table that she set the pitcher on and splashes the juice in his face. She tries to make a run for it, but the door is locked and it takes her too long to unlock it. The henchman swings his hand back to hit her, but Batman show up just in time to grab his arm. Batman pummels him as the assistant struggles to retrieve her glasses. Batman tells her he knows who Catwoman is and insists that she tell him where she went. She confesses that she went after Red Claw and also that Catwoman is in love with him. Batman stops for a moment, but moves onward to find her. Catwoman breaks into Multigon one henchmen at a time. She sneaks in through the ventilation, but a quick shot of the Batplane shows that Batman is not far behind. The Two of them end up bumping into each other while trying to break in and are caught by Red Claw and captured. The Two of them are tied back to back with ropes. Red Claw, in a confusingly stupid stroke of not logic, decides instead of blackmailing Gotham to use the Biochemical Bomb, that she will kill all in a ten mile radius along with Batman and Catwoman…. for reasons…. and then give fake vials for ransom to collect the money…. because reasons. You know what? That’s not accurate. She does have a reason. A really 143 stupid, nonsensical reason. She decides to use it on them because, “Why risk carrying such a dangerous chemical around?” Well let me ask you this Red Claw: If the chemical is so dangerous to carry it around then WHY DID YOU STEAL IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!?!?!? World’s most dangerous terrorist my ass. In yet another act of stupidity, Red Claw did not take away either Catwoman’s claws or Gadgets nor Batman’s utility belt, so they escape quite easily. All the other terrorists are making their escape and there’s an emergency siren, but the rate that Red Claw’s chemical melt away towards the biochemical bomb detonating is fast enough to make the idea of escaping downright laughable. Batman convinces Catwoman to make her escape while he takes care of the bomb. In order to take care of the ultra- dangerous Biochemical bomb, Batman opens a hose connected to a petrol truck and creates a trail of Jet fuel leading back to the truck. Batman drives the truck away and throws a grenade out the window, setting off a trail of fire leading back not only to the bomb, but to an entire army supply of TNT, Grenades, and all sorts of explosives. As much as I want to tear this moment apart, I’m going to just say that maybe the explosion helped diffuse the chemicals of the bomb or that the bomb required being detonated gradually and that rapidly blowing it up stopped the chemicals from mixing and becoming volatile. Seems Legit. Commissioner Gordon Comes up to the scene with choppers and rounds up the terrorists. Catwoman tries to slink away, but Red Claw attacks her. What follows is an incredibly lame fight scene; Catwoman is saved by one of the mountain lions that Selina was fighting to save. Ha ha . Irony. Catwoman disappears as Batman hands Red Claw over to Commissioner Gordon. Catwoman returns to her apartment to find Batman waiting for her there. Batman tells her that he didn’t want to see her taken away by the police like a common criminal.

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Catwoman tries to flirt with him because she knows he cares for her, But Batman handcuffs her and ends the episode on the line, “More than you know.” Although I will state clearly that I find both of these episodes have some incredible moments in character and animation, a lazy plot and a completely uninspired villain drag this whole episode down into mediocrity. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. “BTAS is better that this!” I’ve already ranted enough about how I despise Red Claw so I won’t do any more of that here. What I will talk about though is how much it drags down this episode that her big scheme doesn’t really amount to anything. A character’s goals can show just as much as her direct personality. As mentioned before, with minor adjustments, I just as easily could see Joker or The League of Shadows or any number of Batman villains could have attempted this heist. Not to mention the actual stakes of the situation are really unclear and makes it difficult to get invested in the story. Also it leaves the story littered with plot holes. For example, if Red Claw said that the tunnels underneath the land were from the government, then, why was the land available for sale in the first place? Or why did they not think of it as a place that lots of weapons could be stored? Many people might immediately criticize me for being so hard on Red Claw while so many people have major problems with Catwoman. Let’s take a closer look at Catwoman shall we? I’ll use the same questions so you know I’m being fair. Does she have depth? Yes. Her duel Identity does not express a fake personality, but rather explores different aspects of her personality individually. Does she have any unique traits that set her apart from other characters? Yes again. Selina ‘s animal activist efforts are very carefully crafted in a way that is more realistic to honest activists and not a view of extremists. Not to mention her gray morality helps define her from other villains. Does she enhance or influence the story or any other character in a way other than just not being on “their side?” 145

You guessed it, Yes. Her character is invaluable to the other characters in the plot. Catwoman’s activism is the thread that connects the civil and superhero sides of the story. Her character is a major impact character for both Bruce Wayne and Batman as she lowers Bruce’s defenses and makes Batman briefly contemplate where he draws his line between good and evil and has to stop his feelings from perverting his personal code. Finally, does her character or her goals leave a lasting impact of any kind? Absolutely. Out of all the various interpretations of Catwoman, next to Michelle Pfeiffer, This is by far my favorite version. She finds a great balance of keeping her flirtatious and manipulative personality without turning her into a mindless sex symbol. She is a perfect example of how a female character can be beautiful and seductive, but that doesn’t make her a bad character. In fact it can help make her a great character. Although the music of this episode is really good, I am disappointed that Catwoman does not really get her own theme. At least, not in the same manner as other villains got themes. The music revolving around Catwoman is usually played on either strings or oboe. It conveys a sense of sneakiness and suspense and the instruments themselves subconsciously reflect her movement. I’m just sad we didn’t get a memorable theme to line up with her character. This isn’t the only episode in the series that features two writer’s working on a two-part episode, but I actually found that not to be a major problem. Altieri is one of the more consistent directors on this show and although I gave Sebast some crap about Nimh 2, he did a really good job. I think a big part of the problem is the writing. These particular episodes had 4 writers. 2 on teleplay and 2 on story. Usually when you see credits like this, it means an episode was probably plagued with numerous rewrites and staff changes. This is most likely responsible for the episodes’ numerous inconsistencies. Cat and Claw is not a bad set of episodes. I just wanted more. It’s radically inconsistent and the story is hard to care

146 about. However, it’s introduction to Catwoman and her relationship to Batman is worth checking out. I can’t give this a recommendation unless you’re either a Catwoman fanatic or insist on purely watching every episode. Otherwise, I could take or leave these two.

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BTAS # 17 See No Evil

Directed by Dan Riba Written by Martin Pasko

Watching this show in order from a critical perspective can almost feel like a Meta-experience at times. It’s as if the show is a living thing trying to apologize to me. “Oh I’m sorry Ken that we gave you an episode with bad pacing, a boring villain, and a plot that doesn’t explore any important themes or issues. Can we make it up to you with an incredibly paced dark episode with an awesome tragic villain that touches on issues such as divorce, redemption, child abduction, spousal abuse, substance abuse, and mental illness?” My answer was an obvious yes. This episode is an exercise in subtlety. Many of the major issues or character depth in this episode is all rely from some good cues given from its subtext. It works well for an episode like this that works to get around the whole kids show issue. By far, this is an ability that makes this show evolve into the iconic masterpiece that it is. There is a big difference between a show that has mature content and a mature show. BTAS is one of the most mature shows you’ll ever watch and this episode is a great example of that. The episode begins in a suburban neighborhood, but not the same kind you would see in a Frank Paur episode. The street looks dreary, ugly, and abandoned. The other side of the road shows off an abandoned Drive-in Theater and an alley dog is barking at the camera. The camera pans to a stable, but ugly house with a broken picket fence and a front gate with a broken latch flapping in the storm like winds. After seeing Frank Paur master the look of the perfect Suburbia, it’s quite interesting to see a director use a broken one as a metaphor for his episode.

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We’ll get into the meaning of that metaphor as the episode goes on. The episode begins with a little girl in a pink nightgown named Kimi. She lies in her room tucked into bed. For the sake of clarity I’m going to speak this scene in literal context. Kimi’s window opens and the camera follows to Kimi’s bed. A warm welcoming voice calls out to her. She calls the voice Mojo. A believed to be “imaginary friend” that for clarity and spoiler’s sake we will refer to as an invisible man. He grabs Kimi’s doll from her bed and treats her like a focal point for her to look at. He asks her about her day and is generally kind to her, but when Kimi mentions that she and her mother are planning on moving, he drops the doll and seems deeply concerned and panicked. Kimi’s mother opens up the door to the room and turns on the lights. The invisible man sneaks out the door as Kimi’s mother plays along with her daughters “imaginary friend” story just like any other mother would. The scene ends on some creative invisible man moments of him walking down the street. The scene itself is very whimsical, but also powerful and mysterious. The conversation between the two of them is charming and innocent, but the music underneath them implies that something is not as it seems. The mystery of trying to piece together the invisible man’s identity keeps the scene interesting, but the knowledge of his identity on further watches definitely has its appeal as well. I will say that though the way he acts does imply the fact that he does not mean her any immediate harm or bad will, it’s just that the format of the scene comes off uneasy because we’re missing information. I mention this because for modern audiences, it can be easy to misconstrue the motivations of the scene sexually, which is far from the case here. Keeping that in mind makes it much easier to discuss what the true themes of this episode actually are. A man in a suit and glasses enters a jewelers Gala in downtown Gotham. Vendors of watches and jewelry of all kind are being sold from all over. We have a hilarious quick scene of 149 a guy leaving the place checking if the watch he just got is actually ticking. The man walks into the bathroom and locks the door behind him. One of the security guards starts knocking on the door asking why the door is locked. We see our stranger putting on his “invisibility suit” giving us confirmation of the face of the invisible man, but not yet his identity. The suit is silver and we have no idea yet how it works, but we see he has a wristwatch that seems to be controlling the suit. He turns it on and leaves the Bathroom invisible. We see Bruce Wayne at the convention buying a new Rolex. The invisible man steals the watch right out of his hand and continues to loot the convention with no regard to being noticed. I guess he figures that nobody will have any idea what he is doing so who’s going try and stop him? The police find that he has taken all of their guns while Bruce sneaks away to the bathroom to change into Batman. With everyone distracted, nobody notices him. The security guard still stands outside the bathroom waiting for the bathroom whistling. The door hits him when Batman dramatically kicks the door open. Batman chases Invisible Man through a construction area. Batman dodges out of the way of a seemingly flying construction tool that gets thrown at him. Batman watches the man’s footsteps over wet concrete to try and track his position. He uses a gas grenade to find his location and then uses a can of pink paint to mark him. Unfortunately, the Invisible Man uses his watch to melt the paint. Batman loses track of him and the Invisible Man starts using the echo of the ceiling to hide his position. Batman absolutely gets demolished. He is left pummeled and unconscious lying on the wet cement. The Invisible Man walks back to his apartment with his stash where we see a picture of Kimi on his table and we get confirmation that he is in fact Kimi’s father and psychotically worried that her mother is moving them both away so that they can get away from him. Helen, Kimi’s Mother, drops Kimi off for school and does not notice that Lloyd, her now separated

150 husband, is following her and watching Kimi walking into school. Helen takes a lunch break from her job at the Goth Mart…Love that name. She is stunned to find Lloyd waiting for her outside. She swiftly walks away from him, but he continues to follow her. We find out not only that Lloyd is currently on parole, but Helen also has a restraining order against him. Now it obviously isn’t confirmed, but the way in which he aggressively pursues, her, talks to her in demands, and grabs her by the wrist refusing to let her walk away, is framed in a way that highly suggests that the restraining order is a result of him hitting her when they were together. For obvious reasons, this is not something the show would’ve been comfortable talking about outright, but it’s definitely an intentional undertone. There are instances of this kind of violence later in the show, but not on a level that would grab the attention that true spousal abuse would. Lloyd continues to follow her and even states how he’s changed and how he can provide Kimi everything she needs. We also get the reveal that he was originally in jail for robbing gas stations, or at least that was one of the things he stole. Based on the previous scene, I’d like to believe he’s higher profile. Helen screams at him and demands he stay away from Kimi and that she has been instructed to stay away from him and that she told her all about him. Now this particular statement opens up a completely new can of worms. It confirms that Kimi has never actually met her father and vice versa. Meaning that first, Lloyd has been in jail for what I’d imagine is about 5 years. Second, Lloyd’s meetings with Kimi as Mojo, Kimi’s kind hearted imaginary friend are the only time he has ever gotten to be with his daughter. The situation is both saddening and frightening. The whole build of Lloyd’s character becomes a complicated chicken and the egg scenario. Did Lloyd actually reform and only drop back into crime because he was desperate to prove he could provide for his daughter? Or was Lloyd always going to 151 be a criminal even when he was left to parole and his fight to reclaim Helen and Kimi is just part of him trying to retrieve what he lost when he got caught? The rest of the episode more or less clears up the answer, but it’s an important question to ask. For the record, Helen turned him away with absolute force with no other evidence of the fact he was still committing crimes. I am not directly saying she should just greet him with open arms, but it’s worth mentioning that the reason we feel more comfortable as an audience taking her side is because we as an audience already know that we’re right. Food for Thought.

Bruce Wayne meets with his optical developments division where we get our first evidence that Wayne Corp. is an invention/technologies company. It always has in other versions, but this is our first confirmation. His scientists tell him about a man who was working on a cloak of invisibility. He was said to have been making incredible progress, but abandoned the project very suddenly with no explanation. His assistant is said to be still working on it. Batman sneaks into the lab of the assistant in order to find more information. He sneaks into the filing cabinets and finds the abandoned logs of the Invisibility project. He seems to scan through the file remarkably fast, but considering Batman’s identic (photographic) memory, it still makes sense. Batman gets spotted by the assistant. Who then drops a shelf of supplies on him. Batman gets avoids it and starts interrogating the assistant. The assistant cooperates peacefully and explains that the invisibility cloak is actually a form of high tech plastic that reflects light when electricity runs through it. The project was shut down however because as the Plastic deteriorates it can poison the body, or even the minds of its subjects. Sam, the assistant, has been trying for 2 months to fix this problem, but is giving up on the project. The only problem is that some of

152 the plastic is missing. When Batman asks who else would’ve known about the plastic, he mentions that Lloyd was another assistant under the inventor. Helen stands at the end of the road taking out the trash and finds Batman is there waiting for her. Batman tells her that he believes Lloyd has stolen the plastic and is using it to commit crimes. He also tells her that the plastic is poisoning his mind. With a look of horror, Helen realizes that Mojo is actually Lloyd. She sprints back into the house calling for Kimi, but is mortified to find that she has been kidnapped out of her window. Helen’s absolute distraught is a true write home performance. Not too over the top, but very powerful nonetheless. Batman prepares a tranquilizer dart and goes out looking for Lloyd and Kimi. Lloyd leads Kimi towards the abandoned drive in from the first scene. It’s evident in his tone that he’s losing his patience for the persona and is acting much colder. Obviously a side effect from the plastic. He instructs Kimi to get inside of a car in the center of the drive in, but Kimi is unsure. Lloyd unmasks himself and tells Kimi who she is, but Kimi gets more scared and says that Helen told her he was a bad man and that’s why he got locked up. For the first time in the episode, Lloyd forcefully grabs her and starts dragging her back to the car. Batman swings down to the rescue and kicks Lloyd into a drive in speaker.

Lloyd puts his mask back on and runs towards the car. Batman shoots the tranquilizer round at him, but it hits the door of the car instead. Lloyd adjusts his watch and the car itself disappears. I realize it’d be impossible to coat the entire car and you’d have floating parts, but I’m going to say that the light reflection of that scale fills in the gaps. This isn’t a Myth Busters episode people. We also get a quick scene confirming Kimi got home safe. In a few beautiful shots, Lloyd chases Batman and makes him drop his tranquilizer gun. Batman jumps at just the right 153 moment in order to grab a hold of the top of the car. Lloyd tries to shake him by driving into town. We get a nice joke by two vagrants who see Batman riding the invisible car, “I didn’t know he could fly.” Lloyd runs into some trashcans and the spilled garbage tears the plastic off the front of the vehicle. Lloyd drives the car unintentionally onto a railroad track. Beautiful photography, but an obviously dangerous situation with a train coming their way. Both of them leap from the car and land under a water tower. The car is demolished by the train. Lloyd starts pummeling Batman again, but Batman starts thinking smart again. He uses shuriken to cut open the water tower and let Batman see him underneath the falling water. Batman clobbers him unconscious and takes him to prison. Kimi is in her bedroom again talking about the same manner as she did with Mojo. Helen crashes in asking whom she’s talking to. Kimi says it’s just Batman. Helen’s response is almost perfect. She delivers the line in just a way where you don’t know if she thinks it’s really him or not. The episode ends with a shot of Batman in front of the moon as he leaves from checking up on Kimi. This episode is a checklist of everything a good Batman story needs. Good characters, Interesting plot twists, acknowledgement that Batman doesn’t have to be the protagonist, and exploring and using mature themes to shape Gotham and its inhabitants. It’s just plain good. Period. The dynamic of the broken family is explored in a way that does not limit these characters to stereotypes. Helen and Kimi seem vulnerable at times, but they are far from submissive or weak. Both of them, especially Helen, stand up for themselves and craft out their own unique personalities. Kimi is young and innocent, but she’s not ignorant. She’s a character that obviously isn’t strong enough to take care of everything, but she is cunning and does everything she can and she stays constantly alert. She knows when to suspect Mojo is up to no good and knows to run home when Batman lets her get away.

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Lloyd is a lot tougher nut to crack. I discussed earlier how it can be difficult to gauge how much of Lloyd’s behavior is based on him using the plastic and letting it warp his mind, or rather he was evil from the outset and that the plastic only managed to corrupt him further. Now to be clear, Lloyd’s behavior does clearly point to his immorality. He made the conscious decision to steal and use the plastic in the first place, knowing its consequences, and used it to go see Kimi. It’s also made clear that he only approached Helen to try and get back together after he already used the suit to see Kimi and rob the expo. That is not to say that this villain does not have some dimension. He’s not cartoonishly evil, but is deeply tragic. Despite all of his dark past and criminal nature in the present, there is still a part of you that acknowledges that he really does care about Helen and Kimi. That doesn’t justify his actions, but it helps to understand them. Adding to his tragic nature is the way that the plastic’s poisonous effects are possibly addictive. It’s never directly implied that Lloyd ever had a problem with narcotics, but he does describe his former self as a bum, which could point to either his spousal abuse or even deeper also a narcotics addiction. It’s possible that he is using the plastic’s poison to curb his urges of addiction. This would further explain how the plastic has turned him angry and short tempered. Normally I wouldn’t lump together animation and sound design when talking about an episode, but in this episode, they work so close together in tandem that it’s worth talking about their joint goal: selling the illusion of Invisibility. On the animation side, The illusion is sold not only with the illusive animation showing the few glimpses of what you can see of him even though he’s invisible (Footsteps in concrete, Swinging doors, outlines when exposed,) but is also sold really well from the way the animated completely invisible Lloyd was portrayed. Now I know technically that means not animating anything, but it takes a director with a certain degree of precision in order to sell that illusion perfectly. As an audience 155 member, the camera perfectly follows the invisible man, but they still keep the illusion that the characters have no idea. I also love the effects of when the invisibility is intermittent or partial like when the car paint is pulled away or when he removes his mask. The music works towards this illusion as well as it breeds both intensity and suspense. It’s almost like listening to the Batman equivalent of Jaws. The music continues to maintain and build intensity with no clear point of when exactly the climax is going to hit. If I had to pick one word that defines this score, it’d be lingering. It’s a not a feeling of horror, It’s a feeling of uncertainty. The music is just one great device that sells this episodes grand illusion of invisibility and suspense. See No Evil is an example of an episode that understands the power of balance. It knows exactly when to be action packed and when to be mysterious and creepy. This is an episode that just leaves me with a chill running down my spine. It never leaves you bored or anxious to keep moving. It is definitely one of the more mature episodes of the series, and definitely one of the more emotional. If you like the Batman episodes that border on the supernatural or if you like your stories with a touch of mystery and darkness, this episode will be great find for you.

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BTAS #18 Beware The Gray Ghost!

Directed by Boyd Kirkland Story by Dennis o’Flaherty and Tom Ruegger Teleplay by Garin Wolf and Tom Ruegger

I’ve probably touched on this quite a bit before, but it goes without saying that Batman, this show in particular, was a very big part of my childhood. It’s really easy to get blown away by a show with characters you’ve come to love and seeing them in so many different ways. As a Batman fan, I find that I don’t like to declare an allegiance to one particular interpretation of Batman. That’s not to say I love them all, but I acknowledge the great qualities in as many as I can. Now that being said, This particular series is the one I hold closest to my heart, and therefore I force myself to look at episodes both emotionally and critically as to express how an episode makes me feel, but not be blown away or swayed by nostalgia. Keeping that in mind, you can see how reviewing an episode that not only hearkens back to the golden age of Television, but also is actually in and of its self about nostalgia, it feels fittin to talk a little bit about it, as I will be talking a little bit more about my personal experience with this show than I would on other episodes.

Before I begin, I want to talk briefly about the 1966 Batman series. Although not as deeply engrained in my childhood as BTAS, This show does hold a special place in my heart. For a lot of people older than me, this was the first real Batman that they fell in love with. Even just watching the reruns of the show, I feel the energy and creativity that went into creating such a bizarrely campy Batman universe. A lot of people dismiss the series for 157 shying away from the comics or for interpreting Batman in a humorous light, but this show is just as much an important piece of Batman history as any other Batman interpretation. The reason I am going on about this is because as many of you know, This particular episode features a special guest team up by one of the most iconic and memorable people to ever put on the Batman suit: Adam West. Other people play their version of Batman, Adam West just is Batman. There’s no real sense to it. He just turns Batman into a persona so far his own, it almost becomes its own separate character rather than a Batman style. Regardless, his performance in this episode is not only important because of West’s history, but is an integral part of the shows primary nostalgic theme as Adam West himself is, in fact the nostalgic anchor point for a lot of adults watching this show with their kids, and to an extent, those kids re-watching the show now. One of those kids being the one who wrote this book. As I’ve said before, I refuse to let my nostalgia take over my opinion, but I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t effect it, and that’s not a bad thing. As we go through the episode deeper, you’ll see exactly what I mean by that. Now that we have all the fan gushing out of the way (who am I kidding… there’s more.) let’s get on with the episode. I don’t usually talk about the title cards, but this one takes the cake. We get a black silhouette of the Gray Ghost with a dark red background. The design is meant to be an homage to the original silhouette of Batman from the show’s main logo but changing the character. The music comes in blasting the heroic anthem of the Gray Ghost. The main theme is a perfect fusion of the dark and brooding feel of Batman and the swashbuckling adventure aesthetic of golden age adventure shows. It almost feels like Batman meets The Lone Ranger. (For the record that’d be the greatest team up ever.) Our series begins with an episode of “The Gray Ghost.” A black and white TV show from the 50’s that used the

158 superhero/vigilante aesthetic and put it into a dark noir environment that clashed with a swashbuckling Saturday morning action tone. If you’re noticing any hinting similarities here, it’s not a coincidence. The scene, in a way, is kind of making another version of their own show. The way the genres mesh together seamlessly shows a clear and engaging homage that sucks you into a world of its own. It feels old and new at the same time. It accomplishes this because although they are changing things to fit these older elements, it feels natural to see them because the show has been using several of these techniques all along. At the same time, the style and tone of these segments dive into the show’s original inspiration on a level not previously seen.

To say that seeing this series’ dark deco art style in black and white is amazing doesn’t do it justice. The signature black paper technique of the show makes every last light source, shadow, and shade of gray; pop like you would not believe. Chiaroscuro is most prominently used in black and white, and these segments not only evoke the nostalgia of the shows that they homage, but they also stand on their own as stylized masterpieces. I literally get goose bumps every time I watch them. Our show begins with an older man being mugged in the alley by a few escaped convicts. A narrator introduces The Gray Ghost out of the shadows. The Gray Ghost jumps into action and in a beautiful one-shot fight sequence, sends the crooks packing. The main logo of the TV series appears and we see a fog covered horror movie font with long casted shadows. The name of the main star appears on the bottom, “Simon Trent.” The opening scene of the episode, entitled “The Mad Bomber”, features a large explosion coming out of the Piedmont Plastics building. The Gray Ghost stands amongst the wreckage looking for a solution. We cut to a scene of Bruce Wayne as a child, wearing the costume of the Gray Ghost, and holding an action 159 figure. Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s now late father, sits behind him with the newspaper. We cut back to an image of Batman standing on a rooftop as the Piedmont Plastics building, of the present, explodes by arson. Frequently cutting around, we return to Thomas Wayne picking up a tuckered out Bruce and putting him to bed, then to an image of The Gray Ghost reading a ransom note from The Mad Bomber, threatening to attack the Gotham Bank. Our Final cut in the group is a shot of the present day Gotham Bank going up in flames from yet another explosion. The scenes are edited together quite nicely and I like the extra touches of leaving Bruce’s flashback scenes in black and white. This keeps the two parts divided symbolically instead of practically, and also that the orange overlay the series commonly uses around fire gives color images a feel of a strictly orange and black color pallet. Bruce Wayne tosses and turns in bed until he realizes that, “The Gray Ghost”, is the key linking the two Bombings together. Bruce and Alfred drive to a TV show archive downtown. He tells them the studio for The Gray Ghost went up in a fire 20 years ago and all the negatives are gone. Finding no way to watch the older episodes, Bruce looks up Simon Trent, the actor that played the Gray Ghost, in an archive at the Screen Actors Guild Building. We cut to Simon Trent, down on his luck being screamed at by his Landlord because he’s behind on his apartment’s rent. The apartment is practically barren all except his collection of memorabilia and merchandise from his show. He gets a call from his agent sadly informing him that he still has no work for him and that people only seem to see him as The Gray Ghost. In a fit of rage and frustration, Simon trashes his apartment and topples his collection shelves. Luckily, little of his collectables were damaged, as we’ll see in a later scene. Simon takes his Original Gray Ghost costume and his merchandise and sells it to a collectable store downtown. His merchandise is in low demand, but he makes just enough to get

160 by. All he has left is his original poster, and another item we’ll get to later. Simon falls asleep on his chair, but when he wakes up, he finds that all of his Gray Ghost items have been returned to him. He sees a note on his cloak telling him to meet him in a specific alley. When Simon goes to the alley, he is horrified to find Batman waiting for him there.

Simon begins to run as fast as he can, but he’s no match for Batman. Batman questions Simon about the connection to his show and the bombings. Batman asks how the explosions were done in the show, but Simon doesn’t remember. He tells Batman to leave him alone, but Simon stops when he hears a strange sound. Batman panics at the last minute and pushes them into an alley. Afterword, two explosives detonate. Simon runs away from Batman in the chaos, but Batman is waiting in his apartment for him.

Batman interrogates where he heard that noise from, but Simon continues to get angry and shoves Batman away. Batman grows upset with him and asks for his help one last time. Begrudgingly, Simon opens up the back of his closet to reveal he has copies of all The Gray Ghost episodes, possibly the only remaining copies in the world. He gives a copy of “The Mad Bomber” to Batman and tells him to be on his way. Batman criticizes him for not being The Gray Ghost he thought he was. Simon keeps screaming at him that he’s not The Gray Ghost, but Batman still looks at him judging as he tells Simon, “I can see that now”.

Batman and Simon have a very good dynamic in this episode. As heroic and altruistic as Batman has built The Gray Ghost to be, you can see how he is disappointed to find Simon as a fallen star scarred by Hollywood. On the opposite point, the show goes out of its way to make Simon relatable and it’s easy to understand how he has come to where he has gotten. His frustrations are not unfounded, they are ongoing and they weigh heavily on him. The relationship between the two does 161 develop, but the show does a good job with these scenes establishing both characters being against each other, but you can still empathize with both. Bruce watches the episode in Wayne Manor while Alfred fetches him some popcorn. Bruce reminisces about watching the episode as a child, but this time, the footage and the flashback is portrayed in sepia tone and the flashback is presented as more of a symbolic sequence rather than an exact memory. Batman watches the television in a black emptiness instead of his living room. Batman notices the explosions were caused in the video by remote control cars mounted with cameras and explosives. Batman warns Commissioner Gordon to be on the lookout when they defend the Gotham library that night. The library is on full alert with police cars everywhere. Three cars controlled by a mysterious man behind a massive computer controls them remotely. One of the cars is hit with a riot shotgun prematurely. It detonates without causing damage, but it’s a great way to show how strong the explosives are without blowing up the library on the first shot. The second one gets as far as the front porch before Batman destroys it with a flamethrower…. Nice. The third turns out to be a decoy, trapping Batman in the path of two other cars. A mysterious rope appears next to him. He climbs it, escaping the cars in the nick of time. Upon reaching the rooftop Batman finds Simon, as The Gray Ghost, waiting for him. Batman and The Gray Ghost begin talking more on the same page as it appears some of what Batman said to Simon sunk in. The Gray Ghost is here now and you can tell Simon’s charisma and heroic sprit is back as well. Batman leaves to examine the car for fingerprints, but upon seeing newfound heroism in The Gray Ghost, he asks for his help with the car. They both return to the Batmobile, but hear four more cars coming fast. They leap in the Batmobile and escape as fast as possible. The cars are gaining fast on them, but Batman instructs The Gray Ghost and he flips an oil slick switch. The

162 four cars cause some bad collateral damage, but they make it out alive. The Gray Ghost cheers for the excitement of being back in the action. The Gray Ghost marvels at the Batcave and we get a nice revelation that Batman designed the Batcave from The Gray Ghost’s Layer. Batman shows him a fan room that Batman built of all his Gray Ghost memorabilia from when he was a child. He talks about how he watched the show with his dad as a child. He was Batman’s hero. The Gray Ghost is moved and comments, “well now I know it wasn’t all for nothing.” Batman analyzes the fingerprints on the car and they are both surprised to find Simon Trent’s fingerprints on the car. Batman constructs a solid motive and means for Simon to be the culprit. The Gray Ghost is literally backed into a corner by Batman as he tries to explain that he sold his cars weeks ago to pay his bills. A look of shock and horror crosses The Gray Ghost’s face as he comes to the conclusion that The Mad Bomber is the most unlikely of culprits: the owner of the collectable shop. Our villain smashes a Batman toy across his large array of computer screens. A security alarm goes off inside the building as our villain sees Batman enter the room. He dispenses a large group of Mad Bomber cars to try and spook Batman, but He’s smart enough to know they’re not loaded. The villain monologues about his obsession with toys and how after watching The Gray Ghost, he discovered how much chaos he could cause and hold the city for ransom… So he can buy more toys. Not the most diverse of villains, but he works all the same. The Gray Ghost swings in through a window, smashing it and knocking over the Villain, and his shelves of toys. The chaos breaks the computer and sets it on fire. Knowing there are other explosives in the building, the two of them grab the villain and get out of there just in time. Despite being safe, The Villain cries in agony over losing all of his toys. 163

A spinning newspaper announces The Gray Ghost and Batman taking down The Mad Bomber. A news reporter talks about how Simon’s copies of the negatives made video production possible for The Gray Ghost for the first time ever. Back in the eyes of the public and on the cover of People magazine, The Gray Ghosts hosts an autograph signing. Bruce Wayne smiles at him as he signs his copy. On his way leaving, he reveals his identity to The Gray Ghost by saying “I used to watch your show with my father. The Gray Ghost was my hero”. The Gray Ghost smiles at the revelation. The episode ends with a close up on a young Simon Trent in the cloak and hat on the cover of the people magazine poster behind him. Earlier in this episode I mentioned how it was not necessarily a bad thing that I approach this episode with a feeling of nostalgia. The reason for this is that no reviewer can truly have no bias. It is our opinions and bias that help us form unique opinions and styles as reviewers. Not to mention the point of this episode is to evoke the feelings of sitting down in front of your television on a Saturday morning and watching your favorite TV show. Whether that show was Lone Ranger, Pokémon, or BTAS itself. It’s a feeling that transcends age or even generation. This show evokes those feeling and not only makes you nostalgic for other shows from childhood, to even make this episode nostalgic for people like me who watched it on Saturday morning themselves. The tone of the episode, as mentioned previously, has an amazing score. It matches the character perfectly, but deeper than that, in moments they don’t play the Gray Ghost theme, the fusion of the sounds forms a kind of sound all their own. A sound that I’ve come to love. In the scenes of the Ghost, they play more to his style, but the tone of the piece makes them more dark and emotional. When Batman is prominent on screen he has the dark tone he usually does, but his music tends to steer towards more action packed and driving. So in a way, they both take a little bit of each other into their unique sound. Simon Trent’s story as the Gray Ghost is expertly crafted and

164 seeing him slowly becoming the hero he spent so many years playing was amazing. At moments, Trent can feel so wrapped up in his persona of The Gray Ghost, you almost feel like he really thinks he is a superhero. His character goes through a brief, but incredibly journey from fallen icon with no ambition and constantly living in his past, to a triumphant hero. A real hero that stands for something, someone people can look up to, and one that gives his persona and his life work meaning. Batman’s perspective in this story is quite perplexing, as it comes in a few different directions. The first is Batman’s hero worship that this episode explores so deeply. It adds quite a bit to Batman’s character getting to see who Batman’s hero is and how he influenced the hero he became. In many ways it humanizes him to a great degree. We can all relate to having our own hero or superhero we looked up to as a child and how that affected us, especially because for many of us, that hero was Batman. On top of that, Batman’s fascination with The Gray Ghost, combined with his memories of watching it with his father, leads me to believe that The Gray Ghost TV show may be this series’ trigger show. What I mean by this is in different Batman origins; People will occasionally change the film that Bruce was watching with his parents the night his parents were killed. Christopher Nolan interpreted it as an opera, The comics use the original 1940 classic “The Mask of Zorro”, so it makes sense that maybe in this series, The assassination could’ve happened after watching an episode of Bruce and Thomas’ favorite TV show. Now the Villain of this episode is obviously not the major focus of the episode and receives almost no screen time, but that’s not to say there is not room to pull some interesting theories out of him. His character comes from a collectable obsession that seems to cause him to dip into the psychotic side of villainy. With this unique MO, I think that this toy collector is actually the series’ interpretation of The Toy Maker; a Batman/justice league villain from the silver age. Although his 165 screen time is brief, I can definitely see how if explored in a later episode, this was a great set up for an iconic new look at an older Batman villain. I know this often feels like a cop out description of an honest opinion, but this episode speaks for itself. I mean I’ve covered episodes with good pacing before, but this episode is so well edited, perfectly paced, and the symbolism is so incredibly clearly portrayed, I almost feel stupid pointing it out because everyone can probably get it all themselves. This episode may work on several levels of cleverly placed nostalgia, but I want to go out of my way to make it very clear on a technical level, this episode is incredibly well created and stands up strongly on its own, even without its ties to our childhood. When you can find an episode that does an equal job of challenging your intelligence and pulling your heartstrings, you know you’ve found something really special. I think that’s the way I would explain this one. Beware The Gray Ghost is a very special episode. It’s incredibly emotional, brilliantly crafted, and highly recommended. Set your alarm for Saturday at 9 AM, grab your favorite cereal, and enjoy.

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BTAS #19 Prophecy of Doom

Directed by Frank Paur Story by Dennis Marks Teleplay by Sean Catherine Derek

This episode is a hard one to put a finger on. At its worst; this episode is just an average one time villain episode to which some people might rank as low as considering it “Filler”. At its best, this episode is a dynamic and dark tale about the power of religion, false prophets, and an interesting look into Batman’s views on faith and the cosmos. Where between these points does my opinion lie? Let’s find out. Our episode begins with a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. Patrons are seen gambling away their money on roulette tables and slot machines. The scene is accompanied nicely with some driving and playful music. It’s almost like hearing the Batman theme as a conga. Using the same instruments for this song as the main theme makes a great transition for when the music take a dark turn at the reveal of a bomb placed in the hull of the ship. The explosion tears a large hole in the ship and the whole ship begins to sink. In the midst of the patron panic and a funny gag with a goldfish in a bowl, everyone manages to make it to the lifeboats safely. The scene is brief, but it does a good job of setting up an example of elements used later on in the show. Bruce Wayne sits at a fancy dinner with a rich colleague of his named Ethan Clark and his daughter, Lisa. Ethan talks to Bruce about how he’s blown away by the predictions of a cult of astrology that he recently joined led by a man named Nostromos. He claims that Nostromos told him not to go on the gambling cruise that sank into the ocean. Lisa is quite skeptical and claims its only coincidence and that Nostromos is a con 167 artist. Ethan refuses to listen and insists that Bruce accompany him to a party he’s holding in Nostromos’s honor. Bruce walks Lisa to her car where she talks with Bruce about how she is nervous about her father trusting Nostromos with his wealth. Now it’s never said specifically in the episode, but I’m going on the assumption that Bruce is sleeping with Lisa… or at least is dating her in this continuity. It paints out a reason why Lisa is attending that dinner and also why Bruce is walking her to her car. Lisa’s dialogue with Bruce throughout the episode also supports this theory. Nostromos sits in his chair in a near trance state. He begins preaching how the stars are aligned so that the vibrations of the earth make it the time for prophecy. Bruce rolls his eyes in disbelief at everyone being so blown away by his presentation. He starts ranting that he is getting a vision that Bruce Wayne is heading towards disaster. At that moment, the music hits a screech on a violin as Bruce’s glass of water vibrates and shatters. Alfred asks Batman how he thinks Nostromos broke the glass. After a quick joke form Batman about mystical forces and star alignment, Batman tells him it was obviously a sonic emitter. Batman uses fingerprints from Nostromos and his partner in crime Lucas. He finds out that they are a professional actor and special effects man. Batman theorizes they are the perfect set up for a major league con. Bruce Wayne appears at work the next morning and uses his key to unlock his private elevator. A worker on the bottom floor tells him in passing that a repair man came by to fix the elevator. Obviously Bruce knows it’s a trap, but he has to go in any way to keep up appearances. The elevator starts to malfunction and it is revealed that the elevator cord has been tainted with acid and is eroding away. Now, as predicted, Bruce uses his Batman Skills in order to get away from the free falling elevator, but what bugs me is that he actually comes out of the elevator as Batman. I mean the elevator starts free falling when he’s still Bruce. You mean to tell me instead of just grabbing

168 the grapnel gun he changed into costume in the free fall? You’re risking a lot for style my friend. Batman runs across the rooftops after the man who sabotaged the elevator, but the culprit uses a few dirty tricks to sneak away from Batman. Batman does however manage to cut his leg with a batarang. In some of the best Bruce Wayne acting so far, Bruce fakes a speech to Nostromos talking about how he has seen the light. He confesses that in falling to his near death, he came to realize that Nostromos in fact has real power. He apologizes for ridiculing his methods and Nostromos accepts his apology by inviting to join the brotherhood, just as Bruce had planned. Unfortunately, Lisa walks in and is furious to see that Bruce is crossing over to Nostromos’ side. Ethan tells her to mind her own business and she storms out. While driving to their next meeting, Ethan tells Bruce that Nostromos predicts there is an economic crash in the nation’s future. In order to prepare, Nostromos has told them to all put their fortunes into a combined trust. Although Nostromos is in control of the fund, he insisted it could only be used when signed over by Ethan. He insisted everything be 100% legal. Nostromos starts his opening speech sitting in his thrown. He invites Bruce to the brotherhood, but then “astrological sources” interrupt him to let him know that the big crash is right around the corner. Lisa is seen sneaking in through a window. She peeks into a back room where Lucas is running special effects boards. The crowd oohs and ahhs from seeing the special effects light show and the wirework that hoists him into the air. Bruce is hilariously underwhelmed. Nostromos nearly passes out in the act and when he comes to, he tells them to transfer all they can to the fund by tomorrow. Lisa tries to warn them, but Lucas captures her before she can. Nostromos, not wearing his wig, Brags to Lucas about all the money they are going to make off of their brilliant con. They are interrupted by Ethan knocking at the door. We get a 169 funny gag with Nostromos trying to “prepare himself” in time. Nostromos tells Ethan the stars are aligned in a way that tells them it’s time to transfer the funds. Ethan refuses to sign the papers without consulting the brothers. Nostromos slowly slips out of his persona as he tells Ethan the answer is in the moon and planets; he sees Lisa tied to one of the moons. Ethan is devastated at the realization that the man he has trusted so deeply has turned out to be a false prophet. He signs the papers to save Lisa, but Nostromos has other plans than releasing them. Lucas has set the entire building with explosives. Before Nostromos can make his grand escape, Batman starts pulling levers in the control room and sends Nostromos flying across the room on his wire rig. Nostromos and Lucas run into the control room looking for him, and chase him onto the scaffolding. They are unable to find him, so they split up on the catwalk. We get some nice shots of the inner workings of the large Planetarium that hangs over them. Batman turns on the sun to blind Lucas and try and knock him out. Lucas is a surprisingly good fighter and their fight is quite entertaining. Nostromos slips away and wrecks the mechanics so that the planetarium will spin out of control. Lucas and Batman continue to fight on the catwalk as the planets begin to crash into each other. It’s difficult to explain the exact beats of action, but I will say that this particular fight, along with a cool animation effect earlier in the fight, are the action highlight of the episode. The fight environment is always changing and is usually bizarre. That way, Batman won’t necessarily have the upper hand because the place they fight in and its problems are foreign to both of them. Nostromos tries to make his escape, but Batman releases the planet Earth from the display and sends it flying towards Nostromos like an Indiana Jones boulder. The earth model crumbles on top of him, knocking him unconscious. Lisa looks on in terror as several times so far, she has come within inches of being killed by flying planets. She becomes increasingly fearful as the seemingly razor sharp rings

170 of Saturn careen toward her. Luckily, Batman swings in to save her in the nick of time. Batman quickly rounds them all up and evacuates the building. A newspaper held by Ethan confirms Lucas and Nostromos are looking at life in prison. Ethan is disgusted that he put his faith in Nostromos and at both Nostromos’ and his own greed. Although playing it up for appearances, Bruce contemplates how he fell for it as well, but ends the episode on a philosophical line, “As the bard says, ‘The Fault lies not with the stars, But with ourselves.’” The episode ends on a shot of the night sky. Right before the show fades to black, we see a shooting star followed by a flicker of the North Star. This is an episode that I don’t think will be loved by many, but I hardly see why it would be disliked by anyone. It’s a far cry from the quality of some of the other episodes I’ve looked at lately, but the episode still maintains the professionalism and polish this show prides itself on. Now to be fair, the philosophical and religious elements of this show aren’t a major piece of its structure, but rather a piece helping the epilogue. In the main episode itself, Nostromos does bring up some good points about religion and idolatry. All of the men Nostromos invites to his brotherhood are not only wealthy, but are seeking direction in life. They are overly wrapped up in their wealth and they themselves feeling as though they need help to protect their fortunes and seek something to put their faith in. An opportunity opens up to them when Nostromos claims that great evil is coming and that he is their savior and only through him can they find true safety and happiness. Any of those elements sound familiar? Also there is brilliance to the specific choice in the cult he ran. As a cult of supernatural astrology, he can come off by mentioning astrology and the science related to it, he can sound more scientific and therefore closer to the truth in many people’s eyes. On the other hand, he sees himself as a foreseeing prophet who’d been given special powers. His personal persona spells out to be something 171 transcendent and all powerfully connected. Something more religious. This is very peculiarly juxtaposed by its final shot of the shooting star, the North Star, and in Bruce’s final line. First let’s talk about that final line. The line in question comes from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The line is used in a conversation to convince Brutus, Caesar’s right hand man, to betray Caesar because he’s become mad with influence and power. The line means that we as people are responsible for our own destiny. Not some pre-ordained fate that’s been set up by the stars. The relevance to this lie is pretty self-explanatory. It represents Nostromos as a symbol of corruption and illogical and unfounded faith. The final shot points out an interesting juxtaposition of ideas. The shooting star is obviously a nod to the astrology talked about by Nostromos, but the North Star hints more toward Christianity. Now the interesting thing about this theory is that these two theories share the same skies, planets, and even stars, but are used in incredibly different ways. In a way, mentioning Christianity works as kind of a middle ground between the astrology cult and total atheism. They acknowledge Christianity as a religion that does acknowledge a higher power, but still allows mankind to function independently and make their own mistakes, or in Bruce’s words, let the fault lie with us. The music and animation in this episode are high quality, but there is not anything specific to ride home about. The Congo scene in the beginning had some nice music and the ending fight with Lucas was dynamic and well scripted. As a whole they were still of the high quality of an average BTAS, but still just average.

All in all, Prophecy of Doom is what I like to refer to as a marathon episode. If you’re on a journey to review every episode, you’ll enjoy this fun little detour, but that’s what this episode is: a detour, but not a destination. This episode has a lot

172 of pretty good things going for it, but it doesn’t have the major wow factor of other episodes. It’s by no means bad. I would much rather watch this than Underdwellers or Cat and Claw any day. For what it’s worth, I did enjoy this episode. It’s fast paced, has a good cast of one time characters, and it’ll keep you entertained. I just wouldn’t recommend it if you’re trying to find the best of the best.

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BTAS 20 & 21 Feat of Clay

Part 1 Directed by Dick Sebast Teleplay by Marv Wolfman Part 2 Directed by Kevin Altieri Teleplay by Michael Reaves Part 1 and 2 Story By Marv Wolfman and Michael Reaves

For what it is worth in context, I would like to point out that I am writing this review a mere two days after the series finale of the sitcom super hit: How I Met Your Mother. Although I have grown to love and accept the ending of this show, several people have taken extreme hatred of it, in particular, the final 2 and half minutes or so. I bring this up because this episode has a similar problem for me. I think this two part is brilliant. I think that it’s superb…BUT THE ENDING!!!!!! It’s not even the last 2 and a half minutes, IT’S THE LAST TEN SECONDS! Yes, that’s all it took. Ten seconds to leave a bad last impression of a truly amazing episode. Regardless, I will judge the episode as a whole and not strictly my annoyance of its final moments. Let’s get started. Our episode begins not with the reveal of a villain, but the reveal of a primary plot device used in the episode. As many people know, Clayface stories tend to use a great deal of what I call “the shape shifter device”; the idea that a great deal of your focus in the episode is trying to confirm if a person is who they say they are or an imposter by using facial cues, personality quirks, speech patterns, etc. Therefore, I am mentioning this upfront so that you will understand why I point out these cues when analyzing the episode. Once again, two parts. So I will be reviewing them both in one review, but still

174 giving some intermission style opinions between halves as we have two different directors. Our episode begins on what looks like a shady deal going down in an abandoned building. Lucious Fox, One of Gotham’s most pronounced benefactors, arrives carrying a steel briefcase. He is shocked to see Bruce Wayne in a trench coat waiting for him. He instructs Lucious to enter the building. They begin discussing a man named Daggat. The papers inside the case are supposed to incriminate Daggat and get him off Bruce’s trail, but Bruce reveals he’s in cahoots with Daggat and that Lucious is no longer of interest to him. A group of sharp shooters comes out of the shadows and line the catwalk as Bruce tries to steal the briefcase. The handle breaks off and Lucious runs away with it, and fires a shot at him that Batman hears as his cue to jump into action. Now obviously with that line, we have official confirmation that it was never Bruce Wayne, but the show confirms it far before. While Bruce is very bright voiced and charismatic. This Bruce is cold, monotone, and he speaks in a much more metronomic rate. Batman takes out the thugs, but Lucious is knocked unconscious. When police arrive, He blames Bruce Wayne. One thing that I do love about this fight is this is the first time I’ve come to realize this show does not recycle lackeys. Each gang this show introduces has new models of henchmen drawn from the ground up and if they have names, they have different personalities and quirks. It’s not revolutionary, but a welcome detail. We cut to a movie set on the imperial pictures lot. The director calls for the stunt man to get the star out of his dressing room. Matt Hagan, Hollywood icon, is ransacking his trailer and looking through his make up for a specific container. When Teddy, his stuntman, walks inside, he hides his face and yells at him to close the door. When he turns around, Matt is revealed to have a badly disfigured face. After continuous begging and screaming from Matt, Teddy gives him a small container of 175 make up with Daggat written on the top. In a panicked and addicted rant, Hagan puts on the make-up and his face begins to mold and contort like clay until his face returns to his normal, movie star face. Based on his outburst, we can tell that the material that he uses to return to normal is not only in short supply, but is also dangerously addictive as you can see the beginnings of him entering a psychotic withdrawal. This will be very important to keep in mind for later. Our next scene introduces us to the owner of Daggett industries and his new lead lackeys, Germs and Raymond Bell. Germs is germaphobe and Bell is constantly listening to police communications on a headset. They don’t explain the germs. They let his personality speak through his actions, the way it should be done. Daggett reveals that it was Hagan they hired to impersonate Bruce Wayne as their scapegoat. He wants to incriminate Wayne so he can buy up Wayne Corp. Daggett is disappointed that Hagan failed to deliver the information he got from Lucious. He realizes he is no longer of use to them and has his men put a hit out on him. Hagan sneaks past a sleeping security guard and into the factory to steal more of the cream he’s become addicted to. Because of a morphing device used in a moment, the scene is animated with him cast in shadows, but it does contain one really cool first person shot. He finds the cream and begins using it, only to be caught at gunpoint by Germs and Bell. Hagan tries to disguise himself as Bruce Wayne, but they aren’t falling for it. The two of them pin him to the ground and have the seemingly hilarious idea that to kill him, they’ll overdose him on the chemical. It’s worth mentioning that the concoction he used just now and then was drowned in, was not the completed cream that he has been taking. It was from a vat over a Bunsen burner, implying this is the chemical in its most raw form. That explains why we see later it affects him so drastically. Batman uses advanced profiling software to identify Bell as one of the men he fought that night. Alfred brings Batman a

176 newspaper confirming the police are looking for Bruce Wayne. Batman is shocked, as it is obviously impossible for it to be Bruce Wayne who set up Lucious. Batman realizes he has to go to Bell and find his own answers. In a very well-paced chase scene between Bell’s car and the Batwing, Batman strategically impales Bell’s car on the front of the Batwing. Eventually, the car falls off and Batman holds Bell captive on a claw extended from the Batwing. He interrogates him by dropping him in the water, but is unable to get the answers he’s looking for because Bell passes out from the stress. Police helicopters demand he release him and Batman drops him in a rooftop pool. Bruce Wayne sneaks in a window to see Lucious, but a terrified Lucious calls the police that are outside the door waiting for Wayne. Bruce is smart. He obviously knows that he didn’t do it, and in order to keep his reputation alive once this is all cleared up is for Bruce to act innocent and play along with the rules. Part of that means letting himself get arrested. Our final scene plays out with Teddy tracking down Hagan’s car. Teddy runs to the car to see if he’s ok, but looks to him in horror when he sees the deformed Clayface. Hagan sees his face in the rearview mirror. Upon seeing his new face for the first time, he screams in agony. This marks the end of part 1 This episode does a much better job with the set up episode and payoff episode than Cat and Claw did. Strange considering they came from the same two directors. Even as far as the two-parter is concerned, by the end of the episodes it feels like a detailed set up for more Clayface episodes. All that aside, Part 1 is well paced and it sets up everything needed for a good second half. Speaking of which… Part 2 of our story starts with tinted blue “black and white” images of Bruce’s prison mug shots. The frame fades back to color as Bruce is released on bail. He has a humorous conversation with Alfred while putting on the Batman Suit before he goes out looking for more answers. 177

Hagan sits in his trailer contemplating his impossible situation. Teddy helps him pack up his stuff. We get a flash back discussing how Hagan was in a terrible accident that destroyed his face and that Daggett offered him the chance to be the test subject of his new invention. Knowing that the chemicals could be dangerously addictive, Daggett let him take it anyway. When it became an addiction, he would ask for illegal favors in exchange for his supply. Teddy tries to calm Hagan down, but he is still hysterical and refuses to listen. He walks down the hall of his dressing room looking at all the great roles he’s played, but doesn’t notice his head begins to warp as he begins to focus on each one. Once he notices it in the mirror, he concludes that the chemicals must’ve been absorbed into his cells. He finds he can contort it into all sorts of shapes, even make clothes. When he tries hard enough, he finds he can contort himself into a full- fledged human being, but can only hold it as long as he can maintain his focus. Otherwise it seems to happen subconsciously if he’s not focusing on it specifically. Overall a strange set of rules, but one they obey to the T. The scene also shows the first moment Hagan breaks down in response to feeling his lack of humanity. We’ve established previously how he went to extreme lengths in order to keep up his appearance, but now to see he can’t even look human anymore, you can tell it affects him deeply. That and consider the psychological effects the chemicals had on him before. Imagine it now that the chemicals are infused into his very being. It can’t be good for his psychological well-being. Hagan disguises himself as a doctor to enter the hospital and sets up his scheme to take the place of one of Daggett’s henchmen. Germs sneaks into Lucious’ room and attempts to smother him in his sleep with a pillow, but Batman is there to stop him with a batarang. In his panic, and of all the rooms he could’ve picked, Germs runs into a medical disease library. He finds himself surrounded by beakers and jars filled with viruses and horrible diseases.

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Germs is petrified and begs Batman to let him go. Batman interrogates Germs, but he gives no answers. Batman grabs a jar claiming to be Crimson Fever and places it on a shelf above Germs’ head. When Germs refuses to answer, Batman punches the wall and makes the jar shake. Eventually Germs confesses, that Hagan did it, but Batman doesn’t believe it. Germs tries to spill the beans about the chemical, but a policemen walks in to apprehend Germs. We also get a hilarious reveal that the jar actually just contained Seawater for analysis. Our two biggest pieces of evidence that the Hagan accusation is false, are his goal and his voice. First, knowing he’s not approaching anyone who’d recognize him, Hagan doesn’t go the trouble of modifying his voice. You can also tell because he pays no direct attention to Batman. Despite Gordon’s friendship with Batman, the police force still plans to apprehend him. Hagan gives himself away by treating him like any other person. When Batman tries to push the guard away, Hagan reveals himself and stretches his arm to pin Batman to a wall. When Hagan turns his attention back to Germs, you can see that his eyes are not formed. My guess is it is because the eyes are the most difficult part to maintain full focus on. He probably lost some focus when he extended his arm. Hagan returns to his normal form, takes Germs up the stairway and attempts to throw him off the roof. Batman tries to stop him and notices that Clayface transforms subconsciously. At this point, Clayface has enough control of his powers he’s learned to use his hands as semi complex weapons. Batman does notice however that it does exhaust him after a while. Hagan escapes by jumping off the roof and escaping into the sewers. An important plot point I’ll bring up in an episode way, way, farther into this series. This is also the first scene he is revealed to be able to completely bend his body into other shapes 179

As Hagan’s anger gets worse, he throws out Teddy, his only remaining friend. While watching the television, Hagan discovers that Daggett is going public with his cream. Batman consults a sample of Daggett’s formula trying to find any pattern to Hagan’s condition and is able to backtrack the entire scenario from what he already knows. Alfred fetches him copies of all Daggett’s films, but Batman does not tell him why. Dagget appears on a talk show in order to debut his new invention. A disguised Batman makes his way to the main TV terminal room, but we’re not sure yet why. Hagan displays on the show how his cream can do in seconds what plastic surgery can accomplish in years. Seeing the results, there are some funny responses from several women in the audience. Batman watches the telecast from the terminal room and begins placing videotapes in all of the terminals. Not sure why yet though. The News caster opens up the floor to questions and a woman from the crowd questions what Daggett has done about the side effects. Daggett tries to dodge the question, but then she asks about the addictive qualities and consequences of overdose. As the woman keeps getting angrier, her voice starts to distort lower, revealing it to be Hagan. When Hagan breaks past security, he transforms back to normal in front of Dagget. The studio audience runs in terror. Hagan starts walking towards Dagget with obvious ill intent. He towers over Daggett and Daggett is obviously scared out of his mind. He tries to make a run for it, but Batman swings stopping Dagget from escaping. During the fight, we get our first instance of Hagan referring to himself as Clayface. Batman lures Clayface into the terminal room. Clayface tries to pin Batman down to stop his plan from coming to form, but Batman manages to reach one of the switches from the console. When Clayface sees the face of one of his characters on the screen, he transforms into him without triggering it himself. Batman proceeds to turn on all the TVs, all of which feature pictures of his previous films.

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The following scene, as discussed by its animators, is one of the most complicated hand drawn scenes that have been attempted. As Clayface sees all of the characters he’s played cast on the televisions, he’s unable to handle all of it. He starts rapids morphing into character after character. After a while, he’s unable to keep a solid form. He begins spinning and rapidly morphing part by part and his forms begins to mix and match. The animation on this scene is amazing because the transformations don’t happen in fade sequences or clean cuts. It’s done in morbid morphs and warping sequences. It’s almost painful to watch his body contort how it does. Batman realizes it’s hurting him too much and tries to turn it off, but Clayface flails into him and sends him flying. Eventually, Clayface breaks one of the terminals by punching it, but electrocutes himself unconscious. Clayface is apprehended and all charges against Bruce Wayne are dropped. Batman tests a piece of Clayface and finds that it’s quite possible that since the version of Clayface they took to prison didn’t have an electric response, it might be a shell that Clayface used to escape. The Final Scene reveals through an awesome monologue by Batman that Clayface sneaks away in the body of a woman in the background. Now the way the frame sets up Clayface’s disappearance is subtle and powerful. They don’t overplay his escape or even tell you who he became. They show you clearly and you get it. I bring this up because this right here is when they ruin the episode. The final shot of the episode is a close up shot of the woman Clayface becomes laughing maniacally over evil music and slowly morphing into the Clayface voice. This ending absolutely makes me furious. In an episode about mystery and suspense, it ruins it! They give you a final moment where they painstakingly explain it and then throw it in your face! It tears me apart. It bugs me so much! Final shot aside, this episode is a definite high point for the season. Batman has a large rogue gallery and often one or two are overlooked. That being said, seeing Clayface was 181 treated with a real sense of respect and definition. It was nice to see that after Cat and Claw. Dick Sebast seems to be falling more into a groove and directing some better episodes. I wasn’t a big fan of Clayface before this episode. I didn’t have anything against him mind you, I just didn’t know of any really good versions of him. This episode did a great job of making the character relatable and likable. Like many Batman villains, Clayface is a tragic villain, or should I say a really tragic villain. I mean I don’t know specifically what about him I relate to, but I can really feel for this guy. They give you every reason to not only excuse his slip into madness but, even if you don’t agree with the decisions he made to get this way in the first place, you can understand it. I like how they use the cream addiction to not only be a mirror of an actor’s obsession with appearances, but also the temptation of addiction often plaguing the entertainment industry. Unlike Freeze, Hagan’s quest for revenge is against not only a person that did him wrong, but one that is actively pursuing him in the present. Not to mention its form is an enemy that actively did this to him on purpose. All of these elements add up to create one hell of a back story and one hell of a good villain. As far as music, it does depress me that we don’t get a great character theme. I don’t know what I would want it to sound like, but just like with Catwoman, I’m just a little disappointed that I don’t get one here. Otherwise, the music is good as always. Animation on the other hand is top notch. Clayface’s style of transformations are never an easy thing to pull off and this show does it with flying colors. Subtle cues and hints in animation alone really help the tension and tone of the episode. Clayface’s normal body also looks awesome. The way its various levels give a feeling of malleability even in his static form make his transformations look natural. I also like how the transformations vary in kind. Sometimes disguises, sometimes

182 stretching or melting, and sometimes weapon arms or projectiles. At first, I didn’t think that Clayface was going to fit into the Arkham villain theory so easily. He’s usually not considered one of the A-class villains and I had never really considered where the comparison lies. After a little bit of thinking however, it dawned on me that the answer was not only simple, but also quite relatable. Clayface is meant to represent Batman’s humanity. Clayface is only one of two Villains that rebuke their status as a villain. Clayface, although driven to madness and hell bent on revenge at the beginning, would give up anything just to be normal again. No matter how many villains Batman takes down, that is the one thing Batman will never have no matter how hard he tries, a normal life. Feat of Clay is a great example of how the two part format can be used correctly. At no point, except the ending, does it feel like any time is being wasted. The episode does a great job of keeping you on your toes and keeping you thinking. The episode stands out from a lot of other episodes with its unique supporting cast, incredible main character, and some truly amazing animation and writing. I recommend this episode with flying colors… I also recommend you skip the last ten seconds, but that’s just me.

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BTAS # 22 Joker’s Favor

Directed by Boyd Kirkland Written by Paul Dini

It’s really hard not to open this review without saying this is one of my all-time favorites…so I won’t. What I do want to talk about though is that this is one of the most important episodes in the entire DC animated universe. What makes this episode so important? What does this episode add to the large DC cannon that still remains relevant and powerful to this day? Well, I can sum that up in two words. Harley Quinn. A larger detail I find a lot of people tend to forget is that Harley Quinn has not always been a part of the DC universe. She was actually created exclusively for this show. In fact, Paul Dini, The creative father of Harley Quinn, only intended to have her be a unique henchmen for this one episode. Problem was Harley was so well liked by audiences, not only did she come back for several more episodes, but she was actually retroactively written into the comic books and accepted as a full-fledged Batman villain ever since. In the history of the character, only two women have ever played Harley Quinn in Major roles: Arleen Sorkin, the original, and Tara Strong, the current and first person the torch has been passed to. Today though, we’re going to be looking at the former. Our episode begins with a middle-aged man named Charlie. Charlie is stuck in traffic and, overall, having a very bad day. He got turned down for a raise at work, his kid needs braces, now a traffic jam has formed because Joker escapes from Arkham asylum, and the police are jamming up the roads. Charlie continues to get angry as the police and the Batmobile cut him off and make him swerve on the road. When a tan car cuts him off, Charlie has had the last straw. Charlie furiously drives ahead of him, cuts him off, and starts bumping into the side of his car. Charlie begins cussing him out, but is scared to death when he finds none other than The Joker.

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A terrified Charlie gives a friendly fake smile and wave and then tries to sneak away without Joker noticing. Joker smiles and follows him off the road. Charlie’s car breaks down so he decides to make a run for it. Joker tracks Charlie down and dares him to repeat what he said. Charlie frantically tries to apologize to Joker, but Joker gives him a scary speech about how it’s not polite to scream at people on the freeway and then grabs him by the collar before going in for the killing blow. Charlie begins to panic and tells Joker he’ll do anything to save his life for the sake of his family. At the sound of the words, “I’ll do anything”, Joker pauses for a second to consider it and then decides to make Charlie a deal. Joker asks for Charlie’s wallet. Joker takes his driver’s license and, after making some funny cracks about his photo, tells him that in exchange for keeping him alive, Joker is going to ask him for a favor. He doesn’t know what it’s going to be yet, but Joker will contact him when he knows what he wants. Paralyzed with fear, Charlie agrees. Flashing forward 2 years, Commissioner Gordon is upset that the city is throwing a banquet in his honor and he really doesn’t want to attend. Gordon is very much to himself and really doesn’t feel like putting on a suit and wasting his time. Eventually, Gordon caves in and agrees to attend. Joker throws darts at his copy of the flyer for Gordon’s ceremony. This scene marks Harley’s first appearance. Harley is a young, attractive woman dressed in white make up and a red and black harlequin outfit, (Hence the name pun). Hilariously, in her first ever scene, Harley is seen filing her nails… while wearing white circus gloves. I know Paul Dini; this is not an animation mistake. This is a joke. It’s a funny one too. Harley and Joker play off of each other as Joker monologues about how he should be the one who’s given the honor at the banquet. Joker catches his main two lackeys (surprisingly, both of them are constantly recurring characters in Joker Stories) not cheering along and stares them down until 185 they start cheering. It’s a small scene, but I like it because it helps point out that this is one of the scariest Jokers that has appeared in an early episode. I don’t know if there is an exact reason for that. I think Hamill was just on his game this episode. Joker decides since this is such a big job that he might need to call in some help, “Who you callin’ Mr. J? A specialist?” “No. Just an old friend who’s dying to do me a favor.” Charlie is out in the suburbs with his family and playing catch with his son, Kenny, (I like this kid already) in the front yard. The phone rings and Charlie runs inside to answer the phone. It’s obviously Joker on the other end, but Charlie insists he has the wrong number. We get a brief reveal that Charlie has changed his name and moved out of state to get away from The Joker. Joker has tracked him down despite all of his running away and hiding. Joker threatens to kill Charlie’s family if he refuses to go or tells anyone. We get a frightening ending shot of Charlie looking out the window to see Joker’s goons patrolling his block. Charlie’s wife and son wave at him and Charlie tries his best to wave back with a fake smile. Charlie lands at the airport and spots a newspaper with Batman on the front page. Charlie begins to self-monologue that he wishes there were some way he could contact Batman or tell the police what’s going on. Charlie thinks he sees an opening and starts walking towards an exit with the police. He nervously fast walks towards the door, but is politely cut off by a happy Harley Quinn dressed as a limo driver. She greets him with balloons and “escorts him” to the car. Joker greets Charlie with a big ol’ hug. Joker insists that he won’t have to hurt anyone, but if he plays along, that he promises he’ll return him home. Joker explains that he and Harley will be invading the Commissioner’s Banquet. Harley will be dressed up as a policewoman and bringing a large cake into the banquet hall. According to the Joker, Charlie’s only job is when Harley knocks on the door three times, he opens it… that’s it. Two

186 years of stalking, kidnapping him, forcing him into this whole charade, and threatening to murder his wife and kid, Joker’s favor (aw man he said it!) is to open a single door, “Well look at the size of that cake! Harley won’t be able to open it herself Charlie?” We get a couple of good funny gags with Bullock not being able to behave himself at the banquet and embarrassing himself in front of Agent Montoya before seeing Charlie walk through the front door. Still looking for a way out of this, Charlie goes to the, “Hall of Inventions”, (The banquet is in the Gotham Museum) and looks for anything that might help him get Batman’s attention. He figures every cop is at the banquet already so he’s the only one left who might be able to save him. After looking around, he uses a crane to move a prop bat in front of one of the walls. Luckily for him, Bruce and Alfred were just leaving and Alfred pointed out the signal to him as a sign he might be needed back inside. Gordon begins his speech and Harley knocks three times. Charlie opens the door and the whole room is shocked to see Harley walking in with the cake. Bullock mistakes Harley for a stripper (Don’t you throw that “it’s a kids show” card at me. The subtext here is clear. He’s looking for a little something something.) Bullock tries to make a pass at her, but Harley is quick to respond with sass, class, and a police baton to the shins. Some solid writing starts this character on the road towards immortality. As soon as Charlie opens the door, he realizes there is a strange putty that is sticking him to the door. Harley gives a clever speech to the commissioner, but also reveals that the trap has been sprung. Harley blows a whistle and the frequency triggers paralyzing gasses to be emitted from the candles on the tables. Harley gives herself and Charlie gas masks so they stay conscious. Now that the entirety of Gotham’s police upper class has been frozen stiff, Joker pops out of the cake. He gives a small speech to Commissioner Gordon before leaving a Joker Bomb on Commissioner Gordon’s person. 187

Charlie tries to get Joker to release him, but Joker decides to just blow him up instead. The bomb has five seconds or so left when Batman crashes through the skylight. Charlie tells him about the bomb and Batman launches it outside. Joker hears that the explosion is outside, but when they try to escape, they find that the bomb landed on their getaway van. Batman takes out Joker’s two main thugs in the armory exhibit. Harley tries to play the poor little girl card to get away from Batman, but he’s not buying. She makes a pretty funny joke about dropping out of beauty school. Harley’s true origins are actually not revealed until much later in the series. Batman Chases Joker into a section themed after an Aztec temple. This is the one section of the episode that makes me scratch my head, Joker reveals that the entire section of the temple, including all of its booby traps, is active… alright I’ll play along, but this seems like a bit of a safety concern. Batman uses his cape to get past an array of poisonous darts, but gets swept under by a drop away floor with a bottom of spikes. Batman waits until Joker walks by to flip the lid and knock Joker over. Joker escapes by throwing Batman another Joker Bomb, which Batman disposes of into the drop away floor. Joker runs into a back alley where he finds Charlie there waiting for him. Charlie punches him and knocks him into some trashcans. Joker tries to psych him out, but Charlie pulls one of Joker’s bombs out of his coat. Joker’s eyes widen, as this is the first time in the series we see Joker in true fear for longer than a few seconds. Joker tries his best to talk Charlie out of it. There’s also a really funny gag where mid speech he actually screams out for Batman to come save him. Charlie’s long going speech about how noble it would be for him to suicide bomb the Joker is terrifying and powerful. It’s a common theme throughout the episode that Charlie is going to reach his breaking point, but this is the moment that it finally happens. Batman finally intervenes and Joker is surprisingly happy to see him. Batman tries to talk Charlie down, but he refuses

188 because Joker will just come after him again. Joker frantically hands over all the information and addresses begging Charlie to stop this. Charlie smiles and throws Joker the Bomb. Joker cowers behind Batman. The bomb detonates, but it turns out to be one of Joker’s dummy bombs. Charlie smiles maniacally and says, “Gotcha!” In a hilariously simple moment, Batman himself has a light chuckle. It’s hard to explain exactly what I mean, but when Conroy laughs as Batman, it sounds like what you’d imagine he’d laugh like. The final scene is Charlie finally getting to walk home with a spring in his step and a sense of appreciation for the regular and boring world he used to hate so much. This episode…. I mean damn! Just damn! This episode has it all. Great characters, incredible comedy, superb pacing, and to top it all off, one of the most memorable melodies in the series. I can’t say that this is my favorite episode, but damn is it close. I can’t say enough times how amazing a story you can create without Batman being the protagonist. In fact, he’s barely in this episode. He’s not even necessary in it until the last five minutes of the episode. In reality, this episode is about the conflict between Charlie and Joker, and it’s quite refreshing to see Joker interact with more characters. It really helps flesh out Joker’s character when he has more people to play off of. You get to see him express a lot more emotion than usual and it’s a breath of fresh air to see that Joker has some variety and lasting power. Harley, although far from a main character, I can see why people were so quick to beg for more of her. Harley has the building blocks of an incredible character and does an incredible job of making a good case for why she deserves to stick around. It’s worth mentioning that Harley only functions as a minion and not Joker’s partner or implied love interest. That said, she still comes off with a sense of charm in whatever she does. Harley is always excited, moving, and ready for 189 whatever’s going to happen next. Even in her more subtle moments, she finds a way to stand out. She’s aggressively fighting for attention on screen and trying to steal just one more good one liner before she’s done. She’s a minor character overstepping her bounds, but I think that’s kind of the joke. A nod definitely must be given to Arleen Sorkin, as she is the one that created the iconic sound of Harley’s voice. Harley is just mad enough to buy her, as a villain, but not so mad that you don’t kind of want to see her succeed. She’s clumsy, well spoken, and is quick to establish her prescience with her actions even in scenes where she is not as important. Verdict: Harley steals the show. One can’t talk about this episode without talking about its main character: Charlie. Charlie is a great protagonist for this episode because he does go through a journey, but he never really takes close attention to it. At the beginning of the story, Charlie is begrudgingly down trotted and pessimistic. By the end of the episode, He’s become so appreciative of the little things in life and after everything he’s going through, his normal life seems like a dream come true. On top of that, this is a story about Charlie learning to not let people boss him around. You can tell by how reserved he is in the beginning that it’s a definite possibility that he lost out on his raise because he was not assertive enough. The big pay-off for him not taking it anymore is definitely when he is threatening to kill the Joker. The bomb itself was a fake, but to an extent, you could argue that Charlie’s feelings are real. When you look at the sweat on his face, the bulging of his eyes, and the creepy monotone he slips into, one of the darkest aspects of Charlie’s brilliantly written character is the idea that you don’t know whether or not he would blow the two of them up if he got the chance. Not every character in this show gets the honor of having Shirley Walker write them a song, but she gave her absolute best effort when she made one for Charlie. Charlie’s theme is one of my favorite melodies this season. It’s a simple little bouncing tune that works as a tongue in cheek joke about

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Suburbia and the sitcom dad character Charlie is a parody of. Where the song becomes truly memorable though is in its use of whistling. Accompanying the melody of the song, a whistle track copies the melody and gives the whole thing a 50’s feel that brings the whole thing together. I hear the whistle and it resonates so well because of all the things you’d imagine this show to draw upon, I did not expect a musical homage to the theme of the Andy Griffith show. Although not my favorite Joker episode or my favorite Harley episode, this episode does hold a special place in my heart. Harley in her first outing does an incredible job keeping the pace and tone as quick and light hearted, as they need to be, when they need to be. Charlie is one of my favorite one-time characters in the whole series, and the brilliant and iconic writing of Paul Dini never disappoints. For a lot of Batman and DC fans, this episode is considered to be a piece of history. I would agree 100%, but let me assure you that Harley is not the only thing in this episode worth checking out. Look a little deeper, and you’ll find yourself falling head over heels for this episode, just as much as you do for her.

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BTAS # 23 Vendetta

Directed by Frank Paur Written by Michael Reaves

(Sigh) I was hoping I’d never come to this. This is truly a dark day for any BTAS fan. It absolutely breaks my heart to announce that in my journey through the greatest animated series of all time I have finally found my worst nightmare: A boring episode. It’s not the worst episode, but it’s the first one I was legitimately bored of. I just found it to be so, Meh. I was underwhelmed on every level. I wasn’t angry at it, I just wanted it to be over. To an extent I don’t know if there’s much else I can say about it. This is probably going to be a short one. There’s unfortunately not that much to say about it. The episode begins with a ship in the middle of the ocean. A “mysterious” creature puts a bomb on the bottom of the ship. I put that in quotes because it makes no sense they’re trying to hide the Killer Croc’s identity. He appears bright as day on the title card, his arms are clearly displayed when he puts up the bomb. So you put one and one together and there’s really no more mystery to what he looks like. Not to mention his design is mediocre, but we’ll get to that later. The passengers of the boat are rescued and the police force begins to investigate and we get mention that Bullock is extra annoyed that the transported villain Conway was not found. Bullock is furious at Gordon for taking him off the case to retrieve Conway. Gordon says that if Conway is caught, he’ll testify against Rupert Thorne and get him put away, but Bullock going after him will bring up some mysterious dark history that shouldn’t resurface. Batman eavesdrops on the conversation and escapes to the Gotham records. Batman takes Gotham’s record from a filing cabinet. In an extremely subtle nod, you can see the file N. Bates near

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Bullock. Batman is interrupted when Bullock himself comes after his file. When he finds it missing, he assumes foul play. Alfred finds that Batman’s taken the file home and our big reveal of Bullock’s past appear to be just a “suspicion” that he might have taken a bribe from Thorne and that Conway was involved at the time. So apparently they expect that Bullock was the one who realized that it is crazy to let Conway testify. So if he were nervous about Conway ratting on him, he’d just let him rot in jail. So yeah. Lame plot device. Conway wakes up in an underwater cave lit by a lamp. We get a rather underwhelming scene of Killer Croc (still trying to keep the secret mind you) coming out of the water as Conway screams. It’s a mostly pointless scene and not scary at all. Moving on. Batman kidnaps Thorne from his greenhouse after escaping a few of his goons. After some light interrogation, Thorne reveals that Conway might not have enough on him to lock him up after all and that Thorne didn’t kidnap Conway. The scene actually has some good dialogue and action… which would be great…. if Thorne was the villain, but he’s not. This is his only scene. So yeah. Back to the episode at hand. Batman confesses to Gordon that he believes that Bullock is guilty, but Gordon refuses to believe that Bullock is behind it. I still stand tall that this is uncharacteristic to Batman because Batman still has no true evidence against Bullock and I have a hard time believing Batman would bring this to Bullock’s superior on a hunch. I’m glad to see that Gordon is at least smart enough to get my point. Our next scene is by far the lowest point in this, “Let’s not show the Croc” joke, as he disguises himself as Bullock in a trench coat in order to break another criminal out of prison. Now normally, I try to let these suspensions of disbelief go. Between Clark Kent’s glasses and Ninja Turtles wearing trench coats as well, usually I can let this stuff go, BUT CROC DIDN’T EVEN DRY HIMSELF OFF! I mean, come on. To be fair his Bullock impression is good, but if you show up soaking 193 wet with your head hidden in your coat behind reptile eyes, what do you expect? Regardless, Croc takes out the guard and kidnaps his target. Bullock is arrested after eating a dinner with Agent Montoya and papers confirm under the he is under investigation. Batman takes a scale sample that he picked up at the original crime scene and analyzes it under a microscope. Alfred makes a quick joke, which jogs Batman’s theories to lead him to examining whether it’s reptilian. He finds that it is, but still maintains human skin qualities. Now one would think that after Batman discovers that he is facing some kind of crocodile mutant, he would use the infinite resources of his Batcomputer to find a way to track him or research possible identities, but no. HE DECIDES TO GO VISIT CROCODILES AT THE ZOO! I can’t make this up. He goes to the zoo to hear a zookeeper say that crocodiles like to sleep in underwater caves. Glad to see that Batman isn’t wasting time in a hostage situation… Let’s just get this over with. Batman uses the submarine feature of the Batboat to invade Killer Croc’s lair. The two captives try to warn Batman it’s a trap, but Batman says SHHH! (Wish I was kidding). Predictably Killer Croc bursts out of the water and we FINALLY get to see Killer Croc aaaand…. I’m not impressed. After all that build up Croc’s design is just lame. It’s a muscular man with gray skin, a few vs. on his body that are supposedly scales, and Croc teeth. Batman and Croc fight for a little bit while Croc monologues trying to make himself sound awesome, but fails. I mean he’s so vague about his powers I struggle to get a feel of what he is or how his power works. Saying you have, “the strength of a crocodile”, doesn’t make much sense when you leave it that ambiguous. So I have no idea how strong he really is, but all I can tell you is he’s strong, but no idea how strong. He can swim fast, but no idea if he’s amphibious. His skin might be tougher than ours, but they never say. Anyway,

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Batman is able to detain Killer Croc, but when the two captives swim away, he is forced to stop them first, giving Killer Croc time to escape. Batman finally comes to his senses and uses the Batcomputer to research Killer Croc. He doesn’t really find that much interesting about his character, but he does find that Bullock and the two men he kidnapped were responsible for getting him arrested and now he’s back for revenge. Batman finds that Bullock is innocent… Something he would’ve known if the world’s greatest detective would do some detective work. Batman realizes the only way he’ll catch Killer Croc now is with a trap. Bullock is released from prison and pushes past the press to get to his car. Killer Croc, with no disguise in the middle of Gotham, just walks down the street and into Bullocks car. Bullock asks him how he got out of prison, to which he says, “Nobody checks the sewers”… that doesn’t seem likely. Regardless, Batman is waiting for him in the back seat as the main mechanic of the trap…. What isn’t a main mechanic of the trap is a tranquilizer, Taser, knock out gas, or any other method of immediately taking down the Killer Croc before fighting him in the car and forcing the car to crash, injuring Bullock…No joke, that’s exactly what happens. Batman and Killer Croc fight in the sewers. It’s the first time that we see Batman fight underwater. It has a couple of cool shots in it, but mostly spoiled by a lack of follow through. There’s even a scene where Croc tries to hide in the water to sneak up on Batman, but instead of letting it build suspense, they animate really obvious bubbles above his location that follow him anywhere he goes. Batman eventually takes him out using a flash grenade of sorts. This is not a weakness of Croc; at least not one that we are told about (or ever comes back), so it makes no sense that it would be so effective. Regardless, Batman brings Killer Croc to Bullock, apologizes for doubting him, and Bullock is dropped 195 of all charges. The episode ends on a shot of Batman giving a slight smile that Bullock is back. I wish I had more to say about this episode, but I really don’t. Sure the animation and music are still average, but a mediocre villain, poorly written characters, and terribly written characters, make this my first episode so far I fully recommend you skip. It’s as much as I hate to say it, a waste of time.

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BTAS #24 Fear of Victory

Directed by Dick Sebast Written by Samuel Warren Joseph

In the first outing of the Scarecrow, I commented that I loved how his fear gas made the fear of individual characters feel both personal and powerful. It gave you a sense of dynamic range to an otherwise simple power. So what happens when that toxin operates more directly? When other characters receive the ongoing dosage Batman received that caused him to sporadically jump into a sense of inescapable horror? Beyond pointing out a person’s innermost fears and forcing them to confront them, what if he found a way to evoke pure cerebral manipulating fear? What kind of web could you spin with a set up like that? Well that’s what Fear of Victory offers us: a look at what taking Scarecrow to the next level can accomplish. Also worth mentioning, Dick Grayson/Robin is now back in the series. Part of this, I think, is this is the second time they were trying to test the waters with audiences as to how they would respond to having him around. I will say I don’t have a direct preference of episodes that feature Batman so or ones that feature either Dick Grayson or Tim Drake. Or at least, not yet. They are different for sure, but I don’t plan on using this as a prerequisite of an episode if it is good. Now in the past, I’ve talked about the fact that this show is very kind to the uninitiated, however, there are a lot of jokes, subtext, and story mechanics that do work better if you have an understanding of the basic Batman universe. Now considering that Dick Grayson and his backstory are important to get the most out of this one, I will go over his backstory extremely quickly here. Dick Grayson was part of a family trio of flying trapeze artists in a traveling circus. For constantly changing reasons (due to massive recreating and alternate universes), a mysterious man with a vendetta sabotaged the act one-night and Grayson tragically saw his parents fall to their deaths in the 197 middle of the act. Bruce Wayne agrees to take care of the child until a proper family will adopt him, but after both Bruce growing fond of him and Dick discovering Bruce’s alter ego, Bruce becomes a father figure and mentor to Dick Grayson, although father is a word that Batman always refused to use. Regardless, the two of them share a strong bond that makes the dynamic duo we know and love today. A car from the Gotham messenger service pulls up with a telegram for Brian Rogers. In the sports TV footage after, we see that Roger’s is a promising college quarterback with a big game coming up to help decide his position in the NFL draft. Grayson, Brian’s roommate, teases him about going pro. Brian chuckles, but comments how much is on the line at the upcoming game. Grayson turns on the TV to find a sports blooper show featuring usually professional athletes flubbing up, but looking closely reveals evidence that Scarecrow might be involved. Grayson looks at the footage suspiciously, but is interrupted by a knock at the door. A mysterious man with sunglasses and a mustache delivers a telegram for Brian. If you listen very carefully to his voice, you can tell that Crane is the deliveryman. Brian opens up the letter, but after being confused by its message, hands it to Grayson. The message is worded as a vague threat, but the statement that stands out is, “Only a fool knows no fear” The message contains no sender information and both of them find it suspicious. Outside, the deliveryman returns to a vehicle that is pulled up front and removes his disguise off camera. We cut to the big game and Brian’s team is getting absolutely destroyed. Back in the huddle, Brian is sweating like mad, a common sign used for when Scarecrow’s gas is in effect, and even when his teammates notice something’s wrong, he insists he’s fine. Brian takes the ball back for a Pass, but as he sees the other team coming at him, we get some nice crash cuts followed by the other team’s defense quickly morphing into hideous, roaring monsters. Grayson runs onto the field to try

198 and find out what’s wrong, but the doctors insist on taking him to the infirmary for observation. Now obviously Brian does not have a phobia of large monsters in football uniforms. This is however a clear example of the improvements made to Scarecrow’s toxin. I mentioned earlier that this toxin now would evoke the pure feeling of fear. I bring that up because that is displayed in the differences in this toxin. This version does not simply show a person what they fear, it warps they’re existing reality to become that fear. It evokes fear itself and overcomes other natural emotions from reaching the brain. This fear theory can be a bit confusing so let me try and break this down. In the episode “Nothing to Fear”, peoples’ fears appear like mirages, illusions out of thin air as constructs of their fears. In this version of the toxin, it grabs onto your sense of normality and warps it to be more effective. In this toxin, the constructs of your fear latch onto previously existing constructs like people, vertigo, or even random objects. When that sense of fear is overtaking what reality you have left, what non-fear related consciousness enters your brain; you get a sense that Scarecrow has made a major leap in perfecting his fear toxin. As for why Brian sees these particular monsters, I have a few theories. One is that he is naturally fearless. That would mean that the fear toxin would not have a clear construct and would rather warp in a form resembling the raw emotion. In this case, represented by monsters, a fantasy creature out of reality that works as a perfect analogue. The second theory is that Brian is xenophobic. A man that fears the unknown would be deeply afraid of a creature that he normally would think is not real. The final and most likely theory though is that it represents his fear of failure. His anxiety over failing the game is represented by horrifying bloodthirsty creatures that will stop at nothing to stop him from winning. This explains why the creatures still wear football uniforms. As 199 they cart Brian away, we see the shadow of Scarecrow watching from the catwalk. Batman and Robin confront a group of bank robbers down town. They both begin to scale the building to get to the robbers on the roof. The only problem with their plan is that as soon as Robin dodges out of the way of the robbers’ falling debris, Robin is struck with crippling vertigo. Without Robin’s help, Batman is taken out by the robbers and forced off the building. He manages to save Robin in his decent, but is clueless to why Robin is acting this way. Looking for clues, Batman and Robin find a white powder on the telegram Brian received. After testing it at the Batcave, Batman realizes that the powder in the envelopes is in fact a variation of Scarecrow’s original fear gas. They also find out that the toxin is hidden by having it trigger only when the subject is exposed to adrenalin. Logically, Batman and Robin’s next step to investigate the Scarecrow is Arkham. The Dynamic Duo catch an Arkham guard throwing away food intended for the Scarecrow and interrogate him to find out he’s either working for him, or under the influence of his gas, or both. When Batman visits Scarecrow’s cell, he finds only a dummy in his place. Another amazing little touch they put into this scene is that as you pass the cells of the other criminals of Arkham, you actually get to hear reprises of all their villain themes one after the other. I mean that’s attention to detail right there. Scarecrow, using his disguise from earlier, is suspected of cheating at the Gotham Sports Multiplex. The owner of the casino sends one of his thugs after him to find out how he’s cheating. Scarecrow walks into the stables of the now cancelled horse show using an employee key. Scarecrow taunts the lackey and gives him an envelope with the toxin. By the time he reads the note, Scarecrow reveals himself and the toxin takes effect, leaving the lackey paralyzed with fear. This is also our first look at the first of two major Scarecrow redesigns in this series. Unlike some other redesigns

200 in this series that unfortunately diminish characters, Scarecrow just keeps getting better. His face has clear eyes now and his mouth has a few crooked teeth. His new design is not only scarier on its own, but it makes the character more intimidating because his facial expressions are a lot more dynamic. Batman shares a brief scene with Robin as he tries to mentor him on getting over his fear. It’s a short scene, but I like the symbolism of Robin walking on the thin path being similar to him walking the tightrope in the circus. It makes sense without knowing his story, but once again it’s a good example of showing the hardcore fans they care. Batman and Robin set up a stake-out looking for Scarecrow before he can attack again. Robin spots a man in the crowd that looks like the Scarecrow in disguise. He takes a moment to compose himself and then goes after him. Batman accidentally catches the wrong guy, and we get a funny gag about the mail man thinking Batman’s taking him down for double parking. Robin continues to follow the Scarecrow into a locker room and finds that he has laced a quarterback’s helmet with fear gas and then replaces it. Scarecrow watches from the catwalk, as his “fixed game” and it is not going anywhere near the way he had intended. Batman ambushes him from the shadows. Scarecrow reveals that he has been cheating on sports games in order to make a fortune at illegal betting parlors so he can fund more of his experiments. When Batman threatens to take him out, Scarecrow pulls out a vial of poison and threatens to pour it onto the stadium, starting a virus like spread across all of Gotham. Robin watches the action from below, but is still paranoid of heights and struggles to climb a ladder to the catwalk. Batman promises not to make a move, but Scarecrow drops the vial anyway. Summoning all his courage, Robin swoops in and catches the vial while Batman apprehends Scarecrow. There’s also a really nice audio match-up between Robin catching the vial and one of the teams catching a Hail 201

Mary pass. The final shot of the episode is a quick joke from Bruce back at the mansion about sending Brian a telegram congratulating him for being drafted. I’m going to be up front with this one. If you’re looking for a high action, swash-buckling adventure, this episode is not for you. The episode has very few action scenes and what ones it does have are usually straightforward and not very long. However, this episode does a great job of treading on previously unseen territory for both Dick Grayson and for Scarecrow. Although this is technically not the first episode to feature Dick Grayson, I feel this is the first one to really flesh him out. As any sidekick should, Robin succeeds where Batman lacks. Robin is young, more acrobatic, and an optimistic moral compass for Batman. In this episode, Dick Grayson is seen as sympathetic, friendly, and loyal. As Robin, we see him as the only character to conquer Scarecrow’s toxin. That’s got to give him some bravery points. It’s quite a ways farther in until Robin actually confronts what happened to his parents, but this episode does marvelously at using that history as tool. Robin is a character written in a way where younger viewers can relate to him and his personality and fine moral standing make him a great character as well as role model. Scarecrow’s scheme on the surface might seem a little unfitting, but after taking a closer look, it makes perfect sense for him. In his first outing, Crane was stripped of his funds and grants for his research and took revenge against the university as the Scarecrow. In this episode, not only is he taking revenge against the Gotham University Football Team, but also even while raising money for his experiments, he’s performing experiments. All of the athletes from all over are working as surrogates until he can afford real subjects. In many ways, it’s a perfect plan for Scarecrow. Music and animation in this episode both find their moments to shine. On the Animation front, interpretations of the gas’ effects are always top notch. The vertigo effects in

202 particular are done beautifully. The Scarecrow theme makes a return obviously, but its clever placement, along with the return of other villain themes, leave this episode quite memorable musically. Fear of Victory is an absolute must watch for Scarecrow fans. The character is handled so well and the suspense of his new style reveal is actually quite effective. If you like your episodes a bit more on the mysterious side than the action, this one is probably a really good fit for you. Overall, I found this episode quite compelling. Great directing and writing, musical precision, and a much-welcomed Scarecrow facelift, give this episode a sense of suspenseful personality and a solid recommendation.

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BTAS # 25 The Clock King

Directed by Kevin Altieri Written by David Wise

For a character who’s been around for over 75 years, (the year this book was created marks Batman’s 75th Anniversary.), you would assume that Batman would have more established villains than the 10 to 15 we usually see. That being said, several Batman shows will experiment with adding a villain or two to the usual rogue gallery. These are what are known by many as the “B cast Villains”. Finding the right pick can be quite challenging. When looking through classic Batman villains, they range from, “Wow! How come they don’t use him more often?” to, “Who the hell thought that was a good idea?” Today, we take a look at a villain that luckily, lands pretty close to the top of that food chain: The Clock King.

Our episode begins with our main villain himself Temple Fugate. (The name being a play on the Latin phrase tempus fugit, meaning "time flies"). He is boarding a Gotham subway train and commenting in monotone about its lateness. He takes a seat next to Mayor Hill. As the two of them begin to make small talk, we get our first look at one of Fugate’s greatest weapons, his watch. From looking at the watch, we see that it in impeccably accurate and can tell time in years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Seeing as how this is a villain based completely on time, it makes sense that his personal timepiece would be top of the line. When Mayor Hill hears Fugate talking about his upcoming court case, Mayor Hill suggests that the judge will think he’s up to something if he showed up as high strung and neurotic. He advises that a good baby step Fugate could take is that instead of taking his coffee break at his office at 3pm on

204 the dot in his office, he take it at 3:15 somewhere outside the office. Fugate looks on in hilarious horror, but the look on his face implies he’s considering letting it sink in. Back at his office, Fugate is typing away at his computer. A print boy gets chewed out when Fugate calculates how long the printing of the exact number was and he was several seconds late. This provides further examples of how incredibly well Fugate knows his Chronology; a major key to his plot later on. When his assistant brings him his coffee, she is speechless to find that Fugate has decided to take Mayor Hill’s advice. Fugate takes his coffee and court files to the park and sits on a bench. Fugate notices two kids playing ball a ways away and smiles. What he doesn’t notice is the brats throwing the ball at him for laughs. The papers blow away and with the help of some canine hijinks, Fugate finds himself and his important court papers drenched from the park fountain statue. The scene seems incredibly straightforward at first, but two things stand out. The first is abundantly clear after asking: “Why would Fugate smile at the kids?” I mean in all practical senses, kids represent disorder and chaos. What it actually is, is that Fugate is paying attention to the sound of the kids passing the ball. The sound of the kids passing the ball mimics the pace and sound of a metronome; a sense of order that Fugate is pleased to hear in the midst of this chaotic new place. The second is the purposeful absence of music in the first half of the scene. I believe that the lack of music is supposed to represent Fugate’s mind, for it is only when the scene breaks into chaos does his tranquility become replaced with disorder and noise. Fugate is drastically late for his court hearing and his company is fined for 20 million dollars from the case being forfeited. Fugate begs that the ruling will leave him in shambles, but the judge ironically chastises him about learning the importance of appearing on time. Fugate screams in agony. We flash forward an astonishing 7 years. (And no I am not going to analyze the Gotham timeline. It’d take a whole book). 8:57am and we follow a police escort of Bruce Wayne 205 and Mayor Hill. Alfred makes a few jests about the fundraising event he’s heading to for Mayor Hill, but is struck in a T-bone accident. Alfred and the driver yell at each other briefly before noticing the traffic signals are down. The Taxi driver begins yelling at Mayor Hill as the source of the problem. Bruce Wayne notices a suspicious figure on a rooftop. The figure presses a button and a set of small explosives go off releasing a large poster across the building of Mayor Hill covered with immature graffiti. The crowd begins laughing and Mayor Hill comments this is not the first time this has happened. Bruce Wayne runs into action and in a clever homage to the 40’s Superman serials, Bruce Wayne changes into Batman in silhouette as he climbs the stairs. Fun fact about that series: never once in that series did Superman ever get changed in a phone booth. In fact, never in the comic books did Superman ever get changed in a phone booth. It’s become an absolute staple of the character for 75 years, and nobody knows where it actually came from. It may have even started as a joke or rumor that expanded into how everyone just assumed he transformed every time. Also, for those who haven’t watched them, watch the Superman animated serials. They’re awesome. Batman meets Fugate (known in the episode title and the comics as The Clock King) on the roof. They exchange some banter and puns before Clock King Throws an exploding pocket watch at Batman’s escape route. Batman tries to cut him off, but in an incredibly badass escape, Clock King uses his knowledge of the Gotham transit system to backflip off the building and land on the precisely 6 minutes early train. I might be grasping at straws here, but one might ask why the beginning of this scene is the only one to include a time stamp. Well, by my calculations, Fugate jumps on the train at 9:09. If you subtract that from the time the scene begins, you get 12. Coincidence? Honestly, it could be. It’s a stretch. Batman breaks into the security room that controlled the traffic lights. When examining the scene, he finds one of Clock

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King’s exploding watches. He zooms in on the Watch with his special glasses and finds an expensive serial number. Upon examining the police records, he tracks the watch back to Fugate. It also draws Batman’s attention to who would want to use a $6000 Rolex for a bomb. Batman explores Fugate’s abandoned clock shop. Batman drowns out the sound of the numerous clocks in the background and finds graffiti posters of Hill and several pieces of research on the Gotham Clock Tower. Alfred gets notice of a suspicious one block black out near the center of Gotham. Putting two and two together, Batman and Alfred combine the location in Gotham with Clock King’s time theme to determine he is after the time locked safes at the Gotham Bank. Batman arrives at the bank to find its patrons unconscious on the floor and gas has been pumped into the room. Batman wears his gas mask as he walks into the open safe in the back of the bank. Batman finds a green box in the center of the room with a tape recorder on it. He reaches for it, but the giant safe door closes behind him and a fifteen-minute timer starts up on the box. What follows is debatably one of the best-conceived villain schemes in the whole series. The tape recorder delivers a message to Batman that rather than deal with Batman’s array of gas masks; he’ll simply remove all of the air from the room. He calculates that it would take Batman 75 minutes more than he has to burn through the door with his utility belt torch. He also cannot move or destroy the pump (the green box) because it is hooked to a bomb set on vibration sensors. Batman muscles together his inner MacGyver and devises a pretty clever scheme. Batman carefully removes the tape from the tape recorder and begins to unwind the tape. Meanwhile, Mayor Hill is attending a grand opening of a new subway station. He declares it to be the first fully automated subway station in the city. A quick shot of the tracks shows that the rails have been definitely tampered with. Mayor Hill looks at his watch and at the right time, commands the first 207 train to arrive. Mayor Hill is embarrassed when the tracks remain empty. Batman hopes to make his way out of the safe by using the tape to lift the pump on a pulley system and then hopefully use a batarang to set off the bomb and blast open the door. Unfortunately, the lack of oxygen causes him to pass out before he can throw it. Mayor Hill chastises his assistants about the train, but is interrupted by Clock King taking over the PA system. He makes some political attacks at Mayor Hill’s expense before sending the train careening into the station and injuring several people in the wreckage. (Probably would’ve killed with how big a crash it is, but you know, kids show and all that.) While that’s going on, Batman regains consciousness and sets the trap; leaving him able to get some fresh air just in the nick of time. Batman evaluates the city as he tries to predict Clock King’s next move. He gazes into the distance at the Gotham Clock Tower. Clock King has Mayor Hill tied to the hour hand of the clock. Clock King monologues poetically about how at exactly 3:15; Mayor Hill will be smashed to bits. Mayor Hill finally discovers who Clock King is and begins to apologize profusely. Clock King refuses to listen, as he believes Mayor Hill was trying to sabotage him. He reveals it was Mayor Hill’s law firm who was prosecuting him all those years ago. Mayor Hill claims ignorance, but Clock King won’t hear it. Batman shows up just in time and Batman and Clock King start their epic final fight. I haven’t talked much of Clock King’s attire until now; mainly because it’s not that different from his regular clothes. Exceptions include clock themed lenses pointing to 3:00 on his glasses and a clock hand shaped Sword-cane that he carries with him and currently uses to fight Batman. Batman is pushed off of the clock face and climbs into the absolutely beautiful interior of the clock. The gears of the clock climb and interlock in any which direction, but Clock

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King clearly displays his knowledge of the infrastructure in his movements. Batman and Clock King share an incredible fight, but Clock King has a secret weapon. By studying footage of Batman’s technique, he knows it takes exactly 1/20th of a second to throw a punch. (I didn’t do the math, but I’m going go out on a limb and say that’s crazy fast.) Batman tricks him into jamming his sword cane into just the right set of gears. The Clock stops in time to save Mayor Hill, but the whole clock is coming down from the inside out. Batman goes after Clock King, but in good villain fashion, he makes a mysterious escape while laughing maniacally. Batman quickly climbs the clock and saves Mayor Hill by a hair. Commissioner Gordon debriefs with Batman about how Clock King is most likely still alive and our episode ends on Batman squeezing in one more predictable, but admittedly necessary time pun. The Clock King is a refreshing episode and is by far my favorite version of the character. Not only does he clearly establish himself as a competent villain, but also his character is the device by which the entire plot, tone, and foundation of this episode is built upon. Now this far into the series, the idea of using a villain’s theme to define its plot or tone is nothing new, but this one is a little different. We’ve seen characters use plots based on plants, ice, fear, laughter, but we haven’t seen one based on time. Time can be a little bit trickier. To achieve this, several subtle touches from metronomic audio to the placement of clocks throughout the episode constantly keep you in the right mindset. I also like that the time theme is clear enough to understand, but not so specific to make it boring. He’s not just robbing random clock stores or stuff like that. He uses his theme to perform his crimes, not the other way around. When interpreting villains into a different medium or version, it can be both important and nigh impossible, especially when you are adding or subtracting superhuman abilities. In the silver age versions of The Clock King, he had a super human ability that was always that he could look at the 209 world exactly four minutes into the future; not far enough to effect the future majorly, but far enough to be able to predict the fight movements and attacks of any opponent. It can seem disappointing to have a villain lose such a unique and powerful power when moving into this show, but Clock King’s chronological control is interpreted as part of his own intelligence. I actually prefer this interpretation. It helps make his specific use of his powers as an expression of his mind and not some inhuman source. It makes his transformation into villain more powerful because it is all from his own volition. He created the Clock King from nothing and turned it into a powerful villain. Needless to say, the music also gets its time to shine in this episode. The music of this episode is purposely back and forth between clean, sharp, controlled stanzas and flowing, chaotic, bright melodic flurries. As mentioned previously in the article, the music is sometimes used to reflect the mood or tone of The Clock King himself. They don’t follow this rule on every scene, but it’s a good perspective to use music changes to motivate the episode’s pace. Speaking of pacing, for an episode about time, the pacing is about as tight as you imagine it would be. A main difference to most origin episodes is that the actual origin story of the episode has far less screen time than the average episode. The sequence doesn’t feel rushed though surprisingly, the scenes are fittingly clean and quick and paced in just the right way as to not waste a second. This gives more time for Clock King’s master scheme to slowly develop over time. The tensions hold strong because although you know Clock King’s target, his actual scheme is not revealed until the very end of the episode. The smaller, but more abundant scenes of the series reveal a larger stretch of time these events are taking place in. This gives a dynamic edge to the show as it sets up the idea that Clock King and Batman have been fighting on several occasions for months, but we are only seeing the highlights of what is otherwise, an ongoing war.

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The animation for the episode is handled quite well, but it is the art design that really makes this one stand out. Dark Deco does an incredible job of showing off the finesse and precision these characters and scenes work with. The amount of time something takes, the amount of time left to save someone, even the feeling of impatience and anticipation, are portrayed in the finite detail of devices like the slowly moving clock tower hands, the accurately moving timer on the Safe Bomb, and even the animated speed of the trains throughout the episode. Direction and fight choreography help this idea of dynamic Chronology by reflecting pacing through shot selection. Often, the angle or closeness of a shot can reflect a sense of peace, panic, or even anticipation. Even in shots the characters’ faces are not front and center, shots can portray a sense of time. Shots are farther away and less intimate in moments of patience and contemplation. Closer shots reflect a sense of nervous claustrophobia and panic; a sense that time is running out. It’s a subtle, but clever mentality to keep in mind when examining how this episode handles the passage of time. I’ve spent quite a bit of time already talking about him, but it goes without saying that I love Clock King as a villain. He’s cunning, meticulous, and just the right amount of evil. He’s just so entertaining to watch. I’m glad this is not his final appearance. All in all, this is one of my favorite episodes to analyze. This episode in particular has quite a bit going on at once and Altieri has proven his talent in the past in handling these complicated episodes. For the first season, I would say this might be Altieri’s best episode. His direction and shot selection are incredible and his unique interpretation of Clock King is one that has stuck with me far after my initial screening. If you want an episode you can really sink your brain into or you want to see a villain a bit out of the ordinary, I’m sure this episode will be perfect for you.

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BTAS # 26 Appointment in Crime Alley

Directed by Boyd Kirkland Written by Paul Dini

Can an episode truly succeed where virtually nothing major happens? Can an episode be about an average night for Batman where he only fights for about thirty seconds? Can an episode keep your attention with not only no super villain, but with minor lackeys doing all the villainy for the episode? Can an episode have all those variables, and yet still be subtly heartwarming on an extremely powerful level? Obviously you know the answer is yes, but you get the idea. Let’s get started. Our episode begins with a sweeping shot through Gotham’s Crime Alley. Returning villain, Dagget, is seen watching a clock tick towards 9:00 pm. When the clock strikes 9 a fiery explosion travels down the alley. We zoom out to reveal that in fact, it’s only a model (Shh!) Dagget speaks to his hired arsonist Nitro about his plans to blow up a gas line under Crime Ally so that it will destroy the building, but still looks like an accident. Dagget also goes to the trouble of setting up a public banquet that he will be speaking at during the explosion. As will be repeated several times in the episode, the bomb is to go off at 9:00 pm. A news report that Bruce Wayne is watching tells the story of Crime Alley. What used to be the site of a historical hotel has unfortunately turned into a slum filmed with criminals and low lives. Dagget wishes to tear down the whole street to build more real estate for his company, but the historic hotel is a landmark and there are numerous protests from honest families that live in Crime Alley that would have nowhere to live if it was destroyed. For a man like Dagget however, this is only a minor bump in the way of what he wants.

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Bruce and Alfred make friendly banter about an important meeting that Bruce is on his way to. Batman’s Batmobile clock reveals it is almost 8:00. Batman sees a young girl jump out in front of the Batmobile screaming for help. With a look of horror on his face, Batman cranks on the brakes of the Batmobile and stops it just in time. The young girl tells Batman that her mother is being harassed by a gang of thugs upstairs. Batman sneaks into the upstairs room and takes out a small cell of criminals trying to drive the mother out of her apartment. On one hand, a stylized portrayal of low light helps make this scene really pack a punch and stand out. On the other hand, this is the only one. There are no other fistfights this episode. Not a complaint, but definitely important enough to make another mention. An old woman at the community center comments that someone she was supposed to meet hasn’t shown up yet and decides to go out looking for him. Another woman tries to warn her, but she insists that, “Parkrow” has nothing that will scare her. Notice she chooses the proper name and not, “Crime Alley”. It’s a subtle nod to the woman’s optimism. She steps towards the front door of a house she hears suspicious noises from and finds a blasting cap that has fallen on the porch. She walks in to investigate, but after she makes Daggett’s men, they are left with no choice but to capture her. Batman joins a group of police officers trying to talk a man off of the roof who has captured an employee of Daggett’s company and is holding him hostage on the billboard. We get a quick joke from Batman talking to one of the policeman. Batman’s approach to the situation is quite interesting. Batman talks to the culprit in a strong, firm voice, but hides his actual location. He talks dark enough to freak you out, but that’s only magnetized when you realize you don’t know where he is. On top of that, Batman then draws attention to himself swinging back and forth trying to get the culprit to accidentally waste all his ammo. Unfortunately his final bullet ends up taking out the 213 supports for the scaffolding they’re standing on. They both begin to free fall, but Batman catches them and drop them off on the ground. The police handle it from there. It’s a nice extra touch how both men are taken away from Batman by police, but obviously in different ways. Batman goes to the apartment of the woman who we now know is Leslie. Her locker reveals she is an M.D and sitting on her desk is a memory book filled with old newspaper clippings. The articles briefly discuss her relationship to the rise and fall of Parkrow, but the important piece of the puzzle comes when Batman finds the newspaper article about the death of his parents. There is also a charming picture clipping Leslie and Bruce, as a boy, hugging to forget the sorrow that came that day. Just outside, he hears a homeless man comment to himself that he saw something. Batman interrogates him about a blasting cap that he had on his person. The man confesses that he saw Nitro and one other man tie her up in a building and that they had tons of explosives. He took the one Batman found when they weren’t looking and was going to sell it on the street Passengers of a trolley train panic as their driver has passed out at the wheel with the accelerator pushed down to the max. Barreling down the street, you can see an orange strobe light coming from outside the trolley car. It almost reminds you slightly of the tunnel from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Batman watches as cars careen themselves out of the way of the trolley. Batman is upset to once again delay his appointment, but people are in danger so he must spring into action. Batman turns the corner towards the Trolley, with homage to the grappling hook turn maneuver from 89 Batman. Batman tries to board the trolley to hit the brakes, but is met with a look of horror as the door is locked and he doesn’t have time to break in before the trolley hits the townspeople at the end of the track. Batman’s only remaining option is position

214 himself in front of the Trolley and using the Batmobile’s Brakes to stop it himself. Now I’ve spoken before about the magnitude of awesomeness Batman’s techology and vehicles have, but even that said, this is not an easy feat. The Batmobile’s Brakes slow the trolley down, but with almost no space, it’s not nearly enough. Batman activates turbo reverse thrust, but the immense tension on the Batmobile has popped all four of its tires (once again, not an easy thing to do) and turned the vehicle sideways. Screeching to a halt, the Batmobile barely touches a single car with a chuckle worthy bump. Seeing a reporter or two amongst the crowd, Batman installs the Batmobile’s shields as not to be tampered with and grapels away to find Nitro and his accomplice. Upon finding them, he confronts Nitro about breaking his parole and returning to arson. After catching them in the act with a semi- trailer filled with explosives, they confess that Dagget is behind the whole thing. Nitro warns Batman that, “It’s almost 9 pm”, and tells him where Leslie is. Batman swoops in to save her just in time, but Leslie insists he worry about disarming the bombs at the hotel. Dagget watches the time as he finishes his banquet speech. When the explosives go off, Dagget is quick to act shocked and sympathetic when the cameras appear, but Batman is on the scene with Nitro and his accomplice ready to confess. Unfortunately, Dagget is quick to dodge their testimonies and escape immediate arrest. Leslie insists that Dagget will be arrested yet. The two of them finally have their appointment and walk the street talking about what Crime Alley used to be; that good people used to live there. Batman leaves two roses at the corner of Park Avenue. The episode ends on a still shot of the picture in the paper of the two of them following Batman’s powerful final line, “good people still do live on Crime Alley.” Appointment in Crime Alley is an episode that doesn’t scream at you with its big spectacle or its iconic villains, but it gives a rare look at Batman that we don’t usually see. A look at 215

Batman in what a normal night might look like. Sometimes, villains don’t wear colorful costumes or have crazy accents. Sometimes, it’s just normal people doing bad things. You don’t usually see episodes about normal crime or spontaneous tragedies, but that’s because most people think that these stories can’t be interesting. This episode goes out of its way to prove that wrong. When you actually look at what this episode’s key action is, it’s mostly realistic, non-comic book style events. It’s a woman being harassed by mobsters, a man holding a gun to a man on a billboard, and a run-away trolley train. I believe what makes this approach work is how it shows that no crime is beneath Batman. He has no agenda or standard of which people are considered not worthy or not worth his time. He strives to protect people, no matter who they are. I think that’s what makes this episode stand out. It’s not an episode about stopping villains; it’s an episode about saving people. Now one thing I did notice about this episode that they do touch on, and I’m sure it’s intentional, is race. Now although without context, it can seem questionable that an episode about the slums of Gotham also happens to feature more African American and minority characters than any other. That’s not to say these characters aren’t treated with respect, (all pants in this episode maintain waste level and all guns are held in a proper vertical position), but it is abundantly clear they are there. In my opinion, their presence here is not to judge these people for being in this position, but considering Gotham is modeled after a much older society, the remains of class based racism is something that does exist and is placed in this episode in order to purposely make you feel uncomfortable about the state of this community. The relationship between Leslie and Batman works well for the episode and helps tie together the most important moment so far in the series. It was this episode that officially explains the fate of Batman’s parents. According to the comics, Leslie was a doctor who worked with Bruce’s father, which

216 explains their closeness and why they meet at that alleyway all these years. Park Avenue, as one could predict, was the alley in which Bruce’s parents were killed. Even further, we can extrapolate the importance of that event to the creation of Crime Alley. Bruce’s parents were one of Gotham’s biggest philanthropists and used their fortunes to turn Gotham into a better place for all. It was that irony written into the comics that they were shot down by one of the desperate vagrants they were trying to save. With the absence of the Wayne’s influence, Parkrow and Gotham itself slip into corruption. The existence of Crime Ally is a constant reminder of what Batman strives for; to continue his parents’ mission and hold up their legacy. The main difference being that Batman obviously has a different approach to holding their legacy. The recurrence of Dagget as a villain helps point the episode in a direction we’re familiar with, but he really doesn’t act much as a villain for the episode. His alibi plot actually speaks to his intelligence and it allows for a larger plot to be at large without taking away from Batman focusing on saving people rather than fighting a super villain. Batman’s behavior in these situations also points to his main objective. Over the course of the episode, you see more real emotion out of Batman than you see in any other episode. You see him get scared, mad, and everything in between. In particular, fear. There is a very large amount of risk for characters in this episode and it speaks a lot to Batman’s character to actually see honest concern for their lives. The directing for the episode helps this by making the close calls a heck of a lot closer than he normally would be allowed to get away with. Simple things like letting the trolley hit the car or using an elderly woman as a victim, or even letting a non-villain character, a normal citizen, hold a man at gunpoint with the entire police force within seconds of taking him down. All these work towards both lowering an audiences defenses and buying the illusion of danger these characters are put in. 217

One final advantage this episode finds in having no real villain; they are able to achieve a level of gray morality that they normally wouldn’t be able to get away with. Like I just mentioned, this episode features a man that in the context of the episode, should be considered one of the good guys, holding a man that works for the villain at gunpoint, and Batman and the police see him as one of the bad guys. Daggett’s scheme is meant to improve the city of Gotham by removing one of its most dangerous neighborhoods, but he’s considered to be evil. Even with Batman, he spends the whole episode protecting a neighborhood that not only is considered to be one of the most corrupt in Gotham, but the neighborhood responsible for the death of his own parents. There are no clear good and bad guys. There is only people. Real people that have real reactions to real problems that do not have clear-cut right or wrong answers. Appointment in Crime Alley is not an episode that should not be overlooked. It’s not one of the best, but it’s one of the most unique. For a person who has been watching episode after episode for months, this episode is a change of pace towards some truly mature subject matter that I find quite welcoming. If you’re looking for an episode a bit out of the ordinary or one that really dives into adult subject matter, you’ve come to the right place.

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BTAS #27 Mad as a Hatter

Directed by Frank Paur Written by Paul Dini

To say that several artists of various mediums have interpreted Lewis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland would be the understatement of the century. The characters of the book have taken so many forms; you could make a series of books just about all of the various interpretations. Not surprisingly one of the more popular interpretations are the way the characters are used in Batman. Now the actual meaning of Alice in Wonderland, as a base point to talk about its interpretation, can be difficult to establish. Now I’m not going to go over the meaning of every single character involved in the story as some of them are important to the story and some are just there because they fit. That being said, I recommend if you really want to get the absolute most out of this episode, you at least watch the original animated Disney interpretation as most of the characters used here are portrayed clearly in that version. As far as the story itself, or to some people the lack there of, this is the common ground commonly found between interpretations. Alice is a young girl who chases a rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds herself transported into a mystical world where the characters are as colorful as can be and the logic of the world is absurd as can be. All the character’s in the story are portrayed to have unique personality quirks or designs that make the behaviors of the characters somewhat consistent between versions, but artists have found room to interpret their own conclusions of why they act that way or what these characters are meant to represent. As far as the original meanings of these characters are concerned, people often debate not only about what their meaning is or even if there is any meaning. I’m not here to give an answer to that question, but as a critic, I need to evaluate not only how this episode holds up as a Batman episode, but also 219 how it holds up as an interpretation of Lewis Carol’s characters. Keep in mind this episode is not an interpretation of Lewis Carol’s story. This episode takes the characters of Wonderland and interprets them into a Batman setting in order to tell a story completely their own. That being said, we can get started. Our episode begins with Jearvis, the Mad Hatter, interpreted as a scientist working for Wayne Corp. studying ways to carry brain waves from one person to another. The result is a band that he wears on his head allowing him to control a group of rats to sit at a miniature table and drink tea like civilized humans. Into the room walks Alice, who warns him that his boss and Bruce Wayne are on their way in. Jearvis is bashful towards Alice, but panics and hides his research when the others arrive. His boss, a red headed woman with a wicked temper, scolds him for embarrassing himself in front of Bruce, but Bruce gives him the benefit of the doubt. As his boss leaves, she notices the Alice in Wonderland poster on his wall and make a tongue in cheek joke about, “having his head” if he messes up like that again. Jearvis talks to Alice at her desk and we learn that although she is very close to Jearvis, she has a boyfriend. Alice comments that she is so glad that she two great men in her life. Jearvis is infuriated at the picture of Alice with her boyfriend on her table, and knocks it over after she leaves. Jearvis does his best to fake a smile in her presence, but Jearvis’ frustration is apparent. He monologues to himself in his office about what to do about Alice. While he contemplates, his mentally controlled mice grab his tea. He confirms that he has the technology to control a human, but he refuses to use it on Alice, as it would turn Alice into a shell of her former self. This is extremely important to the episode as it confirms that regardless of your feeling towards whether Jearvis’ actions are ethical, it is clear that his feelings for Alice are in fact, genuine.

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From the other room he hears the sound of Alice crying, when he eavesdrops, he finds that to his glee, Alice has been dumped by her boyfriend. Jearvis plans to use this as an opportunity to sweep Alice off her feet with a wonderful night on the town, but in a telling moment, Jearvis looks at the Mad Hatter in the poster. Looking at this as a reflection of himself, he sighs thinking there’s no reason she’d see him as desirable. Upon which, he gazes at his mind control cards, already themed with the fraction 10/6, and seems to have a plan. Jearvis arrives at Alice’s door dressed as the Hatter and insists on taking her out for a night of whimsy to forget her foolish ex. Alice seems a bit overwhelmed but agrees. The two of them take a horse drawn carriage downtown where two muggers come after them. Jearvis insists on handling it and places mind control cards on their person. He plays up a tough guy act and commands them to jump in the river. The two thugs walk away and Alice is awestruck. Batman patrols the city and has a humorous quip or two with Alfred over the communicator. He is interrupted by a police communication about two men who are going to jump off the Gotham Bridge. After Batman finds them, he uses an ejector seat to get to them as soon as possible. Batman tries to stop them, but they overpower him with some sort of enhanced strength (that gets explained later). Batman uses his glider to save them, but barely can make it to the ground because of their weight. Batman examines the cards from the Hatter that he finds on them. Jearvis and Alice share a meal at a restaurant of all mind- controlled staff. It’s a brief scene, but if you pay close attention you can see that Alice pulls her hand away when Jearvis grabs it. Despite her misleading nice personality, we have a piece of evidence that Alice is still keeping her guard up. After taking control of a guard, Jearvis takes Alice to Storybook Land, An amusement park themed after various fairytales. Jearvis takes her to the Wonderland section and sits on the mushroom of the caterpillar. He begins to sing the mock turtle 221 song, and invites Alice to, “join the dance”. Jearvis and Alice begin to dance around the room. Batman examines the effects of the cards while Alfred points him in the direction of Alice in Wonderland. I know Alfred deduces this just because of the fraction, but I just find it funnier because he’s British. Jearvis kisses Alice on the hand and drops her off back at the apartment. Jearvis skips away in excitement and Alice comments to herself what a nice man he is. Alice finds her boyfriend waiting for her with open arms and an apology andAlice runs to him. Jearvis walks into the office the next day with a spring in his step and a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He’s met with rage when he finds the picture of her boyfriend is back on her desk. Alice thanks him for cheering her up last night, but is thrilled to tell him that her boyfriend proposed. In his anger, Jearvis cuts his hand clutching the roses in his fist and a drop of blood falls onto her boyfriend’s picture. Alice asks if he’s ok, but Jearvis retreats to his office. Jearvis’ boss bursts into his office and tells him that Bruce demands to see him right away. He becomes fed up with her and uses a card to tell her to shut up. Bruce comes to the office looking for him and asks Alice where he is. Alice hasn’t seen him, but she takes a minute to tell Bruce she’s engaged and Bruce congratulates her. Alice receives a shocking phone call from her new fiancé who decides to break up with her for no reason. Normally this would be a tragic, but non-Batman issue, but putting two and two together, Bruce is smart enough to know something is up. Alice returns to her apartment to find Jearvis waiting for her with a room full of flowers. Jearvis has become louder and more aggressive as he tries to once again sweep Alice off her feet, but Alice notices that she didn’t tell him about the break up. As Jearvis begins to approach her Alice backs into Batman. Hatter is prepared for trouble and turns his hat to reveal it is wired into his mind control software.

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Crashing through the front door of the apartment door are two men in costume: the Walrus and the Carpenter. Batman fights off the carpenter despite the large sledgehammer he carries. The walrus proves to be exceptionally tough as the man behind the mask appears to be a behemoth of a man. Jearvis is deeply disappointed in himself for being forced to use a card on Alice, but he has been left with no choice. Jearvis escapes with Alice while Batman takes out the two costumed goons. Batman follows Mad Hatter to Storybook Land. Usually, I wait until a villain is referred to their villain name to call them by such, but since they never do, I chose this moment because this is when he more or less reaches super villain status. Batman finds all sorts of other mind-controlled innocents, including Jearvis’ boss, mind controlled and dressed as Wonderland characters. Fittingly, his boss is the Red Queen. Mad Hatter knows Batman won’t hurt the innocent people. All of them stand on a giant black and white chessboard while Mad Hatter stands on a higher platform with Alice, now wearing the outfit from the Storybook Park. Mad Hatter brags to Batman about how the hypnotism increases their physical strength. This matches up cleanly with what people have been told about hypnotism in real life. A person operating hypnotized or an actual zombie bypasses your body’s natural pain threshold. Your brain isn’t telling you to stop in order to prevent hurting yourself. Therefore, Batman is fighting enemies with natural superhuman strength. Batman uses a smoke grenade to distract one of them long enough to remove the card from his costume. Batman instructs him that they won’t attack him because they’re programmed to follow Batman. With the rest of them distracted by Batman, the cured man, Alice’s fiancé, is able to remove all of the cards. Seeing his plan is foiled, Mad Hatter flees with Alice into the Wonderland Card Maze. Mad Hatter starts messing with the controls to keep Batman lost, but Batman just climbs on top of the maze and tackles him away from the controls. 223

Batman tries to confront Mad Hatter about how by turning Alice into a mindless doll, he has destroyed her, but Mad Hatter refuses to accept it. He blames Batman for making him resort to his machine. Mad Hatter and Batman fight back and forth with the Red Queen’s axe, but after a well-planned set of card dominoes, Mad Hatter has Batman pinned between two card walls. As Mad Hatter reaches back for the final swing, Batman throws one last batarang and cuts free the hanging Jabberwocky and Mad Hatter is pinned to the floor between its claws. Batman destroys the mind control device and Alice runs into the arms of her Fiancé. Alice refuses to look at Mad Hatter in dread of what he’s become. The episode ends with Mad Hatter despairingly singing, “Would not could not join the dance”. The final shot is of the statue of the crying Mocking Turtle. As a person who has seen Alice in Wonderland mythos butchered time and time again, it’s with a head held high I declare this interpretation of the highest quality. BTAS not only pays clever homage to its source material, but also interprets and uses its characters and environments in creative and inventive ways. Outside of that, it meshes so well into the Batman mythos, you’d never even know they were separate. Starting with the Wonderland influence, the idea of Mad Hatter being in love with Alice is one that several different interpretations have tried, but never, other than here, have I seen it done interestingly. Many interpretations also have decided to give Mad Hatter extended screen time, most likely because of his popularity in the animated film. The foundation for this framing device is set up for them, but it’s what they do with it that makes this episode work. Alice herself is similarly optimistic and innocent in this version. She may not be the main character of the story, but she is essential to the story’s plot. She is shown to be slightly naïve, but not stupid. Part of this might come from us being unfamiliar with what her age actually is. My guess is probably early 20’s, an obviously necessary change from the original. She does

224 have a sense of bubbly happiness about her though that makes her desirable. She’s the kind of person that just seems to like people and love life. The kind of person you enjoy being around because they enjoy everything. Jearvis is a complicated character, but his various quirks and slip into madness, (pun intended) make him a compelling and long lasting villain. As mentioned before, it’s made very clear that Jearvis’ feelings for Alice are truly founded. Jearvis is extremely eccentric, even to the point of being frightening, but still maintains a sense of charisma. Alice did have to want to be as close as she is to him in the first place. Jearvis also finds himself at the center of a moral predicament. Unlike other villains, he’s actually aware of his villainous hypocrisy. Jearvis clearly acknowledges the problem with mind controlling Alice, but his constant loss of self-control makes it believable. In fact, it’s part of the reason he begins falling down the villainous path in the first place. A lot of people overuse the phrase, “slips into madness”, but that does do an incredibly good job of explaining this situation. Jearvis starts the episode with a clear set goal and a line he refuses to cross. Originally, he starts with minor flirtation, then to glee over Alice’s misery of losing her boyfriend, then to mind control on innocents to impress her without intent of hurting people, then to using his powers to manipulate himself into Alice’s life, then to violence as he uses captives to ensure Alice will come with him (this is before he knew Batman was coming mind you), and then finally breaking his one rule by hypnotizing Alice. Jearvis’ trail towards immorality is steady enough that it’s easy to imagine he doesn’t even notice himself changing, but what makes his character interesting is that he does. He knows he’s contradicting himself. He knows that this isn’t the Alice he wanted and it disgusts him that this is what he’s had to fall to. It creates an interesting dynamic where even before Batman comes to stop him, He’s already lost. He finds 225 himself fighting for a hollow shell of true victory, just as Alice has been reduced to. The music in this episode is rather subtle, but in a good way. It fulfills its purpose during normal scenes, but it does stand out loud and proud during sequences that include more Wonderland elements; like when Jearvis begins to sing. I do wish the music was more prominent, but the music we do have works for the piece. So far in the series, Frank Paur and Paul Dini have not worked together, but watching this episode, I see that they should’ve worked together a long time ago. Combining Frank Paur’s old school action directing and vintage aesthetic with Paul Dini’s natural speaking characters and incredible knack for visual script writing, you end up with a sense of surreal whimsy that feels so real and yet so fantastical at the same time. The tone of the episode the two of them create is based on the idea that none of the fantasy is real. In his head, Mad Hatter’s infatuation for Alice becomes not only for him to be with her, but also for her to become The Alice. The only problem is that it’s all an illusion. The wonderland he’s trying to create is literally an illusion made to attract tourists. Jearvis is a neurotically lonely character that when unable to find an identity for himself that Alice would fall for, found himself slipping into one that was already created. Mentally, he actually becomes the Mad Hatter. As the story goes on, more and more elements of the Wonderland universe become part of his character. The outfit, the cards, the minions, and eventually, his takeover of Fairytale Land. They’re beautiful illusions of Wonderland, but that’s all they are, illusions. Dini and Paur set up Mad Hatter in an environment that perfectly juxtaposes the real world and the fantasy world that Mad Hatter is trying to build for him and Alice. Paur’s Americana old fashion feel does an incredible job of visually portraying the world of Wonderland as a nostalgic piece of escapism and whimsy, and Dini’s dialogue crafts a villain that wants so badly to escape to that world.

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As Mad Hatter is featured prominently as a main villain in this series, it makes sense that I cover Mad Hatter’s place in the Arkham Villain Theory. I believe Mad Hatter is a representation of Batman’s denial. Just as Mad Hatter fights for a fantasy world that he can’t have, Batman Fights and dedicates his life to creating a Gotham city that he knows will probably never exist. Despite this, both of them press on either out of arrogance or out of denial. Where the issue becomes complicated is where they find if it is hurting more than helping for them to live in their delusions. All in all, Mad as a Hatter is a perfectly crafted episode and shows off its director and writer at the top of their game. Jearvis is one of the most tragic villains yet. Not because of how far he drops, but because his relatability and awareness of his corruption make him work. Brilliant art direction combined with motivated fight choreography and writing help bring Lewis Carol’s characters to life in a way rarely seen. Not only does this episode hold as an interpretation of Carol’s characters, it works great as a Batman story. The varied characters and environments of Wonderland give Batman a whole new perspective on combat and traversal. Thematically, it draws from lore and mythos the same way as many other Batman villains do. In many ways, it’s a match made in heaven. If you are looking for a refreshing Take on Lewis Carol’s characters or are looking for another great origin episode, look no further than here. Oh. And very merry unbirthday to you.

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BTAS #28 Dreams in Darkness

Directed by Dick Sebast Written by Judith & Garfield Reeves - Stevens

Season finales are always fun for me. Whether it be, “Aw crap we’re getting cancelled, let’s pull out all the stops”, or “Congratulations guys! Let’s take everything we’ve learned so far and end with a bang”, season finales are usually the least safe episodes you find. This finale is no exception. Dreams in Darkness is a great finale as it not only branches together the whole season thematically, but the episode experiments with ideas and creative devices that would not fly today no matter how popular a show you were. I don’t know whether or not this series knew they were coming back for a second season, but if this was going to be the last episode of BTAS, they were going to fight like hell till the bitter end. Our episode begins with the lead psychiatrist at Arkham, Bartholomew (for brevity, we’ll call him Dr. B), examining Batman. For reasons unexplained, Batman is in a strait jacket, and locked in Arkham Asylum. Batman pleads to Dr. B that Commissioner Gordon needs to be warned that Gotham is in grave danger; Dr. B sees it as just part of Batman’s delusions. For the first time in the series, Batman begins to internally monologue. For a series that so heavily influenced by Noir, it’s curious they have never used Noir style narration up until this point. The monologues also function as a method for Batman to show his mental control and negate the idea that he’s completely lost his mind. Regardless, Batman tries to remember where it all began. Batman thinks back to a crime taking place at the Health Springs Spa. When Batman goes to investigate, he finds a strange man with a torch attached to his arm trying to torch a

228 device into the water main. When Batman confronts him an unknown source focuses on a camera located at the scene and a mysterious man flips on a countdown clock of 20 seconds. The man at the spa adjusts the setting of his torch and gives himself a drill arm to attack Batman with. The two of them share a really good fight scene, but ultimately, the device they were trying to install is destroyed in the conflict and both the Man and Batman are hit with a strange red gas. Batman examines the man’s technology for clues and finds that the red toxin is a possible variant of Scarecrow’s gas, but there’s not enough evidence to convict or find an antidote. Even aware that the gas can cause illusions, Batman sees Joker sneaking up behind him at the Batcave, but finds Alfred is the one actually there. Batman heads to the hospital to talk to the man from earlier and get some answers. Unfortunately, he’s not given many. The witness in question is suffering from similar side effects and illusions. Batman confronts one of the doctors he trusts to look at his blood. She reveals that since Batman was not exposed to as much of the gas and because of his strong body, it’s taking more time to affect him, but it will eventually drive him to advanced hallucinations. The doctor claims that the only cure will be to knock him unconscious for two days. Batman refuses to be out of commission that long, but takes the medicine and goes on his way into the night. Batman drives the Batmobile at full speed toward Arkham Asylum because he thinks Scarecrow is the culprit and he might have the antidote. Batman shows signs that the gas is taking effect, but Batman tries to shake it off. Without warning, Batman sees Robin in the headlights. Batman screams and slams the brakes. The Batmobile tumbles down the winding road and is found by doctors from Arkham. Batman rambles about his delusions to the doctors. They have Batman tied to a stretcher and hooked to sedatives. One of them tries to remove his mask, but Dr. B insists that the mask is 229 tied to his identity and removing it could affect his psyche (trust me. I’ve heard much worse excuses over the years). Dr. B tries to get Batman to open up, but Batman insists that a large plan is at foot. Neither character makes much leeway in convincing the other, but there is a nice nod to ‘89 Batman where Dr. B refers to the Joker by his alias Jack Napier. Batman warns that he believes that Scarecrow is the one responsible, but Dr. B insists he saw Dr. Crane in his room that morning. Crane reveals himself to have escaped from Arkham as he commands his men to pump the gas into several biohazard trucks. He reveals to his men that the attack on the spa was always a trap to expose Batman to the gas. Scarecrow’s acting in this episode does paint him more calculated and maniacal than previous episodes. He sounds smarter and more confident, which works great to paint him as an intelligent and sophisticated villain. Batman’s slip to insanity hits full force as he embarks on his first full-blown hallucination. Batman finds the door to his cell opening to a room filled with bright red light. He walks through the door when he comes out the other side, his straight jacket is gone and he finds himself in an orange tinted alley. The buildings appear slightly warped and covered with shadows. The animation dips back into normal colors as Bruce enters the alley. Bruce is stopped in his tracks when he sees his parents standing at the end of the alley. It’s a subtle maneuver, but the scene intentionally breaks a normal cinematic rule called, “crossing the line”. It’s not something the average person would not be able to spot, but most people will catch the idea that something’s not quite right. Batman sprints towards his parents as they walk towards a suspicious looking tunnel at the end of the alley. The alley behind Batman begins to warp itself longer, preventing him from getting to his parents. The animation on this sequence works quite smoothly thanks to the stylized look of the buildings already feeling so elastic in nature. Since the

230 buildings don’t have clear landmarks of size or shape, they mold and stretch without any feeling of breaking or looking out of character. Batman’s parents walk into the tunnel as the whole world around them and Batman breaks into the fire and brimstone of Hell. The tunnel bursts from the Hell below to reveal that the tunnel is the barrel of a giant revolver. Magma and mortar pour from the barrel of the gun. Batman screams in agony as the hammer slowly pulls back and the gun fires. Batman awakens from his nightmare curled up on the floor in a hot sweat. Dr. B visits Batman to confess that Scarecrow has in fact, escaped from Arkham. Batman tries to predict Scarecrow’s next move by asking about where Arkham’s water comes from. After discovering it’s from a cavern underneath the asylum, Batman insists he needs to be set free. Despite Batman being right, Dr. B still refuses to release Batman. Batman tries to escape, but even with his skills, he is unable to take out two large guards without use of his arms. One of Scarecrow’s lackeys confirms the last of the gas trucks has arrived in the cavern. Scarecrow starts up a countdown clock to what he refers to as the largest psychological experiment in the history of the world. Scarecrow flips a switch confirming the chemicals will enter the water supply in 5 minutes. Batman manages to find an opening to escape the guards. Dr. B hits the red alert button and guards begin to prepare tranquilizer guns and nightsticks. Batman steals a fire axe off a wall and uses it to escape the straight jacket and kidnaps a guard to get him to the basement. Batman takes a flashlight to investigate the caverns. Batman finds himself closer to Scarecrow than ever before, but his psychosis continues to worsen. Batman sees a rat on the floor that warps into the Joker’s face. Batman freaks out, drops, and breaks his flashlight. What follows is by far the greatest dream sequence in the whole season. I’ve said that to a few episodes before, but I mean it. This one is the best. 231

A large spotlight blinds Batman as an unnerving Joker walks through the spotlight creating a sunburst. Joker laughs maniacally, but his voice is more warped and echo filled than usual. It sounds more unnatural and unique from any other laugh he’s had so far. Bursting from the floor, a 300 foot tall Penguin appears. A slower and darker version of his theme accompanies him as he blocks falling debris with his umbrella. Batman runs out of the way as debris starts falling on him. Penguin screams a horrible shriek as his face explodes and peels away to reveal Two - Face flipping his coin. Two – Face’s theme has been remixed as a dirty jazz song. Two – Face’s coin morphs into sawblade to throw at Batman. A quick shot of Batman dodging out of the way of the inexistent blade reminds the audience how trapped Batman is in the illusion. It makes sense to continue to reject the illusion because Batman runs the possibility that he could lose his grip on reality all together. As the episode has gone on, the illusions have not only gotten more direct and part of his reality, they have also become longer in length. This scene in particular, the longest he’s been away from sanity; which sets up his terror as the illusion tempts him to give into the darkness. Two – Face melts into a putty that reforms to makes Poison Ivy. Batman screams at her that she’s not real, but Poison Ivy stretches her arms into vines to entangle Batman. Robin and Alfred step out from behind Ivy. Batman begs them to help him, but they prefer to tempt Batman to give into the darkness. Both of them continue to tempt Batman as a chasm has been opened up in front of Poison Ivy. Poison Ivy throws Batman into the chasm. Batman screams and flails the gray walls of the chasm morphs into a bright orange and yellow spiral with blotched patterns similar to the Hell scene earlier. An echoing monologue from Scarecrow taunts him about how the Great Batman has lost his mind. The spiral turns brown, as the center of the vortex becomes a laughing head of Scarecrow that devours Batman. A single bat comes from the shrouded darkness and Batman continues to fall

232 through the orange void once again. The screen fades back to normal day as Batman squirms on the floor screaming. He struggles to catch his breath before following a single bat deeper into the cave. About 3 minutes remain on the clock as Batman swings into the scene. Scarecrow knows that Batman will fear the henchmen so he assures them that they will take Batman out no problem. Batman sees the Henchmen as green Martian, zombie creatures against the orange and yellow background from before. The style decision for what he fears may seem strange, but considering the clothes they wear do not change, it gives evidence Batman is doing better to maintain control. Going further with that theory, Batman grabs the microphone and whistles loudly. The henchmen grab their ears and Batman’s high pitch endued ear pain helps break the illusion. Batman takes the three of them out while Scarecrow runs away to restart the machine. Batman tries to jump the ledge after him, but the fear gas make the floor fall farther away from him as Batman falls into vertigo. After composing himself, Batman makes the jump. As he reaches for the turn of switch, the cable he needs to pull turns into a poisonous viper. With only ten seconds left, Batman summons all his strength and pulls the wire from the wall. The whole machine begins to explode and the chemical spreads everywhere. Scarecrow screams in horror as he is exposed to the gas. This time, rather than seeing a large blue demon, he sees Batman. Only Batman. Scarecrow begs to be taken away because he can’t take it anymore. Scarecrow is returned to his room in Arkham and Dr. B scolds his assistants to make sure Scarecrow will not escape again. Alfred gives Bruce the antidote and Bruce thanks him for making sure he’s safe. The episode and season ends as a lone bat is perched upside down in front of the light. A shadow of 233 the bat’s extended wings casts on Bruce before closing its wings into a modified Batman logo. It’s a bittersweet feeling reaching the final episode of the season, but I’d be lying if I said the final episode was anything less than awe-inspiring. Scarecrow has become the stand out star of the series so far. For a villain that had only been featured in an animated form back in the super friends show, this show has proven the true potential of this Villain. As the character has progressed through the series, both the iconic fear chemical and the character himself have evolved and changed to be more compelling, frightening, and interesting. Scarecrow is a character that not only comes up with new schemes, but he learns from his mistakes, improves his methods, and becomes a better villain. This episode is debatably the most effective and horrific scheme any villain has ever attempted. What makes it scarier is how close he comes to getting away with it. As much as I praised Appointment in Crime Alley for showing Batman’s changing and powerful emotions, this episode is hands down Batman’s most emotional outing. This episode goes beyond seeing Batman as vulnerable. You see Batman grasping on to his sense of control. He’s losing his mind slowly, but surely and there’s nothing he can do about it. When Batman confronts his fears, he runs through his entire history of emotional trauma and you can see from his face, his actions, and his state of being, that it is taking a toll on him like he’s never experienced before. A large part of this comes from the creativity and effort put into the use of Scarecrow’s poison. In previous episodes, I’ve talked about exactly how each strand of the poison works. This strand, for obvious reasons, is the most powerful and deadly. Even in its early stages, it builds upon effects of the previous poisons. The illusions Batman sees are formed out of physical objects that replace reality just like in Fear of Victory, but they also morph and contort depending on his mental state, just as

234 they did in Fear of Victory. The difference for this poison comes in how they not only work together, but also work completely against his chances for victory. Similar to Fear of Victory, the poison is activated by his adrenalin. Not only does this make it so that the harder Batman fights against the poison, the stronger it becomes, it makes the ticking clock before he reaches a mental point of no return drastically steeper. This helps sell the idea that Batman can’t just think his way out of it. The illusions are connected enough to Batman’s brain to run the risk of causing him actual pain. If a person is hypnotized deep enough, the mental perception of pain can cause real pain. If perceived death, one can kill themselves in fear. Once Batman crosses that threshold, Batman’s chances of mentally rejecting the poison drop to almost nothing. I would likely interpret that threshold cross to be the moment he crashes the Batmobile. It’s the first moment he believes an illusion 100% and it’s quite likely his condition would’ve severely worsened if he had a concussion in the crash. This also explains why he says Joker’s name in the hospital instead of Scarecrow. The use of other villains in the dream sequence is the only time in the season villains appear together. For a person who was watching this series the first time, this is a big moment and will not disappoint. Between this scene and images of Hell and brimstone in the alley dream, this episode contains the darkest and most morbid imagery featured in the show so far. Speaking of the alley scene, Appointment in Crime Alley does confirm the origin of Bruce’s parents, but it’s in a small enough place that it’s possible to miss it. This scene however, is the closest we get to actually seeing what happened. The wording on the previous episode’s newspaper doesn’t send the idea home that Bruce did in fact watch his parents get shot right in front of him. This explains why even though Batman couldn’t run fast enough to stop them, he was forced to watch his parents die in the dream. Bruce’s footing was the only platform left. It makes sense that his mind would force him to view his tragic nightmare the way it happened. 235

Dr. B would probably be the closest I get to a complaint about this episode. He’s not a bad character by any means, and it’s good to see an antagonist in the gray area, but the possibility of Batman being mentally evaluated is a potential I wish Dr. B had tried harder to explore. I’ve touched on the music slightly earlier in this review, but it’s worth mentioning again as this is one of Shirley Walker’s finest moments. In order to pull off a psychotic juggling act like this, it requires everyone to be operating at the top of their game, and the music here shines through. Hearing variations on previous themes brings back a sense of ominous nostalgia amongst high-tension moments and quick changes in musical tone help express Batman’s rapidly changing state of mind. Dream in Darkness is the kind of episode that you use to drive home a point to someone. This is the episode to prove how good this season is to someone. Part of me feels like I could talk for hours just on this one installment. This episode understands and explores emotional and thematic depth on a level that surpasses almost any other episode in the series. To be fair, it can only be as good as it is because of all that the season before it built as a foundation, but this is an episode where they really got an opportunity to stretch the boundaries of what kind of story could be told, how they were allowed to tell it, and how smart and mature of a story their audience could understand and accept. People ask me why I Think this series is better than any other animated series, to which I reply, “Episodes like this one”.

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Season in Retrospect If I had to sum up this series in one word, I believe it would be “foundation”. For a serialized show it’s not common to dedicate so much time to world building, but this show makes that a top priority. Villains in this series not only have meaningful motivations, but motivations that get them back to the city of Gotham itself. Everyone established in this series has interlocking relationships with each other that help make an infinite pool of possibilities for our characters to draw from. In many ways, that is the point of this season. In order to tell more complicated or emotionally fueled stories, we have to create the foundation for them to stand on. In our journey through 28 episodes, we have been introduced to almost every member of Batman’s rogue gallery, Bruce’s circle of friends, and a few special new characters that might stop on by to say hello. As we begin the Journey into season 2, we build upon season 1’s origins and experiment with what kind of new colors we can create by mixing this character with this environment, or see what happens when Batman meets up with more powerful or more intelligent adversaries than he’s ever fought. We see what happens when both Batman and the super villains find allies. Batman will be challenged in ways he’s never been before, and I can’t wait to see where season 2 takes us. Until then, thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope to see you back next time. Same Bat time, Same Bat channel.

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