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Had things gone differently, this episode represents
the Batman cartoon we could have gotten, if cooler heads hadn’t prevailed--a
simple-minded children’s after-school special where the Dark Knight Detective
teams up with a group of precocious kids who run afoul of one of his villains.
The only notable aspect of the episode is that it provides Paul Williams’ debut
in his stellar vocal performance of the Penguin, who would go on to greater
heights in later adventures. Mercifully, Batman’s kid helpers didn’t return.
101. The Underdwellers
It’s another “Very Special Episode” of Batman: The Animated Series, this one
dealing with a group of orphaned kids doing the bidding of the villainous Sewer
King. It’s a set-up that could have been fashioned into something interesting,
but the constant proselytizing makes the whole thing a chore to sit through,
whether it’s Batman lecturing to a pair of thrill-chasers in the first scene or
a painfully-hamfisted moment later on where he scolds one young orphan that
“children and guns never mix.” Ugh.
100. Cat Scratch Fever
The chief complaint that can be leveled against this
Catwoman-centric episode is how boring it is. Not much of note transpires in
these twenty-odd minutes, the plot of which concerns business mogul Roland
Daggett teaming with Professor Milo to spread a viral plague amongst Gotham
City’s stray cat population. How exciting. Couple that with some of the worst
animation in the series’ entire run, and you’re left with not much to recommend
in this snoozer.
99. Prophecy of Doom
Here’s another interesting set-up that is marred by
a weak script and even weaker animation. The idea of a con-man running a
religious cult to skim wealthy socialites of their fortunes is well-trod ground,
but doing so in through the prism of B:TAS’s
overall aesthetic could have produced some interesting results, had any of it
felt truly inspired. As it stands, the end result is merely tepid.
98. The Terrible Trio
You’re truly scraping the bottom of the barrel of
Batman villains when you get to the Terrible Trio, but it was late into the
series’ run and, hey… if they could make Mr. Freeze cool, then surely the B:TAS
team could do the same with even the lamest of the Dark Knight’s rogues. But
sadly, not even the animators could do much to make this bunch of losers
interesting, painting them here as a bunch of bored, wealthy socialites looking
for an entirely new way to get their kicks. Wonky animation and timid action
scenes leave this outing lacking in pretty much every way.
97. Christmas with the Joker
It was the first Joker episode in the production
line, and thus Mark Hamill’s debut in a series- and character-defining
performance, but that’s probably all this episode has going for it. What really
sinks it is the awful animation, which sees Joker going wildly off-model and
frequently portrayed with a head three times too big for his body. The script
has some nice character bits between Batman and Robin on the merits of the
holiday season, but is otherwise light as cotton candy. It’s essentially one
fancy set-piece after another--which might have been fun, but again, the weak
animation keeps it from being anything other than subpar.
96. Be A Clown
We get yet another glimpse of the Batman cartoon
B:TAS could have been with this snoozer, the story of which sees Mayor Hamilton
Hill’s young son running away from home and being taken in by the Joker.
Thankfully these “message” episodes where mostly front-loaded early on in the
series’ run, and very quickly done away with once the show’s creators found
their groove and decided that kids could appreciate cool, sophisticated
storytelling just as much as anyone else, without having to be preached at or
talked down to.
95. Eternal Youth
We get a glimpse into Alfred’s love-life with this
oddity of an episode, which sees Batman’s dutiful butler dragged off by his
lady friend Maggie to a fancy new resort promising renewed youth for the
elderly. It turns out the resort is run by Poison Ivy and involves some
convoluted scam that is slowly turning its occupants into tree people. Not
exactly the height of excitement, and Maggie never made another appearance in
the series… perhaps for the best.
94. Lock-Up
Paul Dini struck gold
earlier in the series’ run with the creation of Harley Quinn, so it’s
understandable he’d want to try his hand at creating another new rogue for
Batman to tangle with, but sadly, Lock-Up never quite rises to the challenge. A
Punisher-esque, lethal force-dealing vigilante, Lock-Up is disgruntled Arkham
security guard Lyle Bolton, who decides to take matters into his own hands upon
seeing the lax treatment many receive at Gotham City’s premier asylum for the
criminally insane. It’s an interesting angle for a new character, but the
episode never really finds its footing before the credits roll.
93. Moon of the Wolf
I want to be more forgiving to this one, as it’s an
adaptation of the classic Len Wein/Neal Adams story from the comics, but the
series drops the ball hard with this episode. It’s mainly due to the animation,
which comes courtesy of AKOM, a South Korean studio which was responsible for
some of the worst animation in the entire run of B:TAS. Here the studio commits
the ultimate sin by making a Batman vs. werewolf fight boring, although the
episode’s also not helped by an odd, electric guitar-heavy score and some lame
one-liners given to Batman himself. A missed opportunity, all in all.
92. The Last Laugh
There’s not much to this one, a decent-if-unmemorable
Joker outing that is pretty much one extended action scene after another. The
threadbare plot involves the Joker hijacking a trash barge and spreading his
Joker venom gas wherever it makes port, and of course Batman is there to stop
him. There are a lot of fun bits along the way, such as the carnage inflicted
upon the Joker’s robot henchman, Captain Clown, but there’s little meat on
these bones. It’s all filler.
91. Torch Song
The Firefly is not the most remarkable villain in
Batman’s rogues gallery, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that he gets an
equally-unremarkable debut in the animated series. He does get a sleek design
and some fancy gadgets (including a pretty cool flaming lightsaber), and Batman
dons a nifty flame-retardant suit of armor to defeat him in the end, but
Firefly is lacking the motivation that made the series’ reinvention of
characters such as Mr. Freeze so indelible.
90. Love is a Croc
This episode sees the odd pairing of Killer Croc and
Baby Doll, a team-up that feels like a joke that the animators never managed to
find a punch-line to. It’s nice to see the return of the series’ original
creation Baby Doll, but her connection with Killer Croc is a little
far-fetched, and ultimately goes nowhere.
89. The Mechanic
Batman’s support team is expanded with this episode,
as we meet Batman’s personal mechanic and inventor of the Batmobile, Earl
Cooper. It’s just too bad the character couldn’t have been introduced in an
episode that didn’t feel like it was mandated to tie-in to the subplot of Batman Returns in which the Penguin
gains control of the Batmobile. Still, there are some fun details, such as the
flashback in which we get to see the classic, forties-styled Batmobile.
88. The Cat and the Claw Parts 1&2
Catwoman makes her debut in this two-parter, and
it’s her flirtatious standoffs with Batman that save what is otherwise a dreary
storyline of environmental terrorists and animal activism. It might have been
better served had the villain been more of an interesting foil to Catwoman, but
while the Red Claw looks cool, she’s way too much of a mustache-twirler to be
taken seriously. Still, the show’s characterization of Selina Kyle/Catwoman was
a slam-dunk right from the start, thanks in no small part to Adrienne Barbeau’s
sultry intonations.
87. What is Reality?
The promise of virtual reality was all the rage in
the nineties, so it makes sense that it would be a subject that B:TAS would
tackle in some form or another. Why it came courtesy of the Riddler is more of
a puzzle, but it does presage Batman
Forever’s take on the villain, so… good on that? Still, the virtual world
allows for some fun visuals, such as Batman as a medieval knight riding a
winged Pegasus, and the show’s writers always managed to come up with smart
riddles for the classic villain that didn’t feel like they were lifted from a
cheap joke book.
86. Make ‘Em Laugh
B:TAS rarely delved into straight-up comedy, but the
variety of tones and just the sheer amount of episodes meant there was room to
play around. This is a fun episode, which sees the Joker taking revenge on a
group of standup comedians after being disqualified from an earlier comedy
competition. A lightweight affair that I’m not inclined to rewatch as much as
some others, but the episode did gift us with the Condiment King, so there’s
that.
85. Bane
Bane was a brand new Bat-villain at the time of the
series’ original run, so it was something of a surprise that the animators
decided to bring him into the show. Bane’s debut in the comics saw him break
Batman’s back in a major storyline, but his animated counterpart doesn’t make
quite as big a splash. The animators seem to struggle a bit in finding a proper
direction for the character, who is set up as a big threat but is ultimately
kind of a goofball. There is a great third act showdown between Batman and
Bane, and bringing Rupert Thorne into the proceedings gives us another excuse
to bring more John Vernon into the show, which is never something I’m inclined
to complain about.
84. Fear of Victory
Robin gets most of the focus this episode, after he
gets a dose of Scarecrow’s fear toxin and struggles to fight crime with Batman
as a result. It’s a minor Scarecrow episode all in all, which sees the
straw-man villain drugging athletes to rig sports betting to his favor, but
there are some nicely-done sequences throughout. It also is the proper debut of
the Scarecrow’s animated look, a far better design than the bag-head look he
was given in “Nothing to Fear” after the overseas animators changed the model
during production.
83. The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
Adapting another classic story from the comics, this
episode provides a nice diversion from the super-villain of the week fare, with
a plot that strains credulity but is fun nonetheless. The death-traps staged by
master criminal Wormwood provide a suitable series of set-pieces for Batman to
navigate, and the final reveal who was after the Dark Knight’s cape and cowl
plays like gangbusters, even if it doesn’t make much sense when you stop and
think about it.
82. Animal Act
The Mad Hatter is the villain of choice in this
Nightwing-centric episode, a return to the circus where Dick Grayson grew up
and where the animals all seem to be committing crimes at the behest of
someone. Any spotlight on Nightwing is always welcome, and the continued
frostiness between him and his former mentor remains a great source of
conflict. The Hatter’s plot is rather lame in comparison, but the circus
setting does provide a nice backdrop for all the action.
81. Tyger, Tyger
This is one of the stranger episodes in the whole
series, one where Selina Kyle is abducted by a mad scientist and turned into a
literal cat-woman, and one where her affections are battled over by the
panther/man hybrid Tigris and a completely befuddled Batman. It’s an odd mix of
The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Most Dangerous Game and, as if the
episode were still lacking in literary references, allusions to William
Blake--a mix that doesn’t always work, it must be said, but one I still can’t
help but admire. The gothic atmosphere of the abandoned island and the sad fate
of Tigris also adds to the weird charm of a bafflingly-weird episode.
80. The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
This is the first and only appearance of Hugo
Strange (at least, for B:TAS--the character would later make a brief appearance
on the Justice League Unlimited
series), one of Batman’s earliest and most long-lasting villains. For his
animated adaptation, the creators decided to downplay the mad science elements
and instead give Strange a device which allows him to read other people’s
minds. Of course, he uses the device on one Bruce Wayne, and subsequently
learns his deepest, darkest secret, which he then attempts to auction off to
the Joker, Penguin and Two-Face. It winds up being a fun episode, but one still
can’t help but feel cheated by this interpretation of Hugo Strange. I realize
the animators where wanting to keep everything grounded in some semblance of
reality, but the overall gothic vibe would have lent itself rather well to a
mad scientist creating Monster Men and the like.
79. If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?
The Riddler makes his series debut with this episode,
a fine script which is otherwise done in by some truly wonky, off-model
animation. The Riddler’s appearances ultimately live or die by the cleverness
of the riddles that Batman has to solve, and here there are several satisfying
brain-teasers that provide a suitable mental challenge. It all culminates with a
showdown in a life-size maze--an exciting set-piece that works in spite of the
animation. It’s not that it’s bad, per se, just so different from everything
that came before. The animation is overly busy, with characters that stray so
far from the models that it looks at times like it’s from another show
entirely.
78. Time Out Of Joint
The Clock King’s drastic reinvention was one of the
better episodes of the series, so it’s a little disappointing that his return
appearance hinges on a new gimmick that gives him the ability to slow time down
while still being able to move at normal speed. It’s not that the episode is
bad, and the time-warping effects are handled by some impressively-fluid
animation, but I miss the calculating master manipulator who used his wits and
devious planning to foil Batman at every turn.
77. The Worry Men
Beautiful animation holds up a rather pedestrian
story featuring the return of the Mad Hatter and his latest scheme of mind
control and robbery, this time focusing his attentions on relieving Gotham
City’s elite of their massive wealth, including Bruce Wayne himself. I did like
that the reveal of the Mad Hatter being behind the whole scheme was held off
until at least halfway through the episode, and the final standoff with
life-size marionettes of Batman’s most famous foes provides a nice climax, but
there’s little else that leaves a memorable impression.
76. I Am the Night
B:TAS was constantly trying to push the boundaries of what could be done with a Saturday morning cartoon, often striving for a greater maturity and sophistication in the stories the show’s creators attempted to tell. It often worked to spectacular effect, but every once in a while the show’s reach would exceed its grasp, as is the case with this episode. “I Am the Night” is admirable in its aims, focusing on Batman’s growing ennui at the seemingly inefficient effect he’s had in stopping crime on the whole in Gotham, something which is compounded after Commissioner Gordon is shot in the line of duty. The problem is that the whole show feels like it’s trying too hard--it wants you to be impressed with how deep and serious it is that it begins to feel like a real “emperor has no clothes” situation.
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