Batman: The Animated Series Ranked, Part 1

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102. I’ve Got Batman In My Basement

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.