BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, VOLUME THREE (1993-94)

 






PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological*


The episodes designated in the official DVD collection as "Season Three" are much more Robin-centric than previous ones, and many if not all episodes use the title, "The Adventures of Batman and Robin." As noted in this review, the episodes designated as "Season Four" introduced a new, younger Robin and show Dick Grayson taking on the separate identity of Nightwing. As in that review, I grade the mythicity of each episode as "G" for good, "F" for fair, or "P" for poor.

"The Shadow of the Bat" (P)-- This two-parter establishes Batgirl as a regular guest-star in this Bat-series, though she doesn't appear often enough to be deemed an integral part of the Batman-and-Robin ensemble, in contrast to the 1960s ADVENTURES OF BATMAN. The heroine's new origin involves her donning a Bat-costume to defend her father, Commissioner Gordon, against charges of corruption. Two-Face is involved, just as he would be in the fourth season origin of the show's "second Robin." As Batgirl-origins go, this one is forgettable.

"Blind as a Bat" (F)-- Batman is temporarily blinded by an explosion when the Penguin steals a high-tech helicopter. The hero relies on a visor that enhances his vision, but he's still at a disadvantage in battling his avian adversary. Though the series is still loosely basing its version of the villain on the Tim Burton iteration, this Penguin is much more of a canny brawler.

"The Demon's Quest" (F)-- This two-parter faithfully adapts two of the earliest comics-tales to introduce the quintessential 1970s Bat-villain, Ra's Al Ghul, as well as his somewhat more sympathetic daughter Talia. Just like the original stories, these have a strong pulpish flavor that distinguishes them from the average Batman tale.

"His Silicon Soul" (F)-- This episode follows "Hearts of Steel," which pitted the Caped Crusader against a super-computer, out to replace human beings with robot doubles. "Soul" posits that a replacement-robot for Batman survived the computer's defeat, and though the automaton briefly believes that it is the human hero, it soon course-corrects to its original, deadly programming.

"Fire from Olympus" (G)-- Maxie Zeus, a very minor Bat-foe in the comics, gets a major makeover for his one cartoon appearance. Now he's a crooked shipping magnate who's deluded himself into thinking himself the Greek god Zeus, while his high-rise HQ he believes to be Olympus. Similarly, he thinks Batman is the death-god Hades, and that a special electric cannon in his possession can stand in for the thunder-god's traditional lightning-bolts. After the hero stops Maxie from decimating Gotham, he ends up in Arkham for one of the best closing sequences of the series. Parenthetically, though one would assume that the "fire from Olympus" is the technological lightning, the phrase is most frequently used not for Zeus' bolts but for the fire stolen from Olympus by the Titan Prometheus. The Titan gives fire to human beings, creating a situation where mortals may someday challenge the gods themselves, but in the BATMAN episode, mortals have already won the battle.

"Read My Lips" (F)-- This episode provides the animated debut for the durable 1980s Bat-foes, Scarface and the Ventriloquist-- the former an inanimate dummy patterned after a 1930s gangster-type, while the latter is the unwitting "brains" behind the commands the dummy gives to his henchmen. This story has less marvelous content than most series-episodes, and the denouement gives Batman a clever trick to use against a villain with a split personality.

"The Worry Men" (F)-- This is one of the "crime-detection" episodes, in which a villain, rather than merely seeking vengeance on Batman, comes up with some novel method of criminal profit. In this case, the hero becomes aware of a fad among the wealthy for "worry men," little South American dolls that assuage one's fears. The dolls turn out to be The Mad Hatter's latest scheme to use mind games to fleece the rich.

"Sideshow" (F)-- This is based on a superior O'Neil/Adams BATMAN comics-story, but the inclusion of the ruthless Killer Croc doesn't constitute an improvement. There are a few decent dramatic moments but the story fails to make clear what about Croc's nature makes him turn on "fellow freaks" who give him succor.

"A Bullet for Bullock" (P) -- Harvey Bullock, never the biggest fan of costumed vigilantes, is obliged to accept Batman's help to find who's put a contract on Bullock. The big reveal proves underwhelming.

"Trial" (G)-- This tale addresses the often-stated (in comics) question, "Does Batman's vigilante presence call forth his extravagant gallery of rogues?" D.A. Janet Van Dorn's answer is yes. But when she and Batman are taken prisoner during an Arkham prison riot, she's obliged to argue the contrary position to defend the hero against a kangaroo trial by eight of his maddest enemies. Van Dorn ends up making a case for personal responsibility as against the theory of pernicious influences from outside. And of course Batman breaks loose and kicks ass, too.

"Avatar" (P)-- I don't mind the usually grounded Cowled Crusader having the occasional foray into magical domains. But this time Ra's Al Ghul wants to revive an ancient Egyptian sorceress, and the effect is tedious rather than stimulating. Talia has another "good girl" role here.

"House and Garden" (F)-- Poison Ivy is not only paroled from Arkham, she marries her psychiatrist and moves into suburbia. But inevitably she likes plants more than meetings of the rotary club, and Batman must find out her newest devious scheme. This is one of the few times the cartoon Ivy uses plants to counterfeit human beings.

"The Terrible Trio" (F)-- This time the show reworks a team of three villains from DC's Silver Age, who committed crimes according to the medium in which their animal-persona operated-- "land" for The Fox, "sea" for The Shark, and "air" for The Vulture. The gimmick of physical media is mostly jettisoned to emphasize that the New Terrible Trio are all wealthy wastrels who take to crime out of boredom. The coda, in which one of the villains gets "scared straight" a bit too late, is unusually grim for a kids' cartoon.

"Harlequinade" (G)-- I believe this episode, airing in May 1994, may have been preceded by the comic book one-shot "Mad Love," in which Paul Dini re-defined his creation Harley Quinn. So possibly Dini was slowly working his way toward translating that attitude into Harley's character, since the comics-story would see adaptation in Season Four. Here Batman and Robin must locate The Joker before he triggers an atomic bomb to destroy all Gotham, and their only recourse is to enlist the terminally wacky Harley as their aide. At the very least Dini's script for the episode suggests that the "amour fou" between Joker and Harley can't last.

"Time Out of Joint" (P)-- The show's attempt to revise The Clock King from the 1966 Bat-show into a recurring enemy for the animated Bat never seemed on target. "Time" is even less interesting than Clock King's previous appearance, as the villain's evil plans center upon a time-distortion device, leaving Batman and Robin somewhat out of their customary depths.

"Catwalk" (F)-- Selina Kyle's antipathy for the quiet, safe life of an honest woman, and her eventual return to her felonious persona, are more compelling than the dull main story of her being set up to take the fall for a Ventriloquist crime.

"Bane" (P)-- Whatever appeal Bane had in the comics, his animated debut does not capture it. Decent slugfest though.

"Baby Doll" (P)-- What made Paul Dini think that he had some crucial insight upon the problems of a "little person" whose body never aged, so that even in maturity she looked like a child? His idea of making such a character into a villainess, "Baby Doll," is as unrewarding as his unoriginal "satire" of TV sitcoms.

"The Lion and the Unicorn" (F) -- Red Claw returns, but she takes a back seat to espionage skullduggery, in which Alfred the Butler is reactivated to serve as a spy for Jolly Old England. The British setting adds some punch but the script might have done more with it.

"Showdown" (F)-- In an odd story-within-a-story, Batman and Robin seek to oppose Ra's Al Ghul's latest plot by listening to a tape he recorded about an earlier bout the villain experienced in the late 1880s, contending with the bounty hunter Jonah Hex.

"Riddler's Reform" (F)-- This episode plays to the strengths of the Prince of Puzzles: since he's (usually) not insane, can he cast off his riddle-mania and become a productive member of society? The script emphasizes the battle of wits, and Riddler comes pretty close to nailing the Bat's wings to the wall.

"Second Chance" (P)-- Two-Face seems to lend himself to two-bit adventures. This time, his buddy Bruce Wayne has set up a major surgery that will eliminate Harvey Dent's psychosis by fixing his mutilated face. But someone, possibly an old enemy, abducts the "Double Your Displeasure" fiend from the hospital room, and the Dynamic Duo must question such malcontents as Rupert Thorne and The Penguin (the latter providing one of the episode's few bright spots). If one has read THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS one can probably figure out the mystery culprit-- and also, if one has not.

"Harley's Holiday" (F) -- Like Poison Ivy before her, Harley gets a clean bill of mental health and returns to regular life-- or as regular as it gets, when she takes her twin laughing hyenas on a walk down a main concourse. She has a "bad day" and contemplates a full-on return to the criminal life, but in contrast to "Catwalk," the conclusion holds out some hope for the nutty broad's reformation.

"Lock-Up" (F)-- Just to make sure everyone knows that Batman doesn't belong to the "lock 'em up and throw away the key" crowd, we're introduced to hulking security guard Lyle Bolton, who has terrorized the weaker inmates of Arkham. Exposed and terminated from that position, Bolton takes on the identity of Lock-Up and seeks to imprison the authorities he finds too lenient.

"Make 'Em Laugh" (F)-- Quirky comedians, modeled on celebrities like Roseanne Barr et al, start committing crimes. Whoever could be a series of crimes involving manic funnymen? Who, who, who? Batman and Robin lose points for not even guessing who's at work. Not the best Joker episode, but far from the worst.

"Deep Freeze" (G)-- This wins extra points for its indirect reference to an urban myth about the late Walt Disney, whom some thought had committed his ailing body to a cryogenic experiment. Cryonics expert Mister Freeze is abducted from prison by a robot-- almost certainly designed to look like one of the "Mechanical Monsters" from a classic Fleischer SUPERMAN short. The robot takes Freeze to an underwater city ruled by manic amusement-park owner Grant Walker (whose name only SLIGHTLY resembles that of you-know-who.) Walker's plan is twofold: he wants to become a slow-aging cold-monster just like Freeze, and he wants to put his whole city of avid worshipers on ice to preserve them for a better future. Freeze, stymied because Walker holds in reserve the body of Nora Fries, capitulates, which means that the Dynamic Duo must seek to free the Frigid Felon and stop Walker's mad plans.

"Batgirl Returns" (F)-- But she's not under the scrutiny of her Bat-mentor this time, since Batman's out of town. Batgirl ends up sharing her sophomore adventure, against gangster Roland Daggett, in the company of both Robin and Catwoman. Refreshingly, Catwoman maintains her more capricious personality here. It's hinted that Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson, both in college, may have dated, in line with the events of "Old Wounds" in Season Four. Yet, in her dreams Barbara dreams of romance with the rather older Bat-dude. Holy Oedipus!

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