Author Archives: Joe

October 21, 2019

Take My Money, Hasbro, Give Me X-Men Animated Series Legends!

By Joe

Let’s talk some X-Men!

It’s been probably 13 or 14 years since I’ve purchased a Marvel-branded action figure. This is somewhat shocking to me because from the age of 7 to around 25 I spent who knows how much money on Marvel action figures. I was there for the inaugural Toy Biz line of Marvel Superheroes and X-Men action figures and I continued buying Toy Biz figures well past the age of when it was considered “appropriate” by my peers. And even after I stopped actually playing with my toys I still kept them on display in my room. Two pieces of old countertop on milk crates served as my makeshift shelves. Good guys on one side, bad guys on the other. As characters changed allegiance in the comics, so did their placement on my shelf. Aside from that, I didn’t like to mess with them and the dust would grow thicker and thicker and probably contributed to my constant sneezing. I didn’t care though, because I really loved my toys.

When action figures grew up with me I grew extremely excited. There were a few dedicated collector lines, most memorably one based on the Onslaught mini series, but things really changed with Marvel Legends. I was a bit tepid at first with them, mostly due to the absence of X-Men, but eventually I got into it. I started with just a figure here and there, and soon enough I found myself buying entire waves. I also added the occasional Diamond Select figure which at the time prioritized sculpt over articulation making some of the toys little more than glorified statues. I even got into Mini Mates for a period, since they initially focused on the Ultimate X-Men which was a comic I grew attached to pretty quickly.

Eventually, I stopped collecting. Part of that coincided with the dissolving of Toy Biz by Marvel which chose to instead license its properties to Hasbro. Those first few Hasbro waves weren’t very strong, and with the build-a-figure shrinking down to more normal proportions it failed to really motivate me. I think the last wave I bought to completion was whichever one featured The Blob. And even with that, I think I had to buy some figures based on X-Men: The Last Stand which did not sit well with me. That also happened to coincide with me moving out on my own trading the confines of my old bedroom for a small apartment. I didn’t want to have to lug a bunch of toys around with me every time I moved, and once I got settled into my own home that I purchased the itch had passed. I had moved onto other hobbies and comics just didn’t appeal to me like they once did. Sure, there have been a few figures over the years that tempted me, but the rising cost in standard toys makes it pretty easy to just focus on the things that really bring me joy.

That could change though, and if Hasbro wanted me back (and who wouldn’t?) there is one thing the company could do that would guarantee it many of my dollars and it has to do with my favorite show as a child: X-Men.

This recent action figure three-pack is what put my brain into this mode. These almost work as animated versions, but they’re different just enough to not be perfect. And I’m not just referring to Wolverine’s bone claws.

Nostalgia currently has me hooked via NECA’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys based on the old cartoon series. That show may not be particularly good, but I loved it as a kid and it’s something I can’t let go of. Similarly, I have a huge amount of affection still for X-Men. That show was my life for a few years and unlike TMNT, the show is still watchable today even if it doesn’t hold up as well as Batman or possibly even Gargoyles. And I know I am not alone. There is a lot of love out there for that show and that has been preyed upon via action figures based on the costume designs of the Jim Lee era X-Men from the comics. There was a recently announced three-pack featuring Wolverine, Jean Grey, and Cyclops which is what really got my juices flowing. Those characters bare a strong resemblance to their animated counterparts, but the figures are also clearly aiming to capture the look of the comics and not a cartoon.

What gives me hope that such a line could work is because animated versions of these characters are not far off what is already out there. Take your standard Wolverine action figure, for instance. To make him better resemble the cartoon, Hasbro basically just needs to reduce detail. No stubble on his face, not much hair on the arms, and less muscle definition. DC has done a great job bringing Batman: The Animated Series to plastic form in terms of aesthetics, so why not do the same, Hasbro?

Because I’m such a generous guy, I’m even going to provide a road map for Hasbro. I envision six figures per wave with a build-a-figure bringing the total to seven. Adhering to modern times, the extra buildable figure is not some titanic character, but something closer to a standard sized figure. It would be a good fit for those figures that would need to be 7 or 8 inches as opposed to 5-6, which is what I imagine most figures would fall into. They could be done, and really should be, in scale with Marvel Legends and I would prioritize characters from the first two seasons. If the line’s a success, then sure go for more. If the series happened and worked out as outlined below, then I would definitely buy every figure and really annoy my wife as I hunted for more space to display them.

Series 1

Wolverine
Cyclops
Rogue
Morph
Mystique
Magneto
Build-a-Figure: Sabretooth

This mix would get some fan-favorite good guys out early and also a few villains to pose them against. Wolverine is an obvious must for the first series as he was the most popular character. He should come in his standard uniform and additional hands, some with claws in and some with claws out. A second, unmasked, head would complete the look. Cyclops should also just have his normal look. If a removable flight jacket could be added without harming the sculpt, then all the better, but not necessary. Similar to modern Cyclops figures, he should have a second head with a blast effect and probably an extra set of hands including one with two fingers extended on his right hand to activate his “X” communicator. Morph, on the other hand, should have his flight jacket since he was most often depicted wearing it. He should also have black hair as he did in seasons one and two and an alternate “evil” head. Mystique would need few additional accessories, making her the likely landing spot for a larger piece of the build-a-figure. Magneto would need a helmeted and un-helmeted head to properly capture his long hair. A nice, heavy, fabric cape would also look great, but soft plastic wouldn’t be bad either. Sabretooth, being featured in episode one, makes for a good choice as the first build-a-figure given his size relative to the other characters.

X-Men (FOX) [1992-1997]Shown from left: Wolverine, Morph, Beast

That’s how I want my Wolverine to look, bub.

Series 2

Gambit
Bishop
Storm
Cable
Pyro
Avalanche
BAF: The Blob

Wave Two would be anchored by the next most popular character after Wolverine, Gambit. He’d just need various hands and his bo staff to be authentic. Storm would be the other character from the team, and in the interest of “keeping them wanting,” would be the only other from the main team. Bishop and Cable both played large roles as guest characters and lend themselves well to action figure form. Cable should probably have his season two look which featured a metallic left arm, a more common look than the season one version. Bishop should also feature a removable time bracelet to go along with his really big gun. Pyro and Avalanche would serve as the villains with the BAF being their comrade Blob. A desire to assemble Mystique’s troop would hopefully help drive sales.

Everyone can relax, Gambit is in series two.

Series 3

Beast
Jean Grey
Archangel
Civilian Wolverine
Graydon Creed
Mr. Sinister
BAF: Apocalypse

Series 3 would be the one that nearly completes the main team. Beast, unlike most figures based on the character, should have a cheerful disposition as opposed to an angry one. Jean Grey would need her cartoon-accurate costume, something Toy Biz never delivered on when the show was popular, which was blue and orange as opposed to blue and yellow. She should also probably come with a Cerebro helmet. This would also be a good time for a second Wolverine figure. Since he was so often featured in plain clothes (yellow flannel with a brown jacket), a figure based on that look makes sense. He should have two pairs of clawless hands, ones that look like normal fists and ones that have the steel ports on his hands as he was incorrectly portrayed in season one. Diehard fans of the show, such as myself, really appreciate little details like that. Creed was a big player in season two, and he warrants a figure as a result. Of course, Sinister was the main big, bad, guy of that season and series three feels like a good spot for him. Lastly, Archangel should be included (with a masked head and unmasked head) to pair with the BAF Apocalypse who would be depicted in his animated purple and blue color scheme.

I don’t know why they made him purple, but the toy better follow in the same footsteps!

Series 4

Jubilee
Colossus
Omega Red
Forge
Civilian Cyclops
Professor X
BAF: Juggernaut

Series 4 would finish the main squad by including Jubilee and Professor X. Xavier would be the tough one to include as he would need his hover chair. Recently, Hasbro did a Professor X that I think retails for more than a standard Legend. The company could save money by retooling it and if it has to retail for more then so be it. Colossus guested a couple of times and is deserving of a figure himself. He should be clad in his blue pants and white tank top to match his appearance in the show. If a second, non-transformed, upper torso could be done then that would be really neat. Omega Red is a villain with a great, 90s, design, and even though he’s a bit bigger than other characters, I don’t think he’s so large that he would need to be a BAF. Cyclops had enough non-costumed appearances to be the second main cast member worthy of a civilian look. And Forge had multiple appearances as well. He should come with an alternate head so he could be depicted as main timeline Forge and future Forge. The Juggernaut is the last character that serves as an obvious choice for a BAF and would be a sought after one helping to make sure fans buy the entire wave. That only challenge with him is I think he would need two heads as well, one masked and one unmasked, because it’s hard to make a good-looking Juggernaut figure that features a removable helmet.

Colossus proved you didn’t need a real costume to be a hero.

Series 5 and 6

Phoenix
Gladiator
Nightcrawler
Dazzler
White Queen
Sebastian Shaw
Henry Gyrich
Bolivar Trask
Dark Phoenix
Banshee
Fabian Cortez
Empress Lilandra
BAF: Sentinel

I’m grouping these two together because I have a radical idea for the BAF. It would be a sentinel and the pieces spread between both waves. The piece loadout would be like Giant Man from the Toy Biz days which did an oversized wave of Marvel Legends as a Wal-Mart exclusive. This would allow Hasbro to do a bigger figure to do the sentinel justice, because we need a sentinel for such a series since they were so important in that first season. The desire to have a cartoon sentinel would help move some of the less exciting, but still essential, characters contained in this wave. Trask and Gyrich, specifically, would be unsexy figures, but they had such a large presence over the first season that it feels wrong to exclude them. Much of these waves would also be devoted to the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Sagas. Doing both regular Phoenix and Dark Phoenix would also save Hasbro money since they’d basically be the same figure, different head. For Lilandra, I’d also go with the Empress version of the character as that would just make for a more striking visual. Cortez is the only character from a later season, but I see more opportunity for villains and I just happen to like him more than someone like Erik the Red or D’Ken.

I don’t see how you could have a toy-line dedicated to the X-Men cartoon and not feature a sentinel somehow.

If the line was a success, it wouldn’t have to end there. I completely ignored Sinister’s Nasty Boys and all of the mutates from the Savage Land. They would really help to bolster the ranks of the villains, but it might be hard to convince people they’re more deserving of plastic than some of the others. An entire Savage Land wave could even be done, though I don’t know if that would be a big seller. Another big bad guy I left out is Mojo who would probably work best as a BAF. If he was done, then he would need to be paired with a Longshot.

As for heroes, there are alternate versions of other characters that could pad things out. Civilian versions of Storm, Rogue, Jean and Jubilee (or her in a flight suit) could be added. Beast and Gambit had other looks as well, but nothing really drastic (though Beast with his Howard the Duck shirt is pretty tempting). Archangel also briefly appeared as Angel in season one and returned in season four sporting his white and blue Angel costume. Wolverine had other looks as well, though my personal favorite would probably be the alternate timeline Wolverine from “One Man’s Worth” which also featured a mohawked Storm. Other guest heroes included Iceman, Psylocke, Alpha Flight and X-Factor so there are certainly more characters to mine from, I’m just not sure any really need a dedicated figure based on their look in the cartoon.

Hasbro missed its chance to honor the cartoon with a line of figures to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary. There’s still time though to recognize the 30th in 2022 and a toy-line near then would be an appropriate way to do so. If 2022 seems too far away right now it could be timed to end that year. The show is also about to gain new exposure via Disney+ where it and other X-Men cartoons will be available day one. And with Disney acquiring 20th Century Fox it stands to reason that the X-Men will soon join Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe bringing even more of a spotlight to the brand. The time is right, Hasbro, make it happen!

5 Comments | tags: action figures, apocalypse, cyclops, disney, fox kids, gambit, hasbro, magneto, marvel, morph, phoenix, superhero cartoons, toy biz, toys, wolverine, x-men, x-men 92 | posted in Comics, Television, toys

October 18, 2019

The New Batman Adventures – “Legends of the Dark Knight”

By Joe

legends of the dark knight Episode Number: 19 (104)

Original Air Date: October 10, 1998

Directed by: Dan Riba

Written by: Robert Goodman, Bruce Timm

First Appearance: Carrie

Over the years there has been a lot of Batman and a lot of Batmen. It might seem odd on the surface as to why there would be numerous versions of Batman, but one only needs to think about it briefly to realize why. Batman is a cultural touchstone, a character owned by DC and Warner Bros. but one that essentially belongs to all. Anyone who is tasked with writing and drawing an official Batman story inherits quite a responsibility, and since this character is so popular and so special they’re also limited in some capacity. Batman, for instance, is far too profitable to ever die. Sure, it can be teased here and there and made to even seem happen, but it’s not something that will ever stick. The same is basically true of any popular comic book character and is why characters like Superman and Captain America never stay dead. You don’t kill the golden goose.

As a way to work around those limitations, many writers over the years have done stories outside the normal Batman continuity. This very show is basically one such version. Sure these characters bare many similarities to what came before, but they also exist in their own bubble. Had Bruce Timm and Paul Dini wished to end the series with the death of Batman and a passing of the torch, they might have been allowed to do so (spoiler alert, that’s not the direction they’ll go). The movies basically all exist on their own, which is why Christopher Nolan was able to end his Batman movie trilogy with what is essentially Batman’s retirement.

Of all the stories in the comic books though to essentially feature an alternate universe Batman, by far the most popular is The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. That Batman was one of the main influences for Tim Burton’s take on the character and was hugely popular in the 1980s. He was a violent, no compromises, sort of take on the character who after decades of doing things mostly by the book has had enough. It wouldn’t make sense for that sort of character to appear in this show, but “Legends of the Dark Knight” is going to try.

Meet our story tellers for today’s episode: Nick, Carrie, and Matt.

This episode is essentially a love letter to Batman in all of his forms. It’s basically an anthology episode with the framing device being children sharing tales about their perception of Batman. And since Batman is a mysterious individual, their takes are going to exaggerate the character which is how we’ll get a taste of other versions of Batman from throughout history. It’s a fun concept for an episode, but what of the execution?

The episode begins on a newspaper kiosk. It seems there’s an arsonist on the loose in Gotham, which can only mean one suspect. Three kids approach the kiosk and take note that Batman is barely visible in the image on the front page shooting across the sky. This excites them as Batman isn’t as photogenic as Spider-Man. They appear to be a trio of Bat-enthusiasts, which I guess explains why they’re out and about at night which doesn’t seem like the safest of activities for kids their age. Nick (Jeremy Foley) is thrilled by the image and starts fantasizing about what Batman is really like, hypothesizing he’s more beast than man. The perhaps leader of this trio, Carrie (Anndi McAfee), sees Batman as just a really tough guy. Our third kid, Matt (Ryan O’Donohue), claims to have a secondhand account of what Batman is really like.

Michael McKean gets to provide his take on a golden age Joker and knocks it out of the park.

Matt’s story takes us to the 1950s when his uncle was a security guard at some music exhibit for really large instruments. The guard (Charles Rocket) is seated at his desk when a voice comes over a loudspeaker which belongs to the Joker (Michael McKean in a brilliant piece of casting). The art design, dialogue, and even delivery of the lines are all very 1950s. The blue of the guard’s suit is especially reminiscent of the shade found in old comics and pulp magazines. Nick and Carrie even call Matt out on the corny dialogue he attributes to the characters, but he just claims that’s how his uncle tells the story.

A Joker-in-the-box is soon deposited at the feet of the guard which explodes with knock-out gas. The Joker then saunters in with two henchman and he looks like a spot-on interpretation of Dick Sprang’s version of the character. He makes corny jokes as he walks around the exhibit, pausing to glare at his henchmen when they don’t react favorably to his jokes forcing them to laugh and clap. Before long, Batman (Gary Owens) and Robin (Brianne Siddall) arrive and they too look ripped from a 1950s comic, or even the opening title of Batman the TV show. Batman is barrel-chested and sporting his blue, gray, and yellow ensemble while Robin has his classic threads on as well. They have that halted, dramatic, delivery to their lines like they did on old episodes of Superfriends and they immediately go after the Joker’s henchmen.

A dastardly trap is laid, how will the Dynamic Duo escape this time?!

As the Dynamic Duo tangle with Joker’s lackeys, Robin is especially prone to puns which really is not all that different from the show’s regular depiction of Robin and Nightwing. As the bad guys get beat up, Joker cowers in relative safety reacting physically to the pain being inflicted upon his men. Eventually, Robin is undone by his own hubris as Joker is able to drop an oversized French horn on him. Batman goes to help him, but gets walloped from behind by Joker’s goon with a massive tuning fork. This sets up Joker to address the camera directly with another pun, a nice way to head to commercial.

When we return, Batman and Robin are bound to the chords of a giant grand piano. This is also quite in-line with comics of the era as these oversized contraptions were a popular gimmick of Batman co-creator Bill Finger, who along with Sprang and Frank Miller received an acknowledgement in the opening credits for the episode. With Batman and Robin tied down, this allows Joker to jump on the keys causing the giant hammers inside to strike a chord. Once he hits the right key, Batman and Robin will receive one hell of a headache. As Joker takes his sweet time playing a happy tune, Batman works on his restraints with what looks like a tiny chainsaw. Eventually, Joker finishes his melody and an off sounding note seems to herald the end of Batman and Robin. He takes a bow, but the unmistakable sound of skull on Batarang causes him to turn around in shock as his lackeys flee. Batman and Robin stand triumphantly from atop the piano, fists on hips. After another well-placed pun, they jump from above knocking the key-cover on top of Joker.

Old chums, now and forever.

The heroes are able to corral the fleeing lackeys when Robin hops onto a giant violin bow that Batman fires like an arrow. Why Robin decided to ride it, I don’t know, as it strikes and pins the goons to the wall. Joker uses this time to run, but Batman gives chase. Utilizing a giant saxophone, he captures Joker and then blows on the instrument to send the clown crashing into a giant harp in which he becomes entangled in the strings. Batman informs the security guard he can call the proper authorities for a pick-up and then turning to Robin he congratulates him on a job well done while mixing in an “old chum,” for good measure.

Nick and Carrie find this depiction of Batman by their friend Matt preposterous. They refuse to believe he’d speak in such a fashion or would come across like such a stiff. This prompts Carrie to tell her own story. While she doesn’t have a first or secondhand account to reference, this does allow her some dramatic license weave her own tale. And if you’re familiar with The Dark Knight Returns, then you’ve likely noticed that Carrie is the only one of our three kids modeled after an existing character from the comics which is a dead giveaway how her story will go.

Carrie takes some obvious creative liberties with her story.

For starters, Carrie informs her friends that Batman is actually much older than they perceive, in his 50s she assumes. Robin is also not a Boy Wonder, but a girl, and in her story Robin is clearly her in disguise (though I don’t think this is to be construed as her trying to claim she’s Robin to her friends). The art style once again changes as we go to a very dark place. The sky is an even brighter shade of red than we’re accustomed to seeing, and almost all of the setting and characters are done in black. Robin is after some mutants, and Batman drops in to help. He’s now voiced by Michael Ironside, another delightful bit of casting, and is depicted as much bigger than before. He’s a dead-ringer for Frank Miller’s take on the character, and he wants information from the guy he just pounced on.

The setting shifts to the wastelands where the leader of the mutants (Kevin Michael Richardson) is riling up his followers. The mutants cheering him on are all black save for the red goggles they wear. Two mutants providing some comic relief have their names in white on their shirt, Rob (Charles Rocket) and Don (Mark Rolston, doing a Tommy Chong impression by the sound of it) and those two will provide some occasional commentary. The mutant leader seems to think only Batman can prevent him from taking over Gotham, or what’s left of it, and he’s eager for a showdown.

The interior of Batman’s tank is quite red.

Not one to disappoint, Batman arrives in style. He’s more than prepared for an army of mutants as he rolls in with a tank. Robin is with him, and as he rolls along he opens fire on the mutants. They drop like flies, and if you think this level of violence is inappropriate for such a cartoon then apparently you’re in agreement with the censors at The WB. Batman remarks to Robin that they’re rubber bullets, but he then odds an, “Honestly,” which sounds a bit sarcastic leaving his words open to interpretation, a nice little way to skirt around the censors. Robin leaves the confines of the tank to adorably go after the mutants herself armed with a slingshot. It’s a rather ridiculous course of action, but she’s also the one telling the story.

Batman’s foe: Old Pointy Nips.

Batman eventually leaves the safety of the tank himself when challenged by the mutant leader. Batman is so damn huge that he’s the size of this mutated being he’s standing across from. The two grapple, and the mutant leader eventually gains the upper hand as they stumble into a pit of mud. The leader gets Batman under the mud and appears to suffocate him. Robin, seeing her mentor in trouble, fires off some ball-bearings from her slingshot which agitate the mutant leader. He turns to identify the source of the projectiles, which allows Batman to rise from the mud like he’s the Undertaker. He soon gains the upper hand on his foe, and delivers this little gem, “This isn’t a trash heap. It’s an operating table. And I’m the surgeon!” The camera pans to the sky briefly so we can hear the snapping of bones, before returning to a satisfied Robin.

Batman is not one to cower in a tank.

Carrie’s friends are pretty captivated by her story and she has a look of smug satisfaction on her face. They then see something streak across the sky. It looks like Batman, but the being was clearly flying. They chase after it and wind up in a dilapidated looking theater. There they see a figure on the stage setting up something and it’s pretty clear this isn’t Batman. He steps into the light and the kids recognize him as the villain Firefly (Rolston). He’s clearly setting up for another arson job and the kids try to summon Batman with Matt’s store-bought Bat Signal flashlight. There’s a sizable hole on the roof of this building for such a tactic, but unfortunately for the kids the batteries die almost immediately. Worse, their chatter alerts Firefly to their presence and he tosses a flash grenade in their general direction for confirmation.

The real villain of the episode.

Firefly clearly doesn’t feel threatened by kids and simply remarks “Tough break,” as he sets off the explosives he’s planted around the place. As the building goes up in flame, he flies out of the hole in the roof. This is when Batman makes his entrance as he knocks Firefly to the stage below. He then starts monologuing, explaining Firefly’s plan to him and seemingly for the benefit of his audience. Firefly is obviously agitated, and the two begin their dance. Wanting to hasten things along, Firefly pulls out his flame-saber, but Batman extinguishes it with a little can that’s basically just a fire extinguisher. He quickly takes the clown out, and then notices the kids. As they try to flee, fire blocks their way so Batman tosses an explosive Batarang at the wall to create a new exit. He orders the kids out, and they do as they’re told, with only Nick pausing to watch as Batman scoops up Firefly and leaves via the ceiling.

Not one of Batman’s most exciting gadgets, but effective nonetheless.

Outside the burning building, the Gotham Police arrive and Detective Bullock takes note of the “present” Batman left behind – a dangling Firefly. He ponders who phoned in the 911, but apparently doesn’t care enough to turn around and see three kids standing beside a pay phone. As the trio walk off, they discuss with excitement what they just witnessed. Basically, all three are convinced what they just saw confirms their own belief of what Batman is with Matt seeing the gadgets as confirmation for his uncle’s account, Carrie focusing on the way he took out Firefly as proof of hers, and Nick thinks he simply flew away thus confirming he’s not human. The camera pans to the sky as their chattering continues to usher in the credits.

So what if the place is burning, it’s not every day you get to see Batman in action. Sometimes the risks are worth taking.

This is a clever way to celebrate different aspects of Batman from the ages. It’s so good that I wish it had been a one-off television special so it could have been a little longer as it feels like it’s one act short. Supposedly, the showrunners wanted to include an homage to the 70s Batman popularized by Neal Adams and Denny O’Neil, but it just couldn’t happen. Settling on the 50s Batman popularized by Dick Sprang and Bill Finger was a wise move. And while I liked Gary Owens in the role as Batman for that segment, I do wish they could have brought Adam West back. The closing with the two shaking hands is an obvious tribute to the opening title sequence of the 66 television show. Mark Hamill will likely always be my favorite Joker, but bringing in Michael McKean to do a different take was a most excellent choice. His laugh is a perfect depiction of Joker from this era. The segment could be described as parody, but it’s so earnest in its portrayal of these golden age characters that it works on a celebratory level as opposed to a mocking one.

The kids get to walk away from this one satisfied, a sentiment I can s

The Dark Knight Returns portion is also equally amusing. There’s some dry humor on display via Batman as this version is capable of puns as well and it’s interesting to see that the kids all seem to universally expect Batman to possess at least some form of a sense of humor. Right from the start, Carrie was clearly a dead-ringer for the Robin from that tale so it was no surprise to see where her story went. And even though this is essentially a kid’s show, the writers and artists did a really admirable job of adapting Miller’s work for this format, right down to the mutant leader’s pointy nipples.

Throughout the episode, there are also numerous Easter eggs further adding to the celebratory nature of the episode. In between stories, a kid named Joel (Phillip Van Dyke) pops in briefly to claim Batman wears a rubber suit and drives up walls. He’s standing outside a shoe store called Shoemaker, an obvious nod to Joel Schumacher and his version of Batman from Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. Is this reference mocking? Perhaps, though it feels like it’s in good fun. The music exhibit Joker hits in the 50s segment is named The Walker Music Center which is clearly named after series composer Shirley Walker. And the framing for this story is also quite similar to Batman #250 where Bruce Wayne takes some kids camping who all share stories about their perception of Batman (Bruce Timm claims this was coincidence though). Even Kevin Michael Richardson, brought on to voice the mutant leader, was a huge fan of The Dark Knight Returns and it’s no surprise the show would seek out fans of Batman for such an episode.

The animators really nail the visual styles they were seeking to emulate.

Visually, this is one of the most interesting and fun episodes of the series to watch. It’s a Dong Yang production, and the studio should be commended for adapting the different art styles for each segment. It couldn’t have been easy, and further credit should go to James Tucker who handled the story boards for the episode. The 50s segment in particular is done so well that one could likely show a still from it to someone and convince them it’s from a different show.

“Legends of the Dark Knight” ends up being one of the more fun episodes of The New Batman Adventures and even Batman: The Animated Series. As a more kid-focused episode, it’s much better than the more juvenile “I’ve Got Batman in my Basement” from season one. It’s a clever way to explore the character of Batman, enough so that it was basically done before and has been done since. It’s a strong enough concept that it could easily be adapted for film as DC’s version of Into the Spider-Verse for Batman. I don’t think such a thing is likely, but it’s worth exploring. Especially because so many other versions of Batman are worth exploring. Even if such a production never does take place, at least we’ll always have this one.

1 Comment | tags: batman, bill finger, bruce timm, carrie robin, dick sprang, firefly, frank miller, james tucker, kevin michael richardson, michael ironside, michael mckean, robin, the dark knight returns | posted in batman the animated series, Comics, Television

October 14, 2019

Sunshine Blogger Post

By Joe

You may have heard of or seen this Sunshine Blogger thing going around. It’s essentially a chain post, not unlike a chain letter or those chain posts that used to (still do?) circulate through social media. I was tagged by Jay Friz over at RJ Writing Ink for such a post in which most of the participants appear to be anime-centered blogs. While The Nostalgia Spot is not an anime blog, it has certainly touched upon the subject from time to time mostly via several posts on the Dragon Ball franchise. I am a lover of animation though, so naturally I do enjoy anime and this presents an opportunity to touch upon it, so thank you for such, Jay.

All chains have rules, and these are the rules for this particular chain:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you in your post and link it back to them.

2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.

3. Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write 11 new questions for them.

4. List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo on your first post.

Once again, thanks go out to Jay for the acknowledgement. If you have not visited his blog, he does a lot of animation-related posts of old and new properties and is currently doing a daily Halloween post (and if you read this regularly you know about my affinity for that format) and it is certainly worth checking out.

What got you into blogging?

My journey into blogging began nearly 9 years ago. I had always wanted to write and pursued a writing degree while in college. It eventually struck me as something impractical, and rather than reach for a dream I went with a different major. It has financially worked out, but I missed writing. After being out of school for many years and finding myself with a lot of spare time, I decided to start a blog for my own benefit. The theme of nostalgia came naturally, and it’s something I’ve had fun writing about. I do it for the enjoyment of writing, not for publicity. If people read and enjoy it then that’s great, but if no one read it I’d still consider it a worthwhile endeavor.

I love me some Christmas, and here’s a little teaser for a future Christmas Spot post. Recognize it?

What’s been your favorite thing to blog about?

Nostalgia seems like too broad a topic for the purpose of answering this question. I have greatly enjoyed revisiting Batman: The Animated Series. Not only does it provide me with something to write about, but I also re-watched every episode along the way. It spanned more than two years of my blogging life, and I’m actually a little sad it’s over (final post scheduled for the end of November). I have also enjoyed doing the same for the much smaller Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Wars. Bucky O’Hare being a smaller, often forgotten, subject makes it rewarding for different reasons, even though the quality of that series is not on par with the likes of Batman. Without question though, my favorite posts are the Christmas ones. After dabbling with Christmas for years, I finaly went all-in on doing an advent calendar of posts a few years ago. When you blog for sheer enjoyment it can be hard to find time to make posts. Plus my own tend to total 3000 words no matter what I do, so doing 25 days of posts is hard. That’s why I spread them out and make use of the scheduler function to make sure they post when I need them to. It gives me a reason to stay tapped into Christmas all year round.

If you could date one fictional character, who’d it be?

Let’s go with Sara Valestein from the Trails of Cold Steel video games. She can kick ass and loves a good brew – what’s not to like?

The-Legend-of-Heroes-Trails-of-Cold-Steel-II_2016_03-11-16_006-555x328

Sara (left) was likely created with the whole “Hot for Teacher” vibe in mind.

What’s your all time favorite show? Or video game?

My favorite show is probably either Futurama or The Venture Bros. Those are the two I’ve revisited the most. From a more nostalgic perspective, my favorite as a kid was X-Men. As for video game, it’s a lot harder since I play a lot of RPGs, but rarely revisit them. I’ll just stick with the same answer I usually give and go with Xenogears. It has its problems, but I love the aesthetic of it and the battle system is unique enough to separate it form other JRPGs.

What’s your favorite show from the 2010s?

It’s hardly much fun to say this is my favorite show from the past decade, but it’s Game of Thrones. The showrunners may not have stuck the landing, but it was a fun ride while it lasted.

What are you looking forward to the most in 2020?

Whatever NECA releases in its line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures, and the same for Boss Fight Studio and its Bucky O’Hare line. Looking forward to new toys is supremely exciting for me, likely because it allows me to feel like a kid again. That and I rarely have time for video games so looking forward to them feels like a waste of energy.

Bruiser will hopefully arrive in 2019, but could slip to 2020. Either way, I look forward to whatever is next in this toyline.

If you could have any fictional power, what would you want?

Let’s keep it simple and just go with flight. I live in Boston and traffic is brutal, flying would solve so many problems.

What’s been your favorite anime recently? For non-anime fans, you can say cartoon

Recently it’s been Dragon Ball Super, which just wrapped up a week ago for the English dub. I never really wanted a proper sequel to Dragon Ball Z, so I’ve been surprised at how much I enjoyed the new series. I’ve also really enjoyed My Hero Academia and Devil Man Crybaby, as the Devil Man OVA was one of the first DVDs I ever purchased.

If you could travel to a fictional universe, which one would you want to go to?

Duckberg. I’d stand out, but it would be fun trying to break into Scrooge’s Money Bin.

What was your favorite cartoon/anime growing up?

My favorite cartoon was X-Men, my favorite anime was Dragon Ball Z.

I lived for Saturday morning as a kid.

Beef or chicken?

Chicken, always chicken.

Thanks again to Jay for the chance to do something different. He made his questions fairly broad and not applicable to anime, which probably worked better for me since most of my anime related responses would just refer to Dragon Ball or Cowboy Bebop, fine shows certainly, but also shows that have been talked about a lot. My insulated nature means I have no blogs to tag for future responses as the few I follow have already done this post. I don’t normally spread chains too, but I wanted to play along with this one especially since I’ve been buried in Batman and Christmas-related writings lately. If this is something you want to do, feel free to consider yourself “tagged” and answer the same set of questions I already have, and as always, thanks for reading.

Leave a comment | tags: animation, anime, blogging, boss fight studio, bucky o'hare, dragon ball, neca, sara valestein, sunshine blogger award, x-men, xenogears | posted in General

October 11, 2019

The New Batman Adventures – “The Demon Within”

By Joe

the demon within Episode Number: 18 (103)

Original Air Date: May 9, 1998

Directed by: Atsuko Tanaka

Written by: Stan Berkowitz

First Appearance: Etrigan the Demon, Jason Blood, Klarion

Don’t get too excited by that title, this isn’t the reintroduction of Ras al Ghul you may be anticipating (and if you are, you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment). The demon in this title actually refers to the character Etrigan the Demon who was created by famed comic artist Jack Kirby in the 1970s. He’s been a semi-popular character in the books for his frequent team-ups with Batman as he canonically lived in Gotham City for much of his fictional existence. I assume he’s included because there’s enough support for the character from the comic fanbase, because if he’s included as a tribute to Kirby then it’s an odd choice. Kirby created the character for DC basically because the publisher insisted. He wasn’t really into it and reportedly he was annoyed when the character was well received because it meant he had to do a series of books based around Etrigan.

As someone who largely consumes Batman media outside of comics, Etrigan was not known to me when I first saw this episode. What I know of him is what is presented here and on various wiki sites out there. This episode is somewhat notable because it was moved up to air as part of broadcast season one, despite being 18th in production order. That was probably easy to do because it was one of the handful done by TMS Entertainment, which may have delivered the episode early. It’s the last TMS episode we’re going to have the pleasure of covering for this series, so even if you’re not particularly thrilled by Etrigan’s presence, at least enjoy this one for the visuals.

Klarion, who would appreciate it if you ignored his ridiculous horned hair.

The episode opens with Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake visiting an auction house. On the docket – a branding iron once owned by the apparently not fictional Morgan Le Fay. It doesn’t seem too interesting, but appearances can be deceiving. Tim runs into a young boy carrying a cat in a rather sinister manner. The boy is named Klarion (Stephen Wolfe Smith) and the cat (let’s be honest, you’re more interested in the cat) is Teekl. The kid’s hair is pointed like devil horns and the cat takes a swipe, so obviously this odd child is a villain. When the auction begins, Klarion makes a big for one-hundred grand, but he’s soon topped by another man. His name is Jason Blood (Billy Zane) and he has interesting hair of his own – black and red with a white lightning bolt down the middle.

Bruce Wayne can’t sit by and let a bidding war pass without him having his say. Despite only being there to keep Tim away from video games for one night, Bruce ends up winning the iron with a bid of one million dollars, far surpassing the bids of Klarion and Blood. After the item is won and paid for, Tim asks Bruce what interest he has in that thing and Bruce remarks it’s for a friend. Klarion then approaches to issue a warning to Bruce, but is soon interrupted by “uncle” Jason. He’s not surprised to see Klarion’s interest in the item, and Klarion departs by suggesting they’ll meet again soon and next time it will be on purpose. It’s then revealed that Bruce and Jason are friends, and he won the item to help out Jason. Jason also tells them that Klarion isn’t really related to him and refers to him as a witch boy. He also tosses in the fact that he turned his own parents into mice in case we weren’t weirded out by the kid enough.

Jason Blood, who has some weird hair of his own.

Jason invites Time and Bruce to his apartment which is full of occult-like objects. He there tells Bruce he can pay him back for the iron, though it will take some time. Bruce basically tells him that won’t be necessary, rubbing his richness in our faces once again. Tim then takes note of a freaky looking bust that Jason informs him is of a demon once owned by Merlin himself. Tim turns the bust around to regard the other side which depicts a man who looks exactly like Jason. Jason acts flattered when Tim points out the likeness, but before the ruse can continue they’re interrupted by the cat, Teekl.

The kitty has a surprise in store for Bruce.

Teekl was able to enter the apartment via an open window and quickly grabbed the branding iron between its jaws. As it tried to leave, the iron knocked over an object on Blood’s desk and the three spring into action to try and prevent the cat from making off with the million dollar item. The cat then displays why TMS was likely handed this episode as it transforms into a human-cat hybrid. Teekl’s new form is reminiscent of Catwoman’s from the episode “Tiger Tiger.” She’s quite formidable and Bruce basically gets his clock cleaned by the beast. This forces Jason into action as he quickly transforms into Etrigan the Demon. He engages with Teekl and forces the cat to lose her grip on the iron. Bruce reaches out and grabs it, but Teekl turns her attention to him. She quickly retrieves it and is able to set the apartment on fire around Bruce and Tim. Etrigan issues her a warning that a reckoning will be coming, as he turns his attention towards his friends allowing Teekl to escape with the iron.

Klarion is shown seated in a darkened room as Teekl approaches. She gifts him the branding iron and returns to her cat form. A delighted Klarion begins an incantation that will likely have dire consequences. At Jason’s apartment, Tim is seated in a chair and Jason is tending to some minor cuts or burns he sustained in the scuffle. He uses magic to heal Tim, but soon is felled by Klarion’s spell. He displays an anguished face as Etrigan is forcefully removed from his body. The demon at first appears ghost-like, but then takes on a solid state. He leaves the apartment informing the onlookers it has a new master now. When Bruce tries to stop him he’s tossed aside and the demon leaves.

Apparently, having a demon ripped out of your body after 1,500 years hurts quite a bit.

Etrigan returns to Klarion, and Klarion seems to delight in the fact that the demon hates him but is powerless to resist him. As was probably assumed by this point, the branding iron gives Klarion control of the demon and while in control the demon has an “M” brand on its forehead. He orders the demon to open his door for him as they’re heading out for some fun. In perhaps a small act of defiance, Etrigan doesn’t open the door conventionally, but instead smashes it down.

At Jason’s apartment, Blood informs Bruce and Tim what happened. He also drops the detail that with Etrigan and he split apart he will soon begin rapidly aging to make up for the 1,500 years or so he’s gone without aging. He’s also lost the red stripe in his hair – a pity. Bruce volunteers to go after Klarion and Tim wants to go too, but Bruce wants him to stay with Jason. Tim argues he should go with since he’s a kid and it might take a kid to find Klarion. Jason informs him that probably won’t be necessary as he has a suspicion Klarion will be quite easy to find.

Klarion is looking to have some fun with his new demon buddy.

Klarion is then shown exiting a movie with Etrigan as the other patrons run away screaming. The film appears to be a Terminator parody called Devastator 3 starring Donald Shaltenpepper. Klarion declares he hates sequels and has Etrigan set fire to the theater’s marque with some impressive laser eyes. Klarion is then alerted to the sounds of the rare ice cream patrolling the streets in the dead of night. Etrigan stops the truck forcefully and dumps the ice cream at its master’s feet, but is dismayed to inform Klarion that no strawberry remain. Declaring that nothing is better than strawberry, Klarion then turns his attention to a cake shop. Kirby Cake Company, an obvious nod to Etrigan’s creator, is smashed in by Etrigan and Klarion gleefully scoops up handfuls of cake to devour. He’s then irritated by the noise of a passing train, so he has Etrigan knock it off its rails. He then declares an abandoned building to be ugly, so Etrigan knocks it down. It would seem Jason was right about Klarion being easy to find.

Batman finally shows up to put a stop to this destructive and childish rampage. He begins by talking down to Klarion, apparently forgetting this kid is some kind of witch with a powerful demon and cat monster under his control. Klarion doesn’t even need Etrigan or Teekl’s help when Batman is just standing in front of him demanding he cease his devilish ways, he simply uses his own magic to make thorns burst out of Batman’s body. Jason and Tim watch from the apartment via a crystal ball and when Tim declares they have to do something Jason calmly begins a spell. The thorns soon vanish, somewhat alarming both Klarion and Batman, and Klarion turns to yet another spell that turns Batman into a tree-like being. He has a good laugh at Batman’s expense, until he gets swatted by Batman’s branch-arm. Jason, now looking considerably older, undoes this spell and Klarion then calls in Etrigan.

When one Batman isn’t enough…

Batman is really no match for the demon in a one on one fight, so Jason conjures up many Batmen to aid him. The dummy Batmen make it hard for Etrigan to target the proper one, and the Batmen start circling Etrigan. This is apparently all a feint as the real Batman is off to the side. Klarion notices him as he takes off and orders Etrigan after him, but the illusion Batmen get in his way. Batman winds up ducking into an alley that appears to be a dead end. By now Jason’s body is failing him, but he has enough magic left to make Batman turn invisible and he blends in with the brick wall.

Thinking Batman has escaped, Klarion decides it would be best to remove his uncle’s influence over the fight. He orders Etrigan to kill Jason and sends the beast away. Jason, looking withered and near death, orders Tim to spread a blue powder around them in a circle. The stupid kid wastes time expressing a disbelief in such a tactic, but ends up doing as he’s told. The circle, along with some help from Jason, creates a forcefield around the two as Etrigan comes barging in. The demon can’t get through it, but Klarion apparently seeing through Etrigan’s eyes, orders his demon to not be discouraged. Etrigan starts blasting the field with its laser eyes while Jason tries to remain focused inside. He soon slumps over, succumbing to the rapid onset of age, as Etrigan breaks through.

Klarion doesn’t necessarily need a demon to win a fight.

With Jason apparently nearing his end, Klarion allows himself to savor the moment despite the protests of Teekl. Batman closes in and knocks the kid down retrieving the branding iron in the process. Teekl takes on her human form and goes after the Dark Knight, but Batman is able to stamp her head with the branding iron gaining control over her. He uses his dominance over the beast to return her to her less fearsome feline form. Klarion then apparently forgets he’s a witch boy as he just runs at Batman and tries to retrieve the iron, but he’s much too short. Batman utters some spell that makes Etrigan and Jason whole once again, and not a moment too soon as the demon was about to finish the job.

With his plan foiled, Klarion apparently remembers he’s pretty damn powerful on his own. He starts blasting Batman with green, glowing, orbs that Batman really has no answer for. If he was counting on Etrigan to save him then he placed his faith in the right person…demon, as Etrigan shows up, alongside Robin, to make the save. He blasts Klarion into some nearby crates, then utters an incantation of his own. When Batman asks what the spell will do, Etrigan replies that he’s sending Klarion to his room.

With the crisis averted, Etrigan takes his leave. Robin is then left to ask Batman just what went down tonight, but Batman rebukes him with a “Don’t ask.” Klarion is then shown from behind seated in a chair with his shoulders slumped. The camera pans back to reveal he’s been imprisoned in Jason Blood’s crystal ball and placed on a shelf in Blood’s apartment. He apparently poses little threat there, as Jason is shown nearby casually reading a newspaper.

Jason appears to lead a rather mundane life when Klarion isn’t on the loose.

“The Demon Within” is obviously an atypical episode of Batman as it deals with a lot of mysticism and magic mumbo jumbo. I like fantasy as much as the next person, maybe even more so, but I’ve never liked it when it crosses paths with Batman. It’s why I’m not that into the Ras al Ghul stuff and I like it even less here. This episode feels like a backdoor pilot for an Etrigan series, and if that was the aim well then it failed as no series came to pass. The demon would make a future appearance in an episode of Justice League, but that’s all.

We can probably thank Teekl and Etrigan’s transformation powers for the presence of TMS on this one.

The animation and vibrant colors of this episode can certainly be appreciated by anyone, even in spite of the silly plot material. The transformation animations are likely why TMS was chosen to handle this one, and while they’re neat, they don’t come close to matching what the studio did with Clayface. Etrigan himself has never appealed to me though from a visual standpoint. He’s big, and kind of menacing to behold, but he wears a rather conventional super hero costume of red spandex and blue cape. He looks like a bulgy Under Dog, and his fingers are shaped like rectangles with rectangular claws in several shots. He also has this weird thing going on with his feet where he apparently has a large middle toe or his shoes just have extra material that makes them look like elf stockings. Basically everything below his neck is rather dumb looking.

What it comes down to is this is an episode you’ll probably enjoy if you’re a fan of the Etrigan character from the comics. I would imagine seeing him would have been exciting for such a fan, just like the Jonah Hex episode from the last season. If you don’t care about Etrigan though, or if you don’t like him, then unlike the Hex episode this one probably won’t do anything for you. Klarion is a bit amusing in a bratty kid who gets his comeuppance always is kind of way, but beyond that there isn’t much happening here. Even the great TMS can’t really make this one a must see episode strictly from a visual standpoint. And with so few episodes remaining, this one just feels like a waste of precious space.

1 Comment | tags: batman, billy zane, dc comics, etrigan the demon, jack kirby, jason blood, klarion, robin, stephen wolfe smith, the new batman adventures, tms | posted in batman the animated series, Comics, Television

October 4, 2019

The New Batman Adventures – “Old Wounds”

By Joe

old wounds Episode Number: 17 (102)

Original Air Date: October 3, 1998

Directed by: Curt Geda

Written by: Rich Fogel

First Appearance: None

Have you wondered what caused the rift between Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne? Of course you have, but The New Batman Adventures has decided to make you wait a while to find out. Well past the half way point of the series is “Old Wounds,” a mostly flashback episode detailing the fallout between Batman and the original Boy Wonder. It’s even going to touch on how Batgirl was truly brought into the fold as well, which really makes this one feel like it’s been a long time coming. Maybe it would have made sense to run this one earlier, but I suppose it’s not that big of a deal. Either way, these are questions that needed answers and at least we’ll finally have them.

The episode begins with some hoodlums making trouble in Gotham, which is what hoodlums do. Robin drops in to put a stop to them and have a little fun at their expense as well. Surprisingly, he appears to be all alone and without the aid of Batman which seems like an unwise thing to do, but Batman isn’t exactly known for his parenting skills. Robin looks like he’s going to make my fretting all for naught as he seems capable of taking care of these guys, but one drops a barrel over his head and suddenly things start to look a bit grim for the little guy. Luckily for him, someone is indeed looking out for him, only it’s not Batman, but Nightwing.

At least someone is looking out for the kid tonight.

With Nightwing’s help, the two take out the goons. When the dust settles it’s time for Nightwing to give Robin a bit of the old tough love routine, which causes Robin to draw a comparison between Batman and Nightwing. Nightwing resents the comparison causing Robin to just finally ask what went down between the two so long ago. Nightwing tells him simply that “things change” and then tells Robin he should be asking Batman. Robin tells him he did, and he told him the exact same thing Nightwing just did.

That was apparently all Nightwing needed to hear to open up. He and Robin head to the docks, and while Nightwing skips stones he starts to tell Robin about what happened between he and Batman.

It all started when Dick graduated from college. He received the highest honors in his class, but who do you think missed his graduation ceremony? Oddly, it was held at night rather than during the afternoon and Batman had somewhere to be. Barbara was there with Alfred, and she remarks to the trusty butler that Dick will be crushed if Bruce misses this. Alfred suggests that maybe Bruce had car trouble and the scene is spliced with images of Batman foiling a robbery. In a humorous exchange, Batman is riding on the crook’s hood and he orders him to stop warning someone is going to get hurt. The crook agrees, and pulls out a gun and attempts to shoot Batman in the face. Of course he misses and he is indeed the one who gets hurt, but I enjoyed the man’s misplaced confidence.

Did they slip wine past the censors? Maybe we’re supposed to assume it’s just juice.

After the ceremony, an apparently not-crushed Dick is having dinner with Barbara at a nice looking restaurant. They’re sipping wine or champagne as Barbara asks what’s next for Dick. He tells her he’s done living off of Bruce’s dime and informs her he has a trust compliments of the circus. It seems he received an insurance settlement following the death of his parents, which actually doesn’t make much sense since they were murdered though maybe it was never ruled a homicide. A beeping noise reminds us that this was made in the 90s as Dick pulls out a pager. He excuses himself to return the call and naturally it’s from Batman. It seems he’s going to need some help tonight. When Dick tells him that now is not a good time, Batman replies curtly that he doesn’t make schedules. Dick surrenders and returns to Barbara and comes up with a rather terrible excuse that he has to leave to help clean out the fridge back at his dorm. He bails leaving Barbara standing there in disbelief.

Robin, in his old green and red threads, drops in on Batman who has a warehouse staked out. Batman immediately informs him he’s late, a fairly typical Batman observation. Thankfully, Dick was pulled away from his night of celebration for a good reason as it’s revealed the villain of the hour is the clown prince of crime himself – the Joker (Mark Hamill)! Joker has himself a trio of henchmen this time, the returning twin lugs named Rocco (Townsend Coleman) and Henshaw (Neil Ross) and a new guy named Connor (Ian Buchanan).

Joker introducing himself to the new guy.

Joker and his gang make their way inside, and soon Batman and Robin drop in on them through a skylight. Joker is able to match my mood as he ponders why the two would want to smash through a skylight in place of something less messy (“Either you’ve never heard of a door or you just like pulling glass out of your shorts.”). Joker has some sort of rocket ready to go that he blasts at the two and actually connects. Joker even remarks it was easier than expected dealing with the two as he and the others make their exit. Robin is the first to emerge from the rubble and he goes to help Batman who barks at him to go after them instead.

Robin does as he’s told and sees Joker make his escape in a getaway van with some sort of equipment. He’s also left Connor behind though and Robin follows him through the various alleys of Gotham right to what he probably hoped was a hideout. Instead, Connor actually leads him to his apartment, and he runs inside and orders his family to run via the fire escape. His wife, Geena (Pamela Hayden), is clearly alarmed, but his young son is too consumed with playing space ranger or something to take his dad seriously.

Robin is a bit too good at the “Good Cop” role.

Robin enters and confronts Connor, but is alarmed to see his surroundings. The little boy takes aim at Robin with a toy gun and Robin seems like he’s unsure of what to do. Batman then comes smashing through a window and slams Connor up against a wall. He demands to know what the Joker is up to and where he’s hiding, while Connor seems almost paralyzed with fear. Robin looks at the woman and child cowering in terror and somewhat quietly urges Batman not to do this in front of them. Batman tells him he’ll stop as soon as Connor gives up the Joker. This angers Robin, who informs Batman he’ll have no part in this and takes off leaving Batman stunned.

Barbara is very understanding for someone who was just rudely awakened.

Later that night, at 3:14 AM to be exact, Barbara is woken up by knocking on her door. She gets out of bed and tosses a robe on and opens the door of her modest studio apartment to find Dick. He rambles about being sick of “him” as he paces around the room. Barbara tries to get him to calm down and talk to her, but he sounds more like a mad man. He decides this was a bad idea and apologizes for coming over. He tells her he’ll call her tomorrow and then leaves as quickly as he arrived.

The next day, Barbara pays Bruce a visit at home to tell him about Dick’s visit. She wants to know what’s happened between the two of them, but Bruce is his usual stoic self. He declares that she really cares about him, and then beckons her to follow. He takes her over to the grandfather clock, the entrance to the Batcave, and opens it. As he descends the stairs down, Barbara seems understandably wary. A billionaire playboy just opened up his weird, creepy, sex dungeon to an attractive young woman and told her to enter – I’d think about running if I were her!

This is probably scarier than it looks.

Barbara follows though and steps into the Batcave. She’s wide-eyed as she looks around and then Alfred walks in. He’s alarmed to see Barbara, and then does what any loyal servant would do – confesses that he is indeed the Batman. Before Barbara can laugh, Bruce informs him that it’s all right. He then informs Batgirl that he’s aware of her secret as well, and Alfred informs them they should turn on the news. When they do they find Joker up to his old tricks. He’s broadcast his ransom to Gotham and by doing so has unveiled what he was up to the night before. It would seem he’s stolen some radar jamming equipment that will make it impossible for aircraft to operate over Gotham. This could cause unsuspecting aircraft to suddenly crash and that’s obviously not a good thing. To make sure this doesn’t happen, Joker is demanding 40 million dollars. Bruce tells Alfred to contact Dick, and he’s told he’s already tried, but can’t get ahold of him. Barbara volunteers to help, and the two leave in the Batmobile.

After those two leave, Dick predictably shows up. He comes into the Batcave wondering where Barbara is as he noticed her car parked outside. Alfred tells him that she left with Master Bruce and they had some “errands” to take care of. Dick’s eyes take note of the missing Batmobile, which tells him all he needs to know.

Joker, always dressed for the occasion.

Batman and Batgirl, in her normal attire and not throwback grays, arrive on the scene where Joker is sending out his radar jamming signal. They’ll need to head to the top of a rather large building, and to help him out Batman has brought along that nifty jetpack we’ve seen him use from time to time. He swoops in and takes Joker and his men by surprise, but they surprisingly have little trouble shooting him out of the sky. Batgirl then arrives and it’s apparent this is her first confrontation with Joker, who seems a bit taken by the new sidekick. Not that it means he’ll not try to kill her, as he and his men go to work.

Robin arrives via motorcycle and looks up to see the silhouette of Batgirl battling Joker’s henchmen. It’s obvious he’s surprised so apparently he’s not as perceptive as Batman and was in the dark about his girlfriend’s alter ego. Joker whacks a piece of equipment into Batgirl, causing her to fall off the roof. As she plummets towards her demise, Robin stares up in horror. He then shows off a new trick as the housing for the handles on his bike blast off like some mini jetpack or ejector seat. He closes the gap between he and Batgirl and is able to catch her and stop their descent with a trusty grapple gun blast. As the two land safely, Robin apparently wants to talk, but Batgirl informs him now is not the time and that “he” needs their help.

On the roof, Batman is getting reacquainted with Bud and Lou, the hyenas. He regains his footing as Batgirl and Robin arrive and the three take out Joker’s henchmen forcing Joker to declare he’ll have to do this himself. He grabs a machinegun and opens fire on the three. As an airplane approaches, things get a bit dire. Batgirl decides to go for it and flips her way towards the device sending the radar signal. Joker, in his attempt to shoot her, hits the radar dish and immediately regrets it. As sparks shoot out, Batman dives over and grabs Batgirl and the device explodes allowing the aircraft to pass by safely. Batman and Batgirl were able to avoid the explosion by hanging on the side of the building, while Joker wasn’t quite so fortunate. He makes a crack about Houston having a problem before passing out, leaving the three heroes to settle up.

Robin packs quite the right hook.

Robin immediately accuses Batgirl of keeping secrets from him, which is amazingly dense even for him. He’s hurt that she would tell Bruce, but she corrects him by saying he figured out her identity. Batman then adds it wasn’t his place to tell him. Robin is still angry with Batman though as he questions why he’d put her in danger. Batgirl tells him that he didn’t and she volunteered, but Robin tells her she’s wrong. He’s a manipulator, she only thinks she volunteered. Fed up with the whole situation, Robin informs Batman he’s had enough – he quits. Batman reaches out to try and stop him from storming off, but Robin turns around and decks him. Batman falls to the ground as Batgirl looks on with shock. Robin then removes his cape and mask and leaves it at Batman’s feet and storms off.

The dramatic discarding of the mask.

That’s where the flashback ends. Nightwing informs the new Robin that he never wore the costume again after that night. Robin still seems to think it’s silly the two never reconciled, but he’s obviously used to dealing with the both of them at this point. Nightwing then notices a wallet on the ground. The goons from earlier must have stolen it and he opens it up and is surprised to see who it belongs to.

Maybe his trust fund isn’t doing so well if he’s got to pick pockets.

The scene then shifts to a building owned by Wayne. A security guard is returning to his office when Nightwing and Robin drop in on him with his wallet. He’s alarmed for a moment, then is relieved to see it isn’t Batman. He then tells the two he had a run-in with Batman once before, which caused him to change his ways. It’s now obvious that this man is Connor from the flashback. After his encounter with Batman in front of his wife and kid, he decided to go straight. Bruce Wayne gave him a job and now knows him by name. He’s quite pleased to relay that Bruce asks about his son from time to time and Nightwing responds by adding that Bruce Wayne is a good man.

Connor is here to conveniently tell Nightwing what he needs to hear about his old friend.

Nightwing and Robin take their leave. Robin is a bit surprised, but also a bit proud to point out to Nightwing that Bruce has a heart after all. Nightwing is quietly pleased. The Bat-Signal then flashes across the sky, and Robin remarks it’s time to go to work. He fires off a grappling hook, then turns to Nightwing and asks if he’s coming. Nightwing smiles in return and suggests it’s about time. The two then swing off into the blood-red sky towards the Bat-Signal as the Nightwing theme thunders in the background.

There you have it. Questions answered, for the most part, about what happened in between the first two seasons and this revamped third one. We still don’t know what ultimately drove Barbara and Dick apart. It could be that there is nothing more to tell of their story, as maybe when Robin left the two that night he left the both of them assuming Batgirl had made her choice to work with Batman. I believe we’ll learn a bit more in a future episode though, as things got a little heated between Batgirl and Batman eventually, which makes sense since they both share a gimmick. We also don’t know how long Dick went in between roles as Robin and Nightwing. It can be assumed he used his circus money to finance his loft and crime-fighting gig, though if he has a day job that’s still unclear.

Nightwing – forever in Batman’s shadow.

As for the story itself, it’s mostly satisfying. It’s easy to assume that years of working with Batman would cause tension. He seems like a tough boss, and the two have had their differences before. Batman is more obsessive than Robin, and his actions in front of Connor’s family are somewhat understandable, though I can’t help but feel this isn’t how the Batman of the first two seasons would act. He would be far more sensitive to the presence of a child, which makes me feel like there’s still something missing. This version of Batman is harder than that one, and it feels like something should have happened to explain that which we have not seen, and never will. This Batman only exists as part of a revision of the character against his peers. He needs to act this way to better distinguish him from Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing. It’s why this show has a different feel from the Batman: The Animated Series and it’s why I still tend to think of it as a different beast all together, despite how it’s marketed. The use of Connor is suitable for showing how Batman can leave a lasting, positive, mark on someone. Though it’s a bit muddled as his presence in the end feels like a justification for Batman’s erratic behavior from the flashback. This show has a tendency to “both sides” Batman and in the process it sometimes fails to really make a statement of any kind.

Joker in a rare supporting role in this one, though he still finds time to hijack Gotham’s airwaves once more.

The presence of Joker in this one initially surprised me. He’s not needed to add weight to the action, and it’s unusual to see him featured in an episode where he’s not the focal point. In viewing this one though I think that’s the point. Joker needs no introduction nor does he need any moments to himself to explain his character to the audience. Rather, he can just be in the background making jokes and acting wicked and do just fine. He’s genuinely amusing for much of this one, and I suppose it’s a nice little treat to see Batgirl’s first encounter with him.

The episode leaves us in a more hopeful place where it concerns Batman and Nightwing, though I’m not sure we needed to be. It’s why I think it may have made more sense to air this one much earlier. We’ve already seen Batman and Nightwing working together. They’re not exactly old chums when they do, but they’re more than capable. They were even able to put together an elaborate trap for Catwoman and worked rather closely in busting the Mad Hatter. Dick even dropped in on them at Bruce’s home at the conclusion of the second episode, so it’s not like he was above a casual visit. This episode seems to want us to think there’s more conflict than has been presented. It works fine as a stand-alone episode in that respect, but when looked at in broader context it’s a bit less rewarding. I’m still glad they decided to tackle the subject, and despite my criticism I’d still say this is one of the better episodes of the season so far.

This marks the last costumed appearance of Dick Grayson. We learned a little more about him, but sadly we’ll never learn the origin of his fabulous mullet.

The ending is hopeful, indicating that Batman and Nightwing are on the verge of a reconciliation that will perhaps lead to a better working relationship. At least, that’s the implication, but in actuality this is the final appearance of Nightwing in the series. It’s surprising, considering we still have several episodes left, but I guess the staff just felt like there were no further stories to tell with the character. Maybe they envisioned a spin-off for him now that he’s made his peace with Batman, but that obviously wouldn’t happen. We don’t yet have to say goodbye to Loren Lester and Dick Grayson, who has one future appearance left, but it does feel like the end of an era considering how long Robin has been a part of the show. He’s never been a favorite of mine, in any medium, but at least this show did some good with the character.

1 Comment | tags: batgirl, batman, joker, loren lester, mark hamill, nightwing, robin, the new batman adventures | posted in batman the animated series, Comics, Television

October 2, 2019

Funko Pop! Halloween Huey, Dewey, and Louie

By Joe

There’s a scourge taking over our local record stores, clothing outlets, and gaming boutiques. It comes in mass quantities dominating its chosen territory at the expense of other merch. It swears no allegiance to anyone and will even place mortal enemies side by side as it amasses an army of licensed property of yesterday and today. I am, of course, speaking of Funko Pop! vinyl figurines. Where I once had a local record store, I now see what is practically a dedicated Pop! outlet. Gamestop devotes considerable shelf space to them and they even show up in drug stores. It’s hard to find a licensed property that isn’t in Pop! form these days and since they keep on coming it leads me to believe they’ll be around for some time to come.

And considering the brand’s scope, it’s obvious people are into these things. Funko sells special cases to keep your Pop! mint-in-box and I do see people get legitimately excited for new releases, even though every time I’m at a store that features these things prominently I rarely see someone actually pick one up and head for the register. I don’t think they’ve reached the level of Beanie Baby popularity from the 90s, but they must be doing well for them to persist.

The source material for today’s subject.

If you’re not familiar with Pop! figurines then you’re probably not human, but I’ll indulge you anyway. They’re essentially little plastic statues that adhere to a standard form. They all feature an oversized, oval, head with a tiny body. They’re either non-articulated or just the head swivels. The eyes are always circles and one color, typically black. Most characters don’t have a mouth, but as the line has persisted I’ve noticed more unique head-sculpts that do indeed feature a mouth. It’s a simple, identifiable, style that can be applied to virtually anything depending on how much effort Funko puts into the sculpt. It seems to work well for cartoon characters, especially anthropomorphic characters, but it’s not universal. For one, I think the ones based on The Simpsons look awful, but I’ve encountered many that look fine. Live-action personalities can also be adapted and they typically turn out all right. It’s a brand, and it’s obviously successful. I would rather purchase a Kid Robot mini-figure, but at least these ones don’t come in blind boxes.

When it comes to my own interaction with Funko Pop! I am merely a casual participant. I wouldn’t even call myself a casual fan or collector, I’ve just somehow managed to end up with some here and there. I used to buy the Frozen ones for my wife as she expressed a fondness for them and I’ve picked up other Disney ones here and there. I currently have a Remy from Ratatouille in my kitchen because he looks cute and fits in with the setting. Mostly, they end up being the occasional thing I’ll buy for my desk at work, but I’ve mostly reached my limit there. I don’t seek out any particular license, it’s more just a case-by-case thing where if I really like how something turned out then I may buy it. That’s how I ended up with Rocko, Scrooge McDuck, and Stimpy. Rocko in particular works well in this style, and I liked the personality on display of the other two. I considered getting Ren to pair with Stimpy, but I just didn’t like how he turned out. Normally I can’t leave a character all by itself, especially from a famous duo, but with Pop! I just don’t have much of a collector’s impulse.

What I do have a weakness for though is Donald Duck, especially limited merchandise based on him or one of his cartoons. I am especially fond of the classic shorts, and there isn’t many better than 1952’s Trick or Treat. That’s the cartoon where Huey, Dewey, and Louie team up with a new character, Witch Hazel, to get back at Donald for refusing to treat on Halloween. In that cartoon, the nephews are depicted in Halloween costumes and they’re quite adorable. The designs are so popular and beloved that they were reprised for the 2017 Mickey Mouse special The Scariest Story Ever.

In celebration of that short, Funko did a special release of Huey, Dewey, and Louie in costume as Pop! figurines. This isn’t their first Pop! exposure as they were part of the DuckTales wave as well. They were sold exclusively on Funko’s website as a three pack and I just couldn’t resist.

A little defect on Dewey’s broom.

The trio are each packaged separately in a box under the Mickey Mouse and Friends banner. I wish they had come in a special box together, but that adds cost and companies are usually loathe to do that. It also would have been nice to see some artwork from the sour material, but oh well. Since their costumes are quite different, Funko wasn’t able to do the usual of creating one figure and painting them different colors. The likenesses are quite good, though obviously they’re in that Pop! style. It helps for Louie in particular that his character was pupil-less in the cartoon so the Pop! dead eyes aren’t as noticeable here. The paint applications are mostly clean and I like that they included Louie’s pumpkin on his head. Only Dewey appears to have any defects as he has some slop on his hat and feet plus an odd mark on his broom handle (pictured).

Even though Pop! figurines are sold at toy stores, I wouldn’t call these toys. My kids certainly like the aesthetic of the figures and were pretty excited when they came in the mail, but there isn’t anything they can really do with them. These guys are destined for a shelf, and I was even tempted to leave them in their boxes, but found they didn’t display as nice. These will be a part of my annual Halloween décor like the Grinch Pop! figures I own and display at Christmas. One thing I appreciate about these figurines is the packaging is easy to utilize for storage. There’s a plastic, molded, tray inside the box that is easy to remove and reinsert. There’s no tape on the top flap so you don’t even need to bust out a razor blade to get into these things.

I had to include a picture with their Uncle Donald.

If you’re interested in acquiring these yourself, they’re currently for sale on Funko’s website. They’re sold together for $45 plus shipping and taxes which is pretty close to the retail price most Funko figures sell for. If you don’t like Pop! figures then these aren’t going to change your mind. For Pop! figures, I think these are well done and there is enough of the classic design of these characters contained in the figures while conforming them to Funko’s brand. And they’re fun, decorative, seasonal figures that aren’t horribly priced. I do wish they were closer to the 10 dollar range as opposed to 15 as the current price point is basically the maximum Funko can charge without really turning folks off. It’s especially attractive for people who like to acquire merchandise related to the Trick or Treat short, as the Walt Disney Classic Collection of ceramics are way beyond my price range.

Leave a comment | tags: disney, donald duck, funko, funko pop!, huey dewey and louie, toys, trick or treat | posted in Film, toys

September 27, 2019

The New Batman Adventures – “Animal Act”

By Joe

animal act Episode Number: 16 (101)

Original Air Date: September 26, 1998

Directed by: Curt Geda

Written by: Hilary J. Bader

First Appearance: None

“Animal Act” reintroduces the audience to a part of Dick Grayson’s life it may have forgotten: the circus life. A string of robberies will put Batman and the gang in touch with the old act and give Dick a chance to take a stroll down memory lane. It will also reintroduce, officially, a villain from the previous iteration of the show that had yet to have an episode all to their own. The reveal of the villain is intended to be a surprise, and for this show, it’s actually kept under wraps pretty well. There’s no obvious giveaway in the title and the reveal is saved for the final act. The only real tell is the reintroduction of that villain’s theme, but if you had forgotten it then you’d be kept in the dark even longer. For that reason, I should put out a general warning that if you like experiencing these reveals on your own then maybe store this one away until you’ve seen the episode yourself.

Just three dudes hanging out in their costumes on a roof at night.

The episode begins with Batman and Robin watching a suspicious character from a rooftop. The rather large looking man is on a nearby rooftop and heading for an antenna tower. Nightwing drops in on the two and he and Batman have their usual frosty disposition towards each other with Batman lecturing Nightwing to work on his stealth. They then turn their attention to the perp who has begun scaling the tower and looks to have its eyes on some control near the top.

Batman springs into action with quite possibly his most absurd act of stealth we’ve seen up to this point. As the suspect’s hand reaches for a device on the tower, Batman’s hand clamps down on its wrist. Batman basically went from one rooftop to a steel tower roughly one-hundred yards away and managed to land on the same tower as the perp and grab its hand all without being seen. That’s some damn fine stealth-work.

Now angrily glare at the fleeing ape.

The perp immediately swats Batman away and he falls off the tower but is able to grab onto another one. The perp then tries to make a run for it, but gets ambushed by Robin and Nightwing. At this point it’s obvious that this isn’t a man for its arms are massive and it runs like a gorilla. When Robin tries to stop it with a bollo the creature breaks out and takes off again punching Robin as it goes by. Nightwing stops to check on the Boy Wonder before giving chase with his dorky little wingsuit. He catches up to the creature and is able to confirm that it is indeed a gorilla in human clothing. Furthermore, Nightwing knows this gorilla as Peaches. The surprise helps the gorilla to get away from Nightwing and escape the others.

Dick recalling better days when he had parents and no pony tail.

The next day, Dick and Tim make a stop at the circus. It’s well before opening and the circus members are all milling about and getting ready for that night’s performance. As the two stroll through, the cast members all recognize Dick and make small talk as Tim takes it all in. He gets setup by Dick for embarrassment at the hands of a mime clown and marvels at the strong man and axe-tossers. Dick is really here though to check on Peaches and the two find her right where she’s supposed to be in her cage. She seems like a rather ordinary gorilla and Tim is skeptical that this could be the same as the one from the night before.

Dick’s reunion with Peaches is interrupted by her trainer, Miranda Kane (Jane Wiedlin). Miranda looks the part of a stereotypical animal trainer and even has a boa draped over her shoulders and coiled around her leg. She at first mistakes Dick for someone just snooping around and messing with her animals, but he tells her who he is and she soon remembers. It would seem she was a kid with the circus at the same time as “Dicky,” with her family being animal trainers. Her parents have retired to Sarasota (amusing to me for I knew a lot of old people who did the same around 98) and left the animals in her care. She seems some-what happy to see Dick again, though also a tad resentful of the life he ended up living as ward of the wealthy Bruce Wayne, though his name is never mentioned. She tells him he can’t touch the animals, for liability reasons, and eventually asks the two to leave as she has a lot of work to do.

Miranda Kane is yet another character obviously named after Batman co-creator Bob Kane. Given what we now know about Kane, it’s unlikely many characters are being named after him these days.

Dick is then shown back at his loft flipping through an old photo album. He’s looking at pictures of his family-life from his days in the circus, until a familiar shadow crosses the page. Batman is there to inquire about his trip to the circus, and Dick tells him he doesn’t think Miranda had anything to do with the robbery from the night before. Batman counters by saying he checked all of the cities the circus had hit recently and all featured a nearby unexplained robbery. This leads to a stare-down between Dick and Batman that is kind of tense, until a pager on Batman’s belt forces him to look away. He growls an angry “What?!” into a communicator and it’s Robin on the other end informing him of a silent alarm that was just tripped at an auto manufacturing plant. Batman heads for the window, but calls back to Dick to ask if he’s coming. Dick grabs his suit and the pair take off.

Batman and Nightwing arrive at the factory and find an unconscious security guard in the parking lot. Batman checks his vitals, and confirming he’s all right, they turn their attention to a commotion coming from inside. As they slip in, the camera lingers on a keypad by the door which suggests that whoever gained entry did so legitimately, as in they entered the correct passcode. The duo creeps in and find a rather large, hairy, creature rummaging through a big container of components. It pops it’s head out of the container to regale the two and reveals itself to be a very large brown bear. Before the two can really react a second bear swats them from behind.

Batman seems to fight enough animals that he should probably just carry tranquilizers at this point.

Nightwing and Batman recover and square-off against the two bears. Nightwing makes a lot of bad jokes and puns all throughout. He kicks some barrels at his bear, and the bear demonstrates it’s been trained by hopping on the barrel and riding it while standing on its hind legs. Batman is able to avoid the bear he pairs off with and ends up leading it towards a hydraulic lift for an automobile. With Batman on top of the lift and at the controls, he lowers it on top of the bear pinning it to the floor. Nightwing has considerably less luck with his opponent. He seems to think this bear behaves like a character from Punch Out!! as he searches for a soft spot to punch at. This goes about as well as expected and Batman is forced to make the save with a fire hose. Still, that only irritates the bear, but it allows Batman to get its attention long enough for Nightwing to return with a forklift. He’s able to pin the bear against the wall between itself and the forklift, but not before first comically driving around with the creature stuck on the front.

Later that night, Miranda is unloading the bears from a police van back into their cage and Detective Bullock (Robert Costanzo) is on hand to supervise. He’s his usual grumpy self and warns the woman that he’ll be back to file a police report (why isn’t he doing it now?) and she better come up with a better reason for how those bears got out than “I don’t know.” As he makes his way towards his car, the clown-mime that got Tim earlier is lounging on the hood of the cruiser. Bullock is not amused by the clown’s mime routine and threateningly pulls out his handcuffs. The clown persists with his act and Bullock lunges for him, but misses and ends up eating dirt. The clown then waves goodbye and mimes opening a door while Bullock growls about hating clowns. He seems like the type that would.

Bullock seems like the type of mark a clown relishes to go after.

Miranda angrily heads into her trailer and is confronted by Dick when she does. He claims she left the door open, but that doesn’t diffuse the situation much. Miranda insists someone has been messing with her animals, and Dick seems to believe her. Later, Dick returns to his loft and finds Batman waiting for him. He muses about getting an alarm, apparently failing to see the irony in Batman doing to him what he just did to Miranda. Batman is there to show him the security tapes from the factory the night before. As the two watch, they observe the bears enter the building, turn off the lights, and enter in the passcode on the door. Dick remarks that they’re smart bears, while Batman adds “Too smart.”

Back at the circus, the previously silent clown is approaching the bears in their cages and congratulating them on a job well done. He removes some circuit boards from their fur, but is soon confronted by Miranda. She demands to know what he’s doing to her animals, and he’s more than happy to explain that he’s no humble clown, but the man formally known as Jervis Tetch, better known as The Mad Hatter (Roddy McDowall). He appears to be completely unafraid of what Miranda may do to him now that she’s discovered his secret, and that’s with good reason. Her boa soon constricts around her trapping her as the Mad Hatter looks on approvingly.

Old Mr. Big Hat is at it again.

Batman and Nightwing arrive in the Batmobile. As Nightwing begins leading Batman to Miranda’s trailer, a scream alerts them that maybe they should head elsewhere. They race over towards the scream and find Miranda locked in a cage with a pair of lions. The heroes break in and Nightwing brandishes a whip to corral the beasts. He yells out to them by name, and I expected to see Miranda give him a look or something, but none comes. They’re able to get the male lion bound up, and Batman instructs Nightwing to get Miranda out of there. As the lion breaks through the ropes, Batman does the old school lion tamer routine of wielding a whip and a chair as he backs out of the cage and slams it shut behind him.

Miranda immediately starts into a tale about The Mad Hatter, but Nightwing cuts her off with a “We’re way ahead of you.” They head for the big tent and find their old foe back in his usual attire. Usual in that it’s clearly inspired by Alice in Wonderland, but like most of the villains old Jervis has received a rather drastic redesign. He’s apparently aged horribly since we last saw him as he’s small and shriveled, but still mostly lacking a chin. His once blond hair is now white and he’s considerably shorter than before. His green suit makes him look more like a leprechaun than the character we’re used to, and his ears are pointed which just makes that comparison even more apt.

A crushing end for Jervis.

The Mad Hatter goes into a boastful routine about how he’s mastered the art of controlling animals, but explains that controlling humans still requires he be nearby. That’s the cue for Miranda and the other performers to become zombie-like creatures at the control of The Mad Hatter. They turn on the heroes and since they lack fear and don’t experience pain, they’re pretty formidable. Batman and Nightwing really have their hands full and it takes an errant blast of fire from the fire eater which strikes The Mad Hatter’s mind control hat to break the spell. The Mad Hatter, seeing his pawns suddenly free, takes off and slides under the tent. He ends up at the gorilla cage and it looks like he’s going to try and take control of Peaches again. Batman and Nightwing show up and Nightwing destroys the Mad Hatter’s hat with a whip-strike. The Mad Hatter still isn’t without a trick, as he pulls out a pistol to hold the good guys at bay. He starts monologuing once again, sort of apologizing for resorting to such a weapon, which lasts long enough for Batman to nail it with a batarang and Peaches to emerge from her cage and take him out.

Not the resolution Tim wanted.

The next day, Dick and Bruce are shown strolling through the circus grounds. Dick tells Bruce that Tim expressed interest in the circus and he got him a job working with Miranda. Bruce seems to think this entails working with the animals, but Dick corrects him. Miranda is then shown telling Tim there’s a lot of work to get done as Tim is shown cleaning the gorilla cage. The episode ends with Dick making a crack about missing show business as the camera lingers on Tim literally shoveling shit into a bucket.

“Animal Act” is a touch unconventional given it pits Batman and Co. against circus animals, but it also fits the classic mold of an episode of Batman given its act structure. I like the save for the reveal on Mad Hatter and the clown character he portrays is not a dead give-away since he’s not voiced and the character’s redesign makes him look quite different from before. It’s an episode I want to dislike when I read the premise, but in action it’s actually fairly entertaining.

It’s not all sunshine though. The Nightwing character is a bit too much for my taste as his numerous quips and puns just aren’t funny – they’re tiresome. Even Batman has some bad lines, in particular when he explains the situation of the brainwashing of Miranda to Nightwing. It’s possibly Kevin Conroy’s worst line-read in the series, but I don’t place the blame at his feet as much as I do on the script. Batman is a character that works best when his speech is simple and direct, he talks too much throughout that fight and basically all of his lines are completely unnecessary.

Mad Hatter, on the other hand, can’t say enough. His lines are delightful and also wickedly playful too. His motivations for these crimes are perhaps not well explained. It seems he just needs microchips and circuit boards for his mind control tech, but he’s also insane which is perhaps all the explanation one needs. I don’t care for his new look, which was previously shown briefly in “Over the Edge,” but his actual character is about as good as it’s ever been.

RIP and thanks to Roddy McDowall for his contribution to the series as The Mad Hatter.

This episode is the final appearance of The Mad Hatter. That’s partly due to there only being a handful of episodes after it, but also due to the passing of voice actor Roddy McDowall just a few days after the original airing of this episode. McDowall was terrific in the role and terrific in this particular episode so it’s not at all surprising that the character was not recast and brought back in one of the other DC Animated Universe shows. He did appear in the Superman episode “Knight Time,” which aired exactly one week after his death.

In researching this episode for this post I was surprised to find out that Bruce Timm considers it one of the worst episodes of the series. I certainly think the script left something to be desired, but the episode as a whole seems fine to me. I much prefer it to “Critters” and I can think of several episodes I’d rank behind this one (a feature for another day). As a Mad Hatter episode it’s appropriate and introduces a new wrinkle to that villain’s schemes. It brings back a piece of Dick Grayson’s past and doesn’t have any weird production inconsistencies or anything like that. Sure, there are better episodes out there, but I don’t think this is one the production staff should be embarrassed by.

1 Comment | tags: batman, bruce timm, dc animated universe, dick grayson, jane wiedlin, nightwing, robin, roddy mcdowall, the mad hatter | posted in batman the animated series, Comics, Television

September 25, 2019

The Sega Genesis Mini

By Joe

The Sega Genesis Mini has arrived, though Amazon wasn’t particularly careful about packaging…

When it was a hardware manufacturer, Sega was often the company first to market with new technology. The Genesis (Mega Drive for non North American gamers) beat the Super Nintendo to market, the Sega CD beat the never released Super Nintendo CD, the 32X aggressively tried to make the 32 bit era begin early, the Saturn beget the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, and finally the Dreamcast arrived before the PlayStation 2 by over a year. When it came to the new mini consoles though, Sega was a laggard. I suppose you could credit the company with embracing this sort of plug and play retro gaming before the others as “flashback” systems have been at retail for years. Those releases were cheap though and the less said the better. Nintendo essentially saw what Sega was doing and decided to do it right when it released the NES Classic Edition in 2016 providing the blueprint for how these things should be done.

Sega saw the folly of its ways and for once decided to take things slow. The Genesis Mini was supposed to launch in 2018 and be yet another partnership with AtGames who had released the subpar Sega branded hardware already featured at retail. Sega understood the quality just wasn’t there, and the agreement between the two was either terminated or expired. Sega took development in-house, and also brought in M2 which had done the emulation for the well-received Sega Ages compilation. And thus Sega became a hardware manufacturer once again for the first time in nearly 20 years.

That’s quite a lineup.

The Sega Genesis Mini is the latest in the mini console wave of devices that is now in its fourth year of relevancy. It follows the NES Classic, the SNES Classic, Neo Geo Mini, and PlayStation Classic and precedes the upcoming TurboGrafx-16 Mini which will bring this mini console era into 2020. The Genesis has been the missing link as it was one of the most popular video game consoles of its time and was arguably more deserving of such a release than the likes of the Neo Geo and PlayStation. There was considerably less demand for it though and I attribute that to the poor AtGames releases which really harmed the Sega brand in recent years.

Sega and its Genesis console have become a bit of a punching bag over the years. Most remember the marketing surrounding the machine than the actual games themselves. Sega was willing to go the distance to get noticed and basically every 90s cliché one can dream of can be found in Genesis marketing material. It aggressively promoted itself against the Super Nintendo by toting “Blast Processing” and that Genesis does what Nintendon’t. These marketing promotions are laughed at now because most admit that the Super Nintendo is among the greatest gaming devices ever invented. It’s almost absurd to suggest that the Genesis was superior, even if those marketing gimmicks kept Sega in the lead in terms of sales for much of the 90s.

The size of these mini consoles will never not amuse me.

All of the retro silliness surrounding Sega these days tends to ignore the fact that the Genesis was pretty damn good in its own right. Sega was aggressive in acquiring licensed material for its machine and as a result the best selling Genesis titles tend to be not great. Those games overshadow the smaller releases that really were something special like Shining Force and Gunstar Heroes. Sega has either acknowledged that, or difficulties in getting those licensed games for its mini console has allowed the Sega Genesis Mini to function as a showcase for those forgotten gems. And the fact that the device comes packed with 42 games means there’s also plenty of room for Sonic.

If you have played one of the Nintendo mini consoles then you basically know what to expect with the Genesis Mini. It’s about half the size of the model one Genesis and comes with two controllers that connect via USB instead of the old Genesis pin connectors. The console looks great and it’s quite light because there’s really not a lot that needs to go into these things to make them functional. The device comes with an HDMI cable for hook-up to modern televisions as well as a USB to AC wall connector for power. The controller cables are about six feet long, which is neither good nor bad, and turning on the console brings you to a dashboard from which the games can be played. The Genesis Mini outputs an HD signal, but the quality of the emulation means there’s no input lag nor do the images look washed out. The games can be played in their native 4:3 aspect ratio, or zoomeded to 16:9 if you’re a monster. The games can also be played with a filter designed to mimic old scan lines if you choose, though I find the image to be darker and muddier as a result.

It’s comparison time! Apologies for not having the US version of the SNES Mini

The Sega Genesis Mini doesn’t really distinguish itself from what Nintendo did in terms of function, and that’s because it doesn’t need to. This is an appropriate way to make these games available in 2019 and the emulation is top-notch. The controllers themselves feel a touch off when compared with the real thing, but they function perfectly fine. It is a shame that Sega included the 3-button controller instead of the six (which Japan received), but I suppose it was done to coordinate with the original release of the Genesis. It’s also disappointing that Nintendo utilized its own proprietary connector on its consoles instead of USB so the extension cables I bought for my Nintendo consoles won’t help me here. Sega did at least include a menu shortcut in its software that is achieved by simply holding down the start butto, something Nintendo didn’t even do with its SNES Classic. Where Sega differentiates itself from Nintendo further is in the celebration of the little things. The Mini is not region locked, and you can even experience this software in Japanese if you wish. This is pretty cool with a game like Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, which was a re-skin of Puyo Puyo for the North American market. Changing the region to Japan actually changes Dr. Robotnik to Puyo Puyo, even though that game wasn’t even emulated for the Japanese release of the Mini.

A stacking shot because “hey, why not?”

By now you have likely also seen where Sega separated itself from the other retro consoles by making everything on the Genesis Mini semi-functional. That means the flaps on the cartridge socket work and the expansion port for the Sega CD is also present. These things don’t actually do anything, but it’s such a simple and appreciated touch. Sega has even gone way beyond the extra mile in Japan by releasing a mini Sega Tower. By that I mean you can actually purchase mini versions of the Sega CD, 32X, Sonic & Knuckles lock-on cartridge, and a mini cartridge of Sonic the Hedgehog to connect to your Genesis Mini. Again, these serve no functional purpose what so ever, but it’s Sega celebrating what it’s known for. If that silly thing does indeed earn a North American release, you can bet your ass I’ll be all over it.

I don’t have a model one Genesis, so this is the best I can do.

The Genesis Mini would be nothing without quality software, and here Sega has delivered as well. I previously ranked each game set for release and as I get reacquainted with these titles I see little reason to change those rankings. There are a few duds I won’t ever play, but mostly this is a collection of the best games available for the system as opposed to the most popular. I’m sure there are folks who will say something is missing. I know a lot of people were surprised to see no Sonic the Hedgehog 3 or Sonic & Knuckles, but it’s not like the hedgehog isn’t well represented as-is. I’m quite surprised that Mortal Kombat wasn’t included because of how important that game was for the Genesis, but I also can’t say I miss playing it as the game hasn’t aged particularly well. Licensing issues obviously prevented Sega from including one of the many well-received sports titles as well. And as Nintendo did with Star Fox 2 on its classic console release, Sega has included unreleased titles on this one as well including Monster World IV and Mega Man: The Wily Wars, games not sold at retail in North America. And as for games never released at all on the Genesis, there’s the Genesis version of Tetris and Darius.

And in case you were wondering, here is how the Mini compares with a Sega CDX.

All of this basically just means that Sega has gone out and released perhaps the best Mini console so far. The emulation is great and it’s packed with games that are still worth playing in 2019. Sega has also made sure to make this a fun release that celebrates both the Genesis and Sega as a whole. If you thought you didn’t need to experience the Genesis again then I encourage you to rethink that position.

Leave a comment | tags: 16 bit gaming, M2, mega drive, mini consoles, retro gaming, sega, sega genesis, sonic the hedgehog | posted in Video Games

September 20, 2019

The New Batman Adventures – “Cult of the Cat”

By Joe

cult of the cat Episode Number: 15 (100)

Original Air Date: September 18, 1998

Directed by: Butch Lukic

Written by: Paul Dini, Stan Berkowitz

First Appearance: Thomas Blake

For the one-hundredth episode of Batman: The Animated Series we’re getting a special team-up. As Batman has spent much of this season working alongside the likes of Batgirl and Robin, this episode will feature neither and at his side will be the seductive rogue, Catwoman (Adrienne Barbeau). Catwoman started off as a thief with a heart of gold in the first iteration of this show, but by its conclusion she had returned to her roots as just a thief with a fixation on cat-themed jewels and artwork. In The New Batman Adventures she has held onto that while sporting a new all black costume and matching black hair. In “You Scratch My Back,” she unsuccessfully tried to drive a wedge between Batman and Nightwing, but all that got her was another trip to jail. She’s out, and how she got out is a mystery, and up to her old tricks once again. Only this time she gets in a little over her head.

The episode begins with Catwoman fleeing someone through a hedge maze. She has just stolen a golden cat idol and seems quite pleased with herself, but she’s made a few new enemies in the process. Her pursuers basically resemble ninjas, only their all black attire includes cute little cat ears on top of their masks. They don’t look particularly fearsome, but they make up for that with weaponry. They carry fully-automatic guns and also sport claws that function just like Marvel hero Wolverine’s, they even pop-out with a little “snikt” sound too.

Have I mentioned I really hate Catwoman’s redesign?

Catwoman does her best to avoid these individuals, but their affection for cats goes beyond their costumes and artwork as they also employ a big ass panther. Catwoman comes face to face with the big cat in what would normally be an uncomfortable situation, but not for Catwoman. She sweet talks the feline and it soon abandons her to go after one of the cat-ninjas.

Catwoman has some Wolverine-like problems in this one.

Catwoman appears to be home free as she’s made it out of the compound and into the city, but gunfire soon drives her from the safety of Gotham’s buildings down to the street where she winds up surrounded. Deciding that living is better than possessing a priceless artifact, Catwoman offers to return the statue, but one of the ninja informs her the statue has been defiled now and only her blood can erase that. He menacingly does a Wolverine pose as Catwoman seems to shrug off the threat and returns to fleeing.

There are worse things one could find hiding in their car.

Elsewhere, Batman is doing his usual thing and has some crooks suspended from a street light ready for Gotham PD to come pick them up. He heads for the Batmobile and opens it up and is surprised to find a lounging Catwoman inside. She is her usual playful self while Batman plays the role of the stiff and drives off with Catwoman riding shotgun. She tells him she needs some help dealing with a problem, but Batman would rather take her to prison to ride out the heat. Some gunfire on the roof of the Batmobile indicates the severity of Catwoman’s predicament. Batman agrees to help her out, but only if she agrees to surrender everything she’s stolen. Catwoman is unwilling to make such a commitment, but Batman coaxes it out of her by slowing down the Batmobile.

The duo escape the cat people and make it to Catwoman’s hideout which appears to be a cat food factory. She’s got a computer set up inside and Batman uses it to show her just who wants her dead. It’s some cat cult which traces its roots back to ancient Egypt. They won’t rest until she’s dead. Catwoman seems unimpressed, but a red dot flashes across her head forcing Batman to pull her to safety. With the cultists descending upon the factory, Catwoman leads Batman to a way out via a furnace which is connected to a smokestack. Batman fires a grappling hook to escape, while Catwoman elects to use her claws to scale the brick wall. As she does so, Batman slowly retracts his rope to stay alongside her – how cute.

Maybe next time Catwoman won’t be so chatty when trying to escape.

The cultists break into the factory and rather easily figure out where their prey went, despite Catwoman thinking they’d never guess. One of the cultists orders another to turn on the gas and fire up the furnace. They do so, and Batman is forced to grab Catwoman to speed up their escape. As they emerge from the smokestack, the explosion causes Batman to lose Catwoman. He recovers on the roof and looks down to see the cultists placing an unconscious Catwoman on one of their motorcycles. They take off, save for one, who looks up to see Batman descending upon him which is where the episode cuts to commercial. I cannot recall another episode that cuts to commercial with Batman on the attack like that, usually that’s a play reserved for the villains.

Catwoman wakes up to find herself chained to an altar. Her captor emerges and we meet Thomas Blake (Scott Cleverdon), the leader of this cult. In the comics, Black is the villain known as Catman because every gendered hero and villain needs an opposite. Here he doesn’t appear to go by that name, but since he wears one of those dorky cat ninja suits I suppose the intent is there. Blake seems to admire Catwoman a bit, while a nameless female cultist (Tasia Valenza) clearly does not. She thinks they should dispose of the thief, though that doesn’t phase Catwoman. What does bother her is when the woman refers to her as a common thief which Catwoman corrects. Despite the protests of this woman, Blake thinks Catwoman can be converted to their side given her affection for the feline species and Catwoman is happy to go along with this.

I bet you didn’t know X-23’s first appearance was in a DC cartoon.

At the Batcave, the cultist Martin (Jim Piddock) wakes up on a ledge. Batman’s taunting voice booms from some nearby speakers demanding answers. Martin keeps quiet, causing Batman to share his favorite animal with the cat-lover. I’m assuming you can guess what that is. Batman’s deployed bats cause Martin to fall, but a grappling hook snares him by the ankle to prevent certain death. It’s at this point that Martin agrees to cooperate.

Back at the cult, Catwoman is shown to her quarters. It’s a spacious room that’s well-decorated. Blake seems interested in getting some alone time with Catwoman, but she indicates that she needs some rest and he takes his leave. Catwoman then grabs a pillowcase and starts filling it with some of the goods in the room, but she’s interrupted when Batman shows up. Batman wants to get her out of there, but Selina insists she’s got it under control. When he notices she’s casing the room, he starts to reprimand her and Catwoman goes into a dramatic routine where she plays the victim, crying that she needs help so that she’ll stop stealing. She even finishes the routine with a kiss, but Batman just seems irritated and asks if they can go now. And when he turns his back on her, Catwoman wallops him in the back of the head with her pillowcase full of goodies.

Thomas Blake has some Dr. Evil vibes.

Blake then comes storming in with some other cult members. He heard the commotion and is surprised to find an unconscious Batman on his floor. Catwoman explains what happened, and Blake is pleased. Telling her they need blood for their ritual, he orders his men to take Batman downstairs. Catwoman is confused and inquires about her own initiation and Blake says that won’t be necessary now claiming she’s proven her loyalty by supplying Batman. When she asks what will happen to him, Blake is coy and simply remarks that she’ll see.

Batman wakes up in a pit. It’s like a small-scale gladiator arena and the cultists are able to look down on him. Catwoman has swiped the seat of the female cultist who dislikes her, which seems to please Blake. Blake taunts Batman by displaying the caped crusader’s utility belt. He then introduces Batman’s opponent, a rather large genetically engineered saber-toothed cat.

She has a way with cats, big and small.

We’ve seen Batman dispatch of sharks, alligators, and other wildlife before, so this doesn’t seem that bad, but evidently I’m wrong. The cat lays into Batman tearing up his costume while exerting its dominance. It’s enough that Catwoman does the predictable thing and jumps in to help her sometimes foe. Batman is able to get on top of the beast, and with Catwoman’s help, steers it into a column which gets smashed up pretty well. The beast then gets in Catwoman’s face, but just like before, Catwoman is able to seemingly tame the critter and it licks her. At Catwoman’s command, it jumps out of the pit to go after the cultists, forcing them to run. Catwoman asks Batman for help in getting out of the pit, but he’s not in a trusting mood. She insists she’s trustworthy and that once out she’ll help him out and Batman is forced to go along with it. After he gives her a boost out, the camera lingers on Batman just long enough to put doubt into his mind, before a rope comes dangling down.

This is quite possibly the most beat up we’ve seen Batman get in this series.

With Batman free from the pit, the two make a run for it, but Blake jumps out from behind some cover and slashes at Batman’s back with those Wolverine claws. Batman turns and we can see his costume has been ripped open, but no blood has been spilled. He then engages with Blake while the female cultist emerges with a torch and tries to attack Catwoman. She’s able to deftly parry the cultist causing her to plummet into the pit and fall unconscious. Batman is also able to get the upper hand against Blake, but the big old cat from earlier re-emerges. Batman looks around and can’t find Catwoman, so he instead uses a commanding voice to halt the beast. Whether it worked or not is hard to say, but the cat turns its attention on Blake. The two fall back into the pit with the cat landing on Blake. Batman looks down as the two slip into unconsciousness.

Another hard night’s work has come to an end.

The police are then shown rounding up the other cult members while Blake is being wheeled around on a stretcher hooked up to a ventilator. Batman is seated in the back of an ambulance all bandaged up as Commissioner Gordon (Bob Hastings) returns his belt. Gordon remarks that the big cat is going to the zoo while the cult members are off to jail. Batman supposes there’s enough stolen goods in the place to convict them, and Gordon agrees but also remarks that there’s less in there than would be expected. Batman reacts subtly to this statement indicating he knows why the haul may be a bit light. We then cut to Paris, and Selina Kyle is shown surrounded by jewels as she presents her beloved cat Isis with a couple of dinner choices. She stretches out on her large bed as she remarks to Isis that being on the side of the virtuous has its perks.

And that is the last we’ll see of Catwoman in this one. She’ll resurface in the short “Chase Me” which is basically just a fun little piece of animation that’s free of dialogue. It’s an interesting exit for Catwoman as she’s one of the rare villains who seemingly got away with one and is leading a happy life of crime far from Gotham. She has a hard to shake compulsion though so it’s safe to assume she’ll one day return to Gotham to mess with Batman and his allies, we just won’t be there to see it. It closes the book on her character though, which went from villain to anti-hero back to villain again. The ending here with her musing about being an ally to the law in a small way I suppose opens the door to assuming she might return to the anti-hero persona, but I think it’s just the playful side of her character coming out. She’s a thief and proud of it and nothing is going to change that. I definitely prefer the playful thief to the directionless Selina we saw for much of BTAS, and if any villain was going to get away, it makes sense for it to be Catwoman.

“Cult of the Cat” is an entertaining team-up between Batman and Catwoman that remains logical throughout. Batman never really allows himself to get duped by Catwoman, though he does make the mistake of turning his back to her in that one scene. Even though he gets her to agree to his terms in order to assist her, I never got the impression he expected her to actually abide by such. Had he been able to keep better track of her during his fight with Blake, I get the impression he would have either just arrested her or tailed her to her hideout where the goods are kept. It could have been interesting seeing Batman deceive Catwoman, but he basically already did that in her last appearance so it may have felt too similar.

As for Blake and the others, we’ll never see them again either. The cat cult was pretty silly, but not offensively so. I’m surprised their claws were made so similar to Wolverine’s as it’s impossible to separate the two, though ultimately it matters little. The female cultist is revealed at the end of the initial chase sequence and when she pulls off her mask I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to know who she is. She resembles Red Claw a bit, which made it more confusing, but in the end she’s a nobody. When she’s sporting those claws though she’s a dead-ringer for Marvel’s X-23 character, so much so that I’d have called her a rip-off if she didn’t predate that character’s first appearance by several years.

This is the last we’ll see of Selina in the main series. I think she did all right for herself in the end.

“Cult of the Cat” may be remembered for being Catwoman’s final appearance, but it’s also quietly a contender for best Catwoman episode. Her episodes are not the greatest, so the competition is surprisingly light. I think I prefer “You Scratch My Back” to this one though, and she’s actually pretty fun in “Batgirl Returns.” Obviously, if we consider a Catwoman episode to being any episode in which she makes an appearance then the clear answer is “Almost Got ‘Im,” but I don’t think of that as a Catwoman episode. Given this one is even in the discussion though makes it a worthy exit for the femme fatale. I think the show could have done more with the character which is why I’ll miss her.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this is not only the 100th episode of Batman but also post number 600 for this blog. If you actually count all of the published entries you would find it totals less than 600, but that’s because you’re not reading them in the order written. A weekly Batman post plus 25 days of Christmas coming in December means I have to schedule things in advance. And while I initially planned on doing something special to mark the occasion of 600 blog entries part of me felt it made sense for it to be a Batman post given the presence the show has had on this blog for over two years now. And then when I saw it matched up with the 100th episode of the show it became a no-brainer, so thanks to those who have read and continue to read these things. I do it for fun and welcome any who want to take this journey with me.

1 Comment | tags: 100th episode, adrienne barbeau, batman, catman, catwoman, dc comics, scott cleverdon, tasia valenza, thomas blake | posted in batman the animated series, Comics, Television

September 13, 2019

The New Batman Adventures – “Critters”

By Joe

batman critters Episode Number: 14 (99)

Original Air Date: September 18, 1998

Directed by: Dan Riba

Written by: Joe R. Lansdale, Steve Garber

First Appearance: Farmer Brown, Emmylou Brown

A few weeks ago we looked at the episode “The Ultimate Thrill,” in which I pointed out a little easter egg of sorts during one of the chase sequences. This is the episode where that bit of foreshadowing pays off, not that it’s anything momentous. That episode contained a truck branded by a Farmer Brown, and this week we shall meet that farmer. It’s a bit odd, as the episode seems to indicate that Farmer Brown has been out of business for awhile so I don’t know why that truck was on the road, but then again, there’s no real timeline in play here so maybe a whole year has passed since that episode for all we know. Anyway, this is a bit of an odd one, so strap yourself in.

The episode opens at yet another expo of some kind. A southern gentleman is pitching his new product to a crowd of onlookers. The man is Farmer Brown (Peter Breck), a mulleted old man with a young daughter named Emmylou (Dina Sherman). He has the aura of a quaint, humble, farmer, but he’s really more of a scientist. And the product he is hawking is a growth hormone for farm animals. To show off his creation he unveils an animal from his farm, some sort of sheep-cow hybrid. It doesn’t look like something I would want to eat, but then again, what animal does?

Ladies and gentlemen, the future of livestock!

The ‘roided up super animal predictably goes on a bit of a rampage. Lucky for the onlookers, Bruce Wayne is at this expo. When the animal approaches him, he’s able to pull a curtain off a window and drape it over the animal’s head. The beast begins to calm, and Brown is able to subdue it further with some nice drugs. He seems to think all is fine now, as Wayne receives congratulations from Commissioner Gordon (Bob Hastings) for his bravery, but he insists he was just trying to climb through the window. We then cut to a courtroom scene, and all is not well for old Farmer Brown. The judge (Dorian Harewood) is not a fan of Brown’s experiments, and he orders them to cease and for all of the mutant animals to be removed from Gotham City. Brown insists this will ruin him as he’s sunk millions into these beasts, but the judge doesn’t care referring to his creations as monsters. As the courtroom clears, Brown remarks to his daughter he’ll show them real monsters.

Considering how badly his date was going, this probably feels like a win for Bruce.

A time jump of one year follows and naturally it’s time for Farmer Brown to make good on his threat. Wayne is shown seated with a woman he’s on a date with. He apologizes for having to previously reschedule their date, and then calls her by the wrong name. He tries a few other names, but clearly he’s not finding the proper one. Before he can drown further, someone screams about a bug and they’re not talking about your garden variety insect. Bruce turns to see a small army of giant praying mantis descending upon the outdoor patio. Bruce’s date beats a hasty retreat while he tries fending off the bug with a chair. It’s futile, but he is able to slip away.

It’s always good to insert a heroic pose of our star every now and then.

Which is a good thing because this is a job for Batman (the Orkin man was busy)! The bugs are causing all kinds of problems, and it looks like they may even claim a victim, but Batman is able to draw their attention to him. And lo and behold, a tanker truck full of pesticides just happens to be hanging around. Batman tries the stuff on the bugs, but it doesn’t seem to work. As one mantis gets in close, it takes a couple of swipes, but gets its blades stuck in the tanker truck. Batman gives it a good kick in the chest causing its arms to rip off. These things may be more fragile than first thought, but they still have Batman surrounded. That is, until they don’t as they all soon begin to crumble and fall apart.

At the Batcave, Batman is analyzing a piece of one of the bugs he brought back with him as Robin and Batgirl look on. He discovers the bugs were designed to fall apart, and when the others ask what purpose that would serve Batman deduces that these ones were a warning. The main event is still to come.

Getting a real “Andy’s room from Toy Story” vibe here.

Somewhere on an idyllic farm setting, Emmylou is hauling sacks of grain while her father carves wood on the porch. The setting is too perfect, and that’s by design. Farmer Brown instructs his daughter to feed the chickens for the livestock is heading to market. As he stands up to leave a sophisticated mechanical door opens behind him. He exits into a glass tube elevator which takes him out of this apparent underground farm while Emmylou heads for an oversized chicken coop. She feeds the birds, which come out and resemble giant, mutated, crows as opposed to chickens.

It’s not long before Brown’s creatures are set loose on Gotham. A giant cow and bull are having a good time downtown, but Batgirl and Robin soon arrive on the scene in the Batmobile. They take a pretty good shot from the bull indicating their hands are going to be rather full. Meanwhile, Batman is soaring overhead in his fancy jetpack as those weird crows attack a police blimp. They wreck the blimp, but the pilot is able to take it down onto a rooftop leaving Batman to deal with the vermin. As he goes after them, I’m pondering if his no kill policy applies to abominations. It would seem like now would be a good time to make use of any lethal weapons he might posses. And for a moment it looks like that might happen as he fires off a pair of missiles at the birds. They then explode into nets, perhaps confirming the no kill policy applies to all living creatures, abomination or not.

I hope they don’t let all of that barbecue chicken go to waste.

Batman takes care of the birds without much issue, but Robin and Batgirl have a tougher go of things. Batgirl is able to rope up the cow causing it crash into an area of wet cement, while Robin gets the bull to chase after him. He predictably does the whole matador routine before jumping through a window causing the bull to crash into the wall. His head goes through it trapping him in place. For good measure, Batgirl commandeers a cement mixer and parks it behind the bull to further make sure it’s not going anywhere.

In a darkened Gotham PD, a shadowy individual moves about the desks. Detective Bullock (Robert Costanzo) is typing up a report when his donut gets snatched by the shadow. In Gordon’s office, Batman is having a chat with the Commissioner about Farmer Brown, as he naturally believes him to be responsible for all of this. While the two talk, the shadowy individual enters the room. It’s a goat! And a weird looking one at that. It approaches Gordon’s desk and then does something unexpected – it talks. The goat wants 50 million bucks in exchange for not unleashing more bugs on Gotham. It gives Gordon instructions on where to make the drop, and insists that there be no involvement from Batman. Bullock then comes barging in about his stolen donut.

Batman has seen a lot of weird shit in his day, but even he must be surprised at this one.

Bullock is next shown driving an armored car as he follows the goat to the docks. He’s not in favor of this plan, but Gordon basically tells him to shut up. Batman, Batgirl, and Robin are in Gordon’s office with him listening to Bullock’s narrations, apparently respecting the wishes of the goat. The goat leads Bullock to a tugboat and he drives the armored car onto it before stepping out. Drawing his gun, he takes a look around and spies the backside of Emmylou up by the steering wheel. He seems to enjoy the view, and she turns her head to give him a little smile before the goat rams him over the side of the boat. As it takes off, Bullock demonstrates he’s a much better swimmer than one would assume given his physique as he swims alongside the boat and grabs a rope hanging over the side.

I feel like whenever a man has super strength in these shows, they get huge and bulgey. With a woman though, they’re always small and slight.

Bullock is presented to Farmer Brown on his farm. Emmylou is positioned holding him from behind as Farmer Brown looks on unimpressed. Bullock calls him Snuffy Smith, which was apparently a bad move as Brown tells his daughter to feed him to the hogs. Emmylou then demonstrates why Bullock has been restrained so easily when she effortlessly lifts the big man over her head and dumps him into the pigpen. As you probably expected, the pig inside this pen is not your average pig, but a giant, mutated, thing. And he’s hungry.

Farmer Brown inspects the contents of the armored truck and pulls out a stack of green. Literally, that’s all it is as bills after the top one are all fake. Worse for Brown is the Batman tracer he finds inside it. He alerts Emmylou, and basically on cue the Bat-troop arrives. They first rescue Bullock from the piggy, though he gets smashed into the fencing knocking him unconscious. Batgirl then attempts a diving kick on Emmylou, but harmlesly bounces off of the young lady. Boasting she’s taken “big steroids,” Emmylou knocks Batgirl out.

Batman basically meets his match in Farmer Brown, something I didn’t see coming.

Batman is left to tangle with Brown who arms himself with a pitchfork. He’s pretty good with the thing as he uses it to first fend off Batman and then to jab at him. Robin tries to sneak up behind him, but the old man is a damn ninja and hears him coming swatting him away. Batman can’t get in any offense, but Brown is apparently sick of playing around. His pitchfork then basically turns into King Triton’s trident from The Little Mermaid as he shoots lighting at Batman from it. Batman takes cover behind some bales of hay and pulls out a batarang, but when he pops out to fire it he sees Emmylou has subdued Robin. Having no alternative, Batman surrenders and Farmer Brown wisely takes his belt from him.

The captives are then loaded up into a silo. Brown tells them it’s actually more of a rocket and it’s set to go off in a few moments. It’s then the heroes realize they’ll be riding to Gotham with some of Brown’s bugs as they’ll be unleashed upon the city once the rocket lands (I guess they’re considerably more durable than the other bugs we saw if they’re to survive a rocket crash-landing). Brown shuts the door and he and his daughter escape the farm to their boat.

Inside the rocket, Batman searches for a way out, but the door won’t budge. Interestingly, Batgirl and Robin were allowed to keep their belts indicating to me they’re more of a fashion accessory than a utility belt. Bullock seems to enjoy pointing out what we’re all thinking, that it won’t be the Joker or Two-Face that gets Batman but Jed Clampett and his bugs. One of the cocoons above them hatches, and a giant mantis emerges. This is actually a good thing, as Batman lures the bug towards the door and basically does what he did the first time he encountered one of these things. When the bug gets its blades stuck in the door, it rips the door off trying to get itself free. Everyone is then able to escape and Batman orders them all to leave the farm as he heads for the armored truck. He drives the thing into the rocket silo as it takes off. At the last moment, Batman is able to roll out of the way and seek shelter in a ditch of sorts.

Only the woman is allowed to smile.

In Gotham Harbor, Farmer Brown and Emmylou watch the silo launch from the safety of their tugboat. As it arcs over the water Brown remarks how “purdy” it looks. The silo then explodes caused by the burning truck Batman deposited into it. As it breaks apart, the debris falls and lands on the boat forcing Brown and his daughter into the water while the good guys look on. The duo is then shown being loaded into a police truck as they were apparently easily found. As the truck takes them away, the camera pans to Brown’s lab which is situated on an island and some monstrous noises can be heard indicating this isn’t over.

This episode is though. And if you’re worried that Gotham PD just left those creatures to their own devices well worry not, because they aren’t coming back. And Brown and Emmylou aren’t either, which likely disappointed no one. It’s always a bit odd to me when an episode of Batman turns to some no-name, odd, made-up villain like we have here. There are so many Batman stories to draw inspiration from if not outright copy, and yet we sometimes end up with episodes like this one. “Critters” isn’t awful, but I can’t say I ever wanted to watch Batman go up against a mad scientist farmer. As Bullock astutely pointed out, it would be ludicrous for such a villain to defeat Batman so there just aren’t any stakes when a cornball villain is in town. Plus we’re forced to endure some terrible Robin puns along the way.

It probably surprises no one that this is not a beloved episode in the series. Surprisingly, it does receive an audio commentary on the DVD and Blu Ray release of the show and director Dan Riba and writer Paul Dini both try to defend the episode, but aren’t particularly convincing. After spending so much time writing and directing a grim and serious hero like Batman I don’t begrudge these guys for doing something lighter. I also don’t have to like it though. There are comedic episodes in this show, despite its reputation, and plenty that are done better than this one.

If you like “Critters” then good for you. Like I said, it isn’t terrible, but it’s definitely towards the back end of this show for me. And at this stage with so few episodes remaining, anytime a villain like Farmer Brown shows up is going to feel like a missed opportunity. Oh well.

1 Comment | tags: batman, dc comics, dina sherman, farmer brown, peter breck, the new batman adventures | posted in batman the animated series, Comics, Television

Recent Activity
Categories
Categories
Vital Signs
- 698,686 hits
Search
Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:

Join 306 other subscribers

The Nostalgia Spot

Author Archives: Joe

Share this:

Share this:

What got you into blogging?

What’s been your favorite thing to blog about?

If you could date one fictional character, who’d it be?

What’s your all time favorite show? Or video game?

What’s your favorite show from the 2010s?

What are you looking forward to the most in 2020?

If you could have any fictional power, what would you want?

What’s been your favorite anime recently? For non-anime fans, you can say cartoon

If you could travel to a fictional universe, which one would you want to go to?

What was your favorite cartoon/anime growing up?

Beef or chicken?

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Recent Activity

Categories

Vital Signs

Search

Email Subscription