The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Superman: The Animated Series

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 44

New Kids in Town

 

Two Brainiac episodes in a row, that can be redundant and boring but not in this case.  This episode is another great story.  Brainiac from the 30^th century travels back in time to John Connor (T2) a young Clark Kent (kill him before he becomes Superman).  The Legion of Super-Heroes follow Brainiac in an effort to stop time from unraveling.  The legion members we are treated to are Cosmic Boy (Chad Lowe), Saturn Girl (Melissa Joan Hart), and Chameleon Boy (Jason Priestley).   That is some star power line-up for a standalone Superman episode. 

 

Young Clark Kent already has some powers that he’s showing off like an arrogant teenager might.  Lana Lang isn’t cool with his behavior.  Brainiac shows up and tries to kill Kent.  The Legion of Super-Heroes shows up and save Clark, Brainiac takes off.  The Legion provides insight into Clark’s future. Clark freaks out and runs away, he heads to his home and explains to his parents what’s happening.  Lana is there too.  Brainiac shows up and tries to kill everyone.  He makes the farm machinery attack everyone.  Which doesn’t really make sense because this is the 1970s or 1980s and that type of tech wasn’t in automobiles then.  Brainiac might have been able to take over the radio or lights on a car but to control a machine which has no microchips makes no sense.  Vehicles didn’t start getting computer stuff until maybe the 1990s.  Really expensive vehicles might have had them in the 1980s but that’s nothing the Kent’s could afford.  Perhaps he used nanites or something…

 

With the help of the Legionnaires, Clark destroys Brainiac by pressing his teleporter belt and zapping him into the sun.  He dies a horrible robot death in classic DCAU fashion.  Saturn Girl mind whammy’s the entire town so they think it was a storm.  It’s like it never happens, not as terrible as an “it was all a dream” trope.  But it’s close.  

 

The episode and Terminator 2 plot work so well, none of the other tropes matter.  It’s exciting, has action, you get to see a young Clark Kent, you get to see the Legion of Super-Heroes!  It’s episodes like this that make Superman on par and almost (I stress almost) beat Batman: the Animated Series.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers 4

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Superman: The Animated Series

 Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 43

Knight Time

 

A crossover episode that rivals World’s Finest and told in only one episode.  Batman is missing and Superman goes to investigate.  He comes across Robin (Tim Drake) and agrees to pretend to be Batman to assist in quelling a crime spree which cropped up from Batman’s absence.  The brilliance of the story is Superman getting a view on how Batman operates is.  Through the episode we see Robin talk Superman through Batman’s methods.  His stealth, intimidation, overall persona.  

 

While questioning the Penguin, Robin coaches Superman on how to scare the answers out of the villain. Superman’s appeal to common decency doesn’t work on villains like the Penguin but he does respond to fear. Through their investigation they learn Batman’s rogues are trying to capitalize on his absence.  Super-Bat shows up and makes easy work of the rogues.  He seems to have a little trouble with Bane but that’s only because Superman is careful not hurt people, so finding the right amount of force to use takes precision and Bane has some heft to him.  If Superman goes to hard he can kill someone.  Punching someone weak like The Riddler is a light tap, finding the right balance for Bane needs adjusting.  

 

Super-Bat and Robin question the Mad Hatter and trace a bunch of nanites (microscopic robots) to a Wayne Tech facility.  The duo head there and discover Bruce but he’s under a mind whammy.  It’s then discovered Brainiac is the villain behind everything.  He got onto the Wayne Enterprises computer system after the Wayne Enterprises/Lex Corp attempted team-up in World’s Finest.  Brainiac has been floating around the Lex Corp system since Stolen Memories and Ghost in the Machine.  Luckily this is the last time Brainiac is regurgitated as hiding in a computer system to cause the head of billion dollar corporation problems.  

 

Brainiac is building a rocket to get off the planet and resume his destroy all life in the universe plan.  Super-Bat confronts Brainiac and Brainiac blows him up.  He’s then revealed to really be Superman which Brainiac is confused about.  They have an all out fight.  Brainiac is annihilated in the worst way possible because they love to kill robots in the most graphic ways in the DCAU.  The nanites all die and Bruce Wayne’s mind whammy goes away.  Superman warns Wayne that Brainiac might have back-up files and Wayne promises to make certain everything is purged.  

 

As Superman leaves he compliments Bruce on having an amazing partner which is surprising since he’s such a loner.  This episode is as much a Superman episode as it is a Tim Drake - Robin episode.  Robin coaches Superman on all of Batman’s methods.  He’s a solid balance to the sulky Batman.  Robin can easily make the more optimistic Super-Bat smile, to the confusion of Batman’s rogues.  Batman would never smile.  

 

The brilliance in character interactions in this episode are interstellar! It’s an episode that explores Superman, Batman, Robin’s characters in such small runtime.  Batman’s rogues are the perfect characters to play off all these personalities.  An absolute can’t miss.

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers 5

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Superman: The Animated Series

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 42

Where There's Smoke

It’s back to basics in this episode.  After following Apokolips…Now! and Little Girl Lost it’s tough to get back to regular episodes.  Volcana is a run of the mill villain with a tragic backstory. Superman convinces her to turn away from her life of crime and saves her from rogue government agents who want to exploit her firepower. No complaints, it’s a fine episode, Volcana is not a particularly tough adversary for Superman though.  He’s impervious to fire.  Making it a personal story about her was a smart idea. 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

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The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 19

Legends of the Dark Knight

 

Might receive some hate for this opinion but this episode is just okay.  It tells three different versions of Batman via kid’s imaginations and even takes a deserved potshot and Joel Schumaker.  There were only so many episodes in the order number and they wasted a story which could have been devoted to something else.  Each sub-story is enjoyable enough.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

The New Batman Adventures

Stereomatic - You Spin Me Right Round (Like A Record)

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The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 18

The Demons Within

 

Etrigan appears, quite an odd selection for a crossover.  Bruce Wayne takes Tim Drake to an art auction and sees Jason Blood get into a bidding war with Klarion over a branding iron.  Bruce Wayne steps in and over bids for it to win the auction and gives it to Jason Blood.  

 

Jason Blood is a former knight of King Arthur who is immortal and cursed with the demon Etrigan.  Jason Blood turns into Etrigan and together they fight mystic baddies.  They are separate personalities sharing the same body or something.  At some point he befriended Batman.  

 

Klarion is demon who’s eternally a child.  He’s a spoiled brat who uses his magic cat to steal the branding iron then uses its magic to separate Etrigan from Jason Blood.  As Jason Blood is gradually aging Klarion is using Etrigan to do lame boring stuff.  

 

Batman steps in and fights Kalrion and the cat Teekl.  He gets the iron back and returns Etrigan and Jason Blood as one.  Etrigan then roughs up Klarion and sends him away.  

 

Etrigan pops up again as a main player in a Justice League episode while they are fighting Morgan Le Fay.  He is shown in Justice League Unlimited but not focused on.  A solid introduction to the character.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

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The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 17

Old Wounds

 

The story about how Nightwing gave up being Robin.  A solid gap filler story which is told via a flashback between BtAS and TNBA.  Dick Grayson is still Robin and just graduated college.  He’s going it on his own via a trust he received from the circus after the death of his parents.  He has a relationship with Barbara Gordon.  

 

Batman and Robin are chasing down a plan Joker is hatching.  Batman starts interrogating a man named Connor at his home in front of his family.  Connor is totally guilty.  Robin is feeling ways about it going down in front of Connor’s family.  Batman gets pissed, Robin takes off.  

 

Dick Grayson visits Barbara Gordon late that night.  She sleeps in an outfit similar to what Lois Lane wears at night.  It must be the bedtime style in the DCAU.  Or the creators might have a festish.  Grayson is vaguely complaining about the situation to Gordon.  She goes to Bruce Wayne to try and mediate.  Wayne decides to reveal their identities to her.  He already knows she’s Batgirl.  Conveniently the Joker’s plan is revealed.  He has a radar jammer which disrupts commercial fights and can cause them to crash.  Batman is super bent on stopping it from happening and recruits Batgirl to help since Robin is MIA. 

 

Robin shows up in the middle of the fight.  Lots of cool action happens.  He learns that Bargirl is Barbara Gordon.  He gets pissed at Batman for not telling him and totally punches him in the face.  He then takes off.  Back in the present he’s hanging out with Tim Drake and they come across Connor.  During the conversation they learn Bruce Wayne hooked him up with a job after a string of bad luck which caused him to bump heads with Batman.  Nightwing gets a new appreciation for Bruce Wayne.  

 

It’s a nice Dick Grayson story and origin for Nightwing.  It also shows that the mullet is unneeded.  The Dick Grayson/Robin revamp isn’t horrible which means they just screwed it up when giving him the mullet.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Stereomatic - Cars

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The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 16

Animal Acts

 

Animals are committing crimes, Dick Grayson traces it back to his circus origins.  It turns out the Mad Hatter is controlling the animals via his special mind control tech.  Nightwing, Batman, and Robin thwart his plans.  The world is a little safer.  It’s a fine episode.  Looking back at Nightwing’s origin is fine.  It seemed to be a go-to because they perhaps didn’t know where to take the character.   He was Batman’s sidekick in BtAS and now he’s an adult trying to carve out his new identity.  Tim Drake fills the roll as spunky sidekick now.  While the creators didn’t screw-up Nightwing, episodes devoted to him lacked epic story telling like Robin’s Reckoning.  Robin’s Reckoning is an extremely high bar of story telling though. 

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers Aeroplane

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

 

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 15

Cult of the Cat

 

Catwoman is being chased endlessly by a cult of cat worshipers for stealing from them.  She enlists Batman’s help to stop them because they will not give up attacking her.  Batman feels ways about Catwoman but ultimately gets wrapped up in her situation.  

 

Catwoman gets captured and convinces the cult to let her become a member.  Batman bust in to help her escape but as the cult is arriving to indoctrinate her she knocks Batman out.  They throw him in an arena to be a sacrifice for a giant cat who was probably made by Farmer Brown.  

 

Catwoman gets involved and somehow befriends the giant cat and turns it against the cult.  Antics ensure.  Batman and Catwoman win out.  The police arrive and bust the cult but Commissioner Gordon says they don’t have as many stolen goods as a person would think.  Cut-to Selena Kyle in Paris with a ton of jewels, enjoying her spoils. 

 

France has no extradition for French citizens which makes us wonder if Selina Kyle is a French citizen. Her just hiding out there wouldn’t be enough; she would be extradited if not a citizen.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers California

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

 

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 14

Critters

 

Not sure what to say about this episode.  It’s not a standard episode and the change creates some appreciation but it’s weird. It’s a weird episode.  This guy Farmer Brown makes genetically altered animals which Gotham shuts down because you can’t make mutant animals.  Years later he decides to get revenge on the city by releasing more mutant animals to destroy the city.  Batman and friends get involved and stop him.

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers Californication

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 13

Mean Seasons

 

Another new villain called Calendar Girl (voiced by former model turned actress Sela Ward) appears.  It’s truly and enjoyable episode.  A former model is running around wrecking fashion shows.  She’s kidnapping people who ruined her life.  

 

During the investigation, Batman discovers Calendar Girl is really Page Monroe and she might be horribly disfigured under her mask after too many plastic surgeries.  As Batman tracks her down before getting her revenge against the people who ruined her life.  He stops her.  There’s a mechanical T-Rex for some reason.  A recycle from StAS, perhaps they didn’t want to make a new robot.   They stop her save the day.  The great twist at the end is when her mask is ripped off, she’s absolutely beautiful but thinks she’s horrendous looking.  An extreme version of body dysmorphia

 

There’s a nice theme in the story about aging and how to accept it gracefully.  Batman is getting older.  He has an employee who’s being forced into retirement who after the Calendar Girl incident changes the Wayne Enterprise policy to allow the man to keep working.  Not sure what Gotham City, NJ’s laws are about forced retirement but it probably wasn’t a legal policy to begin with.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers We're At The Bar And We're Drinking

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 12

Over the Edge

 

One of the best episodes in the entire Batman animated run! It’s so well done it doesn’t even matter it’s all a dream.  Barbara Gordon is hit with Scarecrow fear toxin and has a delusion which involves her dreaming about her own death.  Scarecrow knocks her off a skyscraper and she falls on top of her dad’s police car.  It’s graphically shown with blood, the impact is on full display.  It’s the most shocking visual the DCAU ever pulls off.   The graphic death of Barbara Gordon.  

 

From there Commissioner Gordon tries to arrest Batman.  He discovers via Barbara’s computer Batman is Bruce Wayne.  He leads an assault on Wayne Manner and the Batcave which is one of the most exciting chase sequences the series ever had.  

 

Batman and Robin manage to escape with the help of Nightwing.  Alfred is arrested. Nightwing goes to his place to gather supplies and gets captured. Batman knows it’s all over.  He tells Tim Drake to take off.  Since he’s just a kid, he won’t get in trouble.  

 

A few of Batman’s rogues hire shady lawyers to sue the billionaire Bruce Wayne now that they know his identity.  

 

Gordon is getting fired.  During the funeral he sets up a trap to capture Batman.  He lets Bane out of prison to capture Batman but it backfires.  Bane wants to kill Batman.  Gordon wants Batman arrested.  Bane double crosses Gordon, knocks Gordon over the side, leaving him to hang for dear life.  Batman agrees to a fight to the death between him and Bane.  Holy crap! 

 

Batman takes out Bane by tossing him into the Bat Signal and electrocuting him.  He probably died because you can apparently do anything in a dream sequence for an animated children's show.  Batman then goes to save Gordon who doesn’t want his help but convinces him to take his hand for Barbara’s sake.  As Batman is helping Gordon and possibly reconciling, Bane uses his last bit of strength to throw the Bat Signal at them, knocking them off the building to their eminent death.  At which point Barbara wakes up and we learn it’s all a dream.  

 

Barbara makes the decision to tell her dad she’s Batgirl.  Batman is cool with that because it’s her life.  She has a dinner with her dad and is about to tell her but he says she’s an adult who can make her own choices and he’s proud of her regardless.  He changes the subject and that’s that.  The creators say that Gordon knows she’s Batgirl and therefore doesn’t need to here it.  All we see is that she was about to tell him about a job, for all we know he thought she took up being a stripper.  Either way he doesn’t need to hear about her new job.  

 

The action is amazing, the story is twisted and dark.  It would have been the definitive episode of the series if the story was more than just a dream.  But since it was a dream, perhaps it allowed the creators to go all-in and do things they wouldn’t dare do to upset the status quo.  A great story. A great episode. 

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers 1

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 11

The Ultimate Thrill

 

Another new villain, Roxy Rocket.  She’s a thrill junky who robs for the excitement of it.  A former stunt girl who was eventually fired for doing stunts too dangerous.  She’s now addicted to Batman and keeps committing crimes to lure him in.  Batman’s solution is to give her the thrill of a lifetime.  It pushes the boundaries of children’s programing beyond anything that anyone would think was allowed.  Batman’s climactic battle with her is truly a double entendre.  How that got by censors is baffling.  

 

The Penguin appears in this episode as a club owner.  This isn’t first appearance but it’s worth mentioning he’s no longer a featured villain anymore.  He serves as a point man for other villains.  They fence their loot through him which is apparently a harder crime for Batman to bust.  Or perhaps Batman allows it because it’s a central hub for him to capture the bigger villains.  

 

Ultimately he serves a far more intimidating side villain than main villain.  While Penguin never gets his own episode in TNBA, his recurring role is truly an improvement from any of his BtAS appearances.  He’s a better villain, more enjoyable.  The show not only improved his look, they improved his character without actually changing the character.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers 2

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 10

Torch Song

 

We get the joy of a new Batman villain.  The episode is a bit lackluster though.  Garfield Lynns is obsessed with his ex-girlfriend and rock start Cassidy.  He does the pyrotechnics for her shows. She decides to fire him right before a concert but still has him do that shows pyrotechnics.  Because it’s always a great idea to give people you screw over access to things that can kill you immediately after that.  He tries to kill her and in the process almost burns the concert hall down.

 

Lynns is wanted by the police and transforms into the villain Firefly and his motif is fire (shocking).  He keeps trying to kill Cassidy, eventually kidnaps her.  He’s going to set the entire city on fire and run off with Cassidy. Batman is on the case though.  Batman shows up in a fireproof suit which can be used to sell more toys.  A fight breaks out.  Batman defeats him.  

 

Cassidy is with her agent and he’s trying to capitalize on her recent brush with death.  She now has a horrible fear of fire.  Her tour will likely feature light sequences in the future. 

 

There’s a subtle reference to a possible romance between Brue Wayne and Barbara Gordon.  Bruce is on a date with a young girl and Barbara sees him, shocked he’s into such things.  He’s really only going because his date’s into it and he can afford front row seats.  The exchange is subtle but there’s potential for a romance which is only ever stated as to have happened in Batman Beyond.  Never shown on screen.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers 3

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 9

Love is a Croc

 

Baby Dolls is the worst villain in Batman and combining her with Killer Croc did nothing to help it along.  Somehow Baby Doll is living a normal life as a motel clerk after serving minimal time for the kidnapping and attempted murder of at least three people in her origin episode.  It makes absolutely no sense.  Is the judicial system that horrible in Gotham City, NJ?

 

Anyway, she sees on the news that Killer Croc was arrested so she decides to break out her little girl bad guy persona and bust him out of jail.  Croc is a total jerk to her and absolutely does not want to hook up with her because he rightfully thinks it’s creepy.  

 

Baby Doll decides to level up and destroy everything by blowing up a nuclear power plant which is even too much for Croc.  Batman shows up and fights Croc.  At this point Croc is all over the place.  He’s fighting Batman but doesn’t want the power plant to blow up.  Baby Doll is the problem in this episode.  Croc is just doing what he does.  

 

The show couldn’t have Batman beating up a woman who looks like a child so they are painted into a corner with an inconsistent adversary.  Croc is there to up the action and give Batman someone to punch.  

 

As we stated when she first appeared, she sucked as a villain.  Giving her another episode is just torture.  Bringing Croc back could have been fun but he’s bot even consistent from the one we met in BtAS.  It’s one of the worst TNBA which as always, a bad Batman episode is still a high bar compared to others.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 8

Growing Pains

 

Another great Robin (Tim Drake) episode.  Robin comes across a runaway with amnesia, who’s connected to a violent criminal.  Batman wants to chase down evidence while Robin wants to go looking for the girl.  Robin runs off in anger while Batman investigates clues.  

 

Robin finds the girl and names her Annie.  Robin clearly has a crush on her and as they try to outrun her father her memories start to return.  She realizes she’s part of Clayface who sent her out to investigate if it was safe for him to wander around.   Calyface has reformed thanks to chemical pollution in the water. She lost her memory and Clayface is trying to reclaim Annie as his piece of now sentient clay.  

 

He reconsumes her into himself which upsets Robin who starts fighting him.  Robin demands he bring her back but Clayface states it’s not possible.  At which point Robin starts raining acid on Clayface which can actually kill him.  Batman arrives after having determined what the situation is via his detective skills and stops Robin from finishing the job.  

 

Clayface is somehow knocked out in an explosion and as he’s being taken away in a special container.  Gotham PD lists charges against him which is robbery and stuff like that, forgetting the part where he pretended to be Bruce Wayne or the attempted murder of Roland Dagget which shouldn’t have a statute of limitation or at least one that short.  Eventually Robin utters murder should also be on the list for taking Annie away.  It’s a bleak ending and a great Robin episode.  

 

BtAS took Clayface’s character as far as it could go.  Making him a villain who pushes Robin’s story along is brilliant.  He’s truly menacing and it was the setup for a nice twist.  The best part is Annie is seen in a list of missing children images in a Batman Beyond episode.  An awesome and obscure callback that fleshes out the DCAU.

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

The Great Botchini

Watch Long Island's greatest magician premiere his skills at the Somerset Brewery in West Hempstead.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 7

Joker’s Millions

 

The Joker inherits a fortune from a gangster who died, buys his way to freedom, finds out he’s been tricked, refuses to admit it, tries to commit a crime to salvage his reputation, and payoff the IRS.  It’s solid Joker episode, actually more lighthearted than prior stories.  

 

There isn’t much depth to the story but anyone who likes the Joker will like this episode.  It’s got solid gags, a great scene where Bruce Wayne references World’s Finest by being tossed off a building via the Joker.  The ending is amazing with Harley Quinn in the back of the police van, torturing Joker at the end.  She probably shoved that baton up his butt…

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers 6

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible. Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 6

Never Fear

 

The amount of awesome in this episode is exponential.  Batman gets hit with a toxin by Scarecrow which removes his fear.  Since he’s Batman it doesn’t put him in peril.  He’s an ultra badass whose danger meter is off the charts.  

 

When he first gets hit with the gas he runs into a lake filled with viscous alligators and you think he’s dead but in fact he killed those alligators with his bare hands.  He then recruits Robin to investigate where the scarecrow is and what his plans are.  He flies like a psycho through Gotham which freaks Robin out.  It also serves to sell a bunch of toys for the new Batwing.  During Batman’s interrogation of a Scarecrow goon, he almost kills the guy.  This sets off Robin’s alarms.  

 

Robin immobilizes Batman and decides to stop Scarecrow on his own.  Batman almost talks Robin into letting him go but over plays the part.  At which point Robin is in a cave/subway system sneaking onto a train as Scarecrow plans to administer the gas to commuters during rush hour.  He sees an inhaler cure and attacks Scarecrow and almost takes him down until a goon sneaks up behind Robin and knocks him out.  

 

Batman of course, has busted out of his bonds, shows up, and is kicking everyone’s ass.  He makes his way to Scarecrow and the fight is pretty rough.  Robin finds the inhaler and uses it on him.  Batman gets his fear back.  He tells Robin to get off the train which about to run off a cliff (in an underground cave…) and promises to save an unconscious Scarecrow.   The episode wraps up with Batman telling Robin he made the right calls and that a little fear is a good thing.  

 

It’s one of Tim Drake, Robin’s best episodes.  He’s magnificent in the story.  All his decisions are spot on.  He makes tough choices and saves the day in the end.  DCAU has made a worthy successor to Dick Grayson, perhaps a better character in some respects.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers 8

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible.  Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 5

You Scratch My Back

 

The Nightwing centric episode.  It’s actually really well done once you get to the end. Without the ending the episode would be really crappy.  Nightwing (the original Robin) doesn’t want Batman’s help when busting bad guys.  Catwoman pops in and is manipulating Nightwing for her purposes.  We are made to think Nightwing is a stubborn douche who is putting himself in danger. Well it turns out it was all a scam to bust the bad guys and Catwoman.  Way awesome twist.  Nightwing welcomes the help from Batman and Batgirl and they are a happy crime fighting team.  The character development is spot on.  The entire episode is a nice vibe in the end.

 

The best moment is when Nightwing is chasing a thug and the thug bumps into Batman and scares the crap out of him.  Batman is just standing there and lets the thug go knowing Nightwing wants to do it on his won.  The pure fear the bad guy feels when seeing Batman is brilliant.  The entire animated sequence is done so perfectly from the scare, to the hesitation, and eventual running.  TNBA might have made mistakes on character design but they could still tell an amazing story with just visuals.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Red Hot Chilli Poppers 7

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible.  Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 4

Double Talk

 

He had to make an appearance and as far as episode choices go it could have been worse.  The Ventriloquist is deemed sane and released from Arkham.  He gets a job at Wayne Enterprises (because Bruce Wayne believes in rehabilitation).  Scarface’s old gang wants their leader back and starts harassing The Ventriloquist until he has a mental break and Scarface returns.  Antics ensue and The Ventriloquist flips out killing Scarface himself.  

 

Batman is truly a side character in this story, which always crafted some of the best BtAS episodes.  It’s probably the best Scarface episode.  Since we’re not fans of the characters we’re glad this was his last featured appearance.  He does pop up again in the DCAU but it’s in an alternate universe in a Justice League episode and actually a welcomed sight to see a bunch of Batman’s rogues.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Black Circle - Bulls on Parade

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible.  Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 3

Cold Comfort

 

The show always did Mr. Freeze episodes right and this is no exception.  Mr. Freeze is destroying people’s life’s work for no discernable reason.    Well it turns out he’s pissed off at the world because the condition that makes him Mr. Freeze has caused his body to decay off.  He’s now just a head.  His plan is to destroy anything people love since he can never have that happiness again.  Freeze plans to destroy Gotham since that is what Batman loves.  It’s a twisted turn from Deep Freeze where he actually saved Gotham from Walt Disney.  Since the ending of Sub Zero where his wife was saved, she got tired of waiting for him to return and married her doctor.  Dude really had nothing to live for.  Batman stops him but it’s implied he survives.  

 

This episode aired before the release of the Sub Zero movie but takes place after it.  That’s why it’s important to follow our DCAU viewing order.  It’s not about release date or chronology.  It’s about capturing the best story experience for the entire DCAU. 

 

This is a great episode and a twisted dark take on the evolution of a character who was more sympathetic.  He’s become so warped from his quest for revenge that Batman must stop him at all cost.  A great moment in the show is when Mr. Freeze points out the new family Bruce Wayne tries to create in the absence of his parents.  The choice to try and kill Alfred over a child is also a nice touch.  Mr. Freeze is a really bad but but only like 90% evil. 

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com