#39
Directed Kevin Altieri
Written by Paul Dini
Story by Bruce Timm & Paul Dini
The follow-up to Heart of Ice is an over-the-top adventure that's essentially a Moonraker/Bioshock plot with Batman characters. Victor Fries is sprung from prison by an evil Walt Disney-type who wants to recreate the conditions that cursed Victor with pseudo immortality so that he too may live forever in Oceania, a private utopia he's constructed over the sea to harbor the world's best and brightest people. After he wipes out the rest of humanity, of course. See? It's big and bizarre but a lot of fun, much like the vibe from the episode Showdown. It doesn't come close to the same level of emotional impact as Heart of Ice, but Deep Freeze amps up the action and has robots. Lots of them.
#38
Directed by Boyd Kirkland
Written by Paul Dini
The episode begins with a completely miserable Selina trying and failing to fit in with high-society types like Veronica Vreeland. She can't stand it! She's an adrenaline junky who needs the thrill of stealing things that aren't hers and seducing a man she can't have. Soon enough she gets a job offer from Scarface, who she laughs at initially because, well, it's Scarface, but ultimately she slips into the catsuit for one more heist. It's a beautifully scored and animated episode that finally gives us an answer to whether Catwoman can finally turn her back on crime and maybe even start a life with Bruce. Paul Dini writes the best Catwoman episodes and no episode dissects her character as well as Catwalk. Ventriloquist and Scarface are just an added bonus.
Just an FYI, every Scarface episode will end with a grizzly death for the doll swiftly followed by Arnold Wesker weeping like a baby. Why is that? While the folks at BTAS got away with A LOT, they still had censors breathing down their neck at all times. Scarface, however, being an inanimate object, does not fall under the same standards and practices as the usual henchman or supervillain. This allowed the animators the freedom to draw any gruesome end the writers could imagine. And so they did just that.
#37
Directed by Frank Paur
Written by Michael Reaves
Vendetta was a Bullock episode too, but he was largely overshadowed by the inclusion of Killer Croc. This time there's no crocodile-man to distract us from the surly detective, and it's a good thing because his life is at risk. Someone wants Bullock dead and as much as he hates it, he might need Batman's help to find out who's trying to kill him. It's almost a perfect shot-for-shot/panel-for-panel adaptation of Detective Comics #651 by Chuck Dixon & Graham Nolan (much of the dialogue is even lifted from the book), and the jazzy score from Harvey R. Cohen does wonders to add to the episode's noir atmosphere. If you want to relax to a BTAS episode with a good detective story, this is a fine one. And voice actors Robert Costanzo and Jeffrey Jones are outstanding in this.
Lastly, not to keep making the same "Can you believe this was a children's show?!" joke, but this episode brings up crack cocaine quite. A. Bit.
#36
Directed by Boyd Kirkland
Written by Gerry Conway
Here's what the program block on Fox Kids! was like on your average weekday afternoon: Tom & Jerry, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and then to cap it all off we have elderly doctor Leslie Thompkins and a plot centered on urban development and gentrification! Incredible.
In this adaptation of Denny O'Neill's "There is No Hope in Crime Alley!" Roland Daggett (originally intended to be Batman Returns' Max Shrek) hires an arsonist to burn Park Row (AKA Crime Alley) to the ground to make way for a brand-new shopping center. As if Batman wasn't already suspicious about Daggett's intentions, the industrialist chooses to make his move on Crime Alley the very night our hero pays his annual visit to the site where his parents were murdered. The whole neighborhood is in chaos, Leslie Thompkins is missing, and there's a bomber on the loose.
It's a high stakes episode that introduces us to Bruce's surrogate mother and forgoes flashy super villains for real world problems. It's an episode that shows us just how much respect that the folks behind the scenes have for the material. Plus, I absolutely adore Leslie Thompkins. She's a bright spot in a dark city, representing the good in Gotham that Batman is fighting so hard to save. Her frailty as an elderly woman is symbolic of just how weak Gotham's redeeming qualities really are in the face of corruption and overwhelming evil, and I think that recent attempts to de-age her in comics and TV miss the point of the character entirely.
#35 Shadow of the Bat
Directed by Fran Paur
Written by Brynne Stephens
After introducing Barbara Gordon to the show nearly twenty episodes ago, Batgirl finally appears on screen! The GCPD-centric two-parter has Gordon framed for corruption and his daughter turning vigilante in order to clear his name. This is an excellent Barbara showcase, but Batman certainly behaves like a jerk at times and the animators struggle to give Babs consistent facial expressions when she's out of the cowl. Nevertheless, it's a captivating story with some surprisingly grown-up themes, an exceedingly likeable new lead, and no shortage of surprises. What I like most is that Batgirl isn't instantly shown to be on par with The Dynamic Duo. She's new at this and she's struggling. It adds a heightened sense of danger and her perseverance against overwhelming odds makes us root for her all the more.
#34
Directed by Boyd Kirkland
Written by Tom Ruegger
Story by Paul Dini & Tom Ruegger
When Harvey Dent is poisoned, Bruce Wayne must hurry to find a cure or lose his best friend. It's a deeply personal episode that devotes equal time to our hero investigating the case both inside and outside the cowl. The contrast between these personas is played up expertly (and hilariously) in the episode's opening sequence that shows Harvey Dent explaining how he views Bruce's playboy lifestyle to his date, the one and only Pamela Isley. Harvey's oh-so-wrong insights are intercut with shots of Batman hunting down a prison escapee and the juxtaposition of Café Rose's romantic background muzak against Th
