Batman: The Animated Series: My Top Five Episodes

Before being revamped and retitled The New Batman Adventures, the production run of Batman: The Animated Series contained 85 episodes. In revisiting B:TAS, I wanted to look at five of my favorite episodes of the series.  Not what I think are the five best (mainly because I’ve talked about a couple of those), but five of the ones I enjoy the most.  So, in no particular order, here they are:


#5- What Is Reality?

After making his first appearance in If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?, The Riddler returns to wreak havoc on Gotham.  As part of his new plot, The Riddler “abducts” Commissioner Gordon by linking him to a virtual reality program (super 90’s stuff here).  Batman and Robin must link themselves to the program as well in order to save Gordon.  The Dynamic Duo encounters a series of The Riddler’s trademark riddles in this virtual reality, ultimately ending with Batman riding a Pegasus and fighting a giant golden Minotaur.  I couldn’t make this up if I wanted to, but it’s this level of absurdity that oftentimes drew me toward this show in my childhood.


 #4- The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne

When Professor Hugo Strange learns the true identity of Batman, he attempts to sell the information to the highest bidder.  Which makes for a tight situation for The Dark Knight when those bidders are The Joker, Two-Face, and The Penguin.  Batman is able to turn the villains against Strange using the professor’s own mind-reading device. When Strange attempts to reveal Batman’s identity as Bruce Wayne, the villains dismiss his claim, partly due to seeing Batman and Bruce Wayne in the same place (in reality, it was Robin disguised as Bruce using a mask and stilts).

The Joker, Two-Face, and Hugo Strange

Hugo Strange is a great villain, and one of Batman’s first, but he is severely underutilized, so his inclusion in B:TAS just goes to show the depth into the Batman Mythos that this show delves.


#3- Beware the Gray Ghost

This episode is fantastic.  I’m going to have a hard time explaining exactly why, just because of the emotional response it elicits from me.  Just to give a little background, while B:TAS is my favorite interpretation of the character and Kevin Conroy (the voice actor of The Dark Knight in the series) is my Batman, the other half of my exposure to the character in those formative years was from the 1960’s Batman series.  I can remember rushing home from school in kindergarten to catch that opening theme song that defines the character for a large majority of people.  I remember my Aunt Karen recording episodes of the show for me on VHS tapes (this was before DVR, kiddos) so I could watch them over and over again.  So, as campy and cheesy as it was, I loved the 60’s Batman as much as I did The Animated Series.  The plot of this episode involves Batman trying to track down the Mad Bomber, a villain that is imitating another villain from Batman’s favorite television show as a kid, The Gray Ghost, a crimefighter-detective show.  In doing this, Batman visits the retired actor who played the Gray Ghost, Simon Trent.  Here’s the tie-in: The voice actor who plays Gray Ghost/Simon Trent…

Adam West, Batman of the 60’s television show.  Wanting nothing to do with the case, as he is suffering from depression, Trent turns Batman away.  When Batman finally encounters the villain, he is overwhelmed by the Mad Bomber and his remote control planes, but is saved by Simon Trent in full Gray Ghost costume.  The two team up to defeat the villain and Trent is hailed as a hero with his career restarted by the release of The Gray Ghost on video and broadcast television and he is offered a part in a film. While signing autographs at a convention, he is approached by Bruce Wayne, who says that he the Gray Ghost was his hero... and he still is. Having heard these same words from Batman, Trent seems to suspect who Bruce Wayne really is, which he acknowledges with a smile.  I love the “full circle” sense this episode gives by having Adam West guest star.  Having West voice the character was so important to the creators of B:TAS that they have stated that they would not have done the episode without West.  The episode brought new found respect for West among Batman fans of the time who had turned their back on the 60’s interpretation of the character.  I, on the other hand, loved every minute of being able to see my childhood hero team with his childhood hero.


#2- The Demon's Quest

The 57^th and 58^th episodes of the series were a two-part story featuring the first full appearance of my all-time favorite Batman villain: Ra’s al Ghul.  His first appearance was a handful of episodes earlier in Off Balance, where Batman meets Ra’s daughter, Talia.  In that episode, Ra’s appears at the end in a brief cameo.  In this episode, however, Ra’s comes to Batman (breaking into the Batcave in the process) and asks for his help in locating Talia, who had been abducted several nights prior.  Ra’s reveals that the captors have custody of Robin as well, so Batman (or “Detective” as Ra’s calls him) agrees to help.  Highlights of the first episode include, Batman’s several run-ins with Ra’s bodyguard, Ubu, Batman hand-to-hand fighting a panther, and the reveal that the abductor of Talia and Robin was Ra’s all along.  Ra’s states that he did so to test Batman’s worth as a successor to himself and, by extension, as a mate for Talia.  When Batman refuses, Ra’s declares them enemies of one another, but collapses following that.  Talia says that Ra’s must be taken to the Lazarus Pit (a mysterious chemical pit that has kept Ra’s alive for six hundred years).  At the Lazarus Pit, Ra’s is submerged where he is rejuvenated and emerges in a crazed state (as is a side effect of the pit).  The second half of the story details Batman and Robin attempting to stop Ra’s plan of detonating bombs in Lazarus pits around the world causing them to overflow, covering the world in chemicals, killing a third of the Earth’s population and restoring most of the world's ecosystems.  The climax of the episode features (obviously Batman stopping the bombs, but also) a sword fight between Ra’s and The Dark Knight reminiscent of Ra’s first comic appearance in the 1970’s.

The Demon vs. The Detective

The appeal of this story to me is the involvement of Ra’s al Ghul who is not only my favorite villain, but also one of the more interesting of Batman’s villains in that his goal is not to gain money (he has more than almost anyone, including Batman), to learn Batman’s identity (he knows; doesn’t care), or to kill Batman (not necessarily, anyway), but is to rid Earth of those that do it harm.  He’s a true “eco terrorist” and that is an extreme departure from other Bat-villains (sans Poison Ivy).  But, in addition to all of that, I love the femme fatale nature of Talia al Ghul.  The story of her (almost, but not really) unrequited love for Batman is intriguing.  It’s almost Romeo & Juliet, in a way.  Plus, it allows for moments like this:

Talia and Batman share a kiss

Honorable Mention- Night of the Ninja & Day of the Samurai

I’m cheating a little bit and including two honorable mentions in my Top Five.  Night of the Ninja and Day of the Samurai are two episodes that, while they don’t occur back-to-back, are a continuation of the same story.  In the first episode, Batman encounters a ninja in Gotham City who is attempting to kill Bruce Wayne.  Batman learns that the ninja is Kyodai Ken, a fellow student from the dojo in Japan where Bruce was trained.  Seeking revenge for being kicked out of the dojo, Kyodai looks to fight Bruce Wayne, but gets Batman instead.

Kyodai vs. Batman

Airing almost six months later, the second appearance of Kyodai Ken sees the ninja abduct the star pupil of Yoro Sensei, the man who trained both Kyodai and Bruce Wayne.  Holding the girl for ransom, Kyodai looks to learn the technique of Kiba no Hoko or "The Way of the Fang", an ancient fighting style that has been kept secret by Yoro’s family for centuries due to it containing a maneuver that can kill a man with one touch.  After Kyodai is able to learn the location of the scrolls that detail Kiba no Hoko, he encounters Batman near an active volcano.  Batman is able to fake his death after Kyodai inflicts the fatal touch and uses the element of surprise to subdue the ninja.  When the volcano begins to erupt, Kyodai refuses help and is overcome by the lava, seemingly killing him.

Kyodai vs. Batman: Round Two

Similar to the Grey Ghost episode, I have a hard time explaining why I like these two episodes so much.  But different from that, it’s not due to some ethereal connection to concepts that I love.  Whatever the reason, these two episodes are essential to the experience of Batman: The Animated Series.


 #1- Almost Got 'Im

The number one episode on the list is so placed because it is probably the one episode I would refer any new B:TAS viewer (or new Batman fan in general) to if they were looking for a cool story featuring several villains.  Told mainly through flashbacks, the framework of the episode is a poker game in a seedy underground hangout.  During the poker game between Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and The Joker, each villain details the encounter in which they came the closest to defeating The Caped Crusader.  For Poison Ivy it was the use of poisoned pumpkins on Halloween, for Two-Face it was nearly crushing him with a giant penny (which is a popular piece of scenery in the Batcave), for Killer Croc states it was when "I threw a rock at him!", for Penguin it was poison-beaked hummingbirds and a cassowary (a really big bird).  The Joker states that his closest attempt came just the night before when he captured Batman, took over the studio of a late-night talk show, and attached Batman to a laugh-powered electric chair which would electrocute Batman the more the audience laughed. The Joker pumped the studio with laughing gas until "these people would laugh at the phone book" and had Harley Quinn read names out of the phone book to elicit more laughter from the crowd.  Batman is saved from electrocution by Catwoman, who is then herself captured by The Joker and Harley Quinn.

World's most dangerous poker game

The story jumps back to the poker game where Joker says that at the same time their game is going on, Catwoman is strapped to a conveyor belt in a cat food factory across town.  Killer Croc reveals himself to be Batman in disguise and the other gangsters occupying the room are truly Gotham City Police Officers.  With the villains in custody, Batman races to save Catwoman.  Once he does, she thanks him, begins to flirt with him, and tells him to remove his mask.  When Catwoman turns around, Batman is gone, prompting her to remark, "Hmm.  Almost got 'im".  This story has all of the things one could need:  Several villains, outlandish schemes by said villains, and Batman outsmarting them.  It has great comedy, exciting action, and makes references to about five other B:TAS episodes.  It is truly one of the best the show has to offer.


Next time I post, a character in the Batman Mythos will die…  I’m just going to leave it at that.

Thanks for reading!

-Josh

Sources: excerpts from primary source interviews; Wikipedia

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