Batman: The Animated Series (with commentary by yours truly!)

I am a nerd. This should come as no surprise to anyone who claims to know me even a little. It is just one of those things. Is the sky blue? Does winter follow autumn? Do fish live in the ocean? Is Aida a nerd?

Now that we have established my nerdiness, I feel I should mention my desire to imbibe as many nerdy things as possible. Discoveries of sites like TV Tropes only serve to make this dream more realistic. One of my particular realms of nerdiness is Western animation. Another is the superhero genre. If you happen to be a big fan of either of these things, and especially of you’re a fan of both, you hear a lot about Batman: The Animated Series. Supposedly it is a touchstone of American television animation. It has a reputation for being edgy, revolutionary even. Some of this is overblown fanboy adoration, but a show doesn’t get that kind of buzz without at least some merit. Bearing that in mind, I added Batman: The Animated Series to my Netflix queue ages ago with the intention of being a good nerd and watching it. Well, I’ve finally gotten around to doing so. I have to say, I’m a little underwhelmed. It was fine. I loved the music. The animation was so-so. Disliked the character design, felt the storytelling was inconsistent. However, I have only seen the first seven episodes and am willing to give the next seven a chance, whenever Netflix gets around to sending me another disk.

I decided to record my impressions in note form while I watched the episodes. I have transcribed them in their entirety below. Most of my notes will only make sense if you’ve actually seen the episodes, but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless. Keep in mind that most of these were written between midnight and two in the morning. I’ve never had a drink in my life before, but I imagine that how I act in the wee hours of the morning is similar to how the typical intoxicated person would. Now that you know this, here are my reactions to the first seven episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.


Episode One: “On Leather Wings”

• Name dropping! Commissioner Gordon (who looks very similar to Gary Oldman in the Nolan films), Harvey Dent
• Alfred, you old snarker, you. Taking shots at rock music and everything! I suppose not being Michael Caine will give you an inferiority complex.
• Phoenix Pharmaceuticals. What a comic book sort of name!
• Is this a series with sophisticated storylines? We never did really find out why the scientist-husband was taking addictive bat supplements.
• Rock those boring brown clothes, Bruce!
• Scientist-husband conveniently transforms without tearing his pants. Between this and Wolverine in that movie of which we do not speak, I’d like to know where everyone in superhero world buys their godlike, no-rip, ever-stay trousers.
• Elevator highjinks! Like that scene in Spider-man 2.
• Gordon is a badass. Is he already in cahoots with Batman, or is he just a really decent policeman with standards?
• I’m recognizing a lot of famous names in animation: Andrea Romano, Bruce Timm, Kevin Conroy, etc.

Episode Two: “Christmas with the Joker”

• Batman Jingle Bells in Batman?!! What?
• Joker escapes prison by riding a Christmas tree? Is this some kind of Dr. Zhivago reference?
• Robin?! (Note by Aida from the future: Robin’s appearances are so inconsistent, good lord. This was the only episode of the seven that he was in.)
• Robin wants to watch It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s so weird to have references to actual movies in a superhero show.
• Mark Hamill is just hamming it up bigtime.
• A cardboard cutout audience? Geez, the Joker takes things seriously.
• His victims are Commissioner Gordon, the jerkass detective whose name I never did really catch, and some random woman.
• When is this supposed to take place? It feels very stylized and Art Deco, so ‘30s? But then they have computers and It’s a Wonderful Life is an old movie, so I just don’t know. (Note by Aida from the future: Apparently this is intentional. The creators wanted the setting to be ambiguous.)
• Those astronomers are going to be mad when they find out the Joker ruined their telescope.
• Laffco. Betty Boop (mmkay, Blooper, whatever).
• Joker uses “The Nutcracker Suite” as his music of destruction?!
• Robin makes a terrible pun when Batman picks up a baseball bat to defend himself. Oh, lordy. Keep your day job, Robin.
• Joker’s nefarious Christmas present is a pie in the face?
• Okay, it’s like the Joker wanted to be caught. He wasn’t even trying in the end.
• Danny Elfman did the theme music for this show?!
• Aww, how sweet. Commissioner Gordon taped the movie for them.

Episode Three: “Nothing to Fear”

• At first I thought the scientist was the bat-specialist father from “On Leather Wings,” but I think it’s a different guy.
• I’m not a fan of the character design in this show. It’s too clunky.
• A Tiny Toon Adventures reference? OMG.
• So today’s villain will be The Scarecrow, AKA not-yet Cillian Murphy.
• Tranquilizer dart?
• So what is Bruce’s hidden fear? His parents’ deaths? Bats?
• Will we be getting flashbacks? I love flashbacks.
• So Bruce’s fear is his parents’ disappointment. Close enough.
• Yeah, that’s one way to lose your research grant.
• Stubble. Angsty stubble?
• Alfred is the Snark Knight, har har.
• This worst fear thing was much scarier in Batman Begins.
• There’s nothing more deadly than a group of rich university donors! Let’s whack Batman with a purse and horrify him with our fake tans!
• The Scarecrow travels in style. It’s not every day you see a villain with his own dirigible.
• Batman is his own Patronus.
• Your getaway car is a glider, Scarecrow? Really?
• The Batmobile’s fact-checking computer is so much cooler than OnStar.
• The Scarecrow is Hoist By His Own Petard (see TV Tropes).
• “Oh, yes.” Which is said almost exactly like the Kool-Aid Man says “Oh, yeah!” Made me giggle inappropriately.
• Nice shades, Bruce. That shadow is a little conspicuous, though.

Episode Four: “The Last Laugh”

• Another Joker episode.
• Garbage is so hilarious.
• Never before has shaving cream been so intimidating.
• You slay me, Alfred. Such Amelia Bedelia-esque antics.
• “The tough go shopping”???
• I’m pretty sure people act like this every Friday night down Rugby Road.
• How did the Joker get out of prison?
• Oh no! They got Alfred! How dare they?!
• Although, to be fair, he already was a little kooky.
• Face punch, Batman style.
• Mark Hamill, ladies and gentlemen.
• Ugh, claustrophobia alert. Small, enclosed spaces give me the creeps.
• Save him, Genie! Oh, wait.
• A Casablanca reference?
• Claustrophobia is no match for money!
• Joker’s puns are even worse than Jafar’s. Good God.
• I guess the writers are fans of Petard-Hoisting.
• Oh, you hit Joker’s Beserk Button!
• No superhero show is complete without slides ending in fire pits.
• Are the Joker episodes always going to end with him being suspended over a lavalike substance?

Episode Five: "Pretty Poison"

• Poison Ivy?
• Sepia means flashback.
• Harvey Dent.
• "Better, safer Gotham." You just know that's going to bite them in the ass.
• Batman is turbulence.
• Green-eyed redheads are always plot-relevant.
• Bad puns go hand in hand with superhero shows, I guess.
• Bruce's outfit matches his car.
• Harvey Dent has scary lips.
• Harvey, no! Haven't you seen The Dark Knight? Bad things happen when you get engaged.
• Eh, Harvey will be fine. Someone has to be Two-Face later on.
• Yeah, Poison Ivy, complete with kiss poison!
• Bruce Wayne: stealing lab samples like a boss.
• Please, of course there's an antidote.
• Everyone matches their car in this show.
• Of course the engagement's off. No, duh. That would be an odd marriage.
• She talks to plants. Also, there's a trapdoor in the greenhouse just for giggles.
• "My precious"? So Poison Ivy is Gollum?
• Kissing can be dangerous, kids.
• I love the music in this show.
• That blue jumpsuit does nothing for you, hon. Also, why do you get to keep your deadly flowers?

Episode Six: "The Underdwellers"

• Will this have something to do with the subway?
• Is this a Robin origin story, even though we've already seen him? (Aida from the future: No.)
• Alfred loves Brahms. Of course he does.
• Okay, what isn't a job for Batman?
• Child labor! My favorite!
• So the villain is Fagin with an eyepatch? Oh, okay, The Sewer King. Fine.
• Yeah, whatever. This show might be edgy, but no way they're going to let a kid get hit by the subway.
• Didn't Alfred take care of little Bruce?
• Is this a blind kid?
• Where are these kids' parents? Are they orphans? Foster children?
• If this kid's name is Oliver I'm going to laugh or roll my eyes.
• Batman: "Children and guns do not mix. Ever. It wasn't loaded, but it could have been." Verbatim line from the show, guys.
• Okay, not-Oliver isn't blind, he just has sensitive eyes.
• Batman vs. Fagin's alligators! Except it's actually really lame.
• "Later" as said to a gator. Gah, the puns in this show. It's worse than Wesley Spring Break.
• Batman is a friend to all children!

Episode Seven: "P.O.V."

• So we're going to get three different tellings of the same story.
• Scary lips are a thing in this show, aren't they?
• Officer Montoya is cool. I like how her rookie partner pronounces her name correctly.
• One of the bad guys looks like Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and it's really distracting.
• Montoya gets stuff done.
• Boring episode overall, though.

Well, that's all she wrote, kiddies! I hope my notes made as little sense to you as they did to me!