Be a Clown

Batman finally got out of the strange, experimental stage and returned to some good, old-fashioned super villains with the Joker in "Be a Clown." Although this is a heavy-handed kid-centric episode, and definitely not the best Joker episode out there, it's not the worst, and it was rather refreshing to get an iconic bad guy for Batman to fight again.

One fun thing with this episode is we got to see the Joker become a real clown, and he was a pretty good one at that. Mark Hamill also did a good job of giving the Joker a fake voice that still sounded like the Joker. Then there was the great moment where Bruce recognized the Joker because of his distinguished laugh, which works because we've already had two episodes with the Joker and it is a very memorable laugh. That earns a point.

The score will go to a 7 with Bruce helping the save the day under the guise of a clumsy weakling who can barely hold a heavy birthday present. Not only was he able to save everybody's life, but he perpetuated the myth that Bruce Wayne could not possibly be Batman.

When the Joker got back from the mayor's mansion, he started to take off his fake clown makeup, but then he realized the mayor's son had stowed away with him. So he kept the makeup on, but still took the time to put on his traditional purple suit for some reason. Later, he revealed himself as the Joker by ripping off the fake clown makeup like it was a mask. This flub bugged me enough to take a point away.

The score falls to a 5 because of Batman's bad puns. Oddly, the Joker had some really good lines in this episode, but it seemed everything Batman said was corny and stupid. Right at the beginning, he threw some bad guys into a trash can, and said, "The trash pickup usually comes on Monday, but it your case, I think they'll make an exception!" Later, the Joker attacked Batman with his razor-edged playing cards, and Batman said, "Now it's my deal!" Then the worst was probably after Batman escaped the water torture chamber and said, "Now it's time for some Bat-magic!" Ughh ... this isn't supposed to be Adam West!

I will, however, add one point at the end for the roller coaster scene. I always liked the idea of the Joker taking over an amusement park, and this fight on the roller coaster was very reminiscent of the classic comic book "The Dark Knight Returns."

I was rather surprised by the score of this episode. I never really remembered liking it that much, but when I reviewed it, I realized it did have a few good things going for it. I didn't mind the mayor or his son that much, and it was pretty nice to see Batman fight the Joker in his native, carnival element.

Final score: 6