The Clock King

Like "Heart of Ice," this episode gave an old, cheesy villain a complete makeover. While "The Clock King" didn't have a lasting widespread influence, it still is an enjoyable episode. It was the 25th episode produced and the 14th aired on Sept. 21, 1992.

The Clock King's origin story was a bit over the top, but it was still fun. I loved the melodramatic Temple Fugate having his life ruined by taking his coffee break 15 minutes later. Not all Batman episodes need to be serious. Just relax and enjoy the absurdity of the situation. I'll give it a point.

I'll add another point for the redesign of the Clock King. He used to be a really stupid villain. I mean, he had a mask that looked like a clock. But this Clock King was a lot more normal-looking, which I think emphasized his menacing intelligence. Yes, he did have quite a few clock-related puns, but they didn't bug me too much. I really don't know why I like this character so much, maybe it's his voice. But in any case, he is a classic Batman villain in my mind. Unfortunately, very few people share my opinion, as the Clock King failed to make a significant impact on the Batman universe outside of this show. The redesigned Mr. Freeze worked so well, in part, because the producers took the time to make his episode practically perfect. There was no such effort here, and thus the Clock King never really caught on.

I'll bring the score up to an 8 for the trap the Clock King set up for Batman. He had studied Batman's tools and set up something to counter them perfectly. I also liked Batman's creative solution of using the tape from the cassette to pulley the bomb toward the door.

As much as I liked the Clock King studying Batman, I didn't appreciate him being able to dodge Batman's punches because he knew it took him one-twentieth of a second to throw a punch. Just because you know how long it takes, doesn't mean you have the ability to dodge it. Batman has been training for his entire life. He should not have trouble in hand-to-hand combat with some former attorney. I have to take a point off for this.

I might be scoring this episode too high — it's not particularly significant, meaningful, or even cool — but it is an enjoyable episode all the same. And isn't the main point for all Batman cartoons for them to entertain?

Final score: 7