Night of the Ninja

It's nice to get back to some classic Batman episodes. Today's is "Night of the Ninja," the 35th episode produced and 28th aired on Oct. 26, 1992.

The first point I'll give this show is for the main villain, Kyodai, actually being really cool. Let's just face it — ninjas are awesome. When we first see Kyodai, he uses a ninja star to knock a gun out of a guard's hand and pin it in a wall, hanging by the trigger guard. He also was quite adept with his sword, being able to pull it out, cut a flashlight in half, then put his sword back before the flashlight fell apart. Classic ninja stuff; and it works so well with Batman.

I'll bring the score up to a 7 for the rare and wonderful flashbacks of a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne training in Japan. I love the idea of a young Bruce traveling the world and seeking out the best masters in a variety of skills. Sadly, we see very little of this, which makes "Night of the Ninja" an especially important piece of Batman history.

I'll add another point for some great Batman and Robin banter. After Bruce beats Dick during a training session, Dick makes funny faces at Bruce behind his back. Later, Robin saves Batman from a quick run-in with Kyodai, and after Batman says nothing, Robin does a Bats impression and says, "Thanks for saving my life, Robin." "Hey, don't mention it!" You can tell there is a little tension there between the two of them, but it's all in good-natured fun at this point. And everything wraps up nicely at the end when Bruce really does thank Dick at the end.

Now, I don't mind Summer Gleeson as a character, but in this episode, she played a very annoying Lois Lane impersonation. She was constantly chasing down Bruce, trying to break some hot story. Obviously there would be reporters like her in Gotham City, but I'd prefer them not to be Lois Lane clones. The score's back to a 7.

I'm going to take off another point for Kyodai's repeated use of his gas gun. Once was OK, but three times was a bit much for me. I mean, come on, he's a ninja! He should have a whole host of weapons and tools and means to subdue people. At least use smoke pellets like Batman.

Luckily, the score will rise back up to a 7 for the great fight scene at the end. Not only do we get to see Bruce fight in a tuxedo, but we see him beat up with a black eye and everything, which is about as much damage as this show would get with the no-blood rule. Another great part at the end was a classic Batman line: "Shut up and fight." Just perfect.

Final score: 7