Harley and Ivy

One of the reasons Harely Quinn was able to make the jump from cartoons to comics is because this episode proved she can play well with others, especially Poison Ivy. "Harley and Ivy" was the 56th produced episode, but bumped up to be the 47th aired episode on Jan. 18, 1993.

I love the dysfunctional relationship between Joker and Harley. A lot of people have commented on how this is an abusive relationship and we shouldn't derive amusement from it, but I'm not going to get into that today. Let's just keep things light and laugh at the Joker yelling at Harley for doing exactly what he told her. And the best part of this opening chase scene was when Harley handed Joker the BANG! flag gun. "You didn't say which gun!" Plus one point.

I'll add another point for the great team-up of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. It just works perfectly. They are similar enough to logically be together, yet different enough to remain interesting. Sometimes writers forcibly put two characters together, but this pairing felt like it was always meant to be. Nowadays, some people have pushed the Harley-Ivy relationship a little to far, but on the whole, I appreciate their friendship and enjoy stories that put them together.

The score raises to an 8 for the funniest moment in the episode. Having just eluded the cops, Harley and Ivy decide to suddenly obey traffic rules and stop at a red light. Next to them is three guys in a convertible. Upon seeing two attractive ladies in costumes, the guys begin cat-calling and flirting. Ivy says, "Now boys, didn't your mommies tell you that's not the nice way to get a lady's attention?" One of them says, "Ooh, are you gonna spank us?" Harley says, "Yep! And here's the paddle!" And she pulls out a bazooka and blows up the car. She pulled out a bazooka! How wonderful!

As wonderful as this episode is, there is one thing that bugs me, and that's Poison Ivy's suddenly newfound feminism. I always thought she cared more about plants than people, let alone women's rights. Now, I get that this episode was kinda the girls vs. the guys, and a few of Ivy's remarks to this regard were perfectly warranted. But then she just went on and on about it, especially to Batman, whom she tied up to "symbols of male oppression." Seriously? Just kill Batman. Don't lecture him on feminism. I have to take a point off for that.

But I will add a point back for a brief, yet significant moment. Joker tries to gas Ivy with his poison boutonniere, but it doesn't work. That's because Poison Ivy's immune to poisons. I'm always happy when the writers remember basic character traits and keep them consistent. It sounds like a no-brainer, but many writers simply forget some things or don't even think to point them out. Another great thing about this encounter is it strengthens the Joker-Poison Ivy antagonism. I would love to see these two get into an all-out fight sometime. They may have already and I just missed it.

I have to raise the score to a 9 for the great ending. The Batmobile driving through flames is also a nice thing to see, but the more important part is with Renee Montoya actually catching Harley and Ivy. Montoya is a wonderful character, who was sadly underused — until that one time in the comics when they made her the Question, which I think is an improper use of the character. I like to think of her as the third best cop in Gotham behind Gordon and Bullock, and I think that's more than enough for her character. We just need to see her in action more as that great cop.

Final score: 9

Well, that concludes the second box set, or Volume 2, of Batman: The Animated Series. My average score for this volume was 6.8, slightly lower than Volume 1's 7.2. There were six perfect episodes, "Perchance to Dream," "Robin's Reckoning," "The Laughing Fish," "Almost Got 'Im," "I Am the Night" and "The Man Who Killed Batman." But there were a bunch of below average episodes with scores of 4 and 3. The low score for this volume was a 2, earned by "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Moon of the Wolf." But nothing matched the low score of a 1 set by last volume's "I've Got Batman in my Basement." And these six perfect episodes join last volume's four perfects — "On Leather Wings," "The Last Laugh," "Two-Face" and "Heart of Ice" — bringing the total number of perfect Batman: The Animated Series episodes to 10. As the show progressed, the potential for perfect episodes increased, but the amount of below-average episodes also increased, balancing everything out. I have a feeling that this trend will continue through the third volume.

The Mechanic

Some people may not care about where Batman got the Batmobile, but I do. And "The Mechanic" answers that question for me. It was the 55th produced episode, and 48th aired on Jan. 24, 1993.

My first point will be for the great banter between Batman and Robin at the start of the episode. It seems like it's been a long time since I've reviewed an episode with Robin in it, and it was a nice treat to see him again. In the midst of a pretty entertaining car chase, one of Penguin's men opens fire on the Batmobile to no avail. Robin asks, "Is he kidding?" Batman (showing a rare sense of humor) says, "Maybe he's new in town."

I'll raise the score to a 7 for one of the best Penguin moments in the entire show. Some nerdy pencil pusher presents Penguin with copious notes detailing exactly where the Batmobile was made. As a reward, Penguin writes the man a check for $300,000 — no, $400,000 — and pushes him onto his giant rubber duck. And the poor nerd is so polite that he still yells, "Excuse me!" while he's being sucked down to his death. Just beautiful. I don't know why I love the Penguin so much, but I do. Especially his giant rubber duck.

Now I do have a problem with the backstory of Batman's mechanic, Earl. He was a rising star at a big car company, but one day he presented his boss with information that their new sports car had faulty brakes. Instead of fixing the problem or issuing a recall (which happens all the time), the boss tells Earl that the lawyers assured him they wouldn't be held accountable. Meanwhile, for some reason, Batman is listening in on this conversation. (Does he just spy on all the top businessmen in Gotham?) Anyway, Earl refuses to remain silent, so his boss sends some hired thugs to beat him up. Batman saves him, of course, but Earl can't find any work because he now has the reputation of a whistleblower. Seriously? How corrupt is Gotham? Not a single car company will hire a man who was honest and wanted to fix some faulty brakes? But luckily, Batman showed up in his old, beat-up Batmobile, and commissioned Earl to build him a new one. At the end of the day, I guess it all works out, but there were still a few problems that bugged me, so I'll have to take a point off.

The latter half of this episode directly rips a plot point from Batman Returns, which came out shortly before this episode. And that plot point involves Penguin taking control of the Batmobile. It's a brilliant idea, but I felt the movie executed it rather poorly. They didn't sufficiently explain how Penguin's crew was able to bypass the Batmobile's security system, and things got really goofy when Penguin sat in a kiddie ride shaped like the Batmobile to control it. And then the whole crisis was solved by having Batman punch a hole through the bottom of his car. I think this episode improved on that idea in every regard. Penguin tracked down the man who built the Batmobile and coerced him into sabotaging it. But Earl was still able to give Batman a clue, which ended up saving him in the end. Now, I could penalize this episode for its lack of originality, but I will reward it for vastly improving an interesting concept. It's funny to see how a simple sentence — "Penguin takes control of the Batmobile" — can be interpreted in two vastly different ways. One that worked, and one that didn't.

Final score: 7

Zatanna

"Zatanna" was the 54th-produced episode of Batman: The Animated Series and the 50th-aired on Feb. 2, 1993. Although it was written by the legendary Paul Dini and had tons of potential to be an all-time great episode, it suffered from having two directors. Dick Sebast started it, but then for whatever reason left halfway through, leaving Dan Riba to try to finish it. And this episode certainly feels like two separate stories crammed together.

I'll start by adding a point for the fantastic flashback of a young Bruce training to become a master escape artist. It truly is a rare treat to see a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne traveling the world to learn various skills. I'm really surprised we still haven't gotten a show or comic book series about a globetrotting Bruce. Anyway, what really makes this episode so awesome is that Bruce is training with Zatara, who is actually a very old comic book character, appearing in a side story in 1938's Action Comics #1. And for almost 20 years, this was the only appearance of Zatara on TV until he showed up on Young Justice.

But there's more to this great flashback. We get to see young Zatanna flirt with Bruce, which is really fun. Those two have a great chemistry together, and it's a shame she doesn't return until Justice League Unlimited. She plays a little card game with him to predict his future, and Bruce naturally pulls the Joker card. A little cliche, I know, but it's still fun. We're up to a 7 now.

The next point I'll add will not be for something they did in the episode, but for something they did not do. I really like that Zatanna does not have actual magic powers. Batman and magic just does not work. Ever, really. Especially in this ultra-realistic show, it fits so much better to have Zatanna simply be an ordinary magician. But that doesn't mean she won't go on adventures and fight criminals. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm saddened by the fact that we didn't get any more episodes of a crime-fighting Zatanna using nothing more than practical effects and her quick wits. It could have been great!

Continuing the flirting from the flashback, Batman and Zatanna have wonderful banter in the Batmobile. It's one of the rare times that Batman lets his guard down, awkwardly asking, "Isn't there someone you need to call? Friends, family ... a husband, perhaps?" I bet he was really glad he was wearing a mask right then to cover his blushing face. Moments later, Zatanna realizes Batman is very familiar, and he quickly says, "I just have one of those faces ..." Sure, Batman. We're at an almost perfect score of a 9 right now.

Unfortunately, this is where the second half of the episode starts, and it, well — how can I say this nicely? — it sucks. Everything just falls apart. It doesn't help that the main villain is rather weird and boring, and has a weird habit of always sitting down — even when he needs to awkwardly stand up and turn his chair around to sit and face Batman. But that doesn't bother me near as much as plot holes and leaps in logic. Montague first sets an elaborate trap for Batman and Zatanna, involving closing walls of spikes. A classic comic book cliche, and Montague even mentions that, while he drops a casual line/clue about him going to a more comfortable climate. When our heroes escape, Batman notices a picture of a very large and extravagant airplane. Suddenly, Batman and Zatanna are on the plane, confronting Montague. How'd they get there so quickly? Minus one point.

The action naturally spills out to the outside of the plane while it's flying high above the ocean, and things start to get really, really weird. Montague tries to shake Batman off by tilting the plane up and down, but Batman counters that by grabbing one of the wing's rudders and moving it himself. No. No! There is no way Batman should be able to do that. I don't care how strong he is, that is a physically impossible feat. We're back down to a 7.

And then we get one very lame and poorly choreographed fight on the plane's wing to end the episode. Overlooking the complete ridiculousness of two guys with an axe chasing Batman around on an airplane that's flying high above the ocean, this is a really lame fight. Batman doesn't really do much, mostly just dodge until one of them charges at Batman, misses, and runs into the other henchman, and they both fall off the plane. Ugh. What a completely disappointing end to what could have been a spectacular episode.

Final score: 6

Paging the Crime Doctor

"Paging the Crime Doctor" was the 53rd-produced and 64th-aired episode of Batman: The Animated Series, making its debut on Sept. 17, 1993. This episode has a pretty poor reputation, and I'll save my final thoughts for the end, but I will say now that the title card is a lot more sinister-looking than the actual episode is.

This episode suffered from some very weak action scenes. The opening featured a very long and rather boring chase scene. But it did have one interesting moment — when Batman used his cap to cover the car's windshield — so I won't hold this scene against the episode.

Things don't get interesting until Rupert Thorne shows up. He's one of my favorite below-the-radar characters, right up there with Harvey Bullock. Thorne just has this certain gravitas to him that makes every scene he's in intriguing. And for that, I'll give this episode a point.

I'll then raise the score to a 7 for the inclusion of Leslie Thompkins. I was a little worried they'd say she was an expert heart surgeon, but they never did — only that Matt Thorne needed her help to perform the surgery, which made sense to me. I've always loved Leslie for her tough-as-nails kindness and her role as one of Batman's most-trusted allies. I don't think there's such a thing as too much Leslie Thompkins.

Unfortunately, the inclusion of Thorne and Thompkins is not enough to make an average episode great. As I said earlier, the action here was very weak. Batman only fights a couple of low-level goons, who he normally beats in a couple of seconds. To level the playing field, they gave Batman a concussion early on to make him woozy and slow throughout the episode. That said, he still seemed to struggle a bit too much for me, and he got way too scared when a guy started throwing scalpels at him (it didn't help that this was the commercial break cliffhanger). Seriously, Batman? You're getting scared over a guy throwing small medicals instruments that aren't designed for throwing and are designed to cause a minimal amount of damage. Minus one point!

And now for the worst part of the episode, and one of the worst moments in the whole show. Matt Thorne and Leslie Thompkins, who are at least in their late 50s, jumped from one rooftop to another. Are you kidding me?! True, Leslie did fall, kind of, but only after she mostly made the jump. And Matt made the leap just fine, as if he were Batman himself. I know this episode sorely needed some action scenes, but not like this. This was just ridiculous. We're back down to an average 5.

And that's where we'll stay. The good equally balanced out the bad, and we were left with a completely average and ordinary episode. At least it had a rather heart-warming, if not schmaltzy ending.

Final score: 5

Mudslide

"Mudslide" was the 52nd produced episode of Batman: The Animated Series, but it was pushed back to be the 63rd aired episode on Sept. 15, 1993, technically making it part of season 2.

This is the second appearance of Clayface, and he's slowly dying. He can barely hold himself together and is becoming significantly weaker. However, he has also become smarter with his powers, as we saw him very quickly switch to a bunch of different people at opportune times. I really liked this element, so I'll add a point for it.

I'll then raise the score to a 7 for some classic Alfred lines. First, Batman says Clayface is losing his integrity, and Alfred says, "I wasn't aware he had any to begin with." Then Batman wonders why that woman doctor is helping Clayface, and Alfred says, "Perhaps she enjoys mud baths." Wonderful, classic Alfred.

There is one part in this episode that has always bugged me and probably always will. Batman offers to help Clayface turn human again, but Clayface refuses. He instead steals a secret isotope from WayneTech that actually works and helps him start to turn into a human, but then Batman interrupts the process. Why stop it Batman? You said you wanted to help! I guess Batman sees the world in complete black and white and can't overlook someone breaking the law, even this one time. It still bugs me, though, so I have to take a point off.

But despite my one quandary there, I do have to praise this episode for its overall excellence. The animation was great — you could really see Clayface struggling to hold himself together. The episode was very dark in tone, with Batman suffocating and Clayface's apparent death, but I kind of liked that darkness. Yes, this is a kids show, but it's OK to get a little rough like that. So I'll bring the score back up to a 7.

Final score: 7

The Man Who Killed Batman

Every episode of Batman: The Animated Series is a classic, but every now and then we get a special, defining episode of the series. "The Man Who Killed Batman" is such an episode. It was the 51st-produced and 49th-aired on Feb. 1, 1993.

The first point I'll add will be for Sid the Squid himself. He was hilarious. An ordinary, stupid, lucky guy who just happened to (allegedly) kill Batman. He was perfect for the role. I also liked how he got a happy ending. All he wanted was to be considered a big shot, and that's exactly what he was in prison.

My next point will be for Harvey Bullock's brief, but poignant appearance. What can I say? I'm a big sucker for Bullock. But here, it was really sweet because we saw how sad he'd really be if Batman died. He always acts like he hates him, but deep down, he really cares for the Caped Crusader. Bullock also almost recognized Harley Quinn. Almost.

I'll raise the score to an 8 for Harley's wonderful performance in this episode. First there was the fun moment with Bullock, then a great line after Joker pushed a henchman into the hyenas: "I'll get the mop." And, of course, the sublime kazoo solo. I start cracking well before it even begins! Truly a comedic masterpiece.

Not only was this a great Harley episode, but it was a wonderful Joker episode, as well. First, the psychological aspect: "Without Batman, crime has no punchline." Then, the comedic aspect, encapsulated in a wide-ranging, emotional eulogy, that ends with a "Well, that was fun! Who wants Chinese?" Mark Hamill himself has said this was one of his favorite moments. The score is now a 9.

This episode is so great, and full of so many wonderful characters like Sid, Harley, Joker, Bullock and Rupert Thorne, that we don't even miss Batman. But when he comes back, it is pretty awesome. Standing tall and triumphant, with his theme song blasting away on the organ. Classic. A perfect ending for a perfect episode.

Final score: 10

Off Balance

"Off Balance" was the 50th-produced episode of Batman: The Animated Series and the 44th-aired on Nov. 23, 1992. So happy 50 episodes Batman! This isn't one of my favorites, but it is significant for the cameo of a certain villain at the end.

I really did like the starting, with Batman holding an interrogation on the Statue of Liberty (not sure if that's in Gotham or New York, but whatever). Things got really cooking when a couple of ninjas showed up, threw the informant off the statue and then gassed themselves before Batman could question them. Now, because this is a kids show, they made it a point to say all these people survived and the gas only erased their memories, but we all know better. Those three guys died. But then again, the prospect of erasing one's mind is almost more frightening than death, especially if it turned the victims into vegetables. Ugh.

I'll raise the score to a 7 for a wonderful Alfred line. Once again, he subtly offers Batman the clue he needs, and Batman says, "Alfred, you're brilliant!" To which the butler casually replies, "Yes, so I've heard." So simple and so effective.

I do have to take a point off, though, for the ironically flat villain of Count Vertigo. He was a one-trick pony without a clear motive. Talia tried to flesh out his character by telling Batman Vertigo worked for her father until he saw the blackness in his heart, but we never really see Vertigo display this blackness. Yes, he has a legion of devoted ninjas, but does he actually do? Despite all this, I probably would've been fine with him had he not been defeated in a most lame way. Talia rang some church bells, which caused him to fall out of the tower. Are you kidding me?

However, the episode does end on a strong point with the introduction of Ra's al Ghul. You just don't get any cooler than him. And I loved his few lines: "So even in defeat, the detective manages a small victory." Just perfect! Too bad we have to wait a while to see him again.

Final score: 7

I Am the Night

Up next is another one of my favorites, and one of the most powerful episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. "I Am the Night" was the 49th-produced episode, but got bumped up to be the 34th aired on Nov. 9, 1992.

My first point will be for the main idea of this episode. It's the anniversary of the death of Bruce's parents, and for once, Batman begins to doubt himself. I really like seeing our main character having occasional moments of human weakness and emotional fatigue. After a while, you'd expect even someone as heroic as Batman to feel like he's not accomplishing anything when past criminals are quickly released and new criminals appear every day. It's also good to take a step back and realize how weird and dangerous it is for a man to dress up like a bat to fight crime, and this episode helped a lot with that idea by not having any costumed super villains. Looking at the world through this episode, it becomes completely understandable for Batman to realize that what he's doing is not normal and that maybe he should stop.

I'll raise the score to a 7 for having Batman lay the roses on the sidewalk with Leslie Thompkins. I always love Batman with the roses and I always love to see Leslie. It's also important that he does this with Leslie, who was the first person to comfort him after his parents died, and she has continued to comfort him every year since. In my mind, this element is as essential a piece to Batman as the Batcave and Alfred and everything else is.

Another point has to be added for the powerful and shocking moment of Bullock finding Gordon after being shot. It was extremely rare to hear a swear word in this show, but in this case, it is fully justified. I mean, you just don't mess with Jim Gordon! I also liked the different reactions from Bullock to Barbara to Batman. Everybody handles grief differently.

Bringing Dick Grayson onto the scene raises the score to a 9. Dick perfectly filled the role of the sidekick by talking some sense into Batman. He made some great, logical points and demonstrated caring and love without getting cheesy. And ultimately, he succeeded in getting Bruce to put the cowl back on.

And my final point comes after Gordon wakes up and laments that he's not a hero like Batman. Batman then delivers one of the best lines of the show: "You are a hero, Jim." Just beautiful. I almost wish the episode ended right there, but the quick redemption scene that followed didn't diminish it at all.

I didn't expect to give this episode a perfect score, but it really is well-made and emotionally powerful. It had some nice nods to continuity and brought in a bunch of minor characters, including Judge Vargas from the Dr. Strange episode. Since "I Am the Night," there have been a plethora of depressed Batman stories that mostly feel pretty stale. But this was a first for me as a youngster, and it maintains its freshness more than 20 years later.

Final score: 10

What Is Reality?

The Riddler makes his return in the 48th-produced episode of Batman: The Animated Series. "What Is Reality?" was the 45th-aired episode on Nov. 24, 1992.

I really liked the overall premise of this episode, especially the beginning with the Riddler hacking into computers all around the world and erasing his existence from history. What better way to protect your identity than to eliminate it? It's also fun to see a villain use technology to further his nefarious purposes. Plus one point.

Now, after praising the Riddler for being innovative, I have to criticize him for a poor judgment on his part. Ultimately, he wanted to lure Batman into his virtual reality where the two could battle wits with real hostages on the line. The hostage he chose was Commissioner Gordon, but he just as easily could have had Robin as well. Yes, he only had two VR helmets for that computer, but he could have given the police three or four. It was just a wasted opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. We're back to an average 5.

But I will add a point for the clever riddles through the episode, and having Alfred help solve some of them was pretty fun, too. One of my favorite riddles led to a train coming out of a fireplace, similar to a famous painting by Rene Magritte. (Yes, I had to look up his name, but I remembered seeing it in one of my art classes.)

Sadly that is where the praise for this episode ends. I understand why they made everything red in the virtual reality world, but I got sick and tired of being in it for so long. It then made me think that if Riddler was so smart, why couldn't he create a world with colors?

And I'll take another point off for the ending. It was quite unhappy and even unsettling to leave Riddler trapped in the virtual reality. Of course, we will see him again later, and naturally they won't explain or reference how he got out. Quite a shame how these Riddler episodes just couldn't live up to their potential.

Final score: 4

Birds of a Feather

I've never been able to fully justify my love for the Penguin. After watching "Birds of a Feather" again, I think a large percentage of my love comes from this episode. This was the 47th-produced episode and 52nd-aired on Feb. 8, 1993.

One of my favorite things about this episode is it gives us a look at the personal life of Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, aka the Penguin. Not quite wild enough to go to Arkham, he just goes to jail like regular criminals. And the crimes he commits aren't really that bad — just stealing some paintings, usually — so he regularly gets released from jail in a rather clockwork manner. This episode kind of shows us what happens after said criminal is released. What really makes the Penguin so interesting is how delusional he is about his own life. He believes himself to be somewhat of a celebrity in both the high society and the super villain community, yet he is neither. It's really funny, but pretty sad, too, which is why I'll add a point for it.

I'll raise the score to a 7 for the added twist of Veronica Vreeland being the real villain of the episode. I mean, what she did here was really cruel — purposefully leading on the Penguin just for her amusement. Yes, she did later grow fond of him and began to regret her actions, but it was too late. In the end, she got no less than what she deserved.

Now I have to take a point off for the conflicting nature of the Penguin's social graces. I always thought of him as truly being a social elite, but this episode implied that he only thinks he's a social elite. While at a fancy restaurant, he eats fish with his hands as if he were a real penguin. And at the opera, he stands up and sings along with the performer. In my head, the Penguin would know better to not do that. I think a lot of this directly comes from Tim Burton's Batman Returns, where the Penguin was quite gross and disgusting. I don't like that Penguin, and I would have preferred to see him behave well in social settings in this episode, but only disturb people by openly talking about his exploits as a criminal.

I will add a point for the active Bruce Wayne here. Batman is going to follow the Penguin any way he can, and what better way to keep tabs on the high society than by being billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne? I always appreciate it when the writers remember that Bruce Wayne is an influential and important citizen of Gotham City.

This episode is the first in a string of episodes where some of Batman's most notable villains attempt to reform their ways, which is an idea I really like. How many times can you stand to get beat up by Batman before you give in and forsake your life of crime? But as we see here, these people became criminals because something is wrong with them mentally. And whatever that condition or paranoia is, it prevents them from truly leading a normal life. When Penguin found out he was being taken advantage of, a logical response would have just been to leave the party and be sad for a while but eventually try to make some new friends and start over again. But Penguin is not logical or sane, so he immediately kidnapped Veronica and returned to his life of a super villain. Really deep stuff. The score is now an 8.

Sadly, the episode could not end on a "high note," as the Penguin so painfully punned. The final fight with Batman is in an opera house, and Penguin utilizes one of the props — a fire-breathing dragon. I probably could have accepted this by itself, but it went over-the-top for me when Penguin put on the viking helmet. I can see Joker doing that to earn an extra laugh, but why would Penguin stop, take off his top hat, and put on that viking helmet? I have to take a point off for that in what was otherwise a very fine episode.

Final score: 7

Almost Got 'Im

It is with great joy and pleasure that I review my favorite episode of Batman: The Animated Series. "Almost Got 'Im" was the 46th-produced episode, but wisely bumped ahead to be the 35th-aired episode on Nov. 10, 1992. Since I already said this is my favorite, I'm not going to focus too much on the scoring and just focus on the highlights of this masterpiece.

First of all, the starting was brilliant. You only see the villains' hands, but you instantly know who all of them are and you get a brief glimpse of their personalities. Two-Face, with two-pair, pours half-and-half into his coffee. Penguin prepares himself some fancy tea. And the Joker, of course, pulls an ace out of his sleeve.

The next point that got me really excited was the explanation of the giant penny in the Batcave. In most continuities, Batman has a giant penny (and sometimes a T-rex) in the cave for no reason. Until now. While having Batman use Two Face's suddenly jagged coin to escape is a little far-fetched, the main idea of flipping the penny with Batman on it was good.

This episode also boasts one of the funniest moments in the entire series. Killer Croc (really Batman in disguise) slams his fist on the table and demands to tell his story. He starts with a dramatic buildup, then abruptly and lamely ends with, "I threw a rock at him!" What makes this scene great is the few seconds of silence that follows then Poison Ivy trying to change the subject. Sheepishly, Croc adds, "It was a big rock." Pure gold. Unfortunately, I think this part was too funny because ever since this episode aired, Croc became incredibly stupid both in the cartoons and the comics. In Jeph Loeb's "Hush," which came out more than a decade later, Batman is surprised to see Croc carry out a sophisticated crime like kidnapping a child. This makes me sad because in Croc's first appearance in this show, "Vendetta," he is quite smart and carries out a very intelligent crime that frames Harvey Bullock. Of course, I can't blame this episode for any unintended negative repercussions that came from it.

Not only does this episode rock because it has so many wonderful bad guys, but their respective stories were very good despite their brevity. In fact, you could argue that some of these villains had their best moments from the entire show here in this episode — especially Penguin. Most Penguin episodes fall a little flat, but his story here was really good and true to his character. I only wish it was a little longer, but I understand why it wasn't.

Naturally though, the Joker's story tops them all. Pumping the studio audience with laughing gas was similar to Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" and I loved how even the other villains were disgusted by Joker's plan to turn Catwoman into cat food. Yes, this is a clean kids' show, but when you really think about it, that is a pretty gruesome idea.

And then there's the great heroic, surprising moment at the end, when Croc stands up and in Batman's voice says, "I don't think so." I get chills every time. Then he throws Joker over the table and in the swinging light Croc's silhouette becomes Batman's. It does not make one iota of logical sense, but it is so cool it doesn't matter.

The best Batman episode of all time is "Heart of Ice," but if I could only choose one Batman episode to watch, I'd pick "Almost Got 'Im." It has all the villains you'd ever want, it has great action, great humor and even a nice bit of romance at the end with Catwoman. You'd be very hard-pressed to find another 22-minute episode that contains this much stuff and handles it this well.

Final score: 10

Terror in the Sky

"Terror in the Sky" was the 45th-produced episode of Batman: The Animated Series, but it got bumped up to be the 37th-aired episode on Nov. 12, 1992.

This episode marks the return of Man-Bat, which made me very happy. That was the first villain of this show, and it shouldn't be forgotten. Bringing it back, with a new twist deserves a point.

Making Francine the Man-Bat ... er, Woman-Bat, was a great idea, but they kind of had a hard time handling Francine when she wasn't a bat. I guess the transformations were making her moody and giving her headaches, or maybe her headaches were causing the transformations? I'm not sure. In any case, she was completely annoying the whole episode, culminating in an extremely cheesy scene where she had a complete meltdown despite being perfectly fine two seconds earlier. Such random changes in mood were the norm in the '90s Spider-Man cartoon, but thankfully rare in Batman. However, whenever something like this happens, I have to take a point off.

But I will raise the score back to a 6 for a great scene with Dr. March. He is the prototypical mad scientist, but unlike other mad scientists, he actually admitted he was wrong. Watching the depressed doctor burn his notes was really a beautiful scene.

A large portion of this episode is devoted to Batman chasing the Woman-Bat around in his Batplane. However, it never got boring because it was so well done. The cinematic nature of it made me forget I was watching a 20-year-old Saturday morning cartoon. The music was also powerful and fun when a brief moment of "Night on Bald Mountain" was played. Truly a work of art.

Episodes like this prove why this show still holds up two decades later. This isn't near one of the best Batman episodes — it is perfectly average — but when the average episodes are this good, then you have an amazing show.

Final score: 7

Day of the Samurai

It's so good to get back to good Batman episodes. Serving as the sequel to "Night of the Ninja," "Day of the Samurai" was the 44th produced episode and 55th aired on Feb. 23, 1993.

I'm going to add a point for the reappearance of Kyodai. He is such a great Batman villain because he's actually not a Batman villain at all — he's a Bruce Wayne villain. I can't think of any other villain on this show who matches that description, and in the comics, I can only think of Hush. So Kyodai is a one-of-a-kind in this respect. He also knows Bruce is Batman, and he's a great fighter, stretching Batman's abilities. I kind of wish we had more of Kyodai, but what we got of him was great, so I shouldn't complain.

I'll raise the score to a 7 for Bruce's sensei, who obviously knows Bruce is Batman but is too respectful to say it. Not only do I like the idea of Batman having a bunch of different masters who trained him, but I love having him remain friends and allies with these masters. I think this is a great angle of Batman that no one's explored yet.

I'll add another point for the fun Japanese story here. Secret techniques, 500-year-old scrolls, the touch of death, the high priority of honor — great stuff! I just was really digging it. Of course, you can't have too many episodes in Japan, or you would start to lose who Batman is. But this one trip to Japan was a welcome breath of fresh air (especially coming right after the werewolf episode).

I feel like I'm not saying that much about this episode, but that's because everything was so good. This was always one of my favorites as a kid, and it still holds up 20 years later. The last point I'll add is for the final battle at a volcano. I mean, Batman fights a ninja at a volcano! It doesn't get much better than that!

Final score: 9

Moon of the Wolf

Whenever I take a long time off between reviewing Batman episodes, it usually means that the next episode on my list is a dud. And that precisely is the case with "Moon of the Wolf," the 43rd-produced episode, but 36th aired on Nov. 11, 1992.

This was one of the last episodes produced by Akom Production Co., the infamously worst animation studio that worked on Batman: The Animated Series. This company put out notorious duds like "Prophecy of Doom," "Christmas with the Joker," "Joker's Wild," and "Cat Scratch Fever," which was so bad that it prompted Bruce Timm to stop working with Akom. "Moon of the Wolf" ranks right up there with some of the worst animation you'll see in this show. What really struck me was how slow all the characters moved in this episode. People running for their life, or even simply falling down, seemed to be stuck in slow motion. Plus, the animators could never keep any of the clothes the same color — Milo's coat was brown, white and blue in one scene — or keep any colors consistent, period — people's eyes changed colors and even Batman's white eyes turned bright blue for a moment. And don't even get me started on the werewolf that had the same expression frozen on its face the whole show. No wonder Batman thought it was a guy wearing a mask. Yes, I have to take a point off for this.

But I will add a point for the appearance of Dr. Milo. I don't know why, but I've always liked him as a character. I like his look, his voice, and his role as a failed genetic scientist. Sadly, he only had two episodes in Batman, which were both pretty crappy (the first was "Cat Scratch Fever," where he worked for Roland Daggett), but he will return in a pretty fun episode of Justice League. Hopefully I'll get around to reviewing that show some day.

Now to get back to taking away points. Dr. Milo wants to kill Batman for breaking up his thing with Daggett, so he blackmails Olympic champion Anthony Romulus to lure Batman into a trap to be killed by the werewolf. OK, a little overly-complicated, but mad scientists do these sort of things, so I'll let that slide. Romulus' plan is to donate $2 million to charity only if Batman arrives in person to collect the check. Instead of presenting this generous donation at a big, televised event, Romulus had Batman visit his house in the dead of night. Stupidly, Batman walked right into this trap and was too slow to pull out his gas mask. Come on, Batman! You know better than that! Minus one point.

I now have to drop the score to a 3 for the bizarre explanation for how Romulus became the werewolf. He came to Milo looking for steroids, but Milo said steroids were too traceable, so instead he gave him a concoction of steroids mixed with timber wolf estrogen. First of all, if this new potion has steroids in it, how will it not show up in the drug tests? Secondly, why wolf estrogen? Don't you mean testosterone? Wait a minute ... so does this mean that Romulus turned into a girl werewolf? No wonder he was so grumpy!

Even though I like Dr. Milo, he does have a habit of saying really stupid things that don't make any sense, like his hypothermia line in "Cat Scratch Fever." Here, his stupid moment came when Romulus was only half a werewolf and Milo said he couldn't cure him until he became a full werewolf. Wait, what? How is that even possible? And what was the point of that? Just turn him into a full werewolf right from the get-go and have at it. We're down to a 2 now.

There is one redeeming moment in this episode thanks to one of my favorite characters: Harvey Bullock. Throughout the episode, there was a dangling plot thread about some stolen timber wolves from the zoo. But Bullock was able to wrap that up through good old-fashioned detective work. He discovered the zookeeper's bank account suddenly gained a few thousand dollars, so he confronted him, threatened to feed him to the wolves, and got a confession from him. Nice to see somebody was competent in this episode. Plus one point.

But I'll have to take off another point for the failed climax. Batman fighting a werewolf could have been really cool. Yes, monsters and Batman don't usually mix well, but Man-Bat was able to pull it off, so why not this one? Two reasons: One, the sloppy animation took all excitement away. Two, sloppy writing made things all too convenient for Batman. After getting knocked out in the stupid trap, Batman woke up in chains in the middle of a construction yard. I guess they took his utility belt, but that didn't stop the animators from drawing it. The werewolf came pouncing down after Batman, and he was only able to escape from the chain by finding a bobby pin on the ground close enough for him to pick it up with his teeth. What's a bobby pin doing at a construction site? Anyway, they get into a pretty lame fight and Batman ultimately wins when the wolf is struck by lightning. So ... yeah, Batman really didn't do anything in this episode. He just got lucky. He didn't even find the werewolf and turn it back into a human. He just let Romulus continue to roam free. Talk about a lame ending.

"Moon of the Wolf" started on very shaky ground. Batman and the supernatural do not mix very well. In rare exceptions, it can be pulled off, but most of the time it's best to leave it alone. This episode also made a half-hearted attempt to teach kids the dangers of steroids, but that was never realized. And then the whole thing was further degraded by some of the worst animation you'll see in the DCAU.

Final score: 2

Tyger Tyger

Coming up next is one of the strangest and most-confusing episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. "Tyger Tyger" was the 42nd produced episode, but the 30th aired on Oct. 30, 1992. I'm guessing it got bumped up to run in time for Halloween. However, this isn't really a good Halloween episode, as it's simply not a good episode at all.

The most fundamental flaw with this episode is that it goes against everything this show stands for. Batman is best when he's fighting more "normal" villains. When you start delving too deep into the supernatural, or science fiction, then you start running into problems. There are a couple of exceptions, like Clayface and Man-Bat, but for the most part, Batman should not be fighting monsters. So when this episode started off with a gorilla man, I immediately thought, "What is a gorilla man doing on my Batman? I don't want to see him fight a gorilla man." And it really just put me in a bad mood the whole rest of the way. These monsters were just strange and weird. They might have worked better in a different show, but they really felt out of place in Batman. I'll take a point off for that.

Surprisingly, I will add one point for a nice bit of continuity. After Selina was kidnapped by the gorilla man, Batman visited Kirk Langstrom, who was the Man-Bat and is kind of the expert on half-human/half-animal creatures. This show had a very loose continuity, but whenever they do something like this, it makes me happy.

Now, why is it that every Catwoman episode sucks? In this one, we never even got to see Catwoman. Just Selina, then her as a Woman-Cat, which was extremely odd and stupid. First of all, I never really understood why the evil doctor turned her into a cat in the first place. Just because she likes cats doesn't mean she wants to be one. And if your great creation, Tygrus, needs a wife, then why not make him one like you made Tygrus originally? In fact, if you think cat-humans are the ultimate life forms, then why not turn yourself into one? Seriously, this doctor's motivations made no sense. Also, the episode was kind of inconsistent with Selina's mind in her cat form. At first, the doctor said she'd only be confused by Batman and forget she was ever human, and that's how it was, for about two seconds. OK ... so what was the point of that? What was the point of any of this episode? I suppose a story like this would work in the comics because you could say that even after Selina turned back into a human, she still retained some cat-like agility and strength and whatnot. But you can't do that in a TV show like this where every episode is a stand-alone story that can be viewed in any order. Am I done ranting now? I guess so. The score's back down to a 4.

Despite all the strangeness and lack of logical motive in this episode, it still had plenty of elements to be entertaining. But it wasn't. For an episode where Batman went to a jungle and fought a Man-Cat, it really had crummy action. All the characters were extremely stiff and seemed to stand around a lot and move very slowly while fighting. Not only did this episode fail in its attempts to be a deep psychological story, it also failed in what should have been easiest for it — having some good action sequences. For this last failure, I'll take the score down another point.

Final score: 3

Joker's Wild

Sadly, too many of the Joker episodes in Batman: The Animated Series just turned out very sloppy and lackluster. And one of the worst offenders in this category is "Joker's Wild," the 41st produced episode and 42nd aired on Nov. 19,1992. (I've noticed that the episodes lately have been aired more closely to their production order. Hopefully this trend will continue and the air date order number will match the production number soon.)

The episode gets off to a pretty decent start, with Summer Gleeson covering the opening of a new casino. When it's revealed to have a Joker motif, she can't stop herself from saying, "Disgusting!" She then tries to recover and asks Bruce Wayne his opinion, who can only say, "No comment." Yes, it is disgusting to base a casino on a sociopath, and yes, Bruce would be too upset by this to be able to say anything nice. I'll add a point for that.

Naturally, the Joker was angered and immediately escaped from Arkham Asylum in one of the laziest escapes I've ever seen. All he basically did was pour water on the floor to make some guards slip down. It appears that one of the guards is letting him go on purpose, but the episode never fully explains why. I guess we could assume that he was working for the owner of the casino, Kaiser, who's plan counted on the Joker escaping, but we're never shown or told that explicitly. They should have had the Joker find out they let him escape. He's (normally) too smart a character to not realize that. I'll take off a point for this.

I'll take off another point for a strange, and rather pointless scene where Bruce Wayne plays blackjack with the Joker and cheats to win. Earlier, the Joker was cheating with a bunch of other people, but for some reason he stopped cheating with Bruce. And why would Bruce cheat in the first place? The whole point of that stupid scene was for Bruce to discover that the real Joker was in the casino, but they could have done that in a lot of better ways.

I'll drop the score to a 3 for the terrible animation and lack of basic English skills. The animators just could not figure out what the Joker was supposed to look like, and a couple of times, they got confused with the black rings around his eyes and drew them as massive eyebrows instead. They also put up a couple of nonsensical signs, one reading "End Stop" and the worst: "Wan the ciringnal Jokernocile." This was supposed to say "Win the original Jokermobile," but apparently nobody at this animation company, Akom, knew any English. Apparently, Bruce Timm was so upset with this episode, he stopped working with Akom completely. So maybe in a way, this episode was good, in that it let the animation finally hit rock bottom, causing the producers to make a concerted effort to improve the animation quality. We'll just have to see how much things really do improve after this.

Now Cameron Kaiser really had a dumb idea. He went bankrupt creating a casino, so he hastily changed it to make it a target for the Joker to destroy, allowing him to recoup his losses on the insurance. First of all, the hasty remodeling had to cost a fortune; and secondly, any competent insurance man would instantly see through the fraud of this. Anyway, once the Joker is discovered in the casino, Kaiser starts frantically stuffing cash in a briefcase. Why? And wasn't he bankrupt? Batman finds Kaiser and opens that case, which suddenly only has files in it. Curse you, Akom! For all this nonsense, I'm going to have to drop the score to a 2.

But like in many Joker episodes, the one redeeming quality was Mark Hamill's performance. Here are his best lines: "I hate it when you make sense!" "Why can't he ever stay dead!" "That's it — chew him up and spit him out!" I'll add a point for this, but I just wish that more Joker episodes would rise to the great voice work and not rely on it to carry everything.

Final score: 3

If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?

I'm surprised it took this long, but we finally got to the first appearance of the Riddler. Better late than never, I guess. "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" was the 40th episode produced and 41st aired on Nov. 18, 1992.

This episode did a really good job of showing Robin act like a teenager. I love the fact that he would use the massive Batcomputer to play video games. Which teenager in the world wouldn't do that? I also liked the little detail of having him slouch in his seat in the Batmobile and prop his feet up on the dashboard. I love it when the animators take just a little extra time to draw something like that, which says so much about the character. I'll add a point for that.

But now that I've just praised the animators, I'm going to have to take a point off for their overall general sloppiness throughout the episode as a whole. One part that really bugged me was when the Riddler's ring puzzle somehow became handcuffs off screen. How was that even possible? The colorists also kept forgetting that the Riddler's mask and gloves were supposed to be purple, not gray.

But speaking of the Riddler, I am going to add a point for his design. As a man who uses his intellect to commit crimes, it makes much more sense for him to wear a simple suit and hat instead of dressing in bright green tights covered in question marks. Whenever I think of the Riddler, I think of this version. And it's not just his looks — his voice and his calm, collected manner also perfectly match his skills and abilities.

I'll bring the score up to a 7 for the riddles and maze in the episode. I thought they were all pretty interesting and solved in a logical manner. It was also great to see that Batman couldn't solve all them himself, but needed Robin's help. I almost think this could have been a good two-parter, but maybe the riddles and maze would have become redundant after a while.

However, I wasn't too happy with the ending. Batman did cheat to get to the center of the maze, which seemed too quick and convenient. And instead of having a nice fight with the Minotaur, Batman gave Riddler his own riddle: "How do you take out a minotaur with a single blow?" He then did just that with the giant Hand of Fate he took over. Not only did Batman prevent what could have been a cool fight, but he delivered a really stupid line that in no way could be considered a real riddle. What a pathetic climax. The score's now a 6.

But I was happy with the fact that the Riddler did escape long before Batman had a chance to look for him, and that we saw what happened to Mockridge afterward. Yes, Mockridge was a rather cliche corrupt businessman, but through his story, we finally got to see a little into the effects of being kidnapped by a super villain. I mean, if the Riddler or the Joker or one of those guys kidnapped you and almost killed you, you'd be pretty messed up for a while, I'd imagine. So for that redeeming ending, I'll add back one point.

Final score: 7

Heart of Steel

Up next is an exciting sci-fi two-parter slightly based off an old Czech play that introduced the world to the concept of robots. "Heart of Steel" was the 38th and 39th episodes produced and 39th and 40th episodes aired on Nov. 16 and 17, 1992.

Part I

I really liked the robot briefcase at the beginning. It was really versatile with a ton of different tools, a powerful laser and even a rocket. It's fun to have some high-tech science fiction stuff with Batman every now and then. Plus one point.

But while this cool robot is doing its thing, one of the security guards decides to walk Bruce Wayne out of his office, but for some reason, he had a hard time unlocking the door. First of all, why did he have to unlock the door to get out of it? Second, what kind of incompetent guard is this? You should know which keys do what! I know they needed to find a way to delay Bruce, but I think they could have come up with something better than a guard fumbling with his keys. Minus one point.

I'll take another point off for what happens next. When the guards hear the alarm go off, they push Bruce into a random room. Once inside, Bruce reaches up and touches nothing on the wall (I think there was supposed to be a button or picture or something, but they didn't draw anything) and the wall turns around, giving him a chance to turn into Batman. Again, I have two problems with this. Does Bruce have secret panels like this in every room in his office just in case? And what happens if someone else happens to touch that exact same spot on that wall? Also, what happened when those guards went back to that room to check on Bruce only to find he's disappeared? Too many problems here.

But the score will go back up to a 5 for the introduction to Barbara Gordon, and most notably her relationship with he father, Jim Gordon. In this continuity, it looks like she's the only family he has, and you can really see how much love they have for each other, which is sweet. I also liked the thing with her teddy bear. Just a nice, heart-warming relationship.

I'll also add a point for the character Karl Rossum. His name comes from the 1921 Czech play by Karl Capek, "Rossum's Universal Robots," which invented the word robot. This Rossum is also fun because he is a nice guy, but there's something about him that makes you suspicious of him. I also loved to hear Batman say Rossum taught him everything he knew about electronics. Not only would Batman have sought out the best martial arts teachers, but also the best electronic experts as well.

The story gets really exciting when we're introduced to the robotic Jim Gordon. This works so well because of the tender moments earlier with him and Barbara and the teddy bear. Now, we're not only worried for Jim and Gotham, but also his only daughter. The score's up to a 7 now.

And I'll add one more point for the great cliff-hanger. Bruce's new girlfriend is really a bad guy, she electrocutes Alfred and discovers the Batcave! That really is one of the best endings to an episode that I've seen. Luckily, audiences only had to wait one day to see the second part.

Final score: 8

Part II

Luckily, Part II didn't get off to a slow start like Part I did. Instead, the action only intensifies with the introduction of more body snatchers! With the mayor, Bullock and several other influential men in Gotham being replaced, we don't know who to trust anymore. This is the kind of storyline that could effectively be carried out in the comics over the course of a few months. Unfortunately, this show only allowed it to be two episodes. In any case, the score is at a 6.

One great thing about fighting robots is you have complete freedom to be as violent as possible. The best one was with the robot Bullock, who fell into the Bat signal, which electrocuted his skin off. I also wanted to have Batman say, "Good job, you took out the robot Bullock" and have Barbara say, "He was a robot?" Plus one point.

I'll add another point for seeing Barbara Gordon act like Batgirl long before she put on her costume. Yes, some of her detective skills were a little over-convenient, like the fingerprints on the keypad, but the concept was good. I like seeing heroes act heroic before becoming superheroes. The mask and cape doesn't make someone heroic, what's inside does.

I do have to bring the score back down to a 7 for a rather stupid and illogical move by the computer villain H.A.R.D.A.C. He kidnapped a whole bunch of people and kept them alive in a water tank hidden underground. But he later pulls that tank up to show everybody those victims were still alive, which only left them exposed to be rescued. Not a very logical move for a computer.

But I'll give a point back for the great fight scene at the end. Fighting robots is so much fun, especially when Bruce's one-time girlfriend has half her face blown off. Just a lot of freaky fun. Luckily, we will see the robots come back one more time.

Final score: 8

The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne

As a kid, my favorite episodes were always the ones where all the villains get to come together. This is such an episode. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to my old memories. It still isn't too bad, though. "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne" was the 37th episode produced and 29th aired on Oct. 29, 1992.

One thing that bugged me right at the start was an off-hand comment by Batman, saying that Dr. Strange's resort is owned by a Daggett company. But Batman never interrogates Roland Daggett and he's never mentioned again throughout the whole episode. We just barely had a Daggett episode in "Cat Scratch Fever," so why can't he be here? (It would have been nice to see him redeem himself after that lame episode.) And if you're not going to use him, then why mention him at all? I know this is nit-picky, but I'm still going to take a point off for this. Batman knows Daggett is evil, so he should have gone to him first.

But I'll bring the score back up to a 5 for the exciting plot point in this episode, namely, that someone finally discovered Batman's secret identity! This is the first time a villain learned this most-guarded secret and it was quite thrilling to watch Batman try to figure out a way to get out of this mess. Sadly, Hugo Strange never does anything significant again until the Arkham City game, but he was pretty awesome in that, and pretty fun here.

I'll add another point for the Joker's answering machine. "Boy, did you get the wrong number! Leave your message at the sound of the shriek!" This line is too perfect and too funny to make you think about the absurdity of Joker having an answering machine in the first place.

Now, for the best part of the episode, the Joker, the Penguin and Two-Face all on the screen together and all with speaking roles! We've had a couple of episodes where we've seen all these villains, but they never said anything. That's because it's a lot easier to draw somebody than have a voice actor come in. But in this episode, we see three of the top villains come together, bicker a bit amongst themselves, but mostly work well together. And they very nearly learned Batman's secret identity, which surely would have spelt doom for the Caped Crusader. The score's up to a 7.

However, even though I liked watching the villains come together, I still can't help but wonder why they initially agreed to pay Strange more than $53 million for that tape. Why didn't they just skip that step and pull out their guns on him like they did when they saw the tape was fake. They should have had Penguin suggest to combine their resources, have Joker say, "I have a better idea, why don't we not pay him anything?" then have Two-Face flip his coin, agree, and pull out his guns. Then you have a cowering Strange play the tape to get them to put the guns away and then the rest of the episode could play like normal. But sadly, that's not what happened, and for that, I'll have to take off a point.

Final score: 6

Cat Scratch Fever

Sadly, it seems the majority of Catwoman episodes are of rather low quality, this one being perhaps the worst. But it can't all be bad, can it? Let's find out. "Cat Scratch Fever" was the 36th episode produced and 33rd aired on Nov. 5, 1992.

At the beginning, we see Selina Kyle being sentenced by a judge for her activities as Catwoman, but she received a lighter sentence because she helped Batman stop the Red Claw. Not only was I happy with the nod to continuity there, but I was really happy to see a Batman villain actually stand before a judge after being caught. All too often they just immediately get sent to Arkham, so it was great to have a realistic change of pace. I'll add a point for this scene, which is unfortunately the best part of the episode.

The first point I'll take off is for the really bad, distracting animation. Not only were all the characters constantly off model, but their mouths often failed to match their words and their clothes randomly changed color from one scene to the next. A lot of parts were just extremely lazy. Like when Selina went to pull her cat out of a net. All she did was touch the side of it and it suddenly fell apart like it was cut with a knife. Maybe she was supposed to have a knife and then it got censored out, but I don't care; it looked stupid and served as a perfect example for how sloppily this episode was animated.

I'll take another point off for Roland Daggett's ridiculous, over-the-top evil plot. His goal was to infect a bunch of stray animals to spread a new disease through Gotham, to which only he had the cure. Come on, Daggett, I expected better from you. What are you going to do next, steal candy from the orphanage? What happened to the Daggett who wanted to blow up Crime Alley or blackmail Bruce Wayne? That Daggett was a good, realistic villain. This one is just looking for stupid ways to act evil.

Another main complaint with this episode is that it's really boring. Like, really, really boring. The main bulk of the action simply involves Batman being chased by a rabid dog. OK, that's kind of scary, I guess, but shouldn't Batman easily be able to defeat a dog? Apparently not. The score's down to a 3.

Now, this episode introduced us to a little-known, yet recurring character named Dr. Milo. I like the idea of Milo, an evil doctor specializing in animals, but in this episode, he really doesn't do anything. In fact, he acts more like an idiot than someone with title of doctor should act like. His worst line of the episode was when Batman was in the lake, hiding under the ice, and after about 20 seconds, Milo says "No one can withstand this degree of hypothermia!" Uhh, hypothermia is what you get after being in the cold for too long, not something you're you're "in" like he's suggesting. They should have had him say something smarter, like "At this temperature, Batman has only 2 minutes before hypothermia sets in." But I'm not a doctor, so maybe what he said wasn't wrong at all. But it did bug me, so that, combined with his terrible performance through the whole episode, will drop the score to a 2.

Final score: 2