Holy macoroly, Batman. It's me, Batman!
Hey, I'm here to host Today in Nerd History today.
Because your regular host, Tony ... died in a house fire.
It's me, Batman. I couldn't save him.
It's Today in Nerd History
TODAY IN NERD HISTORY
It's me, not Batman but Tony!
You knew it already because of this. Batman can never grow a beard, how terrible is that?
Ugh
Geez
Listen guys, Batman: The Animated Series.
It's a great show, it's maybe the finest form the character has ever been in.
Although Batman 66 is my favorite...
I will admit that the animated series has writing that elevated it.
It made it FUN. It made it EXCITING.
And, pretty frequently, it would give us a big kick in the gut.
Here are 5 times that Batman: The Animated Series made us feel too much.
Number 5, "His Silicon Soul".
What if you discovered that you weren't really you?
The Batman we followed for most of the episode "His Silicon Soul", is actually a robot.
When RoboBats discovered his insides are all sparks and circuits instead of chunky guts...
He goes searching for answers. He's not the original Batman.
He's just a less-than-timely Terminator knock-off for H.A.R.D.A.C., a sort of Skynet rip-off.
Imagine that you thought you were Batman and then were told that you're NOT Batman.
You'd be upset too.
But when H.A.R.D.A.C. takes over, and starts the countdown to a Judgement-Day-style apocalypse...
We see that BatBot has a shred of justice left inside of him.
To draw that justice out, regular Batman takes a punch from BatBot and goes over the edge of the Batcave's many mysterious and impractical bottomless pits.
Deep down, BatBot is still Batman, just a little bit.
And is suitably horrified at the thought of taking somebody's life.
This overrides H.A.R.D.A.C.'s programming and BatBot is able to punch his way to saving the day.
At the cost of his own life.
The human Batman reemerges alive and well, lamenting his fallen self.
He wonders aloud whether BatBot really did have a soul, given his willingness to put the people of Gotham before his own needs.
Heavy duty.
Number 4, "Mad Love".
Harley Quinn & The Joker have a hell of a complicated relationship for a kids cartoon.
Her love is one-sided and she tolerates Joker's abuse - both physical and mental - in order to get close to him.
In "Mad Love", we get a little more to the story.
The episode flashes back to a therapy session when Harleen Quinzel was still a psychologist working at Arkham Asylum.
Joker quickly wins Harle' over with his bullshit sob story about an abusive father.
A father who was only happy once: during their trip to the circus.
The episode follows Harley in her attempt to ensnare the Batman in order to win the love of her " puddin' ", the Joker.
And when she finally manages to pull off her plan and has the Bats ready to be a feast for piranha beasts, this happens.
(Batman) - What was it he told that one parole officer? Oh yes. "There was only one time I ever saw Dad really happy."
"He took me to the ice show when I was 7."
(Harley Quinn) - "Circus... He said it was the circus..."
It seems everyone on the world can see that the Joker is full of crap except for Harley.
Even when the Joker comes in and throws her through a window for undercutting him in finally catching the Batman.
Harley survives by landing on some garbage but is still unable to see the Joker as the monster he is.
She blames herself.
(Harley) - My fault... I didn't get the joke...
She doesn't understand that there is no joke to get with the Joker. The real joke... is on her.
Number 3, "Robin's Reckoning".
Dick Grayson worked particularly well as Robin because both his & Batman's origins are rooted in losing parents in front of their eyes.
The Emmy-award-winning "Robin's Reckoning" gives us a glimpse of what is was like for Robin to lose his parents.
After tracking down some goons, Batman hears the name of Tony Zucco: the man responsible for killing Robin's parents.
When Robin discovers Batman is going after Zucco, he ditches his partner to go after Zucco himself, and it gets hairy.
The Boy Wonder seriously considers murdering the man who took his family.
Batman arrives just in time to talk some sense into Robin in a way that only someone who shared his same pain can.
This fleeting flash of anger subsides and they decide to take in Zucco by the books.
Well, as far as illegal vigilantes going around and beating up other criminals on their own terms can be considered "by the books".
Number 2, "Growing Pains".
Here's another great Robin story, but this time, focusing on Tim Drake, who's the younger, pluckier, and, okay, a litter dimmer version of Dick Grayson's Robin.
In this episode, Robin makes the acquaintance of a young girl named Annie, who suffers from a classic case of cartoon amnesia.
But things are never so easy in the Batman universe.
It's eventually revealed that Annie's father is C-List Batman villain, Clayface.
A victim of an experiment gone wrong that has left his body the malleable consistency of a wet dog turd rolled through a sandbox.
After Clayface's last big battle with Batman, he pinched a piece of himself to go scouting.
That piece eventually developed its own personality and consciousness and became Annie.
Clayface wants his missing body chunk back and Annie wants to, like, continue to be alive?
Unfortunately for her, Daddy gets his way.
The sentient child who does not want to die gets sucked back into her dad, effectively killing her.
Clayface is foiled, but there is no happy ending. Annie is gone forever and is not coming back.
Robin even suggests that they add murder to the list of Clayface's charges.
This episode ends on a downer with an important message.
Sometimes in life, people you care about will die in horrible ways and there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it.
ANYWAY, we'll be right back after these brightly colored commercials about putting pizza on a bagel, WHAT?!
Number 1, "Heart of Ice".
Mr. Freeze is so, SO close to being Batman's crappiest villain.
But the episode "Heart of Ice" famously imbued the character with a relatable and tragic backstory.
As Dr. Victor Freeze, our baddy used to be a normal guy.
A scientist leading the field of cryogenics.
When his wife, Nora, was diagnosed with an incurable disease, he put her into suspended animation until a cure for that disease could be found.
But when his greedy corporate boss, Ferris Boyle - yes, try to catch the subtlety of that naming convention - finds that Victor is wasting millions trying to cure diseases...
Ugh
Boyle demands that Freeze pulls the plug on his project, and his wife.
Seeing no other option, Freeze turns to a life of crime, to continue to fund the rescue of his frozen bride.
Of course, falling into a vat of garden-variety bad-guy chemicals in the process.
Though Batman, understandably, sympathizes with Fries's wish to save a loved one, he still gotta bust him.
The moment is bittersweet: Batman brings in the bad guy.
But not without also delivering some information to the police that incriminates Boyle for his murderous business practices.
But Victor will never have a fleeting moment of happiness because Nora will always be entombed in ice.
Sometimes there isn't a happy ending.
Sometimes there isn't an end.
(Dorkly music plays)
[Captioning finished and edited by Rohit John]