A brooding, billionaire vigilante.
A colorful rogues gallery, and a city in need of a savior.
These are the essential elements that
make up a good Batman story.
Some of the best Batman stories ever told were on Batman
the Animated Series.
Not only did it push the character
of Batman and his vast supporting cast
to untold heights, it also redefined
what children's animation could accomplish.
Which begs the question, what's the perfect episode of Batman
the Animated Series?
How about an episode that instead
of focusing on the Dark Knight himself,
puts its primary lens on his rogue gallery of villains?
But before we get too deep, please like,
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to stay up to date with all of our videos.
Batman the Animated Series, is arguably the definitive version
of the world's greatest detective.
After literally dozens of live action and animated films,
multiple TV shows, countless video games, and over 80 years
of comic books.
That's no easy statement to make,
and yet, it's a widely held truism, at this point.
It's brooding atmosphere, precise character work,
timeless feel, and brilliant writing,
have all withstood the slow grind of time.
The series is even more highly regarded today,
than when it made its splashy debut in the early 1990s.
What sets Batman the Animated Series apart
from the legion of other adaptations of the Dark Knight?
It all comes down to two men, Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm.
These two rookie animation industry journeymen
were working at Warner Brothers during the late 1980s.
When, off of the breakout success of Tim Burton's
Batman in 1989.
The powers that be decided to move ahead with a Batman
Saturday morning cartoon to further solidify
the character in the booming kid's animation marketplace.
However, what could have been a standard cheesy
execution of a comic book character,
like this or like this.
Radomski's out of the box thinking and art directing
skills, and Tim's dedication to treating the comic book source
material with simultaneous reverence and seriousness,
proved to be a winning combination.
The show's mature tone, intricate character work,
and stylish execution, were instantly
hailed as groundbreaking.
The episode that is widely hailed as the most beloved
is Heart Of Ice.
The episode recontextualized one of the long running,
yet not particularly popular villains, Mr Freeze,
into a sympathetic and tragic character.
The show completely rewrote his origin,
redesigned his visual aesthetic, thanks to a new character
designed by Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola.
And cemented the show as a force to be
reckoned with in the daytime animation arena.
This specific episode even went on
to win a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing
in an Animated Program.
However, that's not the episode we're here to talk about today.
We're going to take a look at an underappreciated episode that
displays a perfect understanding of what makes Batman
and his rogue's gallery work.
We're going to talk about Almost Got Him.
The episode in question, number 35 of season one,
follows five of Batman's villains
as they sit around a table, in a smoky pool
hall somewhere in Gotham, and play cards together.
The episode alternates from each of their perspectives
as they profess various occasions upon which they
quote unquote "almost got him".
Nobody's come closer to snuffing the Batman, than me.
From the opening title card, you know
this episode is going to be something special.
The slinky jazz number that the music starts playing
isn't the usual brass or violin based Danny Elfman influence,
sweeping, orchestral piece.
It's a slower, seedier, more intimate piece, which instantly
sets the tone for the episode.
Almost Got Him, and truly many of the standout
episodes of the show were written by Paul Dini
and directed by Eric Radomski.
Two of the key creative figures behind the scenes,
tackling a high concept episode of the show.
You know it's going to be good right from the get go.
I want a nice clean game, gentlemen.
The episode opens with a table of villains playing poker.
We join them in medias res, mid-conversation.
Two-Face is saying--
I don't think it is one guy.
The other villains at the table, Penguin, Killer Croc,
The Joker, and Poison Ivy, all have their suspicions about who
or what is under the cowl.
All of the characters responses and dialogue are perfect.
Even if you were just reading the lines on a sheet of paper,
divorced a voice acting and context,
you'd still be able to immediately tell who is who,
based on the syntax of how they speak,
and the things they're choosing to talk about.
It's brilliant writing.
With every line, Dini is driving home, character, character,
character.
It's expressly the point of this episode.
Each villain is taking turns describing
how they came so close to killing the caped crusader.
Poison Ivy tells this story about a poisonous pumpkin
patch, where Batman was almost rendered unconscious.
However, at the last moment, he was
able to use a remote control for the Batmobile to foil her plan
and save himself.
Two-Face tells a story about robbing the Gotham
Mint, of course he was stealing $2 million in $2 bills,
with the help of a gang of henchmen nicknamed
the Two-Ton Gang.
What ensues is a fairly quick fight
scene of Batman attempting to stop them, getting captured,
strapped to a giant penny--
Yes, the giant penny from the cave.
And then escaping and stopping them in classic Dick spraying
Batman style.
Killer Croc claims he's come the closest to killing Batman.
I threw a rock at him.
Which is a perfectly in character
line because the Batman the Animated Series version of Croc
isn't a misunderstood circus performer, like in the comics.
He's just an idiot.
Penguin details his aviary of doom,
while using alliteration, almost exclusively.
I find your middling machinations, mildly diverting.
And Joker discusses his late night talk show of death
with a built in laugh-o-meter, which
once the audience laughter gets to a certain level,
will electrocute Batman.
And here's where we get the big twist revealed.
After Joker finishes his story and confesses
that he has Catwoman locked up in a manufacturing plant
on the other side of town at this very moment.
Killer Croc stands up, and we see
that Batman has been pretending to be
Croc the whole time, which is where one
of the coolest shots in all of Batman
The Animated Series happens.
Him standing up and the swinging light
revealing the cowl in silhouette for a split second.
Almost Got Him succeeds in ways that
are unique among the adapted Batman canon.
It's structurally feels like a comic book from the 1960s.
The multiple stories with the connecting wraparound narrative
is straight from the Mort Weisinger era, big ideas,
bright characters, and silver age antics.
The fact that each of the stories we're seeing
have the point of view of the villain in question,
makes it even better.
Batman is often thought of having
one of the most unique and idiosyncratic rogue galleries
of all time.
And this episode is perfect evidence to that thought.
Each villain has their own voice, their own style,
and their own approach, which is all
laced throughout the narrative.
It really is a love letter to the Batman villains
in question.
It's played straight.
Even the campy or larger than life elements,
it fully embraces how ridiculous this all is, and still treats
it like it's really happening.
This is a show made by people who love these characters,
and think that because they're so larger than life,
they deserve to be the stars of the show, just this once.
You don't get the overly serious Batman
that Christopher Nolan propelled to Oscar nominations
without Batman the Animated Series showing everyone
how to both embrace the dark and brooding side of the characters
universe and the brightly colored and frankly silly
side as well.
It's a perfect hybrid that shows you the best of both worlds.
It's a crash course in everything cool about Batman.
If you had never seen or watched or read any Batman material,
previously.
You could watch this episode and instantly get a good sense
of what it's all about.
And that's to say nothing of the ending moment of the episode
where after Batman has helped free Catwoman,
they have an emotional exchange on the rooftop.
Where she says, maybe someday we can have a life
without the freaks.
Maybe without masks.
Only to turn around and realize that he's
vanished into the night, and then mutter--
Almost got him.
If that's not how you end a Batman's story.
I don't know how.
Well, that's it for this episode of Nerdstalgic.
What did you you think?
Should we do, Beware The Gray Ghost next?
Or how about a perfect episode of Batman Beyond?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
And as always, please subscribe to the Nerdstalgic channel
to keep up with everything we've got going on.
Thanks.