On Leather Wings, Christmas with the Joker, and Nothing to Fear Review

This is Batgirl, and this episode of Legends

of the Dark Knight features Stephen C. Phillips

and Mike Blanchard. Hello and welcome to the

first episode of the Legends of the Dark Knight

podcast. I am your host Steve Megatron Phillips

and joining me is... DFJU and Mike, hello. Hello,

how's it been going? It's going. Yes, it's been

going here as well. Yes, it's going. I just moved

a couch so I'm extremely sore. It's a monster

couch like each end is like eight foot and then

it curves like at the end because it's one of

those Sectionals, it's one of those sectionals,

but it's before they thought to make them into

three pieces instead of two directly in the middle

so it's a bitch to get out and So it's a sectional

from the 80s. Okay. No, it's it's it's a modern

one The sad thing about it is it's it's such

a pain in the ass to take care of that I was

ready to chuck the bastard over the balcony And

my wife's like, no, no, no, we need to try and

sell it. And I'm like, yeah, I know, but I just

want to watch it burn. Unfortunately, that's

not going to be the case. So yeah, we had a friend

come over and help. Otherwise, I can guarantee

it would not exist any longer. Quite literally.

So yeah, that's what I spent my evening doing.

So, anything new with you? Just podcasting, sending

out requests for interviews, finally moved upstairs

to the new apartment. Well, not all the way moved

in, but for the majority. I mean, most of the

major stuff is here. I just got little piddly

shit to go downstairs and get it again or bring

back up here. Let's see, what else? Kevin and

I started the Masters in the Universe podcast

series. Of course, we won't actually start it.

Start it until next year. I started Beyond the

Night, which again, won't actually really start

until next year, but they're all there. The feeds

are all there and everything else. Let's see,

Tooncast Beyond is about to launch in a couple

weeks. It's Halloween and... I could give a shit

less about Halloween. You know, I could almost

agree at this point because I don't really do

jack shit with Halloween anymore. I'm too old,

I'm too fat for costumes, so... I'm just too

fucking lazy. We'll just put it that way yeah

Halloween like when I was a kid Halloween was

cool Halloween was great dress up I remember

that the three costumes. I remember ever using

besides like you know like you know just a sheet

for a ghost My I had a 1966 Batman mask and a

1966 blue cape Batman cape so you know that whole

gray and blue yellow Batman suit from the 66

Batman I had that one year 89 when the Batman

movie came out the Tim Burton Batman movie came

out my mom actually made me out of you know like

she sewed me a Batman costume which was pretty

cool and then I think 1990 or 91 I was Donatello

from TMNT oh nice yeah yeah Oh yeah, the other

one. The other one was really funny. We couldn't

find any He -Man costumes one year, so I went

to Skeletor one year. He -Man! Yes, I went to

Skeletor! He -Man! Wow, I did that amazingly

well. Holy shit. That was pretty good. You should

break into voice acting and replace the new Skeletor.

No, no, no, no, no. I leave that up to you, sir.

You and your paid applications there. Oh, yes.

Yes. Oh, man. Yes. So, yeah, that's pretty much

it. Yeah, there's really nothing else going on

other than that. I do have to list on a kind

of ironic note. Yes. One year I was Batman. For

Halloween. I was the goddamn Batman. Cool. Back

in the Michael Keaton days. Yes, I was just a

young little tank. Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer

are the two live action next to... Yeah, two

best ones. Out of the live -action ones, yeah.

Because Michael Keaton played an excellent Batman,

but an okay Bruce Wayne. And Val Kilmer played

an excellent Bruce Wayne, but an okay Batman.

So if you mix the two, you have a good Batman

and Bruce Wayne. Yes, exactly. If only Kevin

Conroy would take the live -action role. He wouldn't

fit the look, but... My god, can he do? Oh, I'm

sure he could fit the look if they if he really

wanted to I'm sure he could oh I'm sure Yes,

I think I think Keaton should come back and be

Batman Beyond like the old Bruce Wayne and Because

he could fit the look now for that old Bruce

Wayne He's not that old no, but he could if you

gave him some gray hair. Yeah, he'd fit that

role perfect I've seen mock -up photos of people

having that and then somebody else played Terry

McGinnis It could be done. Oh, yes. But anyways,

on to the actual and true Batman form. We will

get into the first episode of the Batman The

Animated Series, starting off with On Leather

Wings. There he is! There they are! What is that

thing? That thing is what we're after! Holy crap!

First up is on leather wings as you heard before

the break a Mysterious creature is mistaken for

Batman and the police sent a task force asked

a task force after him I Need to learn how to

speak anyways Your thoughts You know we hear

Batman before we ever hear Batman Yeah, no, that's

something that you actually mentioned to me on

Tooncast proper and I didn't quite know that

before the fact. Yes, the blimp pilot is voiced

by Kevin Comoray. Which is actually quite cool

if you think about it. Oh yeah, yep. And in the

reverse of that, when they went on to JLU, they

basically mirrored the this beginning scene with

Terry McGinnis as Batman. And I believe Conroy

was the voice of the helicopter pilot in that

as well. See, in the DCAU, it's all about irony.

Yes. What can we use twice and make it have the

same effect? Yeah. For me, this episode, it's

good. I like it. the only problem is as a kid

I don't remember seeing because I didn't really

watch this a lot as a kid because according to

my stepmother it was too violent heaven forbid

boo to them yes exactly so when I finally did

get around to watching this I was like oh hmm

this is man spider all over again yeah it is

Yeah, what I mean by that is Spider -Man the

animated series, which technically came two years

after this show started, did Peter Parker turning

into the Man -Spider, and I had actually seen

that before I had seen this. I like this episode,

it's a... This was the first produced episode,

but it wasn't what the first airing episode was

the cat -in -the -claw part one which is the

production order and the the episode air date

order are so So messed up for this series. I

know they're they're all over the place, which

yeah is kind of odd I don't know why they would

not produce them in us and and just play them

in the same order To me, it's like that on the

disc. It makes more sense to do it in the actual

order it was produced. That's why we said in

the episode zero of this podcast that we are

going by the order on the DVDs, because that's

what makes the most sense to us. What did you

have for On Leather Wings? Well, I kind of like

the fact that they they started right out with

them hunting Batman thinking that oh great He's

hurting all these innocent people Yeah Granted

I didn't see this episode until much later on

in the reruns and I honestly don't really care

for this particular Man -bat character It's something

about I just I and I didn't even care for the

the Spider you know the man spider spider spider

man That's it's just that whole beast thing in

in the series, and it'll come back up in this

series as well I don't really care for that kind

of thing. I think it worked well in Batman Beyond

Hmm, but here in the animated series. I don't

quite care for it I like how they executed it

as it was fairly interesting way of doing so

and It goes to show you that you know these sometimes

scientists. It's just they get a little hog wild

Try stuff on themselves. It's like a drug, but

anyways uh You know it's just the the man bat

thing Not only was it creepy, which I think was

part of my problem Yeah, because I didn't really

get into any kind of horror ish stuff until later

in my life, right? This freaked the hell out

of me as a kid You know going back and watching

this episode what I really loved about it was

a lot of the sound oh Yeah, they you could tell

that they took some actual like sound from some

bats and some other stuff. Yeah love the bat

screeching sound you know I love how how Batman

has to investigate the sounds of it and basically

just goes through the motions of you know the

same thing that you've seen a lot of these police

investigative shows like forensic files and new

detectives and you know a lot of those types

of investigative shows and like true TV and crap

like that where they you know take it to computer

crimes or somewhere you know the the analysts

to to you know say say you hear a bell tolling

in the background of a car screeching well they

can they have all these machines that can you

know analyze that sound and and and and basically

separate that sound from everything else. So

I like that. I also like how the mystery of man

-bat people confusing it for Batman. I like that

whole aspect of it. But just the whole story

of a guy experimenting on himself. That whole

storyline of oh we we lost our funding or we

couldn't get the research money So we had to

experiment on ourselves. That's just the most

cliche one of the most cliche in old storylines

in history Oh, yeah, they use that that plate

all the freaking time You know it just it gets

kind of old seeing it however at this time It

wasn't it was common, but it wasn't as common

as nowadays Like and damn near everything you

watch now. They're all like hmm. Let's inject

the formula and see what it does But you can

almost equate that to showing And it is kind

of wrong, but it's you can almost equate it to

showing kids how to shoot up Yeah, because he's

kind of addicted to the formula at one point.

Yeah to to where he has almost a split personality

as well with man bat being its own and him being

one yeah and it's just it's kind of creepy and

it's very creepy yeah it's very creepy especially

when you see him in mid transformation yeah and

he's got that like almost uh werewolf -ish style

to him But, you know, by the end of it, Batman

manages, of course, to create a reversal to the

transformation and delivers the dumb scientist

to his wife. So, I mean, all's well that ends

well in that. But also this technology is used

again twice in the Batman continuity. Yeah, it's

used in Batman Beyond with splicing and it's

used in Justice League. Dr. Milo uses it in Justice

League Unlimited for Cadmus. Yeah, so I mean

everything's relative in the DCAU. Yes. What

did you think of the overall, like since this

is the first episode that we're seeing, what

did you think of the overall design of Gotham,

the overall design of Wayne Manor, the Batcave,

all that stuff? I loved the darkness of it. Yeah,

I could definitely see some of the movie tones

in there. Yeah But I like how it's executed here

much much better than I did on the actual live

-action. Yeah Some of the the imagery and I I

think it was because I was looking Through the

eyes of a child when I went to their watch these

Some of them I could have sworn looked way better

than they did went upon rewatching them Not to

say that they weren't good episodes, but I think

I remembered them better than what they were

for some of them, and this one is among them.

I still cannot really, I'll watch it for the

sake of watching it, but I still don't care for

this episode. Yeah, no, I don't care for it either,

but the context of this entire series... when

Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski first started, you

know, when they were approached to make a Batman

cartoon, the way that they've said in the commentaries

and the DVDs is that these are basically many

movies. You know, it does have some continuity

to the series, but there isn't, I mean, it's,

you know, it's kind of like, you know, back in

the 30s and 40s when people would go to the movie

of the week. You know you would see you know

several cartoons before the movie and if one

of the cartoons was a two -parter You'd have

to come back the next week to see the second

part And that's the same thing with these these

are basically many movies within themselves they

have There's a few episodes that do a lot with

the back continuity, but the actual overall Continuity

of the DC animated universe almost doesn't start

until Superman the animated series I mean there

are certain things that tie back and forth between

this and the other ones But I mean really there

there's and they when they set out to make this

show They weren't even thinking about continuity.

Oh No, this this was the very first show and

then it just kind of trickled from there and

I am and eternally grateful that they they got

to go on from Batman the animated series through

to Superman animated series giving Superman an

update and then doing an update to the Justice

League and then of course the final update with

a new concept of Batman Beyond which I also greatly

love because it continues another of essentially

you can almost say that all of them except for

Superman pretty much are the story of Batman's

adventures. Yeah, pretty much. Here's some trivia

for you. This episode was the first one to feature

Batman bleeding. Bruce Tim stated in the DVD

commentary for this episode that he and Paul

Dini fought with the sensors to allow this shot,

which was deemed inappropriate for younger viewers.

Really? Yup. Sensors be damned. Batman answers

Dr. March's phone call by saying, What's up,

Doc? Bugs Bunny's catchphrase. Nice. Dr. March's

line, their survivors referring to bats, was

similarly said by Batman and Tim Burton's Batman,

their great survivors. The opening of the episode

is reverse shot for shot in the end of Justice

League Unlimited episode epilogue, which I already

mentioned. uh... this marks one of the very few

times in the series where batman speaks using

bruce wayne's voice basically what that means

is bruce bruce wayne you know certain superheroes

superman clark kent's peter parker spider -man

batman bruce wayne bruce sees himself as batman

bruce wayne is the facade I mean, if he could

get away with it, he would be Batman 24 -7 because

that's the way he sees himself. Well, because

he is Batman. No, I know that. But what I'm saying

is like, OK, take Superman, for example. In Superman's

case, Clark Kent is the real person and Superman

is the facade. Superman is just the character

that Clark Kent is playing. Whereas Batman it

Batman and Bruce Wayne. It's reversed So, you

know, I really like that I mean But what I really

like about that scene about Batman, you know

about him using Bruce's voice while in the costume

I think that's pretty cool. And again, Kevin

Conroy up to this point in time up to 1992 Kevin

Conroy really is the first person to have two

very different distinctive voices for the two

characters, for Batman and Bruce Wayne. Batman

is kind of like, he's deeper and down here and

he doesn't wear hockey pants. Whereas Bruce Wayne

is kind of like what my normal, no I'm not saying

I'm nowhere near Kevin Conroy but I'm saying

like the difference is that Bruce Wayne is a

lighter more upbeat tone and I absolutely love

that they have that... that kevin did two different

distinct voices for the two characters oh yeah

and that was just something that you never really

had with any of the batman series really hmm

this is interesting i don't know if you know

this being the Supernatural fan that you are.

The opening of the episode is also mirrored in

the opening scene of the Supernatural episode,

like a virgin, with a small plane passenger asking

the pilot if they saw that flying outside the

window that looked like a large bat. Perhaps

in respect to this, Batman is mentioned later

in the episode. No, I did not know that. It is

actually quite funny. Because I do love that

series of Supernatural as well. It's better than

a Superman reference. A Batman reference is always

ten times better. Now, Clark, we don't want you

being like that nut from Gotham City. Sorry,

that's from Superman. The only thing that I really

don't like so far out of the first nine or so

episodes from Batman the Animated Series is that

Clyde revel... Is the voice of Alfred Pennyworth?

Yeah, I definitely have to and and I can't like

totally discredit him, but I Preferred the voice

actor that takes over later. Yeah. Yeah Clive

revel Clive not Clyde Clive revel is the voice

of Alfred up to I think the play I said the first

nine episodes and then Ephraim Zimbalist jr.

Takes over For me as far as Alfred's over the

years It's Alan something, Alan Napier who did

the 66 Alfred, Michael Goff who did the 89 Alfred,

Ephraim Zimbalist Jr. who does Alfred for the

majority of the animated series, and then Michael

Kane. Those are my four favorite Alfreds. Mad

Fientist I agree with you 100%. No complaint.

Think we're done with on leather wings. Yes One

other note and and it's in the quotes and I love

this hmm Batman reads Gotham police declare war

on Batman Alfred Says I gather you've been reading

how to make friends and influence people Batman

replies to him saying somebody's setting me up

Alfred says my heavens you mean it wasn't you

tossing guards out of a windows last night Batman

says I only toss butlers Alfred That's just to

me that just it like he throws these little smart

ass comments towards Alfred and it's just it's

funny They kind of play those little jokes back

and forth with each other all series long. Oh,

yeah, so I mean and Alfred Thankfully is a very

active role in the series He's not just you know,

just there Which I mean, yeah, he is he is kind

of based on a lot of the other Alfred's but I

mean he's kind of got more of a More of a fatherly

sidekick yeah Alfred in this series and Alfred

throughout the DCIU is pretty much Bruce Wayne's

adopted father I mean considering what Bruce's

you know Raising was I mean, you know his parents

got killed right in front of him in front of

him when he was eight years old So, you know

Alfred had to raise him and You know Alfred is

a perfect father figure for a lot of people honestly,

I'd love to have Alfred As a father you mean

yes, okay anyways, uh We'll be moving on. Batman!

Well, go on! Open it! Don't do it, Batman! Easy,

Robin. Next up is Christmas with the Joker. Christmas

with the Joker is the 38th episode of the Batman

anime series, where Joker escapes Arkham Asylum

on Christmas Eve and has a special Christmas

plan for Batman and Robin. Kidnapping Commissioner

Gordon, Summer Gleason, and Harvey Bullock, he

threatens to kill them at midnight. Of course,

things are never easy with the Joker, and he

sets a few disasters in motion to keep Batman

and Robin busy that Christmas night. I just love

the the initial start of this episode where they're

all the inmates are just decorating this tree

and then the Joker's singing his own, you know

jingle bells Batman smells and then he says in

the Joker got away and then you know, of course

he puts the the tip of the the Thing for the

the the tree and he's holding out of the tree

and the tree rockets away I just thought that

was hilarious. Yeah. Again, talking about mirroring

in the DCAU, Flash uses, you know, Batmobile

lost its wheel and the Joker got away. He uses

that in Panic in the Sky in Justice League. Nice.

You know... I'm not really sure if this was a

really great Introductor like as far as the production

order, you know going from on leather wings to

this I'm not sure if this was the perfect Joker

episode for them to start with I like it. I think

it's really funny. I think it's really cool but

I Don't know it's kind of weird We'll start the

Christmas episode for the Joker Well, and they

were trying to copy like it's a wonderful life,

which is kind of interesting Batman's like, I've

never seen it. And Robin's like, you've never

seen it. And just kind of starts beating him

up like, you suck, you need to watch it. And

it's just funny because Batman's got this kind

of bah humbug thing about him for the whole episode.

And the Joker's trying to get a rise out of him

this whole time just to have it come back in

his face. but I love the fact that the Joker

is kind of more than ordinarily stupid in this

episode despite the fact that he's not actually

as stupid as he appears. I think it's funny the

whole outfit he's wearing so it looks like a

telethon, TV show host outfit. A very festive

jacket. Instead of his his his proper attire

of the the purple suit Well, he does have the

purple pants. Yes. He does have purple pants

So you can tell that he just swapped out the

top wardrobe for the weekend But it's it's quite

funny to see him turn this all into some big

special joke and Get Batman and Robin running

on wild goose chases that by all means should

never been able to be accomplished by the time

that the clock hit the time that they were supposed

to be there. Yeah. They would have been all dead.

Oh yes they would have been. There's no way that

Batman and Robin could have taken care of all

the stuff the Joker set them to do. Now this

is both the first appearance of the Joker and

Robin. I'd have to say that Lauren Lester who

voices Robin is probably one of my favorite Probably

my number one favorite Robin voice for the dick

Grayson version of Robin I Really like the voice

that that he lent to it now I don't know if Lauren

Lester is one of those types like Barry Gordon

where His voice is the voice or if he was putting

on a voice. I'm not sure You know we can get

it and I can look him up on IMDB Pro Anyways,

I have to agree that I do love this version of

Dick Grayson, Robin. I love the fact that, of

course, it continues on through Nightwing in

the next season or the next series of...the next

continuation of this particular part of the series.

I should say, being that it's not next season

or anything. It's just kind of a weird episode

to introduce both the Joker and Robin at the

same time with no Meaning of any kind of origin

to anybody. It's just kind of a weird jump right

into it and there we are and again, that's that's

why I said this is kind of weird that this was

the even though this is the 38th episode aired

episode this was the one that was second in the

production order and It's so weird to go from

on leather wings Where you have just Batman in

that To this where you're you know you're getting

the Joker you're getting Robin. It's nice that

they're there But I mean there's no again it

goes to the fact what I said before about that

these are technically just many movies There

is no real setup of introducing characters, and

there's not really any continuity at least to

start out with No, it's just kind of all over

the place which you know, that's fine And and

like you said the mini movie thing it does definitely

fit that role and I could you know I definitely

enjoy the the half -hour shows or actually like

23 minute shows every time that I watch one and

This one of course is no different. I I love

For one I my favorite villain in the Batman series

it wasn't always the Joker However, he was my

close second when I was younger. Now I'd have

saved my first. My primary was the Riddler and

that's because of an episode coming up later

on and I'll explain why when we get to that point.

But those two were pretty much my number two,

my top two villains and anything with the Joker

in it is gold to me. I'll seek out I if there

was a a best of the Joker and the Batman the

animated series or the DCAU and They just had

everything that contained the Joker in it. I

would watch the hell out of it. That would be

awesome because And honestly, I wish they would

but it's being that it's Warner Brothers. That'll

never happen No, no But yeah, the Joker is quite

funny in this episode though. His stolen family

is nicknamed the Awful Lawful Family. And he

has a puppet pal named Laffy. Reminds me of that

Dexter's laboratory short, Just Us Friends, where

Crunk Watches a show called puppet pals Yes,

that's why I made the reference Reminded me of

that almost This was kind of a weird episode

as far as the Joker in this episode because he

didn't quite I mean obviously it's the first

aired episode of it, or not first aired episode,

but first produced. So that means that it was

probably recorded way early on before Mark Hamill

got into the role, really. Because you can kind

of hear him in there doing the Joker, but it's

not like our total genuine Joker that he kind

of slides into now easily because of a couple

decades of practice. I just love the the whole

part of that and there are quite a bit of Interesting

quotes as well on the episode First of all the

jingle bells Batman smells everybody knows that

part But he continues it with crashing through

the roof in a one horse open tree busting out

I go laughing all the way the we And another

one of my favorite Quotes is between Robin and

Batman where Robin goes come on Batman. It's

Christmas Eve. Let's kick back and get into the

spirit Batman's like the Joker's escape from

Arkham Asylum Robin and Robin says and you really

think he's gonna move make his move on Christmas

Eve even scumbags Spend the holidays with their

families. He has no family Isn't this the first

one where we say the Joker or not the Joker Batman

actually like Smile and laugh at the Joker. I

think so. Yeah, I think this is the only time

I think it is too, which I thought was quite

humorous because The Joker's trying so hard to

get a rise out of Batman and this is the only

time you can is because a pie hits him in the

face Yeah Yeah, and I like I like another quote

from Robin he could give lessons to Scrooge Would

like to see Christmas with the Joker on actual

television Not necessarily just this episode

just you know Mark Hamill dresses the Joker Don't

never happen, but it'd be hilarious Run run as

fast as you can you'll not catch me. I'm the

Joker man Wasn't it used later on probably I

have no clue. You never know. You never know.

Overall, by itself, it's a fun episode, but if

you're looking at it as, you know, not tying

in, but if you're looking at it as an introductory

episode, it's not that great of an episode. I

mean, both the Joker and Robin are just there.

It they they act like that they've been there

for forever, and this is only the second episode

into the series But all the humor that the Joker

has is really well done You know Batman's smiling

or laughing that that was well done For it being

the one time that it was Overall if it was you

know during Christmas time I could see myself

watching this episode any other time probably

not yeah I sad as it is I'd have to say that

as well for this episode because it's not the

greatest one with with the Joker and with Batman

and it you know I mean just there could have

been better episodes with Joker and this isn't

really one of them yeah Although it is entertaining,

quite fun to watch. So if you're into that, that

is a plus, but it's not the best Joker episode.

So I think with that, we'll be moving on to the

next episode. Next up is Nothing to Fear, which

is the third episode of the first season of Batman

animated series. Due to schedule changes, it

was the tenth episode to air. A criminal calling

himself the Scarecrow starts wreaking havoc and

revenge against Gotham University, stealing funds

while intoxicating people with a gas that causes

nightmarish hallucinations. When Batman first

tries to stop him, he gets intoxicated and begins

to see his worst fear, his father considering

him to be a failure. reference, but why would

they call it intoxicated? It sounds like you're

just drinking. Which, technically, you do have

hallucinations when you drink. Well, at least

some people do. Well, the thing of it is that

it's a fear toxin. Basically, fear gas is toxic.

Intoxin gas, so that makes sense. Batman Beyond

when old bruises making the Joker anti -toxin

You know to fend off the Joker gas, so that's

the same thing here. I wonder what Joker gas

is made of and Scarecrow gas and Freeze gas,

but anyways that's off -topic I like this episode

but again this episode is one of those I can

almost see now why my stepmom didn't want me

watching this show because holy crap was this

episode scary. Scarecrow I'd have to say is the

number one scariest Batman character. Yeah. And

with good reason. Yup. I personally I love the

voice for this I love the the way they displayed

him I love the character design the whole the

whole creepy way that Jonathan Crane is played

it's just it fits this character to a T and it's

kind of funny actually seeing how he Creates

all this fear toxin and and royally screws everybody

up including Batman himself, which You know his

his first freakout was seeing his dad Yeah, who'd

been you know dead and it's also played by Kevin

Connery. Yeah, which was another interesting

get taken down. Oh, yeah Because you think of

him as this great invincible guy But then he's

like almost to the point of crying because his

dad's telling him. He's a loser Yeah, well, I

mean see that see the thing about that is is

though, you know In Bruce Wayne's origin he feels

he well He he was the one that wanted to go see

the movie he was the one that wanted to go go

out and do something that night and you know

he feels guilty for his parents getting killed

um so of course that's gonna haunt him I mean

you know that is gonna be one of his worst fears

is that his father will basically say he is a

failure yeah now and with scarecrow he's got

your typical You know, something bad happens,

he hates who he works for as he decides to destroy

them from the inside out. You know, that's just

your typical villain in general. And, you know,

of course, he's no different. But he's also the

professor of psychology at a university. What

in Sam hell would make him switch to a life of

crime just because he... I mean, I understand

if you hate it that bad and people mess with

you because you're, you know, kind of a freak.

Because of your you're weird and infatuation

with a mask But you know and his love for fear

and phobias but still He's you know, of course

like many of the DCAU villains they kind of hit

a you know crazy point if they snap and then

They're forever down the dark path Yeah, well,

I mean look at mr. Freeze and we'll talk about

him later on in the podcast not today, but in

later episodes But look at Mr. Freeze. You know,

in this series, they made him... Before this

series, Mr. Freeze was just another villain with

a gun. He's just another villain with a gimmick.

They made him likeable. They made him a redeemable

character. They gave him a tortured past with

the fact that, you know, the people that he was

working for basically screwed him over. You know

this anything so I mean that's that's one thing

I'm not exactly sure what the hell happened with

Jonathan Crane at the university Other than people

like making fun of him or criticizing him or

or not believing in him. I Think it was just

people teased him and he didn't like it. So he

was like, you know, I'll get even with you Fuck

you. I'm gonna make you afraid of whatever it

is. You're afraid of you bastard But but yeah,

at least freeze like like you said at least he

has a redeemable quality Yeah, which which is

nice, but Yeah, Jonathan Crane Scarecrow has

Batman so ragged Bruce is sitting there analyzing

Scarecrow's, you know mask and and waiting for

stuff and he's he's just you know chilled to

the bone Still seeing that image of his father,

you know just and he's still freaking out and

It just it's crazy to see Batman and Bruce that

torn apart mmm Because I mean it rarely happens

in this series And this is just one of those

instances where you get to see some of his his

inside humanity just kind of come out Yep Overall

I like the episode It does You know, it does

have its nitpicking issues. It is a very... It

is a very scary episode, no pun intended. But

it does have a gargoyles moment. Yes, it does.

Because when Batman uses the crazy juice against

Scarecrow, Scarecrow sees Batman as a giant gargoyle

bat. And the funny thing is, when Batman's mastering

his fear, he says, I am vengeance. I am the knight.

I am Batman. You know, and then of course he

plows through and kicks Scarecrow's ass. But

yeah, it's just, I love this whole redeeming

moment at the end. I also love the fact that

the Batmobile is remote controlled. Hmm that

just and I love this Batmobile. I like this kick

the Batmobile is honestly a animated version

of the 89 Batmobile from the movie I mean, it's

not as I mean, it does have a slightly different

design and it's it's blue not black But I mean

it has that that same sleek design the original

89 Batmobile did Thank God it wasn't a convertible

car or a or a convert a hatch car like the 66

one was well see this one I love this Batmobile

because not only does it have similarities to

the 89 movie But the front ends got kind of like

a 1930s look to it. So the whole Batmobile in

general I loved that toy when I had it as a kid

and I actually looked to re -get it when I obtained

all my Batman figures and from the attic and

then when I purchased various ones I didn't have.

I didn't have the room for the actual Batmobile

so I actually bought the Hot Wheels Batmobile

Diecast and it's accurate and it's fairly decent

sized. It's a little bit bigger than a regular

Hot Wheel but I had to have this Batmobile. Awesome.

A bit of trivia here. Let's see here. At one

point in the Batmobile computer shows a list

of nearby chemical companies. Among the companies

shown are Star Labs from Superman's comics, which

will later be featured in Superman the Animated

Series, and Access Chemicals, which is the company

that turned Jack Napier into the Joker in the

1989 Batman movie. Bullock mentions Batman's

refusal to comply with the investigation saying

to Gordon, Zorro here's been holding evidence.

Accidentally the character of Zorro is once one

of the major influences of Bob Kane. Not accidentally,

incidentally. That is quite interesting though

of how he conceived Batman. Yes. I am Zorro.

You already mentioned about I am vengeance. I

am the night which It's a signature of Kevin

Connery often performs at the start of his appearances

at conventions Obviously it was also used in

the opening line of the Batman musical and out

of the past that was a hilarious musical by the

way, yes Yes, but this episode granted was kind

of creepy But was overall enjoyable, so I can't

knock it at all. It's very hard to pick an episode

in this series that I don't care for. I pretty

much, anything with the splicing in the regular

animated series, or Batman classic, I should

say, I don't like any of those type episodes.

Pretty much everything else is gold. Even these

freaky episodes with Scarecrow in it, these plots

are so interconnected and done well that you

think the episode actually lasts a lot longer

than 23 minutes. And again, it goes to the feel

and I'm probably gonna say this throughout the

entire podcast Not just this episode but other

episode it goes goes towards the feel that they

were going for The pacing isn't so fast. It isn't

too slow. It's just right and Again, they're

going for that mini movie of the week type of

feel so 22 20 20 between 21 and 23 minutes It

feels like a lot longer than it should be. Oh,

yeah But it was very, very cool. So with that,

we'll be back after this. Imagine that, sir.

Huh? What? Someone dressed up in a frightening

costume running around scaring people. What will

they think of next? Last up today is The Last

Laugh. It's April Fool's Day and Joker unleashes

a supply of laughing gas on Gotham City, incapacitating

its populace and allowing him to steal things

at his leisure. Only Batman, equipped with a

gas mask, manages to escape its effects. This

is quite possibly my favorite episode of the

day. Love every bit of music in this episode

everything in this I could sit and listen to

this episode and not even watch it And it would

be great by itself. Yeah But adding that to the

awesomeness that is this episode in writing and

in visuals You just have a kick -ass episode.

Oh, yeah, and You can't have a kick -ass episode

without Captain Clown Oh, this is the one with

Captain Clown. I gotta find that clip. You killed

Captain Clown! You killed Captain Clown! How

dare you kill Captain Clown! Oh man, that's so

awesome. Yes, besides the fact that the entire

episode has a green stench coming across it,

which I... didn't really pay attention to that

all that much other than I was thinking, man,

it's going to stink there. Everything in this

episode was hilarious to watch. One thing I do

have to mention, I forgot to mention that last

episode in Nothing to Fear. Nothing to Fear was

the last produced episode where Clive Revel was

Alfred. Ephraim Zimbalist Jr. took over at that

point and this episode is the first time that

we hear Ephraim Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred. He would

continue the role until Alfred's final appearance

in the Justice League finale Star -Crossed. Oh

nice. Yeah. Yes, I was definitely much much more

pleased with this version of Alfred. Oh, yeah.

This to me is the best animated Alfred. Yep,

couldn't agree more. The fact that they had Bruce

actually notice that Alfred gets hit with it

first kind of makes you feel bad for Bruce because

he's like, crap. Alfred just kind of flipping

out and Bruce is like, what's going on? You know,

of course Bruce is hearing accident reports and

everything on in the radio and You know poor

Alfred is breaking stuff and everything else

and and dropping stuff and just laughing and

everything else and Batman's like I gotta knock

him out for a little bit but Yeah, and and it

just goes to show you that I mean most of the

episodes up to this point the ones that had Clive

revel in them He couldn't have done the comedy

that Ephraim Zimbalist Jr. did in this episode.

Oh, no, and I mean he probably could have done

it, but it wouldn't be as you know or Yeah, yeah

So yeah, I mean it's basically Joker spreading

gas throughout throughout the city on on garbage

barges And it's basically for you know for it's

basically a giant distraction So you can go out

and rob people and they pretty much give it to

them because they're not really able to consciously

do anything Yeah, they're just kind of la la

la la and running around and jokers like steal

their shit steal their shit Yeah, and The funny

thing is Batman doesn't an analysis of it of

the gas and and says you know and finds out Prolonged

exposure will result in permanent insanity. He's

like great. That's just what I need You get to

see the bat boat yep, which you know that's a

first for the series it will return but I Like

the the bat boat that was that was pretty kick

-ass that boat is very kick -ass I think it's

funny when they shove Batman in a barrel Yeah,

that was funny It's just he's he's and then they

take his mask too at one point Yeah, and you

get to see Batman take off his cape To fight

Captain Clown. Yeah who for those of you that

don't know is a giant robot Which Batman does

not know until he beats him with a metal pole

and so I Think it's funny how Batman has to lure

Captain Clown over to a car crusher and turns

him into a small little cube, which is kind of

ironic because in the last episode of the Transformation

Animation podcast, Blurr got turned into a small

cube as well. Oh, stop it. It still hurts. Yes,

I know. Only it hurts worse because Blurr was

cool and Captain Clown, of course, being in one

episode, is cool because of proxy in this episode.

But Joker gets pissed because you know of course

Batman killed Captain Clown and so he dumps a

load of garbage onto him yeah, which of course

you know Batman survives and Well Batman and

the Joker go at it as they usually do yes But

Joker almost dies in an incinerator, which is

quite hilarious, and then he's begging Batman

and But he's like you can't let me die and then

Batman just kind of smirks at him Like, hmm,

should I just let him fall? And of course you

get to end out the episode with Bruce finally

coming home and Alfred's cleaning up and Alfred's

upset that he broke it and Bruce tells him that

he'll take it out of his salary and Alfred starts

getting more upset and then Bruce smiles and

says, April fools. Yeah. Another quick, you know,

jam at the Butler. Yeah, well that's because

Alfred earlier did the joke to Bruce about Well,

you'll be happy to know I've drawn you a bath

whenever you're ready Sees the tub is in Bruce

looks and sees the tub is empty What's the deal

Alfred and he shows Bruce a picture of a bath.

I said I drew you a bath, sir Yeah, I love this

episode Yeah, and then further in that quote

is very funny, Alfred. I guess I'll just take

a shower. And Alfred goes, not a funny bone in

his entire body. He gets one by the end. Yeah.

Clean up your act, Joker. Is that a joke? Batman

finally told a joke? I know. I love that. And

you actually get to hear the Joker in his true

form in this episode. Oh, yeah, which is quite

nice. Yeah Yeah, uh, oh and another line of part

of that you killed Captain Clown in the quotes

Hey Batman, you stink so bad. I can smell you

from here pee you Yeah, that was funny as well

very funny um overall I Like this episode a lot

It just goes to show you the chemistry that Batman

and Joker have as arch enemies of each other

So well, they're like yin and yang they're they're

like polar opposites, it's like Primus and Unicron

for Transformers fans Wow it what is I? Mean

one can go that far one can't really exist without

the other so I mean it's kind of I mean, they

could, but... It's kind of funny you mention

that. Because it does happen, but... Yeah, but

it's kind of funny you mention that. I'll break

you in two. Please, Batman, if you had the balls

for that kind of fun, we'd be done this dance

years ago. Yeah, I know. I know I'm screwing

the line up here, but... It'll come back in another

episode. But yeah, I know what you're getting

at in It's just the fact that Batman won't go

to that ultimatum that he needs to to get rid

of the Joker once and for all Yeah, the craziest

of all of his it Rome gallery because there is

no pattern He'll do something just for shits

and giggles. Whereas the rest of them have some

set plan You know, he'll do it just to get a

rise out of Batman And the Joker of course isn't

willing to kill Batman, but he likes to play

around with the idea Well, because he knows if

he kills Batman who else does he have to torture

nobody because there's no fun left Yeah, who's

gonna chase him nobody? So yes it this I'd have

to say out of the four episodes today, I'd have

to say this one overall And even by itself takes

the cake Yeah, and I said before the the audio

the the visual and the music just It blows everything

away. It's one of the episodes I can watch at

any given time and not get bored of it. Yeah.

Oh, yeah, I completely agree. Yeah. So with that,

we'll be right back after this commercial break.

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listen today. Can I say something about Transformers?

No. Welcome back. And we will be pretty much

finishing this off for the episode, for the first

episode of the Legends of the Dark Knight. So

what are your thoughts overall on R4 today? Overall...

If we were doing a point scale, I'd probably

give Unleathered Wings a 5 out of 10. I'd give

Christmas with the Joker a 7 out of 10. I'd give

Nothing to Fear a 6 out of 10. And I'd give The

Last Laugh a 9 out of 10. Just overall, as far

as being able to enjoy the episodes, not really...

going too deep and analyzing them so much. There

are some out of the four that I could watch every

now and then. There are some that I probably

will never watch again. For me, I would have

to say On Leather Wings is probably one I'll

never watch again, despite the fact that it's

pretty much the debut. Yeah. Christmas with the

Joker. That's one I like it. But I'd have to

be in the kind of festive holiday mood to sit

and watch it. Nothing to Fear fits perfectly

around this time of year. Probably wouldn't watch

it other than that. The Last Laugh, I could put

that in any day of the week. That would be my

10 out of 10. And Christmas with the Joker would

be like a 8 out of 10. Nothing to Fear would

be 7. And on Leather Wings would be 5. So, with

that, we'll get right into the outro. Thank you

for listening to Legends of the Dark Knight.

There are several ways to get in contact with

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Dark Knight. My Twitter name is SCP -21, not

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We hope that you enjoyed this episode of Legends

of the Dark Knight and wish that you'll join

us next time when we'll be discussing Pretty

Poison, The Underdwellers, POV, Forgotten, and

Be a Clown. For now, I'm Steve Megatron Phillips

with TFGO and Mike. I can already tell you that

Forgotten is one of my favorite episodes of the

entire series. Well, I've forgotten what that

episode's about, so I'll have to wait until then.

Yes, pun on words. So, saying in the immortal

words of Batman, I am vengeance, I am the knight,

I am Batman. Thank you for listening, until next

time.