Wow. Rarely has any Batman story blended so many eras and iconic elements so effectively. Paul Dini's script adapts the original Bob Kane stories "The Origin of Batman" (1948) and "The First Batman" (1956), recreating many of their key scenes and lines almost exactly, with Adam West and Julie Newmar voicing Bruce Wayne's parents Thomas and Martha. As Batman tracks down the identity of his parents' killer, DC's mystical figures the Phantom Stranger (Kevin Conroy) and the Spectre (Mark Hamill) compete over Batman's destiny and whether he will choose justice (represented by the Stranger) or vengeance (represented by the Spectre) when he faces Joe Chill. Richard Moll portrays Lew Moxon, the gangster who hired Chill to kill Dr. Wayne, and also very briefly reprises his B:TAS role of Two-Face (though that character was earlier played in this series by James Remar).
B:TB&TB is generally a light, comical show, celebrating the zaniness of the Silver Age of comics, but it also pays tribute to the sheer diversity of comics, and this episode is a great departure, by far the darkest episode this show has ever done. Indeed, it even goes farther than B:TAS was ever allowed to go, with two actual onscreen deaths and two more offscreen ones (the more violent deaths of the Waynes are kept off-camera). It's pretty much the most graphic representation of Batman's origin story ever seen in animation, and one of the only times the story of Batman's pursuit of Joe Chill has been adapted for the screen (the brief treatment of the subject in Batman Begins is the only other one).
What makes this episode particularly powerful is something that kind of annoyed me about TB&TB until now: namely, that Batman has never been portrayed as anything other than Batman. In the past 36 episodes, we have never heard the name "Bruce Wayne" or seen the face under the cowl, except for a couple of brief flashbacks to Bruce's childhood. So here, when Batman confronts his parents' killer, bares his face, and declares himself as Bruce Wayne, it's a moment of great power and revelation. (This show's Bruce, naturally, is faithful to his 1950s comics design, but also bears a resemblance to the original B:TAS character design.)
And Diedrich Bader is a revelation here. His Batman has usually been lighter and spoofier than Conroy's definitive performance, in keeping with the style of the show. But here he was called on to go as dark, dramatic, and intense as Conroy -- and he did it just as well as Conroy. Bader is known for his comedy work, but here he proves Joss Whedon's thesis that comedy actors often make the best dramatic actors. With this episode, he cements himself as one of the greatest Batman voices ever. And what makes it even more glorious is that the other two greatest Batman actors, Adam West and Kevin Conroy, are right there in the episode with him.
The one disappointment -- which is odd, given how much violence they got away with in this episode -- was that they toned down Joe Chill's fate. In the original story,
The other slight disappointment is that Chill wasn't played by a significant name from past Batman series. Maybe they should've had Hamill play Chill. Instead, he was played by Peter Onorati, whose main DCAU role was Warhawk in Batman Beyond and JLU.
Side note: This episode raises the number of DC Animated Universe actors to reprise their roles on TB&TB to four. Previously, Tom Everett Scott and Billy West reprised their roles of Booster Gold and Skeets (making them still the only actors to have ever played those characters onscreen). Here, not only did Richard Moll briefly reprise Two-Face, but the teaser (which in this show is almost always a separate mini-adventure) featured Jennifer Hale reprising her Justice League Unlimited role of Zatanna. (Since it's a Paul Dini episode, of course Zatanna's going to be in it.) We did recently have Conroy, Dana Delany, and Clancy Brown playing an alien world's analogues for Batman, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor, but they weren't literally the same characters so it doesn't quite count.
B:TB&TB is generally a light, comical show, celebrating the zaniness of the Silver Age of comics, but it also pays tribute to the sheer diversity of comics, and this episode is a great departure, by far the darkest episode this show has ever done. Indeed, it even goes farther than B:TAS was ever allowed to go, with two actual onscreen deaths and two more offscreen ones (the more violent deaths of the Waynes are kept off-camera). It's pretty much the most graphic representation of Batman's origin story ever seen in animation, and one of the only times the story of Batman's pursuit of Joe Chill has been adapted for the screen (the brief treatment of the subject in Batman Begins is the only other one).
What makes this episode particularly powerful is something that kind of annoyed me about TB&TB until now: namely, that Batman has never been portrayed as anything other than Batman. In the past 36 episodes, we have never heard the name "Bruce Wayne" or seen the face under the cowl, except for a couple of brief flashbacks to Bruce's childhood. So here, when Batman confronts his parents' killer, bares his face, and declares himself as Bruce Wayne, it's a moment of great power and revelation. (This show's Bruce, naturally, is faithful to his 1950s comics design, but also bears a resemblance to the original B:TAS character design.)
And Diedrich Bader is a revelation here. His Batman has usually been lighter and spoofier than Conroy's definitive performance, in keeping with the style of the show. But here he was called on to go as dark, dramatic, and intense as Conroy -- and he did it just as well as Conroy. Bader is known for his comedy work, but here he proves Joss Whedon's thesis that comedy actors often make the best dramatic actors. With this episode, he cements himself as one of the greatest Batman voices ever. And what makes it even more glorious is that the other two greatest Batman actors, Adam West and Kevin Conroy, are right there in the episode with him.
The one disappointment -- which is odd, given how much violence they got away with in this episode -- was that they toned down Joe Chill's fate. In the original story,
in a great bit of irony, after Batman exposes his identity to Chill, the gunman flees to his friends for help, telling them what happened, and the other hoods, furious at Chill for creating the Batman, kill him before he can tell them who Batman is. Here, the anonymous thugs are replaced by Batman's whole rogues' gallery (with Jeff Bennett doing a better Joker than he's done before on this show), so you'd think their vengeance would be even nastier. Instead, they barely get a couple of punches in before Batman (having chosen justice over vengeance) comes to the rescue, and Chill is ultimately felled by an accidental ceiling collapse (though it's implied that the Spectre was responsible).
The other slight disappointment is that Chill wasn't played by a significant name from past Batman series. Maybe they should've had Hamill play Chill. Instead, he was played by Peter Onorati, whose main DCAU role was Warhawk in Batman Beyond and JLU.
Side note: This episode raises the number of DC Animated Universe actors to reprise their roles on TB&TB to four. Previously, Tom Everett Scott and Billy West reprised their roles of Booster Gold and Skeets (making them still the only actors to have ever played those characters onscreen). Here, not only did Richard Moll briefly reprise Two-Face, but the teaser (which in this show is almost always a separate mini-adventure) featured Jennifer Hale reprising her Justice League Unlimited role of Zatanna. (Since it's a Paul Dini episode, of course Zatanna's going to be in it.) We did recently have Conroy, Dana Delany, and Clancy Brown playing an alien world's analogues for Batman, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor, but they weren't literally the same characters so it doesn't quite count.
