Batman The Animated Series

"The Laughing Bat" is one of my favorite episodes from The Batman. Seeing the Joker trying to act like Batman is hilarious.

Indeed. I might actually call it one of the best Joker stories of all time. Particularly when we get the Penguin's baffled reactions to everything that's going on.

Certainly, when The Batman was in form it was quite excellent. It also allowed an examination of the character in a different manner, particularly showing Bruce Wayne being whimsical with his money and hobbies like a real playboy would. The BTAS Bruce always behaved like a gentleman, anything involving the company was either charity work or something he was investigating as Batman on the side. The one time he played up an act was when the Joker left a dynamite candle in a cake at a party and he "accidently" bumped the cake in a pool.

The big difference between DCAU Joker and The Batman Joker was that BTAS Joker was more of an attention whore, he wanted everyone to be involved with his next "prank" and he hated not getting that attention (which is largely the plot behind "Joker's Wild," someone was using his image and he wouldn't stand for it). TB Joker was more Evil for the sake of Evil; he wanted to have fun and didn't care who got hurt. This was reflected in their vocal choices: Mark Hamill's Joker had a sort of "bored" or dry tone to it suggesting that when he was no longer having fun people will die, Kevin Michael Richardson had an inhuman quality to it and reflects his unnatural behavior.

edited 11th Mar '11 9:57:53 PM by KJMackley

One thing that's always kinda bugged me about the B:TAS Joker was that the writers could never seem to make up their minds whether the Joker only likes to make other people the butt of jokes, or whether he can appreciate his own suffering and humiliation in good humor. Sometimes he's shown being afraid when faced with failure and/or death, and gets pissed off when someone tries having a laugh at his expense (most noticeably when Terry starts mocking him in Return Of The Joker). At other times he'll see doom coming right at him and laugh with the same maniac glee he would if someone else were about to meet that fate. Heck, in "Harlequinade" he's perfectly willing to let himself get blown up along with the rest of Gotham, and when Harley tries to shoot him in the face he actually seems to appreciate her for once.

One could chalk it up to his insanity and he's being inconsistent since he isn't all there, but someone will say that's a bad excuse for bad writing.

Depends on the situation, you might say - Joker loves it when everything goes to hell, even if he goes down with it: Mask Of The Phantasm and Harlequinade were both examples of mass destruction that he was caught in the middle of, and if there's anything Joker can appreciate, it's destruction.

In Return Of The Joker, he didn't respect Terry (he's got an obsession with the original, remember) and hated that the person he so thought of as a fake was taunting his entire raison d'etre, so he flew into a rage: in his mind Terry was the joke, so Terry treating him like one set him off - note that he really didn't care about failing until Terry continued to make an issue of stopping him - he had no problem with his plan screwing up, he even got a laugh out of it.

That happens a lot of times with claims of someone being OOC. Context is important, the most rigid character may become a goofball when in the presense of an old friend. It all matters whether the Joker thinks the situation is funny. Terry got the Joker to freak out by laughing at him, and he hates being the butt of other jokes. Now if the Joker was in an identical situation (getting mocked by a kid he was trying to intimidate) and behaved differently, that would be OOC.

Incidently, a fairly similar situation occured in the episode with the innocent guy who "owed" the Joker a favor. Once the guy got the joke on the Joker he was similarly upset, although it didn't result in quite the same freakout.

I loved the show. I don't think it's necessarily that "mature" or "complex", but I find it entertaining even now (I only watched around 5 episodes as a kid, and watched most of it when during my university days). I don't think it's anywhere near as good as the best of the main comic stories, like some people claim, as there's a lot more you can to in a comic book than you can in a show that is designed to be suitable for kids, but I still put it up there with the best TV shows, animated or otherwise. There were some bad episodes like "Critters", though.

I guess if you're not a fan of gimmicky comic book style costumed supervillains, you might not find a lot to like, but if you're a fan of superhwero comics than there are few better options. Riddler and Scarecrow are two of my favorite fictional characters ever, and being able to see them animated was awesome. I love villains that are somewhat "limited" to their gimmicks and how they are able to be written to be threatening with said gimmick. Batman's villains probably take the cake in terms of weird gimmicks (not including villains of joke superheroes), and I love it.

I don't mind that, say, Mad Hatter went from a tragic character to an outright villain, because I love villains. They're the main reason I read superhero comics. It's all about the coolness factor with them even if it always doesn't make sense. In fact, if I had any major complaint, it would be that fact that almost every villain was a victim of some tragedy, instead of just being bad people. Someone claimed that he doesn't like the fact that nothing will be resolved and the villains will always remain villains with superheroes, but I wouldn't have it any other way. There are superhero comics that are more realistic and there are Marvel's and DC's mainstream heroes. I love them both. I'm a fan "mature" stories as well, and I prefer literature to pretty much everything else, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy some silly superhero action, and I don't see why being exposed to more "intelligent" media would make one unable to appreciate something that's just entertaining.

Are the stories in the show better than those in anime? I don't know, because I don't watch anime and probably never will, but it definitely is one of my favorite animated shows ever. As for anime having better animation, maybe it does technically, but the art style still looks like crap to me.

This is me! This is me! :D Spectacular Spider-Man was pretty good too, though.

edited 16th Apr '11 7:54:06 AM by ActuallyComma

OOC, does anyone know where I'd be able to see the episode with the Creeper? I saw clips and I must watch this show.

re, DCAU Joker vs. The Batman's joker: I like them both, but the Joker from The Batman probably had the best physical design of any Joker incarnation I've seen. He had green dreadlocks.

You can buy it from Amazon's video service.

I don't really have any money of my own.

I suppose I could wait until I get a job, but what fun would that be?

Answer my question via PM if you have to.

DC Beyond.com might have it, but AFAICT they only have season 1 right now, and I don't know when or if they change their available episodes.

Do we ever see Ivy Take a day off?

Its just me or Harley is a Draco in Leather Pants?

Depends. BTAS Harley is a lot more sympathetic than comics Harley.

And in any case you're intended to like her.

edited 20th Apr '11 2:09:11 PM by KnownUnknown

Harley is herself a VICTIM of that trope.

Harley is never, or almost never, actually gratuitously cruel without Joker pushing her to it. Even when she hurts people on her own, it seems she's barely aware she's actually hurting them at all.

And as long as you aren't in her way, or Puddin's or Ivy's, and don't push her around, she'll always be kind and even helpful to you, a real rarity between Batman villains.

"Harley's Holiday" and "Harlenquinade" are prime examples that Harley is largely a Break the Cutie gal, she adores Mr. J and wants the best for him but would be a rather harmless girl if it wasn't for him. In the DCAU she largely had the same Joker Immunity but was treated as someone who could be redeemed, as she was a product of Joker's corruption. The only thing that really got the good guys pissed at her was allowing the Joker to do what he did in Batman Beyond Return Of The Joker.

^^ In the show, at least. In the comics, it varies. She's not as cruel as many of Batsy's other villains, but she's also not a victim or a good person who's only fault is being led into villainy by Mad Love.

edited 20th Apr '11 11:40:58 PM by KnownUnknown

"And in any case you're intended to like her." Yeah, thats exactly my point. Even writers like her. But, here a problem: she's working for JOKER. Anyone remember when Joker was going to blow up a city in "Harlequinade", and she didnt have any problem about it, until she realized that they leaved her hyenas. Or that one time Batman helped here in "Harley's Holiday". Sure she was nice to him, but you know that next day she's gonna be ready to crush his skull with a hammer, if only Joker asked for it. What that makes her? Naive? Retarted? Blue-and-Orange Morality ? It makes sense at least with Wesker and Dent because they're in (almost) completely helpless against Two-Face or Scarface. But Joker isnt her imaginary friend. He's the guy that NEVER proved to have any charisma.

edited 21st Apr '11 12:45:47 AM by Sunchet

Leats face it Anamated Herely is the Queen of Dracoin Leather Pants.

edited 21st Apr '11 1:54:53 PM by RandomChaos

My point is, it's not Draco in Leather Pants if the creators intended her to be likable.

edited 21st Apr '11 3:04:27 PM by KnownUnknown

This is true, Harely is just a gift from the greek god of Comic Books. And what a gift she is.

edited 21st Apr '11 3:19:10 PM by RandomChaos

She's an in universe victim of that trope.