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| Batman: TAS |
Author: raleagh
Tue, 7th October 2008 |
| Top 10 episodes - #9! |
 9 - Beware the Gray Ghost
Making it to number 9 is a great episode featuring Adam West as fictional character The Gray Ghost.
Someone is bombing Gotham’s municipal buildings using the same M.O. as a villain in the old Gray Ghost TV show. Batman goes to the actor that played his childhood hero for help and is disappointed when Simon Trent wants nothing more to do with the role that ruined his career. Finally, the actor dons his old costume to help Batman catch the Mad Bomber.
The Gray Ghost resembles the old pulp heroes of the ‘30s like the Shadow, the Spider, or the original Green Hornet: fedora, suit, and twin automatics. The show is the only episode done by the studio, Dust, because the characters were terribly off-model.
“This was a lot of fun,” said producer Eric Radomski. “When we had first gotten the script on that, we all went: ‘This would be perfect for Adam West, but do you think he’d be offended because of the content.’ But he was more than happy to do it. It was great to have this aging hero play this aging hero.”
It was also fun because producer Bruce Timm played the Mad Bomber; “It was interesting to see him in there,” said Radomski, chuckling, “We gave him hell.”
Timm described a few of the show’s in-iokes, “The Gray Ghost is Batman’s boyhood hero, and The Shadow was Bob Kane’s inspiration for Batman. That’s doubled by the fact that Adam West was my childhood hero and my inspiration for getting into Batman.”
Other in-jokes include a People magazine cover with the Gray Ghost is casting Batman’s shadow, and the violator reads: “Matt Hagen: Man of a Million Faces.” In a Batcave shrine to the Gray Ghost, the poster on the wall has the Gray Ghost in the same pose as Batman is in the series logo.
In one scene the Gray Ghost even says thanks to Batman for getting him his old suit back.
10 - Robin's Reckoning
This was a two-parter that was a case of hit...and miss....for fans and the production staff alike.
Part 1
While foiling saboteurs at a construction site, Batman learns that the man who killed Robin’s parents, Tony Zucco, is back in town. He goes off to track him down and tells Robin to stay at home. Robin trys to discover why Batman is being so mysterious, and finds out who his guardian is hunting. Angry at Batman for keeping him out of the chase, Robin rides off into the night. This Emmy award-winning episode is magnificent, with a fresh and emotionally charged retelling of Robin’s origin with the young hero’s dialogue being extremely well-written by scripter Randy Rogel. The animation by Spectrum is beautifully done, with a weight and depth seldom seen on television.
Particularly strong is the action as Batman infiltrates a mobster’s estate, silently taking out guards and cutting through alarms.
Noted producer Bruce Timm, “It’s a stunning sequence, made all the more effective by the fact that it is done without any music, only sound effects. That’s the first time we did an action sequence without any music behind it. We were spotting the episode with [musical director] Shirley Walker, and she said ‘This stuff is so strong you don’t need music.’ I said ‘You’re kidding!’ It was all her idea, and she was right. For some reason, it makes it seem very real. It gave it an extra dimension that we usually don’t have.”
Timm noted how the emotions in the episode made people cry, “Dan Riba, who was a storyboard artist at the time, was crying in the editing room when Robin says goodbye to his circus friends and the elephant after his parents’ deaths. I cried when I heard the score added to the scene by Carlos Rodriguez. The combination of the music and the visuals was just so moving, I started weeping.”
Part 2
Batman finds Zucco in a building near an abandoned amusement park. Zucco is so paranoid, that he’s actually alert enough to wing Batman, chasing him through the park. Flashbacks show young Dick Grayson’s chase of Tony Zucco in the past that leads Bruce Wayne to adopt the boy and train him as Robin. Dong Yang’s animation is flat and cartoon-like from Spectrum’s layouts.
“When the second episode came in it was a crushing blow,” said producer Bruce Timm. “I always knew it was going to be a problem because of the overly-complicated merry-go-round sequence, but it was more than just that one sequence. It could have been great. It should have been better, because the boards were better. Spectrum fell down on this one, because they did the layouts for the show.”
Though flashbacks give us a great background on Wayne and Grayson, and allows us a cool look at Batman’s first costume, the story adds little to the emotional impact of the first episode. “The story wasn’t quite as compelling as the first part,” said Timm. “It just spends it’s time tying up loose ends.”
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Last edited by ral on Fri, 24th April 2009 at 6:57pm
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