[7.9/10] This one is fun, albeit a bit uneven in places. The concept is clever as hell, giving us a three stories-esque excuse to see The Dark Knight through the eyes of a group of young kids who admire him and pay homage to other versions of Batman in the process. This one has the same spirit as “Almost Got ‘Im” but invokes for fun continuity nods to the Caped Crusader’s history for good measure.
My favorite of the segments was the 1950s-ish take on Batman. Maybe it’s just that I enjoyed a similar take in the super fun Batman: The Brave and the Bold show. But seeing the stiffer animation, giant props, and outlandish traps and counters, was such a treat. Bringing in an actor who worked on Batman 66 to play the Caped Crusader is superb, and holy hell, I did not know how much I need more of Michael MMcKean as The Joker. The segment in a giant music museum was the perfect playground, and the show walked the line between camp and loving tribute nicely.
I was less into the Dark Knight Returns homage, if only because I appreciated the rawer grittiness of that take, and the show goes for something a little cartoonier. (Honestly, it vaguely reminded me of Samurai Jack for some reason.) There’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it wasn’t my speed for an adaptation. It also doesn't help that the DCAU team would do their own, more serious adaption of DKR down the line. But either way, it worked well enough.
I do wish that the show had done one more full-on homage to complete the trifecta. There’s fun little tributes, like the one kid assuming that Batman is actually superhuman in some way. There’s a ten-second jab at the Joel Schumacher Batman movies, which would be fine if they didn’t seem to implicitly slag Schumacher for being gay, which sucks.
Still, the episode’s climax sees the DCAU Batman throwing down with Firefly, in a way that implicitly puts him in the same pantheon as the versions of the character dreamed up by Bill Finger, Dick Sprang, and Frank Miller. It’s a cool sequence and a nice payoff to the kids imagining what Batman’s really like before running into him and even getting saved by him.
Overall, this is a really creative and enjoyable idea for an episode, that feels like it’s a few tweaks away from being truly great.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-04-28T22:58:20Z
[7.9/10] This one is fun, albeit a bit uneven in places. The concept is clever as hell, giving us a three stories-esque excuse to see The Dark Knight through the eyes of a group of young kids who admire him and pay homage to other versions of Batman in the process. This one has the same spirit as “Almost Got ‘Im” but invokes for fun continuity nods to the Caped Crusader’s history for good measure.
My favorite of the segments was the 1950s-ish take on Batman. Maybe it’s just that I enjoyed a similar take in the super fun Batman: The Brave and the Bold show. But seeing the stiffer animation, giant props, and outlandish traps and counters, was such a treat. Bringing in an actor who worked on Batman 66 to play the Caped Crusader is superb, and holy hell, I did not know how much I need more of Michael MMcKean as The Joker. The segment in a giant music museum was the perfect playground, and the show walked the line between camp and loving tribute nicely.
I was less into the Dark Knight Returns homage, if only because I appreciated the rawer grittiness of that take, and the show goes for something a little cartoonier. (Honestly, it vaguely reminded me of Samurai Jack for some reason.) There’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it wasn’t my speed for an adaptation. It also doesn't help that the DCAU team would do their own, more serious adaption of DKR down the line. But either way, it worked well enough.
I do wish that the show had done one more full-on homage to complete the trifecta. There’s fun little tributes, like the one kid assuming that Batman is actually superhuman in some way. There’s a ten-second jab at the Joel Schumacher Batman movies, which would be fine if they didn’t seem to implicitly slag Schumacher for being gay, which sucks.
Still, the episode’s climax sees the DCAU Batman throwing down with Firefly, in a way that implicitly puts him in the same pantheon as the versions of the character dreamed up by Bill Finger, Dick Sprang, and Frank Miller. It’s a cool sequence and a nice payoff to the kids imagining what Batman’s really like before running into him and even getting saved by him.
Overall, this is a really creative and enjoyable idea for an episode, that feels like it’s a few tweaks away from being truly great.