[7.0/10] My reaction to this episode is partly unfair. “What Is Reality?”’s take on computers and the internet and virtual reality is perfectly acceptable for 1992 when it was a new-fangled thing. A quarter century later, and it feels laughably quaint. That’s not the show’s fault, Hell, I remember thinking the prospect of that virtual world seeming impossibly cool when I watched this one as a kid. But in the cold light of uber-connected 2019, it’s hard not to chuckle a little at blocky computers and implausible VR, however unfair that may be.
Still, that’s the least of this episode’s problems. I have to imagine that writing for The Riddler is hard. His riddles have to be tricky enough that the audience doesn't guess the answer immediately, but reasonable enough that the answer makes sense. It’s a hard balance to strike, and this episode sucks at it. Batman having to add up roman numerals to get “DMV”, or look at coins to get “Police Headquarters” is just random and arbitrary rather than an exercise of logic and reason. Two word bits like “crazy intent” being a code word for “locomotion” is kind of cute, but for the most part, the puzzles here fall flat, which punctures both Riddler’s ability to seem like a question-master and Batman’s ability to seem like a problem-solver.
That said, the show at least makes the most of its digital world. While the “if you die in The Matrix*, you die in the real world” conceit for Commissioner Gordon feels a little too convenient, the imagery of Riddler’s giant hand grasping Jim, or Batman cliffhanging on a giant interstellar chess board, or the technocratic classical architecture of “Riddlertown” all distinguish this one and give Riddler’s world a specific character. While the setup is a bit hokey, the red, blocky motifs help sell that this isn’t business as usual.
Still, the problem is that there’s no real rules to this world, so Batman’s triumph, like his ability to solve all of the Riddler’s puzzles, seem arbitrary rather than clever. Batman figures out that he can control himself and thus duplicate himself inside Riddler’s computer. OK, I guess? If he just did that to solve Riddler’s puzzle faster, that could work a bit. But then Riddler divides himself to compensate and the divided focus of that means he can’t keep Jim captive anymore? Why? The episode makes no effort to establish that before it happens. And Robin, our resident computer whiz, can’t find any software that connects to the internet, but misses a cord that does so apparently? How did that even get plugged in when the computer showed up in a giant crate?
The upshot is that this is an episode with some cool visuals, and the inherently neat premise of a virtual world where the usual limitations don’t apply. But it’s datedness and the weakness of the puzzles and solutions make this one a step down from B:TAS’s usual quality.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-12-01T18:32:49Z
[7.0/10] My reaction to this episode is partly unfair. “What Is Reality?”’s take on computers and the internet and virtual reality is perfectly acceptable for 1992 when it was a new-fangled thing. A quarter century later, and it feels laughably quaint. That’s not the show’s fault, Hell, I remember thinking the prospect of that virtual world seeming impossibly cool when I watched this one as a kid. But in the cold light of uber-connected 2019, it’s hard not to chuckle a little at blocky computers and implausible VR, however unfair that may be.
Still, that’s the least of this episode’s problems. I have to imagine that writing for The Riddler is hard. His riddles have to be tricky enough that the audience doesn't guess the answer immediately, but reasonable enough that the answer makes sense. It’s a hard balance to strike, and this episode sucks at it. Batman having to add up roman numerals to get “DMV”, or look at coins to get “Police Headquarters” is just random and arbitrary rather than an exercise of logic and reason. Two word bits like “crazy intent” being a code word for “locomotion” is kind of cute, but for the most part, the puzzles here fall flat, which punctures both Riddler’s ability to seem like a question-master and Batman’s ability to seem like a problem-solver.
That said, the show at least makes the most of its digital world. While the “if you die in The Matrix*, you die in the real world” conceit for Commissioner Gordon feels a little too convenient, the imagery of Riddler’s giant hand grasping Jim, or Batman cliffhanging on a giant interstellar chess board, or the technocratic classical architecture of “Riddlertown” all distinguish this one and give Riddler’s world a specific character. While the setup is a bit hokey, the red, blocky motifs help sell that this isn’t business as usual.
Still, the problem is that there’s no real rules to this world, so Batman’s triumph, like his ability to solve all of the Riddler’s puzzles, seem arbitrary rather than clever. Batman figures out that he can control himself and thus duplicate himself inside Riddler’s computer. OK, I guess? If he just did that to solve Riddler’s puzzle faster, that could work a bit. But then Riddler divides himself to compensate and the divided focus of that means he can’t keep Jim captive anymore? Why? The episode makes no effort to establish that before it happens. And Robin, our resident computer whiz, can’t find any software that connects to the internet, but misses a cord that does so apparently? How did that even get plugged in when the computer showed up in a giant crate?
The upshot is that this is an episode with some cool visuals, and the inherently neat premise of a virtual world where the usual limitations don’t apply. But it’s datedness and the weakness of the puzzles and solutions make this one a step down from B:TAS’s usual quality.