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The Awesome Comics crew discuss their favorite Batman Beyond episodes. Did your favorite episodes make the list?
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I remember having a Batman Beyond toy from Burger King when I was a kid but I don’t think I ever saw an episode so I don’t have much to say.
All good pics. The order would change on my Top 10 but not the episodes. Some honorable mentions:
The Diner scene in ‘Curare’, where Terry learns just how deep Barbara’s relationship with Bruce went. A pretty adult conversation for a Sat AM series.
Max revealing that she knows Terry’s identity. While I’m not one for shipping for romance’s sake. I would have loved if Dana (she’ll always be Khan Jr to me) suspected those two were stepping out.
And lets show some love for henchmen #1 played by George Takaei. I know he had to die to offer a challenge and closure for Terry’s first outing, but its a shame he couldn’t hang around. A subtle reminder if injustice that spurs Terry on.
Going into number one I was terrified that you guys might put Curse of the Kobra on there instead of the one you went with. Thank god you didn’t, since I hated all of the Kobra episodes. Still, probably too Season 2 heavy for my tastes, and I think The Call is terribly written, foreshadowing Season One Justice League’s incompetence at writing an ensemble cast without turning everybody into cardboard cutouts. My list would be more like:
10. Earth Mover. A creepy and effective ghost story.
9. The Eggbaby. Hilarious. Enough said.
8. Spellbound. The visuals are simply incredible, and Spellbinder’s rant is refreshingly direct in its unabashed selfishness.
7. Ascension. Blight’s interesting because unlike Luthor, he’s never really in control after Rebirth, and is constantly reacting, trying to contain his losses and his condition. It’s no surprise that this tightrope walk is unsustainable for him, and he’s bested by a son who is, if anything, less ambitious than him.
6. Lost Soul. Legacy and usurpation are the running undercurrent of this show, and here’s where Terry really steps up and shows himself as a worthy successor to Batman. Hearkens back to His Silicon Soul, of course, which is another plus.
5. Blackout. The show’s answer to Clayface and Catwoman, if you ask me. Ten was always more of a Talia in my thinking, but Inque is the one who seems to use sex as a weapon without even trying to do so.
4. Rebirth. Such a strong start, it’s amazing how fully realized Batman Beyond was from the word go. Reminiscent of On Leather Wings in that regard.
3. Meltdown. Mr. Freeze comes full circle, and your heart breaks again.
2. King’s Ransom. The best of the Royal Flush Gang episodes because it’s so fast-paced and yet still amazingly dense with implications, innuendo, and so much pain and resentment, all culminating in King’s final rant, which takes on a whole new dimension of pathos coming from George Lazenby. Just a masterpiece of noir writing.
1. Out of the Past. The parallels between Bruce and Ra’s are honestly terrifying to contemplate, and Bruce is at his crotchetiest and most prideful here, which makes Ra’s scheme seem less like a usurpation and more of a merging of minds that have already become near indistinguishable. It definitely needed at least a second part to flesh this out; I think it should have replaced Unmasked to become a two-part series finale, but an arc, you say? Even more ambitious, I like it.
Hm. I actually only wind up with one fewer Season 2 episode than you guys. Still, I’m generally of the opinion that it was most consistently strong in Season 1, with some returns to form in 3, as evidenced by my top 2.
OMG, someone else who’s favorite Royal Flush Gang episode is “King’s Ransom”! I love it because it shows just how fundamentally flawed the RFG’s setup was and drives home the fact that Melanie didn’t leave because of love, she left because what the family offered wasn’t real love. And it let Jack leave too without needing to give him a redemptive romance, just honest family love with no strings attached.
Also totally with you on Melanie/Ten being more Terry’s Talia than his Catwoman. It’s the whole family legacy angle they both have.
you neglected the crossover episode with another DCAU series, “The Zeta Project.” TZP was a spinoff of Batman Beyond that had a 2 part crossover, one was an episode of Batman Beyond and the other was a Zeta Project episode, kind of like what the 4 CW DC series did this week.
Blackout… oh wow. Yeah I definitely remember that one. Inque’s method for attacking batman before she got hosed down by Bruce was, uh. Awakening.
Splicers. Any day now, science, I’m waiting.