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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season One Part Two

The Dark Knight returns in Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season One Part Two. This set contains the remaining 13 episodes of season one, and has some of the very best episodes of the whole series.


Some of my favorite episodes and team ups are present on this collection. In Trails of the Demon!, Batman partners with Etrigan. I'm always up for more Etrigan, but what really makes Trials of the Demon stand out is the inclusion of Sherlock Holmes. To see Batman on screen with the other ficional character to be given the title of the world's greatest detective is too awesome to fully describe here.

Robin gets some screen time in The Color of Revenge! If you wondered where the Boy Wonder was in the first half of Season One, it was out in Bludhaven, fighting crime on his own. But before he was old enough to be his own man, he and the Dark Knight had an encounter with Crazy Quilt that left the villain blind. Said evil doer is back and he wants his revenge. As a bonus, Robin is even wearing his Earth 2 costume, which I don't find bad, honestly.


A serious beat-down is about to ensue. 
The Batmobile can transform into a mecha.
It works perfectly for the nature for this series.




I've been a fan of Jonah Hex ever since I saw him in Batman: The Animated Series. As fun as it is to see Batman partner with someone that has super powers, its equally enjoyable when he fights with someone that is as powerless as he is. So understandably, I got a big kick out of Duel of the Double Crossers! Though the odds are certainly not in their favor when they go up agaisnt Mongul. Batman gets hit with a punch from the juggernaut that probably should have killed him, but maybe he was significantly powered down for this series. It took me out of the episode a bit, but not to the point where I disliked it as a whole.


When Bat-Mite appears, you can expect lots of
weirdness. More so than usual.
Hi Paul, hi Bruce!




Hail the Tornado Tyrant! brings back one of my favorite characters in this series, Red Tornado. Continuing with his desire to understand and fit in with humanity, Red Tornado builds a son, Champion. A battle with Major Disaster gives Champion emotions, that he's unfortunately not able to handle, which leads to Batman and Red Tornado having to take Champion down. I've never felt more pirty for a machine in my life. This episode has one of the biggest downer endings of the series. There are far greater ones to come, but this one still pulled at my heart strings.

Legends of the Dark Mite! is one of the weirdest episodes you'll see (they get a lot weirder if you can believe that), but that's to be expected when Bat-Mite appears to turn Batman's life upside down. Written by Paul Dini, it's a very good kind of weird. We get a good look at Batman's extended rogue's gallery, there's some Loony Tunes style hi-jinx, and what has got to be one of my favorite moments in BTBATB history, Bat-Mite defends the very lighter and softer tone of the show that ignorant Batman: The Animated Series fanboys scoff at. It's a wonderful comedic episode loaded with homages to past comic book versions of Batman and the aforementioned Batman series. A definite must see.


Batman: The Animated Series homage.
AWESOMESAUCE!
All hail the Music Meister!




Mayhem of the Music Meister! is the music themed episode featuring a villain created just for this show, the Music Meister. This episode shows off the wonderful singing tallents of Neil Patrick Harris and the rest of the cast. The musical numbers are a riot, especially I'm the Music Meister, Death Trap, and my personal favorite, Drives Us Bats.

The other episodes aren't bad, I was merely highlighting my favorites of this set. Why season one couldn't be released as 26 episode four disc set is beyond me, but you can still pick up this set and Season One Part One for cheap. This set closes out the first season of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a good first season. If you haven't seen this show yet, watch it. Don't let the lighter and softer tone scare you away. Beneath the look is a clever, funny and well written Batman cartoon. As of this writing I'm almost finished watching season two and let me tell you, it only gets better.

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