The 6th-7th episode of the season and not one stinker. Even Season Two, THE BATMAN's best overall season until this last one, had at least one or two clunkers. But while, naturally, it'll never be as mature and in depth as JLU etc, this season has really seen a dramatic improvement. With LEGION OF SUPERHEROES being fun but light, TMNT: FAST FORWARD being trite, and FANTASTIC FOUR being more comedy than action, THE BATMAN Season 4 is quickly emerging as the #1 comic cartoon on TV right now. I suppose that shows how low the bar has fallen in the past 2-3 years, but the writing staff have definately improved. Maybe after a few seasons, they finally understand Batman. Or maybe after 3 seasons, the network backed off and allowed them to do their own thing more often (after all, they had that monkey off their back for THE BATMAN VS. DRACULA, which was actually much better that it looked in promo's). This episode, "Artifacts", is the second bit of animation to make a loose homage to THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (B:TNGA did it with "LEGENDS").
Guest stars include Allison Mack returning as Clea, and Jerry O'Connell voicing Nightwing. He did a good job with Capt. Marvel in "CLASH", and does another good job with the older Grayson, even if he does very little (and naturally, he's no Loren Lester). It disappointed me a little that Nightwing in a way did and showed up less than Oracle did, but at least this was his best animated design. Seriously. His B:TNGA design was too angular and had that silly mullet. He looked cool in TEEN TITANS, albeit anorexic. No, here, the hair was right, he was buff while still being lean, and his mask looked more like it does in the comics.
I'm not sure this is the best episode of the season, but amung one of the strongest ones. Beginning in Gothan, year 3027, a team of hi-tech archeologists discover the ancient ruins of the Batcave, and it turns out that "Batman" has become a mythology. However, while Clea and some of the others are overjoyed with finding out that the character in childhood stories is real, they have a mission; they need to find out where, if the Batcave still has some vital info to save Gotham one last time. They discover the Batmobile (in huge Frank Miller tank mode) and the Batcomputer, but the latter is unable to be accessed as it is 1000 years out of date. I thought they'd be able to access some computer to lead into the inevitable "flashbacks" of their past (and about 20 years into Batman's future). But instead they just "happen", which was a little awkward, but whatever.
Naturally, Batman is in darker colors and bulkier frame, and Romano grizzles up his voice to sound like your older, over-the-hill Batman in 2027. Of course, exactly how old Batman is can be up to some debate. In Season One, he'd been Batman for approx. 3 years. The comics usually claim he first donned the cowl at age 23, so he was 26 in Season 1. If they have one season = one year like JLU did towards the end, then he is currently 29 in Season 4 and would be 49 in 2027. Granted, even a 29 year old Batman is a younger one than we had in B:TAS, who presumably was at least in his early 30's when we came in. Naturally, in DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, Batman is supposed to be 50. Maybe I've nitpicked to death. But the point is, even at merely "pushing" 50, Batman would be far past his prime and naturally no surprise that Barbara is pleading with him at times to abandon the "mission" and "play crosswords" before his heart & body fail him. Wayne, gray hair and scarred face, refuses. Mr. Freeze, in a suped up new cyber-suit, is icing up Gotham airport, just as a cargo plane is landing, putting the pilot's life in jeopardy. Batman's weapons cannot breatch his armor and he is forced to battle mano-e-mano, which does not go well for a bit. Both he and Oracle continue to call Nightwing "Robin", even when he claimed to have donned a new identity "for a good ten years now".
Back to the Future (c'mon, no geek could resist that), naturally it is amusing for a fan to see what history "gets right" about Batman some 1020 years into the future. Firstly, they refer to his partner as "Red Robin", which naturally is Grayson's identity in KINGDOM COME. They also incorrectly assume that Thomas Wayne was Batman, his wife Batwoman, and his son Red Robin. Nice to know that he still has some mystery in the future. They also have a nice lead-in to revealing that Barb is wheelchair bound as Oracle but naturally do not, or cannot, allude to why (fans naturally know that in DCU, she was crippled by a bullet from the Joker for the past 20+ years, and to DC's credit they've never healed her, despite the fact that Wayne once had his own back broken by Bane, but healed up quick). It also appears that Gotham is suffering another ice age, meaning Mr. Freeze (who their chief feels calling "Dr. Frost") survived. Naturally, this is another homage to BATMAN BEYOND, as Mr. Freeze was one of only a few Batman villians to actually survive into the future of 2040 (the others being Joker, Bane, and Ra's Al Ghul). And as usual, Clancy Brown makes the best of his dialogue, only for once doesn't have to make any "have an ICE day!" puns.
Nightwing saves the pilot and Oracle is good for info and controlling their vehicles when they dive out of them, but Grayson is near useless as Batman naturally uses some savvy and grit to over come Mr. Freeze. However, Freeze cryogencially froze himself into the future (albeit missing his lower half) where he was revived. What I did like was that when Mr. Freeze temporarialy effected the weather, the effects didn't just vanish like in the SPIDER-FRIENDS episode LIZARDS, LIZARDS, EVERYWHERE and other cartoons. In fact, an "ice age" in Gotham wasn't uncommon.
The episode's cleverist bit was discovering that the Batcave's titanium walls had binary code written on them, allowing for translation of the Batwave's data, and allowing Batman, or at least his recorded image, to return to allow them the secret to his diamond-tipped weapon. The ranting of Freeze when the agents impersonated Batman via holograms was priceless.
"No! I waited 1000 years! YOU CAN'T BE HERE!"
Plus, you had them rebuilding the Batcave and building that statue, allowing Batman to seemingly become to Gotham what Superman is to Metropolis. It was sweet. Not a perfect episode, as it wasn't THAT complicated, but didn't need to be. The battles were naturally intense and you could tell the gang watched enough video games.
A very enjoyable episode, which in some ways was actualy better than LEGENDS; animation wise for sure. THE BATMAN has been picked up for a 5th season, and hopefully the improvement sticks around. It is good to have a Batman show worth my time again. It's no Timmverse, but in today's fluffier market, it'll have to do.
the edge one was better.
