Saddest moments in BTAS

[The Laughing Fish]

This is my list of the saddest moments of the show.

• When Bruce has a nightmare of Harvey Dent during Two-Face Part II, as Dent falls and screams "Why couldn't you save me?!", Bruce's guilt of his parents asking him the same question prompts him to wake up. He vows to save his friend, which tragically over the course of the DCAU timeline, his efforts prove to be in vain.
• The Grayson murders in Robin's Reckoning Part I, and Bruce confiding with Dick as the two share a heartbreaking bond in a flashback, which cuts off to Robin getting furious at Batman for going after Tony Zucco personally.
• Bruce realises the perfect world he lives in is an illusion set up by the Mad Hatter in Perchance to Dream. Such a Twilight Zone-styled episode.
• The apparent death of Clayface in Mudslide. The sad thing is, had Batman not intervened so soon, Hagen would've fully transformed as a human being again.
• Baby Doll suffering a mental breakdown as she shoots at all of the distorting mirrors when she sees a reflection of herself as a physically grown woman. This episode is a tragic allegory to child actors, no doubt.
• Batman witnessing Gordon's serious injury inflicted by the Jazzman in I Am the Knight, and later suffers a mental breakdown in the Batcave over his guilt for not preventing the incident.
• The entire Heart of Ice episode...need I say more?

Feel free to share your heartbreaking moments.

[Catwoman]

Boo you stole some of mine. Ok you didn't steal them but you got to them first which is still rude. Bad form, Fish Face.

Just playing. Anyways here's a couple that jump out at me:

Bruce standing at the grave of his parents at the end of "Nothing to Fear." On one hand it's very triumphant with him beating Scarecrow and reaffirming that he's not a disgrace or a failure to his father. On the other hand, knowing by way of the fear toxin that that is his greatest fear and seeing him standing there (and the fact that it's his parents' grave to start with) makes it pretty heart-wrenching. The score for that scene and its dark, dreary daytime setting (I get that that is not unique, but in that moment, you really feel it) puts it over the top as one of the best of the entire show IMO. That would have been the perfect closing shot to the series if it had a dedicated ending (maybe with an episode where he confronts Joe Chill and finally closes the Waynes' murders, though I liked the "Case closed" ending to the Brave and the Bold epi too, the one that's based on is one of the pathetically few Batman comics I've read so I like that it ended on that).



The entire episode "Catwalk" strikes a few chords with me, most of them personal. I actually watched it again before making this post. Her trying to stay on the straight and out of "the pound" as she calls it and ultimately failing because she has to be who she is ("It's just the cat in me," she says to Bruce and then to Batman later). Being free but feeling caged resonates with me. She calls herself as she stalking to the stuffed panther or whatever it is "the cat who walked by herself." Then the last shot is her, sitting all alone, saying in present time "I am the cat who walks by herself." I've come to feel that way about myself, bittersweetly. When asked why I'm single (when I, allegedly, have everything a person would want in another, including a sense of humor like Selina displays a few times throughout the show), sometimes I'll even break out that line if the person knows about my love of the character. Some people just weren't born to play well with others. They might try, and it might go well now and again, but inevitably the lone kitty comes out and they're left shaking their head sadly like Batman does at the end of the episode.






Wow. My mood and everything else has done a major change since I hit the reply button on this post. But it's all good. I am who I am, that's all I can be.

[Catwoman]

[The Laughing Fish]

I know it has been said many times before, but I love how reminiscent that scene is to the moment when Keaton's Bruce visits the alley where his parents were shot in B89.

What's so poignant about that final scene in Nothing to Fear is even though he beats the psychological battle and the Scarecrow's fear toxin, the guilt over his parents' death still remains. Again, in Two-Face Part II, his sense of powerlessness over not being able to save Harvey Dent from being disfigured during that nightmare reminds him of his subsconcious guilt over his parents. I can't help but overanalyse how that powerlessness over his parents' demise kickstarted his habit of trying to be in control as gets older, whether it's planning or investigating, as you can see from the notes and research of Harvey's multiple personal condition; trying desperately hard to find a way he can save his friend. What's even more tragic is Batman's desire of control and overall obsessive personality leads to a falling out with Dick Grayson in TNBA, which they never made amends since. But that's another story.

Another detail about what I love about that ending is from what I can remember, it's the only time in the show where Batman's shadow reflects from Bruce as he walks away, which was a little detail you'd always see in the comics.

The Brave and the Bold may be show for younger audiences, but without a doubt, its dramatic moments can rival any other Batman TV show. The Chill of the Night episode came to full circle, reuniting Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Phantom Stranger and Spectre and Adam West and Julie Newmar as Thomas and Martha Wayne. While taking a page from BTAS by adapting a story from the comics.

The entire episode "Catwalk" strikes a few chords with me, most of them personal. I actually watched it again before making this post. Her trying to stay on the straight and out of "the pound" as she calls it and ultimately failing because she has to be who she is ("It's just the cat in me," she says to Bruce and then to Batman later). Being free but feeling caged resonates with me. She calls herself as she stalking to the stuffed panther or whatever it is "the cat who walked by herself." Then the last shot is her, sitting all alone, saying in present time "I am the cat who walks by herself." I've come to feel that way about myself, bittersweetly. When asked why I'm single (when I, allegedly, have everything a person would want in another, including a sense of humor like Selina displays a few times throughout the show), sometimes I'll even break out that line if the person knows about my love of the character. Some people just weren't born to play well with others. They might try, and it might go well now and again, but inevitably the lone kitty comes out and they're left shaking their head sadly like Batman does at the end of the episode.

Yes, it's indeed bittersweet. Catwoman in BTAS may be sassy and light-hearted compared to Michelle Pfeiffer's portrayal in BR, but that's not to say she's free from any sadness of her own. The potential romance between her and Batman, like in BR, was never to be. Thankfully for her sake, she got to retire happily with Iris in TNBA.

[The Laughing Fish]

This last image of Catwoman in Catwalk is similar of Tygress standing above in the sky at the end of Tyger Tyger.


That was another poignant moment. A freak of nature created by the mad scientist Dr. Emil Dorian, Tygress is saddened, yet accepts, Selina's desperation to become a human being again and gives her the antidote to reverse her transformation, before deciding to live the rest of his life in solitude.

Fun bit of trivia: not only was Tyger Tyger a reference to the poem by William Blake, including Conroy narrating the last four lines at the end of the episode, the title of the episode was also a reference to Hugo Strange's security personnel in Arkham City.

[thecolorsblend]

"I need it to be different now." Get me every time.

Bruce is tormented by his own conscience. However literally you do or don't want to interpret it, Andrea might very well have been "sent" by Thomas and Martha to entice Bruce into a better life. Offer him love to cast out all fear and pain.

In the end, Bruce became Batman anyway. And not because he failed. But because she did. In a way, Bruce was "condemned" to darkness by the only person who was capable of pulling him back from the edge.

Pretty freaking epic, really.

[The Laughing Fish]

In the end, Bruce became Batman anyway. And not because he failed. But because she did. In a way, Bruce was "condemned" to darkness by the only person who was capable of pulling him back from the edge.

That's a great way of putting it. Despite there is a similarity in Batman's doomed relationships with Catwoman and Phantasm in BR and MOTP, I'd say Phantasm is better when it comes to conceiving the tragedy. Never mind the fact the relationship between Bruce and Andrea was far fleshed out compared to the live action movie with Selina, Bruce still maintained a strong sense of morality once he became Batman. Whereas Andrea succumbed to vengeance once she became Phantasm. Yes, the morality may be black and white, but the difference between Batman as a moral force for good and a bloodthirsty Phantasm comes at an emotional cost. It's such a cruel twist of fate.

In contrast, Batman and Catwoman in BR were a reflection of two psychologically damaged people who both succumbed to darkness. The irony is Batman's vengeance over the Joker ends on a triumphant note in B89, whereas Catwoman's revenge over Shreck in Returns ends on a bittersweet note, leaving Bruce to reflect what might've been, like he does over Andrea in MOTP. But Probably the greatest tragedy is despite Bruce sees how vengeance was hurting Selina, it didn't occur to him in that moment how his desire of vengeance had hurt him too.

Nonetheless, there was nothing Batman could do to save either woman in either movie.