GoFlash

The themes or the shows? As far as the shows, I agree about IM, but I thought the first season of Hulk was pretty decent. The second season dropped quite a bit - I loved Cree Summer as Max in Batman Beyond, but her Shulkie was grating - I liked Jennifer Hale as the first season Shulk better (not to mention Banner as a geeky scientist rather than a male model). I'm going to take a wild stab and guess that the Amazon UK store doesn't ship to Hawaii (hell, half the time, US stores don't. Papers here are hoping that if Obama is elected, he'll sign an executive order banning "shipping to the US, excluding Alaska & Hawaii"). Chris

I don't think they'll ever release the 90's Spiderman/X-men series on DVD.... (waiting for imminent news release proving me wrong......) hey, it worked when Mike said they wouldn't release Zeta And yes, I know, Disney owns rights, yadda yadda yadda. Worth a try, though.

I think that the only 3 Harley appearances remaining are Return Of The Joker ("You worthless tramps!"), the Static episode "Tough As Nails", and the JL episode "Wild Cards". Imagine if Circe had insisted that Batman do "Am I Blue" on the kazoo... Chris

What, so they know more than us or something? They're just the writers, m'dear...we're the FANS. On a non-Bats-and-Babs-is-sick-and-wrong note, I would like to commemorate the passing of a WFP institution. To the best of my knowlege, there will only be 3 more scattered episodes of WFP that could contain one of our most hallowed traditions, brought to us by James and Mike from the beginning. I'm referring, of course, to the fact that with the end of the Batman episodes, we also come to the end of the bad Harley Quinn impersonations. A moment of silence, please (unless, of course, someone would like to play "Amazing Grace" on a kazoo - I think the Harley impersonations would have liked that). Chris

Belated reply, but we had some things going on this week, so it took me a bit to get a chance to recheck. I had posted a reply from memory, but the actual scene was probably more ambiguous than my memory had suggested. Here's the actual dialogue between Barbara (I can't call her Babs in her early 60s) and Terry from about 13 minutes into "A Touch Of Curare": B:[Dick] decided to leave. He was hurt when I chose to stay behind...with Bruce. T: As his partner. Barbara smirks over her coffee cup. T: His girlfriend?!? Barbara raises an eyebrow. T: Whoa. B: On the streets, it was like ballet. We were the perfect duo. But for Bruce - Batman - there was nothing but the street. Eventually, that gets old. Time comes when you've got to hang up the cape. Like I said, Mike's hypothesis about them being pulled together after what happened to Tim is certainly believable. After I rewatched this scene, though, it still seems like this "relationship" may well have been more Barbara flirting and interested, but very little actually happening. You could even debate at this point how much of it was her remembering it as more than it was (as I had suggested) and how much of it was simply her messing with the new kid. (On a preview note, there were a couple of poses in this scene where the 60 something Barbara Gordon's face softens, and she really does look like the early to mid 20's Barbara Gordon, but more on that in a month or two). Chris

Sorry, I was referring to the bitterness in episodes of Batman Beyond, not necessarily in ROTJ (by which point they seem to have somewhat repaired their relationship, I agree.) Chris

I could see that. This next part is not meant to be a comment about your friends (just wanted to say that upfront). If that happened, Bruce and Barbara came together because of a specific event and a need due to that event. The problem is that, as the pain of what happened to Tim begins to heal, that need is no longer as vital. Then, they find themselves in a relationship that isn't really a good fit for either of them, as they were only together because of the pain of what happened to Tim. Couple that with their working relationship, and I can see the stress of the situation escalating to the point where they almost never talk to each other, and we see the bitterness that Barbara shows towards Bruce in "Batman Beyond." I could definitely see that. (Like I said, not a comment on your friends, because I'm not saying this would be a universal, but for Barbara and Bruce, I think this is what would happen). On the other hand, if we stay with the theory that Barbara thought of the relationship as more than it was, there's another possibility. After Tim's injury, Batman refused to work with another partner, forced her to quit as Batgirl, closed himself off from everyone so he wouldn't have to feel that pain again. Barbara would try to get him to relate to her, to relate to Tim, while trying to support Tim herself (and she mentioned that her father helped cover it up, so I would assume that there was more stress there). That event could well have been why she was so bitter towards him - most of it stemmed from her perception that he manipulates people into the superhero life and that he shuts people out, and what I described following Tim's trauma could certainly cause both. I think either one of these could work (suprise suprise, since I took the time to write them out). I guess we'll never know which one really happened...of course, we're extrapolating all of this from 5 seconds of one episode of Batman Beyond and the phone call in Mystery of the Batwoman... Chris

Barbara flirted with him, and the evening with Rocky was business, so I'd toss those two out. As it pertains to the Bruce / Babs relationship, would someone spell it out for me? What was said / show in Batman Beyond? I was under the assumption that it's outright said they were an item, but Chris here is saying it was only hinted at. Fine. Ruin my joke at Brucie's expense. Sigh. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall, it went something like Barbara talking about a great partnership on and off the streets, Terry did a double take, and Barbara raised a knowing eyebrow at him. The implication was pretty clear, but at the same time, it wasn't like Barbara was talking to Bruce about how they used to date and Bruce complained it never worked out because her stuff was all over his sink (of course, Stately Wayne Manor at last count had 63 sinks, so probably not an issue anyways). Like I said, I can still see that as Barbara's memory making it more than it was - but that's strictly my interpretation because I don't really like the Bats/Babs dating dynamic. Chris

Just to chime in in support, when The Flash, Vol 3 started, with Wally taking on the role of the Flash following Crisis (the first one) and Legends, issue #1 took place on his 20th birthday - and the early issues of Flash Vol 3 were definitely mined by the DCAU creative team for many of the DCAU Flash's character traits (and we all know that when I say character traits, I mean rampant immaturity). Of course, if anyone else would like to put in the time that Mike and James have done, and do an episode by epsidoe recap of the DCAU leaving out the series that they feel are not in continuity, I'll be happy to hear that take as well. (Or, their ball, their rules). Chris

Hear, hear. The thing is, there's this flirty bit here, and a knowing smirk and an ambiguous comment in ...I think it was "A Touch Of Curare". I still hold tight to the belief that this is not as much as it seems. We've all seen situations where from the outside, and from one party's perspective, there's very little - a date or two, maye not much more, but the other party sees it as more significant than that. Given that we never get any confirmation from Bruce that there really was anything, I'm going to keep on believing that there was some flirting, maybe a date or two, but that Barbara has a much different idea of what this is than Bruce does. (Granted, Bruce is not exactly Mr. Emotionally Open, so the fact that he never had a heart to heart with Terry about how he felt about his relationship with Barbara is not exactly strong evidence, but still...) There's a thread about whether Talia or Selina would be better for Bruce (I argued that he'd be terrible for anyone. He said it himself, "I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.") but there's no way I can see him dating Barbara. She's too..nice, bubbly, cheerful. If her IQ were 50 points lower, she might be the kind of woman that Bruce Wayne would go out with as a cover, but a real relationship? Can't see it. He'd be truly interested in women who were more serious, probably a bit older than Babs, likely with a dark side. Andrea Beaumont, Selina Kyle, Lois Lane, Talia, Diana of Themyscira...Barbara Gordon. ..one of these things, is not like the other things... Even Kathy has more of a dark side to her. (I still think that him ending up alone, never able to open up is the most likely, but if he were to try, I don't see it with Babs). I also don't see him dating his partner - you could argue that his comment to Diana in "This Little Piggy" was a reference to a bad breakup with Babs, but I think that's more directed at GL/Hawkgirl. Finally, even though they broke up, she's the ex of his son. I just don't see him being able to look at her in that way. Unless there's a new DCAU series that shows them dating explicitly, I'm sticking with the "Babs put more meaning on this than there was" interpretation. (And that's coming from the guy who usually does everything he can to justify what we see on screen. To quote Wil Friedle's other character, "That is just sick and wrong! SICK AND WRONG!") By the way, he has the flirting with Babs, takes Rocky to dinner, dates Kathy, then chases Selina around the town in Chase Me. Kind of taking that playboy role to the limits on this disk, isn't he? Chris

Maybe he got the dry facts from BTAS, but he sure didn't seem to have a clue about what to do with them. Yeah, his wife was in stasis with an incurable disease, but basically, he was just played as another over-the-top villain with a cold gun, just as he had been before Timm & Co. rewrote his origin. Schumacher may have taken notes from a character bio, but he sure missed the heart of the character.

Here I thought I was pretty laid back - I end up as a 3 way tie for arguably the 3 most famous villains around... You are The Joker The Joker -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45% Lex Luthor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45% Dr. Doom -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45% Juggernaut -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 41% Apocalypse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 40% Kingpin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 38% Magneto -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 36% Mr. Freeze -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 36% Venom -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25% Catwoman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23% Dark Phoenix -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22% Riddler -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18% Green Goblin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17% Poison Ivy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16% Mystique -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9% Two-Face -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9% Of course, on the hero side, I came up as either Spider-Man or (big suprise, given my nickname) the Flash.

I don't know about that - I wouldn't say that Schumaker or Schwarzenegger had even SEEN any of the episodes with Mr. Freeze (Arnold. In a bathrobe. In the freezer. Conducting the shivering goons singing the snowman song. Shudder.) I do have to say, though, that when I look at the Riddler's origin in "Batman Forever", I can see a LOT of similarities to "Mad As A Hatter", so I can believe that much. I had downloaded "Children Of The Gods from iTunes, then immediately got the rest of Stargate SG-1 on DVD - about midway through the 7th season now. I think a big part of why I like it is the flexibility - there's a military/espionage/political story one week, the next week they're attacking the Death Star, and the week after that, they're negotiating with Mongul horsemen. The basic premise of the show gives them a lot of flexibility in the kind of story they want to tell.

When I watch that scene, I'm not sure I'd describe Darkseid's reaction as shrugging it off. I always felt that those shots definitely slowed him down, and given that he had previously been trying to beat Superman physically, the fact that he then went for the weapon was an admission that he realized he was not going to be able to take Superman with fighting ability alone. I would liken it to a bout between a heavyweight and a middleweight. They're both strong. They're both good fighters. The heavyweight may throw two really good punches at the middleweight and the middleweight's still getting up, still trying...but in the end, the heavyweight is going to win (unless the middleweight pulls out a neural disrupter are starts monologing.). Maybe I'm off, but that's how I always interpreted that scene - Darkseid wanted the personal, physical victory, and only resorted to the weapon when he realized that Superman outmatched him physically. Chris

Just a few random thoughts - Mike, I thought that on Chemistry, I agreed with you completely. It's the getting to Bruce and the interplay in the Batfamily that raise this episode for me. I really liked the little brother/big sister stuff between Barbara and Tim - we've seen it with Tim and Dick, but not as much with Babs. I also loved Linda Hamilton's scornful delivery of that line at the end, "Relationships aren't supposed to be easy. Even I know that, and I'm just a plant." The sad thing is, I'm not too suprised that a plant has more relationship savvy than Bruce... For Beware the Creeper, I sent an e-mail for the next episode - you guys referred to the debate about curing more advanced stages of a disease in Moon of the Wolf, and I was the one who responded to that (actually, I think that may have been my first e-mail - ahh, the good old days, before I started yapping so much and made poor James read it all), so I thought I'd try again. On another note, I didn't know about the healing talent, but it does make sense. Makes you wonder if that's not how Joker gets out of all of his scrapes - hey, if Creeper got a healing talent, maybe Joker did too... About Legacy, Darkseid's plan is hard to follow - I guess that's why there's an Evil Overlord List, though. It did seem to have a pretty high "Huh?" factor (or maybe a "Really?" factor, in that tone of voice Mike uses so much). I do want to weigh in on the Superman vs Darkseid debate though. I maintain that in terms of physical prowess, Superman was the clear winner both in "Twilight" and in "Destroyer" In "Twilight", Batman pulled Superman away before he could finish the job, but there's no question who was winning. In "Destroyer", once Superman cut loose, he was clearly dominant. Darkseid didn't win because he was a better or stronger fighter - he won because he had weapons. The two matchups in Justice League seemed to be pretty clear that, with nothing but their natural abilities, Superman wins (and you can debate stronger vs just a better fighter if you like. I don't think Superman is that skilled in hand-to-hand combat, so I would guess he won largely through superior strength, but with no weapons or interference, Superman wins. That's my point.) Chris

Since it's coming up in only about 6 weeks, I thought I'd point out that there's another option. Bruce never really opens up to anyone because a) he's too obsessed with the mission b) it's hard to reconcile being self controlled and being head over heels with anyone and c) after his parents died, he's probably afraid to show love for anyone, because he's sure that something bad will happen. Look at his experiences in the DCAU, and you can see where that might get reinforced. The future life that they showed in "Batman Beyond" was depressing and anti-climactic. We always want a happy ending - Clark ends up with Lois, Barry with Iris, Wally with Linda, Peter with M.J. (oops, go back, do over). When "Rebirth" first aired (not, at that time, having seen a lot of BTAS or Gotham Knights) I couldn't believe that they painted such a bleak picture of Batman's later years...but you have to admit, it certainly rings true. Forget for a moment who would be a good match for him - do you really think he'd be a good match for anyone else? Not to be too maudlin and fatalistic, but I really think that his last chance to pull out of the obsessive track he ends up on was with Andrea Beaumont - when events happened as they did, I think that not only ended his relationship, but may have been his last chance to have formed a real relationship with anyone. He may try, he may want a relationship, but I really think they showed it the only way it could happen in "Batman Beyond". Granted, my bias is usually to try and explain why what was on-screen is right (and the ungrateful producers don't even send out No-Prizes. Oy.), but I just can't see a post-Phantasm Batman being able to form a real relationship with anyone. If Phantasm took place 10 years before BTAS, the Flying Grayson's must have been killed not long afterwards, so Dick Grayson was there probably within a year of Andrea, and even they had lots of trouble building a lasting father-son relationship. I think that Selina would be a much better match than Talia, since Talia...shall we say, doesn't wash her hands (because she's EVIL!), but it's a moot point. Batman wouldn't be a good match for anyone.

I'm not sure that "don't go off with strangers" is quite the message to get - after all, he was her father.

Yeah, but he DID drink coffee, so that made it fine. After all, coffee is a perfect substitute for sleep. (Of course, despite the heavy sarcasm, that's exactly what I did on those 36 hour stints in the PICU as a resident. Not that I had a lot of options, but I still shudder at the thought.) Of course, towards the end of my residency, they did modify the rules. Residents now cannot work more than 80 hours a week, and can't be taking care of patients for more than 24 hours straight (although they may stay in the hospital for up to 30 to make sure that the resident replacing them is up to speed, etc.)

I haven't finished listening yet, so I may post some thoughts tonight, but I wanted to ask - anyone know if there's a thread for Heidi's project about DID and Batman's Rogues? I looked through my old e-mails and I sent in some comments about the difference between multiple personality syndrome and schizophrenia (and about insanity vs. mental illness) back about episode 13 or so. I can offer a few points, the main one being any paper about multiple personality syndrome in comic books (or most any other form of entertainment) should start off with "The Inaccuracies in Portrayals of..." Back in college, I took a Physiological Psychology class - if you want another fun topic for a psych course, talk about the effects of sleep deprivation on Batman (and the rest of the Bat-Family). This was a big deal in residency - I was one of the last people to go through training without restrictions on work hours. Most people don't know this, but if you've been awake for 24 hours, you are performing as well as someone with a blood alcohol content of 0.1 %. (An over the counter dose of Benadryl puts you in the same boat). That would be a fun intervention on the Watchtower: S: Bruce, you've been up for 36 hours. Give me your keys! B: (glares) S: Diana? J'onn? anyone? Help?!? (later, Batman found wrapped neck to toe with friction burned duct tape, then with green arrow-delivered handcuffs. Stalks away, muttering "I warned everyone, I AM vengeance." Superman resolves never to involve Flash and Green Arrow in interventions again). Chris

I watched Mad Love again - Mike and James already described the not-so-subtext so well, I have nothing more to add. The other thing I noticed, though, is how much stuff they crammed into that episode - granted, Harley is one of Dini's 3 favorite characters (the other 2 being Mxy and Zatanna - google the magician Misty Lee and see who she looks like and who married her). Everything from the name on the dentist's door (Dr. J. Reko - more clever than Joe Kerr) to the "rev up your Harley" line for little gags, to Batman wincing when the Joker arrives and backhands Harley. I also noticed one of their strong suits. Despite having, with the late Shirley Walker, and later with Dynamic Music Partners, some of the best music, they're not afraid to be silent. When Harley is falling, they said, "There's no music that will make this a stronger scene" so there's just FX, no score. They do that from time to time, and it's really a great emphasis. (It also made the end of "Shriek" suspenseful as hell, but more about that when we get to Batman Beyond.) The other thing I found poignant about Harley was something that Batman taunted the Joker with - She almost did it. Harley Quinn, the goofy, bubbly blonde, almost took down the Dark Knight all by her lonesome, on a spur of the moment decision - yet she consistently plays a dumb second fiddle to the Joker. James and Mike talked about how she may have gotten her degree on other than academic merits, but she's obviously much more intelligent than she acts, or than that would suggest. Most of that dumb blonde act is a front to keep the Joker from feeling threatened by her. Sad. Incidentally, "Mad Love", along with "Watchmen" is being adapted as a motion comic, so may be available in another format soon. On a more upbeat note, I was glad to hear I'm not the only Impulse fan around - he was such a great character, and Mike's absolutely right - you could see him grow at times, and your heart always tugged a bit that he lost a bit of innocence (of course, my daughter's almost 4, so I'm going to have to start seeing that in real life, too. NOT looking forward. Stupid world.) Ah, Bart...you are missed. Chris

That just reminds me of a quote from an essay by Larry Niven about Superman's mating problems. "One must not think of Superman as a peeping Tom. Biological abilities must be used. If billions of people shamelessly walk around wearing clothes without lead in them, that is hardly his fault."

I was wondering about that - I watched the first 6 episodes on a redeye to Minnesota (sounds like a song title or something) and couldn't figure out where that outfit in the credits came from. Really enjoyable show, even without the cute female lead in a leather jumpsuit. Chris

From Mal to Hal? I like it. I said this before about the casting of "The New Frontier", but David Boreanez is someone else I could see pulling it off - especially after seeing him do the FBI agent on "Bones".

I have one long point, so I thought I'd post rather than e-mail. James, if you think you're back at school too early, let me just say - I've been going nuts doing school physicals, because in Hawaii (we only have one statewide school district) - school started last week. July 30, to be exact. Oy. Vey. DW's power list for Aquaman was interesting. When I was listening to the episode, I was wondering - if he can control shorebirds, can he also control people who go to the beach a lot? Apparently so. Mike, James, about your Batman HBO series - don't lose this episode. Keep the part of yourselves laughing at the Barbara cares for Dick joke, and use that in a demo tape for the Joker. Incidentally, Connor in Old Wounds was in his 2nd of 3 DC appearances. Ian Buchanen had played a criminal named Stan Kovacs on "The Flash" live series ("Honor Among Thieves") and went on to voice the Ultrahumanite on JL. Alright, here's the biggie. I'll start off with an executive summary - Stop complaining about the stupid black hole thing already! First, it was a small black hole - 3-10 stellar masses. How do I know? Watch the probe Superman launches. See how it gets stretched out further and further? That process is called "spaghettification" (no, I am not making this up). Tidal forces pull objects into long strings (For a good description of tidal forces, read Larry Niven's short story "Neutron Star". Then, go read his short story "Man Of Steel, Woman Of Kleenex" for a description of the mating problems of Earth-bound Kryptonians). In small black holes, this takes place outside the event horizon; in more massive ones, it takes place inside the event horizon. What is the event horizon? That is the point at which nothing can escape from a black hole, and if Supes had pulled the ship out from there, I would have called foul. But, light doesn't get out of there either, so we wouldn't have seen anything. Given that we saw what was happening, and that the ship was not being turned into spaghetti by a demonstrated small black hole, the ship must have been a ways out from the hole when Superman intervened. Yes, the ship was in the gravity well. We're in Earth's gravity well right now (If any readers are on other planets, Hi! Hope you like the podcast! Sorry for all of the Earth lingo involved.) We're in the Sun's gravity well right now. These are readily escapable. The gravity well of a black hole is no different, and the further away you are, the less the force of gravity is, and the less force you have to apply to overcome it. The significance of this scene is to show that he can move something the size of the spaceship - the fact that it's in the gravity well of a black hole is less significant. As to Jax-Ur's panicked "We're trapped in the gravity well" - evidently, he's not one of those military folks who are also well versed in science. Samantha Carter, he ain't. As to the helicopters - some of that may have been juggling - you've got the fall, 2 vectors from the rotors, don't hit a building, don't let them crash, and don't jostle the people inside to much. It's not the brute force that was tricky but the precision of application needed. The other factor is time - in space, you have time to apply a smaller force over more time to get the effect you want. Superman had to effect the change in velocity in very short time, requiring larger force. I'm not saying that Superman's powers AREN'T all over the place - he and Flash seem to be most affected by this. I'm just saying that you can read too much into the whole black hole thing - the ship was NOT stuck in a black hole, it was slowly falling towards it, and that's not as significant as certain characters (Jax-Ur) thought. Of course, as they got closer to the event horizon, JaxUr and Mala did undergo spaghettification. The science of that black hole scene was actually spot on, and someone like Superman would have been able to apply force to a spaceship that was affected by gravity, but not yet in the event horizon, and push it out. Chris

Aloha, all - OK, before I start - since there was the discussion about the live-action He-Man film and covert sequels, I had come across this that I thought was interesting... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_th...orld_Connection - maybe I'll have to watch that movie again. If nothing else, Courteney Cox was cuter in her pre-Friends roles, so it won't be a total waste. For "New Kids", my brain kind of ran away from me, so please be kind. Mike asked about where the 30th century Brainiac came from, and why shotgun blasts hurt him. Actually, they don't do much damage - they mostly just push him around (and yes, I got A's in physics. I know that a gun blast powerful enough to knock the target over will kick enough to knock over the shooter as well, but this sort of thing is rampant in TV/movies). The other thing with the shotguns is that we don't know when this copy of Brainiac activated. It may have been a month before he went back in time, and he had not the opportunity to beef up to the limit of 30th century tech. For the first question, I made 3 sources of Brainiac tech: 1) The arm - I rechecked, and Clark just drops it on the ground. It's never shown what happens to it. 2) Darkseidiac - after all, extracting some of the Brainiac tech from him would be high on Luthor's to-do list (Wednesday: Extract alien technology from planetary despot. Kill Man of Steel. Fire peons.) 3) What about the chunk the Grodd held over Luthor in JLU Season 3? Luther had, as of Destroyer, been unable to activate it, but I don't remember it being destroyed. It may have been reactivated at a later date. There's 3 - there's a lot more Brainiac out there. He came to Earth in Stolen Memories, and was destroyed. Some of him was in the Luthor system, and tried to make Luthor build him a body, also implanting the backup copy in Luthor (Ghost In The Machine). Some also got into WayneTech computers, and was also destroyed. Finally, the Flash destroyed the copy in Luthor, and the only remaining chunk of the Brainiac That Fell To Earth is the one that Grodd held over Luthor. So where the hell did Brainiac come from in "Twilight"? I just rewatched that and noticed that he sent 87 copies of himself after the League. If you are a computer entity, and your goal is to gather information from every world, why do it one at a time? Why not make a bunch of copies and work in all different directions? More efficient, yeah? And certainly explains how the timeline of the Earth-based Brainiac reconciles with "Twilight". Granted, the idea of a machine intelligence wiping out organic life isn't new - everything from Saberhagen's Berserkers to Stargate's Replicators, but hey, if it's a classic sci-fi plot, where better than in Superman? Too bad they never played with it explicitly (and who knows - maybe there was a Brainiac that went back in time to killl Jor-El, and another that went back to stop Flash from getting his powers...). Mike's right about the overly personal nature of the confrontation, though - it seemed inefficient. Just before Clark sends him into the sun, when Brainiac was boasting of being the superior survivor of Krypton? Come on. At that point, just go all the way and say what we're all thinking, "KNEEL BEFORE ME, SON OF JOR-EL!" In "Over The Edge" Mike, I can see your Hannibal Lechter moment with the Joker coming out of the shadows, but if they had done it, I would have called foul. Too much collateral damage, and while I hate to say it, not enough threat. Joker's never really posed a huge danger to Batman himself - what makes him dangerous is that he won't hesitate to put everyone else in danger, so Batman has to put himself in danger to protect others. If you just put Joker and Batman in the ring, it'd be over pretty quick. Bane is a whole different matter, and he's much more focused, so a more acceptable risk (After all, you called foul on the Joker getting a reduced sentence for ratting out Harley, and you were right - you don't deal with Joker). As far as the issue of Batman being willing to kill, in part that may be to save Jim Gordon and not fail the entire family. However, both Mystery of the Batwoman and Batman Beyond suggest something between Barbara and Bruce - at least from her point of view; who knows what actually happened. Some of that may have been her romantic feelings - she felt that he would be that affected by her death that he would kill, whether or not that's actually the case. Finally, for Mean Seasons, I disagree with the comments about the B-Plot. When you called in unnecessary, my first reaction was, "As opposed to the rest of this oh so vital episode?" but on reflection, the B plot serves an important role. It takes up time that we would otherwise be forced to spend watching the A Plot - and that's good enough for me. Calender Girl clearly got the dinosaur from Lexcorp - we've already seen in universe that they make giant attack T-Rex robots ahead of time for no reason. I have to ask though - is this where the dinosaur that is such a fixture of the cave comes from? If they used an episode this blah to introduce such a classic piece of the Bat-mythos - I say take off another point for bad taste. Chris "Spider-Man is a costume, yah? Peter is inside it. And Starfire and Iceman are his friends." - my 3 year old daughter "Ah...you mean Firestar?" "Firestar, yah." She watches Teen Titans (but doesn't care if it's in continuity or not) and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends - sometimes, they cross over a bit.