HarleysTwin

Can't agree with ya there, Mike, specifically because there is no story. It's the reason I don't like Cats. Yes, it's pretty, and the dancing is great, but I don't want to spend $50-$60 bucks on something that doesn't have a plot, or, in Dead End's case, five minutes of my life. The fact that they spent so much money on something that really doesn't say much is rather disappointing. They don't even explain why the aliens are even there. It's just bang pow the end. (That's why I debate "intensity." A random sock-em-up doesn't really impress me much.) That's why the "cliffhanger" ending doesn't work for me. Granted this is coming from someone who has never seen any of the Alien movies (I don't like horror.), but I had no understanding of the villians, and therefore, didn't care about the outcome. But to each his/her own. I didn't say that it was a good line of reasoning, and the thought of Batman being knocked out by a tazer is absolutely ridiculous. But I understand the logic of somebody who's knowledge of the character is probably only limited to the live action movies. I don't agree with the conclusion the filmmaker comes up with, and it's extremely lazy on their part to make a fan film with someone who hasn't taken the time to research the depth of the character (Ah, the joys of the youtube movie maker.), but I can understand why they would think it. They're wrong, but I don't see it as being entirely out of left field. Right field, absolutely. Abrupt subject change, there's another on my DVD that's fun. It's a Dr. Laura parody called Supertalk. First off, the cinematography/camera angles of the most of the time first person view of all the callers (You see mostly their arms, and never see their faces, basically.) is really interesting. My favorite is when "Diana" calls about trying to get her co-worker "Clark" to notice her. Dr. Flora says, "Dress more provocatively. At work, it's easy to lose your sense of femininity." Wonder Woman looks at her bathing suit and goes, "I really...can't dress more provocatively at work." It's fun. Ok, I'll be going now.

Oh, one other thing. Batman: Dead End? Really? Really? You guys like that one? Really? It seemed so pointless. Yes, it was pretty, but it was reduced to a simpleton beat 'um up with aliens and the predators (which makes so much sense. {Yes, I know there's some comics about Batman meeting the aliens, but I have never read it, so have no idea how that works.})

For somebody who's seen so many Batman fan films, I actually bought a DVD of a good chunk of them at Wizard World recently, yeah, I can understand why you wouldn't like The Death of Batman, I can see why a guy would come to the reason Batman would kill himself like that. He's trying to protect the little guy, and the fact that he ended up destorying the life of the little guy was too much to take. Yeah, not a great explination, but you can kinda see it. Maybe. If you want good fan films, Bat in the Sun Productions is a good place to go. Patient J is one of my favorites. It's trying to explain the Joker and Batman's relationship, and Harley is delightful. He's done Batman Beyond: Year One, Batman Legends, and there was another one I forget. He has generally good quality fan films. The trailer for Grayson, too, oh my gosh. If they made that into a movie, I could die. My life would be complete. Yeah, Batman's dead, and the film would be a total hero cluster fuck, but it's SOOOOOO good. Really. Three thumbs up. If you want a site that has a huge collection of Batman fan films, scripts, trailers and the like, www.batmanfanfilms.com has a ton. P.S. Fast Times at Hero High is hilarious as well.

Little sidenote, I know you guys loved the music (among other things) in Bullet for Bullock. In that episode, Shirley Walker won an Emmy for best score.

Ok, Mike. I guess I'll take your suggestion and post on the forum. It's Mindy, the Mad Love girl. Well, I still don't quite agree with you Mike, and I'll post the last letter I sent to you here for all to see as to why. (Did you get it? You didn't respond, so I didn't know.) P.S. It was cute how much you gushed over me. It made me laugh. Thanks. In the early Batman episodes when the mood was much lighter than it would become, yeah, I can buy you saying they played the abuse for laughs. In Mad Love, however, I think the production team does such a good job to point out that Joker is abusive, and horribly abusive. I didn't pick up on the logistics of Harley and Joker's relationship in Harley and Ivy until you pointed it out. In Mad Love, I was horrified by what Joker did to her. It was shoved in everyone's face, and not in a funny way. Bold generalization, but I think you're confusing, like I said, the instruments Joker uses to spread his terror with the fact that he really is spreading terror with them. You're tying the comedic moments of the episode, Joker's gimmicks like the piranha tank, and the puns, and how Harley tries to get Joker to have sex with her by using a whoopie cushion (Hey, it is a "whoopie" cushion afterall.), with the overall theme of what's going on. If you look at the episode, though, notice the entire episode is focused on physical abuse in some form and how horrible and long lasting the effects of that can be. Why does Harley fall in love with Joker? She feels sorry for him because Puddin's merely a victim of circumstances. All he wanted to do was make his father laugh, and his dad beat the snot out of him for it. The way Joker's abuse is presented is shocking to the point where even Harley is shocked by how bad it is. I was determined not to be taken unaware, and studied up on all his jokes, tricks, and gimmicks. Then I went in, ready for anything. 'You know, my father used to beat me up pretty bad.' Anything except that. When Joker's telling the circus story, the line, "And then he broke my nose," it cuts like a knife. Again, gross generalization, you really start to feel bad for the abuse the Joker went through, and you start to feel Harley's sympathy towards him. Why does Harley hate Batman? Batman has taken the place of Joker's abusive father. Puddin's just trying to make B-man laugh, after all. Then the story goes to Harley, and the extreme efforts she's going to to make Joker happy. You see that she's devoting her life towards that task. Then when Harley finally gets the one thing she thinks will make Joker happy and take all his pain away, how does he repay her? First she finds out that all the stories that created her image of who the Joker is were lies to manipulate and brainwash her (which total wipes out the viewer's newly created sympathy for him). Then when he arrives, he punches Harley in the face, and pushes her out a however many high story window onto some wooden fucking crates (It would not be nearly as bad without those crates being there. I feel the crates when she lands. It's just...aah. I can't even write it.) practically killing her. In the comic, it's shown even worse. She's lying half dead in a pool of blood on those crates. To top it off, as she's lying in the alleyway dying, she says, "My fault. I didn't get the joke." She says it was her fault for being pushed out a window. She's blaming herself for what Joker did to her. If that's not battered wife syndrome, I don't know what is. And then, they don't let you forget it in the end. It's not like Night of the Ninja where Bruce has a black eye, and then the next day he doesn't. The next day, Harley is in a wheelchair. She's in a neck brace, her leg is broken, her arm's in a cast. The event was so traumatic, she nearly leaves the Joker. But then he apologizes, and she forgives him, and the cycle continues. So, I'm puzzled as to how you think that the production team of Mad Love trivialized domestic abuse. If anything, I thought they opened your eyes to it Clockwork Orange style. If there was nothing to the episode except Joker pushing Harley out the window, that would be enough to show how horrible he treats her. But then they put in the child abuse back story. What does that do? It keeps the idea of how bad physical abuse can be in the viewer's mind the entire episode. They keep reminding you of how horrible abuse can be by making you think it's what created the monster that is the Joker, and then at the end, you see the physical after effects of abuse in how mangled Harley's body is. The entire show, you're saturated, even overwhelmed by the effects of domestic violence. How can you see that as comical? I don't understand!