B:TAS "Harlequinade" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

Harlequinade airs tonight at 7:30 eastern on Cartoon Network.


http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/episodes/harlequinade/00r.jpg
Episode #072 - Harlequinade
Original Airdate - May 23rd, 1994. - Second Season Finale

Batman and Robin form an uneasy alliance with Harley Quinn in order to learn where the Joker has hidden a stolen atomic bomb. Harley leads them on a madcap hunt through Gotham, and eventually into a deadly show-down with the Clown Prince of Crime himself. Harley is torn between her promise to help Batman and her twisted love for the Joker.

Comments?

[The Green Hornet]

tee hee

Harley: I sense a lack of trust

and

How do you like our "ha-ha"cienda?

tee hee funny

[Ms. Kitty]

I've never saw this episode, but I gave it a high vote anyway, "why is that Purrgirl?", you may ask. well everybody I know liked it when they saw it, but me? oh noooooo , I, stuck in the frick'n north where the only station who used to play it sticks it in a CAA-CAA time slot!!!!! GRRRRRRRRR HISSSSSSS SPIT! SPIT! ARRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! ( (purrgirl continues her futile rampage in her family's dinning room until Purrwoman, Purrgirl's mama comes and shoots her with yet another "sleepy-time" dart.)

[JohnStewart-GL]

i gave it 3 and a half stars. it was funny. and i liked Harley singing.

[James Harvey]

Where in Canada do you live, PurrGirl. Thankfully I was able to see all these episodes a long, long time ago. I thought this episode was pretty good, enjoyable for a slapstick-ish sorta episode.

[The Penguin]

"I sense a lack of trust." -Harley Quinn, Harlequinade

This was a pretty funny episode. I like how Harley distracted the thugs by singing. That was a great song. :D All the problems Batman and Harley had throughout the ep were funny. Harley trying to come up with the names of the other villains in Arkham was great. But the best was the look of disbelief on Robin's face at the end when Harley and The Joker hug, it was just priceless.

[Ms. Kitty]

(Purrgirl, slowly wakinging up from her mama's dart....)

Oh, yeah, Jimmy boy :yawn: .....I live in a little place called Toronto. :yawn: The station YTV plays it at 3:30AM and sometimes at 3:45AM. I can't tape anything because my VCR is busted and... :yawn:... ME GOTS NO MONEY!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :( -well for comics I do :)

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by The Penguin
I like how Harley distracted the thugs by singing. That was a great song. :D

Check out Paul Dini's own story (http://groups.google.com/groups?q=author:jokerWB&hl=en&selm=20000327171641.15789.00002697%40ng-de1.aol.com&rnum=10) about that song in the alt.comics.batman archives.

The song is "Say That We're Sweethearts Again." Dini himself couldn't supply the songwriter's name, but I did a little looking around on-line. It was by someone named Earl Brent.

[Terminatah]

This was an epic episode. Arleen Sorkin has a wonderful voice and her performance was magical; toned down and pumped up in all the right spots. The rest of the vocal talent was right on target as well. And it goes without saying that the musical number was perfect for Harley Quinn. The animation was impressive in many scenes, such as the shooting at the mob hangout and the whole Joker battle at the end.

Speaking of Joker, I thought it was awesome when he tried to set off the bomb even at the expense of his own life, laughing the whole time. He was both ruthless and funny in this episode, with some amusing costume changes.

Loved the dialogue:

Robin: "What was she before she went bonkers?"
Batman: "A clinical psychiatrist."

And one of the best ending lines I've ever heard:

Joker: "Baby, you're the greatest!"

-Terminatah

[Apache Chief]

I realize I'm completely alone on this, but I find Joker/Harley episodes to be a little tiresome. They're not that funny, and the Joker by himself is much more dangerous.

[JohnStewart-GL]

Originally posted by Apache Chief
I realize I'm completely alone on this, but I find Joker/Harley episodes to be a little tiresome. They're not that funny, and the Joker by himself is much more dangerous.
true. Joker is definatley more menacing alone.

[James Harvey]

Originally posted by Purrgirl
(Purrgirl, slowly wakinging up from her mama's dart....)

Oh, yeah, Jimmy boy :yawn: .....I live in a little place called Toronto. :yawn: The station YTV plays it at 3:30AM and sometimes at 3:45AM. I can't tape anything because my VCR is busted and... :yawn:... ME GOTS NO MONEY!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :( -well for comics I do :)

In Toronto? That's cool - alot of Canuck posters here are from Toronot, myself excluded. And I'm extremely dissapointed at YTV's decision to give B:TAS back it's horrid timeslot. There is plenty of bad shows that air during the day that should be chucked for this.

Anyways...back to Harlequinade....:)

[Corran Horn]

'What about all our friends? Like Ivy and Two Face and Hat-Guy and Lizard Man and Puppet-Head and...' :D

[Manhunter]

Batman: Listen and listen good. You don't touch anything, say anything or *do* anything unless I tell you! GOT IT?!

Harley: Yes, sir.

[JohnStewart-GL]

is it me or does harley have a big butt?

[The Flash]

Originally posted by JohnStewart-GL
is it me or does harley have a big butt?

Was that necessary? Yeesh, man. :)

[JohnStewart-GL]

Originally posted by The Flash


Was that necessary? Yeesh, man. :)
just a joke

[James Harvey]

Anyways - back on topic. I thought this was a great "fun" episode. One of the few fun episodes that worked for Batman. Ya gotta admit the sequence where she's in the Batmobile is darn near priceless.

[The Green Hornet]

quite right Jim

[DKstormyknight]

I would spell out everything I like about this episode, but then I would be typing the entire thing, so Ill just say.....I love this episode!!!!
It's one of the best, and I could watch it over, and over, and over, and ...etc... ;) 5 stars!!!

[D.Shaffer]

Of the non serious eps, this has to rank among my favorites, if just for the lines and site gags.

"I'll buy you a GOLDFISH!"

And Batman's reaction during the song :)

[Bleu Unicorn]

I just watched this yesterday, so as it's fresh in my mind, I figured I'd comment.

Originally posted by DKstormyknight
I would spell out everything I like about this episode, but then I would be typing the entire thing, so Ill just say.....I love this episode!!!!
It's one of the best, and I could watch it over, and over, and over, and ...etc... ;) 5 stars!!!
My sentiments exactly! While, personally my favorite Harley episode will always be "Mad Love" -- this one is a very close second, right up there with "Harley's Holiday," imho.

It's no secret that I absolutely love this character -- I post a post about it like every day, don't I? :D But this episode really is endearing just because it is so Harley it's almost unbareable! Harley's got some utterly fantastic dialogue in this episode, "What about all our friends? Like Ivy and Two Face and Hat-Guy and Lizard Man and Puppet-Head and..." is one of my all-time favorites. And her singing "Say That We're Sweethearts Again" to distract the thugs was just priceless.

What I find (and here comes me overanalyzing again) interesting is how people other than Joker view Harley. The one thug (his name escapes me) even says he can't understand why she'd be with the Joker when she could do so much better. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first time that it's mentioned that Harley was a clinical psychiatrist, as well. I remember when I heard that I was like, "Whoa!" Robin's reaction made me laugh though, as if it's completely normal for therapists to go insane. <cough>

So, as always I could ramble on forever, but I'll just stop and say 4.5 stars! Another great BTAS episode!

[Joker85]

This ties Mad Love as my favorite Joker/Harley episode of all time. From Batman's reluctant partnership, to the singing(that has me in stitches every time!! :D )to the final showdown with the Joker, this is just a great episode. And it has so many great lines, alot of which have already been mentioned. One of my personal favorites is when Harley aims her little clown weapon at Joker and says
"Laugh this off..... PUDDIN!!" Just the disgust in her voice cracks me up. But of course they make up, they always do! Another thing I liked about this episode, was the little Heartshaped ending. It was very appropriate, and I think the only time they ever did anything different like that(correct me if I'm wrong).

[BeastBoyWonder]

I loved both fight scenes...the music and action were great.

[Harli Kwen]

I know this is like a year later, but I just had to say my two cents. Anyhoo, this episode was excellent. A Harley Solo, somethin we don't see a lot of.

[Harlequinade]

http://wf.toonzone.net/WF/downloads/avatar/Batman/BTAS/V/harl04.ipgI'm new so I thought I'd just express myself on one of my favorite episodes even though I'm two years behind:o This episode was great:D Some of the star moments include Harley's song, the batmobile scene, Harley and Batman in arkham and Harley naming all the villans Ivy and twoface and hat guy and lizard man and puppet head:) 5 stars My favorite Joker/Harley teamup and one of my favorite episodes of all time!

[Fone Bone]

Oooh, I know I'm gonna get flamed.

For me this is probably the most overrated Batman of all time. I won't say any more, just that I hated it. *.

Sorry!:o

[Fone Bone]

I think this calls for a smiley.

:eek:

Does that count as flaming?
Not at all.:)

I just really hated how mental illness was portrayed in this episode. I have schizo-effective so it's a touchy subject but Robin's "Figures" and knowing wink to the audience always makes me cringe.

I hate Trial even more for the same reason.

[Harlequinade]

Yo, I'm off subject but how do you get those cool avatars or icons?

[Fone Bone]

Oh, well, I can understand that. You certainly have a very valid reason for disliking this episode.
For the record, I have no problem with OTHER people enjoying this episode. I'm just not one of them.

[Fone Bone]

No, I don't hate your reason at all. It's certainly more valid than a lot of people's complaints about JLU ("Too much of the old League" "Too many new League members"). I was just joking GMahler. I actually editted out my response because I sounded too smug for my own good.


Well, that is certainly fine by me. I was just surprised at first, because this is pretty much a universally loved episode. But there's no problem at all because there are people who don't think "Heart Of Ice" is that great (I'm not one of them). Yeah, it's weird. I'm normally one of those folks who loves EVERY thing to come out of the Dini/Timm funhouse. So when they stumble in my opinion, I always feel bad about saying so especially since they lurk these boards.

[Fone Bone]

Ah, I gotcha.


Yeah, I don't know how people like Wayman Tisdale (who I have nothing against) or Matt Wilson (who I don't particularly like) can type endless replies about how much they hate characters on the show or other things like that. The only thing I've really criticized extensively is the music on JL/JLU (which I feel kind of bad about anyway).
It's hard because I believe it's important to strike a balance between just being a nitpicker and actually having constructive criticism. It's important to let the creators know what we do and don't like because it does no-one any favors to pretend Hawk and Dove was great (I still gave it ***1/2.). But sometimes it seems the gripes are so... Hollow you know? Like saying you want one thing and when you get it saying you want it the way it used to be. I think Matt Wilson's critiques are very well thought out but I can't help wondering if he couldn't be spending his time better by not watching a show he dislikes (now that b.t.'s brought it up). I dunno if it's for attention, or he really wants JLU to be a good show and is trying to help but I sometimes get confused.

[Fone Bone]

Yeah, I know. It does get kind of annoying and when I go and compare some of the more recent talkbacks to the older ones it becomes very noticeable. I mean, this talkback (even though it's only some 30-odd replies long) is pretty positive, and the people who didn't like the episode presented their opinion in a very respectful manner. I think it's just the fact that JL is the show that will get the most complaints just because everyone has their own idea about what it should be. JLU in a way solved that problem, but people still complain endlessly.

The thing is, while someone like a Matt Wilson might bring up a good point, the way they present it comes off as venomous and just plain-old hateful. I mean, instead of starting the review with "the ending sucked," I prefer to start with the positive aspects and then move on to the things I didn't like. I guess Matt Wilson's behavior is comparable to myself and Teen Titans. I don't particularly like the show for the most part, but I watch it out of respect for Glen Murakami and I do stumble upon an episode I like once in awhile ("Masks," "Fractured").
Yeah, I wish people (not just Matt) would be more respectful to b.t. and company.

And I LOVE Teen Titans!:D

[shany94a]

It's one of my favorite BTAS episodes because Harley finally sticks up for herself with "Puddin". She kicks Joker in the face, bonks him in the head, and then tries to blow him away before realizing she's holding a trick gun.

The ending where he laughs, "Baby, you're the greatest!" as she squeals and takes him back has me rolling. Probably has Jackie Gleason rolling in his grave, too, but as you watch the heart-shaped fade-out, you realize J&H deserve one another!

"But what about all our friends! Ivy and Two-Face and. . . Hat-Guy and. . . Lizard-Man and. . . Puppet-Head!"

One of the best Harley eps IMO.

[Harlequinade]

[QUOTE]The ending where he laughs, "Baby, you're the greatest!" as she squeals and takes him back has me rolling. Probably has Jackie Gleason rolling in his grave, too, but as you watch the heart-shaped fade-out, you realize J&H deserve one another!

They really do deserve one another!:anime:

[Wizard]

I love this ep. I particularly enjoy Harley's song. When I first saw that sequence, I started giggling, but seeing Batman banging his head finished me off, and I laughed my head off. I always thought that those lyrics were re-done to fit the JH relationship, but I checked out that link a couple pages back, and I guess that they are real. Once Paul Dini and b.t. encountered that song, how could they not use it?

[JOKESONU]

I loved this episode as well.

It made me a Harley Nut

fav quotes, (this one I have a WAV file of and put it on my answering machine.)

"Here you Thought I was just another Bubbleheaded Blonde Bimbo, but the jokes on you, I'm not even a real blonde".


Robin: What was she before she went bonkers?
Batman: A clinical Pschiatrist
Robin: Figures


and the song was priceless. heres the lyrics from Harleys Heaven

"I never knew that our romance had ended until you poisoned my food.
And i thought it was a lark when you kicked me in the park,
but now i think it was rude.
I never knew that you and i were finished until that bottle hit my head.
So i tried to be aloof when you pushed me off the roof.
I feel our romance is dead.
Wouldn't have been so bad if you had told me that someone had taken my place.
But no, no you didn't even scold me. You just tried to disfigure my face.
You'll never know how this heart of mine is breaking.
It looks so hopeless but then...life used to be so placid,
won't you please put down that acid and say that
we're sweethearts again."

[Devils_Advocate]

Harley Quinn has become my favorite character. She is so much fun that I find myself rooting for her, not Batman.

Further, though I want Harley to go "burning bed" on the Joker, I really enjoy their chemistry. Those 2 must have the most successful relationship in the DCAU though in a pychotic sort of way.

I loved when she shot him in the end only to find out there were no bullets and the Joker treating it as a sign of affection and love. "Baby your the Greatest". Always love the old references I find in the shows that I know likely went over the kiddies' head.

D_A

[Batman Fan]

Probably one of my favorite episodes in the series. This proves you can do comedy in a dark show and it's proven wonderfully in this episode. What makes this episode successful is Harley Quinn. One of the craziest and funniest characters in the DCAU and every episode she's in just shines and this ones no exception.

It's always fun to see the hero team-up with the villan, especially someone as fun as Harley. This episode delivers great and hilarious dialogue, character interactions, animation, and action for an entertaining 22 minutes. There probably isn't a single part of this episode I don't like, from Harley singing, to the end scene with Joker flying the plane. And I couldn't stop laughing.

Basically, I can't find anything wrong with this episode!

*****

[Crow]

What happened with the bomb?

[Harper]

What happened with the bomb?
I imagine Batman ran around with it for a while looking for a proper place to dispose of it but found that all areas were occupied by innocent bystanders and little baby ducks!

jk :sweat:

Anyway, this is a ***** episode for me. Love that Harley!

[The Penguin]

Tonight at 12 midnight ET, Boomerang airs the Batman: The Animated Series episode, Harlequinade. If you do not have Boomerang, you are encouraged to follow along on disc 3 of your Batman: The Animated Series, Vol. 3 (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=141827) DVD set.


http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/episodes/harlequinade/00r.jpg
Episode #072 - Harlequinade
Original Airdate - May 23rd, 1994. - Second Season Finale

Batman and Robin form an uneasy alliance with Harley Quinn in order to learn where the Joker has hidden a stolen atomic bomb. Harley leads them on a madcap hunt through Gotham, and eventually into a deadly show-down with the Clown Prince of Crime himself. Harley is torn between her promise to help Batman and her twisted love for the Joker.

Comments?

[JLfan4life]

I love this episode! 5 stars definitely!! :D

[JSmith]

Just a great episode! For me, it's On Leather Wings, Heart of Ice and Harlequinade rounding out the top 3 all time greatest BTAS episodes. Loved the humor, loved the fueding between Harley and the Joker, and you've gotta love the song. Yeah, Bats was out of character throughout the story, being the butt of the joke and getting twitted on by Harley throughout. That was all part of the fun. I never get sick of this one. Definately one of the greats!

[SRA]

I loved this episode more for the comedy rather than the suicide! It has one of the greatest lines ever in BTAS -

HARLEY: See, do I know how Mister J thinks, or what? Ha! And here you thought I was just another bubble-headed-blonde-bimbo! Well the joke's on you, I'm not even a real blonde!

Love It!!

[Warrior Kitana]

I loved this episode as well. Harley really shined and stole the show. She's so funny and hilarious. I pretty much look forward to any episode that features her. Not to mention that she and the Joker have so much chemistry together. Harley's song was great as well. I recommend this eps for any Harley fan. :D

[Fone Bone]

After seeing this episode again, I have to admit that a lot of my criticism was unwarranted. Alex Weitzman told me in a different thread that he thought that the "figures" line was more a dig at celebrity psychologists than the mentally ill and I have to say I can buy that. Other than that the episode is really quite enjoyable. The only thing that really taints it is that I can never really fully enjoy Harley because of what she let happen in Return of the Joker but this IS still a really sweet episode. Revised grade: ***1/2.