Best "Batman Beyond" Episode, Poll #5 (Final Round!)

[Bird Boy]

http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/beyond/10thanniv/boardlogo.gif

Welcome to Round #5 (Final Round!) of the Best "Batman Beyond" polls!

The winner of the polls will receive the crown of "Best" from the fans who voted. Afterwards on The World's Finest, we'll be making a website dedicated to the winner, complete with multiple reviews, details on the episode, discussion with the creative team and media.

The episodes in this round...
#5. Meltdown (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=162871) - Visual Reference and Episode Info (http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/beyond/episodes/meltdown/)
#17. Lost Soul (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=40777) - Visual Reference and Episode Info (http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/beyond/episodes/lostsoul/)
#32. The Eggbaby (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=66701) - Visual Reference and Episode Info (http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/beyond/episodes/eggbaby/)
#45. Out of the Past (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=185807) - Visual Reference and Episode Info (http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/beyond/episodes/outofthepast/)

These episodes can be found on the The Complete First Season (http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/beyond/releases/dvd/seasonone/), The Complete Second Season (http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/beyond/releases/dvd/seasontwo/), and The Complete Third Season (http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/beyond/releases/dvd/seasonthree/) DVDs.

Poll will close on February 16th at 1pm (ET).

Previous Polls
Poll #4 - Winner, "Out of the Past" (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=224285)
Poll #3 - Winner, "The Eggbaby" (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=223937)
Poll #2 - Winner, "Lost Soul" (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=223507)
Poll #1 - Winner, "Meltdown" (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=223083)

Mod Note: Please note that due to the low user turn-out, this will be the last official "Best Of" poll for the foreseeable future.

[Gold Guy]

Meltdown. That ep is classic!

[creativerealms]

This is between Meltdown and out of the past and it was close. At the end I had to vote for Meltdown, it closed the Mr. Freeze story line up very well.

[ShadowStar]

Definitely "Meltdown".

This official 10th anniversary poll was kind of brief; it makes me wish the 52 episodes had been divided into groups of 6 and 7 instead of several big clusters of 13. It would have been interesting to see which episode in the latter half of season 1 was most popular, for instance - it would have been better if 2 episodes had gone through from each season, one from each half.

[DisneyBoy]

I'm going to say it again...The Call Part One deserves a spot here over Eggbaby. You can't even really compare the two in terms of pure entertainment value. The first Justice League episode...or a somewhat cute bit with a robotic egg infant?

:shrug:

Anyways...I'm going to give this one some extra thought before voting for Out of the Past. Just to be sure.

[ABrown]

I'm going to say it again...The Call Part One deserves a spot here over Eggbaby.

Agreed, but sometimes in sports teams gets into the playoffs just because they played in a week division. And I think you could say that Eggbaby was in the weakest division.

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

Meltdown

[DisneyBoy]

Really nicely put ABrown!

[Batman]

Out of the Past is my favorite! I hope that one wins though Meltdown is really good too!

[frostedone]

Out of the Past.

Meltdown gets a close 2nd.

[Wolf Boy2]

Wow, no surprise that 2 out of 4 are direct continuations of BTAS and a third has heavy TNBA references including Bruce's old belt and Nightwing's mask.:sad:

I think Lost Soul deserves the top spot. However, I also think that it would be hillarious to vote Eggbaby in as the best episode.:D

[DisneyBoy]

Out of the Past, no question. Meltdown introduces a cool new villain and wraps up a tired old villain's arc *referring to Freeze's tired spirit*, but neither really have that much to do with our lead characters, Bruce and Terry. Sure, they disagree on Freeze's innocence...

...but that doesn't really compare, in terms of development, to them walking the "Bruce can be Batman again" tightrope present all throughout Out of the Past. It may seem that their interplay is the icing on the cake in this episode, but it's really the other way around. Talia's presence is just a bonus in a story that shows why Bruce is finally moving beyond his life-long persona, and past regrets. Terry's willingness to trust his mentor to make the right choices, not just for himself, but for them both, speaks volumes. He might not be saying much other than "there's no way I'm wearing the Robin suit"...but his silent support tells the story.

I really love some things about Meltdown...but ultimately, it's a let-down. Yet another episode that insists Freeze act out as only a mad-man would...blaming innocents for his own despair, and robbing him of the redemption the episode spent 16 minutes trying to build. We all liked Freeze because we wanted him to be happy.

Cool as that last costume might have been, it doesn't compete with the feeling of relief I think we all felt when Freeze gave that mourning man a second chance in the cemetary, and turned to Stephanie. Our hopes were dashed...

The twist in the episode I voted for made the story better, not worse, because it honoured all the characters.

Consider this when voting.

[aiwac]

Terry's willingness to trust his mentor to make the right choices, not just for himself, but for them both, speaks volumes. He might not be saying much other than "there's no way I'm wearing the Robin suit"...but his silent support tells the story.

I don't understand what you mean. What are the "right choices"? "Silent support" for what exactly?

Sorry if I sound a little anxious, but this particular ep has been weighing on my mind a lot lately...

[DisneyBoy]

Not at all. Terry doesn't ask Bruce (at least not that we see) what he'll do. He doesn't try and hash it out with his mentor. He leaves him be, takes his concerns to Max for a chat, and leaves Bruce to make his own decisions. Obviously, Terry doesn't trust Talia, but when Bruce opts to go on the plane and do it, you don't see him saying "Stop! Wait! I don't feel right about this!"

Even after Bruce does it, Terry takes his cues from him. Bruce seems to be liking it, and Terry expresses how impressed he is - not that Bruce has "cheated", even though he might be feeling that way. When Bruce changes his mind, Terry even plays devil's advocate, reminding him why he made that choice in the first place.

It's kind of like your parents standing by and smiling when you buy a pair of pants that you say you think fit nicely, and then, when you see the picture and say "ehhhh" they don't pull an "I told you so!" but rather a "Are you sure...? You seemed to like them...?"

That kind of support.

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

The reason I picked "Meltdown" over "Out of the Past" was because even though both these excellent episodes are continuations of Batman:TAS, "Meltdown" feels more like a Batman Beyond episode rather than just a lost future episode of Batman:TAS. With Meltdown, not only do you finally get closure to the tragic life of Mr. Freeze, but you get a significant story dealing with Derek Powers' transformation into Blight, who is pretty much Terry's main villian.

[DisneyBoy]

Agreed as far as Blight is concerned. But the episode is split more between him and Freeze, whereas Past is about Bruce and Terry's relationship, with a little "did you know?" thrown in there.

Besides, which episode revists more continuity from B:TAS? It's Meltdown easily. Victor's entire personal history, from the accident to Nora's passing, to his need to make amends...it's all from B:TAS.

Blight is a back-up singer here to Freeze's lead mike.

[dark knight 90]

It comes down to Meltdown and Out of the past for me... might have to give this one some thought. :sad:

[DisneyBoy]

Vote Out of the Past. There. Easy!

[dark knight 90]

Vote Out of the Past. There. Easy!

Easy there, Snippy!

Out of the Past it is!!! I would go into the reasons but, eh, its been well documented.

[DisneyBoy]

Yay! Snippy wins :p