Batman: The Brave and The Bold "Menace of the Madniks!" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

An all-new Batman: The Brave And The Bold episode debuts tonight at 7:00pm (ET) on Cartoon Network!


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Batman: The Brave and The Bold
"Menace of the Madniks!"
Original Airdate - October 15th, 2010
Booster Gold misses his late best bud, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), but when he travels back in time to hang with him, he throws the present into chaos and Batman must travel back with him to fix the mistakes and get one last adventure in with the hero before he passes on.

Comments?

[EHH123]

Haunted tank... I love it!

[jph139]

Not a bad episode. TBATB definitely strikes a good balance with Blue Beetle - they use Jaime, but with so much time travel and homage, using Ted Kord isn't much of a stretch. So, that's the highlight, along with Booster Gold, who's always a joy.

And HAUNTED TANK. Man, fantastic. One of my favorite comic book characters done quite a bit of justice. Loved the Dukes of Hazard style bridge jump, too. :D

[c@rt00nguy26]

This was a good and heartwarming episode. Great interaction between the characters. I liked that Batman's and Booster Gold's friendship with the Blue Beetle got them to work together http://www.toonzone.net/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

[theRedDeath]

The opening with Haunted Tank was INSANE!

The episode itself was really cool too, and I enjoyed seeing Blue Beetle and Booster Gold as "fun friends" rather than "work friends" I thought that idea was pretty neat.

The ending with past-Batman and Blue Beetle makes me think they're going to do more with the character. Like have Beetle figure out that Batman and Booster were from the future, predict his own death, and prepare for it.

So the next time we see him, it's revealed he didn't really die, just allowed people to THINK he died for two years, so that they could go back in-time and inadvertently warn him of his death.

It's an idea.

---

[veemonjosh]

Wait, wouldn't there now be TWO Batmen running around? The one from the normal timeline and the one from the future that the Madniks destroyed?...My head hurts when time travel leads to situations like this.

The opener was so absurd that it was awesome. HAUNTED TANK indeed. :D

[M.O.D.O.K.]

In one of the most insane teasers I have ever seen, Batman teams up with the ghost of Jeb Hunter, who drives around as the Haunted Tank, in order to take down the nefarious mobster Mabel Mhurder/Ma Murder. I know the Haunted Tank has showed up in the spin-off comic, taking down the Key in a very subtle, quiet way. This, however, is a destructive, loud, insane, action-packed team-up, with a very unsubtle reference to the Dukes of Hazzard. Needless to say, I loved it!

In today's main adventure, after helping an annoyed Batman take down the Madniks, Booster Gold starts to miss his dead friend Ted Kord, the former Blue Beetle. He travels back in time to get closure and capture the Madniks, but instead causes them to gain powers, and destroy Hub City in the present day. Present day Batman and Booster travel again to the past to help their "best friend" Ted take the villains down, now turned into giant, power-absorbing monsters. Batman and Booster work together to help their friend and defeat the monsters. The duo say their final farewells before Ted's last mission, while avoiding any contradictions, and return to the present, more comfortable with the death of Ted.

I liked this, maybe a bit more than last week's. Again, death seems to be a recurring theme (helped by Cartoon Network's scheduling stupidity :p) in the last few episodes. But while B'wana Beast and the Doom Patrol died heroically, and the Flash (Barry Allen) came back from the "dead", this time, time travel is used to explore the last moments of Ted. I liked the fact that it dealt with the impact of his death without becoming grim and dark. It brings a refreshing from all the darkness of the last few weeks, and it works a bit better than last week's. The angle of Batman and Booster being both the best friends of Batman was interesting, and made for some good chemistry.

I also commend this episode for its use of time travel. Usually, it would have been used to prevent Booster Gold from messing with the past in the first place, but instead was used a bit after. Not only is it different, but it also prevents confusion.

Overall, I liked it. Probably a bit better than last week's to me.

5/5

NEXT WEEK: From one of Bat-Mite's secret Bat-files, an earlier adventure depicting Batman and his rainbow costume, as he helps Robin fight Firefly and his Rainbow Creature. Then, Bat-Mite, wanting to see Batman and Joker fight, is tricked by the Clown Prince of Crime to give him his powers. Joker then uses his powers to warp reality to his own twisted version, making himself emperor, and realizing his true goal: kill Batman once and for all.

[cuzin34]

pretty good episode. haunted tank ftw.

[Silverstar]

I'm only sorry that Beetle and Booster didn't go "BWA-HA-HAAA!" at any point.

[HEATXZ]

Great episode :anime:
Great to see Haunted Tank first time animated also great to have Booster Gold and Ted Kord Blue Beetle together

[Edward15]

You know, there just might be hope for Booster after all.

[Yojimbo]

Haunted Tank and Jeb Stuart were awesome and the Dukes of Hazzard homage was just icing on the cake. Plowing through everything and the Yankee line, :D

Booster was enjoyable as always, "It only hurts...when I do anything at all." lolz.

Neat tiny Bludhaven reference.

Thought it was pretty cool that it appears the one thing that changed was Jaime Reyes now owns the spare Bug instead of the primary. I think. :confused:

[M.O.D.O.K.]

Thought it was pretty cool that it appears the one thing that changed was Jaime Reyes now owns the spare Bug instead of the primary. I think. :confused:

Technically, it was always the spare Bug. This would be an example of a comic book ret-con.

[Yojimbo]

Technically, it was always the spare Bug. This would be an example of a comic book ret-con.Yeah, that's true, haha! Ahhh, time travel.

[Radical]

Awesome/funny episode,

The highlights:
Ma Murder is so my least favorite, Babyface was more better though.
General James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart and the Haunted Tank were awesome.
The Dukes Of Hazzard style bridge jump reference was sweet.
I love the Madniks(who're the Madmen with a cool new name) which they're interesting with cool multi-colored costume designs:D.
Yaaay, it's always great to see the funny Booster Gold/Skeets along with his best funny lines.
The return of the flashback of Ted's death was so sad.
Cool to see the return of Blue Beetle(Ted Kord), he's awesome.
Booster/Ted's friendship/teamwork was sweet.
Poor Booster Gold accidently puts the present day into chaos.
Ted's shocked surprised look/response to Batman/Booster Gold was :lol: funny, hahahaha.
Booster Gold's "I ride shotgun" line was hilarious, hahahaha.
The Madniks are cool as giant energy monsters.
Poor Booster Gold almost spill the beans in front of Batman, hahahaha:p:D.
Batman/Booster Gold's teamwork on stopping the Madniks was epic!!!!!
Ted mentioning his evil Uncle Jarvis was great.

[Yojimbo]

Forgot to mention that Ted Kord's flight pads from the comics, loosely based on Mr. Miracle's, make a cameo in the episode, too. :cool:

[Otaku-sempai]

First, I'll cop to being annoyed with Cartoon Network's rescheduling of "The Mask of Matches Malone!". Now I'm worried that the episode will be bowdlerized before it is allowed to air.

I guess that I'm one of the few who were not utterly charmed by the opening sequence with the Haunted Tank. I guess that the idea of the possessed mecha taking on Gotham City thugs was just too "out there" for me. I liked the Booster Gold/Blue Beetle story fine, but I would also have liked to see one or two more references to their previous comic-book adventures.

[Yojimbo]

First, I'll cop to being annoyed with Cartoon Network's rescheduling of "The Mask of Matches Malone!". Now I'm worried that the episode will be bowdlerized before it is allowed to air.From what's been said, the edit will be hardly recognizable. We'll see..


I liked the Booster Gold/Blue Beetle story fine, but I would also have liked to see one or two more references to their previous comic-book adventuresYeah, I agree with that. But the bit about Blue Beetle asking about his loan was priceless. Was the Bludhaven line an actual reference to a comic book story?

[90'sCartoonMan]

I like the idea of using time travel to give us a new Ted Kord adventure, but honestly, on the whole, I thought this was just an average episode (maybe because the villains weren't that interesting...well, they were when they were talking about society and all that, but then they turned into monsters).

I do love Ted, though. Subtext aside (seriously, this was pretty much a love triangle), it was good to see Batman and Booster bond over their friend at the end of the episode.

Minor nitpick...we see Batman grappling away and then when we see him again he's using his rockets.


TBATB definitely strikes a good balance with Blue Beetle - they use Jaime, but with so much time travel and homage, using Ted Kord isn't much of a stretch.

This show does an amazing job of bringing together multiple generations of heroes and heroes from the past and future!


The ending with past-Batman and Blue Beetle makes me think they're going to do more with the character. Like have Beetle figure out that Batman and Booster were from the future, predict his own death, and prepare for it.

I was wondering that too.


Wait, wouldn't there now be TWO Batmen running around? The one from the normal timeline and the one from the future that the Madniks destroyed?...My head hurts when time travel leads to situations like this.

I'm thinking in the "corrected" timeline, Booster shows up on a normal night, grabs Batman, and goes through the motions, so that when Batman returns, it's after he already left. Things from Batman's point of view would be different, but not Booster's, since he seems to be immune from any time ripples (as hinted at in "The Siege of Starro").

[PeppeRaskell1]

NEXT WEEK: From one of Bat-Mite's secret Bat-files, an earlier adventure depicting Batman and his rainbow costume, as he helps Robin fight Firefly and his Rainbow Creature. Then, Bat-Mite, wanting to see Batman and Joker fight, is tricked by the Clown Prince of Crime to give him his powers. Joker then uses his powers to warp reality to his own twisted version, making himself emperor, and realizing his true goal: kill Batman once and for all.

I was wondering if we were going to see Bat-Mite again.:anime:

[RoyalRubble]

The teaser with Haunted Tank was awesome. :D
The rest of the episode was good but the only parts that I enjoyed the most were when both Batman and Booster Gold admit Ted Kord was their best friend.

[Dudley]

I dunno. I like the Doom Patrol episode from last week more. It had more action.
Then again, I never liked Booster Gold that much.

[Mesousa]

I haven't posted thoughts on this one? Whoops.

It was meh. It felt way too similar to the Flash episode (only with Booster Gold), only that instead of suddenly revealing he was alive the whole time, they just let him dead pretty much.

The Haunted Tank cold opening pretty much overshadows this whole thing, too. Why couldn't they make a whole episode out of that?


First, I'll cop to being annoyed with Cartoon Network's rescheduling of "The Mask of Matches Malone!". Now I'm worried that the episode will be bowdlerized before it is allowed to air.

This is the same channel that will possibly have 5 consecutive PG-rated shows on Mondays (when Robotomy comes). What could make that episode really bad from the rest of this series?

[B-kun]

Without linking, rhe "Birds of Prey" song in the episode features some... euphemism-tastic lyrics mostly related to how certain heroes perform. It's really pretty cute and funny and it's not overtly blatant, but ... :/

[Crash]

I'm only sorry that Beetle and Booster didn't go "BWA-HA-HAAA!" at any point.

Same here. I mean, for a show this goofy, this show is portraying Ted as remarkably serious! And from the way Batman said his 'Fighting crime is fun' line, you could almost think that Blue Beetle was the more serious guy in that team-up... Bizzare.....

[maczero]

Same here. I mean, for a show this goofy, this show is portraying Ted as remarkably serious! And from the way Batman said his 'Fighting crime is fun' line, you could almost think that Blue Beetle was the more serious guy in that team-up... Bizzare.....I took it to mean that Ted views crimefighting as work and has a life outside of being the Blue Beetle. Batman's life is fighting crime so I'm guessing it's probably the closest thing to fun that he has.

[ShadowStar]

Same here. I mean, for a show this goofy, this show is portraying Ted as remarkably serious!

Well, unsurprisingly considering who's working on it, this show does have a bit of a Legion of Super Heroes season 1 vibe (only without the Teen Titans-esque angle). It picks and chooses whether it wants to be goofy or serious, but unlike other recent DC animated series', there's usually (mildly) campy music to separate it from the other shows in tone.

Haven't seen this episode yet but given the premise behind it, I hope it's an emotional one.

[Dorko]

I quite enjoyed the fact this episode took inspiration from the current Booster Gold comic series. The whole plot seemed to be based on the second storyline. Overall, a very fine episode.

Also, being in the midst of the 1980s Blue Beetle series, I can say that Ted being a more serious hero is bag on. As much as i love the JLI comics...I have to say that I prefer the more serious takes on Blue Beetle and Booster Gold I've read.

[Road to Gotham]

Like most people here I thought the opener with The Haunted Tank was
Wicked-Fun.

Probably never happen but I have loved to have seen the Haunted Tank
in its original time period, World War II.

[Livy1213]

Question on the tank: Was is suppose to be WWII or American Civil War? If the latter, then the historian in me can only shake her head in dismay.

Does anyone know who voiced Ted Kord? He sounded really familiar.

[Kryten]

Question on the tank: Was is suppose to be WWII or American Civil War? If the latter, then the historian in me can only shake her head in dismay.

Does anyone know who voiced Ted Kord? He sounded really familiar.

It's a World War II tank posessed by the ghost of a Civil War general. You know... just your average thing.

I believe that's Wil Wheaton (yes, Wesley) as Ted.

[D.Shaffer]

Stuart is possessing (or was originally, anyways) an M3 Stuart light tank. It's a WWII era tank. (See what they did there? :anime:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Tank

[Livy1213]

Ah, I see. Very clever. Do they ever explain why his ghost waited over 80 years just to haunt a tank?

Anyway... As for Ted, I don't know a thing about the character (all I know is from this show) and for some reason I was expecting him to be more like Batman and was surprise at how easy going he turned out to be. Wil Wheaton was great. I thought he came off as kind of the in-between of Booster Gold and Batman (more serious about crime fighting than Booster but still willing to have fun unlike Batman). It makes me sad that he's dead because I would have liked him on the show more.

[Yojimbo]

Ah, I see. Very clever. Do they ever explain why his ghost waited over 80 years just to haunt a tank?Stuart's descendant was assigned to the tank in WWII. The ghost of Alexander the Great assigned J.E.B. Stuart to watch over him and the M3 Stuart Tank. J.E.B. was against it at first but took a liking eventually.

EDIT: And for anyone left wondering, Krebs is the leader of the Madniks in this episode. Ben Jones confirms (http://www.formspring.me/IdiotStyle/q/1362792012).

[ShadowStar]

Hang on, the Batman who returned to the present day with Booster at the end of the episode was the Batman from the warped timeline! Does that mean that Batman is now completely out of sync with events that have taken place in the last two years of his timeline?! :confused:

[adoptedBatpuppy]

Alright, Booster Gold and Batman clash with each other. It was great to see original Blue Beetle though! Did not like the fact that Madniks were animated to look like a bunch of Jokerz from Batman Beyond! Way to come up with something original!

[ShadowStar]

Batman criticising Blue Beetle for choosing to be friends with Booster was immature... I mean, it's not like Batman made a big deal of it; he simply expressed surprise at the idea, which is fair enough. Then again, it opened a can of worms as it led Blue Beetle to remark on how "he knew they wouldn't get along" (or something like that), which made the conflict between the protagonists feel childish. That aside (and the confusion with the time travel), it's a fine episode, no doubt. I liked how it didn't succumb to silliness and simply focused on Batman and Booster getting in one last mission with their friend.

[M.O.D.O.K.]

Batman criticising Blue Beetle for choosing to be friends with Booster was immature... I mean, it's not like Batman made a big deal of it; he simply expressed surprise at the idea, which is fair enough. Then again, it opened a can of worms as it led Blue Beetle to remark on how "he knew they wouldn't get along" (or something like that), which made the conflict between the protagonists feel childish. That aside (and the confusion with the time travel), it's a fine episode, no doubt. I liked how it didn't succumb to silliness and simply focused on Batman and Booster getting in one last mission with their friend.

I think that was for intentional humor. I saw it as Batman thinking that Blue Beetle "cheated" on him with Booster, and considering how immature Carter can be, he probably got a little jealous. It kinda humanizes him and shows that even Batman can be wrong sometimes.

[Yojimbo]

Alright, Booster Gold and Batman clash with each other. It was great to see original Blue Beetle though! Did not like the fact that Madniks were animated to look like a bunch of Jokerz from Batman Beyond! Way to come up with something original!The Madniks (the Madmen in the comics) predate the Jokerz by 32 years so its more like the other way around, imo. ;)

[adoptedBatpuppy]

The Madniks (the Madmen in the comics) predate the Jokerz by 32 years so its more like the other way around, imo. ;)

Okay, but another thing I forgot to mention that the time travel thing on the episode confused me and Batman's explanations of it to Booster Gold left me even more confused. It was an ok episode some parts of it where enjoyable, just not great...
I sure hope they bring Paul Dini back to write another episode or two! :cool:

[ShadowStar]

Okay, but another thing I forgot to mention that the time travel thing on the episode confused me and Batman's explanations of it to Booster Gold left me even more confused. It was an ok episode some parts of it where enjoyable, just not great...

Yeah, it felt like they were trying to persuade the viewer to just accept that they were doing their own spin on the time travel business, and not to worry too much about it. I was very happy with the episode otherwise. Finally, a good use for Booster Gold! I didn't like him in JLU or "Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!" and felt that they should've picked someone else for the last chance saloon team in "The Siege of Starro! Part One", though I suppose he fit the part for that episode.


I sure hope they bring Paul Dini back to write another episode or two! :cool:

You (or I, rather) won't have to wait long... :evil:

[M.O.D.O.K.]

I didn't like him in JLU or "Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!" and felt that they should've picked someone else for the last chance saloon team in "The Siege of Starro! Part One", though I suppose he fit the part for that episode.

I disagree. If anything, I thought Booster Gold redeemed himself in the Starro two-parter. He actually wasn't too publicity hungry, gave an honest effort to stop the invasion, and even showed some leadership skills with the other heroes.