B:TAS "Be A Clown" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

Discuss this classic Batman: The Animated Series episode!


http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/episodes/beaclown/00.jpg

Episode #009 - Be A Clown
Original Airdate - September 16th, 1992.

Mayor Hill's son feels overlooked and unloved at his own birthday party that is more a political media event than a real celebration. Meanwhile, the Joker infiltrates the party dressed as a clown in order to plant a bomb. The Mayor's son, a budding magician, becomes so enamored of the clown's tricks that he steals away in the clown's truck when the Joker leaves. When Batman tracks down the Joker to a closed amusement park, the wily villain plays on the kid's naiveté and uses him to trap the Batman.

Comments?

[JohnStewart-GL]

this episode was okay. kinda mediocre compared to the other episodes of the series.

[JTurner954]

No problems here. Joker was his usual "over the top" self and Batman was just .... well, Batman. I can see where a lot of people wouldn't like this episode since it mostly focused on the mayor's son more than anyone else. But hey, it's a Batman episode. What is there not to like about a Batman episode?? They are all good (I hope my favorite one plays soon).

[CadaverousEyes]

Nice episode, but nothing special going for it. Just Batman and Joker going through the motions. Well, they can't all be classics.

[The Penguin]

"Things would be different if only he'd come back." -Mayor Hamilton Hill, Be A Clown

I thought it was a decent episode, but not fantastic. You get to see another side of one of the series regular but not major characters in the form of Mayor Hill.
Many people in a position of power sometimes use their children, either willingly or unwillingly, to make themselves look good and Gotham's own mayor was no exception. It took a near tragedy to make him realize the error of his ways, but at least he did realize he was using Jordan, and after a scare like that, he will never do it again.

[MILatino]

Originally posted by The Penguin
I thought it was a decent episode, but not fantastic. You get to see another side of one of the series regular but not major characters in the form of Mayor Hill.

I agree with you there. I did like the touch of Bruce saving the day by play-acting dumb and "accidentally" preventing disaster at the birthday party. It's cool when Bruce is forced to juggle saving someone and keeping his skills low key at the same time.

This premis should be used more often with someone like Superman, whose powers tend to make it "too easy" to stop someone, but as Clark Kent he would have to juggle saving someone and not giving himself away. It could make for creative writing.

[TheScarecrow]

With better animation, and a removal of some of Batman's cheesy one-liners which were almost Batman & Robin worthy (except the "he always did know how to make an exit" one), this episode would've been so much better.

That "thumbs up" he gave Jordon was a little too much as well (a simple smile at the boy would've been enough).

As for the good stuff, well Joker was spot on perfect (they don't make streight jackets like they used to... I should know :D ), the plot of Hill learning how to treat his son better was really well done, as was Bruce saving those people from Joker's TNT.

Episode deserves three stars at the most.

[Mattashell]

This ep was really bad. I've never seen it before but "Now it's my deal" "Now you'll see some Bat magic" and "He always did no how to make an exit" Ugh! A villain might say things like that. Not Batman. The chase on the roller coaster. What a cliche. Batman could have just waited for them at the end. Of course there's a break in the tracks. Two stars. and that is a generous rating.

[Meow]

I didn't think this episode was really bad, but it definatly wasn't great.

I will say this, it's my least favorite Joker episode. :\

I give this episode 3 stars. It lost points with me cause of some of Batman's cheesy dialouge, and I agree with TheScarecrow ....that thumbs-up wasn't really necessary. That was a really dorky thing for Batman to do...

On a lighter note, I did like the fight scene between Batman and The Joker. That part was cool. I also liked it when Joker was looking for Jorden in the park, purposely hitting those metal bars with his cane.

All in all, I thought it was an okay episode. It would have been better without the cheesy dialouge and better animation in certain parts though.

[JTurner954]

Batman was far away from where Jordan and the mayor were hugging. Do you actually think that he can see Batman smiling from far away with the mask covering most of his face??

Batman gave the thumbs up to acknowledge his sign. Pretty obvious to me.

[Caped Crusader]

Well, there certainly wasn't anything too spectacular about this episode. The story was bad enough, but hearing Batman's cheesy lines and seeing him doing that thumbs was too much! It felt like I was watching a corny episode of the 60's Batman!

[Brainiac]

It was OK...It was no "Critters," but it was no "Heart of Ice" either. I'd have to agree with what everyone else is saying. The cheesy one-liners were pretty bad, the animation was okay, and the plot itself was pretty hackneyed. Oh well, at least we got the Joker straight-jacket line...plus, I thought the roller coaster sequence was fun, but unfortunately, didn't make up for the rest of the episode.

[The Penguin]

Tonight at 12 midnight ET Boomerang airs the Batman: The Animated Series episode, Be A Clown. This is according to the Boomerang TV schedule (http://schedule.cartoonnetwork.com/servlet/BoomerangServlet?action=selectBMDay) which we hope is correct. If you do not have Boomerang, you are encouraged to follow along on disc 2 of your Batman: The Animated Series, Vol. 1 (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=115616) DVD set.


http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/episodes/beaclown/00r.jpgEpisode #009 - Be A Clown
Original Airdate - September 16th, 1992.

Mayor Hill's son feels overlooked and unloved at his own birthday party that is more a political media event than a real celebration. Meanwhile, the Joker infiltrates the party dressed as a clown in order to plant a bomb. The Mayor's son, a budding magician, becomes so enamored of the clown's tricks that he steals away in the clown's truck when the Joker leaves. When Batman tracks down the Joker to a closed amusement park, the wily villain plays on the kid's naiveté and uses him to trap the Batman.

Comments?

The talkbacks are currently being bumped on a trial basis and will continue based on poster interest.

[Batman Fan]

This was just a pretty average, standard episode. Not too spectacular, but it has it's moments. Probably my least favorite Joker appearence.

This episode just has a pretty bland plot. The mayor's son sneaks off with Joker to learn to become a magician because he feels unwanted and Batman has to save him.

What I liked:

*The scene at Jordan's birthday party where Bruce's knocks the cake in the pool after Joker puts dynamite on it and playing it off.
*Joker had some pretty good lines "They just don't make straigh-jackets like they used to, I should know."
*The ending fight between Batman and Joker on the roller coaster was really cool, and gave a different angle on the fight scene with the rotation of the coaster, I thought it looked pretty cool.
*The general scheme of the Joker before Jordon sneaks into his van. I thought it would make for a more interesting episode seeing Joker trying to kill the mayor and to prove to him that he's more dangerous than Batman.

Disliked:

*Batman's dialogue, really corny at some parts.
*Jordon was just a boring character who I really didn't care about, and Joker trying to train him was just not what I expect from Joker.
*Animation wasn't to great.
*Basically, the whole episode was pretty much a snoozefest:yawn:

** 1/2

[Joker1238]

it was decent, Not the Joker's best, but could be the Joker's worse.

I did like the Joker useing the walking cane and taping on the bars calling out for the kid. I say that was like a top ten Joker movement lol.

[J-Ranger]

It was an alright episode, it showed Mayor Hill as a jerk in his early days. I didn't have a problem with Jordan, I wished they had a follow-up episode with him. I like the premise of the episode, definitely something very interesting if done right. Maybe Jordan could've embraced Joker's teaching a bit more before he broke away from him.

[defunctzombie]

I like this episode, but I was rather disappointed at Jetix cutting out the scene where Joker shows Jordan the sword swallowing trick. I guess showing it would make kids stick swords in their mouths. :yawn:

[CyclonatorZ]

A decisively average Joker episode, in a show that often did amazing stuff with the character. Personally, I would place this episode at least above The Last Laugh, by virtue of the fact that it gave spotlight to and developed the minor character of Mayor Hill. Without his presence, gradual chance, and the nice payoff at the end of the episode, this probably would have ranked much lower to me.

Of course, it helps that I thought Joker was a lot funnier in this episode too. I'll second his line about straightjackets as the best in the episode, but I also quite enjoyed his reaction to the mayor comparing him to Batman. :D