Batman Beyond "Eyewitness" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Discuss this classic Batman Beyond episode.


http://worldsfinestonline.com/WF/beyond/episodes/eyewitness/03.jpg

Episode #27 - Eyewitness
Original Airdate - January 22nd, 2000.

When Gordon sees Batman kill a criminal, she vows to hunt him down.

Comments?

[Cyber E.]

I see everyone is taking their time to respond! :)

[Bleu Unicorn]

I saw this up and I had to comment.

Definitely, without-a-doubt one of my favorite Batman Beyond episode! I just love it so much. There is that nice BTAS feel of Batman not being wanted and I think this episode is quite well done. I don't particularly like that it's Barbara Gordon who's leading the whole thing, but it's understandable after you find out Spellbinder is behind it all.

I haven't watched this one in awhile (I'm going to later on now, for sure!) but it's still kind of fresh in my mind because I like it so much. I found it interesting that Bruce would tell Terry to go to the older part of Gotham, and Barbara -- having known Bruce -- correctly guesses that would be where Terry would go. The only thing I didn't like was that it seemed really easy for Terry to get away from all of those police officers. I almost think it would have worked out better if he had gotten caught, maybe add in the threat of being exposed.

Spellbinder being behind the ruse was really not a surprise to me, but that part feels rushed. Maybe it's just a minor thing, but it's true nonetheless.

Anyway, back to the parts I liked. The fight with Mad Stan -- when you are left wondering if Terry really does kill him or something -- always leaves me mesmorizied. I'm not one of those fans that wants Terry to be like Bruce, per se, but a hero almost loosing it is one of those steps that just amazes me. It's one of those controversial things that we deep-down fear about heroes, especially those with superpowers. Are they going to loose it, like Superman in "Legacy" or something? Are they really as reliable and trustworthy as we hope? This episode really showed that in Terry's character -- and I was glad that it was all an illusion, since at this point in the series I had really begun to develop a great deal of respect for Terry as Batman.

So, yeah, I really love this episode. The feeling that it was rushed a bit though has to be noted, so in the end it gets 4.5 stars -- still great imho, though!

[superfreak]

I agree this one of the better episode from B.B. I only gave four stars

[katfairy]

One of the best, IMO.

I'm a characterization geek, and this episode had plenty of that and didn't sacrifice the action to get it.

I've heard complaints from people who grouse that Terry should have run to Bruce first, not Max, but to my way of thinking that was the only sensible thing to do. Barbara knew about Bruce, not Max. Why run to a place where they know to look for you?

The botched sting operation is a classic (cliched?) rookie-error moment. To be honest, I'd be surprised to learn that these don't happen more often than we hear about. Let's face it, if your job is to take out bad guys and you see an obvious group of them doing something illegal, how often would you stop to ask yourself if they were undercover cops/agents/whatever? I think Barbara was a bit harder on Terry than she needed to be on that issue (and I suspect Bruce's lecture, which we didn't get to watch, was probably a lot harsher than normal because of Barbara's lecture to him.)

All in all, I'd say this episode showed that Barbara hasn't lost her touch, though; whether or not she was in the right, she stayed on top of things the whole way through. Bruce was also in top form, solving the mystery without ever leaving the cave, and Terry didn't overtly show any brainpower, but he sure led the cops a merry dance, didn't he?

The other main complaint I've heard about this episode is how easily Terry blows things off at the end. Actually, that's pretty well established as part of his character. Charlie Bigelow gets him in trouble and Terry welcomes him back with open arms. Charlie takes advantage of this and Terry still tries to help him over and over again. Dana is constantly giving him grief, but he keeps going back to her. And lets not forget Melanie, who actually got him to lie to both Dana AND Bruce. Basically, once Terry has decided someone is a friend (or close enough), he gives them more leeway than he really ought to. In these cases, he forgives too easily.

[Nik Jam]

Bumping this thread since it aired on Toonami today. I don't beleive this is the episode I missed that time that I really wanted to see because it brought up Wayne and Barbara's past. (That would be "A Touch of Curaré", which should air on Saturday next month anyway) But I did miss it last time. So it was great to watch.

[Pyro]

I've been going through the Batman Beyond series on my volume sets, and I found myself quite surprised with this episode.

First of all, I didn't know that this was the episode where the switch to digital coloring took place. I was aware that it happened, but not that it happened in the middle of a season (granted, it's a longer than average season). That said, the animation was still pretty good. It had some really impressive bits, however, I feel the color palette was a bit cleaner/brighter which took away a bit. On the directorial side of things, it seemed like there was a bit too much of Batman walking, which just wasn't an interesting visual.

Second of all, this episode had some good characterization, but there were some surprisingly thin plot developments. The Spellbinder reveal seemed to come out of nowhere, which kind of frustrated me. Sure, it has some basis in earlier episodes, but still it seemed really under-developed. Also, the resolution seemed too tidy. "Oops, sorry Batman!" "It's ok. Bye!"

These are just my quick first impressions. I may have missed a detail or two when watching, seeing as I was also eating a few yards away from the tv. I hope you guys don't mind me resurrecting these talkback threads as I see them for the first time.