B:TAS "See No Evil" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Discuss this classic Batman: The Animated Series episode!


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

Episode #015 - See No Evil
Original Airdate - February 24th, 1993.

Somewhere in a middle-class suburb of Gotham, little Kimberly Ventrix is regularly visited by her imaginary playmate, "Mojo." However, the mysterious, unseen Mojo seems awfully tangible -- and vocal -- for an "imaginary" friend. At about the same time, a fortune in valuables disappears as if by magic. Batman investigates, and finds himself battling an invisible man!

Comments?

[Stu]

Liked this one more than I originally thought I would. The idea of Batman vs an Invisable man doesn't really entertain me, but I found the episode enjoyable.

It showed that Batman is not a god, and he does have difficulty fighting a villian. Its also nice to know that the writers don't hve to use supervillians to get a good story.

And that "Peekaboo" line was classic. That should have finished the fight - the next few puches where anti-climatic.

*** 1/2

[TimTwoFace]

I thought this was a great episode on many levels. The animation was great, as was the voice work and the score. What I really enjoyed was that there wasn't a crazy-pants supervillain in this episode to take away from the true meat of the story: seperated parents, and a father's vindiction to have his daughter all for himself. If you took Batman and the Invisible Man aspect out of the episode, it would be just like any other mature drama out on TV in prime time; put those two "comic booky" characters in the story rooted it in a land of fantasy, yet all the emotions felt were real. And that sells the episode.

***1/2

-Tim

[TheScarecrow]

Saw this episode a few moments ago, and I agree very much that it rocks.

Solid use of the invisible gimmick here from the creative team. The villain is very threatening and creepy, and the episode centered around an emotional and very relatable concept of the obsessed and empty husband/father who cost himself his family with his actions, as apposed to just having him use the invisible suit to rob banks and just focusing on Batman stoping him, as other cartoons probably would've done, showcasing just why this series was so groundbreaking and departed from the typical saturday morning cartoon.

****1/2 from me.

Boy, am I glad I bought this four disc DVD set today. Bring on Volume Two! :D

[Mynd Hed]

A great episode-- they had every excuse to turn the invisible guy into yet another wacky raving Joker-esque lunatic, what with the plastic that causes insanity, but when they instead just made him obsessive in the more conventional sense that we'd expect to see in the real world, it kept the episode grounded in reality and heightened the drama. This was a man who wants what any of us would want in his shoes-- he just wants it too much and in the wrong way.
The animation was spectacular, one of the highlights of the series in my opinion, and the voice work and score were up to the normal high standards the series had set by this point.
My enjoyment was only slightly tinctured by some logical errors regarding the way the invisibility plastic works-- sometimes it seems to work like a Harry-Potter-esque invisibility cloak, only rendering an object that it is covering up invisible, but then other times it seems to have the mysterious unexplained ability to render other objects that it is only in physical contact with (the briefcase, the car) invisible. You can explain it away with enough imagination-- "Oh, the briefcase was made of the invisibility plastic. Oh, he covered his car with invisibility plastic in advance, just in case."-- but it would've been nice if it had been more thoroughly explained.
I'm willing to forgive a minor plot hole or two for the sake of some great animated sequences and a good emotional story, though-- as Jim said, the invisible car sequence is one of the best scenes in the entire series, and the piece of incidental comic relief ("He can fly, too?") was a nice brief release of tension in an otherwise dark episode.

[JusticeLeagueLegion]

Being a fan of H.G. Wells you can't help but fall in love with this episode. It's really a horrifing episode when you think about it. How do you think you would feel if there was someone stalking your daughter that you couldn't see?

[Carrieattheprom]

A reviewer mentioned that Batman beating on Ventris was kinda brutal. There was a reason for that. Ventris was trying to hurt a little kid. You don't mess with kids when Batman's around. It really makes him.........grumpy. You saw the same thing in the Underdewellers. When it looks like S.K. has been eaten by the crocs Batman goes, "a gruesome end for a gruesome man." Batman really cares about kids. That's why he took in Dick Grayson,(in the comics) Jason Todd, and (in the cartoon) Tim Drake.


I enjoyed this episode a lot. My favorite part is when the gaurd is trying to get into the locked bathroom then Batman throws open the door smashing the dude right in the face!(ouch)

[Crow]

Interesting to note the Buckingham Palace intruder dressed as Batman this year was campaigning for people just like Ventris, eh?

[The Penguin]

Tonight at 12 midnight ET, Boomerang airs the Batman: The Animated Series episode, See No Evil. If you do not have Boomerang, you are encouraged to follow along on disc 3 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/seenoevil/00r.jpg
Episode #015 - See No Evil
Original Airdate - February 24th, 1993.

Somewhere in a middle-class suburb of Gotham, little Kimberly Ventrix is regularly visited by her imaginary playmate, "Mojo." However, the mysterious, unseen Mojo seems awfully tangible -- and vocal -- for an "imaginary" friend. At about the same time, a fortune in valuables disappears as if by magic. Batman investigates, and finds himself battling an invisible man!

Comments?

[JSmith]

This is a highly underappreciated 5 star episode. Beautifully animated with layouts by Spectrum, wonderfully acted, skillfully written. A fantastic story concerning a father trying to override a court's custody ruling. This is what makes Batman so great. He is not so high and mighty that the little cases don't concern him. He'll kick the tail of this overzealous father and then head over to Asia and tangle with Ra's to stop his latest scheme to try and take over the world. Just fantastic stuff and I would hope that as they got older more fans would find greater appreciation for this one.

[Robin2099]

This was always one of my favorite episodes that most fans don't enjoy(this and the forgotten) and I still enjoy it. The story was very dark and mature and Ventris being the unseen evil that can kidnap a child was a great allegory to real life. It also features my favorite scene from the original series where ventris tells Kimberly that shes coming with him. Then we see Batman sillouted against the moonlight saying "Not in this lifetime pal" before swooping down on him.

[Wolf Boy2]

Actually, my favorite parts of this episode were the backgrounds, showing parts of Gotham City that were seldom seen outside this episode (the suburbs, the broken-down movie lot, a gas station, grocery store and restaurant, ect). It really made Gotham seem like a real place. The clarity of the picture and consistancy of the models was on par with TNBA.

But my absolute favorite part was the opening, that title card and creepy theme music... classic.

[Chocky]

Great to read all this love for the episode as, like others, this has always been one of my favourites. Great story, great animation and batman getting beat down by a normal guy with a sci fi gimmick was cool also!

*****

[Wonderwall]

One of my top ten BTAS episodes. Before Vol 1 came out I dont remember this episode at all, but after watching it I couldnt help but not love this episode. Very nicely animated, like the car blowing up on contact with the train. And it has one of the best gags ever with the security guard in the beginning:D , also the little girl was so cute. 5 stars.

[FightingDreamer]

"See No Evil" is definitely one of the more "grounded" episodes of Batman: TAS, with its villain who seems, apart from the wonderfully implemented invisibility cloak, startlingly familiar. I like that Ventris is neither portrayed as a child-you-know-what, nor as a "misunderstood" loving father; we recognize and perhaps even sympathize with his desire to see and hold Kimmy again, but he pursues this goal with too much anger and stubbornness to be wholly sympathetic. Michael Gross gives an excellent performance as Ventris, and it's kind of amusing to hear Jean Smart as the mom of another "Kimmy" (she voiced Ms. Possible on Kim Possible).

[dark_knight]

a solid episode that did a great job of showing up various locations around gotham.....that and it holds one of my favorite sequences of the series....The scene happens at the end when the little girl says shes just talking to batman and the cameras pans up to batman perched on the roof like some sort of demon.....its a great contrast to the fact that batman cares enough about the child that he would go back and find out that she and her mother would be ok.....the whole sequence is in tune with everything batman is.

[Ar3d]

This episode are also good but i know there will be another interested episode that will come out..

[Donomark]

This is one of my favorite episodes, mainly because of the violence it has. I just love Batman beating the crap outta Ventris at the very end. Not that I wanna see the Punisher dish out Batman villains or anything, but that always felt like something Batman would have done in the comics. The guy kidnapped his daughter, stalked his wife, and wiped Batman out by trying to run him over and kill him with a train. He needed to get his ass beat.

[Mr. Mxyzptlk]

I'd say it's one of the best episodes of the series. I think this is easily Dong Yang's best animation work other than a couple of their later B:TAS episodes. The combination of great animation, suspenseful music, and a really well-written story make this one of the true greats of the series.

4.5/5

[DerekPowers]

An enjoyable episode, and I agree with everyone who have said that it had some nice animation and visuals. It was never one of my favorite episodes, but it was a good non-villian episode, and had a memorable story.

As a kid I liked how BTAS always tried to give a believable or scientific explaination for some of the more implausable things that go on. It just gave the show a more adult or realistic vibe, and this episode does that well. Plus it has Batman doing some clever things to try and "see" Ventris.

When rewatching some of these old BTAS episodes, its really amazing how much the score stands out compared to more recent DCAU shows. The music just adds such a level of atmosphere and really helps build the drama and stuff, as this episode is an example of. It brings such an added dimension to the show. And again, this episode retains the mini-movie feel, which the score helps with.

[CyclonatorZ]

Not nearly as classic as the episode right before it, but it is still rather good and features an exciting climax. The scene that first demonstrates the invisibilty cloak's power is really well done, and the characterization of Ventress is suprisingly grounded and realistic. He may not be as flashy as a lot of Batman's freak-show villians, but he stands out to me as one of the more memorable "normal" bad guys. He's definitely preferable to the Sewer King or that crazy toy guy at the end of Beware The Grey Ghost, that's for sure. :p