Russkafin
05-30-2003, 12:35 AM
I just got the new Batman: Tales of the Dark Knight DVD today for my birthday, and popped it in the ol' DVD player. I watched The Underdwellers, even though I remembered it as being an episode I would usually turn off when it came on TV back in the day, because I didn't really like it.
In retrospect, it was a lot better than I remembered.
It certainly wasn't the best BTAS had to offer... far from it, actually. But, there were a few highlights.
The Bruce/Alfred interaction. Alfred: "Perhaps you need a vacation, sir? Golf?" Bruce: "Sounds boring." Alfred: "The bahamas?" Bruce: "Hot and boring." By the time we got to TNBA, we lost those fun little interactions between Bruce and his butler in the Batcave.
Then, the whole sequence with Alfred and the kid, where the kid is stealing the silverware and sliding down the stairs, and Alfred is chasing him around. That was priceless! Alfred was a real gem on this show, man, and Zimbalist Jr.'s voice was dead-on. He was a man who'd seen it all and yet was still being put through the wringer, and he was a riot all the while. His sarcasm, his sense of timing... I freaking love Alfred.
Last but not least, the best part is when Batman freaking loses it in the sewer and starts ringing that bell like crazy, and breaks it! Batman almost flipped his lid when he saw how those kids were being treated. And then, when he pulls the sewer king from the train tracks? "I don't decide your fate, that's up to the courts... but this time, I am sorely tempted to do the job myself!" How many other times do you remember Batman basically saying he wanted to kill someone????
The Underdwellers... a masterpiece? No. But it was way better than I had remembered, and I was glad to revisit an old BTAS episode that I had almost let slip by me.
In retrospect, it was a lot better than I remembered.
It certainly wasn't the best BTAS had to offer... far from it, actually. But, there were a few highlights.
The Bruce/Alfred interaction. Alfred: "Perhaps you need a vacation, sir? Golf?" Bruce: "Sounds boring." Alfred: "The bahamas?" Bruce: "Hot and boring." By the time we got to TNBA, we lost those fun little interactions between Bruce and his butler in the Batcave.
Then, the whole sequence with Alfred and the kid, where the kid is stealing the silverware and sliding down the stairs, and Alfred is chasing him around. That was priceless! Alfred was a real gem on this show, man, and Zimbalist Jr.'s voice was dead-on. He was a man who'd seen it all and yet was still being put through the wringer, and he was a riot all the while. His sarcasm, his sense of timing... I freaking love Alfred.
Last but not least, the best part is when Batman freaking loses it in the sewer and starts ringing that bell like crazy, and breaks it! Batman almost flipped his lid when he saw how those kids were being treated. And then, when he pulls the sewer king from the train tracks? "I don't decide your fate, that's up to the courts... but this time, I am sorely tempted to do the job myself!" How many other times do you remember Batman basically saying he wanted to kill someone????
The Underdwellers... a masterpiece? No. But it was way better than I had remembered, and I was glad to revisit an old BTAS episode that I had almost let slip by me.