B:TAS "Paging The Crime Doctor" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

In an effort to get talkbacks for every Batman: The Animated Series episode, Jim Harvey and I will be putting up B:TAS talkbacks throughout the summer. This will help fill the gaps and present a complete collection and archive of all animated Batman episode discussions. Talkbacks for scheduled episodes will stay remain intact. The good doctor is out and Batman has to find her...


http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/episodes/pagingcrimedoctor/00r.jpg
Episode #053 - Paging The Crime Doctor
Original Airdate - September 17th, 1993 - Second Season Finale.

Dr. Matthew Thorne, forced into losing his medical license and becoming the crime doctor by his younger brother, crime boss Rupert Thorne, must perform delicate surgery on Rupert. He can't do it alone, and kidnaps Dr. Leslie Thompkins to assist. Batman discovers Leslie's disappearance, and rushes to track her down.

Comments?

[Stu]

I liked this one. Primarily, because I like most of Batman's supporting cast, and this episode was primarily focused on Leslie Thompkins. Also, I love the gangsters of Gotham, Rupert Thorne being my favourite. However, the highlight of this episode was Bruce Waynes talk with Matthew at the end about his father.

[James]

I wasn't too keen on this. It was a little 'TV by numbers', and while it was great to see Leslie in such a pivitol role, the story that she revolved around was uninspiring and predictable.

Amazing Spidey is right, what really does make the episode is the final scene. This makes a very ordinary story rather memorable one... seeing a more human side to Bruce was touching. I don't think we ever see enough of emotional loss Bruce suffers from his parents demise. We see his lonely life, we know how the moment of death brings him pain, we know how it spurs on the vow he made to his parents. However, rarely do we see the need he has to know his parents. As people. People who he misses so much but had so little time to understand. Great ending.

[Batman]

A good episode that could've been a bit better. The highlight former was truly the ending, when Bruce wanted to talk to the doctor about his father. I always liked that sequence, becuase it showed a great part of Bruce's character.

I also like how this episode focused much more on the supporting cast, specificialy Leslie Thompson, usually an overlooked character. Not only that, but it dealt with a crucial heart surgery. Once again, this series goes where no other animated series has gone before. Quite a daring plot for a kids' show.

[Anarky]

episodes like this is what made BTAS so great
it takes a mature mind to appreciate...same goes for "It's Never Too Late", "P.O.V.", & "Appointment in Crime Alley" and other eps that didn't feature the Rogues but rather dealt w/ regular elements of crime and humanity. Eps like that would normally bore a child becuase it doesn't feature a rumble w/ the Joker, Killer Croc, Clayface, or Bane. But a teen would get the meaning and appreciate it. i did when i first saw it and i was 15 at the time.

we got a little backstory on Leslie & Thomas
i was disappointed that she didn't turn up in TNBA on tv.

[Batman]

i was disappointed that she didn't turn up in TNBA on tv.

She had a quick two second cameo in Chemistry, during the wedding scene when the camera pans past all the guests. I would've liked to have seen her in more than just sequence, though. She's a big part of Batman's mythology, and it would've been nice if her part was a bit bigger in latter episodes down the line.

[Carrieattheprom]

I just watched this on DVD this morning. It's one of the (very few) episodes I don't remember. I liked seeing Leslie, she's pretty tough, what with threating to bash out the gangsters brains with a baseball bat. I liked the ending with Bruce and Mathew too. TAS was so great to talk about regular crime cases and not just focus on the rogues.

[Duke]

This has been bugging me ever since I first saw the episode way back when.

What hospital in their right mind would ever make a surgical laser like that!? I mean, if it was really for surguries, it would be a big machine or something as a generator, with a little pen-like object spitting out a low-power laser. The thing in this episode is quite clearly military-issue.

Again, what hospital in their right mind would ever make a surgical laser like that!?

[Harley_Quinn]

episodes like this is what made BTAS so great
it takes a mature mind to appreciate...same goes for "It's Never Too Late", "P.O.V.", & "Appointment in Crime Alley" and other eps that didn't feature the Rogues but rather dealt w/ regular elements of crime and humanity. Eps like that would normally bore a child becuase it doesn't feature a rumble w/ the Joker, Killer Croc, Clayface, or Bane. But a teen would get the meaning and appreciate it. i did when i first saw it and i was 15 at the time.
I totally agree with you there. I remember seeing this episode when it aired and I was in HS and now it works even better for me. I thought it was a great Batman story from TAS

[Robin]

I liked the episode but there is one scene that really bugs me. When Leslie and Thorne are on the run, they are apparently running up a flight of stairs. Yet in the scene they move so slow, like they're running. Maybe they're supposed to be just walking but I always thought that scene looked bad.

I really like the title card for this episode, though. So creepy.

[The Penguin]

Tonight at 12 midnight ET, Boomerang aired the Batman: The Animated Series episode, Paging The Crime Doctor. If you do not have Boomerang, you are encouraged to follow along on disc 4 of your Batman: The Animated Series, Vol. 2 (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=132296) DVD set.


http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/episodes/pagingcrimedoctor/00r.jpg
Episode #053 - Paging The Crime Doctor
Original Airdate - September 17th, 1993 - Second Season Finale.

Dr. Matthew Thorne, forced into losing his medical license and becoming the crime doctor by his younger brother, crime boss Rupert Thorne, must perform delicate surgery on Rupert. He can't do it alone, and kidnaps Dr. Leslie Thompkins to assist. Batman discovers Leslie's disappearance, and rushes to track her down.

Comments?

[Revelator]

This is a very underrated, very low-key episode.
I had originally thought the same guy who voiced Phantasm and Cark Beaumont (Stacy Keach) had voiced the Doc Thorne, but that wasn't the case.
The ending of course makes the episode worth viewing. This episode was co-written by Martin Pasko, who also wrote the graveyard scene in Mask of the Phantasm. It's appropriate that two of the most poignant sequences featuring Bruce Wayne are most likely from the same writer. Aside from the Invisible Man episode, this is the only Pasko-written BTAS episode I can recall. I wish he'd done more.

[Batman Fan]

I recently watched this episode and found it much better on the second or third viewing and I really enjoyed watching it this time around.

It was great to see Leslie get some more spotlight in Batman, she's a great member of Batman's supporting cast. It was also cool to see a new character introduced that had ties to Leslie and Batman, Matt Thorne. I loved the interaction between him and Leslie, as she was really disappointed in what he was doing, and I really felt bad for him, not being able to fulfill his dream and become a doctor because he was protecting his brother Rupert. Well, at first you don't sympathize with him, but just when you think he's about to kill Leslie, he turns the tables and actually saves her, and that was a great scene that had me on edge. And the ending was fantastic, scenes like that are what define B:TAS and seperate it from any other cartoon. It also seperates it from TNBA, because we never say that side of Bruce after B:TAS, his more sensitive and emotional who only wants to know what his parents were like.

Animation was ok, nothing too spectacular, but it was interesting seeing Batman fight under his condition, and almost being taken down by one person, added more suspense to the episode.

Anyways, a previously overlooked episode by me, but it's really grown on me and earned it's place as a good episode in my eyes.

****

[Yojimbo]

I must agree with Revelator that this is an underrated episode. We get some nice character development for Leslie Thompkins, an enrichment of Rupert Thorne, one of the thugs from "The Forgotten" and a beautiful final scene between Bruce and Matt. It really is a wonderful episode, and some might feel that it's just another ploy to grab at our emotions, but it really is a heartfelt episode. It reminds me very much of "Appointment in Crime Alley," which is another underrated episode.

The animation is a bit clunky, but at this point in the series, Dong Yang was beginning to make strides towards the nicer work they did for TAOB&R.
I think most fans hated the non-supervillain episodes but the reason I liked them was they played more on the emotions of Bruce Wayne/ Batman (in "the forgotten" missing his parents moment, "appointment in crime alley" Stromwell discovering his son in rehab and reconciling with his brother and in this episode with Bruce and Matt at the end).

These episodes were nice interludes that focused more on emotion than Batman solving a case. Mask of the Phantasm was a good mix of both but it was a longer production.

[JSmith]

Truly a horrible episode. I'm a big fan of the non-supervillain stories, but this one was just awful. The overacting and ridiculous dialogue were just too much. One viewing is one too many for this stinkbomb. Deservedly ranked among the worst Batman episodes of all time. You want good non-supervillain stuff, check out It's Never Too Late, Appt In Crime Alley, POV or See No Evil but stay away from this thing. Could very well be among the top 10 worst episodes of all time.

[Road to Gotham]

Very Enjoyable Epiosde.
Good interaction between all the characters.
Always like the Crime Doctor in the comic books. And He was handle well here.

THUMBS UP!!!.

:D

[Caswin]

You want good non-supervillain stuff, check (Snip)See No Evil (Snip)The crazy dude in the invisibility suit doesn't qualify as a supervillain?

But anyway, I have mixed feelings about this episode. Most, however, are good. To get the bad out of the way, the whole thing never really grabbed me for some reason, and that chase on the rooftop? I understand it's standard for machine guns to miss major characters, and it was dark, but when she stands up and hesitates like that and the guy keeps missing, it seemed just a little too out there (not unlike the glitchy countdowns of Dreams in Darkness).

Ah, but on to what makes this episode good. Most importantly, we get some much-needed character development. Some is for Bruce, obviously, but also and probably more importantly on Leslie Tompkins and the Thornes. This episode actually made me almost feel sorry for Rupert for a moment. Just a moment. Still a neat trick. Or maybe it was just a cheap shot by the old drama standbys and I've made myself too easily impressed by even the slightest emotional scene.

On a less brain-thinky note, I perfectly understand the criticism about the laser, but I didn't really think about the implausibility at the time. I did notice it was never used for its intended purpose, and it did seem a little small, but foremost in my mind was "DUDE! LASER! :eek:" It's funny, on JLU or even Superman it would've seemed downright mundane, but when you've gotten used to machine gun fire for fifty-odd episodes...

4/5