The Batman "The Big Heat" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

We go from ice to fire on The Batman, when our young hero takes on Firefly at 10:30 a.m. ET on Kids' WB!

The Batman #7 - The Big Heat
Original Airdate - November 13th, 2004

Things get hotter in Gotham when Firefly burns his way into town and causes trouble for The Batman. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne has to find time to convince family friend Mayor Grange and the Gotham City Council to allow him to continue his father's charity work.

Comments?

[prophet]

Jim Gordon finally appears.

[The Penguin]

Jim Gordon finally appears.

That's Mayor Grange.

[Rabi~en~Rose]

Batman: working late?
Firefly: same as you Batman


it SO stinks not seeing Batman feared at all

[prophet]

That's Mayor Grange.

oops, my bad.

[Deadly Messiah]

Was Firefly in the comics, or was he BTAS only?

Anyway, at least this episode isn't as bad as last weeks.

[Rabi~en~Rose]

much better then last weeks fiasco and this Firefly was better then B:TAS Firefly in all ways which really makes him the opposite of Mr Freeze. Batman showed off some nice defensive fighting at the end there so I'd call that the highlight of the episode

also it took me long enough but I cracked The Batmans code! the episodes always go like Batman meets villilan and loses/draws then something happens in Bruces life then Batman rematches the villian and wins usually after some long fancy chase sequence then just a little more of happy Bruce at the end

[Eddie G.]

Batman: working late?
Firefly: same as you Batman


it SO stinks not seeing Batman feared at all

But that was more or less the idea of this episode, Firefly wasn't afriad of Bats or anyone. Anyway pretty cool, for the most part. I thought the flight battle scenes were pretty nice but I was expecting more. Anyway nice episode, great to hear Mr. West.

[Phantasm]

uh...BATMAN DOESN'T FLY!!!!!!!!


Such a terrible episode...though the 'tie' part was cute...but that's a problem too coz batman is NOT cute!

[The Penguin]

uh...BATMAN DOESN'T FLY!!!!!!!!

I could fly with jetpack.

[Style]

much better then last weeks fiasco and this Firefly was better then B:TAS Firefly in all ways which really makes him the opposite of Mr Freeze. Batman showed off some nice defensive fighting at the end there so I'd call that the highlight of the episode

also it took me long enough but I cracked The Batmans code! the episodes always go like Batman meets villilan and loses/draws then something happens in Bruces life then Batman rematches the villian and wins usually after some long fancy chase sequence then just a little more of happy Bruce at the end

It hearkens back to an old Batman formula from the comics: In the story, Batman must face the villain three times, and lose the first time, come to a draw the second time, and finally triumph the third time. You can layer in other story as needed. In fact, this basic formula has been at work in most superhero fiction for decades, and pops up in the DCAU and Spiderman 2 as well.

A much better episode than we've had lately. Maybe the best written episode yet. It's gratifying, because while I thought the first 3or4 were improving, the last two were disappointing. Know we have a villain who, while just being a criminal, did have an intriguing motive that intersected with Bruce's public works. And it's great to see Bruce fighting so hard for something he believes in. And Adam West was actually used well, it wasn't just shameless mugging for a cameo, thank god.

It was a little disconcerting to see Batman flying so much, but my rule of thumb is that if the DCAU did it, I'll let it slide in Batman. TNBA had that jet pack that annoyed the hell out of me, so I geuss I can live with it in the Batman, even if it still annoys me. (Same thing with the Batbot: I let it slide because old man Wayne used a Batbot Beyond once too. )

Very good episode.

[Eddie G.]

uh...BATMAN DOESN'T FLY!!!!!!!!

Except in Batman: Year One and on TNBA/B:TAS. But no one counts those versions of Batmans as important or definitive.

[Style]

uh...BATMAN DOESN'T FLY!!!!!!!!


Such a terrible episode...though the 'tie' part was cute...but that's a problem too coz batman is NOT cute!

Maybe you missed TNBA, but he sure did a lot of flying with a jet pack in that series. When Batman and Firefly were in the tunnel, I half expected Roxy Rocket and TNBA Batman to start coming from the other direction.

But yeah, the Jet pack flying always annoyed me in TNBA, but now, I guess if Bruce Timm said Batman had a jetpack, and Jeff Matsuda and Glen Murakami say he has a jet pack, I'm just gonna have to live with the fact that Batman has a jet pack...

[Phantasm]

I did miss TNBA in fact... (sigh)

But it makes me wonder...if batman had a jetpack while fighting criminals in gotham, why doesn't he have one while with the league?!It makes more sense if he did...

[Style]

I did miss TNBA in fact... (sigh)

But it makes me wonder...if batman had a jetpack while fighting criminals in gotham, why doesn't he have one while with the league?!It makes more sense if he did...

Hmm... Good point. Then maybe Bruce Timm did change his mind about that jet pack...

Personally, I don't mind when Batman has assisted gliding, like Terry's wing/rocket boot system or The Batman's glider/jet.

Hope you get the opportunity to see TNBA one of these days... If the Box sets reach volume four, they'll all be on that.

[Rabi~en~Rose]

But that was more or less the idea of this episode, Firefly wasn't afriad of Bats or anyone.

yeah I picked that up at the end when he was desperately trying to fight Batman. I am so clueless and always last to figure something out!

[Lunchbox]

Such a terrible episode...though the 'tie' part was cute...but that's a problem too coz batman is NOT cute!

If he's not cute, then why are you in love with him? Ugly people suck.

[DerekPowers]

Batman: working late?
Firefly: same as you Batman


it SO stinks not seeing Batman feared at all

good point. that is something this batman doesnt have going for him. maybe he needs to build a reputatin .

anyway, very good episode. i liked it very much. i loved the bruce wayne stuff, i loved adam west, i loved firefly's design. i loved the backgrounds as usual.

now, what i didnt like. i agree with those of you who are pointing out the formula that becomes apparent to the plot here. it seems 'the batman' does follow a formula, week after week. its A LOT of action, sparing on story, and VERY focused on bruce wayne/the batman (who dont seem like 2 seperate people at all, as they did in btas and tnba). the villians get little to no character development, origin, or back story, and again, the action is the focus of this show. lots of fights.

now, i am enjoying this series so far, so its not so bad that theyve choosen that route, but its formula is becoming apparent, and it may get stale. we'll have to wait and see. but it makes this show much less memorable than btas, because it doesnt have that emotional or character driven punch that btas had episode after episode. this show is much simpler, much more cut and dry, and much more about batman than the villians. the villians seem to just be eye-candy, window dressing if you will, and just someone for the batman to fight. not that thats such a bad thing, because like i said, i like the show, but it feels much more like a 'bruce wayne' show than a show focused on batman and his rogues gallery. his rogue's gallery dont come off as 3-dimensional, imo, their more there to give bruce something to do, and to look really cool in these new designs (which im starting to like more and more). maybe once we get some recurring villians theyll start to show more character traits.

anyway, thats my analysis thus far. and i must say, im starting to grow fond of mr. wayne and alfred, our heros in this show. they atleast are focused on enough to get some character stuff.

as far as the jet pack, it was annoying. why doesnt batman just fly all the time then? yeah, tnba used a jetpack, but here we had batman use TWO different flying devices in one show. hmmm, it was kind of questionable, since, like i said, why not use it all the time then? it seemed in tnba it wasnt used to non-chalantly or something, it was more weived into the overall fabric of the show. like, he uses it 'when in rome' in wf, he uses it against roxy rocket, i dont know, it seemed more natural. here it was just one jet pack after another.

but, it was a good episode. one of the best so far. again, the bruce wayne stuff was what made it for me, and the mayor played by adam west, and the tie thing, and the thomas wayne references, thats what made this ep for me. every time they throw in stuff like that it plays really nicely, imo, like the flashbacks so far in the show, the interactions between bruce and alfred, the character and story elements. episodes like 'bat in the belfry', where its purely about action without those little scenes, are much lower quality episodes, imo. anyway, peace.

[Phantasm]

If he's not cute, then why are you in love with him? Ugly people suck.

Cute as in 'adorable'...if that makes more sense...not 'cute' as in handsome.The Batman, HANDSOME?! Hell no!Half his face has been cut off!His nose has been broken...

[Yengwa]

Wow, a good episode for a change. Maybe this series is starting to shape up afterall.

Firefly was cool, he looked really cool too. The fights were neat. We got to see Batman being more of a detective, the villian actually had a motive, Alfred wasn't as annoying. I really can't find many flaws in the episode. Sure, I wish we could have learned more about why Firefly was working with GothCorp and where he came from. And we got some good Bruce Wayne development. This didn't turn out too bad at all. Definately one of the best episodes.