Plague
Episode #33 - Plague
Original Airdate - April 15th, 2000
Stalker returns, this time in the employ of the U.S. government. Batman
reluctantly joins forces with him to hunt down a criminal named False
Face, who has stolen a dangerous virus for a criminal organization known
as KOBRA.
Media by Bird Boy
Review by J.Chen, aka The Overseer |
Credits:
Written by Rich Fogel
Directed by Butch Lukic
Music by Lolita Ritmanis
Animation by Koko / Dong Yang
Voices:
Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis/Batman
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
Carl Lumbly as Stalker
Townsend Coleman as Falseface
Joe Spano as Bennet
Seth Green as Nelson Nash
Kerrigan Mahan as Kobra One
Lauren Tom as Dana Tan
Rachel Leigh Cook as Chelsea
Jeff Harlan as P.A. Announcer
Sean Donnellan as Sports Announcer
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Review
Highs: Lots of action, some good lines of dialogue, it's actually
a fair mix of old & new BB styles.
Lows: Little depth to characters, some odd plotholes.
Overall: It's style over substance but still enjoyable enough.
Nelson Nash returns from a vacation at Saint Denis, but finds an odd
glass container hidden in his bags at the Customs gate. It's confiscated
by the guard, and he goes on to greet Dana and Chelsea, and acknowledge
Terry, who's "just along for the ride". Outside, the Stalker appears out
of nowhere, and grabs Nelson, demanding that he hand over the glass
vial. Nelson directs him to the Customs man, who really isn't the man at
all--he can somehow change his face by molding it with his hands. Terry
flies in as Batman to stop the Stalker, who reveals that he's in Gotham
for another reason this time. Agent Bennett from "Zeta" shows up and
confirms this, Stalker has been extracted from prison to track down a
man named Falseface, who has stolen a powerful virus for a secret
organization called KOBRA.
Allright, this episode basically features Batman and his former enemy
cooperating to capture a common foe. There are some positives and
negatives about this episode, for me it ended up being mostly average.
First the good. Stalker is pretty much synonymous with action, so this
episode delivers plenty of it. He and Bats go a long way in search of
their target, and naturally encounter a TON of KOBRA terrorists. They
get beat up en masse throughout this episode, including one point where
Stalker chucks his spear into some guy's chest...whoa!
Also, there were some good lines of dialogue in this ep, some of which
are shown below.
(After Nelson is thrown from a building)
Girls: "Nelson! Are you okay?"
Nelson: "I could use some clean shorts."
(When Bruce and Terry speak via radio)
Terry: "I don't like it. This freak tried to hunt me down like a wild
animal. What if he goes psycho again?"
Bruce: "Right now you've got bigger problems to worry about. If you
don't find Falseface in the next hour we'll all be dead."
(When Terry and Stalker approach a KOBRA hideout)
Stalker: "You don't trust me."
Terry: "You were out to kill me, weren't you?"
Stalker: "There are worse things than an honorable death."
Terry: "Betcha it's a short list."
(After taking out a bunch of KOBRA terrorists)
Terry: "What part of 'wait here' didn't you understand?"
Stalker: "Never hesitate. In the jungle it's kill or be killed."
Terry: "This isn't the jungle (holds up body of terrorist) and THIS
isn't Falseface".
(After Terry knocks Falseface out of his Nelson disguise)
Falseface: "How did you know?"
Terry: "Not enough pimples."
(As Falseface feels the effect of the virus)
Falseface: "After all I've done for them...Kobra wouldn't. They
couldn't!"
Terry: "What did you expect from a pack of vipers?"
(After the battle)
Terry: "You risked your neck to save me."
Stalker: "It was not your time. When you die it will be by my hand and
mine alone."
Terry: "Thanks...I guess."
Unfortunately, the bad parts of this episode aren't hard to miss. First
of all, there is little depth to the characters. While Terry and
Stalker's interaction is a cautious alliance like Batman & Superman in
"World's Finest", the villains are totally two-dimensional. False Face
can change his appearance sort of like Matt Hagen/Clayface did in BTAS,
but how did he get that way? He doesn't even change that many
times...although he did look pretty freaky after Batman gave him one in
the face. KOBRA is not explored much either, they're referred to as "an
ultra-secret organization" by Bennett...they look more like a bunch of
weirdos in snakeskin suits. They are slated to return next season, so
hopefully we'll learn more about them later.
Also, there are some strange holes in the plot.
It's obvious Stalker didn't die as it seemed in "Bloodsport". Maybe he
jumped off the train tracks in time, but that doesn't explain how he was
captured and jailed prior to this episode.
Where did the virus come from? It can be assumed that there are lots of
bioweapons in the future or that KOBRA had the resources to manufacture
it, but it wouldn't have hurt to put in a brief explanation.
Falseface imitates Nelson Nash while escaping from Bats into a crowded
elevator. But he never changes clothes, that should've been an easy way
to spot him. And would the people on there not notice him peeling at his
face? He was also supposed to become virulently contagious with the
virus, so would he have infected everyone he touched in the mall? The
KOBRA man did say he would SOON become contagious so that may be the
excuse, but FF died so quickly afterwards so he's not that great of a
carrier. So the whole situation is just odd.
This episode brings a return to the earlier action-packed days of BB,
along with a techno-spy feel, although we just got a dose of that in
"Zeta". Once more the animation is a bit bright, but not as bad as
before. In fact the haze effects in the burning building at the end were
pretty cool. And I foresee more conflicts with Batman and Stalker in the
future...hopefully they'll have a deeper plot to it next time.
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