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The Color of Revenge!
Original Airdate - May 22nd, 2009
Batman and Robin team up again, but it's not
like it always was--there was a reason Robin
left to go work on his own. As Crazy Quilt comes
after Robin for revenge, all the dirty laundry
comes out between the dynamic duo!
Written by Todd Casey
Directed by Michael Chang
Animation by
Digital eMation
Review by Andrew
Media by Warner Bros. Animation |
Cast
Deidrich Bader as Batman / Solomon Grundy
Jeremy Shada as Young Robin
Jeffrey Tambor as
Crazy Quilt / Green / Red
Sean Donnellan as
Officer / Blue
Cranford Wilson as Robin
Music
Theme Written and Performed by Andy Strumer
Music by Michael McCuisition, Lolita Ritmanis,
Kristopher Carter
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Media
Review
What’s this? A silhouette pair of unmasked heroes? A
sliding door revealing a secret passageway? Starting off
with some of the most prominent references to the Adam
West and Burt Ward days, this teaser immediately pulls
you in to enjoy the classic Batman and Robin team-up.
This time to battle the colors-obsessed villain Crazy
Quilt. Unfortunately, this is where the episode begins
it’s slow but definite downfall. Batman and Robin
exchange puns and taunts with Crazy Quilt as they have
to dodge a tank outfitted with a strange rainbow-beam
weapon that never really comes off as threatening.
Oddly, Crazy Quilt meets a blinding defeat when Robin
uses a mirror to reflect the beam back towards the
villain, and he’s overwhelmed with the light. This is
actually rather problematic, though, as we just saw the
beam bounce off a mirror surface and destroy what it was
reflected to - meaning Crazy Quilt should’ve lost more
than his sight. The teaser ends with the dynamic duo
happy as usual with their dual defeat of the maniacal
villain.
Sadly, none of that is reflected to the
rest of the episode. As it starts off with a slightly
more interesting use of Solomon Grundy than the teaser
of “Night of the Huntress!” Robin - now sole protector
of Bludhaven - responds to the police call for “big
back-up” and takes no time in defeating Grundy, all the
while sporting a rather unique and underrated costume
based on his Earth-2 appearance. Fans are quite split on
the costume design, but I find it to be one of the few
good things about this episode. After the defeat of
Grundy, Robin speeds off on his cycle and randomly goes
into an angsty narration.. Somehow despite the fun
antics in the teaser, Batman and Robin don’t see
eye-to-eye anymore. This is a well-known aspect of
Batman lore as Dick Grayson grew out of the sidekick
persona, but just comes off as ridiculously contrived
here. We’re not offered any significant context as to
why there is this divide, and really seems to depend on
your already being familiar with the story. This is an
absolutely horrible approach, as it will leave any new
audience members baffled to why the legendary Robin
seems to be a superhero manifestation of Linkin Park
tracks.
As Batman forces the pair to team up,
they go after Crazy Quilt and they’re both certain that
he is out for revenge. Now, if you’ve been following
this series closely then you’ll be left wondering why
this is such a big deal when Crazy Quilt was already on
the loose in “Day of the Knight!” As the writers have
done, however, let’s just ignore this and move on. To
counter-balance and attempt to justify Robin’s angst,
the writers have turned Batman into an utter jerk which
never comes off as wholly convincing, and simply leaves
Robin appearing to be nothing more than a spoiled brat.
Certainly not deserving of his own solo role - which he
already has, and apparently never asked Batman why he
was sent to Bludhaven.
An unfortunate
side-effect, though, as Crazy Quilt comes off as simply
an after-thought to the Boy Whiner dynamic. Despite
being voiced by the legendary Jeffrey Tambor, he never
seems of real significance, especially as his role is
simply repeated from the teaser. Combine that with the
ignored first appearance from “Day of the Knight,” and
you have a completely disappointing villain, for an
almost completely disappointing episode. I recommend
just watching the teaser.
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