 |
Review
Strangely going back to the days of WW2, this teaser
involves Batman - in present day garb - serving
alongside the military during what seems to be D-Day. It
doesn’t really make much sense considering “The Golden
Age of Justice” pretty much told us that Batman was too
young for that, so this would require further
time-travel shenanigans. However, given that we just
recently had an episode in which Batman scorned Booster
Gold for not understanding how time travel works. While
he may be more responsible about it, it doesn’t seem in
the timeline’s best interest for him to insert himself
into an historical military event. However, with that
nitpicking over, it was a mostly enjoyable opening and
introduces us to the obscure military heroes of DC lore
Sergeant Rock and GI Robot. Unfortunately, GI Robot’s
introduction is cut short as he nearly immediately has
to sacrifice his life in order to dive on a landmine. I
understand the emotional impact they were attempting to
go for, but it doesn’t really hold up considering Red
Tornado has been destroyed 3-4 times in the show
already. We know sentient robots can be rebuilt, so… bit
of a missed intention there.
The main story for
the episode is generally okay, but continues with
ill-thought out plot points and generally just comes off
as lazy. There’s no reason given as to why Batman and
Green Arrow are going after aliens, or even why they
flee upon being released from their meteorite disguises.
It’s a minor part of the episode, but still, what in the
heck is going on? The lack of explanation continues on
as it gets into the main plot which deals with Batman
all of a sudden having a legion of robots at his
command. Although it’s not unheard of for heroes to make
robotic protectors for their occasional vacations, it
really comes way out of left field given that Batgirl
and/or Nightwing could easily handle Gotham. Not to
mention there have been occasions already shown that
have involved Batman leaving Gotham without any
requisite robotic force. The real issue I have with
this, though, is what is the point of Batman if he has a
robotic army to defend Gotham City?
Apparently
they’re the second in his fooling around with robotic
substitutes, his first being the hulking yet immature
robot named Proto, voiced by the legendary Adam West.
Although this isn’t quite as bad as the unexpected
robotic horde he’s constructed, it begs the question as
to what Red Tornado feels about his creating sentient
robotic life? It didn’t exactly go well in “Hail of the
Tornado Tyrant,” which also featured the protest of
Batman in Red Tornado’s efforts. Despite that slap in
the face to continuity, Proto is the better part of the
entire episode with obvious influence from the animated
classic The Iron Giant, but without ever coming across
as though it’s an attempt to rip it off. The teaser
oddly ties in here a bit, with Proto eventually
sacrificing himself, but not really. It seems as though
the strange twist to the teaser with GI Robot’s
sacrifice was supposed to build up to Proto’s sacrifice
and potentially make us more emotionally invested in it.
Not exactly the best way to go about that since GI
Robot’s scene fell flat.
Overall, as much as I’ve
griped about the episode it wasn’t a bad one. It was
actually pretty entertaining, especially with the
inclusion of Black Mask as the villain and his henchmen,
the False Face Society. It could have been better had
the episode not contained such ridiculous continuity
errors that had no reason to be there, but in the end I
have to say don’t pass this one up.
[ Back to Reviews ]
Batman: The Brave and the Bold and related characters are property of DC Comics and WB, 2001 - Present Day.
The World's Finest and everything relating to this site - copyright,
1998 - Present Day.
Proudly hosted by toonzone and popgeeks. Contact us.
|
|
 |
|
