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REVIEWS
Episode #61 - Attack of the Terrible Trio
Original Airdate - February 2nd, 2008
Three misfit college students get their hands on the Man-Bat formula,
allowing them to turn into monstrous beasts. Batman and Batgirl have to
stop them before they infect the entire campus.
Review by Stu
Media provided by Warner Bros. Animation |
Credits
Written by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by John Fang
Music by Thomas Chase Jones
Animation by Lotto Animation
Voices
Rino Romano as The Batman/Bruce Wayne
Danielle Judovits as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl
Grey Delisle as Amber
David Faustino as David
Googy Gress as Justin
Peter MacNicol as Dr. Langstrom
Rob Paulsen as Kid
Chris Pratt as Jake |
Review:
I admit to being a little curious when they announced that The
Terrible Trio would be introduced in The Batman – it’s one of the
most frequently based episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and
considering that we’ve yet to see the introduction of several of
Batman’s bigger villains or real fleshing out of the one’s already
introduced, I wasn’t sure it was the best idea to go with this far
along in the show’s run. The problem with the original Terrible Trio
was that said trio were simpering twits who reeked of arrogance and
had little else to them. The potential for something special was
there, especially if they had been portrayed as the anti-Bruce Wayne
– rich kids who use their wealth and influence for evil, petty or
personal gain instead of saving the city as Bruce vowed to – or as
Batman said himself that scum like this are worse than the Joker, he
has insanity as an excuse.
To be fair to the episode, it’s not terrible. It’s actually pretty
good but nothing outstanding, which seems to be the main problem
with this season so far. Giving the excellent standards season four
reached, it’s a bit of a disappointment to see a dip in quality,
even if it’s not a tremendous one. The biggest change was with the
trio themselves, who are not longer rich jerks, but depressed
college students – the quiet people you know but don’t ever bother
talking to, so relating the episode to Bruce Wayne is out of the
question. Robin is absent from the episode for the first time since
his debut (I won’t subject you to another carry on about how
brilliant Robin is) and Batgirl makes her most prominent appearance
of the season thus far as she knows the villains – they go to
college with her. I admit to being slightly surprised that Barbara
is old enough to go to college but it’s not something that will keep
me up at night. Given that the show isn’t trying to relate to
teenage girls anymore (thank God), there’s no reason not to age
Barbara a little.
This episode is a difficult one to review – sure, it’s better than
the original Batman episode but it’s not great, it’s not terrible,
it’s just good. There’s some good lines (Batman’s line about the
monkey being the best) the show’s usual stellar animation and a nice
ending. The show has done far worse, but it’s also done much, much
better.
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