Batman: The Animated Series – Episode #001 – On Leather Wings

Episode #001 – On Leather Wings
Original Airdate – September 6th, 1992 (Series debut episode)

When a horrifying bat creature terrorizes Gotham City, the authorities conclude it must be Batman and put out an all-points bulletin on  the Dark Knight. Batman’s investigation leads him to the laboratory of Kirk Langstrom, who has been experimenting with a formula that  turns him into the ManBat creature. Not only does Batman have to capture Man-Bat in order to save Langstrom, but also to set the police  straight and clear his name.

Media by James Harvey
Review by Robin III

Credits
Written by Mitch Brian
Directed by Kevin Altieri
Music by Shirley Walker
Animation Services by Spectrum Animation Studio

Voices
Kevin Conroy as Batman / Bruce Wayne
Bob Hastings as Commissioner James Gordon
Richard Moll as Harvey Dent
Lloyd Bochner as Mayor Hamilton Hill
Robert Costanzo as Detective Harvey Bullock
Clive Revill as Alfred Pennyworth
Marc Singer as Kirk Langstrom / the Man-Bat
Rene Auberjonois as Doctor March
Pat Musick as Female Lab Technician
Meredith Macrae as Francine Langstrom

Quotes

OFFICER #1: This is Gotham Air One reporting in. Things are actually quite for once.
OFFICER #2: You see that?
OFFICER #1: What?
OFFICER #2: I had a blip. It just ghosted across my screen.
OFFICER #1: I don’t see anything.
OFFICER #2: It was there. Whatever it is must be right below us.
A STREAK FLIES PAST THE BLIMP’S WINDOW.
OFFICER #2: There it is!
OFFICER #1: There what is?
OFFICER #2: It looked like– bat wings!
OFFICER #1: Bat wings? Okay. Take us up through those clouds, just incase.
THE BLIMP APPEARS ABOVE THE CLOUDS, ALONE.
OFFICER #1: Sorry kid, there’s nothing up here.
OFFICER #2: I swear I saw it! Something was flying around up here.
—
BULLOCK: I’ll find him. I just need a little help, your Honour.
HILL: What kind of help?
BULLOCK: I want my own tactical squad for the sole purpose of throwing the net over this ‘Batman’.
—
BATMAN: “Gotham police declare war on Batman”?
ALFRED: I gather you’ve been reading How to Make Friends and Influence People?
BATMAN: Somebody’s setting me up.
ALFRED: My heavens! You mean it wasn’t you tossing guards out of windows last night?
BATMAN: I only toss butlers, Alfred.
—
ALFRED: I’ll cancel Master Bruce’s rendezvous with. . . Bambi, was it, sir?
BATMAN: Yes, Alfred. Do that.
—
BULLOCK: All right, you jokers, pipe down! He’s in there! I want him by any means necessary! Commissioner, you’re just in time to see us hang this bat upside down!
GORDON: You sure he’s in there?
BULLOCK: The chopper pilots just spotted him on the fourth floor.
GORDON: Well, he can’t be two places at once. Another pharmaceutical company was just robbed across town. You’ve got the wrong suspect.
BULLOCK: What?!
—
ALFRED: I would say, sir, that we have ourselves an incongruity?
BATMAN: Incongruity, Alfred? He’s lying, and I’m going to find out why.
—
KIRK: Who’s back there?
BATMAN STEPS OUT OF THE SHADOWS.
KIRK: You.
BATMAN: I’m looking for Doctor March.
KIRK: He’s not here, Batman.
BATMAN: Where is he?
KIRK: Giving a lecture on human extinction and bat evolution. He’s really quite brilliant.
BATMAN: He’s misguided and a thief.
KIRK: He’s just a theorist. He was afraid to put it to the test. But I wasn’t. I knew he’d discovered a formula to create a new species. Neither man nor bat! And once I started taking it, I couldn’t stop. I desperately wanted to, but it took over. Francine and March tried to protect me, but it was too late. The beast knew what chemicals were needed to bring itself about. It was out of my control! And it only needs one more component to complete the process! It’s in me, Batman.
—
OFFICER #2: I’m getting something strange.
OFFICER #1: Ahh. . . Not again.
OFFICER #2: I’m serious! It’s right below us!
MAN-BAT CHARGES PAST THE WINDOW. THE COPS WATCH AS BATMAN’S FACE IS SLAMMED INTO THE WINDOW, LEAVING A RADIATING CRACK.
OFFICER #2: Whoa!
OFFICER #1: Gotham Command. We need choppers! We’ve sighted the Batman!
—
BULLOCK: Let’s go!
PILOT: I can’t do it, sir!
BULLOCK: Whadda ya mean ‘you can’t do it’?!
PILOT: I just got word not to let you up without the Commissioner!
BULLOCK: Who told you that?!
PILOT: The Commissioner!

Review: If you want the simplicity of the designs AND the quality animation, then THIS is the episode to watch! The animation is spectacular, and it still maintains the sleek look that the animated series was designed to have. Main scenes of great animation is the whole Man-Bat and Batman over Gotham scene, especially when Man-Bat flies right at the police blimp and then over it, and when Batman is dragged right through the construction site. This is Batman animation beyond anything seen before!

The story was a little weak, but it was still good. It was a run of the mill Man-Bat origin, and not too flashy, but it had it’s little things that made it good. The fact that Batman was not on the police’s side was great, and the Harvey Dent one line appearance was superb! The flipping of the coin was great foreshadowing for Batman fans! This show had everything, though, and is worthy of being episode number 001!