From: kc2w+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kevin J. Chen)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Batman Animated: Feat of Clay
Date: 11 Sep 92 13:26:27 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Junior, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

bruce lyman precourt sez:

>Some of my MAJOR problems with the script:

>- Batman using blatant methods of illegal coercion (i.e.,
>lifting the crook with his plane and threateninmg to drop
>him) to obtain information. Ditto for the guy in the hospital
>lab with the jar of "germs". (I know it was a trick, but the
>point about coercion remains). Portraying Batman as judge,
>jury and executioner is not an admirable role-model.

Batman is *not* a role-model; he's a vigilante.  Way back in
Batman and the Outsiders #1, he tells Superman something
to the effect of "I never wanted men to imitate me, only *fear*
me."  I thought these two scenes were perfectly in line with
his justice-over-all-else attitude.  The scene with the Batwing
was just doofy, though.

>-Speaking of picking the guy up with the Batwing, I'd like to
>know how that could be done without A) smashing into a tangle
>of metal and flesh and B) why it didn't blow like a cherry bomb.

You can do this stuff with sufficiently the Batwing's high-tech
equipment and a few good animators.  :)

>-OK, the one that bugged me the most: Clayface's full power. Has
>Wolfman ever heard of the Conservation of Matter and Energy?
>How does a normal, 180-pound man transform into a blob of
>clay that must weigh 500 pounds? How can this creature spit
>off giant chunks of itself or extend its arms fifty feet and 
>remain the same size?

Yeah, it bothered me that the big CF was leaving bits and pieces of
himself all over the place, but, darn it -- the animation was *so*
smooth I can almost overlook all that stuff.

>Now I'll probably be told "it's only a cartoon, don't worry about
>stuff like that" but that's not good enough. Sloppy writing 
>undermines my suspension of disbelief in an instant.

You're obviously not disbelieving hard enough.  :)

>And I forgot to mention the ultimately trite ending of having
>the monster break off its deathstroke when Hagen saw himself
>on the video. You probably heard me groan across the country.

I don't know -- they at least foreshadowed that scene earlier
when Hagen discovered that he could change at will ("like a 
reflex", they called it).  I thought it was a little odd, but at least
they gave a decent rationale.  At the very least, Hagen was 
sufficiently disoriented to be unable to maintain his control over
his body to continue strangling Batman (remember, he was *very*
distraught over his new appearance; any reminder of his former
life was likely to set him off psychologically).

>Anybody else think this episode was inferior to others
>we've seen? I think the Mr.Freeze episode was the best so far.

The Mr. Freeze episode was superb.  The dialog impressed me
especially.

>What is the difference between threatening to drop someone from
>an airplane at x-hundred feet and holding a gun to their head?
>Batman would not come across as very heroic if he did the latter,
>(a scene I doubt would be included in a show aimed at children anyway),

I dunno -- *is* it aimed at children?  Some of the more complex
dialog and psychological bits really don't seem appropriate to
a young audience (of course, we could say the same things about
the Batman movies, too).

Mark Hamill as the Joker today!  I can't wait!

(BTW, did anyone catch Ed Begley, Jr. as the voice for the goon
afraid of germs?  Wow.)

Kevin.
kc2w+@andrew.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc