Batman - Holiday Knights (Episode)

"**Holiday Knights**" is the premiere episode of *The New Batman Adventures*. Despite being originally aired in September, this episode contains three Christmas-themed vignettes, all completely unrelated to one another. The first story stars of the following tale is about ***Batgirl***'s confrontation with Clayface

## Holiday Knights

### Director

Dan Riba

.

## Plot

### December 24

In ***Mayfield's*** Department Store, Barbara is just purchasing a new tie for her father when all of a sudden an ear-piercing wail cuts through the air. The shop attendant comments on how they've been crying all day, at which point we see why: ***Harvey Bullock*** is playing Santa. With his partner, **Montoya**, he's on a stakeout to catch a mysterious 'invisible shoplifter.' Bullock does not enjoy playing Santa, but shows rare sensitivity when he unexpectedly meets a ***young girl*** whose ***father*** he put in prison. Though he can't bring her father home, he gives her some cash to soothe her Christmastime woes, encouraging her to buy a gift for her father - "as long as it ain't a hacksaw."

 File:Clayface on thin ice.png
Barbara, walking through the store, happens to spot a child shoplifting, but when she tries to apprehend him, his clothes and hand seem to dissolve into nothing. Then, Montoya gets a call through her earpiece that detectives are in pursuit of four child bandits in the store. Just when the children seem to be trapped, they meld together into...Clayface. He begins tearing up the place and no one can stop him, that is until Barbara gets changed into her Batgirl outfit and delivers a blow to the head that sends him crashing out the window and into the skating rink below. Montoya and Bullock arrive on the scene and with a little guidance from Batgirl, succeed in halting the giant shapeshifter by way of electrocution. Bullock is ready to close the case and celebrate, but Montoya reminds him they still need to recover the stolen goods - hidden in Clayface's clay body. Bullock starts rolling up his sleeves for the grim job ahead.

 File:Clayface's shoplifting interrupted.png

## Continuity

* Clayface's return in this episode is not explained until the subsequent episode "Growing Pains", in which Batman and Robin express shock to see him alive and well after Batman watched him dissolve in the ocean at the end of *Batman - The Animated Series* episode "Mudslide". As Batgirl does not seem surprised to see him, she may be unaware of the events of that earlier episode but more likely, this episode probably takes place *after* "Growing Pains".
* The new ***Robin*** makes his first appearance in the DCAU. His real name and origin are not revealed until the following episode "***Sins of the Father***" which takes place before this episode.
* Years later, ***Batman*** used some video footage taken from the ***Joker***'s New Year celebration to try to resolve the mystery between the original ***Joker*** and the new ***Joker*** in the movie ***Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker***.

## Background information

### Home video releases

* Batman: The Animated Series, Volume Four (DVD)
* ***Batman: The Complete Animated Series (DVD)***
* ***Batman: The Complete Animated Series (Blu-ray)***

### Production notes

* "The Harley and The Ivy" segment of this episode was originally animated closer to the comic, with Harley in much shorter underwear. "We actually had to go back and give them boxers," noted ***Dan Riba***. "It was surprisingly only about 3 or 4 shots, but we had to retake 3 or 4 shots and somebody had to draw boxer shorts on top of their little, whatever they're wearing." File:Holiday Knights pre-censors.jpg
* Due to a request from WB for a Christmas themed episode, this episode was adapted from *The Batman Adventures Holiday Special**,* cover date January 1995. Notable differences include:
	+ The comic is still in the style of *Batman - The Animated Series*.
	+ The comic includes a story that was not adapted to the episode, "White Christmas", featuring ***Mr. Freeze*** and written by ***Glen Murakami***. After the death of ***his wife***, Freeze breaks out of Arkham. When Batman finally captures him at the cemetery, he tells him he only wanted to make a white Christmas, because she loved snow. According to **Bruce Timm**, he originally wanted to adapt this story for the episode, but was forced to drop the idea when he discovered that Nora Fries was revived at the end of the story of ***Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero***, written by ***Boyd Kirkland*** & ***Randy Rogel***; as it was required to have Nora dead to adapt the original issue. Furthermore, in Timm's opinion, Nora was already dead since the *Batman - The Animated Series* episodes "***Heart of Ice***" and "***Deep Freeze***".
	+ In the comic, there is a clear reference that ***Harley*** is Jewish.
	+ In the comic, the story featuring Batgirl and Clayface (entitled "Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas") precedes the story featuring Harley and Ivy ("The Harley and the Ivy").
	+ In the comic story "Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas", Barbara enters an empty dressing room to change into her Batgirl costume; in the episode, she ducks behind an abandoned counter. Interestingly, ***Bruce Timm*** & ***Paul Dini***'s original script for the comic had Barbara changing her clothes in the middle of the panicking crowd, trusting that no one would notice her. The publisher firmly vetoed this idea as too indecent, so instead, she used an empty dressing room. The animated version seems to represent a compromise, with Barbara changing between clothing aisles, still out in the open somewhat, but mostly obscured.
	+ The football game that Joker's message interrupts features a commentator naming one of the players as "***Altieri***", a reference to ***Kevin Altieri***. In the comic, the player was called Starkings, after penciller Richard Starkings.
	+ The animated adaptation of the Joker story ("...What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?!") replaces three nameless goons with ***Mo, Lar and Cur***.
	+ ***Robin*** was originally not part of the Joker story.

### Production inconsistencies

* The sign at the tie stall at Mayfield's reads "Mayfieds"; the "l" is missing.
* Batgirl, Montoya, and Bullock defeat Clayface by shorting a string of Christmas lights in the pond Clayface was standing in, thus electrocuting him. However, in "Feat of Clay" Batman discovers that electricity has no effect on Clayface, allowing Hagen to fake his death. A possible explanation is that the chemicals that revived Clayface after "Mudslide" (as later seen in "Growing Pains") also stripped him of this immunity as a weakness. Or possibly that enough volts of electricity can only simply incapacitate him.
* During the fight with ***Mo, Lar and Cur***, Robin's whole arm becomes red.

### Trivia

* As the pilot episode of a series associated with Kids' WB with less strict censors than FOX, "Holiday Knights" features slightly more violent content than it's predecessor *Batman: The Animated Series*. Examples of such a change include, but are not limited to:
	+ The first television depiction of the ***Joker's laughing gas*** actually killing people instead of just making them laugh long enough as a mere distraction (barring ***Batman: Mask of the Phantasm***, which was a theatrical film).
	+ Batman gets injured when Joker directly shoots him in the shoulder with a gun, previously characters couldn't get shot on screen, at least not explicitly.
* While the girls are shopping, the music being played is based on "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
* The three late-night revelers singing "Auld Lang Syne" in the tavern are caricatures of ***Bruce Timm***, ***Glen Murakami***, and ***Shane Glines***.
* The Joker's lines in the videotaped message were re-animated and re-voiced for an appearance in Bruce's records in ***Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker***.
* The episode begins and ends in the same place, ***Joe's Tavern***, which is opposite the Gotham Hotel where Harley and Ivy are staying.
* This marks the first appearance of ***Mo, Lar and Cur***, though they lack their Stooge-like voices here.
* This also marks the last time in the ***DCAU***—until the Justice League episode "***Maid of Honor***"—where ***Bruce Wayne*** speaks in a noticeably different tone than his alter-ego.
* Some of the women seen attempting the kiss Bruce under the mistletoe were previously seen in ***Batman: Mask of the Phantasm***, most notably "***Ms. Bambi***".
* The crack in the bell after it lands on Joker is likely a reference to the Liberty Bell.
* ***Tara Strong*** replaced ***Melissa Gilbert*** as the voice of Batgirl, as the creative team wanted a different, younger sounding take for Batgirl.

## Cast

### Uncredited appearances

* ***Bambi***
* ***John Erickson***
* ***Mike McSweeney*** **(Entirely Mentioned Only)**

## Quotes

### Part II

**Child:** You're not the real Santy Claus.
*Bullock***:** Sure I am. Wanna see my gun? *(***Montoya** *slaps Bullock)* Ow!

**Batgirl:** Don't waste your ammo on him, shoot the Santa!!!
**Bullock:** (*Looks at Montoya*) You wouldn't.
*Montoya***:** Not you, dope! (*points at santa statue*) That Santa!

## References

1. ↑ "The Yellow Batsuit, Mask of the Phantasm, and More BATMAN SECRETS with Director DAN RIBA!" by Watchtower Database (July 19, 2020)
2. ↑ "Batman: The Animated Series writer" by Animation Arena
3. ↑ Back Issue #99 by TwoMorrows Publishing - issuu
4. ↑ "[Batman: The Animated Series 25th Anniversary Panel]

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