Episode #023 - Vendetta
Original Airdate - October 5th, 1992
Detective Harvey Bullock is framed for suspected murder and goes to
jail. Batman, though he has no great love for Bullock, thinks he's
innocent. His investigation reveals that the real criminal is Killer
Croc, a mutant hit man who wants revenge on Bullock because Bullock sent
him to jail years ago.
Media by Bird Boy
Review by Robin III, Batman Fan |
Credits
Written by Michael Reaves
Directed by Frank Paur
Supervising Composer Shirley Walker
Music Composed by Michael McCuistion
Animation Services by Spectrum Animation Studio
Voices
Kevin Conroy as Batman / Bruce Wayne
Robert Costanzo as Detective Harvey Bullock
Bob Hastings as Commissioner James Gordon
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred Pennyworth
Mari Devon as Summer Gleeson
Aron Kincaid as Killer Croc
Ingrid Oliu as Officer Renee Montoya
John Vernon as Rupert Thorne |
Screen Grabs
Pans
Quotes
GORDON: (to Bullock) Remind me never to think of you as a good
luck charm!
--
BATMAN: Here's how it works, slimeball. I have questions, and if you
have answers, I'll leave you alone.
THORNE: Oh, I have plenty of answers. . . Thirty-eight caliber answers.
Now then, you were saying--?
BATMAN USES THORNE AS A SHIELD.
BATMAN: I was saying, you'd better hope your men are very good shots.
It's too hot in here. Let's get some air.
--
GORDON: Batman? For once, my friend, I hope you instincts are wrong.
--
ALFRED: In any event, I've made your favorite, French Onion Soup. And
when you let it get cold this time note that it's in a microwave-able
crock.
BATMAN: Croc? Alfred! You're Beautiful!
BATMAN RUNS OFF.
ALFRED: Imaging if I had gotten around to telling him about the salad.
--
BULLOCK AIMS HIS GUN AT BATMAN. BATMAN CONTINUES HIS WAY OUT OF THE
SEWER AND DRAGS THE UNCONSCIOUS KILLER CROC BEHIND HIM.
BULLOCK: Why? Why'd you stick your neck out like that to help me?
BATMAN: Because I thought you were guilty too and I was wrong. We may
have different ways of enforcing the law, but we both believe in it.
BULLOCK SHUTS HIS EYES AND SHAKES HIS HEAD.
BULLOCK: Ah, go on. I'll take it from here.
BULLOCK OPENS HIS EYES AND BATMAN IS GONE. BULLOCK LOOKS AT THE
UNCONSCIOUS CROC.
BULLOCK: Not a bad piece of work.
Review (Robin III): A very good episode for
detective work. It was nice to see Batman truly using his skills as a
detective more than a fighter. This episode wasn't paced down so kids
could understand it at all.
Some very nice scenes include Bullock talking to Gordon in his office,
Batman interrogating Thorne, the fight between Croc and Batman, and the
end scene between Batman and Bullock. They were all nicely scripted and
well performed by the voice actors.
The drawing quality was that of On Leather Wings, but sometimes there
wasn't as much attention to detail when it came to how the characters
moved. It was still nicely done, especially the movement of Croc,
Batman's cape in the wind (especially during the boat explosion), and
the swimming sequence.
Review (Batman Fan): This episode is a
personal favorite of mine and is very distinct in it's film-noir type
feel and the classic mystery story where the detective (Batman) uses
more of his intellect to solve the crime then strength.
This episode is really fun and interesting to watch because it's like a
classic detective story where there's a mystery and we're following
along with Batman to solve the crime. The visual looked added to this
type of story and made a very intense and intelligent episode to watch.
I have to say, Killer Croc was pretty smart in this episode considering
how dumb he was in future episodes. It's a typical revenge plot where
Croc wants vengeance against those who helped put him jail. The fun
thing comes in when we see Batman using his wit and skill as a detective
to solve the crime and the suspense and immediate appeal is that
Detective Bullock is the number one suspect. I have to say, Bullock was
amazing in this episode. It was neat to get a little background on
Bullock, learning how he was almost sent to prison for allegedly taking
bribes from Rupert Thorne and his questionable tactics as a cop made him
a prime suspect. Thanks to their less than friendly relationship, Batman
isn't sure if he trusts Bullock or not which makes for a more
interesting episode, but in the end, the two are able to reach an
agreement that they both are here to stand up for what they believe in,
to protect the law.
I always thought this episode was animated really well, and it had a
very dark, grim and eerie feel to it to match with the mystery and
film-noir type story this was. The animation is very distinct in this
episode, and it looks absolutely fantastic, clear and vivid and at the
same time creepy and dark which added to the effect of the story. When
you have a look that compliments with the type of story your telling,
that's really something special and makes this episode all the more
memorable. The action scenes were amazing too. From the beautiful
explosions, to the intense fight with Croc, they were all executed
brilliantly. The fights with Croc were brutal, especially the ending one
in the sewer, but they looked amazing and were fun to watch.
Thorne was a good addition to this episode, if only to give Batman a
really cool interrogation scene. Kevin Conroy did a great job performing
all of Batman's dialogue and made him sound really intimidating and
threatning. Little subtle things such as Batman sneaking into the police
headquarters to read Bullock's file, to him finding a scale on the docks
added to story and made it a more unique episode to watch.
As I said early, Croc was actually pretty smart in this episode, seeing
how it was his introduction, I'm glad he wasn't the big oaf like his was
later in the series. It was cool to get a bit of a background on him
like how he used to be a wrestler and stuff like that gave us an insight
of who this new villain is. I was impressed with Croc's ability to
collaborate a plan like this to get back at everyone who busted him and
things like disguising as Bullock to frame him and hiding in an
underwater cave were all really smart on his behalf.
Overall, a really intelligent episode, with a neat story telling aspect
and a dark visual look that corresponded well with it makes this episode
one of my favorites of the entire series.
*****
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