Episode #13 - Mean Seasons
Original Airdate - April 25th, 1998
Fashion turns deadly when Page Monroe, a disgruntled model creates
seasonal chaos and a series of not-so-pretty kidnappings as she avenges,
much to Batman's dismay, the age-conscious trappings of a youth-oriented
fashion world.
Media by Bird Boy
Review by Robin III, Batman Fan |
Credits
Story by Rich Fogel
Written by Hilary J. Bader
Directed by Hiroyuki Aoyama
Music by Shirley Walker
Animation by TMS Kyokuichi Corporation
Voices
Kevin Conroy as Batman/Bruce Wayne
Tara Charendoff as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon
Sela Ward as Clendar Girl/Page Monroe
Barry Bostwick as Irv Kleinman
Tippi Hedren as Donna Day
Robert Costanzo as Detective Harvey Bullock
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Alfred
Mel Winkler as Lucius Fox
Charlie Rocket as Frederick Fournier
Robert David Hall as Reporter
Bumper Robinson as Teen Cop
Dennis Hasybert as Barkley James
Miriam Flynn as Zaftig Lady
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Quotes
CALENDAR GIRL: Sorry, but you and I have a date with destiny. .
. your destiny.
--
MISS SOLSTICE: No, please! I'm too young to die!
CALENDAR GIRL: Honey, you're never too thin and you're never too young.
--
BATMAN: I do remember. Pretty girl.
BATGIRL: Don't you mean woman? She was your age when she made that
commercial, Batboy.
--
IRV: Can't you see I'm in a meeting.
BATMAN SLAMS IRV AGAINST THE WALL.
BATMAN: Meeting's been cancelled.
BATGIRL (to girl): I'd run if I were you.
--
CALENDAR GIRL: Strange, isn't it? Dinosaurs have been dead for millions
of years yet they still get parts in movies.
--
BULLOCK: Did you read her her rights?
OFFICER: Yes sir.
BULLOCK: Then she knows they don't include this.
PAGE: A-h-h-h-h! No-o-o-o-o! No, don't! Don't look, please! No. No.
BATGIRL: She's beautiful!
BATMAN: She can't see that anymore. All she sees are the flaws.
Review (Robin III): An underestimated
episode, probably the first in this new series that actually uses a
villain who is truly insane. It may not seem like it, but Calendar Girl
/ Page Monroe has a lot of problems. It was also good to see Batman
using a bit more detective work that usual in this series, which is
usually no detective work whatsoever.
This episode was also extremely well animated and drawn, mainly during
running and fighting scenes. (Especially when Calendar Girl first shows
up and races through a crowd of onlookers).
An excellent scene with the mechanical dinosaur that most do not
appreciate as well. It was a great intro to bring it into the Batcave's
trophy room, unfortunately, it would need a lot of fixing up. This
episode was different than most, but it comes back to the roots: the
comics. Not always does Batman face a regular villain without zany
motifs and weapons, often (especially in around Batman #480 - 490) he
fought one-timer villains that were interesting, yet bizarrely strange
at the same time. It was good to see that change brought to the show.
Review (Batman Fan): A personal favorite
of mine that is able to work in a serious issue that people face today
and pass on a message in such a subtle way that you don't even realize
it's happening. This episode also proves that TNBA didn't lose the dark
and grim stories from B:TAS days or stories that focus on characters
with heavy psychological problems.
The center of this episode is a new villain to the series, Calendar
Girl. On the outside she's a pretty colorful and eccentric villain, she
uses seasons and holidays as a motive in which she has some very
creative and fun weapons such as exploding pumpkins, gas-exploding
easter eggs, and fireworks from her fingertips to name a few. Her basic
plot is to take revenge on those who dropped her as a model and
spokesperson to attract a more youthful audience. This is where we get
to the woman behind the mask. After being rejected and dropped, she
begins to subject her body to surgery after surgery to perfect her
"flaws" and try to go back into the modeling world. She then becomes an
obsessed fanatic who is so convinced that she isn't beautiful; she must
hide her face from the world when in reality she is very beautiful. This
passes on such a severe message that definitely applies to our society
today. We are so concerned with looks that this is living proof of how
people judge you can literally drive you over the edge to make yourself
look perfect and meet everyone's standards. It also touches on the issue
of youthfulness, and that once you're pass a certain age; you are no
longer useful for jobs such as modeling. Page Monroe is a model that got
caught in the spotlight and the society that admired her so much
eventually led to her destruction, as she can no longer see the beauty
she really has. It leads to a psychological breakdown, thinking she is
too unattractive to ever show her face again, thus Calendar Girl is
born. This is some heavy stuff to put in a children's cartoon, but the
real neat thing was, it was so subtle and blended in so well with the
action, that a child could enjoy it just for the action, while an older
viewer can see the message and layers this episode has.
This episode has some really fun scenes and they are all brilliantly
executed with beautiful animation. Probably the most memorable fight is
with Batman and Batgirl up against the robotic dinosaur. The animation
is amazing in that scene and it was fun to see our characters up against
that huge monster and come out triumphant. Batman and Batgirl also did a
nice amount of detective work, which was sadly pretty much absent from
the TNBA run going for more of an action oriented cartoon. Batman's
interrogation of Page's agent was as good as past interrogations in
B:TAS, being very creepy and intimidating visually and audibly thanks to
a terrific performance by Kevin Conroy. It was nice to see our heroes in
the cave putting the clues together to solve these crimes instead of
automatically knowing them as in other TNBA episodes.
The finale was amazing, part of the fact that it was so symbolic and it
foreshadowed the end to Calendar Girl. This scene has got to be one of
the grimmest scenes in TNBA. Batman and Batgirl are fighting Calendar
Girl in a run down club. Batman goes head to head with a Calendar Girl
dressed all in black with a scythe. During their fight, the overhead
projector that was used to show how beautiful Page "was" begins to
malfunction and breaks, which slowly begins to deteriorate her face.
That scene right their perfectly sums up exactly what this villain is
about, showing how messed up she really is and distracts her long enough
to be subdued by Batman. The very ending scene where Bullock removes her
mask as Page has a breakdown (excellently performed by Sela Ward) was a
brilliant way to end the episode where the viewer is showed how
beautiful she really is, and we are left feeling sorry for this poor
soul.
This episode sums up a very stressed outlook on society today and does
it in a dark and twisted psychological way that gets you hooked, and you
stay with it through all the beautiful action scenes and music until you
get to the brilliant finale which shows you the irony in it all. This
episode is generally overlooked, but in my mind, it's truly a
masterpiece!
*****
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