Episode #17 - Old Wounds
Original Airdate - October 3rd, 1998
The original Robin, Dick Grayson recounts to the new Robin, Tim Drake,
why he and Batman broke up as a crime-fighting team.
Media by Bird Boy
Review by Robin III, Batman Fan |
Credits
Written by Rich Fogel
Directed by Curt Geda
Music by Shirley Walker
Animation by Koko/Dong Yang
Voices
Kevin Conroy as Batman/Bruce Wayne
Tara Charendoff as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon
Loren Lester as Nightwing/Dick Grayson
Mathew Valencia as Robin/Tim Drake
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Alfred
Mark Hamill as The Joker
Townsend Coleman as Rocco
Neil Ross as Henshaw
Ian Buchanan as Connor
Pamela Hayden as Geena
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Quotes
NIGHTWING: Here, kid. I think you lost this.
ROBIN: I coulda handled him.
NIGHTWING: Coulda, woulda... Didn't.
--
DICK: This isn't a good time--
BATMAN: I'm not making the schedule.
--
JOKER: Ah ah! If you stick your nose in... It might get cut off!
--
BATMAN: You're late.
ROBIN: Excuse me for having a life!
--
ALFRED: Ms. Gordon, I earth you've discovered our little secret? Yes, I
admit it, I am Batman.
BRUCE: It's alright, Alfred.
ALFRED: Very good, sir.
--
JOKER: Hey! Do I hit your kids? Oh, actually I do...
--
BATMAN: I thought we had the same goals...
ROBIN: Things changed! I changed! The games over, Batman! I quit.
--
ROBIN: I guess Batman had a change of heart. Who'da though he had one.
Review (Robin III): While it was an
excellent bridge between BTAS and TNBA, this episode still seemed quite
weak at moments. The bookends to the episode with Nightwing and Robin
were fine, especially the final one, but the flashback was rushed. The
Joker plot seemed thin, the scene of Barbara and Bruce playing tennis
(from the comic THE LOST YEARS) was cut, totally ruining Batman's
deductive skills of who Batgirl was, and the unexplained
more-violent-more-cruel Batman seemed odd.
What did work, which saved the whole episode, was the aftermath of the
Joker fight with Batman, Robin and Batgirl. It was quite well done, and
excellently scored musically. Even Batman's acting (which didn't seem
like much of a change) had a small inflection of being sad that Robin
didn't see eye to eye with him. This one minor scene may have saved the
entire plot.
The animation, unfortunately, was quite oblong. Actions were clunky, and
character staging just seemed off. This should have been one of the
episodes that sprung for a better quality job considering the importance
of the main plot.
Overall, it was an okay episode because of it's necessity, but if it
were just a simple episode, it would have been terrible.
Review (Batman Fan): This is an excellent
an episode, and one of TNBA's best!
It all starts out with our young Robin fighting some thugs, and
Nightwing coming in to get one he missed. When Robin compares Dick to
Batman, we get a very cold and harsh remark from him saying they are
nothing alike and the flashback story pursues. I thought it was kinda
symbolic how the new Robin wanted to know just what happened between the
old Batman and Robin, which he admired so much, and to see what happened
to Dick that made him decide to give up the Robin costume, and in a
sense, maybe it was Tim's way into getting to know Bruce better, and
what may inevitably be happening to him in the future.
The flashback was handled perfectly. It brilliantly fit together all the
pieces of the mystery behind Dick's transformation and did a great job
showing the tension building between him and Bruce and how Barbara was
stuck in the middle of it all. They also did a great job humanizing
Dick, by showing his college graduation and seeing him on a date with
Barbara, which was really sweet. As it progressed, you could see just
how sick Dick was getting of Bruce, starting out mildly with saying he
has a life besides Robin leading into his departure from Robin.
The main thing here was to show the differences between Dick and Bruce.
While Dick has a heart and human side under him, shown while Batman
interrogates Conner, and seeing Dick looking through the eyes of
Conner's family and seeing how horrified they were, which was an
excellent scene that really depicted black and white between Bruce and
Dick, as Batman was portrayed very cold hearted in that scene. Then
comes Barbara, who cares for Dick a lot and wants to know what's going
on between the two, which I thought was really sweet of her. Finally,
she's in on the secret of Batman and Robin, which I thought was a
breaking point for Bruce, I mean, why else would he show her the cave
unless he didn't really care about both Dick and Barbara.
The Joker was an excellent choice for a villain. The Dynamic Duos
archrival is the last enemy they face together. In a sense, I guess you
could say it was The Joker, who finally was able to break apart the Duo,
and if he knew that, I'm sure that would've done wonders to his ego. The
ending action scene with the Joker was amazing. Not much of a diabolical
plot for the Joker, hijacking a radar to disrupt aircraft, but it worked
for the situation. Batgirl was really able to prove herself, by holding
her own against the Joker and his thugs, while Batman was having
problems with his glider and the hyenas. When Robin finally arrived, you
could tell he felt betrayed seeing the girl he loves with the man he
can't seem to reason with. In the end, they both bond together to save
Batman, and Batgirl saves the day, by tricking Joker into destroying the
radar, just before a plane crosses over. One thing I liked was Joker's
reaction too Batgirl, and the line about hitting Batman's kids.
In the end, Dick feels betrayed and used seeing Barbara working for
Bruce. In a powerful scene where Batgirl tries to convince him that she
chose to work for Bruce, it's the final straw for Dick as he gives up
Robin and strikes Batman. I have to say, Dick's anger was misplaced for
a bit, being mad at Barbara for keeping a secret from him while he was
doing the same, but it transferred to Bruce, who wasn't really sure how
to deal with situation and wasn't able to save his ward. The end were
Nightwing realizes maybe Bruce has changed or always had a heart while
talking to Conner and being told Bruce gave him a job was a great way to
smack Dick in the face and tell him that maybe a part of him was wrong,
but he had to do what he did to become his own man, and at the end,
flying off with Robin saying it's about time was a nice finish with the
great music playing at the episode ends.
And what, so the animation isn't that great, you just can't blame the
episodes amazing story for some mediocre animation.
****1/2
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