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The World's Finest Presents

April Moon

Episode #35 - April Moon
Original Airdate - April 22nd, 2000

Batman must battle a gang of criminals who have been given bionic enhancements by a noted medical scientist.

Media by Bird Boy
Review by J. Chen, aka The Overseer
Credits:
Story by Stan Berkowitz, James Tucker
Teleplay by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Butch Lukic
Music by Michael McCuistion
Animation by Koko / Dong Yang

Voices:
Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis/Batman
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
Ed Begley, Jr. as Dr. Corso
Jason Nash as Harold/Bullwhip
Ethan Embry as Terrapin
Johnny Galecki as Knux
Eric Michael Cole as Kneejerk
Cree Summer as Max
Daphne Zuniga as April
Screen Grabs






Pans




Fun Keepers
Review

HIGHS: Attempts to mix several plotlines, Max is kept to a minimum, return to the darker colors.
LOWS: Out-of-place music, hokey looking villains, just plain weird.
OVERALL: This ep is...just...different.

A group of punk kids are given cybernetic enhancements by a known Gotham prosthetics doctor, and use them to commit crimes. The Doc isn't a willing partner in all this, it turns out that the thieves have kidnapped his wife April and demanded that they be given these upgrades in exchange for her release. When Terry finds out about this, he must defeat the criminals and rescue her.

This episode tried to do a lot of things - it mixed in action, a romantic aspect, unwilling partnerships, and even a betrayal at the end. Some of them were executed better than others, like the partnership and betrayal parts. The doctor's anger at cooperating with these criminals is very evident, as shown when he breaks down in front of Batman, or when he says "It's a chance to do some good...for a change", when leaving the punks.

Max is given a role in this episode, but it's kept to no more than 30 seconds. Now that's what she should be there to do, give Terry a quick idea if he needs it, not tagging around with him all the time. Bruce is also present, but his lines are also brief; no more walking Terry through his fights. The colours are also darker in most scenes than in the last few episodes...yes!!

But the above aspects haven't really been the big thing about this episode. The whole feel of "April Moon" wasn't the same as the rest of the eps. From the start, there was always a swinging jazz beat in the background, rather than the usual hard techno/rock tunes. For me, it was simply out of place.

And then, the villains just looked kind of hokey, especially one guy who had chainsaws in his knees...it seemed like they were always causing him to get stuck somewhere, although it was funny to see his limbs fall off at the end.

The impact of the romance and other supposedly emotional scenes never really hit me that hard though, it just didn't feel right...maybe it was the music. It kind of felt like a cheesy film-noir deal, which isn't what I'm looking for in BB. And they had little swirling blurs when the Doc went into a flashback...since when did we see THAT on this show?

In the end, I'm still not sure what to say on this episode. I'd still hold it above any of those teen-angst eps any day. It's different to be sure, but too much deviation can alter the concept originally set. If I was looking for lightheartedness I'd watch Superman (the early ones anyway), know what I'm saying? I have a feeling this was just a "experimental" sort of deal, now I'd like to return to watching some darker material.

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