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Episode #52 - Countdown
Original Airdate - April 7th, 2001

Zeta returns to Gotham City to look for his creator, but falls into the clutches of Mad Stan, who turns him into a walking time-bomb. Batman must track Zeta down before time runs out.

Screens by Bird Boy
Pans by redDragon
Review by Matt Zimmer		 Credits:
Written by Paul Dini, Rich Fogel
Teleplay by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Kyung-Won Lim
Music by Shirley Walker
Animation by Koko/Dong Yang

Voices:
Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis/Batman
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
Henry Rollins as Mad Stan
Diedrich Bader as Zeta
Kurtwood Smith as Agent Bennett
Julie Nathanson as Ro
Lauren Tom as Agent Lee
Keone Young as Dr. Ho
Bruce Timm as Top Hat Joker
Michael Rosenbaum as Agent West
T'Keyah Crystal Keymah as Dispatch Operator
Screen Grabs





















Pans
Review

Batman tries to find Zeta before Mad Stan blows him up in this crossover with The Zeta Project.

The episode begins with Batman battling Mad Stan when Zeta and Ro arrive in Gotham to find Dr. Selig. Bennett and the NSA agents have followed him and in a tussle Mad Stan intervenes and takes Zeta with him thinking that he is a poor soul "the Man" is trying to bring down. Ro calls on the emergency phone lines asking for Batman (Zeta told her they were friends) and he arrives to save her from a gang of Jokerz. Meanwhile Mad Stan has discovered that an unconscious Zeta is a robot and attaches a bomb to him. When Zeta wakes up Mad Stan lets him go. Batman and Ro arrive at Mad Stan's headquarters to find him fast asleep, since he drugged himself. He leaves a message for them saying that he put a bomb on Zeta and Batman and Ro leave to track him down. Batman tries to go to Bennett for help but he refuses so he can plant a tracking device on Batman thinking he will lead him to Zeta. When Batman finds Zeta he grabs the bomb off him and throws it out the window. The NSA agents storm the building and Zeta switches places with Batman and rides the Bat-Mobile to safety. Zeta and Ro then thank Batman for his help and leave Gotham to find Dr. Selig.

This was a pretty great episode. A lot of VERY funny scenes which is to be expected when you put Mad Stan and a guy like Zeta together. The fanboy in me cheered when I saw Zeta in the Bat-Mobile while his theme played in the back-ground and even more-so at the end when Ro gives Batman a peck on the cheek. I think I also found Mad Stan's Chihuahua hilarious as was Zeta's exclamation that Stan was a "nice man". The episode tied both series together quite nicely and was definitely a better episode than the other crossover "Shadows".

If I had any complaints it would be that the characters from The Zeta Project acted out of character (particularly Bennett). While normally I'd have the biggest problem with Zeta throwing a guy off a building Bennett's cavalier attitude that there was a bomb on Zeta and that the people it could hurt didn't matter was just plain wrong. Bennett is a GOOD guy and is trying to capture Zeta because he believes it is the right thing to do, not an unfeeling monster. I know Paul Dini and Rich Fogel can't be expected to watch every single episode of The Zeta Project but you'd think Robert Goodman or someone would have told them how to have a better feel for the characters.

Still this was one of Batman Beyond's most enjoyable episodes. The animation was nice (it was great seeing The Zeta Project characters animated in Batman Beyond style) and the pacing tight. It was exciting to see Batman race against the clock to save Zeta and like I said the little fanboy moments were gratifying. Plus, you really can't go wrong with an episode spotlighting Mad Stan. You just can't

An interesting thing to note about this episode is that it is in fact the last episode of Batman Beyond ever produced (although Unmasked aired last). Some people may think it unfair that the final episode of the series is a shared spotlight with another character but I think the episode was good enough to stand on its own merits and that's the thing that should count most.

Story: ****1/2
Animation: ****
Average: ****1/2
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