Joyride
Episode #14 - Joyride
Original Airdate - October 2nd, 1999
A gang of Jokerz hijack an experimental, state-of-the-art, military
vehicle. Batman must stop the Jokerz rampage and recover the stolen
weapon before the experimental vehicle overheats and blows up half of
Gotham.
Media by Bird Boy
Review by Tim "Two-Face" Leighton |
Credits:
Written by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Butch Lukic
Music by Shirley Walker
Animation by Koko / Dong Yang
Voices:
Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis/Batman
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
Wendie Malick as Dr. Price
Marc Worden as Scab
Scott Valentine as Coe
Ethan Embry as Lee
Kevin Richardson as Pilot
Bruce Timm as Jokerz Leader
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Review
Finally, an episode where the Jokerz are the MAIN villain. Up until this
point in time, the Jokerz have pretty much been a "filler" villain -
they aren't terribly formidable, and the stories that use them can,
honestly, do without them. Here, they're in the spotlight.
In this episode, the Jokerz take a joyride in an abandonned military
vehicle - a death machine of sorts. Once they figure out just how
powerful this machine is, they terrorize Gotham - all in the name of
fun.
Yeah, so what if it's not a terribly deep episode? It's still really fun
to watch, and the action sequences (which seems to be where Lukic is
most at home) are superb. In many ways, this episode reminded me a lot
of "The Ultimate Thrill" on BTAS - fun story, nice outcome.
We do get SOME character development, though. Oddly enough, the leader
of the Jokerz (named "J-Man") doesn't do too much in this episode; his
right-hand-man named Scab (he's the buffed one with the one jangly thing
hanging from his head - also seen at the beginning of "Rebirth (Pt. 1)")
gets a lot more air time.
It's also nice to see that the villain is the focus of an episode for
once. My biggest complaint about BEYOND thus far, aside from quick
endings, is that the villain is BORING. I got this impression with
"Shriek" and "Spellbound", as well as the comic book miniseries earlier
this year; here, the villains are the focus, and they are very
formidable. Superheroes need SUPERvillains to fight - it's good to see
that even though the Jokerz are just a street gang, they can give the
Bat a tough time.
The "initiation" sequence was nice, and the gang-wars were nice, too. I
wonder if we'll ever see the "T's" again...and what does the "T" stand
for, anyway? Their face isn't split in half so that rules out one
possibility...damn.
The downside? Bruce is hardly in this episode. "So go get them." That's
all he says. He didn't have much of a reason to be in this episode at
all, but still, this is a sign that the show will gradually be moving
away from Bruce and will be focusing on Terry's life.
All in all, a good episode. I'm wondering about one thing, though: whose
skeleton WAS that in the cave? All I saw was a grinning skeleton with a
tattered purple cloth and a pink flower on it. Hmmm...could it be?
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