Mind Games
Episode #23 - Mind Games
Original Airdate - December 4th, 1999
A young girl with psychic power mentally contacts Terry and begs him to
save her from the clutches of an evil organization known as "The Brian
Trust".
Media by Bird Boy
Review by J. Chen, aka The Overseer |
Credits:
Written by Alan Burnett
Directed by Butch Lukic
Music by Kristopher Carter
Animation by Koko / Dong Yang
Voices:
Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis/Batman
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
James Sikking as Harry
Rebecca Gilchrist as Joyce
Sandra Horse as Teacher
Brian Tochi as Albino
Cree Summer as Max
Mara Wilson as Tamara
Victor Rivers as Invulnerable Man
Kate Jackson as Bombshell
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Review
On a dark and stormy night, Batman patrols the skies above Gotham. Max
is on the radio link with him as he studies for a history test. "Ford,
Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton..." he mumbles. After Max cracks a joke
about Clinton being the fun one, a vehicle is struck by lightning and
crashes towards the ground. Batman rescues it easily, and the occupants
are a large man, a woman, and a small girl. The people assure him that
they're okay, and head off.
The next day at school, Terry sees the same girl enter his classroom
during the test. She tells him that she refuses to go and needs his
help. Strangely, no one else can see her. Terry makes a fool of himself
responding to her, but she finally vanishes. Later, Terry explains this
to Bruce, and he is quite puzzled. Then in the Batcave, the girl once
again appears in front of Terry. "Talk to her," Bruce tells him. The
girl somehow produces an image of a hotel room, while the same man and
woman from the night before. Terry notices stitched lettering on a sofa.
The man notices that the girl is doing something and begins heading
towards her. Terry moves towards him, and the vision disappears. The
letters-- G.P.T., stand for Gotham Park Towers, and Batman is off.
The rest of the episode mainly focuses on Terry's search for the young
girl. Terry and Max pull a "couple" trick to slip into the hotel, where
he manages to find out the room number. He encounters the large man and
throws him out the window, but amazingly after a multi-story fall, he
gets up and simply walks away.
Bruce is able to scan Terry's memories to ID the girl, who was reported
missing earlier. Terry also has a chat with the parents of the girl, who
reveal that she has special telepathic abilities, and she was supposed
to have been sent to a school for the gifted. It was all a lie though,
and she was really kidnaped by an organization called the Brain Trust.
It's a secretive society based somewhere in Europe, and they set up a
fake school to lure children away from their parents and into their evil
hands. From then on it's a race against time to save the girl from those
who want to take her away.
So what was good about the ep? A lot. I really enjoyed this one more
than the last few episodes like Once Burned and Rats. The paranormal
angle was relatively fresh, and the action scenes were very well done,
although they're really intense in this one. Watch it and you'll see
what I mean. Plus, some of the scenes were actually pretty creepy in an
X-Files sort of way, such as Batman's battle with a telekenetic villain.
This ep didn't suffer from a rushed pace either, thanks to scenes with
the missing girl's parents and Terry's search of the school. Max was
actually well integrated into this episode, although her on screen
appearance is again limited and still doesn't know who the man behind
Terry is.
Also, I believe an subtle message about the problem of missing kids was
thrown in. While Bruce scan's Terry's mind, Terry says "I can't believe
all these kids are missing." Bruce replies, "Believe it." Additionally,
Terry takes the time to watch over his little brother as he sleeps at
home for just a bit before he heads off to rescue the girl.
While the ep concludes nicely, the possibility of further conflicts with
the Brain Trust remains open. This season has introduced a number of
potential returners, such as the female government agent from "Joyride"
and Mad Stan from "Rats". The true powers behind the Trust are never
revealed, and I'd like to see Terry tangle with them someday. Overall,
great episode.
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