Batman: TAS, episode #11: Be a Clown

The one thing I'm always looking for in any kind of media is story. You have to have a decent story to draw me in. Giving me the bog-standard approach will always make me sigh in disappointment as soon as it becomes apparent that the writer(s) seemed to be just following the typical model. Unfortunately, Be a Clown is a perfect example of that. It's a "typical Batman vs Joker" story, not only assuming that the audience knows whom both The Batman and The Joker are and what their histories are, but also what their "typical" encounter would be. In this episode, the Joker's vanity compels him to act out against a politician who's clueless about the realities of his own city and also about the people who live there; most notably the "costumed freaks" that he threatens to "run out of town", including The Batman. Hamilton Hill is so stock Hollywood "mildly corrupt and completely incompetent politician" that the opening scene, with the cops conducting a high-speed chase right through the mayor's ribbon-cutting and press conference, probably could almost have been an ironic joke with the audience (e.g. "This is what's utterly predictable... so here it is!") We're also tipped off that this will be a Joker story from the name and tagline of the development that the mayor is announcing ("Gotham Acres: A Fun Place to Be!") It's all very much hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-cinderblock obvious.

That extends beyond the plot, with The Batman swinging into events on a crane-hoisted I-beam and knocking the intruding crooks into a dumpster with: "Garbage collection is usually Monday, but in your case I'm making an exception!" You can't really get much more "comic booky" than that, if your interpretation of comic books is low-grade, Super Friends-style material. But the thing to keep in mind is that BTAS was intended to reach a broad audience and while a lot of kids might be able to appreciate some of the style points of many episodes, some of them were just looking for good ol' Batman to do his usual thing against his greatest foe, The Joker. Adding in the story about the incompetent mayor also being the incompetent parent who learns his lesson when his son is inadvertently kidnapped by the homicidal clown is just this side of making fun of typical kids' TV ("Your parents still love you, even when they're jerks... and even when you run away to help a clown try to kill The Batman!")

As much of a fool as Mayor Hill seems to be, he does have one inadvertent insight: "Batman and Joker are cut from the same cloth!" As noted before, the dynamic between the two is actually a very important aspect of any story involving those two characters. Mark Hamill's Joker immediately reactd to that statement in a manner you might expect: "I have much more style!" but then immediately targets his anger not against the person he's been compared to, but the person who he claims has insulted him. It's just a way to set up another contest with The Batman in his eyes, which is precisely what the plot of this episode is. So, even though it's not especially imaginative (The Joker hiding out in Gotham's abandoned amusement park funbouse? Sigh...), it's still in line with the relationship that these characters had established in the 50+ years leading up to this episode. An actually funny part about it is that The Joker as Jekko the Clown is easily the grimmest clown ever seen. Seriously, Pennywise has nothing on this guy. I find it hard to believe most of the children gathered around would be willing to get anywhere near this creature.

Visually, there's not a lot that makes this episode stand out. The best scene is definitely the one where The Joker asks Maura, the boardwalk fortune teller machine, to tell him how he should deal with The Batman. Not only is this a fine example of the Clown Prince of Crime's insanity, but it's also a nice, moody encounter with the carnival trappings of a bygone age; again pointing out BTAS Gotham's "between times" setting. There's also a great moment when Bruce Wayne reacts the same way I do to hearing Mark Hamill's maniacal cackle: "That laugh..." On the down side of the visuals, after 2/3 of the episode pretending to be "Jekko", we're supposed to believe that Jordan is surprised to know he's spending time with The Joker, when the only thing that changes is the latter's hair. He's kept the orange fringe cap on even while he's changed into his normal purple suit! But perhaps that was part of the point. There's no truly insane scheme here. It's just a simple escapade. Joker is a vaguely murderous goof here, instead of the wicked threat we saw in Joker's Favor. However, the chase scene on the roller coaster is well done and they didn't dwell on the metaphor of the coaster destroying the funhouse any longer than necessary, so there was some thought put into the pacing and direction, at least. And there was one good line: "They don't make straitjackets like they used to... and I should know." We'll just stroll right by the schmaltzy ending.

So, not the greatest visit by the clown, but not all of them can be brilliant. Next up is Appointment in Crime Alley; not only the latest produced episode of the ones we've seen so far (26th), but also one based directly on a Denny O'Neill-written comic from 1976.