Batman: TAS, episode #26: Perchance to Dream

Right away, the relatively routine amnesiac/my life was a dream story that we know is coming gets a bit of a boost when we see the opening credits and the name "Joe R. Lansdale" as the writer. Lansdale is famed for over 40 novels in the genres of horror, mystery, and SF, and as the creator of such cult classics as Bubba Ho-Tep. So, we know we're in the hands of someone who knows how to tell a story from the outset and, pacing-wise, we're not let down. The episode opens with a full-on car chase and transitions quickly from typical Batman adventuring to the jarring displacement of Bruce Wayne without a Batcave, marrying Selina Kyle, and living with his aged parents. None of this is handled with the "shocking moments" approach, either. Just as with the opening scene that plunges us straight into the action, the rest of the episode is told with what I often refer to as "the Howard Chaykin approach", wherein we're just dropped into the story and expected to keep up with what's happening. There's no exposition and little explanation. We're just expected to experience the story at the same rate as our characters do. A dream sequence story is, of course, ideal for this, as we get to feel Bruce Wayne's distress and confusion in the same manner he does. And, of course, as soon as we see The Batman swinging by, the meme-aware among us can only think of the famous Spider-Man vs Spider-Man pic.

The presentation of The Batman is also interesting because we get to see his actions from a completely external perspective. Instead of riding along with our main character, he's an observer like everyone else. The director and animators take full advantage of this opportunity, with one of the more elaborate captures of a criminal while The Batman is swinging on a rope and with a bit more destruction and spectacle than the Darknight Detective normally engages in, especially when matched up against typical thugs, rather than his more visually florid villains. But we're still grounded in the fact that a lot of other things are as expected. Selina Kyle is still voiced by Adrienne Barbeau. Dr. Leslie Thompkins makes a reappearance as the one medical professional that Bruce Wayne can really trust. And Bruce's life is basically idealized and everything he would've wanted if he hadn't been shaped into the hardened weapon by the biggest trauma in his life. You can feel the horror writer coming through the visuals, as well, with the great shadows and elaborate, Gothic-style architecture of the church tower at the cemetery.

The confrontation in that church tower is very much a moment for introspection for Bruce Wayne, as he acknowledges that The Batman is the one responsible for many of his nightmares, but also for the life that he has and which he's been determined to follow. Bruce Wayne is The Batman, as much as The Batman is Bruce Wayne. You can't really separate the two, despite the reassurances of both Alfred and Leslie that Bruce's life isn't completely worthless as simply a dilettante playboy/executive. And then we discover this was all a Mad Hatter scheme. That makes sense in many respects, as the underlying question of Alice's adventures in Wonderland was whether they were all a spectacular dream, or had somehow magically occurred. But it's also only one episode away from when we first met the Hatter, which is a little awkward from a series pacing perspective. ("Him? Again?") Honestly, it was even more questionable based on the two episodes' original broadcast dates, as they were separated by only a week (October 12, 1992 and October 19.) So, it's not like HBO is really breaking stride here, but it's kinda strange for them to have maintained it.

But then we discover that the motivation of the villain is somewhat off-kilter, too. The Hatter claims that he plunged The Batman into this dream world because "You ruined my life!" So, he gave the object of his ire the perfect existence and then proceeded to complain that his target didn't accept it? It would normally be the complete converse. Either you trap your enemy in a nightmare and understand why they would break free or they're not really your enemy, right? Unless the Hatter understands that The Batman needs that torture, that drive, that pain in order to be The Batman? And depriving him of that is more torture than living with the memory of his parents' murder would ever be? That's something that I would expect The Joker to understand, given the deep-rooted connection between our hero and his most famous antagonist. And, if that's the case, why would the Hatter sound so offended that The Batman chose not to accept that dream world? It was either intended to inflict pain because "You ruined my life!" or it was intended to be a gateway to something better which the Hatter would provide for reasons unknown. So, despite a well-told version of a rather hackneyed scenario, the ultimate motivation of the villain seems kind of confusing here. In the end, it's more a tale that tells us something about our main character, with the Hatter as simply a convenient excuse to create it, which is disappointing from a character perspective, but still interesting for the overall series about The Batman.

Next time, we head beneath the streets of Gotham to find The Underdwellers.