Batman: TAS, episode #62: His Silicon Soul

Right off the (ahem) bat, this is obviously an episode that plays right into this meme. But that doesn't completely trivialize His Silicon Soul. Yes, it's kind of an odd epilogue to a story that was already told in two episodes in the first place. But one can suppose that Bruce Timm and Co. were simply huge Blade Runner fans, which I wouldn't blame anyone for. But also, as noted before, Kevin Altieri mentioned that the original script for the HARDAC story was even longer than the two-parter it became, so perhaps this was simply the part three that was originally envisioned. The philosophical underpinning of this story is a bit heavier than the rest of the material frequently seen in TAS, as well. But if it was, in fact, the last segment of that original longer story, you can also see where the cuts might have happened and perhaps been too imprecise.

For example, our scene opens with crooks breaking into the Cybertron warehouse in search of gear to sell. But when they start cracking the crate with the symbol of HARDAC, they're quickly assaulted by the Batman duplicant. If it was so easy for said construct to break out of said crate, why did it wait for these underworld commoners to start the process? Is it because their attempts reactivated it? How? Why? These are story notes that would've taken seconds to demonstrate (and which we would've seen in most episodes) but which are bypassed here to the story's detriment. In contrast, when the duplicant shows up at Wayne Manor, the normal example of good direction appears, as the image in the mirror of the Batman's cowl creates a memory of HARDAC in the duplicant, who then traces those symbols in unison. That's a great example of using visuals, rather than dialogue, to convey both the confusion and anguish of the machine at hand, which later plays right into the ending question of whether it had a soul (hence, the title.) These are questions which, again, draw directly from Blade Runner (What makes us human?) and are worth asking in all kinds of fiction, not just SF, as well as everyday life. I'm just not sure they make for one of the best stories about The Batman, which are usually more character-driven, as comics tend to be.

Other moments like the question of the crate keep occurring. If Alfred has already recognized that the duplicant is a machine and, in fact, points that out to the machine itself, why does he immediately try to activate the Batcave's gas defenses? He knows it's pointless, which it is then proved to be. This is out of character for Alfred, wastes story time, and would immediately make any viewer with any knowledge of the issues the plot is trying to convey question everything about the inclusion of this scene. The one good element about it is when the duplicant asks the computer to "Magnify lower right quadrant" which, again, almost can't be seen as anything but a Blade Runner reference. On cue, we're reintroduced to Karl Rossum, who is voiced by William Sanderson, from the film. He has no interest in dealing with anything but the vegetables in his substantial garden (He's gone organic!) which, of course, turns into a battle scene when the two Batmans begin doing the Spider-Man thing. It also turns out to be the world's most fragile greenhouse when breaking one support post and one exterior panel ends up collapsing the entire thing. This is pyrotechnics (albeit without the fire) for the sake of it. Why? Was this intended as a message for the internal anguish of the machine that would somehow lash out to destroy everything a la HAL 9000, as mentioned in the Heart of Steel, part 2 post? Again, the overall ham-fistedness of it makes it difficult to tell. Our return to Gotham City also includes a side wipe transition, which is a really unusual approach for the series as whole, which usually just does cuts to a new location.

Those broader philosophical implications soon begin to intersect with current events here in the real world, as HARDAC's plan to replace all of humanity with duplicants (The Great Replacement Theory!) once again becomes the primary focus. In the process we're told that the duplicant Batman is now a fully operational Batman station. Again, the action vis-a-vis reality tends to get a little muddled in the urge perhaps to fit the story into broadcast time limits. A forklift is chucked into a shelving unit and, despite the minimal damage that brought down a 100-foot greenhouse, in this case, the shelf doesn't even come all the way down. Similarly, our Batman is punched through a warehouse wall and doesn't seem to display any of the effects of same except for having his cape torn in half, which becomes the more easily displayed visual cue so that we know which Caped Crusader is The Batman and which is the repli- ahem, duplicant. That question extends to the final scene, where the duplicant is defeated, with half of Bruce Wayne's face and half of a Terminator face displayed. Is this a message about the internal steel and diffident nature that our hero's work requires? Or is it just a setup for that final line: "Could it be that it had a soul, Alfred?"

So, yeah, not one of the series high points, IMO. Next time, we're introduced for the first time to a classic Batman villain that most modern fans had and have no clue about, Maxie Zeus, in Fire from Olympus.