Batman: The Animated Series (Season 1)

Way before the DCEU, before the Arrowverse, and before the MCU, we had the DC Animated Universe. It just started with Batman: The Animated Series, but eventually branched out into a full universe with Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League, as well as spinoffs like Static Shock and Gotham Girls. That ambition alone was enough to peak my interest, to think we had an actual television DC universe with a Justice League crossover all the way back in the early 2000s was impressive enough. But that's not really why I want to marathon the DCAU, it's more personal than that, and it's all because of one of my favorite superheroes, Batman.

I have an interesting history with Batman. Like many series such as Indiana Jones, Lord Of The Rings, and Pirates Of The Caribbean, I discovered Batman through the LEGO video game series. LEGO Batman: The Videogame was my entry point into the Batman mythos, and having shaped my perception of the characters, it's honestly still my favorite depiction of Gotham and its cast. Despite lacking in dialogue, it effectively introduced the majority of his iconic rogue's gallery to a six-year-old me, and its uniquely gothic and atmospheric take on Gotham remains striking and memorable. At the time, I thought it was entirely original since it didn't seem to be based on any movies, but that wasn't entirely the case. LEGO Batman's central inspirations were the Tim Burton Batman films, particularly their gothic depiction of Gotham and the Danny Elfman score of the first film, as well as Batman: The Animated Series. Once I discovered that, I immediately rushed to watch the Burton movies as well as Mask Of The Phantasm, and I adored all of it. But now, it's time I watched the series that inspired the game that got me into Batman in the first place. This was a long time coming, and I hope it lives up to my lofty expectations...

Batman: The Animated Series is an episodic Saturday Morning Cartoon about Batman fighting crime in Gotham. There are some bits of continuity like Harvey Dent eventually becoming Two-Face, Barbara Gordan eventually becoming Batgirl, and a brief build-up to a fight with Ra's Al Ghul, but that's really it. Most episodes involve Batman trying to stop a villain from going ahead with their evil plan, meaning that what has to make a show are the characters. Thankfully, that's probably BTAS's greatest strength, it nails Batman and his rogue's gallery to a tee. Batman is more multi-faceted and interesting than I've seen in pretty much any of his movies. He's as brooding as you'd expect from the character, but never unwilling to have a bit of fun even as he takes every situation seriously. He's not perfect either, several episodes give Batman an arc about trusting people, and several others focus on him continuing to reckon with his parent's death. BTAS even manages to give him a Bat Family without using it as an excuse to lighten the tone like in the Schumacher films. But even better are the villains, who are usually pretty well-developed and almost always a ton of fun to watch, with Joker, Mr Freeze, Poison Ivy, and of course the original Harley Quinn being the highlights. BTAS even manages to takes villains I had previously thought little of like The Clock King and Ra's Al Ghul and make them way more interesting.

However, it does take the show some time to find its footing at first. Going by production order, some of the weakest entries in the season are within the first ten-or-so episodes, whether it's due to inconsistent animation by weaker companies like Akon, or bad scripts that showed the writers just didn't really know what they wanted the show to be. It wasn't until the episode Two-Face where I feel BTAS truly came into its own, and it did so by deciding to really start exploring the humanity behind its villains. Characters like Mr Freeze, Lloyd Ventrix, Man Bat, and Clayface proceeded to get really tragic backstories that make them a lot more sympathetic and interesting, and one episode in particular has a villain consider quitting crime to see how things turn out. This ended up making me really excited for each new episode, to see what villain the writers would introduce and what they would do with them. However, by the end of the over 60-episode-long season, I was starting to hope we'd begin to get more crossovers between the villains. There were a few like Almost Got 'Em and Harley And Ivy, two of my favorite episodes for that matter, but at this point, the writers had created this really detailed playground of Gotham with loads of colorful and interesting characters, but just weren't truly utilizing it to its fullest potential. 

For a weekly Saturday Morning Cartoon that aired over 60 episodes in a single season, BTAS's presentation is remarkably polished. The animation itself can be inconsistent, usually depending on the animation studio that worked on a given episode (once again, looking at you Akon), but the art direction is top-notch. The character designs do so much with so little, prioritizing capturing the essence of the characters over being realistic. Similarly, the backgrounds are often dark and lacking in detail, with buildings being dark rectangles, and rooms often only being illuminated in small areas. You could argue that this is to make animating easier, but you rarely notice the limitations to begin with because it fits with the dark gothic look of Gotham perfectly. The voice acting is stellar too. From Kevin Conroy as Batman to Mark Hamill as Joker to Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn, the voice cast is giving out consistently energetic and fun performances in pretty much every episode. The music is also fantastic,  not just because it borrows leitmotifs from Danny Elfman's perfect Batman 1989 soundtrack but because each episode has its own unique orchestral musical score. There were no reused tracks here, every single episode had a movie-quality soundtrack. All 65 of them.

Highlights:

Two-Face: As mentioned above, this episode is where BTAS really finds its voice. Getting to know Harvey Dent for even a few episodes did a lot to make his transformation into Two-Face all the more tragic, especially since the writers worked to mine it for all of the dramatic potential it could possible offer. I especially loved the ending of the first part, probably the most shamelessly gothic moment in the series.

Heart Of Ice: Yeah, this shouldn't be a surprise. Heart Of Ice is a very well-crafted story, efficiently turning Mr Freeze from a goofy villain to tragic and sympathetic figure with two perfectly-written monologues that bookend the episode.

Joker's Favor: This was just such a neat concept for an episode. Joker's Favor focuses around the titular character making a citizen do a favor for him in exchange for his life, and it uses this premise to really explore how the fear of Joker affects regular-day citizens. It also introduces Harley Quinn.

The Clock King: Yeah, this episode was just plain fun. The Clock King may be a bit of a cartoonish villain, but I love how mundane and kinda relatable his tragic backstory is, and he really manages to put Batman through his paces throughout the episode. Not to mention the top-notch Lupin-esque battle atop a clock tower.

Robin's Reckoning: Similarly to Two Face, this is a two-parter that feels big, not only tackling Robin's backstory and his attempt at getting revenge on those who killed his family. It doesn't add anything particularly novel to the story, Batman Forever would basically use this take on the Robin mythos verbatim, but it's well-told and very cinematic.

Almost Got 'Im: This is another one of the more iconic episodes from what I can tell. It's really nice to see the villains actually interact with each other, and their individual stories of the closest they came to defeating Batman feel like they could be episodes in themselves.

Birds Of A Feather: The Penguin kinda got the short end of the stick this season. I love his design and voice, but he ended up getting a bunch of the show's weaker episodes, with the exception of Birds Of A Feather. This is a hard and uncomfortable episode to watch, with Penguin trying to turn a new leaf and join high society, unaware that they were never going to accept him. Poor thing.

The Man Who Killed Batman: From the title, I was expecting this to be a super sad alternate universe episode about everyone mourning Batman's supposed death. Instead, it's one of the funniest episodes in the series, about some random guy thinking he killed Batman and Joker and Harley Quinn being the only ones we actually see having a funeral.

Harley And Ivy: Harley And Ivy is one of the most influential episodes of the series. At the time, Harley and Ivy were just a random pairing of two female Batman villains, but now? Harley Quinn's relationship with Poison Ivy has become a fundamental element of her character, as is her eventual and likely inevitable decision to break off from Joker. She ends up running back to him by the end of the episode, but it's clearer than ever that those two really aren't that great for each other.

His Silicon Soul: This was a pretty sad episode. We spend the entire episode with a robot version of Bruce, who despite being the last piece of HARDAC meant to complete his plan of destroying the world, ends up piecing together his identity and ultimately sacrifices himself because, like Batman, he can't kill. 

Mask Of The Phantasm: I had to include this movie somewhere. To put it simply, MotP is one of the best pieces of Batman media ever made. It's short but efficient, giving Batman one of his most compelling and unique character arcs, introducing a gripping new antagonist, providing one of the freshest takes on a Batman origin story, and giving the Joker some of his best moments in the series all in less than 90 minutes. The production values are also way higher, with action that far surpasses anything the series has done so far.

Overall, Batman: The Animated Series is a pretty great Batman show, especially on a fundamental level. It gets the mythos right, from the heroes like Batman and Robin, to the grimy gothic city of Gotham, to the varied developed lineup of villains. This is Batman to me. But even more, while not the most consistent in quality and I wish the series would let its villains cross over a bit more, BTAS's high production values and willlingness to tackle mature themes and moral ambiguities with its antagonist make for one of best Saturday Morning Cartoons of the time.

4/5 Stars

Stargate SG-1 (Season 4)

At this point, Stargate SG-1 has settled into being a bit of a comfort show. It rarely blows me away and never surpasses my favorite sci-fi series but the likable cast and breezy feel make it an easy watch. It also helps that each season has been improving on the one that came before it and Season 4 only continues that steady climb in quality. 

Season 4 of Stargate SG-1 has a strong sense of dread to it. Both SG-1 and Apophis spend much of the season preparing for what seems like an increasingly inevitable war, between the former spending more time with the Tok'ra and the latter killing off System Lords to take their armies. Because of this focus on building up to a big event, Season 4 doesn't have too much in the way of an overarching story, but the payoff in the finale definitely makes it worth it. There are still plenty of solid subplots in the background, though, like the Russians getting a Stargate after the battle with the Replicators or the purposefully obstructive Tok'ra scientist Anise. The only running storyline I didn't really like is the heavy increase on romantic storylines between O'Neill and Sam. I don't dislike the idea of giving SG-1 a romantic subplot, but it felt like it came out of nowhere only to get multiple consecutive episodes dealing with it (Divide And Conquer, Window Of Opportunity, Beneath The Surface). 

Where Season 4 lacks in plot, it actually manages to make up for with a surprisingly solid lineup of standalone episodes. There may not be as many hits as Season 3 had, but there also aren't really any low points. From fun high concept episodes like Upgrades and Window Of Opportunity, to more intellectual fare like The Other Side and Tangent, to character-driven episodes like Divide And Conquer and Chain Reaction, it feels like SG-1 finally found a formula that works for them. The one-offs in this season are fun, varied, and consistently entertaining, not relying on aping Star Trek or the same trope all over again. My one gripe here is the fact that the season kinda runs out of steam near the end, the last few episodes are easily the weakest of the bunch, but even then, they still don't reach the lows of Seasons 1-3. And of course, the aforementioned finale makes up for it.

Highlights:

Window Of Opportunity: Window Of Opportunity is one of the weakest time-loop episodes I've seen yet. Of course, that's an incredibly high bar and it's still the best episode of Stargate so far by a longshot. O'Neill and Teal'c are easily the show's most successful pairing and it feels like the writers realized it this season because this episode is almost exclusively those two. The iconic "do anything in a time loop" feels like RDA and Judge riffing and goofing off, and it's great.

Chain Reaction: I really like the NID stuff, because of course our government would prioritize getting weapons and literally nothing else. Chain Reaction shows the NID at their most ruthless though, as they threaten Hammond's family to get him to retire. Thankfully, it leads to a fun buddy cop-esque teamup between O'Neill and Maybourne, an even more crippling defeat for the NID than last season's, and an encapsulation of why Hammond is such an important part of the SG-1 team.

2010: Bad future episodes usually tend to take place in a grim post-apocalyptic setting where everything's edgy and destroyed. 2010, on the other hand, takes the approach of showing off a false utopia, a future that seems bright and happy at first only to have that facade slowly pulled away throughout the episode. It's a super fresh concept that we rarely get to see from this type of episode, and it lets us witness both a potential happy ending and a potential tragic ending for SG-1's fight with the Goa'uld at the same time.

Exodus: Blowing up a goddamn sun is the coolest thing SG-1 has ever done, bar none. Exodus is pure spectacle and it makes for easily the best finale so far. It helps that it also has the best cliffhanger so far, between Teal'c potentially dying, and SG-1 being flung into another galaxy with Apophis.

Overall, Season 4 is definitely the strongest season so far, with a strong build-up to a great finale and plenty of consistently fun and creative standalone episodes. While it has its weak points like the romantic subplot and a rough final few episodes, this was yet another big improvement for Stargate SG-1.

4/5 Stars

Stargate SG-1 (Season 3)

Ever since the Season 2 premiere, Stargate SG-1 has had a villain problem. It took me a while to piece it together but with Apophis missing and eventually dead, and the writers scrambling to find a new villain to replace him, SG-1 started to lose its direction. Thankfully, Season 3 shows the writers making some big changes to give the series a fresh start, and I think it paid off pretty well.

Season 3's first half feels a lot like Season 2, jumping between villains and focal storylines without really settling on anything. The premiere continues where the finale left off by having SG-1 fight Hathor, but she ends up getting killed off when that ends. There's Sokar, but he rarely actually gets any depth or screentime, so it never feels like he's a greater threat than Apophis was. While Season 2 already felt a bit aimless, it at least had the Tok'ra storyline to give it some cohesion. Season 3's first half had zero direction whatsoever, and it felt like the show was losing me. However, halfway through the season, the writers systematically reset the status quo and refocused itself on something new. The storylines about Skarra and Sha're are finally resolved, Apophis turns out to have been alive and is more furious than ever, SG-1 gets a new goal of finding the Harcesis child of Apophis, and the finale introduces a Borg-esque antagonistic species called the Replicators. Where the first half of the season felt confused and aimless, Season 3's second half exuded confidence, as if the writers finally figured out what they wanted from the series. It took a while, but by the end of Season 3, it finally felt like SG-1 was able to put the movie behind it and find its own unique voice.

The standalone episodes, while as uneven as ever, have also improved quite a bit. There's a much stronger focus on ethics here, with episodes like Pretense and Learning Curve pitting SG-1 against alien cultures with traditions that would be unethical or inhumane by human standards. The show's exploration of consent in possession in regards to the Goa'uld and Tok'ra has also been expanded upon, which is great because this is one of the few pieces of media to actually tackle such a tricky subject. Season 3 is also the point where SG-1 started to repeatedly revisit old planets and plot elements for entirely new storylines, like how Past And Present brings back Linea, Point Of View brings back the Mirror Universe, and Pretense and Shades Of Gray bring back the Tollans. I also like this season has less frequently knee-capped the main characters, with the exception of the noticeably weak Legacy. The other weak points of Season 3 mostly involve really irritating side characters, like the constantly screaming soldiers in Rules Of Engagement and the titular jokester in Urgo. However, by no means does any of these episodes near the low points of the first two seasons. As a whole, Season 3's one-offs are a massive improvement.

Highlights:

Forever In A Day: If you know me, it should come as no surprise that I ended up loving this one. Sha're gets killed off surprisingly early on here, so Forever In A Day focuses on Michael dealing with his grief over his wife's death and finding a new reason to stay at Stargate. It's a solid character study with a pretty neat twist at the end.

Jolinar's Memories/The Devil You Know: This two-parter brings back Apophis, and he definitely has one hell of a return. Maybe it's just me but this episode gave me serious Temple Of Doom vibes, between the hellish subterranean environment and the way Apophis really puts the SG-1 team through the ringer. My only disappointment is that this was the first episode Sokar started to become interesting, only for him to be killed off by Apophis. What a shame, just as he was starting to show some potential...

Pretense: Pretense does the best job at exploring the differing ideals between humans and the Goa'uld, as the Tollans hold a trial for who ends up taking custody of Skarra. This isn't the first courtroom episode but it's easily the best one so far, between the fun banter between Daniel and O'Neill, to the returning species such as the TGollans and Nox, to the very scummy-looking Goa'uld Zipacna, and the thought-provoking dialogue. It also resolves the Skarra storyline on pretty a satisfying note.

Nemesis: Nemesis is yet another slam-bang cliffhanger finale that leaves a lot of loose ends hanging. While not quite as climactic as Within The Serpent's Grasp, it definitely feels like more of a finale than Season 2's ending, between the reveal of the enemy that even the Asgard is struggling against, the payoff of NID's rogue operation being shut down in Shades Of Gray, and a truly insane final act that leaves a lot in the air. With most of SG-1 stuck on another planet, Daniel stuck on Earth, Thor almost dying, and a Replicator on Earth, it feels like no one is truly safe.

Overall, Season 3 is definitely the strongest season of Stargate SG-1 so far, with a better batting average for its standalone episodes and a second half that gives the series a fresh sense of direction. However, the first half continued the aimless feel of Season 2 and the show still never ended up really wowing me.

3/5 Stars

Stargate SG-1 (Season 2)

Season 1 of Stargate SG-1 was fine, definitely having its high points, but a bit of a shaky start for the series. Season 2 is absolutely an improvement, but I don't quite know if it's enough of one yet.

Season 2 puts a lot of focus on fleshing out the show's elements, both in terms of world-building and giving the characters more defined arcs. I'd argue the main storyline of the season involves the Tok'ra, a symbiotic race similar to the Goa'uld. Early on, Carter is forced to become a host of a Tok'ra named Jolinar, who dies but gives her some special powers. The rest of the season has SG-1 try to seek out the Tok'ra and start an alliance with them. They're a neat race and do flesh out the world of Stargate quite a bit, and I like how the shows explores the culture shock between them and the humans. There's a few other solid running threads, like Apophis reeling from his humiliating defeat in the Season 2 premiere, Sam Carter's father issues, and best of all, Jack O'Neill's relationship with the enigmatic Asgard. As a former MCU fanatic, it's definitely strange to see Thor and the other Morse Gods as aliens, but I can't say it isn't super fascinating to learn more about their species. While Season 1 felt like SG-1 was still testing the waters with the Stargate, there were plenty of moments in Season 2 where it felt like the writers were really expanding the scope of the series, which is great.

However, this season is still pretty episodic and it's with the standalone episodes where Stargate SG-1 continues to feel inconsistent. To be frank, Season 2 has way more strong one-offs than its predecessor, particularly the time-related ones like Matter Of Time and 1969. I also liked the more thought-provoking issues that Secrets and The Tok'ra delve into. However, I noticed that SG-1 has a crutch that it tends to fall into with its standalone episodes, as a surprising bulk of the show's one-offs revolve around a cast member getting possessed, infected, or otherwise incapacitated. Even some of the more plot-heavy episodes like In The Line Of Duty and The Fifth Race pull this, and it gets really repetitive. Don't get me wrong, Star Trek had its own clichés (the Holodeck, time travel), but it never resorted to repeatedly knee-capping its main cast to remain interesting. I also can't talk about Season 2 without bringing up its infamous clip show finale. While I thought it was a fine ending to the season with a solid cliffhanger (nowhere near as bad as Shades Of Gray), the lack of build-up like in Season 1 does leave it feeling a lot weaker than the previous finale.

Highlights:

The Serpent's Lair: The Serpent's Lair continues from where the Season 1 finale left off, chronically a pretty massive battle between Earth and the Goa'uld. There's a lot of action, super high stakes, and SG-1's most definitive victory to date. It's definitely a worthy payoff to all that buildup.

The Tok'ra: The Tok'ra was a big episode that really could have worked as a finale, not only having SG-1 form an alliance but also resolving the storyline of Sam's father on a satisfying note. I also like the surprisingly complex moral dilemma at play here, how SG-1's attempt at an alliance are held back by their implicit biases towards any sort of possession, even symbiotic possession like that of the Tok'ra. It's very Trek.

The Fifth Race: This was easily the most successful Stargate episode to date, blending comedy, creativity, and great world-building. O'Neill not being able to speak English starts off very funny, but then the episode turns into a more science-driven adventure about decoding what he's trying to say. The ending where he uses an eighth chekron, talks to the Asgard, learns about the Four Races, and learns that humans are in the running for Fifth Race does a lot to expand the scope of SG-1.

Overall, Season 2 of Stargate SG-1 was generally a pretty solid improvement over the first, with better world-building and writing, and way more genuinely strong episodes. However, the general quality is still pretty inconsistent and the one-offs can feel a bit repetitive.

3/5 Stars