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Batman: The Animated Series

Nothing to Fear

Season 1, Episode 10, Aired Sep 15, 1992

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8.4

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Batman must capture a villain who calls himself the Scarecrow, the master of fear, while fighting his own inner demons.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Kevin McCarthy

Dr. Long

Bob Hastings

Commissioner Jim Gordon
Clive Revil

Alfred Pennyworth
Kevin Conroy

Bruce Wayne / Batman

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Fan Episode Reviews (6)

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One of my old favourites, which introduces one of my all-time favourite villains, the Scarecrow.

9.0

"Superb"

By Sorfty, Mar 04, 2007

The Scarecrow has always been one of my favourite Batman villains, and this episode presented him in good light. He was scary, not quite as scary as future versions, and had a few humorous elements, and has all the elements that the Scarecrow character requires.

The Scarecrow design is initially quite menacing. He looks grotesquely thin with blank eyes and an evil glare on his face. His voice may spoil this a little, as it is quite posh and pompous, but the general idea of his theme is quite chilling. His humour may even make him a little more appealing.

The scenes through the fear gas are quite effective and also quite scary. Batman's greatest fear is quite disturbing and it shows that he truly values his parents' opinions, and that he greatly fears bringing shame on the Wayne family. Through this fear we get our first look at Batman's origin, and how the death of his parents has deeply affected him and that he still fears his father's disrespect. Alfred has a touching moment in which he comforts Bruce, telling him that he knows what his father's belief would be, and he actually helps save Batman from the Scarecrow's fear toxins.

The Scarecrow comes closest to defeating Batman than any of the previous villains of the series, even though it was only the Joker and Man-Bat so far, but this still shows that he is without question a worthy opponent of Batman's. All these excellent qualities make this a classic Batman episode and a great introduction to the Scarecrow. 5/5.moreless
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Seemingly the basis for the 2005 Batman Begins movie. I just re-watched this episode and found it almost identical to Batman Begins. Hopefully the next Batman movie will be an original and not use stories already told before.moreless

8.7

"Great"

By ireland30, Jul 14, 2006

Seemingly the basis for the 2005 Batman Begins movie.
I just re-watched this episode and found it almost identical to Batman Begins. Civilians are gased by the fear gas and see Batman as a huge bat, just like the movie and then the final battle is almost carbon copied into the Batman Begins movie. Hopefully the next Batman movie will be an original and not use stories already told before. Even though the animated series was incredible I would like to see the screen writers get creative and not take the easy way out of writing a story. All in all this was a great episode.moreless
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the Scarecrow, a new villain in Gotham, wrecks havoc on batman with his fear toxins.

10

"Perfect"

By erothera816, May 23, 2006

in my mind, the scarecrow, like the Penguin, is a very underappreciated villain. When you see the director commentaries, they always say that he was not scary enough and that they constantly tried to make him scarier. By the end of the series he was more scary, but he had lost something that the first scarexcrow had, something this episode shows in full glory. This scarecrow is tough, intelligent, bent on revenge, sublte, and manipulative. the character is almost flawless. Also, there is a lot of important character development in this episode, as we see what batman deepest fear actually is. As we learn more about the characters, we should appreciate them more.moreless
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A great Scarecrow introduction

8.8

"Great"

By Darknight57, Mar 26, 2006

This episode is the series debut of the Scarecrow,and a good episode on so many levels. Not only does it have a good villan to work with but they use him to almost his full potential (I think they could have gone a lot deeper into the Scarecrows character) , but fortunatley this is the first episode in the series were they begin to develop Batman's character. We get to see Batman weak and terrified, we get to see what his worst fear is and we get to see him overcome it, acompanied with spectacular voicework by Kevin Conroy, whom I cannot praise enough for his work in this series. But as stated before we do not get to see Scarecrows character developed at all beyond a skinny proffesor who loves scaring people. Still this is a minor flaw and does little to diminish the quality of the episode.moreless
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Anytime you have someone in town stripping off layers of your psyche, you know there's going to be some character development at hand.

9.5

"Superb"

By SabotFox, Jan 27, 2006

This is one of my favorite episodes for this series! Scarecrow is one of those villains who specializes in getting under your skin, turning your worst fears against you. In his first encounter with Batman, Scarecrow is able to nearly cripple the Dark Knight, forcing him to confront a ghostly image of his father who confronts Bruce Wayne with a tragic revelation: Would Thomas Wayne have considered Bruce a failure?

This episode is filled with action, including an exciting fight on the top of a blimp, and has one of the greatest Batman lines ever: "I am vengeance. I am the night. I am BATMAN!" Batman has to face against two threats - real and imagined - while putting a stop to Scarecrow's thirst for revenge against Gotham University.

Terrific episode, with all the top notch voice acting we've come to expect from this series.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Water sprinklers usually won't work on a gasoline fire. The bank should have gone up in flames.
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QUOTES (8)
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- Batman: It's over, Scarecrow. Scarecrow: Only for you and the doctor, Batman.
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- Scarecrow: My revenge is complete! The university is in a grip of fear, and Batman has been annihilated. Nigel: Huh? Scarecrow: Annihilated! Destroyed, dead! Anthony: Then who's that? (Anthony shows Batman trying to climb to the blimp)
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- Anthony: (after Scarecrow tells his origins) Wow, he's a real professor.
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- Scarecrow: It seems we have underestimated the Batman. At least, the university is finished. Anthony: Gee, boss, I never like school, but, why do you hate the university so much? Scarecrow: They tried to destroy me! Nigel: You mean they kicked you out because you weren't smart enough? Scarecrow: No, you simpleton! (Scarecrow twists Nigel's nose)
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- Bullock: (to Batman) Whatcha got there, vigilante? That looks like police evidence. Cough it up... NOW! (shoves at Batman, who shoves him off; draws his pistol) Looks like I get to take it from you. Gordon: (entering scene) Bullock! What the blazes is going on?! Bullock: 'Blazes' is right, Commish. It's attempted arson. (indicating Batman, who's no longer there) And Zorro here is holding evid-- (notices Batman gone) Gordon: You were saying...? Bullock: (throws hat on the floor) Aw, never mind...!
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- Alfred: Imagine that, sir. Someone dressed up in a frightening costume, running around scaring people. What will they think of next?
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- Batman: I am vengeance! I am the night! I am BATMAN!
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- The Scarecrow: I am fear incarnate. I am the terror of Gotham. I am the Scarecrow.
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NOTES (11)
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- S.T.A.R. Labs is briefly mentioned in this episode.
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- Episode Villain(s): The Scarecrow
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- This is the first time Batman is effected with one of Scarecrow's fear toxins. The other times are in Dreams in Darkness and Gotham Knight's episode: Never Fear.
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- This is labeled episode 3 on the Batman: The Animated Series Volume 1 DVD.
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- This episode along with "On Leather Wings", "Christmas With The Joker", "The Last Laugh" and "Pretty Poison" was released on DVD as Batman The Animated Series: The Legend Begins.
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- Production-wise, this is the last episode in which Clive Revill voiced the character Alfred. After Revill due to a previous commitment, the role was taken over by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
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- Tiny Toon Adventures
  The guard at the University Bank is reading a comic book for Tiny Toon Adventures. This is a hat-tip to Bruce Timm and Eric Rodomski, who were responsible for this cartoon series.
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- Thomas Wayne has a speaking appearance in Batman's hallucinations, and this is his first appearance in the series. Martha Wayne is also seen with him in a photo.
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- Bullock calls Batman "Zorro" when talking to Commissioner Gordon. Coincidentally, Bruce had just seen a Zorro movie the night his parents died & the hero has had an influence on him. Also the creator of Batman was somewhat inspired by the Zorro character. Similarities include: Cave hideout, Both are rich, Both take their names from animals, etc...
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- Turns out Batman's worst fear is that he's shamed the family and disgraced his father.
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- This episode marks the first appearance of the Scarecrow.
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ALLUSIONS (3)
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- Title The title is a reference to the quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt: "There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
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- Tim Burton's Batman Computer: Axis Engineering, Bio Laboratories, Crane Chemicals, Macurity Manufacturing, STAR Labs... Axis is the name of the chemical plant from the 1989 Batman movie, and STAR Labs is a scientific facility from the Superman comics and later the animated series.
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- Zorro Bullock: Zorro here is withholding evid-- Zorro (a.k.a. Don Diego Vega) is a fictional masked hero, who fights tyranny in Spanish California. He, just like Batman, is a vigilante.
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