Batman: The Brave and the Bold

The opening with the Green Lantern corps. is decent, since the show wants to focus on more obscure characters, it only makes sense we get Guy Gardner instead of Hal Jordan. He is presented here as a complete moron, but later episodes would have him as a competent fighter. Anyway, the teaser is fairly unimpressive, but not boring.



Then we get a real treat, and Batman fans can have fun spotting the various obscure villains during the jail break. Including King Tut, Black Widow, Egghead and so forth. Green Arrow makes his second appearance, and his first appearance as main guest hero in the main episode. We also get Morgaine LeFey, not sure how it's spelled, and Etrigan AKA the Demon.



The action here is well done, with various monsters, ogres and creatures. Green Arrow gets to shine, showing off his skills. Things really get interesting when Batman goes evil, in a suit that begs to be made into a toy, sadly that didn't happen. But that's got to be the coolest suit he's had along with the Green Lantern suit he wore in episode 10.



"Day of the Dark Knight" is another fine example of what Batman: The Brave and the Bold has to offer, great action and fun light comedy.

Still, as quickly as I wanna overview this episode and watch it again (it was pretty awesome), I first have to congratulate the excellent action scenes. The jailbreak battle with Batman teaming up with Green Arrow for the first time in the episode looked great and totally creative even thugh it was mostly batarangs and arrows flung at escaping jail birds. The fight scene in the beautifully-animated Camelot was choreographed with beautiful shaky and established camera shots that showed how cool Batman can look with an axe and shield. The climax and the perfect one-on-one duel between Green Arrow and the "Dark Knight" (the evil version of Batman, don't ask)proves that, even with some sort of budget, this show can look amazing when it tries hard. The intensity between melee combat was brisk and inspired, the epic multi-enemy battles were handled with style and imagination, and it all shows a fine example of what the director can do when Batman is handled in a more wider atmosphere. While I can complain why so little of Camelot was shot, the animation and design still looked great overall. The writing,, while once again often hilarious, brings a fresh concept (even against the Justice League's vantage) to the superhero table, involving the constant competition between Batman an Green Arrow. The hilarious dialogue proves some brilliant scenes sharing conversation during the jail break and Camelot woods battles where Green Arrow counts teh number of enemies he's taken out and Batman explaining why it proves childish and then counts his number afterwards. The funniest thing about it is that as mature as Batman is, he still has a little wild side in him that shows just how childish he can be when threatened by something so little. It's a detraction from TAS (Batman: the Animated Series) that is most appreciated and treated really well. However, this episode wouldn't be funny without Green Arrow's intentions to challenge, and the constant bickering continuers to shine throughout. So, on that note, this episode is hilarious, and has too much action and stylish to catch up with.

This episode, like most episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold to date, features two separate stories. The first is about four minutes long, before the opening credits. This "preface" featured Batman on OA, the homeworld of the Green Lanterns. There he helped keep Guy Gardner (in his first animated appearance?) in check...right up until Gardner (the most arrogant of Green Lanterns) caused a prisoner to escape his bonds. In the ensuing chaos, we saw almost every alien Green Lantern that I'm familiar with, but still got things wrapped up before the opening credits.



The main story featured Batman and Green Arrow. Teaming up to contain a jailbreak on Earth, they're transported by Merlin (yes, that Merlin) to the age of Camelot, where Morgaine Le Fay has taken control of King Arthur's kingdom. It's up to either Batman or Green Arrow to become the new champion of Camelot, pulling Excalibur from its stone and defeating Le Fay. Although I do like the chemistry between Green Arrow and Batman, I didn't really like this particular episode. It may be the time travel, it may be Morgaine Le Fay, it may be Etrigan...the magic-based villains don't always translate very well to TV, and that was the case here. My six year old son enjoyed it just fine, but I thought this was the weakest episode of the series yet.