Brave and the Bold: "Mitefall!"

And so its come to this--the final episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold!

This episode opens fairly typically, with Gorilla Grodd launching an attack on a floating sea lab:

Grodd and his gorilla army throw ropes around the lab and start towing it out to sea, but luckily there are two heroes on hand to stop his latest nefarious plan: Batman and Aquaman, who make quick work of the seagoing simians:

Then we begin to pan out, and out, and we learn that this is merely an episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold being watched by...Bat-Mite, in his geeked-out, Batman-centric moderately-furnished basement:

Bat-Mite is very critical of the show he once loved, saying its grown predictable and tired, with sillier and sillier plots that his hero has had to wade through. He warmly recalls the early days, and talks about the voice of Batman (Deidrich Bader) and the show's "breakout character", Aquaman:

Bat-Mite, wanting the show to end before it gets any worse, works up a typically-perverse plan: to make the show so bad that it has to be cancelled!

As he sets about his plan, we see another member of the DCU watching all this, and he's aghast over the idea of Brave and the Bold being cancelled: the one and only Ambush Bug!

Bat-Mite sets right to work making the show bad as possible, while Batman and Aquaman, still in their own reality, continue to chase after Gorilla Grodd, who is busy turning citizens of Gotham City into giant bananas.

Bat-Mite gives Batman a wise-cracking "Bat-Luge", a prop only a toy manufacturer would love. To help grease the skids to cancellation even more, Bat-Mite replaces John DiMaggio as the voice of Aquaman with the kiss of death, actor Ted McGinley!

Ambush Bug shows up, and tries to convince Batman and Aquaman about what's happening. As fans start to turn the show off en masse, we can literally see bits of the environment disappear and turn into static. The Bug grows so desperate he addresses us, the viewers:

As things get worse, Bat-Mite only ramps up the awfulness. He has Batman use guns, transfers him to sunny Malibu, and, in the final act of denigration, adds a dog--no, not Ace the Bat-Hound ("a respected member of the Batman canon", Bug concedes), but Ace's nephew, Punchi-chi!

While fighting crime in Malibu, Ambush Bug is finally able to convince Batman that everything is wrong. Batman, starting to recognize that this might be the end, finds himself back in Gotham City. He and Aquaman decide that, if this truly is the end, then the least they can do is take out the trash one last time:

Ambush Bug explains to our heroes what's been happening, which triggers Aquaman's voice to go back to DiMaggio (after McGinley admits, "I don't really get this show"). We pan out again, to find this is all being watched by WB executives, including Producers James Tucker and Michael Jelenic. Its time, apparently, for a new take on Batman.

Bat-Mite is overjoyed that he's going to get a new, more "serious" version of his hero. He clears out space in his pad for all the new swag, but is a little put off when he sees the new Batman show stars...Batgirl?

Bat-Mite's feelings are mixed. He loves the dark, CG-looking show, and while he's happy Batman is involved, he's nervous the show seems to be called Batgirl. But, overall, he got what he wanted. Or did he?

Ambush Bug arrives to point out that if the Batman of Brave and the Bold is going away, to be replaced by a darker take, then there's hardly a place in continuity for a silly inter-dimensional imp. Bat-Mite argues against that, but as he begins to disappear, bit by bit, he accepts his fate, bidding us all an appropriate adieu: "That's all, folks."

But not quite: we catch up with Batman, who finds himself at a party, populated by all of his guest stars and guest villains: Aquaman, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, B'Wana Beast, Deadman, Superman, Prez...everyone has made it.

As stage-hands take away the Bat props and melancholy music plays overhead, the Dark Knight Detective promises he will never stop fighting for the cause of justice, and says one final goodbye:

...The End.


Well, what's to say about this? I knew I'd be sad when Brave and the Bold finally ended, but I didn't expect how sad. The final scene, seen above, is set to some sad piano music, and I don't mind saying that I got ever-so-slightly emotional watching it. After all, this era of Batman (and the greater DCU) is really the era I grew up on, so seeing it consigned to the dustbin of history reawakens those same feelings I had when DC did it in print.

This episode is almost M.C. Escher-like in its self-awareness; at some point I expected to turn around and see Tucker, Jelenic, and the animators watching me watch this show. Heck, they may all be watching me write this. I was of course thrilled that Aquaman got to be in the last show, almost on par with Batman. The acknowledgement that he was the "breakout character" was just the cherry on top.

I truly, truly loved Batman: Brave and the Bold. Not only for what it did for Aquaman, but for delivering a weekly trip back to a DCU that I truly loved, one that I thought was gone forever. I will miss this show tremendously, and a big thanks is owed to James Tucker, Michael Jelenic, and everyone at Warner Bros. who helped put this B:BATB together, and make it work.

Speaking of, since James has been so kind to the Shrine in sharing his thoughts about Aquaman and the show in general, we're going to follow up today's post with one more talk with him. So be here tomorrow for one last interview with Brave and the Bold Producer James Tucker!

Brave and the Bold: "Crisis: 22,300 Miles Above Earth!"

Batman: Brave and the Bold aired one of its final episodes (*sniff*) last Friday, and--as you could guess from the title--it was a doozy!

After an opening team-up between Batman and comedian Jefferey Ross(!), this episode opens aboard the JL Satellite, as the new League eagerly awaits a visit from the legendary Justice Society. Martian Manhunter, who is in charge of the the whole event, is particularly nervous, medicating himself with cookies. Aquaman, confident as ever, takes Manhunter's snacks away from him and tries to get him to relax:

But where's Batman? Well, he's busy on the trail of the deadly Ra's Al Ghul, who is engaged in yet another plot to destroy the Earth, in the guise of saving it from the scourge that is humanity.

Back at the satellite, the JSA arrives, and Aquaman welcomes them:

The JSA is taken aback by the group of heroes welcoming them: where's Superman, where's Wonder Woman, where's Green Lantern? It dawns on these veterans that they didn't quite read the invite closely enough, and these heroes greeting them are the Justice League:

The party is an awkward, painful affair. Alan Scott openly derides Guy Gardner, who is none-too-impressed with these "fossils." Wildcat is horrified at the slovenly conditions of Blue Beetle's room, and says so. Its gets so bad that Aquaman decides to entertain them all with an old Atlantean spiritual, "Nearer My Fins To Thee." It, too, doesn't go over well:

Batman sends out a distress call to the JL, but no one hears when a fight breaks out among the two groups, complete with pie-throwing--he's on his own. Or is he?

While being dangled over some nightmarish-looking sea creature, Batman is rescued by Ra's' daughter Talia. Batman, now safe for the moment, asks why she did that. Her answer?

Finally, the fight aboard the satellite ends, and our heroes finally notice Batman needs help. Ra's is not happy when, just as the thinks he's got the drop on his nemesis, the roof if blown off his place by the two teams! Aquaman invites Wildcat to go first ("age before beauty"):

...but of course, he can't wait and jumps in ahead of everyone.

The JL and the JSA work well together, taking on all of Ra's' goons. Aquaman and Dr. Mid-Nite make a particularly good team:

Ra's' sea monster attacks the heroes, and Aquaman uses his telepathic powers to not only stop it, but take control of the monster and ride it like a sea-horse, turning it against Ra's own men:

Ra's launches his doomsday weapon (with Batman and Talia strapped to it), but the two Green Lanterns combine their powers and rescue them. Batman faces off against Ra's, only to end with Ra's falling off a ledge, to this death. Sure.

The heroes regroup at the JL Satellite, and everyone has learned to admire one another. Everyone is hungrily gulping down some of Manhunter's pies, even Batman!


"Crisis" is a wonderful episode, very funny but also featuring lots of great action. Aquaman gets a ton to do, and it was wonderful seeing him use his telepathic powers one last time. I've said it many times before, but its worth repeating: I think Batman: Brave and the Bold did more for Aquaman for than it did for Batman.

In terms of order of production, there are two more episodes of the show left, and Aquaman does appear one more time--in the final B&B ever, "Mitefall!" But that episode is extremely meta, so in my mind, that makes this episode is the Sea King's last real "straight" hurrah as an prominent member of the Brave and the Bold cast.

Outrageous!

Brave and the Bold: "Powerless!"

There was a new episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold last Friday--and even better, it featured Aquaman!

The episode opens with a commercial PSA, starring Captain Atom where he essentially belittles two kids for trying to be heroic, despite their not having superpowers. Atom clearly believes that superpowers = hero.

We pan out and see that the commercial is being watched by the elder members of the Justice League--Batman, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. They are less than pleased at what they see:

To make matters worse, Captain Atom berates Batman for not having any superpowers, even going so far as to stating that heroes and villains alike have "bought" into the idea that Batman is to be feared, and we even get a couple of fantasy cutaways (featuring Despero, Giganta, Star Sapphire, and Weather Wizard) of Batman being smited, immolated, and crushed.

Before the other heroes can protest further, an alarm goes off and we see supervillain Major Force attempting to steal some nuclear-powered device. The League arrives, and after dealing with Batman, Aquaman, and Manhunter, Force turns his attention towards Captain Atom, and manages to steal his powers!

Back at the satellite, the three heroes and now-powerless Captain Atom survey what they think Major Force can do with the device:

As you might guess, the heroes want Captain Atom to stay behind at the satellite, because he is now so vulnerable. Atom of course is offended at this, but demurs--for the moment.

While the rest of the League (who we haven't seen to this point) goes after Force, Batman tries to get Captain Atom's mind off is problems by putting him through a Danger Room-style training session. When that doesn't work, Aquaman takes a different tack, but breaking into a full-blown musical number he calls "Aquaman's Rousing Song of Heroism", which features the Sea King trip-hammering through the DCU while signing about what being a true hero is all about--heart!:

The rest of the League calls for help with Major Force, and Batman, Aquaman, and Manhuter head down to Earth. They try and fight the nuclear-powered villain, but find themselves outmatched. Then Captain Atom--still powerless (and in his old Charlton togs, a nice touch)--arrives:

Despite having no powers, Captain Atom uses guts and brains to defeat Major Force, by using the device he stole to go into "overload", causing a massive explosion and knocking Force out. With Force's powers halted, Atom regains his abilities and returns to his previous form.

Later, we see Captain Atom has made another PSA about being a hero--unfortunately, he's learned all the wrong lessons. He now tells the kids not to be heroes because, being non-superpowered, they are so very, very fragile:

...the end!


This episode's musical number is Aquaman at probably his goofiest (I mean, check out that still of him as Black Canary), but it warmed my cold, cold heart seeing him so vociferously defending his pal, Batman, seemingly being even more offended by Captain Atom's comments than Bats himself.

These Season Three episodes have had a real "what the hell" quality to them; like the writers and producers figured why not just let their imagination really run wild, since they knew the show was ending. Having the main hero of this episode essentially learn nothing is a fairly downbeat message, but it goes down easy, wrapped as it is in the candy-colored trappings of your average Brave and the Bold episode.

Brave and the Bold: "Bold Beginnings!"

Another episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold with a whole lotta Aquaman, as well as some of my other favorite heroes!

After an opening segment featuring a team-up between Batman and Space Ghost(!!), this show opens with Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Plastic Man prisoners of the dastardly Mr. Freeze:

As Green Arrow struggles to pick the lock holding Aquaman, the three heroes thoughts naturally turn to Batman...as in, how lame it would be for him to show up and rescue them all.

This of course leads Aquaman to reminisce about the first time he met Batman...only for Green Arrow to interrupt and tell his own story about teaming-up with the Dark Knight Detective, which centered around catching the debonair villain The Cavalier.

After he's done, Aquaman resumes his story, only to be interrupted again:

Plastic Man tells his Batman story, about the time they took on the Dick Tracy-esque villain Babyface.

After Plas finishes, Aquaman sneezes, causing Arrow to drop his skeleton key. As it lay there on the floor, our heroes helpless, Aquaman finally gets to regale his pals with his story. It was soon after Arthur became King of Atlantis, "not even long enough to grow my luxurious beard!"

Aquaman's dolphin pal tells him there's trouble, and there sure is: Batman is being held captive underwater, being roughed up by some thugs! Whose thugs? One guess:

Aquaman steps in and helps free Batman, but Black Manta calls in reinforcements. The way Aquaman tells it, it was ten...no, twenty...no, fifty henchmen, plus at least that many killer sharks under Manta's mind control!

...Green Arrow doubts the veracity of this story. No matter, Aquaman keeps talking.

Just then, Mr. Freeze (looking very much like the version from the Batman TV show) arrives, meaning Aquaman is interrupted again. He's about to blast our heroes with his freeze gun, when Batman shows up!

Bats throws some explosives at the ice stalactites, freeing all three. Mr. Freeze calls in some henchmen of his own, and its a classic Brave and the Bold donnybrook. And Aquaman couldn't be happier!

Green Arrow severs the cord to Mr. Freeze's gun, leaving him helpless. He turns to find Aquaman, really mad that he didn't get to finish his story:

As Mr. Freeze slides across the floor, the adventure is over. Batman and Green Arrow depart, with Plastic Man asking for a ride. Aquaman decides to stay and wait for the authorities, choosing to "entertain" Mr. Freeze with the rest of his Batman story. Mr. Freeze lets loose a groaning "Ach du lieber!" and our story is over.


As a kid, my all-time four favorite superhero characters were, in order, Aquaman, Batman, Green Arrow, and Plastic Man. Because Plas was not in the JLA (at least until Alex Ross came around), I rarely--if ever--got to see them all in one book together. If DC had decided to put out a book with just those four, it would have rocketed to Favorite Comics status. So I got a real nerdy tingle over this episode featuring all four of them:

On top of that we get to see a glimpse of, for lack of a better term, Aquaman: Year One, Black Manta, plus a team-up with Space Ghost! I know I say this for nearly every episode, but...Outrageous!

Brave and the Bold: "The Criss Cross Conspiracy!"

Somehow, the Shrine missed this Season 2 episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold, which featured Aquaman in more-than-cameo role. Cartoon Network probably ran it on Sunday morning at 1:32 am or something.

While the main story focuses on Batman, Batwoman, and The Riddler, the opening segment is another story: we see Batman and The Atom fighting off an attack by the...less-than-imposing villain Bug-Eyed Bandit. They need help, and Batman has called in a friend:

Turns out that the Atom's size-controls on his belt have been damaged, leaving them trapped at microscopic size!

Aquaman is charmed by his pals' diminutive stature, but they remind him to "Focus!"

The Atom leaps aboard Aquaman, crawling into his ear. He directs the Sea King to grab a nearby hunk of White Dwarf Star and place it in another of the Atom's high-tech machines.

Aquaman obliges, but then the Bug-Eyed Bandit attacks with a swarm of his robot insects!

Batman, using his flying bat-wings, fires at the tiny robots, destroying them. Aquaman is, as he puts it, "on fire", but he nevertheless does the Atom asks, returning his pals--and the Bandit--to normal size.

Bug-Eyed Bandit is barely deterred, but his plans are interrupted when the Sea King pastes him one good:

With that, the crisis is over...though Aquaman is in dire need of some bug spray!


Written by Michael Chang (although I can't be sure this opener is by him, since the show has been known to swap out these segments), this is Aquaman at nearly his most comic, but who cares when you get to see Aquaman knock a bad guy off his feet?