Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Cat And The Claw

The series opened with this two part tale, though several other episodes aired in the week between the first and second parts. Truth be told, despite me being a huge Batman fan at the time, I missed the Saturday premier of The Cat and the Claw and thought that the Sunday evening episode, On Leather Wings was the first to air. But my VHS recorder would ensure that I never again missed an episode. Just watching this now, its so clear that this series was a game changer for the genre.

While this episode may not be the cream of the crop, its still pretty solid and a darned fine way to kick of this series.In particular, the dramatic meeting between Catwoman and Batman at the beginning of the episode was perfectly done leading to an amazing chase sequence. the end of the first episode as well is solid, creating believable tension between Cats and Bats. Of course, the design of Catwoman was inspired, if not mandated, by the appearance of the character in Batman Returns. I really can't complain though, I think this version of the character looks amazing despite the blonde hair.

As for the other villain of the episode, in a series filled with compelling villains, Red Claw just doesn't stand out. I guess the fact that she was a woman was supposed to be her gimmick, but big deal, so was Catwoman and she was much better developed.While Red was created specifically for the series, she just didn't catch on like some of the other original creations did.

In the end, the episode was very watchable and pretty strong for a series opener even though I suspect it was chosen for the first to air mainly on the basis of it being a two-parter. "To be continued" is a good way to get viewers to come back for more - and oh did they!

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Episode Count: 0535
Series Count: (1 of 81)