Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Catwalk

Catwalk gave us the team up that no one asked for in Catwoman and the Ventriloquist.  And yet, this episode worked surprisingly well and just may be my favorite Catwoman spotlights. Although it was fun seeing Batgirl and Catwoman team up, its also nice seeing Selina being a bit villainous as the puppet master pulled her strings.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Batgirl Returns

Trouble in paradise? The episode opened with a slightly inappropriate fantasy in which Barbara rescued and then seduced Batman. Guess sidekicks just didn't cut it for her any more. Being a huge Batgirl fan, I loved this episode which truly gave Babs the spotlight.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Bad Days: Justice League

Its a bad day when the Justice League gets shown up by the Teen Titans.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Batman Villain Tiptoes

No, these aren't shows, but these gifs of Bat-foes tip toeing are mighty mesmerizing.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Almost Got 'Em

This is one of those "classics" that really does deserve its good reputation. The unconventional device of vignettes told by villains over a poker game was a great hook with a great Croc-centric twist. Overall, the Joker tale with Catwoman was the best and I enjoyed her "almost got 'im" line quite a bit.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Cat Scratch Fever

While Catwoman sadly never landed a breakout episode, she always did manage to land on her feet. This is another more than adequate outing for the felonious feline who opened the episode on probation as long as she vowed to abandon the Catwoman persona. But as luck would have it, Selina stumbled onto some cat thieves who caught her precious Isis. That was all she needed to bust out the catsuit.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Tyger, Tyger

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

Not a bad poem, unfortunately the episode didn't really live up to it. And one thing that bothered me, was Tygrus even a tiger? Looked more like Wolfus, or at best Panthrus. This episode was a real shame because Catwoman can't seem to catch a break with a truly great episode. I know this is an unfair criticism, but even though I am perfectly fine with the idea of Man-Bat in this world, gorilla and cat-people just don't seem to work for me, nor was I a huge fan of Cat-Woman... or should it be Woman-Cat?

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Perchance to Dream

 

Is it really impossible to read something in a dream? Even though its pretty obvious from the title that some sort of dream is involved, this episode still maintains a great deal of suspense. Who is The Batman? Who is behind the dream? And the tragedy of Bruce actually believing his nightmare is over and his parents are alive is heart wrenching. Would Bruce choose fantasy or grim reality? You just knew this one wouldn't end well. 

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Animaniacs

Over the course of Warner Brothers animation history, there have been some truly amazing parodies and crossover with the heroes of the DC universe. This was not one of those. Instead, the use of the word "robins" during a dramatization of Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream led to a poor translation of Batman and Robin saving the day for all of 3 seconds. It appears that the Robin in question was Tim Drake - the sidekick in the comics in 1993, though strangely it was Dick Grayson who was animations Robin of the day in Batman: The Animated Series.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Dark Knight Court

Not only did Dark Knight Court cleverly play on the title of one of Batman's best known nicknames, but the episode dished out homages to a number of superheroes who eventually formed the elderly team of Dependables. I will admit, the mash up of Marvel and DC characters onto a single team does make the purist in me a little unconformable, but the parody was still pretty memorable. 

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.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Batman No Man's Land Series Concept

Plans for another potential Batman animated series to debut in 2012 or 2013 have crumbled into a million shattered dreams. This series would have featured Nightwing as well as Cassandra Cain and Damian Wayne as Batgirl and Robin, but it made the mistake of being too dark. Huh!? Bat Mite would not be happy. According to character designer Coran Stone  at Deviant Art:

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Batman at Zellers

Low prices were the law at the Canadian department store Zellers in the late 80's. A series of four animated advertisements were made for the store featuring an uber-exagerated Batman and the "nabbed four" most famous of his rouges (thanks to Batman '66): Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, and Riddler. These are some of my favorite of the animated commercials that have been made over the years thanks to the high energy combined with classic designs. All four are a lot of fun though I would have to say the Catwoman is probably my favorite owing to her purple outfit and green cape. Stylish!

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Return of Batduck

 

In 1992, The Plucky Duck Show was imagined as a spin-off of Tiny Toon Adventures, though only the first episode was original to the spin-off series. It just so happened that this episode, a full length adventure, payed homage to the then in release, Batman Returns. The episode was less parody and more meta-humor packed focusing on Plucky Duck hoping to land the lead role in Tim Burton's Batman sequel. After all, Plucky had "played" Batduck before.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Kitty Kat Kaper

The first thing that must be said is that the triple K title is unfortunate and ridiculous and hopefully was an accident. I noticed that the DVD packaging spells Caper correctly, but the animated title card is clearly spelled "Kaper."

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Bat Man of Shanghai: Bat Man

And all too soon this series of shorts concluded leaving me yearning for more. Once again this was just spectacular as the trio of characters clashed. I even enjoyed the cutaways that depicted a cat, bear, and bat brawling. If there is a weakness, its the lackluster story, but with this much amazing style and action, who cares. This just may be the best of the already superb bunch.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Bat Man of Shanghai: Catwoman

And the bar has been raised. This first in a trio of shorts from the anime studio Wolf Smoke featured the three main characters in the live action movie The Dark Knight Rises but placed them in 1930's Shanghai. I absolutely love this short from the concept to the designs to choreography. It is a flawless minute that even manages to sneak in a peek at Bane who would be the focus of part 2. Not sure how Cat Woman's prehensile tail functions, but who cares. The only flaw here is that this begs for more episodes.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - MAD Presents The Curious Case of Benjamin Batman

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - DC's World's Funnest #5

Reprinted from June 2, 2012 when the video was originally spotted:

This short is one clay crowbar away from being a classic. It looks like Dug Calder, animator at Aardman posted this short (#5 of 10) on Vimeo. And while I have not kept my general negativity toward the DC's World's Funnest shorts a secret I will say, I kinda liked this one. For one thing, it was actually about superheroes - identities and costumes and such. For another thing, I found the fact that Batman and Joker laughed at the tied up Robin to be amusingly twisted. Now if only we could vote for Robin to live or die!

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - DC's World's Funnest #4

In probably the worst of the Aardman shorts so far, Batman spent half the time running from no one and Superman talked constellations. Catwoman and Joker were no shows. I pretty much hated this and don't dare to even ask how many more of these there will be.