Batman: The Animated Series- Perchance to Dream

 "You don't like the fantasy world I've created for you?"

This episode is, I suppose, simple: we get a high concept... er, concept that simply plays out in its own inevitable way. Besides, the "protagonist wakes up to find their life was all a dream and reality is more mundane" thing is such well-trodden grounds that I've no doubt whatsoever that it will have its own TV Tropes page. Despite all this, though, this episode is bloody good- and perhaps ideal for a series with such short individual episodes.

So Bruce is knocked unconscious and wakes up to a reality in which his parents are alive, he's just become engaged to Selina Kyle (this being a dream of his ideal life, this is proof of how he feels about her!) and someone else is Batman. And yes, it's fun as we- and Bruce- are introduced to this new reality, which Bruce comes to accept. At last he can find true happiness.

And yet we know it can't end there. The way Bruce finds out is clever- books and newspapers are gobbledygook: we can't read in dreams because apparently it's a left brain thing. I'm not sure if this is a myth or not- left/right brain things often are, it seems- but, as a plot device, it works well. Although, surely, anyone under the influence of this machine would have the same reaction?

Still, the showdown with the Mad Hatter is satisfying, dramatic, and Bruce's solution is truly shocking. And it's the perfect character point- for Bruce, the truth matters more than happiness.

Batman: The Animated Series- Mad as a Hatter

 "Gotta do what Mr Hat says!"

Yet another strong episode this time around as another member of the Batman's traditional rogues gallery is introduced in animated form. And, as with Mr Freeze and Clayface, this is done with considerable nuance and sensitivity. Not only that, but it's a nice little guest starring role for Roddy McDowall... and indeed for Kimmy Robertson, Lucy in Twin Peaks!

As ever when I discuss incels, I must emphasise that there's nothing inherently bad or creepy about lonely men who find it difficult to approach or attract women, whether from shyness or something else. Such men are perfectly capable of being decent, of not choosing the path of bigotry and poisonous Andrew Tate- style ungentlemanly behaviour. 

Jervis Tetch, though, is not one of those decent men: he is, in modern parlance, an incel. Yes, his beloved Alice has friend zoned him, but she has the right to her own free choice. None of us has the right to demand the attentions of another, let alone the creepy mind control that Tetch employs, even after earlier deciding that it would be wrong. And Alice's boyfriend, Billy, may be a "jock", but he gives every sign of being a decent sort. Men and boys like Tetch- and alas, there are many of them- need to seek better role models and start behaving like gentlemen. Because, bound up with misogynistic assumptions though it is, the concept of a "gentleman" is perhaps not something to be discarded in this imperfect world.

This is a short but nuanced treatment of a theme that is, if anythung, even more relevant today. Plus it has loads of Lewis Carroll references. What's not to love?

Batman: The Bookworm Turns & While Gotham City Burns

The Bookworm Turns

"I solemnly swear by my oath as a crimefighter that this outrage will not go unavenged!"

This episode boasts two important firsts. This may not be, after we saw the splendid King Tut  last week, the series' first original villain, but it's the first of many one-off baddies played by big names- and the Bookworm is a magnificent character. Just as importantly, it's the first episode I've blogged that I've never seen before. All episodes up until now I saw as part of a series of repeats in the '90s.  I've seen many more episodes, of course, but in a haphazard fashion.

More importantly, this two-parter is superb in every way, and truly special.

To begin with, the Bookworm is both an inspired character with a real backstory and layed with both charisma and unusual depth by Roddy McDowall. He’s fun, with that silly reading lamp on his head and all the literary quotations, and what’s particularly cool is that he’s a nerd who essentially gets to be cool, to have a gang of his own and, of course, to have a pretty girlfriend in Lydia. But, like Frank Gorshin, he’s dangerous and unstable, see-sawing between his calm and rational side and his fits of rage, especially when reminded of his failed literary career.

His plan, such as it is, consists at this point only in set pieces which make no sense, but we don’t care because this is Batman. And this episode shakes up the format daringly by opening with the apparent assassination of Commissioner Gordon, a deliberately shocking and effective opening which packs a punch even if it does result in a bit of a cheat. It’s worth it, quite frankly, just to see the passion with which Adam West’s Batman vows revenge.

There are little firsts, too: a new POV shot for the Batmobile at the start and, of course, the first time a celebrity guest- in this case Jerry Lewis- opens the window while the Dynamic Duo are climbing a building. We also get used of asbestos that definitely wouldn’t happen these days plus some wonderful literary cleverness- there are not many episodes where the cliffhanger is a devilishly I genius riff on a John Donne lyrics. And, of course, the Bookworm ordering his gang to remove their glasses before fighting while Batman implored Robin to “never hit a man with glasses”.


While Gotham City Burns

"Red alert! Red alert! We are trapped inside a Cookbook at 5th and Cedar!"

I know the cliffhanger is really an outrageous cheat, skipping back in time a few minutes to give Batman time to work out the danger Robin is in and come up with a creative solution, to the amazement of Chief O’Hara. But it’s so fun to see Batman being the detective he is and working it all out, and worth the rather large amount of time we spend on the cliffhanger resolution.

This is another episode of set pieces, really, with Bookworm’s actual criminal plot almost racked on as an afterthought at the end. But, as with the previous episode, we don’t care. There’s a giant cookbook and an outrageous escape. It’s all such fun. And the Bookworm’s comeuppance is not so much his capture as the moment Bruce corrects him on a quotation from Don Quixote. This is one of the finest two patters yet, with a splendid new villain who deserved another outing at least as much as any we’ve seen so far.

The Longest Day (1962)

"Cor, stone the crows!"

I'm not a particular fan of war films, but I'm not prejudiced against them either. After The Dam Busters and Battle of Britain it's time for this epic saga of D Day which, shockingly, is the first film I've blogged to feature John Wayne, Henry Fonda or Robert Mitchum. Those are three omissions I'm certainly glad to rectify.

John Wayne doesn't get all that much screen time as Colonel Vandervoort, but he dominates the film. He's sort of the David Bowie of acting (those are two names you don't often hear together!); Bowie has a restricted vocal range but sings well within that and is careful always to stay within his range; he's primarily a songwriter and musician, not Freddie Mercury- as "Under Pressure" demonstrates. John Wayne may not be the most versatile actor, and he has presence and charisma rather than talent, but in the right role he can be truly extraordinary. This is one of those parts.

Films like this don't always quite work (hello, Battle of Britain), feeling disjointed and lacking in spirit, but this film is both masterly structured and full of heart and pathos. Little vignettes like the American shooting a surrendering German and then asking what "Bitte, bitte" meant, or the poetic scene late on with the lost American soldier and the crippled and philosophical British parachutist whose painkillers are wearing off. It's a nice touch that the German and French characters speak in their own language with subtitles and, while the Canadians are insultingly  downplayed, both British and American forces get a lot of screen time, with the slight bias towards the USA being understandable because of Omaha Beach being the bloodiest and most dramatic.

It's a long film, but manages not to drag, balancing the large scale with the human experience well. The ending feels sudden, but I suppose that's realistic. A much recommended film.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

"The vet's going to geld him."

Wow. I know this film is famous, but I wasn't expecting it to be so good. So good, in fact, that I'm going to ignore the awkward fact that all the apes speak English. I can be nice that way.

The opening of the film both sets up the premise and gives us a bit of misdirection; we expect the film to be about Taylor and the two surviving crew members, but in fact they both die early on- Dodge first, of course. We expect this: he's black.

Our three astronauts have travelled in an interstellar craft to another star system, it seems. Incredibly from our vantage point we have dialogue establishing that they're from the twentieth century: Landon graduated in the "class of '72". Still, although only eighteen months have passed for the crew, time dilation now means that the year is now 3978. Everything and everyone they ever knew or lived is dead, as Taylor delights in telling his crewmates.

I had to raise an eyebrow that the female character was essentially put there to be a brood mate(!), but both the set-up and the establishment of world are good. Taylor is a fascinatingly nuanced character, a cynic on the surface but with some high ideals hidden deep down.The real depths of his character are a real credit both to the script and to Charlton Heston's superb performance.

The plot unfolds slowly before the big reveal: this is a world where sentient apes rule and humans are mere beasts. Technology and social mores, it seems, are about a century behind the world which Taylor left. Powered flight remains unknown and theories of evolution are controversial. 

The ideological contrasts between the apes are shown through the characters of Zaius- a fundamentalist anti-evolutionist with a real contempt for human "beasts", the scientifically curious Zira and Cornelius, who holds heretical theories about humans being more advanced in the past. The big reveal at the end- and Heston's performance makes it pack a punch even though popular culture has long since spoiled it for all of us- is, of course, that this is Earth. Humans destroyed themselves in some sort of self-inflicted (nuclear?) disaster, and the senior apes know this. Zaius's speech to Taylor at the end is crushing: humans are warlike and murderous while apes are not,and paid a just price. Suddenly we can no longer see Zaius as straightforwardly prejudiced. This links back cruelly to Taylor's speech in the first scene as he speculates on whether humanity has become less warlike and cruel. This is a masterly piece of structuring.

Everyone should see this film. It's certainly the best I've seen this year.