![]() He’s a lonely man seeking connections in the world. Part of what sets Tetch apart from so many of Batman’s other villains is that what he wants in this moment is very personal. It’s easy to punch someone in the head, but hard to punch someone in the mind. While Bats ends up on top as usual, the Hatter’s particular skillset seems to directly target Batman’s fear of hurting innocents. The way Tetch’s mind-controlled minions look in their Alice-themed costumes is downright spooky, with their little human faces poking out of these hilariously oversized costumes.Īnd then there’s Tetch’s boss, who’d threatened him with occupational decapitation earlier, threatening Batman with actual decapitation. I’m going to coin a term for it: Whimsicreepy. As Batman starts pursuing Tetch, the story fixation starts to really take shape.Īs Batman enters Gotham’s Wonderland park – because of course, it has a Wonderland park – the show could’ve gotten cartoonish, but it doesn’t. This is a psychological sci-fi story about a guy with a pair of fixations on a person and a story. Here, we start to really see how the limitations of the show’s timeslot and audience pushed the team behind Batman: The Animated Series to be more creative. Thanks to his encounter earlier in the day and an observation from his erudite butler, it doesn’t take Batman long to figure out just what’s going on and to pursue Tetch. Indeed, as soon as Jervis has Alice in his carriage, he’s using his mind-control tech to create a more impressive and likable version of himself to present to the much-younger woman. Of course, the look on his face when he finds out that her boyfriend, Billy, has hurt her, tells us that his understanding of right and wrong is on deeply unstable ground. ![]() He says that it would be “better to withdraw like a gentleman.” It occurs to him, of course, that his mind-control technology could make her behave however he likes, but he doesn’t want to reduce her to a “soulless shell.” Tetch, voiced by Roddy McDowall, carries a forest-sized flame for his assistant Alice, and finds out that she has a boyfriend. One thing that sets Tetch apart from most of Batman’s other villains is that he knows what he’s doing is wrong right from the start and says as much. His assistant Alice has the misfortune of a certain name and golden blonde hair Tetch fixates on her. Tetch is obsessed with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and views his whole world through that lens. Things start going downhill quickly, though. Tetch’s boss, on the other hand, threatens decapitation if Tetch underperforms again. When Bruce steps in to see him, the billionaire is warm, congenial, and generous. ![]() Jervis Tetch is an employee of Wayne Enterprises working on neural microchip technology. The first interaction between Bruce Wayne and Jervis Tetch doesn’t look at all like their final interaction. Freeze’s very personal story and Scarecrow‘s ability to hone in on one of Batman’s real weaknesses. This week Batman: The Animated Series introduces us to a villain that sits somewhere between Mr. In the worst, the team was pushed into a corner and forced to create some dumb episodes. In the best moments, the limitations forced the team to get creative. That dichotomy has led to some of its very best and very worst episodes. ![]() Batman: The Animated Series straddles a weird line between being a story about a vigilante seeking justice for murder by fighting dangerous murderers and being a daytime kids’ show. ![]()
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