Batman:The Long Halloween, Parts One and Two

Part 1 premiered June 22, 2021.

Part 2 premiered July 27, 2021. 

A note from your trusted holiday bloggers:

This animated special contains multiple murders, bloody corpses and curse words.  It's intended for an adult audience and is NOT recommended for young children.

It's Halloween in Gotham City.  At Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne (Jensen Ackles), aka The Batman, is spending a quiet evening at home.  His butler Alfred (Alastair Duncan) has candy to hand out, but Bruce points out that no children have trick or treated at the mansion for years.

Elsewhere, Gotham's police commissioner Jim Gordon (Billy Burke) is preparing to take his children Barbara and James trick or treating.  Their plans change quickly when Gordon is called into work.

District Attorney Harvey Dent (Josh Duhamel) arrives home to find his wife Gilda (Julie Nathanson) sitting alone in the back yard.  She wants them to spend Halloween together at home, but unfortunately, his job doesn't allow Dent to take off for Halloween.  

A mob informant named Johnny Vitti has been murdered, shot to death.  Dent is furious, because the next day, Vitti was supposed to turn state's evidence against his uncle Carmine Falcone (Titus Welliver), better known as "The Roman." 

Falcone is the head of a major organized crime family.  Gordon believes that all hope isn't lost.  If he, Batman and Dent work together, they can still take down Falcone.  He says Dent will work "in the light" while the Batman works "the other side," and instructs them to "bend the rules, never break them."  Batman has a long history with Falcone, since his father Thomas Wayne conducted business with the Roman.  

During his search for the killer, Batman is aided by his sometimes-villain/sometimes-girlfriend Catwoman (Naya Rivera).

At Falcone's headquarters, the Roman fumes over his nephew's death and believes Dent is to blame.  When it's time to discuss business, Falcone dismisses his bookish son Alberto (Jack Quaid), who the Roman describes as is "32, going on 13."  

Later that night, when Dent returns home, he's seriously wounded when his home is firebombed. 

The next month, Mickey Chen (Greg Chun) and his gang are gunned down during their Thanksgiving dinner.  The Chen gang had been employed by Falcone.  

This makes Batman and Gordon believe they have a serial killer on their hands.  They nickname the murderer "Holiday," since the killer only strikes on holidays.

Gordon and Batman question imprisoned villain Calendar Man (David Dastmalchian) in Arkham Asylum

The carnage continues on Christmas.  This time, Batman's greatest enemy, the Joker (Troy Baker) shows up and joins the list of suspects.  

Can Batman bring Holiday to justice before they commit another holiday murder?

J.A. Morris says:

It's worth noting that the first part of this movie premiered this past June, while the second part debut in July.  We're treating it as one film presented in two parts. 

I'm a big fan of superheroes and Halloween, and I've read the comic book miniseries that was the basis for Batman:The Long Halloween, so I went into this expecting to enjoy it.  And I did, especially Part One.  It features scenes that take place on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve.  This movie is tailor-made for this blog!

In addition to Batman, it features the Joker, the Caped Crusader's greatest nemesis, and Catwoman, who assists Batman in his quest to unmask Holiday.  We get plenty of fight scenes that feature Batman taking on various antagonists.  There's a great scene involving the Joker attacking Gotham City with a plane.  

The mystery behind Holiday's identity is a good mystery that I didn't immediately solve.  

Fans of "Mafia" movies will appreciate visual and dialogue references to movies like The Godfather which feature prominently in the Falcone family scenes.  The scenes that feature Falcone berating his son Alberto are also well done.  I found myself feeling sorry for Alberto.

The voice actors all did a good job in Batman:The Long Halloween.  Jensen Ackles (best known for his role on Supernatural) voices Batman and provides solid work.  Naya Rivera plays Catwoman.  This was Rivera's final role before her tragic death and the film is dedicated to her.  In a small role, Fred Tatasciore is great as the zombie Solomon Grundy.  

Part One of this two-part film is very good.  The second part is much weaker.  Holidays in the New Year are barely mentioned in Part Two.  Granted, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day pale in comparison to Halloween and Christmas, but I think the filmmakers could've done something more interesting with those occasions.  It makes for a disappointing finish to the story.

Batman:The Long Halloween, Parts One and Two is a movie that will be enjoyed by all fans of Batman and Holiday programming.  Since it features multiple holidays, it's something that can be enjoyed year-round.  However, the lackluster Part Two prevents me from giving it a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

2 and a half jack o'lanterns.

RigbyMel says:

Batman: The Long Halloween is a good animated adaptation of the comic miniseries of the same title by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.   The animated version suggests the art style used in the comic without straight up copying it and the story is a lot of fun.   

By virtue of the extended nature of the year-long string of murders,  we get multiple visits to Arkham Asylum and encounters with an assortment of villains from  Batman's extensive rogue's gallery. 

Poison Ivy (Katee Sackhoff) really makes an impression in Part 2 and Troy Baker's channeling of a Mark Hamill-esque Joker in Part 1 is fantastic.   

As J.A. Morris mentions above, there are fun meta references to other movies.  For instance, the scenes where Batman and Commissioner Gordon go to try and glean information from Calendar Man have strong Silence of the Lambs vibes.  

The notion of the serial killer who only operates on holidays is an interesting and creepy conceit and the mystery has enough surprises for Bat-afficionados and neophytes alike. 

Thanksgiving dinner a la gangster

My only real complaint is that it feels like the filmmakers got bored with the holiday murder concept by the time they got around to Part 2 and give it short shrift in that installment.   Still,  The Long Halloween makes for entertaining superhero/holiday viewing.   

RigbyMel's rating:

2 and a half jack o'lanterns

The New Batman Adventures: "Holiday Knights"

Premiered September 13, 1997.

"I'll bet you've been a good little Bat Boy this year.  Unfortunately, Harley and I are still on the naughty list!"
-Poison Ivy.

This Batman episode features three holiday vignettes.

December 22:

Christmas is approaching and the criminal duo of Poison Ivy (Diane Pershing) and Harley Quinn (Arleen Sorkin) are looking for some holiday fun.  They crash a party where they encounter Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy), Gotham City's most prominent billionaire.  Poison Ivy gives Bruce a kiss while wearing her hypnotic lipstick and Wayne becomes their servant.  

Poison Ivy kisses Bruce Wayne. 

Harley and Ivy take Bruce to a department store and go on a shopping spree, using Bruce's credit cards.

But the effects of the lipstick begin to wear off.  When Harley tries to kiss Wayne to restore the hypnosis, she accidentally knocks him down an open elevator shaft.  But thankfully, Wayne changes into Batman and pursues the larcenous duo.

Bruce Wayne is forced to carry Harley & Ivy's haul.

December 24:

Police detectives Harvey Bullock (Robert Costanzo) and Renee Montoya (Liane Schirmer) are working undercover as a mall Santa and elf, respectively.  They're investigating a shoplifting ring that's been hitting Gotham department stores.

Detective Bullock is not very good at playing Santa. 

When several kids are witnessed stealing merchandise, the detectives spring into action.  They're shocked to discover that the shoplifters are actually Batman's old foe, the shapeshifter known as Clayface (Ron Perlman).

Thankfully, Barbara Gordon (Tara Strong) is shopping for Christmas presents and changes into her Batgirl identity to fight Clayface.

December 31:

New Year's Eve arrives, but Batman and Robin (Mathew Valencia) don't get to ring the New Year in peace.

Thousands are gathered in Gotham Square to celebrate the New Year.  However, the Joker (Mark Hamill) plans to set off a sonic bomb rigged to the Gotham New Year's Bell which will go off at midnight and kill all the revelers.

Joker has a henchman check the rigging of the sonic bomb. 

It's up to the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder to prevent the Joker from carrying out his evil plan!

Will Gotham City have a Happy New Year?

RigbyMel says:

I quite enjoyed this episode of vingettes from different points in the holiday season.

It's always fun to see Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy wrecking havoc and their shopping montage - making use of Bruce Wayne's credit cards - is pretty amusing.   Of course, they don't know that Bruce is actually Batman and wind up getting more than they bargained for!

I also like that Harley really wants a Christmas tree, but Ivy forbids it on plant abuse grounds   (although, Harley sort of gets her wish in the end ...).

The second sequence is not quite as strong.   Detective Bullock's terrible Santa-ing is fun to watch.   I really wish that Batgirl had been given more of a chance to shine here, but it's still nice to see her in action.

Joker's madly malevolent mayhem definitely makes for a fun adventure.

Joker unmasks ... some Joker masks!

He makes some good use of joker masks to put Batman and Robin off of this trail, and plays a mean stride piano version of "Auld Lang Syne."   One has to give him points for creativity!

Gotham City Christmas decorations. 

There's also a touching little tag sequence near the end of the episode that takes place in the wee hours of New Year's Day that involves Commissioner Gordon (Bob Hastings).

Batman and Commissioner Gordon share a New Year's toast.

The voice work in this episode is top-notch.   I can't say enough good things about Arleen Sorkin and Mark Hamill's villain voicing.   I also like that Robin the Boy Wonder is obviously being voiced by a teenager in this episode,  that is not often the case and Mathew Valencia did a good job here.

This holiday superhero episode is definitely worth a look if you've the time or inclination (and since it covers both Christmas and New Years here's a special variant rating for you!).

RigbyMel's rating:

3 candy canes

AND

3 champagne flutes

J.A. Morris says:

I mostly agree with my co-blogger, but I think I enjoyed "Holiday Knights" a little more than she did.

Ivy and Harley's Christmas shopping was loads of fun.  In fact, their holiday story would have made a great full-length episode.  Harley is a great character and was always lots of fun in this series.  I laughed out loud several times at her and Ivy's antics.  

The Clayface portion wasn't as strong, but Clayface is an interesting character and one of the most bizarre villains in Batman's rougues gallery.  I also appreciated the presence of Det. Renee Montoya in the Christmas Eve segment.  Like Harley Quinn, Montoya was created for the animated series.  She was a good character and has gone on to have a long career in comic books as well, fighting crime as Batwoman and the Question.

In addition to Montoya, Batgirl's appearance in this segment gave it two protagonists who are women, something you don't often see in superhero programming.

The Joker is one of the greatest villains of all time and his scheme here is as humorous as it is evil.  I was also glad to see that New Year's Eve was featured in this vignette.

The Joker prepares to pop open his New Year champagne.

Compared to Christmas, there are very few New Year's-themed episodes, specials or films.  It's nice to have one more show to watch on New Year's Eve.

A huge crowd gathers to ring in the New Year in Gotham Square.

This episode can be found on the Batman:The Animated Series, Vol. 4 dvd set.  It's also available for streaming on Amazon and iTunes.

"Holiday Knights" is something that should be added to your Christmas and/or New Year's viewing and is highly recommended.  If there's anything to criticize, it's that these stories could have been expanded and this series could have gotten more holiday episodes.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5


3 and a half candy canes.

AND

.5


3 and a half champagne flutes.