Batman:The Brave And The Bold: "Trials Of The Demon!"

Flash:This is the last straw, Scarecrow!
Batman:Your Halloween trail of terror dead-ends here.

Premiered March 20, 2009.

Batman's (Diedrich Bader) old foe the Scarecrow (Dee Bradley Baker) is back with an evil plan that will ruin Halloween and wipe out everyone in Gotham City.  He has genetically modified the city's crop of pumpkins.

Scarecrow poisons a pumpkin.

As soon as the jack o'lanterns are lit, they will emit a gas that will cause Gothamites to hallucinate their greatest fears and act violently towards each other.

Scream Queen screams from the sky.

Thankfully, Batman is assisted by the Flash (Andy Midler) who will try to confiscate every pumpkin in the city with his super-speed.  But Scarecrow has a partner as well named Scream Queen. She screams deadly sound waves at the heroes.

Flash grabs the pumpkins just in time!

Can Batman and Flash thwart Scarecrow and Scream Queen and prevent  mass slaughter in Gotham City?

Scarecrow comes at Batman with a scythe!

But that's not all!

The Seasonal Spookiness continues when Batman time-travels back to Victorian London.  His friend Jason Blood, better known as Etrigan the Demon, has been accused of supernatural crimes.  Several women have been found in a catatonic state.

An angry mob captures Blood and plans to kill him.  But the real culprit is "Gentleman" Jim Craddock (Greg Ellis), who is being assisted behind the scenes by a demon named Asteroth (Tony Todd).

Jim Craddock plots an evil scheme.

In his time, Batman is known as the World's Greatest Detective.  But in order to clear Jason Blood, the Dark Knight will need the help of  the greatest crime solvers of all time:Sherlock Holmes (Ian Buchanan) and Dr. Watson (Jim Piddock)!

Review:
I'll be honest, the only "actual" Halloween portion of "Trials Of The Demon" lasts about 4 minutes and takes place during the episode's cold opening.

Scarecrow's hideout isn't much of a hideout!

SPOILER ALERT:Scarecrow's plan to destroy Gotham city is thwarted before the show's opening credits.  But the main story of the episode features demons, stolen souls, an angry mob carrying torches, a giant bat, an old, abandoned windmill and other things associated with horror movies.

Asteroth prepares to take a swing at the Batman.

Plus, Jim Craddock wields a skull-scepter as a weapon and he will eventually turn into the villain known as Gentleman Ghost.  So the entirety of "Trials Of The Demon" constitutes a Halloween episode.

 It's a lot of fun to watch Batman team with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  There's a funny scene where they try to deduce each other's name. The Demon Etrigan (and his alter ego Jason Blood) was created by comics legend Jack "King" Kirby.  I think Kirby would've been proud of the way Etrigan is portrayed here.

Two of the greatest (fictional) detectives meet for the first time.

 As I've said in an earlier review, this series represents the lighter side of the Batman.  But only to a certain degree.  The scenes that feature Etrigan battling Asteroth are very intense for a "kids" show.  Same goes for the part where the Londoners enact mob justice on Jason Blood.

Etrigan creates a more "Victorian" costume for Batman.

 Holmes is written here in a way that's consistent with his origins.  At one point, he's forced into a fight with Craddock, but he's never portrayed as an "action hero."

Craddack and Holmes face off!

 The voice actors here are all well cast.  Diedrich Bader was perfect for the tone of this series.  In between punching out bad guys, he often cracks wise and makes bad puns on the villains names.  Holmes is portrayed by Ian Buchanan, Twin Peaks fans will remember him as Dick Tremayne.  The villains are well cast too.

If I have any problems with the episode, it's the portrayal of Dr. Watson.  There's a scene where Watson makes an incorrect deduction.  This prompts Holmes calls him "an imbecile", which is mean, and the viewers are meant to agree with the detective.

He's the fastest man alive, but can Flash outrun the scream of Scream Queen?!

This episode is available on dvd, blu-ray and currently streams on Netflix.

Batman throws a flying kick at Craddock.

"Trials Of The Demon" is a good, action-packed episode of a great series the contains enough Halloween and horror elements (plus a bit of humor) to make for excellent viewing in late October.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 jack o'lanterns.

The Adventures Of Batman: "The Great Scarecrow Scare"

First aired on November 9, 1968.

"Stuff this top cop in a closet, while I masquerade as the top cop masquerading as me!"
-The Scarecrow

It's Halloween, and Gotham City is holding its annual charity costume party.  Batman (Olan Soule), Robin (Casey Kasem) and Batgirl (Jane Webb) are in attendance.  They're surprised to see their enemy the Scarecrow at the party.

It turns out to be Commissioner Gordon (Ted Knight) in a "Scarecrow" Halloween costume.  He says the "costume service" delivered it by mistake.  Gordon is there to act as MC of a charity auction.

But when the commissioner steps away, he's attacked by the real Scarecrow (also voiced by Knight) and his minions!

The villain takes out the commissioner with eggs that are filled with knockout-gas.  With Gordon captive, Scarecrow will pose as Gordon...dressed as the Scarecrow.

Batgirl has followed her father and gets gassed as well.  Scarecrow takes her hostage.  Batman says they can track her down through a transmitter on her utility belt.

But the Scarecrow discovers the transmitter and decides to use it to set a trap for the heroes.  The Dynamic Duo will do everything they can to save Batgirl.  Will the combined talents of the three heroes be enough to stop the Scarecrow?

J.A. Morris says:
This is a short, slight cartoon, about 8 minutes long.  It's about one step above "limited" animation.  It sort of falls in the "so bad it's good" category. The Scarecrow is the perfect villain for a Halloween episode.  But hardcore DC Comics fans might be disappointed that this version of the Scarecrow (and his costume) is dumbed down for Saturday morning fare.  He doesn't have his fear gas and is basically just a thug in a scarecrow costume.  But his eggs that shoot knock-out gas are sort of humorous!

Scarecrow steals a painting at the charity auction.

The Adventures Of Batman is (rightly) overshadowed today by later Batman animated series, but it was the first Batman cartoon.  This series featured Olan Soule and Casey Kasem as Batman and Robin (respectively), they would go on to voice the characters for the next decade in various Super Friends series.

At the last second, Robin is saved from getting threshed.

Speaking of voice actors, both the cackling Scarecrow and Commissioner Gordon are voiced by none other than Ted Baxter himself, Ted Knight!  As good as they are, the voice actors are, unfortunately the best thing about "The Great Scarecrow Scare".  It's a credit to Knight's talent that I didn't recognize his voice until I looked up this series on imdb.

At least Mary & Lou never had to deal with the Scarecrow!

The "plot" here is weak.  We see Scarecrow steal a painting at the charity auction that's worth a lot of money...and then the painting is never mentioned again, it just turns into a "Save Batgirl" story.  Did Scarecrow sell the painting on the black market offscreen?

And why would Gordon think it's a good idea to attend a Halloween party dressed like a wanted criminal?  Isn't that asking for trouble, one way or another?  The costume service screwed up so he had no choice but to wear it?  I'm guessing a police commissioner would be smart enough to attend without a costume instead.

Scarecrow cracks a whip at Batman & Robin, a bound & gagged Batgirl looks on.

The worst thing about it is the portrayal of  Batgirl.  She gets easily captured, then accidentally gasses both herself and Batman, allowing Scarecrow to their re-capture them.  Batgirl is nothing but a victim and an idiot here.  Not a very positive message about a smart & powerful woman (remember, Batgirl is both a superhero AND a librarian!) to put in a kids' cartoon, even by the standards of the late 1960s.  On a positive note, she does use a tractor...

...to send an SOS to Batman!

But that's not enough to cancel out all the negatives.

This series can be found on several streaming video sites.  If you were a kid in the 60s or 70s, "The Great Scarecrow Scare" might be an enjoyable Halloween trip down memory lane, and it was fun to hear the voice actors again.  But without the nostalgia factor, there's not a lot to recommend here.

Batman throws a punch at Scarecrow's henchmen.

J.A. Morris' rating:

2 jack-o-lanterns