The Best Episode From Every DC Cartoon (Part One)

Well, almost every one.

Hello fellow kids! Did you know that years before Marvel attempted a comics-style interconnected universe on a global scale, DC was running its own covert pilot-program on the small screen?

Hello fellow Gen Z/Millennials! Did you know that the Batman Cartoon people never shut up about AND the Justice League show that was on when we were kids were part of the same animated universe? With the same guy playing Batman and everything??

I’m speaking of course about the DC Animated Universe, created by Warner Bros Animation after the success of Batman the Animated Series. Operating in a pre-internet age through a medium intended for children, the DCAU team built an ambitious project of cross-continuity that remained accessible to the most casual viewers. Many of these shows dealt with adult themes, navigating both elegantly and inelegantly around the limitations of children's animation.

In 2022, I set out to watch the entire project, and after three years of casual viewing I am finally done.

To both celebrate and mourn, I have selected my favourite episodes of each of the eight series that comprised the DCAU. I hope this entices new fans to watch, or attracts hardcore fans to get mad at me.

As usual I wrote way too much, and I have to split this into two parts. Let’s jump in:

Batman the Animated Series: Perchance to Dream

Honorable mentions: Heart of Ice, Joker’s Favour, Almost Got ‘Im, Beware the Grey Ghost

Batman the Animated Series is one of the most acclaimed and beloved shows in the history of animated television. How did it get there? Two main reasons: an empathetic and mature approach to writing its characters, and an atmospheric, expressionistic approach to its animation. Both of these strengths are on full display in Perchance to Dream.

The premise is simple: after a fight, Bruce Wayne wakes in his mansion to find that his parents are not dead. Confused and disoriented, Bruce is tempted to buy into this new reality, even though he knows something’s not right.

It’s interesting territory for a children’s cartoon to explore. A dream of a lost loved one is an emotionally complicated thing, and in series tradition, the episode doesn’t shy away from that complexity.

As much as I loved seeing Batman fight criminals, on rewatch of this series I realized how much I liked spending time with Bruce Wayne, as voiced by the late, great Kevin Conroy. This is some of my favourite work of Conroy’s, in part because so much of the episode is spent with Bruce, a man trying to figure out who he is without his life-altering childhood trauma.

Combine this with one of the show’s most operatic action climaxes - one which literally pits Bruce against himself - and you’ve got a certified TV classic.

Superman The Animated Series: Mxyzpixilated

Honorable Mentions: The Last Son of Krypton, A Fish Story, The Late Mr. Kent, World’s Finest

I watched Superman: The Animated Series on a trip just after lockdown, still feeling uneasy about the stability of the world and my future in it. I don’t want to overstate this, but I think I got some small comfort in the show's uncomplicated optimism.

Superman, as voiced by Tim Daly, is a beacon of hope against the cynicism of ultra-capitalist Lex Luthor. In one episode, Luthor’s deep sea mining upsets the kingdom of Atlantis, and Aquaman threatens to wipe out the surface world with his army. Superman must scramble to stop the war, and I’m embarrassed to say that I was slightly moved by his defense of humanity:

“They’re not all like Luthor. Some are trying to fix the problems.”

Anyway, that’s why my favourite episode is the one where Gilbert Gottfried yells a lot.

Because beyond its high-minded optimism, one of the things that allowed Superman: TAS to succeed (and escape the shadow of the Batman series), was a sense of tonal flexibility. The writers of the show proudly embraced not only the grand scale cosmic adventures of the Superman comics but also the silliest parts of its history.

And so comes a loving showcase for the golden age villain Mr. Mxyzptlk, a Rumpelstiltskin-like trickster who doesn’t have much of an evil plan beyond annoying Superman. As you may have guessed, this little imp is a perfect vehicle for the comedy stylings of Gilbert Gottfried. I showed my parents the opening of this episode and they demanded to see the rest, which is not their usual reaction when I make them watch cartoons.

Beyond Gottfried’s performance, Mr. Mxyzptlk’s powers give the animators an excuse to cut loose, resulting in some of the most unbridled visual creativity of the DCAU project. I’m not alone in my fandom either, DCAU architect Paul Dini has named this his favourite Superman TAS episode.

The New Batman Adventures: Mad Love

Honorable mentions: Double Talk, No Fear, Over the Edge, Chemistry

Content warning for this entry: domestic abuse

Didn’t expect to see that content warning in an article about kid's cartoons? That’s the DCAU for you.

Some context:

The New Batman Adventures was a slightly rebooted version of the original series, and the two are sometimes packaged together as the same show. However, despite their story continuity, these were two distinctly different series. The main overhaul was visual, as the characters were redesigned to bring them more in line with the DCAU style. These visual changes were mostly downgrades, and though the change wasn’t as dramatic, there was a slight downgrade in the series writing as well.

In New Batman Adventures, it felt like the writers were running out of new villains, and stories to tell with the old ones. Every once in a while however, the writers chose to zoom in on a character in a way they never had before.

So to talk about this episode, and maybe the Batman cartoons in general, is to talk about Harley Quinn. Did you know that Harley, chief henchwoman and often girlfriend of the Joker, did not originate in the comics? Harley Quinn is actually a creation of the original Batman Animated Series, first appearing in Joker’s Favour .

In subsequent episodes, Harley has a hot and cold relationship with the Joker, one that often involved him pushing and shoving her. This is never presented positively, (the Joker is the baddest of Batman’s bad guys after all), but it was never given the weight of full on abuse either. At least until Mad Love.

The writers, for better or for worse, decided to actually reckon with Harley as a character, and specifically, a survivor of abuse. The sensitivity or effectiveness of the result is in the eye of the beholder. This is the most controversial episode of the DCAU by far, inspiring fierce debate on its initial release that continues today.

The episode has its limitations: it’s part of a children’s cartoon, written by a man, from almost thirty years ago. Whatever its failings though, even the episode’s biggest critics have to agree that it’s fascinating.

The story tells Harley Quinn’s origin, often replicated in other media*. She was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, manipulated by the Joker into falling for him and helping him escape. The episode’s main strength is how locked in it is to Harley’s perspective, as we get her view of not only the Joker’s manipulation but also Batman’s. Kevin Conroy voiced the character in a number of dark and gritty stories, but I doubt there is a nastier delivery in his oeuvre than the cruel laugh he directs at Harley here.

Mad Love’s ending, which leaves Harley just short of breaking the cycle of abuse, is heartbreaking. Some may find the tone of this final moment flippant, but that quality only makes it all the more unnerving. I cannot imagine catching my kid watching this between reruns of Spongebob.

*if you want to be really technical, the story originated in a DCAU comic-book by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, who then adapted their own work onto the show.

Batman Beyond: Rebirth

Honorable mentions: Dead Man’s Hand, Disappearing Inque, The Call, King’s Ransom

I’m probably a major minority in the DCAU fandom in that I don’t love Batman Beyond.

BB was an admirable attempt to create a show with an original concept, and one that remains well loved by critics and fans. I’m not sure why the series never fully hooked me, but I remember finding its future setting undercooked, and its villains bland. That being said, the show undeniably had its strengths, especially its central dynamic. One that is beautifully established in the show’s pilot episode.

The series opens on Kevin Conroy’s Batman in the near future, a little too old for crime fighting. An incident leads Bruce to finally hang up the cape and retire. Years later, in a futuristic Gotham, a streetwise punk named Terry McGuiness attempts to solve his father’s murder. Terry follows the conspiracy to Wayne Manor, where he meets an elderly Bruce Wayne. Bruce outfits Terry with a high tech Batman suit, and a new Batman is born.

It’s a really strong pilot. The specific reason that Bruce retires is so good that I refuse to give it away, and the chemistry between him and Terry is more than enough to carry the series past some of my minor gripes. This story though, where the two first meet, is never topped in subsequent episodes.

For the record though, my favourite Batman Beyond story is the admirably downbeat and fucked up TV Movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

And that's all I can fit in for the first half of the list. Check in this week for part two, and thank you for reading :)