It's Christmas time in Gotham, and Joker has broken out of Arkham with a festive plan to keep Batman busy this year. The inmates over at Arkham are busy decorating a Christmas tree and singing "Jingle Bells." Joker joins in, singing the classic "Batman smells, Robin laid an egg" version, then puts the star up. After he does, the tree suddenly turns into a rocket, blasting him out through the glass roof as he sings gleefully about his "one-horse open tree." Over at Wayne Manor, Batman and Robin are preparing to go after the Clown Prince of Crime, though Robin is skeptical that Joker would make a move on Christmas Eve. Robin makes a deal with Batman that if they don't find any sort of activity, they'll return home to watch It's a Wonderful Life; Batman has never seen it because he couldn't get past the title. To Robin's surprise, Batman just can't seem to relax for the holidays, having to stop himself after an apparent-mugging turns out to be a young man returning a package an old woman dropped. With nothing happening, the Dynamic Duo returns home, though Batman still thinks they should've done another sweep of the city. Dick assures Bruce he'll love It's a Wonderful Life, explaining it's about showing how one man can make a different to a city, much like Batman. When Dick turns on the TV, they instead find Joker having taken over the airwaves. He says It's a Wonderful Life won't be playing and he hopes Batman's watching. Out in the streets, a tank with a Santa-bearing chimney rolls through the streets as Joker proclaims that this is a show no one wants to see, but everyone will watch. As the Santa blasts off and explodes into a fireworks display of Joker, the clown announces himself at his stage to a group of cardboard cutouts of classic characters. As the broadcast continues, Robin admits that Batman was right about Joker, and the latter says he's accessed Gotham's electrical mainframe to track Joker's signal. While he reminds Robin that it's never this easy with the Joker, the clown says he's got a special message for the Dark Knight: Since Christmas is a time for family and he doesn't have one, he's decided to steal one. This turns out to be the "Awful Lawful" family of Commissioner Gordon, Summer Gleeson, and Harvey Bullock, and because he finds relatives a bore, Batman has to save them by midnight. Joker's "helpful little elf," his decorated hand "Laffy," leads them into the next part of the plan: Joker unveils a scale model of the city as "Laffy" mentions his love for blowing up bridges. On a nearby screen, Joker shows his henchmen Donner and Blitzen preparing to blow up a train bridge, getting into Jingle Bells before destroying a section. Joker says the 11:30 train will soon arrive, and as Batman and Robin rush to the site, Summer reveals that her mom is on that train; Joker says this'll make it more satisfying when the train crashes. Batman and Robin make it to the train, where the latter disconnects and stops the passenger cars while the former rescues the conductor, letting the rest of the train crash into the ravine. "Laffy" says he hates Batman and Robin, so Joker says they'll just get rid of them, blowing up their cutouts, but Batman reveals he's tracked Joker to the Gotham observatory. When he and Robin arrive, they find a present by the radar antennae, which turns out to be a jack-in-the-box of Joker's head. Joker tells Batman he's got some holiday entertainment for him, and announces to the people of Gotham that this is the death of Batman; he has turned the observatory into a cannon. Batman draws the cannon's attention as Robin heads inside, and after the cannon destroys the radar, it begins firing wildly, even into the city. Inside the observatory, Robin finds robot Jokers with machine gun fingers, and succeeds in getting all but one to destroy each other. Batman gives him a plan, and Robin destroys the cannon by hurling an explosive at it. He comes outside and asks what they'll do next; surprisingly, Batman doesn't know. Robin points out that it's almost midnight and Batman says it'll take a miracle to help the hostages; they return to Joker's broadcast where he talks as another character about them running out of time, then reveals he has a new present, for Summer. Inside the box is a "Betty Blooper" doll, and Joker says you wind these up and let them run loose on the city, letting this one wreak havoc in his model. Batman and Robin recall that these dolls haven't been made in years and use that to track Joker to the Laffco toy factory in the city. With Joker's location finally found out, Batman and Robin are a step closer to saving the hostages, but Joker has some more surprises in store for them. Christmas With the Joker is an interesting installment to the dark world of Batman, in perfect fashion for ridiculous and over-the-top Joker.
Like Robin points out at the start, it could be seen as strange for a villain to do something on Christmas, considering things like the historic Christmas truce from WWI. It's entertaining to see him frustrated that they can't just take the night off to watch It's a Wonderful Life, especially because of it being an obvious antithesis in name to Batman's actions. At the same time, as Robin points out, this story also matches with Batman himself, as it's a story about one man making a difference. This episode is full of the wackiest kinds of things you could expect from Joker, especially right off the bat when he escapes from Arkham using a rocket tree. He is perfectly into the Christmas season, albeit in his own "special" way, of course, and who else would he wants to spend the holidays with than his dear friend Batman? His plans for the night are rather simple, though effective, since Batman and Robin actually start running out of time, and he definitely toyed with Batmanas usual. Joker has always been one to lead Batman along his plans, and we see that happen for sure when he shows the Betty Blooper doll, as when the Dynamic Duo arrives, he's got the toy factory all set up for their visit. Another likely clue was right in Batman and our's faces the whole time: Joker's trusty hand companion, Laffy, whose name seems a massive hint to Joker's whereabouts. With Joker as much of a showman as he is, it really makes sense that he'd have something extravagant planned for Christmas, and he definitely delivers. This is more-so in the climax, once Batman and Robin arrive at Laffco, with Christmas-themed enemies and even some classic music to set the scene. We do see it throughout as well, however, with Joker leaving Batman a present and keeping up his "program," and of course the sheer idea of using a Christmas tree to make his escape from Arkham is so ludicrous that only the Joker would consider it. In an age where everyone always wants Batman to be complete dark and gritty gloom and doom, it's nice to see an episode where we get some of his dry wit and even some lighter moments. He has a few moments like this near the end, but also earlier in the episode, as he's interacting with Robin, especially when they're out of costume. Dick Grayson is known for his banter, so it makes sense that he'd constantly be lighter and try to get Batman into the holiday spirit. But with how dark Batman usually is, it's a breath of fresh air to see him joking about how he couldn't get past the title It's a Wonderful Life and just being a bit of a sourpuss. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill of course deliver excellent performances in this; there's a reason so many people consider them the quintessential Batman and Joker voices. It's always a joy to hear how much fun and excitement Hamill injects into his performances as the Joker, and his escape-themed version of Jingle Bells as he rockets out of Arkham will always stick with me. If you're a fan of Batman, like I am, and want to see some good comic book fun for the holidays, this special is most certainly worth checking out.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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