Going Through The DCAU Part Sixty-Three

So, these chats come about because Jimmy and I use a channel in the Gabbing Geek Slack account to discuss the episodes, and then I cut and paste them into the website here, edit them a bit, and voila.

But there was a small problem this time around.  Sometimes Slack deletes old conversations if a channel remains inactive for too long, and that happened this time.  As such, we lost some of the conversation around the first episode, “Eggbaby.”  It looks like most of it was still there, but we couldn’t find the beginning, so be aware.

Oh, and we’re also covering the Batman Beyond episodes “Eggbaby,” “Zeta,” and “Plague” this time around.

“Eggbaby”

Terry has a school project he must pass involving caring for a robotic baby in the shape of an egg.  So, he has to not only stop some thieves but also keep the baby bot happy at the same time.  What can go wrong?

jimmy:  Back to your previous point, it was definitely a kid friendly episode. Almost too kid friendly for me. But I’m an old man. And get off my lawn!

tomk:  I’m old enough to remember this being a common sitcom plot about the time this episode first aired.

jimmy:  Very.

So…who was the less responsible “egg parent”? Terry for bringing it out fighting crime…or his partner for basically abandoning it at the drop of a hat?

tomk:  Terry did everything he could, unlike Blade.

It’s not like e didn’t try to find a sitter.

jimmy:  The vampire hunter?

tomk:  Isn’t that her name? She’s been on the show before. She’s the girl Willy Watt stalks.

jimmy:  Yes, Blade is her nickname. I was just having fun. Remember fun Tom?

tomk:  I used to. Now I write nonstop articles to keep someone else’s website afloat while listening to podcasts that say I don’t.

Here’s where we once again see if anyone reads these.

jimmy:  Commence breath holding.

tomk:  Might be a good idea depending on what the wormy son voiced by Andy Dick is spraying around.

jimmy:  Not the greatest henchmen. And the fact that the villain was a giant middle-aged woman wearing a bonnet, also lends to the kid friendliness of the episode.

tomk:  Her name was Ma Mayhem. That’s another hint.

jimmy:  And of course, this episode obviously would be a contender to win 2 Emmy awards.

tomk:  How’d you like this one? You can be harsh on the more juvenile episodes.

jimmy:  As I said above…”This actually wasn’t too bad an episode…for being completely ridiculous.”

I mean, it had Bruce making a Wizard of Oz joke!

tomk:  Well, let me ask you this: we’re probably about halfway through this show. What do you expect from Batman Beyond?

jimmy:  Going forward?

tomk:  In general, but sure. What kind of show do you think it is?

jimmy:  I think it’s average…but can lean on the Batman mythos to rise above that at times. It’s not a kids show. Probably darker at times than BTAS, and definitely darker than STAS.

tomk:  Justice League can be pretty mature at times, too.

But good point. It’s not a DCAU highpoint, but it’s probably better than whatever the Ninja Turtles were up to at that time.

jimmy:  And this episode aired in 2000, which would be long after I had gotten up on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons.

tomk:  Just out of curiosity, how familiar were you with any of these shows before we started this project?

jimmy:  I had watched A LOT of BTAS, but not all. I think the redesign was new to me. I’d watched some STAS. I can’t say for sure I ever watched an episode of Batman Beyond, but was very familiar with the concept. (Looking forward, I don’t think I’ve ever watched JL, JLU, etc.)

tomk:  That sounds about right judging by your reactions to stuff.

But surely you recognized the voice of actress Kathleen Freeman as Ma Mayhem.

Here she is in what is probably her best-remembered role:

jimmy:  I sure…have no idea who that is.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Blues Brothers in its entirety.

tomk:  …

Well, she was the one without the sunglasses.

jimmy:  Ah. Seems like a cult movie. But that’s another discussion.

tomk:  I don’t know if I’d call it a cult movie, but we can always claim it is later.

You know, we shouldn’t be surprised Terry did so well on this project. If he’s Batman, we know what Batman does with young sidekicks. Was the Eggbaby a Robin egg?

jimmy:  If so, let’s be glad there were no Jokerz or crowbars around.

tomk:  We did get a moment when Terry almost asked Bruce to babysit.

jimmy:  Who knew cartoon characters could give someone the stink eye?

tomk:  Bruce can do it (with preparation). He’s Batman.

jimmy:  Exactly. HE’s Batman.

tomk:  What does Terry have to do to become Batman? Almost drop a large, middle aged woman off a roof?

jimmy:  It’s a start. 🙂

Seriously though, and we keep having this conversation it seems, I don’t think he will ever be THE Batman. Though I should give him more credit as A Batman.

tomk:  It’s a start. 😉

jimmy:  Heh

So does Mamma Mia and the Here We Go Again Gang ever return?

tomk:  Nope.

jimmy:  That was my guess. What about the Eggbaby? 🙂

tomk:  Say hello to his new sidekick!

Did you have any other questions about Terry’s Family Studies class?

jimmy:  I assume the Family Studies class will be a regular fixture of the show going forward, so we can talk more when it reappears.

tomk:  Sounds good. Anything else?

jimmy:  I guess not. You?

tomk:  I do have one question: did you know Batman Beyond had a spin-off?

jimmy:  ……….umm, what now?

tomk:  Well, you’ll see for yourself very soon.

jimmy:  Yay?

“Zeta”

Government agents come to Gotham to find a shape shifting robot! Is it dangerous?

tomk:  So…an actual spin-off episode.

jimmy:  …does Zeta get it’s own show?

tomk:  He did.

Completely recast Zeta and Bennet, plus made Zeta’s robot form more human.

jimmy:  The Zeta Project?

tomk:  That would be it.

jimmy:  That sounds vaguely familiar, but I wouldn’t have known what it was.

tomk:  I only saw bits of it. It was more aimed at kids than Batman Beyond was.

jimmy:  Aim the reformed killer robot show at kids. Makes sense.

tomk:  Terminator Junior!

jimmy:  Terju.

tomk:  Still that is what this story sounds like. Or it rips off the Hulk instead of Spider-Man with the whole government agent trying to capture or kill Zeta.

jimmy:  You won’t like Zeta when he’s angry.

tomk:  Thanks for the notice, Thunderbolt Jimmy.

jimmy:  Decent enough episode though. Do you know if going into it they had further plans for Zeta?

tomk:  Not sure. They did recast the role with Dietrich Bader as Zeta and Kurtwood Smith as Bennet. Zeta also got a kid to travel around with.

And Bader of course also played Batman on The Brave and the Bold.

jimmy:  Interesting.

And we’re not planning on watching Zeta Project right? Though it does take place in the DCAU.

tomk:  I think we can skip that one. It’s not even on DC’s streaming service. Unless it’s on DVD, I wouldn’t know where to find it and I’m not really interested anyway.

jimmy:  Agreed.

tomk:  I don’t remember it being all that distinctive outside the voice cast.

jimmy:  Dear God…this can’t be the opening credits..

Better quality, but apparently so:

tomk:  Oh yeah.

Do you prefer the boomerang head?

jimmy:  Well, a bit more distinctive at the very least.

tomk:  He’s also got Gary Cole’s voice here, and he played a different character in Office Space than Bader.

And yes, my favorite scene in Office Space was when Lumberg and Lawrence went into space to find the missing stapler.

jimmy:  You think everyone goes into space.

tomk:  Everything does go into three dimensional space.

Unless you mean outer space.

jimmy:

tomk:  See? Even Homer Simpson has gone into space.

jimmy:  Obviously…

tomk:  That is one happy man. The NSA isn’t dogging his every step.

jimmy:  So…did anyone go find the teacher that Zeta impersonated at the beginning of the episode?

tomk:  The one voiced by Edie McClurg who even looked like Edie McClurg?

jimmy:  Yeah, the Edie McClurg one.

tomk:  I dunno. Probably. Hopefully not by some Quagmire from Family Guy type.

jimmy:  That sounds like a joke I should get.

tomk:  Nah. Just remembered an episode of Family Guy where notorious creep Quagmire found a junior high cheerleader tied up in a locker after Stewie knocked her out.

jimmy:  Yeah, that would not be good for her.

tomk:  For a lot of people.

jimmy:  The gag with Zeta having the ski through his torso was funny though.

tomk:  Everybody gets one.

jimmy:  A torso?

tomk:  A good gag.

Man, I keep referencing Family Guy in this chat and I haven’t watched that show in years.

jimmy:  And I The Simpsons and ditto. 😛

tomk:  Though, to be fair, I was referring to a specific Family Guy reference that fits in well with some of our general Batman Beyond observations.