"Totally Schway" Re-Watch: "Joyride" & "Lost Soul"

 Batman Beyond

Season two keeps trucking along. If you've wanted to see more of the Jokerz gang, then you're in luck here. We also get a new villain introduction. Let's get to it.

Terry McGinnis: "I think it's some sort of military vehicle; real fast and maneuverable."

Bruce Wayne: "So stop them."

Terry McGinnis: "That's easy for you to say."

A group of Jokerz stumble across a test flight of an experimental government aircraft. They take out the pilots and steal the aircraft. They use it to wreak havoc all across Neo Gotham. And attack rival gangs. They are being pursued by Batman and a woman named Price who designed the aircraft. The engine is a nuclear reactor and it is getting ready to explode. Can Batman stop the Jokerz before Neo Gotham becomes the next Hiroshima?

Scab and Coe.

Ever since "Batman Beyond" started, I've been extremely curious about the Jokerz gang. I think it's a cool concept. If Batman has created a lasting impact on the city, it makes a lot of sense that the Joker, his biggest enemy, would also make a big impact on a different type of person. We don't know a lot about what makes someone decide to be a member of the Jokerz. It feels like for the most part they are just a bunch of dumb kids. And this episode doesn't really do a lot to take away that idea.

I think the problem with this episode overall is that the Jokerz don't turn out to be compelling villains. They are just idiots. They try to make Scab seem like he is one of the smarter Jokerz, but is he? There are parts of the episode that are funny. I enjoyed when they went through the Beefers "drive thru." It just seemed like something like they would do. Go and demand a bunch of fast food. It's a great visual of the employee just tossing handfuls of unwrapped burgers at the Jokerz that are in the plane.

There is a subplot where the Jokerz are recruiting a new member. They are at their super secret initiation location when they see the experimental plane land. Lee, the potential recruit, is watching all that is going on with a lot of side eye. He routinely pipes up about how their actions might affect innocent people. So, it's not a huge surprise when he turns on Scab and saves Batman at the end of the episode. It just feels like a generic way to inject some drama into a pretty straightforward episode.

The thrust of this episode is just Batman chasing after this experimental plan that the Jokerz are driving with them causing chaos. It's fun, but its a little ho-hum. And it feels like the writers of the episode know that and so just like with Lee, they keep trying to inject drama. So, there is the engine being a nuclear reactor that is going to explode at any minute. The carnage of the attack on the T's, the Jokerz rival gang. This feels like a huge tonal shift and doesn't make a ton of sense.

There are some cool things on the periphery of the episode. "Batman Beyond" does a great job of enlisting some fabulous voice actors. Kudos to Andrea Romano. Wendie Malick of "Just Shoot Me" and "Hot In Cleveland" fame, voices Price. I'd love to know more about the T gang. Are they modeled after DC hero, Mister Terrific? That's the first thing that comes to mind since they all have the giant T on their face. If so, how did they become a street gang that seems on the level with the Jokerz? This is what I was thinking about the most during this episode, which probably means it's not the most compelling "Batman Beyond" episode so far.

Grade: C

Bruce Wayne: "The door's not working. I had to shut down the computer when Vance's program tried to get in. If you want out of the cave, you're going to have to do it the old-fashioned way."

Terry McGinnis: "You're kidding."

Bruce Wayne: "None of the Robins ever complained."

Tech mogul Robert Vance has his brain patterns uploaded onto a computer so he can guide his company from beyond the grave. Thirty-five years later, his grandson, Bobby, reboots him because he's unsure how to move forward after his father's sudden death. Vance convinces Bobby to upload him onto the net where he begins learning and hijacks the Batsuit to complete his plan to come back to life.

Zordon is looking rough.

I talk about this a little bit in my "The X-Files" recaps, but it feels like around this time, the mid-90's to early '00's, there were certain storylines that you were going to see play out on sci-fi show or maybe superhero cartoons. And one of them was the hyperaware computer program trying to take over. This isn't new to this era specifically, but I do feel like it happened a lot around this time. Heck, even "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" had and episode modeled around that in it's first season.

Robert Vance is just another in a long line of shady Gotham businessmen. It's super weird that he wants to upload his brainwaves into the company computer. He clearly doesn't trust his progeny to run the company the right way. It's hilarious that they show him spewing nonsense platitudes that the customer is always right and things along those lines. It's no wonder they basically shut him off and left him dormant for 35 years until poor hapless Bobby comes along and falls for his obvious ploys.

The most interesting thing about this episode is when Vance takes over the Batsuit. I kind of wish there had been more of Terry struggling with Vance for control. That is compelling and legitimately something we've never seen before in "Batman: The Animated Series." It is kind of chilling that Vance is just going to walk Batman into the ocean and wait for him to drown. I'm not sure what Bruce did to sort of neutralize Vance temporarily so he could rescue Terry, but I guess it doesn't really matter in the long run. Vance regaining control of the Batsuit and walking it out of the Batcave sets up the conflict for the latter half of the episode.

In the original animated series and even in the comics, the question has been posed: Does it matter who is in the Batsuit? And "Batman Beyond" tweaks that question a little bit. With the Batsuit now being so powerful and full of tech, does it even matter who's inside if the suit is doing the majority of the heavy lifting. I do think that is a great way of twisting a classic Batman concept and making it fit this new futuristic story it's telling. And honestly, I don't even think much about how advanced this new Batsuit is, but it can turn invisible, fly, apparently grants Batman a degree of super strength, which I don't think I really realized until watching this episode.

I appreciate that Bruce tries to talk Terry out of going after the Batsuit on his own. It is a little half hearted though, since he basically immediately hands him his old utility belt. I do think we were kind of robbed of seeing Terry in the OG Batsuit. I think that would have been cool. Instead, Terry dons Nightwing's domino mask and heads to face off against Vance who is trying to download his program into his grandson's body so he can live again.

The fight between Terry and the rogue Batsuit is really cool and definitely shows that Terry has skills even outside of his super suit. The episode reminds us that sometimes even advanced AI can't fight against good old human ingenuity. I've talked a lot in these recaps about how "Batman Beyond" utilizes body horror even more so than its predecessor and that is present in this fight between Terry and Vance. The way that the suit contorts when Terry hits it because there is no one inside is extremely unnatural. When Terry is hitting it and revealing the circuitry underneath, it definitely looks like exposed muscle on a human body.

Terry, of course, bests the Vance Batsuit and Bobby decides to shut down the company. Bruce gives Terry praise. Alls well that ends well. This is a good episode. I think that had we had a little more internal struggle with Terry and Vance when Terry was in the suit and a metaphor that was a little less ham fisted, it could have been a great episode. 

Grade: B+

Next up, a Jokerz leader goes after one of Terry's classmates and the Stalker heads to Neo-Gotham to hunt Batman.

What did you all think? Are the Jokerz interesting? Was Vance giving HAL vibes from "2001?" How do you think Terry is stacking up against Bruce? Let me know in the comments.