Sunday, July 1, 2012

Animated World of DC Comics: The Fear (1985)

For the first time, the Batman's origin was told on television in detail, in the Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians episode, "The Fear". As we showcased Bizarro yesterday, this was the only time the Scarecrow appeared by himself in a Super Friends/Super Powers Team cartoon, and, as was the case with Bizarro, there is no reference to his past with the Legion of Doom.

Edit, 12/5/22: We have located an excerpt from the episode.



"The Fear" is considered by many the best episode of the series, and, also Adam West's finest hour as the Batman. I'd love to see Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) give West something just as meaty to do as the mayor of Quahog, but then, drama isn't MacFarlane's forte.......!

Rating: A++. (Like there was any doubt.)

3 comments:

magicdog said...

This was intended as a backdoor pilot to a new, more serious Batman series. Unfortunately the network didn't bite and we'd have to wait 7 years before BTAS changed the way we look at Batman.

I really enjoyed this ep. So much so I downloaded it to my iPod. Seeing the emotions involved and potentially serious storylines, it's a shame TPTB chose to pass on it.

If the series had been greenlit, I'd like to think an equally powerful epsiode about Robin's origins would have been produced.

Indeed Adam West really shone here.

magicdog said...

Addendum:

Another thing I liked about this toon was how they chose to focus a bit more on Batman's detective skills, something that was often ignored in earlier adaptations.

hobbyfan said...

Think of what they could've done had ABC renewed the series for another year. As you say, Robin's origin (which wasn't addressed until BTAS) would've been done, too, followed by the others, although Wonder Woman, Superman, & Green Lantern had had their origins told in some way in previous series.

ABC's loss, then, ultimately became Fox's gain, shall we say?