"Now, on Fox Kids, it's Eek! The Cat. And after that, a former child star grapples with a physical condition that keeps her from ever growing up and forces her into a state of psychosis that shatters her ability to process reality. And then, Bobby's World!" Batman: The Animated Series is probably one of the best examples of the fact that if you don't talk down to your audience and instead give them cool adventures and themes to chew on, they'll remember your show forever.

I have three Batman: The Animated Series villain threads left (Catwoman, Harley Quinn, The Joker.)

Today, I'm going to dive into why Harley Quinn best represented BTAS' particular vision of humanity. Batman will never be done with his "crusade." It will last until he's dead, an eternal mission to win an unwinnable war.

But with Harley, there's hope.

I haven't done a Batman: The Animated Series thread in a while, so here we go.

If there's any major villain that gets the short end of the stick in BTAS, it's the Penguin. But this kind of works to the character's advantage. See, while BTAS is often considered a fantastic distillation of the Batman character and his mythos (which it is,) it wasn't free from tying into the wider franchise.

Over the past few years, I've seen a lot of claims that Zack Snyder doesn't "get" certain superheroes. And I don't think that's fair, mainly because it diminishes the fact that, for the most part, these characters are ideas, meant to be evolved and translated and passed on. I think it's much more accurate to describe Snyder's approach as a kind of hyper-focus. And this often feels out of step with general trends (In 2008, audiences clamored for grittier Batman adventures ala The Dark Knight. By 2016, this seemed almost archaic.)

So, Clayface won the vote, but because of the themes I'm going to discuss in this thread, I'm going to add Man-Bat, too.

This is about how Batman: The Animated Series explored the fact that most of its characters are rooted in a kind of classic Hollywood horror.

https://twitter.com/dandock/status/1370453819365154823

Batman: The Animated Series is full of horror-themed episodes ("Tyger, Tyger" is basically a retelling of The Island of Dr. Moreau with Batman playing Edward Prendick,) but this genre influence is especially clear with two specific characters: Man-Bat and Clayface.

So many Batman: The Animated Series episodes end with the villain in tears, unable to process their fears and obsessions, while Batman, a looming presence born of the inability to rationalize terror, is the only one there to comfort them.

It's, umm, a really sad show. I think the best Batman media reflects this. It's why I'm so moved by a lone Batman just solemnly watching the Penguin's little funeral at the end of Returns. Batman's the only one who ever understood the dude.

I find that the "just let people enjoy things!" mentality is often rooted in modern blockbuster branding which deems that audiences are somehow both underdog and overlord, threatened geek and monolithic tastemaker. It's why so much conversation about these films that cost $300 million and will make billions consists of "It's for the fans!" or "Finally, fans are getting the worlds they always dreamed of."

I think the horror theme that would work best as pro wrestling entrance music is definitely John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness New goal: Become buff enough to be a wrestler solely so that I can come to the ring to the In the Mouth of Madness theme.

Well, I read the recent Scorsese essay on Fellini and I have no idea how anyone who actually read it could argue that it's somehow pompous or "elitist." The dude is arguing that we should talk about and love movies more. "We should enjoy movies" is literally his hot take. He doesn't like how the algorithms of most streaming services tend to hide a lot of good shit, a fact that everyone in the world probably agrees with.

But we heard "Scorsese cinema essay," read a few quotes from it, and decided that old Marty was back to his MCU hatin' ways.

I have watched the first episode of My Love Story!! and please tell me if it gets better than this because I need to physically prepare for that level of wholesomeness I have watched the second episode of My Love Story!! Takeo is now a Top 10 anime character. Please keep him and his single brain cell in your thoughts and prayers.

I wouldn't know how to find a parenting or "daddy blog" website to pitch this to, so I guess you're getting this story, Twitter.

For a few weeks after I brought my premature son home from the hospital, I lived in fear that someone was going to take him away. He'd stayed in Newborn Intensive Care for a few weeks after he was born. 3 pounds, 11 ounces. I remember them telling me how I could touch him.

Stroking him would irritate his skin, so I was only able to lay a soft, but firm touch on his tiny arm. He was so small.

When I was in middle school, I had a crush on a girl whose favorite movie was Titanic. So, to impress her, I wrote an outline for a sequel called Titanic 2. And for every like this tweet gets, I will reveal another awful detail of this story. I had never seen Titanic before writing Titanic 2. I had read the plot synopsis, and learned the two main characters' names. I figured that was enough.