52-1 - Batman: The Animated Series - Episodes 27-28

A weird scientist who reads too much Lewis Carroll and has developed mind-control technology, decides its time for tea. The Batman gets locked up in Arkham Asylum, while the Scarecrow poisons the water supply. It is an odd week all round.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Episodes 27 and 28: "Mad as a Hatter" and "Dreams in Darkness,” the final episodes of Batman: The Animated Series Volume 1.

"Mad as a Hatter" introduces Jervis Tetch (voiced by Roddy McDowall) a scientist at Wayne Research who has developed microchip technology capable of controlling anyone wearing it. He is also, in his private life, completely consumed by Alice in Wonderland and desperately in love with his colleague Alice. When he learns Alice has a boyfriend, he snaps and decide to use his new tech to cause chaos around Gotham and claim her for himself.

What’s especially weird about this episode is that Hatter doesn't have an external origin, no accident, no betrayal, no tragedy, he’s just broken from the start, and despite what Paul Dini and Bruce Timm say, he’s in no way sympathetic.

Then "Dreams in Darkness" sees Batman get sprayed with Scarecrow’s newest fear gas, something that leads to him crashing his car and ending up in Arkham Asylum. So, now he has to find a way out of Arkham before Scarecrow can pollute all of Gotham’s water supply, which is under Arkham Asylum for reasons that make zero sense.

We discuss what McDowall brings to the Mad Hatter, question why all of the production notes call the Mad Hatter sympathetic, and question if "Dreams in Darkness" is really the best way to end a volume of the show.

🔔 Subscribe for our ongoing episode-by-episode watch-through of Batman: The Animated Series!

📌 Topics covered this episode:

– Batman: TAS Episode 27 "Mad as a Hatter" recap & review — the Mad Hatter's debut

– Batman: TAS Episode 28 "Dreams in Darkness" recap & review

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

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