Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Even for a show that sometimes has Batman dress as a mummy, this was a weird episode. Fifth Dimensional imp (and Batman fanboy) Bat-Mite hosted a look at “Batman’s Strangest Cases”. While the “Bat-manga” featuring Speed Racer-style animation and stilted dialogue was pretty hilarious (especially the over-the-top villain “Lord Death Man”), it was the Scooby Doo team-up that made this one of the best television shows we saw all week.
Remember when Scooby would meet real-life celebrities like the Harlem Globetrotters or Dick VanDyke? (Or, of course, Batman and Robin, which led to our childhood conviction that Batman was exactly as real as Sandy Duncan.) Well, we got a modern day take on that, as the Scooby Gang met Weird Al Yankovic, whose concert was jeopardized by the ghost of the theater. The ghost turned out to be none other than the Joker, who was searching the theater for buried treasure. Finally, Batman saved the Mystery, Inc. kids from a deathtrap that hinged on Scooby’s gluttony. After a classic Scooby chase sequence, Bat-Mite remembered that Standards & Practices in the 70s didn’t allow Batman to throw a bunch. So he used his reality-warping powers to restore Batman’s violence, and also lifted the restriction on Scooby. This meant we got to see Scooby Doo karate-kick the Joker. And with that, Western culture has reached its pinnacle.
Dukes!