What a fantastic episode! Thoughts? Watch the new NC - ua-cam.com/video/1lS9YNhxilY/v-deo.html Check out our store - channelawesome.myshopify.com/ Follow us on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/channelawesome
It is quite sad that, once Victor finally managed to cure his wife, his degenerative state had left him so damaged that he could no longer be reunited with Nora, who remade her life with another man, something that caused Victor to succumb completely to his madness, and, despite this, he lived many more years than her. It seems that poor Freeze never gets the happy ending he wishes for.
To me the point of making a tragic villains is meant to show people and kids that not everyone is evil but sometimes when something comes into the picture or when they lose something they care about or made to think what they are doing is right
She did wait for him, and he could have either returned or written a letter. I feel the Arkham games treated it better, even being corrupted by the Lazarus Pit had a 'careful what you wish for,' story ... much better than what the Harley Quinn Show did, turning her into an ungrateful slut.
"I'd trade a thousand of my frozen years for your worst day." That line cements why Freeze is a tragic villain. He lost everything the day of his transformation and the only thing that keeps him going is just seeing his wife cured. Yet even if he did cure her, he would still lose the ability to embracing her. His frozen immortality is a powerful curse that he'd do anything to be rid of.
Even the original TV series in the '60's, campy as it was, captured that sense of despair from Mr. Freeze. He's a compelling character, as bitter and relentless as the cold he surrounds himself with.
Even in Batman Beyond, when Freeze is brought back from the dead, his awakening in the future makes him realize his wife died long ago. With the only thing giving him the drive to go on gone, he chooses to end his life, after nearly dying to Blight. After a long, miserable life of no one caring for him (except Bruce and his wife Nora) he chooses to finally end what would’ve been a long and arduous road to continue down.
The moment where Batman talks sense into Freeze and he realizes Batman is right. “She’ll wake up in a dead frozen world that you helped destroy. She’ll hate you for that!!!” Heartbreaking. He was so close
That line and another that he said in hie previous episode, "Think of it Batman, to never again walk on a warm summer's day with a hot wind in your face and a warm hand to hold. Oh yes, I'D KILL FOR THAT!'
Fun fact: Walt Disney cared about his image so much that he refused to be seen smoking in public (especially around children). He even had photos of him edited to remove the cigarette from his hand, which resulted in his famous two finger pointing. Heck, he even cared his own personal ash tray in his pocket to hide his cigarette.
It is pretty ironic that in this episode, the last of the original series in which Mr Freeze appears, Victor and Batman decide to ally themselves to fight a common threat together, the same that happens in the Batman Beyond episode "Meltdown", the last episode of all the DCAU featuring Freeze
4:37 Bat-Mite's cameo was a very welcome surprise. I loved that, even after his decanonization with the 1985 Crisis, he continued to appear in other stories, like the iconic Elseworld special "World's Funnest." I imagine Batman's reaction to seeing his robotic mini-me being something like: "Huh, what's next? An evil version of me with a silly owl head?", with said comment being answered by a sneeze coming from Earth Three.
I was surprised that Streaks the Super-Cat was actually a part of the comics. I completely thought it was an original creation for the Krypto animated series.
I know we all remember Freeze for that first episode and how it helped to make him one of the most memorable and tragic figures in Batman's gallery. But I can't help but love this one too alongside with that first one since it was one part "Batman did the Bioshock plot first," but also how we see Freeze coming to that realization that the accident that put in in this state is something of a "fountain of youth" and how some people would want to have this for their own selfish purposes. Hell, the fact that Freeze was seemingly one of the few Batman villains to return to the "Batman Beyond" series (besides Joker) is a good testament of why we are so fasinatated by the Tragedy of Freeze (alongside with the Sub-Zero movie).
Some notes about the casting... Grant Walker was voiced by Daniel O'Herlihy, who may be best recognized as the CEO of OCP from Robocop. Bat-Mite is voiced by Pat Fraley, who has an extensive resume in animation, most notably as Krang from the original TMNT series.
Really appreciate how Timm and others used Freeze in just few episodes in BTAS (plus the animated film Batman Sub Zero), allowing him to have a consistent arc and development, unlike other sympathetic villains like Two Face or Clayface, who started great but then became villains for Batman to punch .
The scene where Mr. Freeze first confronts Batman and Robin with his ice gun will forever live in my memory, having also been used in the SubZero teaser on the Space Jam VHS, as well as this year's Bat-May promo.
This episode just makes his *final* appearance in Batman Beyond that much more tragic. Even though he gave Nora a way to live on, he couldn't be with her. His quest was all he had and without it he's just a tortured man. His longevity becoming a curse most would see as a blessing.
@@Sketchfan That comment seems to also imply from him(fries) that people forgot about this deed of good he did in "Deep freeze" stopping the world from freezing over. However, it was well out of character for him since he normally wouldn't care about everyone else around him. Which why it seems like Fries was gaining humanity back only to ever have it destroyed by other characters through the series. I question how things could've gone if Batman & or Robin were to have unmasked at that point when he said tried to stop fries on both occasions of self-sacrifice. (BATS & Beyond)
Perhaps since the antagonist is based on Walt, Perhaps that's why the robot looks like the one from castle in the sky, as I've heard a couple people refer to studeo ghibli as the Disney of japan...or so I heard.
The way you described Oceania, Walter, reminds me of Bioshock's Rapture. The large, supposed utopia that was supposed to house the chosen few, hidden within the ocean and kept away from society, but ends up crumbling into obscurity and collapsing under the greedy ambition of its creator.
Man, this was such a great followup to "Heart of Ice". Not only did it have great animation and music to make the "utopic" retro-futuristic world of Oceania (which sounds like a place from 1984) come alive but it introduced another long standing tradition in Freeze's story: him longing to free his wife from her frozen prison. It makes his debut episode come off as more haunting since Freeze thought Nora died in the accident and was going to kill Ferris Boyle out of grief.
I remember reading an online review from someone who said they thought Heart of Ice was the only good Mr Freeze story. I have always felt very sorry for this person. This episode is truly fantastic! It has a wonderful mystery and lots of cool twists. Your Batman reviews are amazing! Thanks for sharing all the cool Easter eggs.
Along with "Fire from Olympus", this was the episode I saw the most due to having the VHS that had the two episodes on it. They are without a doubt my favourites.
Batman TAS was amazing because it forced a 6 year old me to see that it’s not black and white, good/bad guy. there are areas of grey and having a villain who’s sole goal is to save his loved one no matter what he became struck me even then.
Like Two-Face, Freeze's debut episode was so good it must have been difficult to work up the nerve to try and make a sequel, but this is about as satisfying as one could be. The Walt Disney parallels are obvious but I'm also reminded of Rapture from Bioshock with Walker basically doing the same thing with ice instead of water. Probably would end up the same way too. We seem to usually get good episodes when a Gotham citizen, usually a rich one, takes a personal interest in one of the rogues, wanting to explore their world and regretting it later.
I always thought that this episode was the original inspiration for Bioshock: Andrew Ryan and Grant Walker are basically the same person (Both based on Walt Disney)
I’m not entirely sure why, but this is one of a few episodes that has stayed stuck in my mind since childhood. Like, whenever someone brings up BTAS, this episode and 5 others are the ones that come to mind
It's amusing to me that Tim Burton, the man whose vision for Batman helped inspire this animated series, got his start as a Walt Disney animator, and here the series is acknowledging Disney as a pop-cultural force. What makes it even more funny is that Disney is the biggest rival of Warner Brothers, the entertainment company that owns DC Comics, and to this day their rivalry has only intensified, especially now that Disney owns Marvel Comics!
4:57 the robot almost immediately called the Laputan robots from Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky, albeit silver instead of brown. (Mark Hamill also does the dub for the villain in that movie)
Considering what happens to Mr Freeze in TNBA, I think it’s safe to assume that Grant Walker won’t be a threat by the time he gets out of that ice block.
Another inspiration for the plot of the episode appears to be the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. A wealthy futurist plans to destroy the world while he and his select few of humanity survive in an idealized undersea society called Atlantis.
I love how this series made Fries a sympathetic serious villain instead of the goofy ice obsessed original. Arnold could have even been good if they went with a darker version of B&R
The character is severely underrated and misunderstood. Doctors are taught to be detached and laser focused. Victor gained humanity when he fell in love with Nora and essentially lost it when she became ill. She is figuratively and in some cases literally his heart. Their fates are intertwined and it is quite poetic. When she is ill/ comatose he is vicious and cold as ice. When she is happy and healthy he is warm,understanding and sympathetic. Genius, simply genius from a writers standpoint.
Laputa's influence does not get enough credit. It may not be the most famous or marketed of the Ghibli Miyazaki films, but it seems to be the most influential.
Thank you for this episode. I got layered goosebumps of enlightened awe and existential horror when you showed live footage of the relationship between Walker and Disney. Good job, sir!
Another subtle Easter Egg - Addressing the crowd of a utopian city from a giant screen looks almost identical to a scene from "The Shape of Things to Come"
"I will build a perfect utopia", said the very clever man, so full of faith in his own subjective ideas, and built an authoritarian prison that people just don't seem very happy at all in, for some strange reason. A tale as old as time, and each and every one is always convinced _he_ has the perfect answers to all questions, and all others who tried were just foolish and incompetent, totally unlike himself in his infallibility, the protagonist of his own narrative. Until reality happens.
Freeze's character is one of the most beautifully complex and tragic in all of the DC universe, at least in my opinion, and I honestly would've been happy if this were the last episode of BTAS leading into Sub-Zero. However, we still have one more to go, and another piece of the Sub-Zero puzzle to reunite with
Mr Freeze is one of my personal favorite characters in DC animated, every scene he is in, he manages to *warm* your heart, and totally *steel* the scene, for being a really *cool* character he totally *fires up* some emotions. Well enough with the temperature jokes. Everything he does is born out of love, he is not truly a villain, a hero nor an antihero, he is Mr Freeze. I can relate and care about his struggles, he is one of the most unique antagonist with unique traits that really makes him stand out. If it was up to him he would be a normal citizen with her living wife, and he does everything necessary and in his power to accomplish that dream of his and cure both of them.
Batman looking at robotic Bat-Mite: "No, please! Not him again! I thought he, along with all that Silver Age crap, was left behind with the Crisis!" Robin: "Calm down, Batman. He's just a robot." Batman: "Oh, thank God. For a moment I thought..." True Bat-Mite: *Appears* "Hi, Brucie! Did you miss me?" 😊 Batman: 😢
I watched this episode recently on UA-cam a few months ago. I just watched the 1941 Superman cartoon, "The Mechanical Monsters." I haven't seen that cartoon in years. I watched that cartoon when they showed it on the Cartoon Network in the 1990s. Mr. Freeze was also in The Batman cartoon. (2004)
I love this. The commentary and pointing out an Easter egg I never noticed before. The robot personally reminds me of the one from “Castle in the Sky “ . Not sure if you’ve seen this anime classic but if not just google it. There’s a lot of similarities in design.
Wow. I just realized that villain is probably still alive and frozen by the time of Batman Beyond... he's probably gone completely insane (well, more so than he already was to try the plan he did) after all those years frozen in the ice, unable to escape or do anything at all, with only his own mad thoughts for company
What I found cool was how much was probably taken from this episode that inspired Bioshock and Fallout New Vegas. The water based utopia led by a Walt Disney type villain who pushes experimentation for changing biology. Or how the designs are similar to Mr House with his robots and big screen conversations.
Grant Walker also reminds me of Andrew Ryan, the Ruler of the underwater city of Rapture from the Bioshock games. Part of me also wonders if Walker's design and similar thinking we're used as inspiration for Andrew Ryan
5:16 Speaking of Sebastian, he didn't die with Eldon Tyrell, actually. He just had a heart attack when he saw Roy killing Tyrell and was later re-animated in an ambulance, not before being officially declared dead by mistake due to his deteriorated state. He then escaped and re-animated Pris (who wasn't a replicant, but a human who believed that she was an android), turning her into a zombie. I know it sounds crazy, but it's totally real. Just google it
Yeah I heard about Walt Disney idea for a Utopia city, Epcot. A city that’s not exposed to the outside world. Epcot, a city that’s all indoors to shield people from natural disasters, stopping the spread of diseases and giving people all the necessity resources to live
Mr. Freeze Meets "Not" Walt Disney now that's very neat, and i'm now 22 and enjoyed the episodes, The Underdwellers, The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne, & Now Deep Freeze. Thank You.🥳
5:30 - 6:00/ A big Shot-out to Mr. Altieri. I almost forgot that he, along with several other writers and animators, were directly connected to essentially 2 of my all-time favorite animated series. BTAS being one, of course. The other series? Why, THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS!❤
This was the episode I watched the most growing up. I remember I had it on a tape and watched it pretty much everyday. I remember my day telling me that the guy voicing the Carl Rossum was the same guy from Blade Runner which at the time I had just rescently saw. I remember thinking how cool it was that he was basically the same character in my eyes
Little did they know that Oceana survived to become the underwater metropolis known as Rapture. Now, Mr. Walter, would you kindly post a second episode today?
Between Walker's design and the retro-futuristic look of Oceania, I'm also getting strong Bioshock vibes from this episode. I wonder if the inhabitants of Oceania would also be entitled to the sweat of their own brows?
This is a amazing episode. The nods to Disney as well as the story itself is amazing. I love the message of this episode and knowing that Mr. Freeze is the hero.
I've mentioned in the past two Bat-Mays that I headcanon Ra's al Ghul secretly being behind this episode for reasons which I'll finally get into now. First off, we have the motivations behind Walker's plan: As Walter says, Walker views the world as violent and hateful which is why he wants to freeze everyone except his chosen few. Ra's, of course, has been sprouting similar sentiments about the evils of most of humanity ever since we officially met him back in "The Demon's Quest, Part 1" so it would make sense that he'd secretly be sponsoring Walker's goals after Batman thwarted his earlier attempt to do the same thing by having the Lazarus Pits flood the world. Speaking of the Lazarus Pits, that brings me to Reason #2 of why I think he was involved here and why he indulged in Walker's little side project to have Freeze make him immortal. As previously mentioned, his failed plan in "The Demon's Quest" resulted in all of the Lazarus Pits, the source of his own quasi-immortality, being destroyed in a vain attempt to destroy humanity, leaving Ra's now in danger of having his own age catch up to him (as we see will eventually happen in Superman: The Animated Series). Since his plan to find a new source of eternal life in "Avatar" ended up failing, he probably was looking for a new way to sustain himself and let Walker be a guinea pig to recreate Fries' accident to see if it could work on him as well.
I always thought Grant Walker was a corrupt businessman (like Ferris Boyle or Roland Daggot) but this guy is practically DC’s version of Walt Disney which is funny
There surely is a bit of Xander Drax from the James Bond film Moonraker in the character as well.. But i agree fully that the main inspiration was clearly Walt Disney.
6:18 Batman's symbol colors are reversed in this shot. This might be one of these things that was fixed in subsequent airings but they used the prefixed version on Blu-Ray.
If we don't include the Sub-Zero movies, I personally think that this should've been Mr. Freeze's last episode. I just can't get over on how much they bastardized him in Season 4 of Batman the Animated Series.
Did anyone else get a bioshock vibe from this episode? I mean Oceana is like rapture in a way, Grant Walker is like Andrew Ryan. It’s like the developers took inspiration from this episode for bioshock.
Mr. Freeze is one of my favorite Batman villains because of his unique origins. His goal will always be to save his beloved wife from a fate worse than death. World domination, revenge, greed, pride, etc. are not his mod, but saving a loved one is. As for the Walt Disney wannabe, his ultimate goal is also similar to the James Bond villain in Moonraker: create an utopian world for "perfect" people after totally annihilating the world to set things right. All in all, this was a very interesting Batman: The Animated Series episode AND a very interesting review vid as well.
Mr. Freeze is such a poetic villain, I swear, this guy could write Shakespeare in his spare time with all the memorable and iconic lines he's spat out.
Much to my surprise, grant walker is voiced by Dan o’ herlihy, aka the old man ceo from robocop and the last star fighter. Grant walker and the old man ceo of OCP, both men have visions of the future and will do anything to make it come true, even it means of wiping out crimes in extreme ways
Grant Walker is like Magneto from X-Men TAS... They wanted to create an ideal world without chaos and destruction. But they dreams were doomed. In case of Grant, this ideal world was Oceana. In case of Magnus, Asteroid M.
What a fantastic episode! Thoughts?
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Strong Bioshock vibes! I've always loved this episode!
Yeah, it was fantastic.
I like that brief team up with Batman,Robin and Mr Freeze to take down not Walt Disney and I wish they could use him 1:09 and Grant Walker more often
It gave me chills.
It is quite sad that, once Victor finally managed to cure his wife, his degenerative state had left him so damaged that he could no longer be reunited with Nora, who remade her life with another man, something that caused Victor to succumb completely to his madness, and, despite this, he lived many more years than her. It seems that poor Freeze never gets the happy ending he wishes for.
Mr. Freeze: "Yes... That would wound me to tears if I had some left to shed"
To me the point of making a tragic villains is meant to show people and kids that not everyone is evil but sometimes when something comes into the picture or when they lose something they care about or made to think what they are doing is right
And then his return in one of the greatest Batman Beyond episodes, where he delivers an absolutely heart wrenching line.
But then in the *Batman: The Adventures Continue* comic series it turns out the organ procedure didn't work and she still died anyway.
She did wait for him, and he could have either returned or written a letter. I feel the Arkham games treated it better, even being corrupted by the Lazarus Pit had a 'careful what you wish for,' story ... much better than what the Harley Quinn Show did, turning her into an ungrateful slut.
"I'd trade a thousand of my frozen years for your worst day."
That line cements why Freeze is a tragic villain. He lost everything the day of his transformation and the only thing that keeps him going is just seeing his wife cured. Yet even if he did cure her, he would still lose the ability to embracing her. His frozen immortality is a powerful curse that he'd do anything to be rid of.
Even the original TV series in the '60's, campy as it was, captured that sense of despair from Mr. Freeze. He's a compelling character, as bitter and relentless as the cold he surrounds himself with.
Did you mean ‘line’ instead of lie’?
Sometimes in the comics we get Nora Fries back. Once in a issue of Batgirl, another in the Rebirth comics.
@@pendragonxt3674My favorite example has to be White Knight.
Even in Batman Beyond, when Freeze is brought back from the dead, his awakening in the future makes him realize his wife died long ago. With the only thing giving him the drive to go on gone, he chooses to end his life, after nearly dying to Blight. After a long, miserable life of no one caring for him (except Bruce and his wife Nora) he chooses to finally end what would’ve been a long and arduous road to continue down.
The moment where Batman talks sense into Freeze and he realizes Batman is right.
“She’ll wake up in a dead frozen world that you helped destroy. She’ll hate you for that!!!”
Heartbreaking. He was so close
And she ends up hating him in the end anyway.
@@jlev1028 No she still loved him to the very end.
He looked at Nora and wondered what she could say if this had happened. "Forgive me" is the only thing Victor Fries can say to Nora
“I’d trade a thousand of my frozen years for your worst day” That line gave me such chills
Pun intended?
That line and another that he said in hie previous episode, "Think of it Batman, to never again walk on a warm summer's day with a hot wind in your face and a warm hand to hold. Oh yes, I'D KILL FOR THAT!'
"if i could feel anything, i might have chuckled at that."
@@losatron cold island my singing monsters vibes
Mr. Freeze: It's not about being able to live forever, it's about living with yourself forever
Savvy?
Fun fact: Walt Disney cared about his image so much that he refused to be seen smoking in public (especially around children). He even had photos of him edited to remove the cigarette from his hand, which resulted in his famous two finger pointing. Heck, he even cared his own personal ash tray in his pocket to hide his cigarette.
It is pretty ironic that in this episode, the last of the original series in which Mr Freeze appears, Victor and Batman decide to ally themselves to fight a common threat together, the same that happens in the Batman Beyond episode "Meltdown", the last episode of all the DCAU featuring Freeze
4:37 Bat-Mite's cameo was a very welcome surprise. I loved that, even after his decanonization with the 1985 Crisis, he continued to appear in other stories, like the iconic Elseworld special "World's Funnest." I imagine Batman's reaction to seeing his robotic mini-me being something like: "Huh, what's next? An evil version of me with a silly owl head?", with said comment being answered by a sneeze coming from Earth Three.
I was surprised that Streaks the Super-Cat was actually a part of the comics. I completely thought it was an original creation for the Krypto animated series.
This was actually my first introduction to batmite believe it or not. It really is neat to see dc lore sprinkled in.
I know we all remember Freeze for that first episode and how it helped to make him one of the most memorable and tragic figures in Batman's gallery. But I can't help but love this one too alongside with that first one since it was one part "Batman did the Bioshock plot first," but also how we see Freeze coming to that realization that the accident that put in in this state is something of a "fountain of youth" and how some people would want to have this for their own selfish purposes.
Hell, the fact that Freeze was seemingly one of the few Batman villains to return to the "Batman Beyond" series (besides Joker) is a good testament of why we are so fasinatated by the Tragedy of Freeze (alongside with the Sub-Zero movie).
Some notes about the casting...
Grant Walker was voiced by Daniel O'Herlihy, who may be best recognized as the CEO of OCP from Robocop.
Bat-Mite is voiced by Pat Fraley, who has an extensive resume in animation, most notably as Krang from the original TMNT series.
also Baxter Stockman from the same series!
Are you sure about that ? I thought he was voiced by Frank Welker.
@@aidanhever3369 positive
“You may live forever but Your mad dream dies now”. I love that line
Really appreciate how Timm and others used Freeze in just few episodes in BTAS (plus the animated film Batman Sub Zero), allowing him to have a consistent arc and development, unlike other sympathetic villains like Two Face or Clayface, who started great but then became villains for Batman to punch .
This episode was incredible and a great adition to Mr Freeze's arc, it was so touching to see him reach out to his beloved wife
sadly that was his whole life after the accident, always reaching for her, but never again feeling her warmth.
The scene where Mr. Freeze first confronts Batman and Robin with his ice gun will forever live in my memory, having also been used in the SubZero teaser on the Space Jam VHS, as well as this year's Bat-May promo.
This episode just makes his *final* appearance in Batman Beyond that much more tragic. Even though he gave Nora a way to live on, he couldn't be with her. His quest was all he had and without it he's just a tortured man. His longevity becoming a curse most would see as a blessing.
“Believe me….you’re the only who cares…”
@@Sketchfan yeah, that line hits harder now than it did back then.
@@Sketchfan That comment seems to also imply from him(fries) that people forgot about this deed of good he did in "Deep freeze" stopping the world from freezing over.
However, it was well out of character for him since he normally wouldn't care about everyone else around him. Which why it seems like Fries was gaining humanity back only to ever have it destroyed by other characters through the series.
I question how things could've gone if Batman & or Robin were to have unmasked at that point when he said tried to stop fries on both occasions of self-sacrifice. (BATS & Beyond)
Mr freeze is of the deepest amd most complex batman villains and one of my all time favorites!
Gets a heartbreaking moments in Batman Beyond and Harley Quinn
This is pretty much the plot to "the spy who loved me" and "moonraker" except with Batman and mr. Freeze
For the robot design, check also Hayao Miyazaki "Castle in the Sky" or "Laputa" (depends on region): the robot in Batman is pratically identical.
I was about to say it reminded me of laputa
Finally! Someone else sees it... I was starting to think I was the only one.
I thought the same thing! although I don't remember them having the chest cavities, so maybe it's a mash up of both?
I was just thinking that.
Perhaps since the antagonist is based on Walt, Perhaps that's why the robot looks like the one from castle in the sky, as I've heard a couple people refer to studeo ghibli as the Disney of japan...or so I heard.
The way you described Oceania, Walter, reminds me of Bioshock's Rapture. The large, supposed utopia that was supposed to house the chosen few, hidden within the ocean and kept away from society, but ends up crumbling into obscurity and collapsing under the greedy ambition of its creator.
That's what I was gonna say, except the name eluded me for a while.
Yeah me too
Same here, I'm pretty sure they either drew inspiration from this, or from the book which inspired Oceania.
great minds think alike.
Andrew Ryan even looks a good bit like Walker/Disney. Similar inspiration I suppose.
Man, this was such a great followup to "Heart of Ice". Not only did it have great animation and music to make the "utopic" retro-futuristic world of Oceania (which sounds like a place from 1984) come alive but it introduced another long standing tradition in Freeze's story: him longing to free his wife from her frozen prison. It makes his debut episode come off as more haunting since Freeze thought Nora died in the accident and was going to kill Ferris Boyle out of grief.
I remember reading an online review from someone who said they thought Heart of Ice was the only good Mr Freeze story. I have always felt very sorry for this person. This episode is truly fantastic! It has a wonderful mystery and lots of cool twists. Your Batman reviews are amazing! Thanks for sharing all the cool Easter eggs.
What this series managed to do with Mr Freeze is nothing short of incredible
Along with "Fire from Olympus", this was the episode I saw the most due to having the VHS that had the two episodes on it. They are without a doubt my favourites.
🤩 The "Batman: Fire and Ice" VHS, released on DVD years later.
Batman TAS was amazing because it forced a 6 year old me to see that it’s not black and white, good/bad guy. there are areas of grey and having a villain who’s sole goal is to save his loved one no matter what he became struck me even then.
Like Two-Face, Freeze's debut episode was so good it must have been difficult to work up the nerve to try and make a sequel, but this is about as satisfying as one could be. The Walt Disney parallels are obvious but I'm also reminded of Rapture from Bioshock with Walker basically doing the same thing with ice instead of water. Probably would end up the same way too.
We seem to usually get good episodes when a Gotham citizen, usually a rich one, takes a personal interest in one of the rogues, wanting to explore their world and regretting it later.
Bat-Mite Toy: "Greetings, Dynamic Duo! I'm your biggest fan!"
After seeing Joker, Freeze, out of all the villains of Batman, maybe also Scarecrow, deserves his own origin movie
It's very ice to see another chilling BAT-MAY video.
*Arnold Schwarzenegger intensifies*
I always thought that this episode was the original inspiration for Bioshock: Andrew Ryan and Grant Walker are basically the same person
(Both based on Walt Disney)
Yes! Oceania is basically Rapture too!
Would you kindly upvote this comment?
I’m not entirely sure why, but this is one of a few episodes that has stayed stuck in my mind since childhood. Like, whenever someone brings up BTAS, this episode and 5 others are the ones that come to mind
It's amusing to me that Tim Burton, the man whose vision for Batman helped inspire this animated series, got his start as a Walt Disney animator, and here the series is acknowledging Disney as a pop-cultural force. What makes it even more funny is that Disney is the biggest rival of Warner Brothers, the entertainment company that owns DC Comics, and to this day their rivalry has only intensified, especially now that Disney owns Marvel Comics!
4:57 the robot almost immediately called the Laputan robots from Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky, albeit silver instead of brown.
(Mark Hamill also does the dub for the villain in that movie)
Considering what happens to Mr Freeze in TNBA, I think it’s safe to assume that Grant Walker won’t be a threat by the time he gets out of that ice block.
He returns in Batman: Gotham Adventures #5.
Another inspiration for the plot of the episode appears to be the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. A wealthy futurist plans to destroy the world while he and his select few of humanity survive in an idealized undersea society called Atlantis.
Moonraker has the same plot, just in space
I love how this series made Fries a sympathetic serious villain instead of the goofy ice obsessed original. Arnold could have even been good if they went with a darker version of B&R
The character is severely underrated and misunderstood. Doctors are taught to be detached and laser focused. Victor gained humanity when he fell in love with Nora and essentially lost it when she became ill.
She is figuratively and in some cases literally his heart.
Their fates are intertwined and it is quite poetic.
When she is ill/ comatose he is vicious and cold as ice.
When she is happy and healthy he is warm,understanding and sympathetic. Genius, simply genius from a writers standpoint.
I think that more than anything, the robot that kidnaps Mr. Freeze is modeled after the robots in the Ghibli movie "Laputa".
Laputa's influence does not get enough credit. It may not be the most famous or marketed of the Ghibli Miyazaki films, but it seems to be the most influential.
Mr. Freeze: "Yes... That would wound me to tears if I had some left to shed"
Thank you for this episode. I got layered goosebumps of enlightened awe and existential horror when you showed live footage of the relationship between Walker and Disney. Good job, sir!
4:58 he looks more like the robot from Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky
Another subtle Easter Egg - Addressing the crowd of a utopian city from a giant screen looks almost identical to a scene from "The Shape of Things to Come"
"I will build a perfect utopia", said the very clever man, so full of faith in his own subjective ideas, and built an authoritarian prison that people just don't seem very happy at all in, for some strange reason.
A tale as old as time, and each and every one is always convinced _he_ has the perfect answers to all questions, and all others who tried were just foolish and incompetent, totally unlike himself in his infallibility, the protagonist of his own narrative. Until reality happens.
Batman vs. Andrew Ryan. Though I suppose he's had his fill of that kind of talk already from Ra's Al Ghul and Poison Ivy.
Grant Walker also reminds me a lot of Andrew Ryan from Bioshock. His robot also reminds me a lot of the robots from Castle in the Sky.
@CipherRage-tp5ql Both look like Disney
Mr. Freeze always makes a chilling entrance.
Freeze's character is one of the most beautifully complex and tragic in all of the DC universe, at least in my opinion, and I honestly would've been happy if this were the last episode of BTAS leading into Sub-Zero. However, we still have one more to go, and another piece of the Sub-Zero puzzle to reunite with
Mr Freeze is one of my personal favorite characters in DC animated, every scene he is in, he manages to *warm* your heart, and totally *steel* the scene, for being a really *cool* character he totally *fires up* some emotions. Well enough with the temperature jokes.
Everything he does is born out of love, he is not truly a villain, a hero nor an antihero, he is Mr Freeze. I can relate and care about his struggles, he is one of the most unique antagonist with unique traits that really makes him stand out.
If it was up to him he would be a normal citizen with her living wife, and he does everything necessary and in his power to accomplish that dream of his and cure both of them.
8:01 Freeze's face reaction kills me. 😂
Batman looking at robotic Bat-Mite: "No, please! Not him again! I thought he, along with all that Silver Age crap, was left behind with the Crisis!"
Robin: "Calm down, Batman. He's just a robot."
Batman: "Oh, thank God. For a moment I thought..."
True Bat-Mite: *Appears* "Hi, Brucie! Did you miss me?" 😊
Batman: 😢
Bat-May Day 6.
RIP, Daniel O'Herlihy for voicing a Batman villain in this episode where Mr. Freeze would do everything he can to save his wife.
7:38-7:51 is one of my favorite speeches in BTAS
I watched this episode recently on UA-cam a few months ago. I just watched the 1941 Superman cartoon, "The Mechanical Monsters." I haven't seen that cartoon in years. I watched that cartoon when they showed it on the Cartoon Network in the 1990s. Mr. Freeze was also in The Batman cartoon. (2004)
I always considered this episode The Mr. Freeze helps evil Walt Disney episode😂
This presumes that real Disney wasnt evil. Which he was. Paranoidal anticommunist nutso, hated beards, viciously racist. A true USian paragon.
If I had a nickel for every Walt Disney parody who was a supervillain, I’d be as rich as Bruce Wayne
This show didn't just steal from the best of the comics, but they help define some of their best characters.
One of my favorite Easter eggs is a subtle one...
M9 is clearly based on the giant robots from the Miyazaki classic, "Castle in the Sky."
thank you, Mr. Altieri, wherever you may be.
Walt Disney literally is just the villain in this episode.
and to this day he remains as one, for those who inherited his legacy, continue to taint it.
I love this. The commentary and pointing out an Easter egg I never noticed before. The robot personally reminds me of the one from “Castle in the Sky “ . Not sure if you’ve seen this anime classic but if not just google it. There’s a lot of similarities in design.
I also love how the toys feel like foreshadowing to the eventual Superman TAS.
Oh shit it's Bat-May. It's been two years since I found out about this channel tradition.
The last time we saw Mr. Freeze was in the first Bat-May.
M-9's pasta arms remind me of the robot from the Studio Ghibli film "Laputa: Castle in the Sky".
Wow.
I just realized that villain is probably still alive and frozen by the time of Batman Beyond... he's probably gone completely insane (well, more so than he already was to try the plan he did) after all those years frozen in the ice, unable to escape or do anything at all, with only his own mad thoughts for company
What I found cool was how much was probably taken from this episode that inspired Bioshock and Fallout New Vegas.
The water based utopia led by a Walt Disney type villain who pushes experimentation for changing biology. Or how the designs are similar to Mr House with his robots and big screen conversations.
I can't be the only one who thinks the robots in this were inspired by "Castle in the Sky", can I?
Grant Walker also reminds me of Andrew Ryan, the Ruler of the underwater city of Rapture from the Bioshock games.
Part of me also wonders if Walker's design and similar thinking we're used as inspiration for Andrew Ryan
_"Evil Walt Disney"_
So, like...regular Walt Disney?
5:16
Speaking of Sebastian, he didn't die with Eldon Tyrell, actually. He just had a heart attack when he saw Roy killing Tyrell and was later re-animated in an ambulance, not before being officially declared dead by mistake due to his deteriorated state. He then escaped and re-animated Pris (who wasn't a replicant, but a human who believed that she was an android), turning her into a zombie. I know it sounds crazy, but it's totally real. Just google it
Yeah I heard about Walt Disney idea for a Utopia city, Epcot. A city that’s not exposed to the outside world. Epcot, a city that’s all indoors to shield people from natural disasters, stopping the spread of diseases and giving people all the necessity resources to live
Mr. Freeze Meets "Not" Walt Disney now that's very neat, and i'm now 22 and enjoyed the episodes, The Underdwellers, The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne, & Now Deep Freeze. Thank You.🥳
5:30 - 6:00/ A big Shot-out to Mr. Altieri. I almost forgot that he, along with several other writers and animators, were directly connected to essentially 2 of my all-time favorite animated series. BTAS being one, of course. The other series? Why, THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS!❤
Robot brings back Castle in the Sky vibes for me
Deep freeze episode always gives me so many Bioshock vibes? It may be a grate reference and inspiration for Ken Levins game
This was the episode I watched the most growing up. I remember I had it on a tape and watched it pretty much everyday. I remember my day telling me that the guy voicing the Carl Rossum was the same guy from Blade Runner which at the time I had just rescently saw. I remember thinking how cool it was that he was basically the same character in my eyes
He's like a evil Walt Disney with a cold heart 🥶🥶🥶
A Walt Disney parody in Batman I thought I’d seen everything
This episode reminds me of the bioshock franchise
I thought you were gonna mention how the robots design bears a striking resemblance to the robots from Studio Ghiblis: Castle In The Sky.
Little did they know that Oceana survived to become the underwater metropolis known as Rapture.
Now, Mr. Walter, would you kindly post a second episode today?
It's crazy how this show we could have a James Bond villain style Walt Disney and it not be out of place
The late Dan O’Herlihy delivered an excellent performance as the villainous Walker
Damn, I never made the Walt Disney connection before now.
Between Walker's design and the retro-futuristic look of Oceania, I'm also getting strong Bioshock vibes from this episode. I wonder if the inhabitants of Oceania would also be entitled to the sweat of their own brows?
The robots that get Freeze out of jail remind me of the ones from Laputa: Castle in the Sky.
This is a amazing episode. The nods to Disney as well as the story itself is amazing. I love the message of this episode and knowing that Mr. Freeze is the hero.
The robot's design is clearly a homage to the Laputian Robot Troopers from Castle In the Sky.
I've mentioned in the past two Bat-Mays that I headcanon Ra's al Ghul secretly being behind this episode for reasons which I'll finally get into now. First off, we have the motivations behind Walker's plan: As Walter says, Walker views the world as violent and hateful which is why he wants to freeze everyone except his chosen few. Ra's, of course, has been sprouting similar sentiments about the evils of most of humanity ever since we officially met him back in "The Demon's Quest, Part 1" so it would make sense that he'd secretly be sponsoring Walker's goals after Batman thwarted his earlier attempt to do the same thing by having the Lazarus Pits flood the world. Speaking of the Lazarus Pits, that brings me to Reason #2 of why I think he was involved here and why he indulged in Walker's little side project to have Freeze make him immortal. As previously mentioned, his failed plan in "The Demon's Quest" resulted in all of the Lazarus Pits, the source of his own quasi-immortality, being destroyed in a vain attempt to destroy humanity, leaving Ra's now in danger of having his own age catch up to him (as we see will eventually happen in Superman: The Animated Series). Since his plan to find a new source of eternal life in "Avatar" ended up failing, he probably was looking for a new way to sustain himself and let Walker be a guinea pig to recreate Fries' accident to see if it could work on him as well.
I always thought Grant Walker was a corrupt businessman (like Ferris Boyle or Roland Daggot) but this guy is practically DC’s version of Walt Disney which is funny
Batman The Animated Series is my favorite show
There surely is a bit of Xander Drax from the James Bond film Moonraker in the character as well.. But i agree fully that the main inspiration was clearly Walt Disney.
I love Deep Freeze. Def one of my fav episodes
"Most layered villain" - is not exactly a high bar to jump. You just have to make a better villain than Joker, which is trivial.
6:18 Batman's symbol colors are reversed in this shot. This might be one of these things that was fixed in subsequent airings but they used the prefixed version on Blu-Ray.
If we don't include the Sub-Zero movies, I personally think that this should've been Mr. Freeze's last episode. I just can't get over on how much they bastardized him in Season 4 of Batman the Animated Series.
Did anyone else get a bioshock vibe from this episode? I mean Oceana is like rapture in a way, Grant Walker is like Andrew Ryan. It’s like the developers took inspiration from this episode for bioshock.
Mr. Freeze is one of my favorite Batman villains because of his unique origins. His goal will always be to save his beloved wife from a fate worse than death. World domination, revenge, greed, pride, etc. are not his mod, but saving a loved one is. As for the Walt Disney wannabe, his ultimate goal is also similar to the James Bond villain in Moonraker: create an utopian world for "perfect" people after totally annihilating the world to set things right. All in all, this was a very interesting Batman: The Animated Series episode AND a very interesting review vid as well.
Mr. Freeze is such a poetic villain, I swear, this guy could write Shakespeare in his spare time with all the memorable and iconic lines he's spat out.
Much to my surprise, grant walker is voiced by Dan o’ herlihy, aka the old man ceo from robocop and the last star fighter.
Grant walker and the old man ceo of OCP, both men have visions of the future and will do anything to make it come true, even it means of wiping out crimes in extreme ways
Grant Walker is like Magneto from X-Men TAS... They wanted to create an ideal world without chaos and destruction. But they dreams were doomed. In case of Grant, this ideal world was Oceana. In case of Magnus, Asteroid M.
or like Andrew Ryan from Bioshock. Both look like Disney
I think Magneto's ideal world was Genosha