The role of Mr Freeze in the DCAU is perhaps the most fascinating of all, considering that his development arc encompasses, not only episodes of various series, but even an own movie too. This episode is the main proof of that, as it ends in a cliffhanger that would not be resolved until the episode "Meltdown" of Batman Beyond. It is quite curious to watch all the episodes and the movie about Mr Freeze in a row, since watching them all together gives the feeling of watching a good single very long movie
More than just that! Harley gets credited as the most influential thing out of BMTAS, but Fries is a close second. The fact he was shelved as a character for decades beforehand but became relevant across media in general after this, speaks volumes. I'm far from the only one to point out the less than well recieved Batman and Robin movie used this version's backstory. It also became used in the comics along with other lore aspects. The Batman: White Knight storyline Explored the fact Victor doesn't Age the same by revealing he was a WWII scientist involved in a Wayne family conspiracy that Bruce was origionally unaware of. The comics would also explore Nora a lot (for better and worse.) One was making her instead the sole older one and not actually Fries wife but a patient frozen in the 40s who fell under his care at Wayne enterprises whom he became obsessed with. That was retconned pretty fast and replaced by her being finally cured but also afflicted with the same mutation as her husband. The emotional shock of waking up cured, years displaced in time to a criminal husband and a frozen, mutated body had some heavy mental effects which drove her mad. She became a villainess in her own right, adapting the same theme as her husband. She has shown up in the Arkham games and had a prominent role in the Harley Quinn show; where Victor had to sacrifice himself for her and her story went on solo. It is impressive how far reaching this version of Fries and resulting stories have been. It is clear if BMTAS never did what they chose to with this character, he would be as forgotten as King Tut and other, similar villains.
Yeah. The only thing I don’t like about that episode is the professor Radium knockoff blight. Thankfully, Blight gets his a few episodes later, when he loses everything due to the machinations of his son Paxton Powers.
the reason for Bruce's lack of lighter voice and lack of empathy toward Freeze can be explained as the years of dealing with super villains and mad men taking their toll on Batman, wearing him down and making him more cold hearted. At least, that's what I've heard
And meeting Superman, his unflinching optimistic worldview, and working with the Justice League is was restored his faith in humanity. That's my head Canon anyway.
to me the message of the story cold comfort is lose coming to terms and having to move on well Bruce lost his parents he had to move on and accept the things in his life and carry on well Mr freeze body was breaking down he wanted to work things out with Nora but realize he was more machine than man and lost everything and took it out on everyone he felt had to feel his pain showing Freeze never realize even if Nora was alive again he was never going to be back with her
5:41 I actually asked Kevin Conroy about that when I spoke to him a few years ago. I believe he said is was mainly to reflect how the series was much darker at this point and having Bruce talk in a lighter, more playful tone was too jarring.
There was a Batman comic (new 52 era IIRC) where Alfred says to Bruce: "You know that growl you use in your voice when you put on the cowl? You're starting to do it all the time."
And his Bruce voice is still higher and more playful than his Batman voice, just not as much. His Batman is still very deep and almost growly, while his Bruce is now more casual and less flamboyant than before.
@@jackthegreek6092 It's true, it was in 2020, Galaxycon was doing those Virtual Meet and Greets with the actors and I paid to get to speak with him for 3 minutes. Given what happened last year I'm glad I did as I'd have been destroyed if I never got to meet him.
I think at this point in the series in universe Bruce was slowly becoming more detached from his "Bruce Wayne" persona that he stopped putting in the effort to mask his voice
Even though the design Freeze had in the TNBA was pretty badass, we must admit that Mike Mignola's original version of Freeze was the best. Imagine how epic the animation of BTAS would have been if the great Mignola had been encouraged to design all the characters
I’m glad that we saw Victor one more time in the DCAU. Such a tragic and nuanced character deserved a better send off, and I’m glad he got it. “Believe me… You’re the only one that cares.”
Mr. Freeze has become no more human and colder as ice, literally. I guess is like in the song, that he was willing his sacrifice of love. Brought it upon himself in the end and what he became. Scary....!
I remember reading one of the DCAU comics released after this series. In it, Nightwing and Batgirl were investigating the kidnapping of Nora's new husband. Freeze shows up and helps the duo bring the man home. The way Victor saw it, that was the man who Nora had chosen to be with. Her new husband was the one who made her happy. So he was willing to fight for that. That is a way more interesting continuation of Mr. Freeze's character than this series gave us. I just wish we could have seen it on the show.
I have a theory...Bruce not really changing his voice while he was in public has to do with how things have changed...With Dick, the world itself, his relationships, he was becoming more and more Batman...and less Bruce Wayne. He was becoming more obsessed with his holy mission....and this to me is what that toll was taking.
him losing his body feels like it goes against his previous episode and how he was meant to be "immortal". it really implied that his body wouldnt/couldnt deteriorate...
There’s actually a reason Kevin Conroy dropped the Bruce Wayne voice It was to give subtle development that he is giving more support to Batman then to Bruce wayne Basically like he is turning a little more hard boiled
I wish he'd waited until Justice League to start doing that, though. In context of TNBA, Bruce is still a public façade that he's trying to keep distinct from Batman, so the voicework should match that. JL and on, it makes sense for him to stop trying as hard and eventually going "screw it, I'm gonna stop being Batman and just be my true self as Bruce Wayne", which is where we find him in Batman Beyond.
@@GihirahimOfTheShadow it is not that he is not trying as hard just that he is slipping If you see how Bruce Wayne acts in BTAS and TNBTAS you see that he is starting to forget people’s names, corporate policy. Making a lot of mistake he usually didn’t make Batman is consuming Bruce Wayne in a way. Less of a “screw it” and more of my split identity is taking over
I do like the idea of Fries' body slowly breaking down from his condition. For anyone who hasn't played the game Arkham city, Fries is shown without his suit in one scene and you can see parts of his body succumbing to frost bite. Him just being a head in this was a bit too much, I think. Maybe they could have said, he knew his body was breaking down and he didn't want his wife to watch him die and that could be why he avoided her.
It also is a good jumping off point for the last episode. If Mr. Freeze's body degraded, it is safe to say that Grant Walker's will as well (i.e. he was wrong about the process being a way to achieve immortality.) So maybe they planned to have an increasingly desperate Walker keep trying to catch Fries in order to force him to try and work out some way to correct the problem.
This was just a stupid badly written way to MILK the charscter further. Freeze is established as IMMORTAL..HOW exactly can his body deteoriate!?😐😑 Theres an entire episode on this where he even gives the same ailment to another character to wants to he immortal
Tim watching Mr Freeze enter Wayne Manor: "Ok, I'm sorry! He kidnapped me and forced me to be his partner! I had no choice! I SWEAR!!!" Mr Freeze: "What the hell are you talking about, kid?" Tim: "Oh...Uhhh...Nothing!" Bruce: "This is why Superman works alone..." 🤦
I think this was a pretty good way to do it. After Sub Zero, they needed reasons for Mr. Freeze to come back; after all, he was a well liked villain and Michael Ansara really nailed the role. The question was, what would be his motivation to return to Gotham now that his wife was saved? In Batman Beyond, Bruce told Terry that Freeze was obsessed with revenge. Here, we see that Freeze has all hope taken from him. He can never be with his wife, nor lead a normal life due to his condition. Now his own body was being taken from him. More and more, Freeze was continuing to lose while having no light at the end of the tunnel to motivate him for good. All he could see was his own suffering while everyone else was basking in joy.
This episode contained my go-to example for why I felt that The New Batman Adventures had lost something compared to the original series. Both this episode and the original Mr. Freeze episode have a comparable situation: one of Mr. Freeze's minions is partially frozen by an errant blast from Freeze's gun. The minion pleads for help, but is ultimately abandoned without a second thought by Mr. Freeze, highlighting how cold he is, so to speak. But then consider the differences. In the original episode, the thugs Mr. Freeze has hired are horrified at leaving their friend behind, and do so only very reluctantly while he pleads to not be abandoned. The man is ultimately saved by Batman, who is shown putting him in a water tank to melt the ice around his legs. The entire affair portrays this random mook with a surprising amount of humanity. In this episode, by contrast, the other minions aren't hired thugs, but sexy girls in completely impractical parkas that double almost as mini-skirts. Why are they following Freeze and dressing like that while working for him? Who cares? They exist for fanservice. The one who is frozen asks for help but is abandoned by the other girls without a backward glance, and is never seen or mentioned again by anyone. Certainly Batman makes no effort to save her. I don't know. It felt like the perfect example of the show losing some of its humanity and becoming more over-the-top in a way that put me off.
Honestly, I wouldn't be shocked if the Ice Maidens were androids. Maybe salvaged HARDAC tech Victor managed to scrounge up from somewhere. That lack of humanity might be a feature rather than a bug.
Given the state that Mr. Freeze is in, now with the beauty of hindsight, it makes sense that the voice filter would sound more robotic and remain robotic without the glass on his head.
Despite being so popular and known from the series, kind of crazy to think Mr. freeze only had five appearances in the DCAU, one being his movie, and the other a Batman beyond episode, you think you he’d have more
Yeah, Freeze's tragic backstory is wonderfully written, but it also means he doesn't really fit with the other villains. You couldn't picture adding him into "Almost Got 'im", for example.
I am thankful you are continuing the Bat May series, thank you for sharing. 5:41 Bruce's lightheartedness is what I miss from the animated series as well, him being more serious and at times cruel made me miss playful nature.
I’m so glad they gave us the true final episode for the DCAU Mr. Freeze “Meltdown“ from Batman Beyond, with it featuring him and having Derek Powers dub himself “Blight”. I wasn’t always the biggest fan of “Cold Comfort” but I can see why we needed it.
I did feel for Freeze but i truly felt worse for that artist! I know Freeze wants others to feel his pain with cold comfort...but this guy looked so completely devastated! As fellow artist, i feel his pain!😢
Mr. Freeze: You were just a boy when you lost your family. But you keep trying to create a surrogate family for yourself. To destroy you, I need only destroy that. Perhaps your- Tim Drake: Oh come on, Elsa. Can't you just let it g-? Mr. Freeze: If you finish the rest of that sentence, I will freeze you on the spot. *One moment of silence later* Tim Drake (singing): Let it goooooo! Let it goooooo! *Mr. Freeze coldly ice-blasts Tim* Mr. Freeze: You have no idea how much I hate that song.
Heartbreaking indeed. But at the same time, it WAS Freeze’s decision to let her go and keep away from her. Was she supposed to have lived her life all by herself forever? That’s why this episode is especially strange because it feels like it’s Freeze lashing out because his wife chose to be with someone else, but HE precipitated that decision. This episode just needed a better motivation for Freeze to go on a rampage, cause it’s like Walter said, it feels petty, like something the Penguin or the Joker might do.
Fun fact: In JL Animated Series, the episode of the Nano robot invasion, Batman freeze's the nano robots with a Bomb, and he says something about "an incident in the gotham lake" gave them an idea
I really hate how Mr. Freeze was portrayed in this episode. I don't mind the idea of a version of Freeze that's filled with nothing but despair, but the problem is story that happened before this episode, Sub-Zero. While I wouldn't say Sub-Zero is a good movie, it did give Mr. Freeze what he needed, a moment of happiness. Seeing him being so desperate to get his wife cured, too the point where he's willing to kill someone who has the same blood type as Nora, (AKA Barbara Gordon,) especially since his wife was literally at Death's door, you can feel the desperation Freeze was going through. And then at the end of the film, we see an injured Mr. Freeze watching a news report of Wayne Industries curing his wife, while a single tear rolls down his eye, it was a powerful moment. The movie then ends with him, along with his two polar bears, walking away with a strong sense of satisfaction of Mr. Freeze finally getting what he got. But then Cold Comfort comes in and literally throws all of Freeze's character development out of the window. Now granted, there is some justifications as, because of the conditions of Freeze's body, it began to deteriorate. It ended up getting so bad that he's literally nothing but a head in a jar before doctors can save him. I will admit that that part is tragic, especially since he's now less human than he already is. The problem stems to what he decides to do with his condition. Instead of doing to more sensible thing by visiting his wife, try to improve himself, or maybe even try to find ways to help others, Freeze decides to make everyone feel the same despair he feels by freezing and destroying the things that made a person feel the happiest, and then dropping a bomb that would create a new ice age for Gotham. This essentially turns Mr. Freeze from a sympathetic criminal to a monstrous terrorist. Needless to say, I hate this episode for what they did to Mr. Freeze. I like the new design, but I can't stand how his character development was butchered. And they made Mr. Freeze a very petty and selfish person.
I actually think this was one of the better Psychological episodes to show the criminal mind slowly breaking down from self-serving motivations to just straight chaos for the sake of it!
Mr Freeze's head: "Look, this is all that's left of me! There's no place in society for someone like me!" 😢 Robin: "Calm down, Victor. Society can still make good use of you." Mre Freeze's head: "Really?!" 😃 Robin: "Sure! You'd make a great supporting role in Duck Dodgers!" 🤣🤣🤣 Mr Freeze's head: *Uses a robot leg to give Robin the middle finger*
The best part of this episode for me is that knock down drag out fight between freeze and bats at the end. Wow it is one of the examples of the animation change really shining for me In response to batmans voice j reviews did an awesome retrospective on btas and his theory which I agree with is because bats has been doing this for years he is developing ptsd. Not necessarily that he's paralyzed by fear but he has that 1000 yd stare and detachment. Basically Bruce Wayne and all his attributes he put into the suit are melting away and batmans cold, cynical and single minded attitude are starting to take over. Until he meets superman in world finest
I don't know if Bat-May will end this year or continue to other Batman shows or perhaps *Bat-May Beyond*, but I would really love to see your thoughts on Freeze's episode (Meltdown) on Batman. Beyond.
They did this dude too wrong in my opinion. Not only did they not give him a happy ending with his wife and let her be with someone else, they took away his body and pretty much took away our hope for him to be with the person he loved more than his own life.
A tie in comic sort-of addressed this, revealing that Freeze did try to reconnect with Nora, but her doctor hid all of Victor’s letters from her. Nora later discovers this deception and the doctor is arrested after trying to kill Victor, but the couple still doesn’t get back together.
@@wingedhussar8552 I believe the story is called "Best Served Cold", and it goes in some weird directions... the doctor who marries Nora also builds some crazy robot to freeze himself in order to frame Victor...
There was no working cure for Victor's condition or his obsession before the Batman Beyond era. Victor was so consumed with extending Nora's life that he never considered the depreciation of his own. Victor's tragedy makes sense.
Victor is a tragic character defined by his loss, lust for revenge and cold demeanor. I wish he got a happy ending, but I believe this fits his character. He wanted to give Nora her life back, but with that accomplished, he realized his condition would destroy him and he didn't want to put Nora through the pain he had suffered. However, now that he was truly alone, Freis was directionless and hopeless. What was he supposed to do? Body withering away and no one to share his remaining life with he turned to bringing others down to his level. Misery loves company after all.
Im glad Freeze returned in Batman Beyond to properly close out his chapter with the Bat-Family. Almost makes up for this episode as this one was the weaker of the 4.
I believe J's Reviews made a video talking about how TNBA shows a steep decline in Batman's mental state, and whether or not that was intentional, I think it's an interesting fan theory. He stumbles around his words a lot more as Bruce Wayne, he's a lot more aggressive as Batman, and he makes some very questionable decisions, most notably having a romantic relationship with Batgirl. Intentional or not, I sort of prefer this theory because it helps me rationalize a lot of not great stuff in an otherwise flawless series.
I get the feeling that this was (originally) a simple case of flanderization and maybe also a side effect of the show giving more focus on the youthful and optimistic Dick, Barbara and Tim, which resulted in the writers slipping more and more into making Bruce/Batman cold and unfeeling. Though granted, the writers seem to have caught wind of it, and it was given a payoff in Batman Beyond, which shows Bruce’s tragic fate of becoming a bitter and reclusive old man who drove away what few friends he had.
It’s funny that for some villains they tried to make them look more serious but as a result, they actually got kinda goofy looking, especially The Joker. I’m sure you’ll get to it eventually, but Scarecrow I think had the best redesign
I absolutely despise how The New Batman Adventures completely did away with the conclusion to Mr Freeze's story arc just so the showrunners could have a reason to keep using him as the villain of the week Its particularly baffling how the Harley Quinn show, a _parody,_ managed to give Mr Freeze an actual ending
This episode just made me really hope that once you finish The New Batman Adventures you rebrand Bat-May to Bat-May Beyond, because that show is an amazing follow up and I'd love an episode by episode retrospective on it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the plot of the last Mr. Freeze episode revolve around the idea that his accident slowed the aging process, essentially making his body immortal? But in this one it turns out that nope, it actually makes his body break down faster, so now he's nothing but a head? I was always a little confused by that, though I still remember how shocking that twist was when I first saw it.
3:14 Walter theorized Bruce Timm might have thrown his hands up when it came to Victor's motivation, maybe the change was made by the writers of this episode.
This is one of my favorite episodes. It is very dark and bleak. You may think it's slightly out of character for Mr. Freeze but always remember, there is nothing more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose.
Honestly Mr Freeze deserves a happy ending for once. Thankfully the writing department in Arkham Knight for the Season Of Infamy DLC gave him and Nora the happy ending they deserved. Despite how much hate Arkham Knight gets, At least there’s that.
in my opinion never having seen many of the original batman the animated series or even the followup seasons to it the best Mr freeze episode is in batman beyond where they do delve deeper and show he does want to help people from all the harm he's caused just to go back to being a criminal. its an interesting story especially with how they handle how and why he's brought back and what makes him snap.
I had this Victor as a toy, it was pretty neat, the head could come off & go on the spider legs and the main body had a little chest door that had some nice mold detailing inside.
come on, man! "bites the diamond dust" was right there! XD If not for that line at the end writing off Freeze, I would say that batman would just figure that a freezing bomb wouldn't kill him. I mean, it didn't even scratch his suit, from what we saw.
The one thing this episode gave us was Fries' disembodied head. That wasn't much of a payoff until later when they did Batman Beyond and we got the instant classic in "Meltdown." Seeing Fries get restored to a new, normal body and actually be able to be human again was wonderful. We know how much he suffered, how cut off he was from the rest of humanity and nature, how he even yearned for death itself. To see him be able to get something back was beautiful. It made his descent at the end all the more tragic and heartbreaking. We also get to see Terry truly start to become Batman in that episode because he tried to save Fries, and Victor turned him down and told him he was the only one that cared. All of that added to the absolute tragedy that was Mr. Fries.
Honestly, I feel like this episode would’ve been viewed much, MUCH less favorably if it wasn’t for Batman Beyond wrapping up Freeze’s story so effectively.
I think the reason Mr. Freeze went full on vindictive in this story is because he wound up a head in a jar, like he did everything he could to do the right thing only for providence to STILL take everything from him
I think it was a great episode. We all kinda knew they were gonna keep freeze around. Really im just kinda impressed they didn't retcon Nora's recovery. So it explains why batman was less sympathetic to the less than human monster, Victor was becoming. The little hints that he went full robo cop were even a nice touch, liike the vocals still being robotic without the helmet.
To quote Doug at the reveal of head only Mr Freeze: "Oh Christ that's beyond fucking stupid. This is Marvin the Martian science guys!.... What am I looking at!?"
This is a very kind review of this episode, perhaps more than it deserves. Yeah, have to say that the blue-eyed, black haired, Bruce Wayne plus more grim attitude of TNBA Batman is more comic-accurate than BTAS Batman, for better or worse.
5:54 I have theory: I don't think was intentional but Bruce sounding more like Batman can be seen as part of his character development in this season. Before, in BTAS, Bruce and Batman had distinct voices because the character had a balance between his two identities. He could be dark and brooding but also heroic and show compassion. In TNBA Bruce has spend years fighting crime as Batman that is now affecting him in psychological level. His Bruce Wayne persona is being consumed and his Batman personality is becoming more dominant, which is why he's more serious in this season compare to the previous ones.
I had the same nitpick with the henchwomen. They had nothing to gain from going along with his MO in this episode. Using his polar bears from Subzero would have been more logical.
I agree. They're not getting any profit working for Freeze since all he seems to care about is destroying people's possessions and loved ones. At least Joker occasionally robs something or demands ransom.
@@matthewdaley746 yeah because like 4:21 I wish they could have brought in Mr Wing in the series and I was thinking of a anti-Steve Trevor for Wonder Woman’s Cheetah
I like that almost all the villians just have hot hench people. Joker: Harley, Penguin: Playboy penguingirls, Freeze: Icewomen, CalendarGirl: Modell dudes.
I think Batman tying Freeze to the bomb can be chalked up to the needs of the many vs the needs of the few. Batman had millions of people to save and he had to save them in a hurry. Putting as much distance between himself and Freeze was the most surefire way to do that.
Okay, funny thing. This video kept popping up for me every time I was watching a scene of Nora Fries from the Harley Quinn show. It’s kind of funny to see Nora acting like a 24/7 drunk party girl while seeing her husband’s stone cold expression, for lack of a better term, while she was acting like a crazy sorority girl. 😂
The whole curing of his wife left me confused as well. Also, as for killing Fries, you compared it to the death of Ra's in Batman Begins but it's probably more comparable to the death of the Joker in the 1989 movie.
There is no doubt that Mr. Freeze is one of the greater characters of the series. Episodes like this and Deep Freeze always made me wish that there were more episodes or moments with the character (and of course I know there is also "Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero" and a few episodes in Batman Beyond) but still, even if this was the conclusion of the iconic villain in the series, I tip off my hat to Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and the entire BTAS/TNBA team for giving us fans a true portrayal of a truly sympathetic villain
Yeah, this was a very difficult episode to like. On its own, "Cold Comfort" has a fascinating premise: A supervillain deciding to ruin people's lives in the pettiest ways possible in response to his own tragedies. It reminds me of a Courage the Cowardly Dog episode where a mad scientist builds a weapon in his isolated tower designed to make everyone it hits as miserable as himself. But when looking at the larger picture, it's a massive derailment of Freeze's character. He finally gets his wife back only for his efforts to be for nothing, and he goes back to being a supervillain. Worse, Nora didn't leave him, Freeze exiled himself. So why take his self-inflicted misery out on everyone else? He doesn't feel sympathetic this time. He just feels like a nihilistic dick. The only incarnation worse is in Gotham Knights where he doesn't even have a "ruin everyone's lives" gimmick, just generic doomsday schemes.
I remember that episode of Courage. Sometimes I wonder why the weapon turned Dr. Zalost’s henchman Rat into a monster but didn’t affect Eustace until the end of the episode.
I hope the WGA can somehow put a stop to the studios' plans of using AI to write full scripts. That might be the most important issue from a fundamental perspective in how these big movies are made. I'd rather watch an awful movie written by a human than a film that's technically sound because of a program hitting all the correct beats.
7:00 i don't know how they did it but... some how i can take arnold making ice puns more serious than that. Like doug said in his review this is not batman this is a marvin the martian cartoon.
I'd imagine there could've been a pretty cool alternate timeline episode where Mr Freeze successfully drops the bomb on Gotham and everyone trying to survive the fallout
6:20 Great comeback there, Tim. It's always bugged me when Batman harps on and on about justice, like when he told Dent in Two Face Part 2 "Let the law decide". Right. The law. Says the guy who instead of becoming a cop, DA or Judge, decides to dress in a Halloween costume every night, stalking, harassing, and beating the living shit out of criminals. 🦇
One other problem with the only a head thing is that it brings up a lot of questions about Fries's physical needs. We knew he now needs sub zero temperatures to survive, and that his ageing was drastically slowed down, but that was pretty much the end of the aberrations of his body we were told about. Up until now, it was safe to assume he still needed to eat, and sleep and breathe. The whole head thing brings that all into question, as his spider leg system doesn't seem to have any of the kind of tech necessary to provide his head with oxygen or nutrients (nor really any room for it, since the connection platform seems really thin.) Mr. Freeze isn't in a classic cryogenic state, he still needs to move and talk, and that takes energy. Beyond questions about whether he still counts as human after his accident, this episode brings in questions about whether he can even be considered ALIVE.
The reason for Bruce sounding more like Batman even when he’s not Batman, Kevin Conroy explained that Bruce Timm wanted to show that Bruce at this point no longer could distinguish himself as separate from Batman. At this point, Bruce Timm felt that Bruce was fully consumed by the Batman persona and that he no longer could separate the two personalities. Bruce was now gone, and he was Batman 24/7, showing the flaws of Batman/Bruce.
Mr. Freeze: "Search your hearts for the thing you value most, then despair, for I have come to take it from you."
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The role of Mr Freeze in the DCAU is perhaps the most fascinating of all, considering that his development arc encompasses, not only episodes of various series, but even an own movie too. This episode is the main proof of that, as it ends in a cliffhanger that would not be resolved until the episode "Meltdown" of Batman Beyond. It is quite curious to watch all the episodes and the movie about Mr Freeze in a row, since watching them all together gives the feeling of watching a good single very long movie
More than just that! Harley gets credited as the most influential thing out of BMTAS, but Fries is a close second. The fact he was shelved as a character for decades beforehand but became relevant across media in general after this, speaks volumes. I'm far from the only one to point out the less than well recieved Batman and Robin movie used this version's backstory. It also became used in the comics along with other lore aspects. The Batman: White Knight storyline Explored the fact Victor doesn't Age the same by revealing he was a WWII scientist involved in a Wayne family conspiracy that Bruce was origionally unaware of. The comics would also explore Nora a lot (for better and worse.) One was making her instead the sole older one and not actually Fries wife but a patient frozen in the 40s who fell under his care at Wayne enterprises whom he became obsessed with. That was retconned pretty fast and replaced by her being finally cured but also afflicted with the same mutation as her husband. The emotional shock of waking up cured, years displaced in time to a criminal husband and a frozen, mutated body had some heavy mental effects which drove her mad. She became a villainess in her own right, adapting the same theme as her husband. She has shown up in the Arkham games and had a prominent role in the Harley Quinn show; where Victor had to sacrifice himself for her and her story went on solo. It is impressive how far reaching this version of Fries and resulting stories have been. It is clear if BMTAS never did what they chose to with this character, he would be as forgotten as King Tut and other, similar villains.
Yeah well he was originally just a mad scientist who robs bank with a fancy gun that can create ice
Freeze's last words in that Batman Beyond episode were so devastatingly sad and final. "Believe me, you are the only one who cares".
I totally agree, and what’s really cool is that the Subzero Blu-Ray has all of the episodes on it as a bonus feature. So, you can do just that.
Yeah. The only thing I don’t like about that episode is the professor Radium knockoff blight. Thankfully, Blight gets his a few episodes later, when he loses everything due to the machinations of his son Paxton Powers.
BATMAN WAS FROZEN TODAY!
What killd the dinosaurs the ice age
Nice reference. Still gets a laugh.
But was his credit card frozen too?
I prefer the term on ice
I thought that was alfred
Mr Freeze is the Spiderman of DC, in the fact that he can never be happy
the reason for Bruce's lack of lighter voice and lack of empathy toward Freeze can be explained as the years of dealing with super villains and mad men taking their toll on Batman, wearing him down and making him more cold hearted. At least, that's what I've heard
After dealing with the Joker and the horrible things he did over the years, it's a wonder Bruce kept his faith in humanity for as long as he did.
@@goblinounours very true
@@goblinounours Especially considering what the Joker did to Tim Drake
@@autobotproductions1244 But I guess the Justice League always reigned him in
And meeting Superman, his unflinching optimistic worldview, and working with the Justice League is was restored his faith in humanity. That's my head Canon anyway.
This was a much darker episode than I expected.
There was even that shocking twist that I'll never forget.
to me the message of the story cold comfort is lose coming to terms and having to move on well Bruce lost his parents he had to move on and accept the things in his life and carry on well Mr freeze body was breaking down he wanted to work things out with Nora but realize he was more machine than man and lost everything and took it out on everyone he felt had to feel his pain showing Freeze never realize even if Nora was alive again he was never going to be back with her
What about "Meltdown"?
5:41 I actually asked Kevin Conroy about that when I spoke to him a few years ago. I believe he said is was mainly to reflect how the series was much darker at this point and having Bruce talk in a lighter, more playful tone was too jarring.
Can't be more definitive of an answer than this (maybe Bruce Timm). Thanks for the insight from Batman himself!
This deserves a pin and way more likes. If true.
There was a Batman comic (new 52 era IIRC) where Alfred says to Bruce: "You know that growl you use in your voice when you put on the cowl? You're starting to do it all the time."
And his Bruce voice is still higher and more playful than his Batman voice, just not as much. His Batman is still very deep and almost growly, while his Bruce is now more casual and less flamboyant than before.
@@jackthegreek6092 It's true, it was in 2020, Galaxycon was doing those Virtual Meet and Greets with the actors and I paid to get to speak with him for 3 minutes. Given what happened last year I'm glad I did as I'd have been destroyed if I never got to meet him.
Meltdown from Batman Beyond is a must watch. Freeze gets one hell of an entrance in his suit.
As did that version of Batman’s worst enemy, the vile professor radium inspired monster called Blight.
I think at this point in the series in universe Bruce was slowly becoming more detached from his "Bruce Wayne" persona that he stopped putting in the effort to mask his voice
Even though the design Freeze had in the TNBA was pretty badass, we must admit that Mike Mignola's original version of Freeze was the best. Imagine how epic the animation of BTAS would have been if the great Mignola had been encouraged to design all the characters
I thought that the original design *was* the Mignola design? I seem to remember a concept drawing of it once, years ago.
He could cut through a glacier with those cheek bones they gave him.
I’m glad that we saw Victor one more time in the DCAU.
Such a tragic and nuanced character deserved a better send off, and I’m glad he got it.
“Believe me… You’re the only one that cares.”
Mr. Freeze has become no more human and colder as ice, literally. I guess is like in the song, that he was willing his sacrifice of love. Brought it upon himself in the end and what he became. Scary....!
I remember reading one of the DCAU comics released after this series. In it, Nightwing and Batgirl were investigating the kidnapping of Nora's new husband. Freeze shows up and helps the duo bring the man home. The way Victor saw it, that was the man who Nora had chosen to be with. Her new husband was the one who made her happy. So he was willing to fight for that.
That is a way more interesting continuation of Mr. Freeze's character than this series gave us. I just wish we could have seen it on the show.
I have a theory...Bruce not really changing his voice while he was in public has to do with how things have changed...With Dick, the world itself, his relationships, he was becoming more and more Batman...and less Bruce Wayne. He was becoming more obsessed with his holy mission....and this to me is what that toll was taking.
And Gotham becoming even darker no one noticed
In batman beyond he confirms he thinks of himself as batman, so that’s basically canon.
Cold Comfort aka "And you thought things couldn't get worse for Mr Freeze."
YES! More mr freeze! Alwats a welcoming sight! Love this month!😊😊🎉🎉
him losing his body feels like it goes against his previous episode and how he was meant to be "immortal". it really implied that his body wouldnt/couldnt deteriorate...
0:54 "What killed the dinosaurs?! THE ICE AGE!"
Animated series mr freeze wouldn't say that.
Hopefully Mr.Freeze will get a proper portrayal in a future Batman movie.
There’s actually a reason Kevin Conroy dropped the Bruce Wayne voice
It was to give subtle development that he is giving more support to Batman then to Bruce wayne
Basically like he is turning a little more hard boiled
I wish he'd waited until Justice League to start doing that, though. In context of TNBA, Bruce is still a public façade that he's trying to keep distinct from Batman, so the voicework should match that. JL and on, it makes sense for him to stop trying as hard and eventually going "screw it, I'm gonna stop being Batman and just be my true self as Bruce Wayne", which is where we find him in Batman Beyond.
@@GihirahimOfTheShadow it is not that he is not trying as hard just that he is slipping
If you see how Bruce Wayne acts in BTAS and TNBTAS you see that he is starting to forget people’s names, corporate policy. Making a lot of mistake he usually didn’t make
Batman is consuming Bruce Wayne in a way. Less of a “screw it” and more of my split identity is taking over
I do like the idea of Fries' body slowly breaking down from his condition. For anyone who hasn't played the game Arkham city, Fries is shown without his suit in one scene and you can see parts of his body succumbing to frost bite. Him just being a head in this was a bit too much, I think. Maybe they could have said, he knew his body was breaking down and he didn't want his wife to watch him die and that could be why he avoided her.
It also is a good jumping off point for the last episode. If Mr. Freeze's body degraded, it is safe to say that Grant Walker's will as well (i.e. he was wrong about the process being a way to achieve immortality.) So maybe they planned to have an increasingly desperate Walker keep trying to catch Fries in order to force him to try and work out some way to correct the problem.
Consciously being aware of your own body deteriorating is such a terrifying concept.
@@sojoboscribe1342 That would've been a good follow up episode, really wish the OG Batman series had lasted at least one more season.
This was just a stupid badly written way to MILK the charscter further. Freeze is established as IMMORTAL..HOW exactly can his body deteoriate!?😐😑
Theres an entire episode on this where he even gives the same ailment to another character to wants to he immortal
Tim: "You don't exactly follow the rules I do process"
Tim watching Mr Freeze enter Wayne Manor: "Ok, I'm sorry! He kidnapped me and forced me to be his partner! I had no choice! I SWEAR!!!"
Mr Freeze: "What the hell are you talking about, kid?"
Tim: "Oh...Uhhh...Nothing!"
Bruce: "This is why Superman works alone..." 🤦
I think this was a pretty good way to do it. After Sub Zero, they needed reasons for Mr. Freeze to come back; after all, he was a well liked villain and Michael Ansara really nailed the role. The question was, what would be his motivation to return to Gotham now that his wife was saved?
In Batman Beyond, Bruce told Terry that Freeze was obsessed with revenge. Here, we see that Freeze has all hope taken from him. He can never be with his wife, nor lead a normal life due to his condition. Now his own body was being taken from him. More and more, Freeze was continuing to lose while having no light at the end of the tunnel to motivate him for good. All he could see was his own suffering while everyone else was basking in joy.
Misery loves company and Victor wanted someone, anyone to feel the depths of despair that he was trapped in.
This was just a stupid badly written way to MILK the charscter further. Freeze is established as IMMORTAL...HOW exactly can his body deteoriate!?😐😑
This episode contained my go-to example for why I felt that The New Batman Adventures had lost something compared to the original series.
Both this episode and the original Mr. Freeze episode have a comparable situation: one of Mr. Freeze's minions is partially frozen by an errant blast from Freeze's gun. The minion pleads for help, but is ultimately abandoned without a second thought by Mr. Freeze, highlighting how cold he is, so to speak.
But then consider the differences. In the original episode, the thugs Mr. Freeze has hired are horrified at leaving their friend behind, and do so only very reluctantly while he pleads to not be abandoned. The man is ultimately saved by Batman, who is shown putting him in a water tank to melt the ice around his legs. The entire affair portrays this random mook with a surprising amount of humanity.
In this episode, by contrast, the other minions aren't hired thugs, but sexy girls in completely impractical parkas that double almost as mini-skirts. Why are they following Freeze and dressing like that while working for him? Who cares? They exist for fanservice. The one who is frozen asks for help but is abandoned by the other girls without a backward glance, and is never seen or mentioned again by anyone. Certainly Batman makes no effort to save her.
I don't know. It felt like the perfect example of the show losing some of its humanity and becoming more over-the-top in a way that put me off.
Honestly, I wouldn't be shocked if the Ice Maidens were androids. Maybe salvaged HARDAC tech Victor managed to scrounge up from somewhere. That lack of humanity might be a feature rather than a bug.
@@Brasswatchman why would she beg then?
@@potsdam28 Did she? I'll admit I haven't seen the full episode in a long time.
AGREED. This episode was HORRIBLE😭. And I'm only 3 episodes in to the new adventures and its already inferior to the original BTAS writing wise
Batgirl: "OH MY GOD..."
Given the state that Mr. Freeze is in, now with the beauty of hindsight, it makes sense that the voice filter would sound more robotic and remain robotic without the glass on his head.
I always assumed Freezes voice is robotic now at all times cause he's just a head on a machine.
Despite being so popular and known from the series, kind of crazy to think Mr. freeze only had five appearances in the DCAU, one being his movie, and the other a Batman beyond episode, you think you he’d have more
There's only so much they could do with him.
Yeah, Freeze's tragic backstory is wonderfully written, but it also means he doesn't really fit with the other villains. You couldn't picture adding him into "Almost Got 'im", for example.
I am thankful you are continuing the Bat May series, thank you for sharing. 5:41 Bruce's lightheartedness is what I miss from the animated series as well, him being more serious and at times cruel made me miss playful nature.
I’m so glad they gave us the true final episode for the DCAU Mr. Freeze “Meltdown“ from Batman Beyond, with it featuring him and having Derek Powers dub himself “Blight”.
I wasn’t always the biggest fan of “Cold Comfort” but I can see why we needed it.
I did feel for Freeze but i truly felt worse for that artist! I know Freeze wants others to feel his pain with cold comfort...but this guy looked so completely devastated! As fellow artist, i feel his pain!😢
Or perhaps you felt his paint?
Freeze was a petty asshole in this episode. He wanted to hurt people who weren't to blame for his personal tragedy just to be spiteful.
@@JohnGoetzGaming Gonna brush aside that bad pun.
@@Longshot441 Quite the stroke of genius on your part
@@magallanesagustin4952 Pettiness is common behavior among Batman villains.
Mr. Freeze: You were just a boy when you lost your family. But you keep trying to create a surrogate family for yourself. To destroy you, I need only destroy that. Perhaps your-
Tim Drake: Oh come on, Elsa. Can't you just let it g-?
Mr. Freeze: If you finish the rest of that sentence, I will freeze you on the spot.
*One moment of silence later*
Tim Drake (singing): Let it goooooo! Let it goooooo!
*Mr. Freeze coldly ice-blasts Tim*
Mr. Freeze: You have no idea how much I hate that song.
I love how barney Walker's batman and Robin score from the batman and robin fanscription is playing in this.
What a cruel fate for Mr. Freeze. He finally cured his wife only to lose her love and his body. His redesign was pretty good.
Heartbreaking indeed. But at the same time, it WAS Freeze’s decision to let her go and keep away from her. Was she supposed to have lived her life all by herself forever? That’s why this episode is especially strange because it feels like it’s Freeze lashing out because his wife chose to be with someone else, but HE precipitated that decision. This episode just needed a better motivation for Freeze to go on a rampage, cause it’s like Walter said, it feels petty, like something the Penguin or the Joker might do.
There is a Batman Adventures comic following this episode that showed Nora had never stopped loving Fries and she spent her life trying to find him.
Fun fact: In JL Animated Series, the episode of the Nano robot invasion, Batman freeze's the nano robots with a Bomb, and he says something about "an incident in the gotham lake" gave them an idea
I really hate how Mr. Freeze was portrayed in this episode. I don't mind the idea of a version of Freeze that's filled with nothing but despair, but the problem is story that happened before this episode, Sub-Zero.
While I wouldn't say Sub-Zero is a good movie, it did give Mr. Freeze what he needed, a moment of happiness. Seeing him being so desperate to get his wife cured, too the point where he's willing to kill someone who has the same blood type as Nora, (AKA Barbara Gordon,) especially since his wife was literally at Death's door, you can feel the desperation Freeze was going through. And then at the end of the film, we see an injured Mr. Freeze watching a news report of Wayne Industries curing his wife, while a single tear rolls down his eye, it was a powerful moment. The movie then ends with him, along with his two polar bears, walking away with a strong sense of satisfaction of Mr. Freeze finally getting what he got.
But then Cold Comfort comes in and literally throws all of Freeze's character development out of the window. Now granted, there is some justifications as, because of the conditions of Freeze's body, it began to deteriorate. It ended up getting so bad that he's literally nothing but a head in a jar before doctors can save him. I will admit that that part is tragic, especially since he's now less human than he already is. The problem stems to what he decides to do with his condition. Instead of doing to more sensible thing by visiting his wife, try to improve himself, or maybe even try to find ways to help others, Freeze decides to make everyone feel the same despair he feels by freezing and destroying the things that made a person feel the happiest, and then dropping a bomb that would create a new ice age for Gotham. This essentially turns Mr. Freeze from a sympathetic criminal to a monstrous terrorist.
Needless to say, I hate this episode for what they did to Mr. Freeze. I like the new design, but I can't stand how his character development was butchered. And they made Mr. Freeze a very petty and selfish person.
I think that subzero is perfect ending for mr freeze
The background music of this installment is fantastic.
love hearing all the behind the scenes stuff!
I actually think this was one of the better Psychological episodes to show the criminal mind slowly breaking down from self-serving motivations to just straight chaos for the sake of it!
Mr Freeze's head: "Look, this is all that's left of me! There's no place in society for someone like me!" 😢
Robin: "Calm down, Victor. Society can still make good use of you."
Mre Freeze's head: "Really?!" 😃
Robin: "Sure! You'd make a great supporting role in Duck Dodgers!" 🤣🤣🤣
Mr Freeze's head: *Uses a robot leg to give Robin the middle finger*
The best part of this episode for me is that knock down drag out fight between freeze and bats at the end. Wow it is one of the examples of the animation change really shining for me
In response to batmans voice j reviews did an awesome retrospective on btas and his theory which I agree with is because bats has been doing this for years he is developing ptsd. Not necessarily that he's paralyzed by fear but he has that 1000 yd stare and detachment. Basically Bruce Wayne and all his attributes he put into the suit are melting away and batmans cold, cynical and single minded attitude are starting to take over. Until he meets superman in world finest
Turning Mr. Freeze into a cyborg was definitely one of TNBA’s weaker choices. But at least the DCAU redeemed itself with his Batman Beyond episode.
I don't know if Bat-May will end this year or continue to other Batman shows or perhaps *Bat-May Beyond*, but I would really love to see your thoughts on Freeze's episode (Meltdown) on Batman. Beyond.
Maybe if we keep asking...
Obviously a Mr Freeze episode XD
That line he says about taking away the things you hold most dear so you can suffer as he has always stuck with me.
They did this dude too wrong in my opinion. Not only did they not give him a happy ending with his wife and let her be with someone else, they took away his body and pretty much took away our hope for him to be with the person he loved more than his own life.
A tie in comic sort-of addressed this, revealing that Freeze did try to reconnect with Nora, but her doctor hid all of Victor’s letters from her. Nora later discovers this deception and the doctor is arrested after trying to kill Victor, but the couple still doesn’t get back together.
@@wingedhussar8552 I believe the story is called "Best Served Cold", and it goes in some weird directions... the doctor who marries Nora also builds some crazy robot to freeze himself in order to frame Victor...
There was no working cure for Victor's condition or his obsession before the Batman Beyond era. Victor was so consumed with extending Nora's life that he never considered the depreciation of his own. Victor's tragedy makes sense.
Victor is a tragic character defined by his loss, lust for revenge and cold demeanor. I wish he got a happy ending, but I believe this fits his character. He wanted to give Nora her life back, but with that accomplished, he realized his condition would destroy him and he didn't want to put Nora through the pain he had suffered. However, now that he was truly alone, Freis was directionless and hopeless. What was he supposed to do? Body withering away and no one to share his remaining life with he turned to bringing others down to his level. Misery loves company after all.
Im glad Freeze returned in Batman Beyond to properly close out his chapter with the Bat-Family. Almost makes up for this episode as this one was the weaker of the 4.
I believe J's Reviews made a video talking about how TNBA shows a steep decline in Batman's mental state, and whether or not that was intentional, I think it's an interesting fan theory. He stumbles around his words a lot more as Bruce Wayne, he's a lot more aggressive as Batman, and he makes some very questionable decisions, most notably having a romantic relationship with Batgirl. Intentional or not, I sort of prefer this theory because it helps me rationalize a lot of not great stuff in an otherwise flawless series.
I get the feeling that this was (originally) a simple case of flanderization and maybe also a side effect of the show giving more focus on the youthful and optimistic Dick, Barbara and Tim, which resulted in the writers slipping more and more into making Bruce/Batman cold and unfeeling. Though granted, the writers seem to have caught wind of it, and it was given a payoff in Batman Beyond, which shows Bruce’s tragic fate of becoming a bitter and reclusive old man who drove away what few friends he had.
Have you ever given any thought to doing a "June-stice League" series in the same format?
It’s funny that for some villains they tried to make them look more serious but as a result, they actually got kinda goofy looking, especially The Joker.
I’m sure you’ll get to it eventually, but Scarecrow I think had the best redesign
So mr freeze is a head in a jar and Lauren Tom/Amy from futurama is assisting him.
That tracks.
Meltdown is my favorite Mr. Freeze episode as it really hits the characters heart before saying goodbye to him.
I absolutely despise how The New Batman Adventures completely did away with the conclusion to Mr Freeze's story arc just so the showrunners could have a reason to keep using him as the villain of the week
Its particularly baffling how the Harley Quinn show, a _parody,_ managed to give Mr Freeze an actual ending
This episode just made me really hope that once you finish The New Batman Adventures you rebrand Bat-May to Bat-May Beyond, because that show is an amazing follow up and I'd love an episode by episode retrospective on it.
Honestly, I'd like Walter to talk about everything DCAU, not just Batman Beyond.
@@ForrestFox626 Oh totally fair, I'd love this sort of retrospective to last as long as possible.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the plot of the last Mr. Freeze episode revolve around the idea that his accident slowed the aging process, essentially making his body immortal? But in this one it turns out that nope, it actually makes his body break down faster, so now he's nothing but a head? I was always a little confused by that, though I still remember how shocking that twist was when I first saw it.
3:14 Walter theorized Bruce Timm might have thrown his hands up when it came to Victor's motivation, maybe the change was made by the writers of this episode.
This is one of my favorite episodes. It is very dark and bleak. You may think it's slightly out of character for Mr. Freeze but always remember, there is nothing more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose.
Honestly Mr Freeze deserves a happy ending for once.
Thankfully the writing department in Arkham Knight for the Season Of Infamy DLC gave him and Nora the happy ending they deserved. Despite how much hate Arkham Knight gets, At least there’s that.
Thanks for the video
in my opinion never having seen many of the original batman the animated series or even the followup seasons to it the best Mr freeze episode is in batman beyond where they do delve deeper and show he does want to help people from all the harm he's caused just to go back to being a criminal. its an interesting story especially with how they handle how and why he's brought back and what makes him snap.
Poor guy just couldn’t catch a break.
Incredible work as always! This episode lacks Victor's substance sure but i still enjoyed it all the same. It's always good to see his episodes!
I don’t know what this…..thing is but he’s not Mr. Freeze.
In my canon, the characters story ended at the Batman Subzero movie
Meltdown is one of my favorite Batman episodes. Certainly favorite Batman beyond episode.
I had this Victor as a toy, it was pretty neat, the head could come off & go on the spider legs and the main body had a little chest door that had some nice mold detailing inside.
come on, man! "bites the diamond dust" was right there! XD
If not for that line at the end writing off Freeze, I would say that batman would just figure that a freezing bomb wouldn't kill him. I mean, it didn't even scratch his suit, from what we saw.
Next year you should do Bat-May Beyond.
Omg, YES!!!
And after that The Batman 2004-2008
The one thing this episode gave us was Fries' disembodied head. That wasn't much of a payoff until later when they did Batman Beyond and we got the instant classic in "Meltdown." Seeing Fries get restored to a new, normal body and actually be able to be human again was wonderful. We know how much he suffered, how cut off he was from the rest of humanity and nature, how he even yearned for death itself. To see him be able to get something back was beautiful. It made his descent at the end all the more tragic and heartbreaking. We also get to see Terry truly start to become Batman in that episode because he tried to save Fries, and Victor turned him down and told him he was the only one that cared. All of that added to the absolute tragedy that was Mr. Fries.
Batman Beyond gives a much more satisfying continuation and finale to Mr. Freeze's storyline.
Heck to the yeah!🙂
I remember feeling kinda proud when I learned that Victor's wife and I share the same first name. 😀
Honestly, I feel like this episode would’ve been viewed much, MUCH less favorably if it wasn’t for Batman Beyond wrapping up Freeze’s story so effectively.
I think the reason Mr. Freeze went full on vindictive in this story is because he wound up a head in a jar, like he did everything he could to do the right thing only for providence to STILL take everything from him
I think it was a great episode. We all kinda knew they were gonna keep freeze around. Really im just kinda impressed they didn't retcon Nora's recovery. So it explains why batman was less sympathetic to the less than human monster, Victor was becoming. The little hints that he went full robo cop were even a nice touch, liike the vocals still being robotic without the helmet.
Eh. I only like this episode when followed up by Batman Beyond's "Meltdown," without that episode this episode would have felt hollow
To quote Doug at the reveal of head only Mr Freeze:
"Oh Christ that's beyond fucking stupid. This is Marvin the Martian science guys!.... What am I looking at!?"
Mr Freeze looks a lot more robotic in this style
This is a very kind review of this episode, perhaps more than it deserves.
Yeah, have to say that the blue-eyed, black haired, Bruce Wayne plus more grim attitude of TNBA Batman is more comic-accurate than BTAS Batman, for better or worse.
5:54 I have theory: I don't think was intentional but Bruce sounding more like Batman can be seen as part of his character development in this season. Before, in BTAS, Bruce and Batman had distinct voices because the character had a balance between his two identities. He could be dark and brooding but also heroic and show compassion. In TNBA Bruce has spend years fighting crime as Batman that is now affecting him in psychological level. His Bruce Wayne persona is being consumed and his Batman personality is becoming more dominant, which is why he's more serious in this season compare to the previous ones.
Can't say I love that change
I had the same nitpick with the henchwomen. They had nothing to gain from going along with his MO in this episode. Using his polar bears from Subzero would have been more logical.
@@matthewdaley746 whaaat?! Max was useful at times and shoulder to lean on. Dana sucked. Lol
@@matthewdaley746 When was that first one? Do you mean that Joker kid?
I agree. They're not getting any profit working for Freeze since all he seems to care about is destroying people's possessions and loved ones. At least Joker occasionally robs something or demands ransom.
@@matthewdaley746 yeah because like 4:21 I wish they could have brought in Mr Wing in the series and I was thinking of a anti-Steve Trevor for Wonder Woman’s Cheetah
@@matthewdaley746 I have no idea what episode you’re referring to. And what’s wrong with her being a BW? It was irrelevant to her character.
Looking forward to next year with Bat May Beyond.
I like that almost all the villians just have hot hench people. Joker: Harley, Penguin: Playboy penguingirls, Freeze: Icewomen, CalendarGirl: Modell dudes.
Don’t forget Lex has Mercy and I was thinking of Cheetah giving a anti-Steve Trevor
I think Batman tying Freeze to the bomb can be chalked up to the needs of the many vs the needs of the few. Batman had millions of people to save and he had to save them in a hurry. Putting as much distance between himself and Freeze was the most surefire way to do that.
Great video.
Okay, funny thing. This video kept popping up for me every time I was watching a scene of Nora Fries from the Harley Quinn show.
It’s kind of funny to see Nora acting like a 24/7 drunk party girl while seeing her husband’s stone cold expression, for lack of a better term, while she was acting like a crazy sorority girl. 😂
The whole curing of his wife left me confused as well.
Also, as for killing Fries, you compared it to the death of Ra's in Batman Begins but it's probably more comparable to the death of the Joker in the 1989 movie.
While waiting for Meltdown there might be a momentary discomfort.
I think the disappearance of the "Bruce Wayne voice" was more about an older Batman caring less about hiding his identity as he got older.
There is no doubt that Mr. Freeze is one of the greater characters of the series. Episodes like this and Deep Freeze always made me wish that there were more episodes or moments with the character (and of course I know there is also "Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero" and a few episodes in Batman Beyond) but still, even if this was the conclusion of the iconic villain in the series, I tip off my hat to Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and the entire BTAS/TNBA team for giving us fans a true portrayal of a truly sympathetic villain
Yeah, this was a very difficult episode to like. On its own, "Cold Comfort" has a fascinating premise: A supervillain deciding to ruin people's lives in the pettiest ways possible in response to his own tragedies. It reminds me of a Courage the Cowardly Dog episode where a mad scientist builds a weapon in his isolated tower designed to make everyone it hits as miserable as himself. But when looking at the larger picture, it's a massive derailment of Freeze's character. He finally gets his wife back only for his efforts to be for nothing, and he goes back to being a supervillain. Worse, Nora didn't leave him, Freeze exiled himself. So why take his self-inflicted misery out on everyone else? He doesn't feel sympathetic this time. He just feels like a nihilistic dick. The only incarnation worse is in Gotham Knights where he doesn't even have a "ruin everyone's lives" gimmick, just generic doomsday schemes.
I remember that episode of Courage. Sometimes I wonder why the weapon turned Dr. Zalost’s henchman Rat into a monster but didn’t affect Eustace until the end of the episode.
What are Walter's thoughts on the writer strike?
I hope the WGA can somehow put a stop to the studios' plans of using AI to write full scripts. That might be the most important issue from a fundamental perspective in how these big movies are made. I'd rather watch an awful movie written by a human than a film that's technically sound because of a program hitting all the correct beats.
7:00 i don't know how they did it but... some how i can take arnold making ice puns more serious than that. Like doug said in his review this is not batman this is a marvin the martian cartoon.
This is one of my favorite batman episodes! I love that redesign look with looks more sleek and that spider head reveal Awsome video Doug
I'd imagine there could've been a pretty cool alternate timeline episode where Mr Freeze successfully drops the bomb on Gotham and everyone trying to survive the fallout
6:20 Great comeback there, Tim. It's always bugged me when Batman harps on and on about justice, like when he told Dent in Two Face Part 2 "Let the law decide". Right. The law. Says the guy who instead of becoming a cop, DA or Judge, decides to dress in a Halloween costume every night, stalking, harassing, and beating the living shit out of criminals. 🦇
It's so sad what happened to Mr. Freeze.
Honestly, seeing those people break down from seeing their life's work destroyed legitimately upset me. 😞
One other problem with the only a head thing is that it brings up a lot of questions about Fries's physical needs. We knew he now needs sub zero temperatures to survive, and that his ageing was drastically slowed down, but that was pretty much the end of the aberrations of his body we were told about. Up until now, it was safe to assume he still needed to eat, and sleep and breathe. The whole head thing brings that all into question, as his spider leg system doesn't seem to have any of the kind of tech necessary to provide his head with oxygen or nutrients (nor really any room for it, since the connection platform seems really thin.) Mr. Freeze isn't in a classic cryogenic state, he still needs to move and talk, and that takes energy. Beyond questions about whether he still counts as human after his accident, this episode brings in questions about whether he can even be considered ALIVE.
*"What killed the dinosaurs? THE ICE AGE!!!"*
The spider head freeze looked scary to me as a kid. I liked it.
The reason for Bruce sounding more like Batman even when he’s not Batman, Kevin Conroy explained that Bruce Timm wanted to show that Bruce at this point no longer could distinguish himself as separate from Batman. At this point, Bruce Timm felt that Bruce was fully consumed by the Batman persona and that he no longer could separate the two personalities. Bruce was now gone, and he was Batman 24/7, showing the flaws of Batman/Bruce.