Rats (20 Nov. 1999)
"Batman Beyond" Rats (original title)

Terry and Dana's relationship is strained when Terry's Batman duties get in the way of their relationship. Receiving a flower, Dana believes it's from Terry but comes to realize it's from ... See full summary »

Director:

Curt Geda

Writers:

Hilary Bader (series writer), Stan Berkowitz (series writer),

Stars:

Will Friedle, Kevin Conroy, Lauren Tom

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Will Friedle	...	Terry McGinnis / Batman (voice)
Kevin Conroy	...	Bruce Wayne (voice)
Lauren Tom	...	Dana Tan (voice)
Taran Noah Smith	...	Patrick (voice)
Henry Rollins	...	Mad Stan (voice)
Cree Summer	...	Max (voice)
Yvette Lowenthal	...	Chelsea (voice)
Ryan O'Donohue	...	Matt McGinnis (voice) (as Ryan O'Donahue)
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Mr. Tan (voice)
Sean Donnellan	...	Virtual Anchor (voice) (as Sean Donellan)

Storyline

Terry and Dana's relationship is strained when Terry's Batman duties get in the way of their relationship. Receiving a flower, Dana believes it's from Terry but comes to realize it's from an unexpected stalker..with some unexpected friends.

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Plot Keywords:

explosion | chili | bitten on the leg | episode title spoken by character | leaving message on answering machine | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Animation | Action | Crime | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 November 1999 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros. Animation

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

A stuffed monkey is shown in the trash. It is the same monkey that Lois Lane had in the "Superman" episode "Monkey Fun".

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Quotes

Mad Stan: [after he sets his last charge and pulls out his detonator] BLOW IT ALL UP!
[Batman throws a batarang at the wire between the detonator and the suit, cutting it, then knocks him to the floor with a punch, then pins him and pulls one of his arms behind his back]
Batman: Keep it down, Stan. We're in a library.
Mad Stan: You think this is a joke? Look around, Batman! Society's crumbling! And do you know why?
Batman: Too many overdue books?
[pulls out handcuffs and puts them on one of his wrists]
Mad Stan: Information overload, man!
[...]

User Reviews

With the good comes the bad

Batman beyond season 2 was an interesting season, mixing awesome episodes (lost soul, Bloodsport), to good episodes (once burned/joyride/splicers), to average episodes (earthmover) and now borderline average/below average episode.

What worked:

1. The entire "escape" scene with Dana had a very erie feel to it the entire time. Felt like something from SAW or a horror movie.

2. The very human feel to the episode felt good for a change. It's natural that a father would be concerned and even go to Terry's house to find out just what happened. The Terry/ Dana fight was also very real

3. The sewers itself felt erie, a lot of credit to the music score on this one. Very good.

What didn't work:

1. Virtually no character development of Patrick. No explanation of how he became able to control rats, how he gained his appearance etc.

2. I know the episode had to move on, but i thought it was cheap of patrick to turn on Dana so quickly. Most outcast cling to the things they like regardless of the other persons actions, thus becoming "annoying" ex. Like that weirdo back in highschool remember? So what if Dana didn't like him? It wasn't like she could do anything about it anyways so why try and kill her?

3. No explanation of Patrick's hybrid plant flowers.

4. Kinda unrealistic for Dana to just go to Terry so quickly. OK maybe initially but it's still a angle for Dana to attack Terry on because she could always use him as a focal point for how she got captured. So the whole "makeup" was way too quick.

5. Rats? Rats are probably the worst type of creature to use. It reminded me of the sewer king in the BTAS with his alligators. Only difference is the rats are not that intimidating as alligators and, again, no explanation in either of how a person could control such animals. Very unrealistic. Additionally, because there creatures are not robots/ rock men, batman couldn't even use any batarangs or other gadgets so it got boring just seeing him wrestle a giant rat. At least they didn't make it cheesy by having patrick be known as ratman. Ratman vs. Batman yeesh.

Overall this episode had some good elements to work with (horror/SAW type feel, realistic human nature, environment), but poor elements also (rats, little character development and some unrealistic human nature). This could be a episode you could miss but you won't really get that same horror type feel in other episodes