On Friday, we asked you to help us celebrate 30 years of Batman: The Animated Series by naming your favorite episode, and topping the results with 25.7 percent was — unsurprisingly — “Heart of Ice,” the 1993 winner of the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program. The episode, written by Paul Dini and directed by Bruce Timm, transformed Mr. Freeze (voiced by the late, great Michael Ansara) into one of Batman’s most tragic foes, and has proven to be the definitive origin story for the character.
In second place with 17.1 percent was “Almost Got ‘Im” (also written by Dini, and directed by Eric Radomski), a fun episode that features almost all of Batman’s major foes playing cards together, while reminiscing about the times they nearly killed the Dark Knight. The Joker, Harley Quinn, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Catwoman, and Killer Croc (kind of) are all there, and the scene where Croc (who’s actually a disguised Bats) boasts about throwing a “big rock” to his unimpressed rivals, is easily one of the funniest superhero moments ever created.
In third place we have a tie between “Perchance to Dream” and “Beware the Gray Ghost” (both helmed by the late Boyd Kirkland), which earned 8.6 percent each. The former, which is actually Kevin Conroy’s favorite episode, sees Bruce Wayne wake up in a world where he never became Batman, while the latter guest stars Mr. Batman ’66 himself, Adam West, as an actor Wayne grew up watching on TV. It was surprising to see “Gray Ghost” rank higher than more lauded episodes like “Robin’s Reckoning,” or “Two-Face,” but between West’s appearance, and the number of votes for “Heart of Ice,” perhaps it shouldn’t have been so unexpected.
Check back on Friday — same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel — for our next Reader Poll!
