One Batman: The Animated Series Episode Was First Pitched As A Movie

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"Batman: The Animated Series" ran for 85 episodes on Fox Kids and maintained impressive quality control throughout. There are very few lumps of coal in this box of diamonds, but some "Batman" episodes do get mentioned again and again as the fan-favorites. 

There's the Emmy-winning "Heart of Ice," which forever redefined Mr. Freeze. "Beware The Gray Ghost" featured a heart-melting guest appearance by Adam West as a washed-up film serial star who Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy) loved as a child. "Almost Got 'Im" features some of Gotham's worst sitting around a poker table, swapping stories about when they came closest to punching Batman's clock.

Similar to "Almost Got 'Im," the episode "Trial" features many heavy hitter Batman villains. They seize control of Arkham Asylum, capture the investigating Batman, and put him on trial for all the grief he's caused them. Gotham City District Attorney Janet Van Dorn (Stephanie Zimbalist) is also captured to be Batman's defense counsel. Two-Face (Richard Moll) is the prosecutor — naturally, since Harvey Dent used to have Van Dorn's job before turning to crime. The Joker (Mark Hamill) is the judge, and the rest of the villains are both the jury and witnesses. (No conflict of interest there, no siree!) 

All-in-all, it's a dense and high stakes episode — for good reason, because the premise of "Trial" was first pitched as a spin-off movie. That movie ultimately became "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" instead. Paul Dini, a writer/producer on "Batman" who personally scripted "Trial," explained this to Wild Cartoon Kingdom Magazine. The magazine's second issue (published 1993) included a feature previewing "Mask of the Phantasm." There, Dini explained that while they liked the idea of "Trial," it just didn't feel grand enough for a whole movie.

"['Trial'] would have made a good hour episode, but we didn't know if it would make a good movie because the more we kept working with it, the more self-contained the one setting inside Arkham got."

"Batman" had done a few two-part/hour-long episodes during its season, and it was always because the story was big enough to warrant it. "Two-Face" showed Harvey Dent's transformation into, well, Two-Face, while "Feat of Clay" was the origin story of Clayface (Ron Perlman). "Robin's Reckoning" flashed back to Robin's (Loren Lester) origin, while "Shadow of the Bat" featured Barbara Gordon (Melissa Gilbert) becoming Batgirl after her father Commissioner Gordon (Bob Hastings) is framed for corruption. "Heart of Steel" depicted an original villain, the AI HARDAC (Jeff Bennett) replacing Gothamites with robot replicas. (This was not the last time "Batman" homaged "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.")

At the time, most cartoons ran for 65 episodes and no more: 65 episodes was the minimum for syndication, and so the minimum investment producers would spend. Notice how the first season of "Batman: The Animated Series" is a full 65 episodes. However, "Batman" was successful enough that the show got picked up for a 20 episode second season. With the idea for "Trial" in their back pockets, the creative team made the story into one of those episodes. One, because it was whittled down from the two-parter Dini had foreseen.

Now, the episode still works but it stuffs in a lot and moves fast. The actual trial only takes up about 10 minutes of the runtime. The first seven or so minutes are set up, showing the Arkham takeover and setting up that Van Dorn doesn't approve of Batman. She thinks he creates the problems he solves, which is exactly what the villains accuse Batman of doing too. Van Dorn's character arc is learning to appreciate and understand Batman by defending him against arguments she used to agree with.

You can feel "Trial" skimping on some detail here. The villains escape because the Mad Hatter (Roddy McDowall) mind controls the guards, but the episode doesn't explain how the Hatter got out in the first place. In the end you don't care, though, because the episode keeps moving and entertaining.

The full villain line-up is Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy (Diane Pershing), Harley Quinn (Arleen Sorkin), Mad Hatter, Killer Croc (Aron Kincaid), Scarecrow & the Riddler (who both get no lines), and the Ventriloquist & Scarface (George Dzundza). Of those nine villains, we only see three testimonies: Mad Hatter's, Poison Ivy's, and Harley's. If the episode was longer, we might have gotten a fuller montage here. Still, "Trial" doesn't need to be exhaustive to make its point.

All three accuse Batman of being the one who made them turn to crime. (Though Harley doesn't frame it as an accusation — she thanks Batman for helping her meet Mister J.) Van Dorn disputes all that: the Hatter was already stalking his coworker, and Ivy was an eco-terrorist all on her own.

So, the jury of villains votes Batman not guilty — because they were never going to let him and Van Dorn go in the first place. "Well done, counselor. You've proven that Batman didn't create us. That we, in fact, messed up our own rotten lives. And as we are so rotten, vile, and depraved, we're going to waste you anyway!" Judge Joker happily rules.

Then the last five minutes of "Trial" are Batman and Van Dorn escaping, taking down the villains one-by-one. Scarecrow pulls out a scythe, while Joker throws a lasso around Batman. He suspends him from the roof of Arkham and, swinging on the other end of the rope, tries to whack Batman with his judge's gavel.

If I were to speculate, this last act could illustrate a reason "Trial" was made as only a single episode: the concept just has too much talking, not enough action, especially if spread out over 40 minutes. On the other hand, "Batman: The Animated Series" usually trusted its young audience, so maybe the "Batman" team just decided 22 minutes was all they needed. "Trial" is nonetheless an ambitious and successful episode — and even though it's not a big two-parter, it still stands out from the pack.