The BEST episodes of Batman: The Animated Series season 1
Every episode of Batman: The Animated Series season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series season 1!
The Dark Knight battles crime in Gotham City with occasional help from Robin and Batgirl.
#1 - Robin's Reckoning (2)
Season 1 - Episode 53 - Aired 2/14/1993
Robin sets out to find Tony Zucco, all the while plagued by the memories of his parents' death and how Bruce took him in as his own son. Eventually, Batman finds Zucco at an old amusement park, but breaks his leg during the fight. Robin arrives, and prepares to kill Zucco in revenge. He initially scoffs Batman's advice, but realises that justice and revenge are not the same. Zucco is arrested, and Batman makes amends with Robin, stating that he wouldn't let Robin accompany him under the fear of Zucco killing him.
#2 - Perchance to Dream
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 10/19/1992
Bruce Wayne wakes up one morning to find that his life is completely upside-down: his parents are alive, the Batcave doesn't exist, Alfred does not remember Robin, and he is engaged to Selina Kyle. However, it doesn't mean that Batman isn't still around, and Bruce starts to wonder what has happened, especially after seeing the characteristics of a dream (such as book and newspaper prints not making sense) inside this new life.
#3 - Robin's Reckoning (1)
Season 1 - Episode 51 - Aired 2/7/1993
During a fight with some gangsters at a construction yard, Batman and Robin learn the name of their boss: Billy Marin. While Robin looks forward to going up against Marin, Batman becomes distant, and after a falling out at the Batcave, Batman doesn't allow Robin to accompany him on the search for Marin. Robin investigates on the Batcomputer, and soon realises that Billy Marin is not the boss' real name. Rather, it is an alias of Tony Zucco, the man who killed his parents
#4 - Almost Got 'Im
Season 1 - Episode 35 - Aired 11/10/1992
Joker, Killer Croc, Penguin, Two-Face and Poison Ivy all meet at a poker table, each telling a tale of times when they almost defeated Batman. At the same time, Harley Quinn is about to kill Catwoman. Will Batman be able to save her?
#5 - I Am the Night
Season 1 - Episode 34 - Aired 11/9/1992
On the anniversary of the death of Bruce's parents, Batman accompanies Leslie Thompkins to Crime Alley to place roses on the spot where they were gunned down. Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon is on stakeout to arrest James "The Jazzman" Peake during a drug smuggling ring. Batman had promised to be there, but arrives late to find a gun battle going on. He helps defeat the gangsters and arrest the Jazzman, but at a high cost—Gordon is severely wounded. The incident traumatizes Batman, and he decides to give up crime-fighting, despite the Jazzman escaping prison to carry out his personal vendetta against Gordon (who had sent him to prison six years before).
#6 - His Silicon Soul
Season 1 - Episode 43 - Aired 11/20/1992
When a Batman impersonator appears in Gotham City, the real Batman deduces that Karl Rossum is somehow involved and confronts the inventor. The other Batman, a duplicate, then shows up and a battle between the two takes place. After the duplicate Batman escapes, it begins its campaign to recreate H.A.R.D.A.C.'s goals of a robotic society.
#7 - Two-Face (2)
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 9/28/1992
Now calling himself Two-Face, Dent goes on a crime spree throughout Gotham, attacking Rupert Thorne's businesses to draw the gangster out of hiding. Batman must find a way to stop his former friend before he and Thorne kill each other.
#8 - Two-Face (1)
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 9/25/1992
Harvey Dent, campaigning for a re-election, vows to rid Gotham of Rupert Thorne's crime and corruption. The tables turn when Thorne gets a hold of Dent's psychological records and discovers his alternate personality: the violent Big Bad Harv. Thorne attempts to blackmail Dent with this, and the following fight in Thorne's chemical plant hideout results in an explosion that scars the left side of Dent's body, despite Batman's attempts to save him.
#9 - Beware the Gray Ghost
Season 1 - Episode 32 - Aired 11/4/1992
Simon Trent, an actor best known for his past role as "The Gray Ghost", is on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to his declining career. To save himself, he sells off all of his Gray Ghost merchandise. Immediately afterwards, a series of crimes related to the old show begin to occur. Batman, having himself been inspired partly by the show to become the crimefighter he now is, goes to Trent for help, and they team up to put an end to the crimes. In this episode, the voice of Simon Trent is none other than Adam West, the man who played Batman in the 1960's version of Batman
#10 - The Demon's Quest (1)
Season 1 - Episode 57 - Aired 5/3/1993
When Robin is mysteriously abducted from his college campus, the Batman begins a fruitless search ... until he is astounded by the sudden appearance in the Batcave of Ra's Al Ghul. Ra's quickly reveals that his daughter, Talia, has been abducted under circumstances similar to Robin's, suggesting that the same persons are responsible. So begins an uneasy truce between the Batman and 'The Demon'.
#11 - Heart of Ice
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/7/1992
Bitter scientist Victor Fries, as Mr. Freeze, attacks several divisions of Gothcorp, each time stealing a piece for a secret weapon he intends to build. Batman investigates the connections, and discovers that the start of Freeze's vendetta against Gothcorp was a bitter falling out between Fries and Gothcorp's CEO, Ferris Boyle, during which Boyle almost killed Fries (mutating him into Freeze) and presumably killed Fries' terminally ill wife, Nora. Batman must find a way to bring Boyle to justice before Freeze carries out his revenge.
#12 - The Demon's Quest (2)
Season 1 - Episode 58 - Aired 5/4/1993
After freeing Talia from her father's clutches and escaping from an avalanche, Batman and Robin follow the only clue they have - the word 'Orpheus'. After discovering that 'Orpheus' is Ra's private satellite that will orbit over the Sahara, the duo travel to the Demon's desert stronghold. There, Batman learns that the satellite is actually a weapon which will explosively destroy all the Lazarus Pits simultaneously, throughout the world, destroying all the life that exists.
#13 - The Man Who Killed Batman
Season 1 - Episode 49 - Aired 2/1/1993
When a small time gang member seemingly kills Batman by accident, he gets involved with gangs all over Gotham, as well as the Joker and Rupert Thorne.
#14 - Harley and Ivy
Season 1 - Episode 47 - Aired 1/18/1993
When the Joker fires Harley, she tries going on a crime spree of her own, joining up with Poison Ivy, and the two become Gotham's Queens of Crime, much to Joker's fury.
#15 - Feat of Clay (2)
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/9/1992
Bruce Wayne is released from prison on bail. Hagen, as it turns out, survived the murder attempt on him, but at a high cost: the formula entered his body and soaked every single one of his cells, mutating him into a shape-shifting mutant. With his newfound powers, Hagen, now calling himself Clayface, decides to take his revenge on Daggett and his men. Can Batman bring Daggett to justice and stop Clayface before innocent people are hurt?
#16 - Heart of Steel (2)
Season 1 - Episode 40 - Aired 11/17/1992
Batman manages to free himself from the Batcave's clutches, and brings it back under his control, although he fails to track Duane down. Barbara Gordon approaches Batman to inform him of her father's sudden change in behaviour. A brutal fight between Batman and Detective Bullock ensues, during which Batman pushes Bullock onto the Bat Signal, and reveals him to actually be an android, meaning that the real Bullock and James Gordon have gone missing, and Batman knows who the culprit is: H.A.R.D.A.C. Can he stop the evil supercomputer before it's too late?
#17 - Heart of Steel (1)
Season 1 - Episode 39 - Aired 11/16/1992
Several robberies take place at major companies, including Wayne Enterprises, and Bruce Wayne, as Batman, discovers the thief to be a mechanical briefcase. Bruce meets with his old friend, Karl Rossum, an expert in robotics who lost his daughter to a vehicle accident years ago. He also meets Rossum's assistant, Randa Duane, and Rossum's ultimate creation: a prototype A.I. known as Holographic Analytical Reciprocating Digital Computer (H.A.R.D.A.C.) Bruce invites Duane to dinner, and around the same time, certain civilians start acting strangely. Most surprising is when Duane unexpectedly leaves Wayne Manor while Bruce is on the phone, and the entire Batcave turns on Batman.
#18 - Appointment in Crime Alley
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 9/17/1992
Roland Daggett, with the help of two explosive experts, Crocker and Nitro, plans to destroy the infamous Crime Alley (while making it look like an underground accident) and use the land to expand his business empire, even if it means killing the residents or forcing them to abandon their homes.
#19 - Nothing to Fear
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 9/15/1992
Batman encounters the Scarecrow and attempts to foil his scheme to burn down Gotham University, but in the process is exposed to the Scarecrow's fear gas, and is forced to face his own guilt over the deaths of his parents.
#20 - The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 10/29/1992
After a prominent judge is injured during a struggle with some thugs demanding money from her in exchange for a strange tape, Bruce Wayne decides to take a trip to Yucca Springs, a resort where the judge had vacationed, and consult Dr. Hugo Strange, a psychiatrist. Bruce soon learns that Strange has invented a machine that extracts people's darkest secrets from their minds and transfers them to videotape—and now Strange has proof of Bruce's secret identity as Batman and plans to auction it to three of Gotham's prominent crime bosses.
#21 - Joker's Favor
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 9/11/1992
After Charlie Collins accidentally curses at the Joker on the road for bumping him, the Clown Prince of Crime corners him and intimidates him into doing him a "small favor". Two years pass, and the Joker finally decides how to use Charlie: to sneak a bomb into Gotham University, where Commissioner Gordon is to give a speech at an award ceremony. Charlie, who merely has to open the door, is skeptical at first, but for the sake of his family, he reluctantly decides to obey. But is the Joker really the type to let someone who insulted him live?
#22 - Off Balance
Season 1 - Episode 44 - Aired 11/23/1992
While following Count Vertigo's trail, Batman encounters Talia, daughter of the head of the Society of Shadows, who was sent by her father to prevent the capture of a sonic drill that the Count stole. But after his identity is mistakenly revealed to Talia, Batman remains off-balance as to where her true loyalties lie.
#23 - The Laughing Fish
Season 1 - Episode 46 - Aired 1/10/1993
Fishermen discover that Gotham's fish all have the Joker's colors and signature smile. Batman investigates, and realises that the Joker is hoping to make money off of these new fish by having them trademarked. After two government employees are killed by Joker toxin, Batman examines that specific fish, and sees that it is actually a Japanese one, meaning that the Joker is hiding at the Aquarium. Bullock tracks the Joker down, but is captured and used as live shark bait as part of a trap for Batman. Can Batman save him in time?
#24 - The Mechanic
Season 1 - Episode 48 - Aired 1/24/1993
Thanks to a freak accident during a high-speed chase, the Batmobile is virtually demolished. After Batman takes the car to his personal mechanic, Earl Cooper, the Penguin makes his move and tampers with the Batmobile, putting it under his control.
#25 - Dreams in Darkness
Season 1 - Episode 31 - Aired 11/3/1992
Batman is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum after being exposed to Scarecrow's fear gas and suffering hallucinations that nearly cause him to harm innocent people. Batman knows that the Scarecrow has escaped for the second time and is planning to dump his fear toxin into the water supply. Can Batman bring himself to break the law and escape from Arkham before the Scarecrow brings Gotham to its knees?