Plot summary: Seeking revenge on an industry that turned their back on her once she reached 30, Calendar Girl strikes at key points throughout the year.
Each Saturday and Sunday Matt Waters recaps an episode of the legendary Batman: The Animated Series, building an overall ranking along the way. Plus best performances, the ever-popular Villain Watch and more!
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Notes
Episode Title: ‘Mean Seasons’
Original Air Date: April 25th, 1998
Directed: Hiroyuki Aoyama (1)
Written: Rich Fogel (3) (story) and Hilary J. Bader (4)
Calendar Girl is a gender-bent version of Calendar Man, with the swap presumably another part of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini’s attempt to add more female villains to the show.
Sela Ward, Calendar Girl’s voice actress, was embroiled in a campaign against Hollywood’s ageism at the time this episode was made.
Superman: The Animated Series also featured a fight between its hero and a mechanical T-Rex. Get some new ideas, guys.
Recap
In April, Calendar Girl and her Chippendale henchmen ruin a Donna Day fashion show with Easter Egg smoke bombs, kidnapping the fashion mogul and easily fending off security during their escape.
They strike again in July at an auto show, this time with Independence Day themed weapons. Batman tries to save the host of the event from being kidnapped as well, but the combination of three beefcakes and some fireworks prove too much for him.
Bruce and Barbara research links between Donna Day Fashions and Gotham Motors, uncovering a model named Page Monroe, who was callously dropped at the height of her success once she turned 30.
The duo confront a sleazy agent that used to represent Monroe. He attempts to justify the events and makes a veiled comment about a plastic surgeon botching a procedure on her.
Monroe leads her merry men on their next crusade, this time against the GWB Network, who unveil their Autumn line-up of awful youth programming. Monroe kidnaps the network’s president.
Batman & Batgirl give chase only to be confronted by… a giant mechanical tyrannosaurus! Our heroes are eventually able to take it down by knocking an enormous lighting rig onto it, but it’s a close call!
Barbara tracks Monroe to an abandoned nightclub, where the villain tells the hostages her sad story before endeavouring to kill them in celebration of the Day of the Dead. Batman of course steps in, and after an intense battle, Monroe catches sight of a picture of her being destroyed and surrenders instantly.
Harvey Bullock forcibly unmasks Monroe once she’s in custody, despite her pleading that nobody look at her. Batgirl comments on how beautiful she is, but Batman points out she’s no longer capable of recognising that.
Best Performance
Giving Sela Ward a platform to espouse her own criticisms against Hollywood leads to a naturalistic performance as she chides the agents that covet youth and sasses the models that they victimise. Her delivery of “Honey, you’re never too thin and you’re never too young” is excellent. She’s also pretty good at the emotional outbursts that accompany her being seen unmasked, but her best work is all the jabs. There are a litany of talented actors who could have played this part, but it’s incredibly cool that they let it be her.
Kevin Conroy and Tara Strong are as good as ever, and there are a whole bunch of fun little parts, including the sleazy hostages, but there’s no way it’s not Ward.
Ranking
Perhaps no episode of this show has aged better. It’s pretty shocking to see a children’s cartoon doing such a good job of underlining gross business practices when it comes to fetishizing young women. From Calendar Girl being dropped once she turned 30, to the excessive use of bikini babes, to Barbara correcting Bruce’s use of the word girl rather than woman. There’s even a freakin’ casting couch scene!!! I don’t want to oversell it, but if you told me the show would be taking a stab at this kind of subject matter, I couldn’t have imagined it being this good.
They even managed to weave in a subplot about Bruce contemplating his own mortality, shocked that one of his employees has reached retirement age and quietly obsessing over his own ageing. It has a nice little resolution, too, with Bruce making retirement optional at Wayne Industries.
However, a couple of things hold it back from being one of the best in show. Firstly, the T-Rex, which is simply too much. Some might feel the very presence of a robotic dinosaur in any episode is tonally inappropriate, but for me it’s more that it comes completely out of left-field and doesn’t fit with the villain or premise. If she had been a disgruntled animatronics expert or something like that I’d be cool with, but it felt like an unnecessary tack-on. I would have rather seen the time that scene took re-distributed to the two main stories.
Secondly, it’s a little suspect that Batman would fail to rescue a hostage for NINE months. Unavoidable given Calendar Girl’s crimes are seasonal, but it still bothered me, and I wonder if there could have been another way to allow the villain to strike throughout the year. Less of a problem, but it does smack of first draft scripting.
- The Laughing Fish
- Mask of the Phantasm
- Over the Edge
- Almost Got ‘im
- Heart of Ice
- Harlequinade
- The Trial
- Riddler’s Reform
- Double Talk
- Shadow of the Bat Part I
- I Am the Night
- Robin’s Reckoning Part I
- Baby-Doll
- Sins of the Father
- Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero
- The Man Who Killed Batman
- Perchance to Dream
- Two-Face Part I
- Torch Song
- You Scratch My Back
- Bane
- Batgirl Returns
- A Bullet For Bullock
- Joker’s Favor
- Read My Lips
- Feat of Clay Part II
- The Ultimate Thrill
- Catwalk
- The Demon’s Quest Part II
- Harley and Ivy
- Robin’s Reckoning Part II
- House & Garden
- Beware the Gray Ghost
- Mean Seasons (NEW ENTRY)
- Growing Pains
- Holiday Knights
- Second Chance
- Mad as a Hatter
- Heart of Steel Part II
- Appointment In Crime Alley
- Two-Face Part II
- Pretty Poison
- Deep Freeze
- Harley’s Holiday
- Lock-Up
- Shadow of the Bat Part II
- Feat of Clay Part I
- Cold Comfort
- His Silicon Soul
- Off Balance
- Vendetta
- Birds of a Feather
- Joker’s Millions
- Heart of Steel Part I
- Never Fear
- On Leather Wings
- Love is a Croc
- See No Evil
- The Clock King
- It’s Never Too Late
- Make ‘Em Laugh
- Joker’s Wild
- Eternal Youth
- The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
- The Cat and the Claw Part I
- Zatanna
- Day of the Samurai
- Avatar
- The Demon’s Quest Part I
- The Mechanic
- The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
- Terror in the Sky
- P.O.V.
- Christmas with the Joker
- Fear of Victory
- Be a Clown
- The Worry Men
- What is Reality?
- Fire From Olympus
- Night of the Ninja
- Mudslide
- The Cat and the Claw Part II
- Nothing to Fear
- The Lion and the Unicorn
- Prophecy of Doom
- Tyger, Tyger
- Blind as a Bat
- If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?
- Dreams In Darkness
- The Last Laugh
- Cat Scratch Fever
- Moon of the Wolf
- Paging the Crime Doctor
- Time Out of Joint
- Sideshow
- The Under-Dwellers
- The Forgotten
- Showdown
- The Terrible Trio
- I’ve Got Batman in My Basement
Villain Watch
Calendar Girl (Sela Ward) (first appearance)
Listen, Calendar Man is an intrinsic part of some iconic Batman stories, but in a vacuum, this is clearly a far superior take on the character. From an aesthetic standpoint alone, she absolutely rules, with creative seasonal costume changes and weaponry. Easter Egg smoke bombs in April, over-aggressive fireworks in July, explosive Pumpkins in October and a scythe in November. Honestly, respect for resisting the easy out of Christmas!
But she’s much more than her appearance, fitting given the character’s tragic origins. Giving her a sympathetic backstory is par for the course, but few members of the Rogues Gallery can match hers for poignancy. It’s depressing that it’s still so relevant 30 years on, and crucially, she’s absolutely right.
I love the touch that we’re led to believe Monroe is hideously disfigured beneath her mask, with the scene of one of her hunks walking in while she’s not wearing it, causing her to flip out. The ultimate reveal that it’s actually all in her head evokes Doctor Doom’s tiny scar, but given the full context, I actually think this is more effective.
Bonus points for the hunks… who she quickly drops for the unnecessary T-Rex.
- The Joker
- Harley Quinn
- Mr. Freeze
- Poison Ivy
- The Ventriloquist
- Catwoman
- Two-Face
- Bane
- The Riddler
- The Phantasm
- Baby-Doll
- Mad Hatter
- Clayface
- HARDAC (and Randa Duane)
- Ra’s al Ghul
- Calendar Girl (NEW ENTRY)
- Roxy Rocket
- Killer Croc
- Firefly
- Penguin
- Scarecrow
- Lock-Up
- Lloyd Ventrix
- Rupert Thorne
- Count Vertigo
- Clock King
- Nivens
- Roland Daggett (and Germs & Bell!)
- Enrique el Gancho
- Josiah Wormwood
- Talia al Ghul
- Sid the Squid
- Queen Thoth Khepera
- Maxie Zeus
- Jimmy ‘Jazzman’ Peake
- Tony Zucco
- Man-Bat
- Rhino, Mugsy and Ratso
- Hugo Strange
- Red Claw
- Arnold Stromwell
- Mad Bomber
- Tygrus
- Kyodai Ken
- Condiment King/Pack Rat/Mighty Mom
- Grant Walker
- Gil Mason
- Nostromos (and Lucas!)
- Cameron Kaiser
- Dr. Dorian (and Garth)
- Mad Dog
- Ubu
- Professor Milo
- Romulus
- Arkady Duvall
- Sewer King
- Boss Biggis
- Montague Kane
- The Terrible Trio
Plugs
Eager for more long-form coverage of Batman? Why not check out my podcast with Mike Thomas, The Tape Crusaders, which reviewed every Batman movie and delved a tiny bit into the animated series.
My other recap column, Marvel Mondays, continues coverage of Loki this week.
There Will Be Movies returns for a third volume starting this Wednesday with Ben & Matt taking a look back at the 90s, starting with Goodfellas.
The Reel World 