Plot summary: With a mystical artefact in play, Batman gets an assist from his old friend Jason Blood and his alter-ego, Etrigan the Demon.
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: ‘The Demon Within’
Original Air Date: May 9th, 1998
Directed: Atsuko Tanaka (2)
Written: Rusti Bjornhöel (1) & Stan Berkowitz (3)
Continuity wise, Etrigan would reappear in the Justice League episode ‘A Knight of Shadows’, while an elderly Bruce Wayne recounts the events of this story in the Batman Beyond episode ‘Revenant’.
Unfortunately, this was the last acting performance of Stephen Wolfe Smith, who portrayed Klarion.
Etrigan smashes the window of Kirby Cake House, named for the character’s creator, the superlative Jack Kirby.
The fictional movie Devastator 3 is a clear parody of The Terminator franchise, even starring a ‘Donald Shaltenpepper’.
Recap
Tim complains about being dragged to an auction by Bruce. He attempts so strike up a conversation with what he assumes is a fellow bored teen, an odd goth child with an aggressive pet cat…
The boy, Klarion, dismisses Tim and places a $100,000 bid on a branding iron that once belonged to Morgaine Le Fey. He immediately finds himself in a bidding war with Jason Blood, but Bruce swoops in at the last moment, buying the artefact for a million dollars.
We learn that Blood is an old friend of Bruce’s, and after Klarion storms off, he thanks Bruce for buying the branding iron for him.
Jason tells Tim of the legend of Etrigan the Demon, a servant of Merlin who shared a body with one of King Arthur’s men. Tim notices a bust of Etrigan bears a striking resemblance to Blood on its reverse…
Klarion’s mean cat (so basically just a cat) attempts to steal the branding iron while the fellas are playing the exposition game, transforming into a humanoid creature and attacking Bruce.
Sure enough, Jason Blood says a little incantation and transforms into Etrigan (much to Tim’s delight) and battles the cat monster. Panicking, it causes a fire, and Etrigan chooses to save Bruce and Tim, letting it get away with the prize.
Klarion thanks ‘Teekl’, who transforms back into a regular cat. The boy uses the brand to cast a spell that separates Jason Blood and Etrigan, who is now bound to do Klarion’s bidding.
That bidding consists of blowing up a movie theatre after Klarion dislikes the film playing, and getting the boy ice cream and cakes. Truly, a menace. Oh, and he derails a train and smashes some derelict buildings because they displease him. But mainly, it’s the cake.
Batman attempts to intimidate Klarion, who uses magic to immediately wreck him. A rapidly ageing Jason casts counter-spells, and the two take turns to do wild things to Bruce’s body. Not in a sex way.
Frustrated, Klarion unleashes Etrigan on the Caped Crusader, who can do nothing but play keep-away… until Klarion sends Etrigan after Jason instead for some reason.
Threatening to die of old age at any moment, Blood erects a magical force field that holds up just long enough for Batman to snatch Le Fey’s branding iron from the boy.
In a wild turn of events, Batman recites a magic spell to undo the separation, saving Blood’s life. He naturally repays this act by helping Bruce defeat Klarion via anime fight, imprisoning him in a crystal ball on Blood’s mantelpiece.
Best Performance
I have no choice but to tip my hat to Stephen Wolfe Smith as essentially an annoying Victorian ghost boy. Klarion is designed to draw audience ire, and Smith breaths so much punchability into him. He’s equal parts bratty and creepy, so regardless of what you think of the brief, he nailed it.
Billy Zane is disappointingly bland in the dual role of Jason Blood/Etrigan, though I give him props for voicing both.
There are basically no more characters; Kevin Conroy is on autopilot, Matthew Valencia just acts awestruck and there’s an auctioneer, I guess.
Ranking
Once again we must confront a severe deviation from the ‘realistic’ tone that Bruce Timm & Paul Dini claim to have strived so hard for in seasons one and two. I continue to find it funny that the creators rejected certain spoopy plot pitches in the past for being too unrealistic, but then went ahead and did things like this and the Egyptian Zombie Queen.
Personal preference will dictate how much you enjoy seeing Batman become a wizard for a hot minute, as he helps a demon battle a witch boy and his pet ‘were-cat’. I’m not opposed to supernatural elements in Batman in general, but as this particular show is played 95% straight, I would prefer they kept it 100… as it were. Even when we had werewolves and mutant tiger men, it was ‘explained’ as science, not fantasy.
That aside, I feel the script suffers from a lack of characters, putting all of the focus on Klarion, Jason Blood and Etrigan. Batman feels like a borderline afterthought, and Robin doesn’t do anything. Heck, Klarion’s cat has a bigger role than Tim. The characters that do get time are reasonably fun, but for me it was far too thin of an episode on top of the aforementioned tonal issues.
Nothing awful by any means, but lacking in… heart? Spirit? Backbone? Some body part or other.
- 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
- Old Wounds
- 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?
- The Demon Within (NEW ENTRY)
- Animal Act
- Night of the Ninja
- Fire From Olympus
- Mudslide
- The Cat and the Claw Part II
- Nothing to Fear
- The Lion and the Unicorn
- Prophecy of Doom
- Cult of the Cat
- 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
- Critters
- The Terrible Trio
- I’ve Got Batman in My Basement
Villain Watch
Klarion (Stephen Wolfe Smith) (first appearance)
As mentioned in the voice acting section, Klarion is designed as equal parts creepy little child who knows too much and irritating brat who you want to fail. Leaving his origin/true nature a mystery was probably a good call, and he gets to leave as strangely as he arrived… well, getting trapped in a snow globe is a bit stranger than rocking up to an auction, I suppose.
Beyond the well-written personality and appropriately haunting design, he unleashes a fun array of spells. Plus he has a ‘were-cat’! And temporarily commands Etrigan the Demon, who I toyed with ranking as a villain. Instead, we’ll package him and Teekl up with the boy and let him enjoy his potentially overly-generous ranking.
- 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
- Roxy Rocket
- Killer Croc
- Firefly
- Penguin
- Scarecrow
- Lock-Up
- Lloyd Ventrix
- Rupert Thorne
- Count Vertigo
- Clock King
- Klarion (and Teekl!)
- 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
- Farmer Brown (and Emmylou!)
- Grant Walker
- Gil Mason
- Nostromos (and Lucas!)
- Cameron Kaiser
- Dr. Dorian (and Garth)
- Mad Dog
- Ubu
- Thomas Blake
- 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, concludes coverage of Loki this week with an overall series review.
There Will Be Movies continues Ben & Matt’s look back at the 90s each Wednesday. This week it’s Boyz n the Hood.
The Reel World 