ladybug_archive | Decisions, Decisions....

Finished the first draft of the fic! I'll re-read the whole thing before I post the epilogue, just to make sure I've tied up all loose ends. I include the proposed teaser at the end, with Dr. Portman and Scarecrow laughing about their plans for Gotham. I describe Scarecrow as having dark hair, as that's what I remember from the movie, but it looks like from some comic panels that his hair was originally lighter? Oh well, since there's no Scarecrow in The Batman, and the only design picture has him costumed, I can make him look any way I choose.

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to write him, though. I might need to watch the movie again to refresh my memory on that portrayal. One comic version has him speaking in rhyme, but I don't think I could do that. I will have him recite nursery rhymes, though, because that is just so, so demented and creepy. Reading his comic backstories and about all the people he killed makes my skin crawl. He is definitely among the darkest in Batman's rogue's gallery. Portman will love working with him.

And it would be lovely if money grew on trees. Thinking about things further leaves me in a quandary over whether to buy the 1960s Batman or the Sailor Moon set. I seem to want both equally, but can only have one right now. I actually wasn't expecting the Sailor Moon set to turn up at Wal-Mart, or that it would be the same awesome price as the Batman set. Reading the episode guides for each does nothing to help the problem. I am concerned, however, that it may be more difficult to find Sailor Moon at the continuing lower price than Batman. Wal-Mart probably won't have it for long, and Amazon's price for Sailor Moon has never been as low as Wal-Mart's ... at least, not before this week. Checking it just now reveals that it currently is the same price. Which only makes the decision harder still.

I also really need some new pajama pants and have been looking over the fun licensed character ones Wal-Mart has. I like both a TMNT and a Batman logo print. But I can't seem to find the Batman print in the size I need, and the TMNT one is for the 1980s show, which I was never actually into as much as some other branches of the franchise. So I kind of lean more towards wanting the Batman one. Wish they'd get some in in the proper size....

I also finally saw The Batman vs. Dracula movie. (LOL.) I don't know why it's taken me nine years to get to it, since I was interested from the first year it came out. Even people who aren't big fans of The Batman incarnation will sometimes like the movie, as it's darker than the series. There's blood as Penguin cuts himself on his umbrella sword (and accidentally revives Dracula when it drips on the bones), The Joker gets electrocuted and supposedly dies (for a while), Batman is very shaken by it, as he was there at the time, and later on, when The Joker comes back, he immediately gets assaulted by Dracula and turned into a vampire himself.

What I find especially intriguing about the film is that Batman immediately takes a scientific approach to the vampirism plaguing Gotham and decides that since the vampires' bites infect the blood, maybe there's a way to heal the blood and reverse the process. After a fight with Joker in a blood bank (LOL), Batman locks him up in the Batcave and tries to use him to find a cure for everyone. It takes so long that Joker is screaming about being hungry and is in a lot of pain. Batman actually fills a blood bag with some of his blood to give to the Joker to ease his suffering while the search for the cure goes on. It's a very moving and powerful scene.

Of course, Batman eventually finds the cure and is able to help Joker and all the townspeople. But Dracula himself cannot be cured. He calls himself The Prince of Darkness and it's very creepy. He also tries to use reporter Vicky Vale's soul to revive his dead love. Batman rushes in to stop it just in time.

The title of the movie is definitely amusing, but in actual practice it's quite a dark and intense film. I loved it so much I wanted to watch it again the same day, but I didn't get that chance. I'll probably watch it again today sometime.

Another thing I adore about it is that it takes place in the earlier seasons era, so the focus of the interaction is on Batman and Alfred and Batman and the bad guys. There's no Yin, sadly, and Batman really could have benefited from her being there, as the police end up thinking Batman is responsible for the disappearing people and come after him. That makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact time period, because if James Gordon was commissioner yet, I don't think he would have allowed the outrageous and unfair attack. (The SWAT teams seemed to be shooting to kill, without Batman even doing anything to fight them!) And if he wasn't commissioner yet, Yin should have definitely been there. If I had to guess, I'd say it was probably in the middle of season 2 and maybe Yin was on vacation or something.

There's also some awesome special features, including a section on the voice actors and some of the fun things going on while they were recording. I love seeing what the actors look like, and how they perform the voices during the recording sessions. It makes me wish so much again that they had kept doing awesome special features for every release of the show. I still want so bad to know about what prompted them to redesign the Riddler so drastically (and awesomely) and what it was like having Robert Englund come in to do the voice.