It's safe to say that out of all of the animated series that have been released Batman: The Animated Series is easily one of the best superhero animated TV shows out there. With the show not only giving us great adaptations of classic villains but also giving us new characters that would go on to become fan favorite characters with the episode that i'm about to review for you all today being a good example of the show bringing back a classic character in a way that is not only new and different but also completely and utterly heartbreaking as well and as so then join me as I review the episode that sees the series debut of Mr. Freeze with the episode in question being called simply just "Batman "Heart Of Ice" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when a bunch of laboratories are being targeted all over Gotham it's up to Batman to find out who is committing these crimes and stop them once and for all. Now then then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad with the plot of the episode being somewhat of a dark horse as it presents itself as being a very cut and dry type of episode but then the longer the episode goes on the more that it becomes clear that the plot isn't as black and white as we first made it out to be with the plot of the episode at first sounding like that these laboratories are being attacked for no reason but then as the episode goes on we find out that not only is there a deeply tragic reason for these attacks but also who we think is the villain may not be the actual villain at all with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred Pennyworth. Also starring in this episode is Michael Ansara as Victor Fries / Mister Freeze , The Munsters' Revenge and The Superman/Aquaman Hour Of Adventure star Bob Hastings as A Police Officer , Mari Devon as Summer Gleeson and Star Wars star and voice acting legend Mark Hamill as Ferris Boyle.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in al honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of this episodes cast turning in some really good performances which really isn't all that surprising as this episodes cast are a bunch of really good actors and while Kevin Conroy would usually be the true standout actor in any given episode of this show in this episode that honor really does go to Michael Ansara was really does nail it as Mister Freeze with him being able to make the character sound both cold and emotionless when needed to do but when he's Victor Fries we get a sense of how warm and caring he was as a person and all of that comes from how great Michael Ansara well and truly is in this episode with the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all the episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which in turn really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Spectrum Animation. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I8 in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with the characters having some really nice and fluid movements to them but what really does sell the animation in this episode is the fact that the backgrounds in this episode just look fantastic with alot of them looking like works of art as that's how good they look and the fact that an episode of this show has some good animation to it is really nothing new as this show always has some really good animation to it with this episode not really being any different with even the characters facial expressions looking really good as thats how good the animation really is in this episode.
This is the episode that gave Mister Freeze his now iconic and quite frankly rather tragic backstory with it being revealed in this episode that he's only doing evil things to try and find a cure for his wife. Which makes everything that he does in the rest of the series ad the movies all the more tragic as it comes not from a place of hatred and greed but from a place of love and compassion with hi only seeking revenge on the person that stopping his experiments because that person shoved him into a bunch of chemicals turning him into the person that he is now and as a result of that is the fact that this episode does also technically have two different villains one being Mister Freeze and the other being Ferris Boyle a business man who when in the public pretends that he's all for the people but when he's behind closed doors he's a cruel and evil person who's only looking out for himself whereas with Mister Freeze it's the opposite that's true as he's evil when he's out in public and he's a kinder and more softer person behind when he's behind closed doors.
Out of all of the shows many episodes this is the first one that got nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing In An Animated Program. With this episode deserving that award as it is a really well written as from a writing perspective it really does make you care for the villain and gives you a twist that not only makes you see the villain in a whole light but also makes alot of sense interms of episode as we see from an earlier scenes that Ferris Boyle isn't a good person when he's not a good person and the very first scene that we get with Mister Freeze we see that he really does care about his wife as he's seen just talking about how he wants to be with her again and lamenting the fact that he can't be with her due to her illness and while it could be argued that this puts us one step behind Batman interms of what he knows about who is committing these crimes it could also be argued that that's really the point as we the audience are meant to see Mister Freeze as a villain at that point and having Batman believe that he is the villain until the very last moment is a great way to get that done and still keep the surprise reveal that he's technically not the villain of the episode as a surprise and while it would be nice if we the audience would really still be on the same level interms of what he's knows about the episode it would also run the risk of making that really great surprise and plot twist come out of nowhere as well.
One of the big issues that this episodes is the fact that for a Batman story Batman himself doesn't really appear all that much in the episode. With oddly enough Mister Freeze getting more of the episodes screen time which does make sense as he is meant to be the main character of this episode and this episodes story but at the same time you don't want to tune into an episode of Batman and have Batman himself only appear in a small handful of scenes and while yes Batman does have an impact of the plot as it's thanks to him that we get to see Freeze's new origin story but at the same time that also makes Batman feel alot more like a character that's just there to give out exposition and not really add anything to the plot of the episode as that's all he does in this episode he just dumps information after information when he really doesn't need to and while this does rightfully make Batman feel like a side character in his own show there should have been a better way to do all of that and still have him act as a main character akin to Mister Freeze and heck even the episodes actual main villain Ferris Boyle doesn't get alot of screen time in the grand scheme of things and as a result of that is the fact his character really isn't as fully developed as he really should have been.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty two minuets and thirty four seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have and to this episodes credit it really does make the most of it's running time with alot of the episodes scenes being about either advancing the plot of the episode or setting up things that will be payed of in the episodes final act with the fact that Bruce Wayne develops a cold at the start of the episode only to have that come back in the episodes climax being a very good example of that and while the episode really would have benefitted from being a movie as there really is more then enough plot to there to be a movie just as there's more enough plot here to really cover it's running time as it really is if it was a movie tho then it would have allowed a much more wider audience to view this new take on Mister Freeze instead of it just being a few people but I will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual episode that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As while the action is the episodes more weaker aspects this is only due to the fact that there's only so much that you can do with Mister Freeze action wise and as a result of that is the fact that we get action scenes that whilst they are very visually pleasing they aren't as exciting as they really could have been as all they are is batman trying not to get by Mister Freeze's freeze ray and that's really it and while that's fine for one or two action scenes when that's every action scene tho that's when they start to get dully boring this is despite the fact that the animation in this episode really do help the action look as good as they could have done in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this episode is as tragic and as beautiful as you'd want it to be and is quite easily one of the best episodes in this shows history it's still an episode that has alot of room for improvement this is despite the fact that the episode really does gave alot of things going for it as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now the i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that re in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really foes earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official batman: Te Animated Series fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very review being the really great the official Batman: The Animated Series fandom wiki page simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes and are really of course on the official Batman: The Animated Series fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.