The Batman character has been in alot of animated shows and movies for many decades with Batman: The Animated Series being without a shadow of a doubt his most famous animated outing. With the caped crusader due to return in animated form this Thursday in Amazon Primes Batman: Caped Crusader now was the absolutely right time to take another look at an episode from this truly wonderful show and so then join me as I review that see's Alfred fight for his sanity with the episode in question being called simply just "The Last Laugh" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when The Joker gases most of Gotham in his Joker gas it's up to Batman to stop the clown prince of crime before it's far to late. Now 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 but that's also the problem as the plot of this episode wasn't all that good either with the plot of this episode being best described as being OK at best which is of no fault of the makers of show as there's no way that you could make a plot this ridiculous that good and to this episodes credit it knows that it's not a good episode and really leans into it but at the same from this show you do expect better plots and not plots that feel like that they belong im a show that's made with little kids in mind 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 voice acting legend Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Star Wars and voice acting legend Mark Hamill as Joker. Also starring in this episode is Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred Pennyworth , Bob Hastings as A Driver and Joker's Unnamed Henchman , Mari Devon as Summer Gleeson Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles legend Pat Fraley as Jest and Richard Moll as The Batcomputer.
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 all 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. Which is something that really isn't new for this show as this show has always had some really good acting in it but at the same time the acting that's in this episode isn't really as good as the acting that's in other episodes from this show as while yes the actors that are in this episode do indeed turn in some solid performances they don't turn as good of a performance that we the audience really know that they can do and the episode does suffer because of it of how OK at best that this episodes acting really is with the acting not really being helped by the episodes script as this episodes script really doesn't give the actors in this episode alot of work with interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does hurt the overall quality of the acting that's in this episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Akom Production CO.. Now then interms of what I personally thought felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us un this very episode well then in all honesty I 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 and was more then up to the already high standard of animation that this show already has with this episodes animation being one of the best things about this episode as that's just how good this episodes animation is with the episode having some really good looking backgrounds that really do look like a piece of art as they look that really good with all of the characters in this episode also having some really good looking and fluid movements to them as well and as a result of that is the fact that the animation in this episode really does look like that it belongs in a feature length film as it looks really that good and more then holds up all of these later and is better then alot of modern animation that we get in TV shows today.
This episode straight up does a plot line that was copied poorly by the dreadful Batman & Robin as in this episode Alfred accidently gets hit with some of The Joker's gas and the Batman has to save him. Where as in Batman & Robin Alfred just so happens to have the same illness that killed Mr. Freezes wife and Batman has to save him before he dies this plot line is done so much better in this episode as it's something that's done completely by accident as there's no way that The Joker would have known that Alfred was there cleaning in the first place when he just could have been going after Bruce Wayne where in Batman & Robin it feels a bit contrived that Alfred just so happens to have this illness that was never mentioned nor even hinted at before now and it just so happens to be the exact same one that that films villain's wife had which just seems to much like a coincidence where as here it does seem like a genuine accident and where as this film mostly plays it laughs which does work for this episode Batman & Robin has it tie into the fact that Alfred is a father figure to Bruce Wayne which is a solid way to do a plot line like this.
This is more of a light hearted episode which does make sense given that the main theme of this episode is Batman learning to take a joke and smile and the fact that this episode is set on April Fools Day. With this episode really taking full advantage of the fact that it's more of a lighthearted episode with both Bruce and Alfred cracking jokes at points in the episode and while this does make alot of sense given when this episode is set it does feel out of place as while out of this episode and the christmas themed episode "Christmas With The Joker" this one was the first one to make it to air and while having a more lighthearted episode like this one does indeed work given that this was still very early on in the shows run given that it was the fourteenth episode to be produced and fifteenth episode to air it does seem odd that the makers of this show would go for a more lighter episode when they still have forty other episodes to make up it's first season and as a result of that is the fact that this episode should have been further on down in the airing order just to allow this version of the caped crusader to become more fully established and while the episode does have some decent jokes in it with Batman smiling at the thought of killing off The Joker for good being a painfully funny joke it's still something that doesn't really save this episode.
The Joker in this episode really was the true star of this episode as he rather rightfully does have a funny crime that is only funny to him. With the idea of making everyone laugh until there driven insane is only something thar he would do and it's only something that only he would find funny and because of that is the fact that he does come across as being all the more creepy because of it as now he has this weapon that has no known cure to it and is just there just to give him a laugh and to cause who ever he is using it on pain and misery with this episode really being helped by the fact that The Joker doesn't have an end goal and while this would usually be a bad thing in this episode and for this character it is something that really does work as in "The Dark Knight" The Joker himself states that he's just a dog chasing a car he and that he wouldn't know what to di if he caught it and it's the same thing here as really all he's doing is causing chaos really just for the sake of causing chaos and while yes there is something about the stock market going down the drain because of The Joker's action while The Joker himself really does nothing with that knowledge as he really just stands there and smiles as chaos unfolds on the streets of Gotham and all around him.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty two minuets and thirty one seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show and to this episodes credit this episode really does have the right amount of plot to really cover that amount of running time and while this episode doesn't take as full advantage of that running time as we don't get to see how Alfred getting infected with the laughing gas affects Bruce Wayne which would have been interesting to see which is something that Batman & Robin really does get quite alot of credit for doing it is understandable why they didn't go down that route in this episode as the episode doesn't have alot there interms of running time in the first place and as a result of that is really something like showing Bruce Wayne react in someway to the possibility of losing his father figure really wouldn't be included in the final cut of the episode as it adds nothing to the overall plot of the episode and would have felt like filler in the grand scheme of things and yet by removing a scene like that the episode also oddly feels incomplete like there's just something missing that really would have made the episode feel better then what it actually was 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 action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. However that's also the problem as this action that's in this episode isn't all that good either with this mainly due to the fact that the episode is alot more light hearted in more lighter in tone and as result of that is the fact that the episode really can't deliver all of the top notch action that the show really does usually deliver with the only tense moment in this episode action wise being one Batman swings over some fire to get to The Joker on the other side side and that's really it and while there are some good fights in this episode that all just lack that extra something that keeps them from being truly great fight scenes with them coming across as being rather watered down action scenes due to the episode more lighter tone and not something that's consistent with the rest of the show in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this isn't the shows best episode mostly due to the episode more lighter tone it does also have some really good aspects going for it like The Joker being really true to his character for example but those good things don't stop the episode from being nothing more then a really average episode at best in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode that are in this very episode and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 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 I personally got all of the images that I personally used in his very review from the official Batman: Caped Crusader fandom wiki page , the official Batman: The 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.