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The issues Batman has to deal with in this episode may be fairly mundane – no supervillains or citywide threats to be found – but this is still an excellent episode for two main reasons. One, it shows us what Batman does when he’s not fighting supervillains, and it also does a great job showing the softer, more emotional side of The Bat.

Roland Daggett, a shady businessman, wants to get rid of Park Row, or, as it’s better known, Crime Alley, so he can build his own more profitable buildings there. But the residents of Crime Alley protest against this plan, and thus Daggett resorts to underhanded schemes. Batman, of course, comes to the rescue. Along the way he deals with several other issues, some not even directly related to Dagget, because that’s what the Batman does – help people.

This episode also introduces Leslie Thompkins – someone we learn is near and dear to Batman. He apparently meets with her regularly, and, until this episode, was never late in doing so, which goes to show exactly how important a person she is to him. That he visits her as Batman, his true self, rather than Bruce, who he met her as, also says much without any words spoken. It’s a pretty low-key episode, but an important one, because it goes a long way in showing us exactly who Batman really is – a man who helps everyone he can, and who, despite his cold demeanor, feels deeply.

This time around it’s the debut (if you're watching chronologically) of Batman’s most iconic villain: The Joker. And what an episode it is!

Joker’s got a plan to rob the city blind. How does he do it? By filling the streets with laughing gas, so that no one can do anything but laugh as their wallets, purses, and other valuables are taken right off their person. Not to mention it’s easy to break into jewelry shops when the cops are incapacitated.

Batman, of course, comes to the rescue, but he’s actually defeated in the initial fight, where he has difficulty overcoming Joker’s mechanical cronie, Captain Clown. After narrowly escaping drowning, Batman goes another round with Joker’s henchmen before a climactic showdown with the clown himself in a waste processing plant.

The animated series version of The Joker has always been my favorite. This is, in great part, due to Mark Hamill’s amazing performance, though in this episode the Joker voice is still a bit underdeveloped. But it’s also because this version of the character blends the dangerous, sadistic depictions with the goofier, hard-to-take-seriously versions. Joker turns from being a goofy character to a terrifying one on a dime, and it’s that switch that makes him truly terrifying, unlike other, more constantly sadistic interpretations.

A great episode from start to finish, and a wonderful way to introduce this iconic show’s version of an iconic character.

[10/10] A truly spectacular start to this series, perfectly introducing not only the plot, characters and world, but also the general vibe and aesthetic of the show. The dark menacing score by Kevin Manthei, the sharp designs from Jhonen Vasquez, the way the series weaves early-2000s CGI into the traditional animation with more skill than virtually any other media at the time... It's transcendent. This is a show made by talented artisans being given a budget to match their ambition, and it's also a goofy kids show, at the exact same time.

Don't let the sound of the score fool you, this series is one of the primary originators of the 'lol random' humor that was so prevalent in the 2000s. The thing is that no imitations ever managed to do it better. You either love GIR or you're wrong, because he is perfect and is perfectly played by Rosearik Rikki Simons. If you grew up on this thing like I did then you probably have entirely too many of his non-sequiturs stuck in your brain, never to escape. Praise really must be given to all the voice actors in this cartoon, this episode alone featuring standout work from Lucille Bliss, Kevin McDonald, Wally Wingert, and Melissa Fahn, to name a few. But it's Andy Berman as Dib and Richard Horvitz as Zim that truly stand out, which makes sense, given they're our leads. Berman does an excellent job capturing the paranoid neurosis of a child who KNOWS the supernatural is real but is also considered a laughing-stock for espousing this knowledge. His desperation to prove how correct he is by capturing Zim is palpable through Berman's voicework, and he'll only get better from here. Horvitz, on the other hand, truly gets to shine, as this first episode of Zim's self-titled show is appropriately quite focused on him. Horvitz lends the character a self-serious yet clearly unhinged quality, oscillating wildly between low and high pitches, short, sharp shouting and long, drawn out emphasis. It sounds like it might be annoying, and to some audiences it indeed might be. The Tallest would certainly agree with them. But to me, Horvitz's voice is like a song - a harsh, grating song that perfectly captures exactly what this little demon of a character is all about. No one could possibly do it better.

The dark, cynical and always filthy version of Earth that Zim lands on is perfectly represented by the putrid coloration and detailed backgrounds that seem intent on making every aspect of the environment feel stained or degraded. It is perhaps this choice above all others that highlights Zim's alien nature, as the pristine bright greens, pinks and purples of himself and his alien technology truly contrast against the way the world he now inhabits is represented.

Plot-wise, the episode is fairly simple, while also being gloriously convoluted. Why the Tallest don't just vaporize Zim or send HIM to the world of slaughtering rat-people might baffle an initial viewer, but the answer seems to lie within the episode itself. They hate him, but they also take great personal pleasure in mocking him and tricking him into accepting broken robots and questionably-existent assigned planets. Yet the even greater question for a new viewer might be 'why is Dib the only one who notices Zim is a really poorly disguised alien'? Sure, you could answer that with 'because otherwise the plot doesn't work', but I think it's more than that. It all ties back to the cynical world that Vasquez presents Earth as. As will become increasingly obvious as the series continues, everyone on the planet is either legitimately too stupid to notice Zim's alien nature, or they simply do not care. While this depiction may grow a little tiring as the series progresses, for now it is perfectly realized while not going overboard, with the kids in Dib and Zim's class at least very briefly entertaining the idea that their classmate might not be human.

Overall, this is an exceedingly entertaining episode of television, with great animation, great voicework and great music. It's exactly how a strange series like Invader Zim should start, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

This one’s really important, as far as the evolution of Warner Bros cartoons goes. It introduces Daffy Duck (not yet named), and with him, a heretofore unseen type of cartoon character. One that fought back against those trying to hunt him, one that ignored the cartoon’s ‘script’, one that acted in absurd ways just for the heck of it. In other words, it introduced the ‘screwball’ character, an archetype that would prove to be one of Tex Avery’s favorites, and one that needed to exist in order to eventually have the likes of Bugs Bunny around.

There’s some solid gags throughout, but the pacing still isn’t quite there. Some gags, like drunk fish rowing a boat and singing “On Moonlight Bay”, go on for entirely too long. Others, like a duck eating an electric eel, feel pointless. And some are references that have been lost to time, like a reference to old-school comedian Joe Penner.

It’s the gags with the duck that would eventually be called Daffy that shine the most. Switching roles with the dog in the water, helping Porky with his gun, and, most noticeably and importantly, referring to himself as “just a crazy, darn fool duck”, along with what would become his signature ‘whoo-hoo’ hopping around. It was something audiences hadn’t seen before, and it stuck with them, more than anything else in the cartoon.

Later cartoons would do most of what this one did, but better, so it’s not entirely necessary to bother with this one outside of historical interest. But if you want to see Daffy’s true origin point, and the introduction of the ‘screwball’ character type, then this is the cartoon for you.

The last few minutes of this cartoon really make me want to give it four stars, but the sad fact of the matter is Pluto takes up a large part of this short’s runtime with largely boring antics.

Mickey, Donald and Pluto are going climbing this time around, for edelweiss flowers and eagle eggs, apparently. Why they brought Pluto is a bit of mystery, as he seems to only exist as dead weight (in both a literal sense, to Mickey and Donald, and a metaphorical sense, to this cartoon). Donald goes for the flowers and gets entangled with a baby goat, Mickey tries to take some eagle eggs and gets attacked by an eagle mother, and Pluto pretty much reacts to things and gets drunk.

Donald, for neither the first nor last time, is the true star of this one. His scenes shine, whether he’s trying to hit a baby goat with an ice stalactite, headbutting an angry adult goat, or charging a flying mama eagle, he’s a joy every time. The finale of the short, when Donald tries to rescue Mickey from the attacking birds, is a high-intensity ride from start to finish, and it, coupled with Donald’s scenes, make me recommend the short, overall, despite the lackluster Pluto bits.

Another Porky Pig cartoon by Frank Tashlin, and it’s a significant step up from the last. There’s a lot of good gags in here, even if the pacing is a bit off and there’s a significant amount of racism to deal with.

Porky is part of the French Foreign Legion this time around, but unfortunately for him, he’s just a camel scrubber. There’s good gags throughout, many of them based around the Commandant, and his fun character design. Porky also displays much more of a personality in this one than in the last Tashlin cartoon.

The two things that drag the cartoon down a bit, though, are pacing and racism. There’s several shots that go on way too long, especially in the beginning, stretching the short out more than was necessary. And then, of course, there’s the racism, which is expected given this is a 30′s cartoon set somewhere in the middle east. The depiction of Ali Mode is not great, from his appearance to the gibberish that he mostly speaks in.

The end of the cartoon is paced dramatically faster than the rest of the short, with quick cuts back and forth to fast gags. It’s got a great energy, and is honestly the main reason to give this cartoon a look, if you can deal with the abhorrent racism.

It’s time for another Mickey, Donald and Goofy cartoon, and it’s a fun one, the only problem is they forgot about Mickey! With rent that’s six months overdue, Sheriff Pete is selling Mickey and Donald’s house and everything in it. Goofy, the friendly neighborhood ice delivery man drops by, and the mouse and duck recruit him in their scheme to take all their stuff and run for it. It goes poorly.

The cartoon starts off strong, with some great animation on Pete, and an amazing sight gag of him nailing things to the wall. Goofy drops by, and then there are three main segments of the cartoon that follows.

One, we’ve got Goofy and the piano. Try as he might, Goofy can’t seem to get the piano to stay in his truck - it keeps rolling back into the house. This escalates to the point of perfect absurdity, and though it goes on a bit long, it had me laughing, so no complaints.

Next is the Donald segment, which isn’t nearly as strong. It’s “stuck” humor, something Disney uses liberally in most Pluto and some Donald cartoons eventually, and generally it’s not my thing. It’s a bunch of Donald flailing and being angry, and some of it’s pretty good, but it’s very one-note.

And then, finally, Pete re-enters the house, and we have the grand finale. You might notice that, after the first paragraph, I didn't mention Mickey once, and that about sums up his presence in this one. He’s there in the beginning and end, and gets one very short moment with the suitcase, but otherwise he’s off camera the whole time. For that reason in particular, this isn’t one of the better ‘trio’ cartoons, but, fortunately, it’s still a good short overall.

After “The Blow Out”, Porky became Warner Bros’ new big cartoon star, and so the pig starred in a huge amount of cartoons throughout the rest of the 1930s and into the early 1940s. This was one of the earlier ones. This Frank Tashlin cartoon suffers strongly from an identity crisis. It can’t decide if it wants to be a cutesy farm short, an action adventure, or an absurdist comedy. So it tries to be all three, succeeding most at the comedic bit towards the end.

The first three and a half minutes of this short are excruciatingly boring. Then we’re introduced to the fact that chicken hawks have been nabbing a bunch of Porky’s chickens (who are framed more as his friends than his livestock). Soon thereafter, a chick is nabbed, and it’s Porky to the rescue. The short really takes a turn towards the absurd when the hawks start acting as though they’re aerial football players, huddling up and tossing the baby chick to each other. The rooster even narrates as though it’s a football game!

A very uneven short, but with some surprising comedic gems toward the end. Looney Tunes is slowly but surely turning into the sort of series we remember it as.

This cartoon introduces a new character with a lot of potential that is immediately squandered. Mortimer Mouse is apparently Minnie’s ex, since he refers to her as “his old sweetie”, and the two seem to still be on good terms.

Minnie's characterization is terrible, at first oblivious and then apathetic toward Mickey’s feelings, and Mickey doesn’t come across any better, instantly jealous for no good reason and then, once he’s given a real reason to hate Mortimer, just a sullen grumbling jerk for the majority of the cartoon. Mortimer, at least, is an interesting foil to the normally pleasant Mouse, a cocky bully whose nature would have been better highlighted if Mickey hadn’t immediately been scowling at him.

But there are far bigger letdowns in this cartoon than bad characterization. There’s some racism, when Mortimer dons a terrible Mexican accent and antagonizes a bull on the other side of an open fence. Then he runs away, disappearing permanently about halfway through the short. The remainder of the cartoon is then mostly focused on running away from a bull. It’s an utter waste of a new character, as though the creators had a great idea but then realized halfway through that they had no idea how to actually capitalize on it.

But the most egregious thing, for me, is the cars. For some reason, Mickey and Mortimer’s cars have faces and can do things of their own accord. Mortimer’s car barely does anything, but Mickey’s car gets entirely too much screentime.

This is just a really sub-par cartoon, unfortunately, filled with bad characterization, half-baked ideas, and annoyingly expressive cars. It also killed the character of Mortimer immediately; he never appeared in another classic Disney cartoon, or in anything else for that matter, until the 2000s, when shows like House of Mouse revived him.

Porky’s back, and so is Tex Avery - and this time, Beans isn’t around to weigh down the proceedings. This is, in fact, the first time Porky Pig’s been allowed to feature in a cartoon by himself, and the quality of the cartoon makes it unsurprising that after it Porky quickly became Warner Bros’ biggest cartoon star for several years. It’s a great plot, featuring an evil bomb enthusiast, and a kid version of Porky who just wants to get a few more pennies so he can have a soda. When Porky figures out he can get a penny from people by picking up things they dropped and returning them, he starts going around the town, rushing to help everyone. Of course, when the bomb enthusiast drops a clock bomb in front of a building, he emphatically does not want it back, but that doesn’t stop Porky from trying again and again and again. Eventually, the bomber gets caught while trying to escape his own bomb, and Porky is rewarded with $2000 - and of course the lovable pig knows exactly how he wants to spend it. A quality cartoon, and the start of Porky’s illustrious solo career that would lead Looney Tunes toward becoming the amazing series we know it as today.

This is, essentially, the first Donald Duck cartoon. By which I mean, it has the classic formula of most 40s Donald cartoons - Donald succumbs to anger and pettiness while dealing with an irritating force. The force this time is the orphans, who we first saw in the classic “Orphans’ Benefit”. They’re basically tiny Mickey clones, but way more mischievous - in fact, in this short they basically serve as proto-nephews (Huey, Duey and Louie) - little kid antagonists - even going so far as to call him “Uncle Donald.” Another reason this is basically a Donald cartoon is that Mickey has a small amount of screentime in the first third or so of the cartoon, and then he disappears completely from it. Make no mistake, this cartoon is about Donald. There is, unfortunately, a gross Native American bit, where the orphans put feathers on their heads and do the stereotypical ‘war cry’ thing. At the end, there’s also this bit where a bee is inside Donald, and it batters around inside, including in his limbs, which I find severely unpleasant. Overall, it’s an okay cartoon, but it’s basically a prototype of much better cartoons that will come later, and that coupled with the racism doesn’t give it much to encourage me to recommend it.