"The Laughing Fish" is the thirty-third episode of the first season Batman: The Animated Series. It originally aired on Fox Kids in the United States on January 10, 1993.
Synopsis[]
The catch of the night comes in and the fishermen take a look. They are horrified and disgusted to see that every fish is white with green fins, and has a huge Joker smile. Batman watches from afar and mutters, "He's made his move".
While Batman returns to the Batcave and analyzes a Joker Fish, the Joker goes to the Gotham Office of Copyrights. He heads up to a random worker, Mr. G. Carl Francis, and starts to talk business. However, he warns Francis not to speak and hits him with a fish to drive home his point. This prompts Harley to spray him with a "perfume" to rid him of the fish smell. Joker explains his plan: since all the fish in Gotham Harbor now bear his likeness, he is entitled to royalties. Bewildered, Francis tells him that fish are a natural resource and cannot be copyrighted. An angered Joker gives Francis until midnight to change his mind.
Back in the Batcave, Batman learns that the toxin only affects fish. Just then, a commercial for the Joker fish comes on and Joker repeats his threat against Francis.
The police set up guards around Francis in his house, and Bullock is confident that the house is secure. However, Batman slips in easily and says the Joker will too. Outside, a Joker van with a swordfish on top drives up.
Batman asks Francis if he's alright, and he says it's just that he didn't rinse off the "gunk" Harley sprayed him with. Batman immediately shouts at Commissioner Gordon to call an ambulance, but just then, the van launches its swordfish, rocket-propelled, through the window and into the room. It sprays a gas, and when Francis breathes it, he begins laughing hysterically and a Joker grin appears on his face. Fortunately, Batman is able to inject him with an anti-toxin. He explains that the gas that Francis just breathed was one part of a binary compound, and the "perfume" that Harley sprayed on him earlier was the other part.
Joker then appears on the television and announces the name of his next target, copyright office bureaucrat Thomas Jackson, unless his demands are met by 3 A.M.
Again, the police and Batman try to protect Mr. Jackson. However, the Joker sends Jackson's cat into the room, infected by a Joker fish. The cat attacks and scratches Batman, poisoning him with the same venom. Batman begins laughing hysterically until Jackson injects him with the antidote and removes his mask, revealing the real Jackson underneath, Batman having masqueraded as Jackson to no success, and administers the antidote to the cat as well.
Both Francis and Jackson have survived the Joker's attack on them, but Bullock is tired of waiting for the next attack and takes matters into his own hands. After he storms out, Batman notices that the Joker fish the cat was carrying is an exotic Japanese species, not native to Gotham's waters.
Bullock enters a closed harbor aquarium, but Harley finds him and takes him captive. The Joker then starts to lower Bullock into a tank with an enormous shark but realizes that Batman will arrive soon and that he's the one Joker really wants.
Batman arrives and persuades Joker to allow him to switch places with Bullock. The Joker eagerly agrees and drops him in the pool, then shoves a lump of hamburger into Bullock's hands and pushes him in after Batman. The shark is instantly attracted to the blood from the hamburger. Batman manages to straddle the shark and use his wrist shackles as a crude bridle. He steers the shark into the side of the tank, which breaks the glass, spilling himself and Bullock onto the aquarium floor, and the shark into the bay outside.
Batman then heads to the roof to face Joker. He attacks Batman with a wrench but is ultimately outdone, and Joker is left with no place to run. Facing arrest yet again, he jumps off the roof towards the harbor below. On the way down, he blows up a rubber ducky life preserver but realizes too late that the shark is circling the water below him. He plunges into the ocean, and the shark dives in, seemingly devouring him.
Gordon then arrives to round up a sobbing Harley (who drops a Joker playing card into the sea in sadness) and the remaining goons. He asks Batman if he believes the Joker is gone for good. Batman looks out to the sea and bluntly responds that as much as he wishes it were true, he doubts it deep inside. The shark does indeed dive in and out of the water (devouring the Joker card previously dropped by Harley), but there is no trace of the Joker, dead or alive.
Cast[]
- Kevin Conroy as Batman
- Bob Hastings as Commissioner Gordon
- Robert Costanzo as Rocco
- Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred
- George Dzundza as G. Carl Francis
- Mark Hamill as The Joker
- Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn
Trivia[]
- The episode is based on the comics stories "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge" (Batman #251, September 1973) by Dennis O'Neil, and "The Laughing Fish" and "Sign of the Joker!" (Detective Comics #475 and #476, February/March 1978), by Steve Englehart.
- It is also reminiscent of the Joker's first-ever caper in the comics: after he announced that he planned to kill a millionaire and steal a priceless diamond from the man's house, the police set up a protective ring around the millionaire, only to be baffled as the man dropped dead right in front of them. Batman discovered that Joker had broken in the night before, injected the sleeping millionaire with a slow-acting version of his Joker toxin, and stolen the diamond, replacing it with a fake.
- This is one of four episodes with no title card, the others being "Heart of Ice", "The Demon's Quest: Part I" and "The Demon's Quest: Part II".
- Joker's mention of "Colonel What's-his-name" is a reference to Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
- The Joker takes a wrench from a toolbox labeled "Binford Tools". A reference to the fictional tool company of Home Improvement. Although the label was partially obscured off the side of the screen, it was clear enough what it read out to be.
- The first ever episode in the DCAU where the Joker is apparently killed but later returns alive and unharmed, other examples being Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, World's Finest, Mad Love, Wild Cards and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
Gallery[]
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External links[]
- "The Laughing Fish" at Batman: The Animated Series Wiki
- "The Laughing Fish" at DC Animated Universe Wiki
- "The Laughing Fish" at IMDb