"Terror in the Sky" is the thirty-seventh episode of Batman: The Animated Series. It originally aired on November 12, 1992.
Plot
The "Man-Bat" happily chomps down on its meal.
On a dark winter night in Gotham, a couple dockworkers are suddenly assaulted by a giant bat creature that is very interested in the fruit that they are loading. After gorging itself on some choice pieces, it takes off into the skies and returns home.
Dr. Kirk Langstrom awakens in a panic, disturbed by his nightmares. His wife, Francine, asks him what is wrong but he says it's nothing. However, when he heads for the window, he finds the remains of some of the fruit the Man-Bat had eaten along with some rather large claw marks on the carpet.
The dockworkers explain the attack to some rather skeptical police, but Batman is listening in, and knows exactly what they are talking about. He heads out to confront Dr. Langstrom.
That morning, Francine finds the torn up rug in the garbage and realizes what's going on. She goes to ask her father, Dr. March, about Kirk, and he tells her that Kirk has been in the lab since morning. Francine confronts Kirk, who is working on a formula that he claims is a cure. Batman arrives, and Kirk continues to deny that he's deliberately turning into the Man-Bat, blaming Batman for failing to properly cure him. Unable to take the stress, Francine runs from the room while Batman takes a DNA sample from Kirk to confirm if he's telling the truth.
Outside, Batman is attacked by the Man-Bat. This creature has a distinctive advantage over Batman, and he is forced to flee on the Batcycle. In the subway, Batman eventually manages to snag the Man-Bat with his grapple, but it's too strong and the Batcycle is destroyed by a train. Fortunately, he has managed to get a hair sample, which is all he needs to run his tests.
Francine starts to transform.
Meanwhile, Francine has left Kirk, who is desperately making calls to the airport. Batman arrives and tells him that his tests have proven that Kirk was in fact cured, and that this is a new Man-Bat. Kirk tries to figure out who it is, but Batman tells him to focus on getting Francine back.
Batman goes to March's lab and checks his files. March catches him and threatens to use a tranquilizer on him. March admits that he's the one who made the new bat serum and he still believes that only a bat creature can survive the evolutionary cataclysm. Batman disarms him and demands some answers. March explains that he worked through the night to refine the formula to make it even stronger, but Francine walked in on him and in his surprise, he dropped the formula on the floor. Suddenly, March becomes horrified when he remembers that Francine, blissfully ignorant of his experiments, tried to help him clean up the mess, but a shard of glass got caught in her skin and she was injected with the serum. Batman angrily asks Dr. March what it will take for him to end the madness and leaves. Realizing that things have gone too far and what his work have led to, March destroys his files.
"The nightmare's finally over".
During the flight, Francine complains to the stewardess that she's not feeling well. Unbeknownst to her, Kirk is on the plane and asks her to come home, claiming that it can be proved that he's not the Man-Bat. Francine agrees, but she's struck by another attack and runs into the bathroom where she transforms. Unhappy with the confinement, she breaks through the plane door causing the cabin to depressurize. Kirk is sucked out of the cabin and Francine dives after him. Batman, aboard the Batwing, cannot yet interfere as a stewardess is also sucked from the plane and he has to save her. Once the stewardess is safely aboard the plane and it has been properly closed, Batman goes after Francine.
Francine, who is carrying her unconscious husband, is unhappy to see Batman following her. She flies to the top of the Gotham Bridge Tower where Batman confronts her and shoots her with the antidote, but it doesn't work. Francine attacks him and in the fight Batman is nearly forced off the tower, but manages to climb back on and shoots Francine with another dosage of the serum. This second injection also seems to be ineffective, but at last it takes effect and Francine returns to her normal self. Disoriented, she almost falls from the tower, but Kirk manages to save her, vowing not to let her go.
Continuity
- This episode continues the events first described in "On Leather Wings".
- Dr. Milo mentions having Dr. Langstrom's notes in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Doomsday Sanction". This indicates that while Dr. March's notes were destroyed, Langstrom's were not.
Background information
Home video releases
- Batman: The Animated Series, Volume Two (DVD)
- Batman: The Complete Animated Series (DVD)
- Batman: The Complete Animated Series (Blu-ray)
Production inconsistencies
- The means by which Francine is supposedly injected with the formula is extremely unlikely for several reasons:
- Glass is normally used in chemical experiments because it isn't very porous, so that resident chemicals don't remain within it; the amount of formula attached to the shard of glass that Francine pricks her finger on would be almost non-existent;
- Blood flows outward from a cut, so the formula could not enter her bloodstream without some external force pushing in (such as a hypodermic needle); even if Francine ingested a small amount of the serum while sucking on her finger, the amount would, again, be miniscule;
- The crates holding the fruit that the She-Bat went after were marked "goes" which indicates they were mangoes. Mangoes have a large seed within them. These fruits, however, splattered without a single seed to be found.
Trivia
- This episode is based on Detective Comics #429, "Man-Bat Over Vegas", and the last line is a direct reference to one of last lines in the story, "Now Francine's vampire nightmare is about over!".
- In Bat-form, Francine demonstrates several new attributes that indicate the increased potency of March's new serum, including echolocation and, unlike Kirk, no memory of having transformed.
- Dr. March's voice has changed since his appearance in "On Leather Wings". He now has more of an accent.
- The She-bat's interest in the fruit indicates that the bat DNA used in Dr. March's serum is from a fruit bat, unlike the serum used by Dr. Cuvier on Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond's "Splicers", which was from a vampire bat.
- In-universe, "Terror in the Sky" was also the title of an episode of The Gray Ghost.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Kevin Conroy | Batman |
| Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. | Alfred |
| Rene Auberjonois | Dr. March Dockworker (uncredited) |
| Meredith MacRae | Francine/She-Bat |
| Pat Musick | Flight Attendant |
| Peter Renaday | 2nd Longshoreman |
| Marc Singer | Dr. Langstrom |
Quotes
Batman: (Seeing a train heading for him) The end of a perfect day. |
Kirk: Don't you get it yet, Batman? You failed! |
March: Oh, oh, my lord! Francine! The mutagen, it's in her bloodstream now! Oh no! |
Kirk: The nightmare's finally over. |
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