"Torch Song" is the twelfth episode of The New Batman Adventures, which originally aired on June 13, 1998. A ex-pyrotechnics expert seeks revenge on his former girlfriend, pop star Cassidy, and Batman must stop him from burning the city.
Plot
Bruce Wayne and his date, Shannon, go to a concert and sees Barbara Gordon there, with both surprised to see each other. Before the show, the star, Cassidy, has an angry confrontation with her show's pyrotechnics expert, Garfield Lynns. Apparently, the two dated briefly before Cassidy broke it off, but Lynns refuses to accept this. In anger, Cassidy orders him fired before going out on stage.
As the show starts, an enraged Lynns overloads the stage pyrotechnics, creating a rising wall of fire around Cassidy that drives the band away and traps her. Bruce tries to intervene but suddenly Batgirl appears to rescue Cassidy from the fire.
Afterward, Harvey Bullock and the police storm Lynns' apartment with a warrant for his arrest. Lynns is gone, but they get a look at his apartment, a virtual shrine to Cassidy, lit candles and all.
At Cassidy's apartment, she is talking with her agent, Frank, and receives a letter that burns up in her hands. Unnerved, she makes an appearance at Rock City with other musicians, but Lynns appears, now dressed in a fireproof battlesuit and calling himself "Firefly", and shoots firebombs.
While on patrol, Batgirl remarks to Batman that it's been a quiet evening until they see people fleeing the Rock City building. Batman & Batgirl appear and save Cassidy, but Firefly manages to escape.
Cassidy asks for Batman's protection.
Batman shows up at Cassidy's apartment to find out why Firefly is after her. She fills him in on their past relationship and asks Batman to be her personal bodyguard, but he vanishes, to her dismay.
Batman & Batgirl investigate Lynns' hideout and discover an arsenal of pyrotechnic weapons. While looking through them, Batgirl pulls a lever that triggers a booby trap, igniting a firebomb that starts to consume the entire building.
At the studio, Cassidy is rehearsing when smoke starts to fill the room. Coughing, Cassidy is led out by a man she thinks is her agent, but realizes too late is Firefly.
Unable to contain the fire, Batman & Batgirl escape out a window, but Batgirl is injured by falling debris.
At the Batcave, Alfred tends to Batgirl's wounds while the news reports Cassidy's abduction. The police have no idea where to find her, but Batman picked up a matchbook at the hideout with the name of a paint company on it. As he prepares to leave, Alfred suggests wearing something "more durable".
At the Mephisto Paint Company's manufacturing plant, Cassidy is tied up while Firefly works with the equipment. Cassidy tries to reason with him, but he says it's too late for that. He shows her an incendiary gel he's invented that can burn through any substance—to demonstrate, he sets a small amount of the gel alight, and she watches in horror as it burns through a block of ice, then down through the floor.
Firefly has made enough of the gel to pour down the sewers, covering the entire city. Then he will ignite the gel and the entire city will burn—in Lynns's twisted mind, the perfect cover for him and Cassidy to disappear together.
Batman fights Firefly in his Fireproof Batsuit.
But before he can release the gel, Batman appears, wearing a heat-resistant suit of armor that is able to withstand Firefly's fireballs. The two fight and Firefly gain the upper hand long enough to empty the gel into the sewers. Firefly then unsheathes a flaming sword and attacks Batman. The two fight again, and the sword goes flying into the gel, igniting it before it can spread across the city. As the plant starts to burn, Firefly escapes, while Batman frees Cassidy and gets her outside. The building explodes, and Firefly staggers outside, only to collapse from exhaustion.
Cassidy has dinner in a restaurant with her agent, who tells her that Firefly's kidnapping and mayhem have done wonders for her publicity, and they should capitalize on it right away. While he starts describing his new ideas for a fire-themed tour, a flambe dessert is ignited at their table, and Cassidy recoils. Her agent asks what's wrong, not seeming to notice her staring in terror at the flames.
Background information
Home video releases
- Batman: The Animated Series, Volume Four (DVD)
- Batman: The Complete Animated Series (DVD)
- Batman: The Complete Animated Series (Blu-ray)
Production notes
- Firefly was one of the few major Batman villains not to be introduced in Batman: The Animated Series. The producers had intended to use Firefly in an episode of the original series, but Fox wouldn't allow it due to his pyromaniac nature. When the time had come for The New Batman Adventures to air on Kids' WB, the rules were less strict, allowing Firefly to be introduced.
Trivia
- Rich Fogel initially had planned on Cassidy being a genuine talent, but Bruce Timm decided to make her a bad singer after he became annoyed with a Britney Spears song on the radio.[1]
- Noting Cassidy's display of trauma at the end of the episode, Fogel stated that he wanted to springboard off of that to make her the second Firefly. An idea that ultimately didn't come to fruition due to the show's short production order.[1]
- The heat-resistant suit worn by Batman looks to be a mix of the Batman Beyond suit and the Bat Armor he developed, shown in Batman Beyond's "Disappearing Inque".
- Batgirl makes reference to the kids' WB television show Pinky and the Brain when talking to Bruce on the phone.
- Frank's "Fan mail from some flounder?" is a quote from the classic 1960's animated series Rocky and Bullwinkle.
- Two of the names that Cassidy's agent suggests for her new tour are "Heatwave" and "Firestorm", two fire-based DC characters.
- The smoke gun Batman uses at one point is similar to Mr. Freeze's cold gun he used in the original series.
- Karla DeVito, who voices Cassidy, is a singer in real life, as is Jane Wiedlin, who voices Bruce's rocker date, Shannon. DeVito is also married to Robbie Benson, who voiced Officer Wilkes in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "P.O.V.."
Cast
Uncredited appearances
Quotes
Frank: Lynns! Are you crazy?! |
Batgirl: (while saving Cassidy) Hi, I'm a big fan. |
Harvey Bullock: (seeing Lynns' shrine to Cassidy) Whoo, this guy's got it bad! Vincenzo, get some pictures. I'm gonna check the fridge. |
Batman: What are you doing tonight? |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Aquaman, Creeper, and...a LADY FIREFLY? Oh My! (Writer Rich Fogel)" interview (May 23, 2021)