Batman The Animated Series Legitimised The Mad Hatter
Vložit
- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- In this video essay I look at how the writers of Batman the Animated Series took a ridiculous character like The Mad Hatter and made him a relatable menace.
The image of the Mad Hatter at the end of the video was by @Dorinah_draws on twitter. Go check out their stuff!
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:57 Comic Book History
3:48 BTAS' Mad Hatter
7:43 Summary
#btas #batmantheanimatedseries #madhatter - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Batman fans should also check out the Batman movie novelisation audio book, narrated by Roddy McDowall, the voice of the Mad Hatter:
czcams.com/video/S_hraZJuGFc/video.html
😅
@@DamGre I was also going to mention Roddy McDowall . he did a great job as the mad hatter . he was a great talent.
He also played the villain Bookworm in the 60's TV series.
@@wallygator92 that’s right! wonder how many people can say they were in the animated series and the series in the 60s
@underdog1117 Adam West voiced the Gray Ghost and Malachi Throne, who also played the villain Fasle Face in the 60s show, also voiced Two Face's superego the Judge on in the New Batman Adventures.
The one Batman villain I feel I truly identify with - not because he's lonely and socially awkward, but also because (like so many of us) he draws from his favorite character to give himself confidence.
Mr. Freeze was made to be sympathetic here too.
Despite my profile picture and username the Batman villain I identify with most is Scarecrow because I was bullied as a kid for how much of a coward I was (among other things) but now that I'm older I use fear as a tool to gain a sense of control and power. However I choose to do it in a safe and controlled environment at the Halloween attraction I work at.
This is a creepy ass comment.
@@wellesradioAs is the one by Acethe clown. These are serious red flags. It is ok to feel lonely, bullied, outlasted, etc. but HEALTHY outlets are important to persue. Sympathizing with villains, adapting fictuonal alternate personas to escape themselves and enacting bully techniques to gain false senses of power and control (no matter the setting) is going to lead down a self destructive slippery slope. I hope both users get some genuine professional help to better process their complex feelings and issues.
@@buddyzilla4557Identification with villains is a fairly common feeling for the shunned and marginalized. Just look at how many Disney villains are queer icons.
Another thing that makes Mad Hatter so unique in this show is that he’s never after revenge. They could’ve easily made the first episode about his revenge on his condescending boss and Alice’s boyfriend. But instead those two characters are small inconveniences that he has to deal with in Jervis’s true plan. We this again in the perchance to dream episode, where instead of killing, torturing, or exposing Batman like any other villain in this show would, he gives him his perfect life. When asked why he says, “I was willing to give you the life you always wanted, just to keep you out of mine!” It just shows that no matter how depraved and evil he becomes, at his core, he’s still just a deluded child that wants to be happy.
For some reason that reminds me of Todd alquist from breaking bad
And his idea of revenge was quite literally giving Batman everything he ever wanted just so he could leave him alone
It’s even better in the Gotham adventures, where he traps Batman in a dream world…
In a twisted act of kindness and mercy, despite all his losses at Batman’s hands he always noticed that Batman always seemed more miserable than he was. So he arranged a hostage situation, so he could place the helmet on Batman and give him a small chance at happiness.
@@AM_61102Do you have any idea what some people would do for that ?
Its the actions that make a person a villain.
Not their desiresor intrntions.
I found it funny that Dr Cates saying "heads could roll if you slip up again" apparently made Jervis decide "I'll make her act like the Queen of Hearts then."
A nice bit of foreshadowing!
Off with his head
Look when you commit to a gimmick you got to get good at spotting stuff like this or else you end up looking like you are just not putting in the work, probably why Joker hedges his best and mixes mobster themes with his clown gimmick, makes it easier to hire mooks if you don't have to pay for costuming,
@@thanotosomegaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, that made me legitimately laugh out loud, so I thought you deserved more props than just a Like.
@@thanotosomega you reminded me of the speech from Mystery Men. "Your power is that you have guns? Come on, there's no consistency at all! [Since they're disco-themed] If you're going to fight with a chain, at least make it a gold chain!"
The Hatter from the Arkham games is a darker version of this one. In Origins when he's trying to get his mind control tech working he tells his brainwashed henchmen "No one ever wanted to hear what Jervis had to say. He might as well have been invisible" suggesting that like the BTAS Hatter he had no friends, He kidnaps young blonde girls, forces them to play along with his fantasy including dressing them as Alice and a creepy tea party and kills them if they don't.
Yes, they got that idea from Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth and the second Halloween Special - both of which make very strong hints that he is a paedophile, much in the same way that Through The Looking Glass author Lewis Carroll is thought to have had a sexual interest in children 🤢
The animated series couldn’t be so overt, which is likely why they made their Alice a child-like adult.
Speaking of the Arkham games, Peter MacNicol does an excellent job voicing The Mad Hatter in the Arkham Games. I particularly like the “special tea” scene from Arkham City.
@Serum Lake I hate it when the writers portray Tech as a child molester. TAS version of Tech was a little creepy but sympathetic and misguided. I wish this version was adapted for the mainstream comics, just like the TAS version of Freeze
Got DAYUM.
@@SerumLakeme when I spread misinformation:
Just kills them if they don’t play along? No no no, he rapes and THEN kills them if they don’t play along(he’s a pedophile, right? I’m sure he rapes them too).
Hatter always had this weird scary vibe to me, and looking back, i think it's because he's scarily real. As a girl, you see so many stories about men not accepting no for an answer and getting violent, which is pretty much exactly what Hatter does. He's kinda terrifyingly realistic. Like a living horror story for women.
He has a heart, it's not a crime to feel love. He genuinely cared about her. He could have actually been really good to her. He even didn't use his cards until the very end because he truly liked the person she was.
I think what makes him so scary, is he's not outwardly monstrous. It's not obvious that he's a predator or a groomer. He genuinely comes off as nice, he's soft-spoken, he's friendly, he's fairly likable and charming, and he does genuinely have feelings for her. He doesn't immediately escalate to violence either; he slowly and steadily escalates, using as little manipulation as necessary but having no qualms about escalating to abusive, violent behavior, to get what he feels entitled to. Someone would easily drop their guard around this guy, and feel safe around him, and not realize just how dangerous of a person he actually is until it's too late. Watching his first episode as a guy? I went from rooting for him like he was some kind of underdog, to being truly skeeved out by him.
@@senister14 It’s shown that his feelings for her and actually liking her come secondary to his own personal gratification and sense of entitlement. In the end he strips her of her free will because she didn’t have the same feelings for him. If he didn’t love her in such a twisted way he would be able to respect her wishes and eventually be able to move on and maybe even find someone who does reciprocate his feelings.
@mr.j3rs3y well yes but that's everyone, the only person perspective you can truly get is your own. Well she never gave him a chance because her boyfriend came back in the picture and he didn't want to lose her or see her hurt. Yes but these weren't good wishes. The heart doesn't give up so easily. To be honest I really don't think he's that bad of a guy after studying the dream ep, or at least one of the least bad villians in the rogues gallery.
@@senister14 I think ignoring someone denying consent in favour of self serving interests is pretty bad, actually. No one's obligated to date anyone just because of fee-fees man, that's pretty manipulative.
I love how you kept his line in Trial there. Things to take away is that he blames Batman for his actions, and that he would have killed Alice before just letting her be. It’s a nice reminder that thinking of him as some poor unfortunate victim of circumstance is kind of false. I heard that the BTAS team based him on a postal worker who shot up his office.
Something I noticed is that the suicide references specifically involve falling to death. This might actually be a subtle (and very morbid) reference to Alice falling into wonderland, which is very fitting for a character who's obsessed with wonderland.
Oh My god....OH MY GOD
It's also really the only way you can reference suicide in a show with a younger audience. Which of course is core to BTAS' brilliance in knowing exactly how to walk that line.
It's worth noting that the Hatter's tech was instrumental to Joker's torture of Tim Drake and destruction of the Batfamily in the flashbacks in Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker. He and Project Cadmus were experimenting with it before that in the Justice League episode Wild Cards.
'Perchance to Dream' also paraphrases a line from Shakespeare's 'Tempest' - "Stuff dreams are made of" - and Roddy McDowell, the voice of the Hatter, played an excellent Ariel when he was younger in a televised version of The Tempest.
That's what I loved about Roddy McDowell - whether he was doing Shakespeare, historic drama, Planet of the Apes or cartoons, he always seemed to be having the time of his life.
Funnily enough, I cut a segment out of this video briefly talking about Roddy McDowall. I used a clip from the audio book of the Batman movie novelisation that he narrated. It didn’t really fit in very well with the rest of the video, but I used those exact words, having the time of his life, to describe his performances.
And of course the novella of Tim Burton’s Batman film
The best acting advice I ever received was from my middle school drama club teacher. He told us that there will always be at least one person in the audience that enjoys the performance so you have to give it your all no matter what. Seems like Roddy McDowall heard a similar piece of advice.
Guy sure came a long way since "How Green Was My Valley".
Fun fact: If you know the musical themes of the characters, the mystery of "Perchance to Dream" is revealed at the title card.
Yeah that was a biiiiiig giveaway, and about the only musical misstep I can think of in the entire show.
The title card of Killer crocs debut shows his face when hes the big mystery.
I truly love this video; you did a great job analyzing Jervis Tetch, but I am surprised you did not mention one scene. Jervis talked with his rats alone and admitted that he intelligently knew his feelings for Alice were wrong because she had a boyfriend. It was better to withdraw like a gentleman and turn his heart to other pursuits. He angrily said never and considered using his technology to brainwash her, but then he realized that would reduce her to a soulless shell; he did not know what to do until he heard that Alice had broken up with her boyfriend. This scene says a lot about Jervis and his character. At the time, Jervis knew his obsession was wrong but was unwilling to give it up; at the same time, he was unwilling to force her to be with him, but once he saw an opportunity to be with her, he took it. When Alice accepted marrying her boyfriend, Jervis lost whatever standers he had and brainwashed Alice to be with him reducing her to a soulless shell.
Yeah, I did gloss over that scene. I think I summed it up in a single sentence, but you’re right that it was a significant scene
@@SerumLakeIf I was Jervis, I’d accept she wouldn’t love me as a lover, because her happiness is more important. She was upset that something didn’t go well with her boyfriend, so the least you could do was comfort her when she’s upset; try to think positive. Had he done that and nothing else, he wouldn’t have gone down this dark path.
@@robbiewalker2831
Dini: With the Hatter, I made somebody who is technologically brilliant, but who lives in this dream world and was probably ridiculed as a kid; everybody used to call him names because he looked geeky and looked like the Mad Hatter. He actually had a poster of the Mad Hatter up. He liked Alice in Wonderland. When he came up with a way of controlling people, suddenly, they were able to do his will, and he loved it, and he was able to bring his fantasies of Wonderland and living happily ever after to life. But the main reason he did it was he was in love with somebody, and he didn't want to use that power to control her because he knew that he'd lose her, but ultimately, he had to. That drove him over the edge and drove him crazy, so there's an element of sorrow to that character-unrequited love taken to the nth degree.
I’m sorry I had this great paragraph about you being right about the Mad Hatter having a choice and being a villain but it was lost. For some reason only the thoughts on the character by the writer of the show got through.
Man, that's literally what happened to me in the university. Except, of course, I didn't brainwash or kidnap anyone.
Another thing I just realized, thinking about Perchance to Dream. It works great to illustrate the difference in approach to life between Batman and Hatter.
Hatter is confused as to why Batman breaks out of the dream machine. It's not just that he's confused about how he got out, he doesn't get *why* Batman would want to. While a fake reality where everything is happy is an acceptable alternative to a real world to Jervis, Batman will not lie to himself just for his own happiness and Jervis cannot wrap his head around that.
I think that this sort of stuff is why BTAS is so much stronger than most cartoons of its time. Most of the episodes are fun and exciting, yes, but they *also* pull double duty as saying a lot about who Batman and his foes are as characters. They aren't just plot devices to be used to excite the audience, they are living, breathing people in a living, breathing world.
But is it an acceptable alternative to Jervis, really? He never considered using his machine on himself. Clearly he much prefers the real world.
You misunderstand, I think. Jervis doesn't put on the machine, but he DOES try and live in a fantasy world; his obsession with Alice and the persona of the Mad Hatter, etc. While not completely out of touch with reality like Maxie Zeus, he takes steps to insulate himself from reality and replace it with convenient, comforting fiction; something we're all guilty of, if not to the extent that Jervis does. @@thecandlemaker1329
@@thecandlemaker1329 Perhaps the only reason he didn't was because he already knew it would be fake. If it had been forced on him by someone else, he very well might have just accepted it.
He may have also had practical concerns about keeping his body alive without anyone turning off the machine with his status as a known felon.
Holy shit, this is somehow the first time I've ever realized the age discrepancy between Jervis and Alice. That makes his first episode so much creepier.
It's not really clear how much of an age gap there is due to the animated medium. Alice is clearly in her 20s so there's no ephebophilia in play. Jervis's age is quite vague. He could be anywhere from his late 20s to his early 40s.
The fact that Mad Hatter had a memory stealing device in the comics just furthers my belief that Jim Carrey played The Mad Hatter in Batman Forever, not The Riddler.
I agree, I always saw Jim Carrey more as the Mad Hatter than the Riddler. I also felt that Danny Devito's Penguin was more like Killer Croc than the actual Penguin from the comics.
And Heath Ledger's Joker was more similar to Anarky than the classic Joker.
Agreed
I feel that the best thing that could happen to Mad Hatter's character as a whole is if he branched out and modelled his crimes off of and around children's literature in general. Mother Goose, Grimm's Fairy Tales, etc.
@@marblejar786
wizard of oz is public domain
What Mcdowell also did was give the hatter class. And, in his absence, that's what a lot of the newer incarnations don't have. Now, most of the time, he's either so disconnected from reality you wonder how he functions from day to day (like the Harley Quinn version) or really, well, sleazy. The McDowell one, no matter what else he was, was a gentlemen, most of the new ones are not.
100% agree, the voice casting is essential. Andrea Romano had a great ear for voices with character.
I really appreciate how your videos on this subject have done so much to explain how this show carefully trimmed down comic canon into the show. Also, you’re right to be creeped out by the villainous and possessive tendency of TAS Tetch...it’s an interesting form of violence that can be impactful to both children and adults
You’ve hit the nail on the head there. It’s an all too common form of real world violence, wrapped up in a science fiction world. I know that the feelings that Jervis expresses are common but he really doesn’t take the rejection well at all. He’s stuck in a juvenile, self-pitying rut.
@@SerumLake I definitely appreciate the maturity of this show more and more over the years. Things like “Mad Love” always make me feel they know how to evoke real life villiany and victim hood, and Batman can only try and help
While he always had a creepy edge, i dont like how they portrayed him in the Ahrkam games where he is either a sexual fetishist at best or a pedophile at worst.
That Gotham TV show changed it so that Alice was his sister.
@@KasumiKenshirouStill, it is very implied that Jervis in the series had incestuous feelings for his sister, apart from the character's history in the comics, where even the lighter versions of him have a "possessive boyfriend" vibe, if I'm not mistaken, Alice said that "he did things that a brother shouldn't do", of course, she could be referring to the crimes he commits, but I don't think they would put so much emphasis on the word "brother".
Roddy McDowall was a true gem.
And to think that BTAS was the THIRD Batman project that he worked on!
It's so weird that the comics responded to the 60s show Hatter by creating a continuity mess. They didn't do that with the Clock King, his TV version just got ignored, so why acknowledge 60s Hatter at all?
If I had to guess I’d say it’s because the show version was so accurate to the comics. If I remember rightly, the 60s version of Clock King rightly he didn’t really look much like the comic version. Or maybe Doug Moench just really hated the hat fetish and wanted to get back to the Alice in Wonderland version?
@@SerumLake Ah, that makes sense. It'd definitely be harder to ignore that earlier comic version like they did for other early takes on villains with the show making it less niche.
And yeah, 60s Clock King is pretty much an unrelated character, same as BTAS Clock King.
@@SerumLake Can’t be any worse than Cranky being the OG DK, yet Modern DK’s real debut on Game Boy was a few months before Donkey Kong Country.
@@robbiewalker2831 Modern DK's relation to Cranky has been retconned. Sometimes modern DK is Donkey Kong Jr., and other times Cranky is said to be DK's grandfather.
Your Mad Hatter was an incel larper, MY mad hatter is a proto-TF2 player. We are not the same.
Everyone’s favorite war-themed hat simulator
What makes this even better is in the comics there is an Alice themed villain, speaking exclusively in Carrol quotes, who'd much rather play with the Bat Family than Jervis. Even his own geek fandom rejected him.
I find it interesting how BTAS takes so many tropes from the old Universal Monster movies - almost every villain (well, except The Joker) is a victim of a circumstance or their own hubris, and was rejected by society as a result, very much like The Phantom of the Opera or Frankenstein’s Monster.
That’s a great observation. I’d say that the original comics were heavily influenced by cinema of the time, and BTAS took that ball and ran with it. They were very clearly inspired by the works of directors like Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, at least visually.
It’s truly amazing that BTAS was able to reimagine old villains who you could say were really stupid like Mad Hatter and Clock King, but also make new villains that are memorable as well like Baby Doll and (of course) Harley Quinn
Well said.
Most of all, Mr. Freeze.
Prophetic? I would say timeless. There is nothing new under the sun.
Given Batman's rich he could've just given him a spare cowl.I also understand the animated one's feelings of loneliness and unrequited love.
@6:52 there's a great subtle detail in this scene where even the Joker looks creeped out by Mad Hatter
You mean the riddle right?
I read an interview by (I think) Paul Dini where he described the inspiration for the Mad Hatter’s premiere episode was a famous case where a man lusted after his coworker but after she rebuffed him, he committed a workplace shooting.
It's not the same I read the story, the difference is Jarvis really liked Alice where the real world was more about a guy who wanted a symbol to prop himself up.
@@senister14 No, I think Jervis didn’t like Alice so much as his image of her. She wasn’t a person to him, just a doll. Yes, Alice was pretty much the only person who was kind to him but his latter appearances (such as “Trial”) make it pretty clear his views of Alice weren’t exactly saintly.
@janeyrevanescence12 No, he did, other wise he would have mind controlled her earlier, but he didn't want a pretty doll. Yes, he was passionate, but he would have never hurt her, even after the first time you never saw him go after her again.
@@senister14he still ended up kind controlling her at the end of the episode and during the episode “Trial” he shouted “I would rather have killed her!” when told that he could’ve respected her wishes and left her alone.
@janeyrevanescence12 yes, at the end after trying everything. Plus he was going to lose her to a boyfriend who hurt her the previous week. Yes but that was after he cracked and became more unhinged. He liked her, the heart wants what the heart wants.
What helps this version especially is having a strong performance by Roddy McDowell
He was great, with such a rich, character-full voice.
Excellent video, I recently watched Batman TAS for the first time and was surprised by how much I liked Mad Hatter's character, the voice acting for me it's stellar and he quickly became one of my favorite villains of the show
Roddy McDowall was an excellent actor, and he did a great job as the Mad Hatter. If you look in the comments of this video I posted a link to the Batman 1989 novelisation audio book that he narrated. I recommend giving it a listen because he gets really animated, particularly when performing The Joker's lines.
@@SerumLake Thank you! That's an instant sub from me!
Enjoy!
It's weird that both times Roddy McDowall was in a Batman show he played book related characters. I wonder if that anything to do with the casting choice for Hatter.
Coincidentally, he also played the March Hare in a 1985 mini-series of Alice in Wonderland.
This is the best version of the character 🎩
Also thanks to Paul Dini, he write almost all his episodes in the animated series and his scenes in the Arkham games
Seconded!
Didn’t he tell the muggers to jump in a river, not realizing what they were planning to do or misinterpreting the command?
That’s certainly a valid interpretation. My understanding was that the original line was Hatter telling them to jump off a bridge, but the censors wouldn’t allow that, so they had to soften it. But, I agree that this is a good example of Hatter not understanding that some of his commands can be taken too literally.
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 - 3 October 1998)
Kind of sad, really, that he died a week after the S: TAS ep "Knight Time", the Mad Hatter's last ever DCAU appearance.
You mean the Mad Hatter planning to turn Batman into a hat in the Adam West version wasn't threatening enough?
He is basically a cosplayer!
Roddy McDowall and Adam West are the only two actors who have performed in both the 1966 Batman and BTAS; in Roddy's case, he performed a villain in both (Bookworm and Mad Hatter). I just think that's neat.
You can add Malachi Throne to the list as well. He was False Face in Batman '66 and The Judge in The New Batman Adventures.
@@SerumLake Oh, sweet, I had no idea there was a third alumni! I've never seen "Season 4", so that explains that. How fitting that the actor who played False Face portrayed a character who was parading around with a metaphorical false face (the third persona of Harvey Dent).
Four, actually. Bob Hastings had a bit role as an Army officer in The Penguin Sets a Trend.
What a great video! You hit the nail on the head about his convoluted comic history. Ignoring the weird Ted Turner parody, the 'real' Hatter hasn't had that one defining story to really make him stand out. Which is a shame, as he's one of the most disturbing villains. Aside from Professor Pyg and Firefly, he's one of the few Batman rogues who seem genuinely disconnected from reality, which makes everything he does so much creepier.
I think that he had a good outing in the second Halloween special, and his appearance in Gotham Central was really good. But, yeah, he hasn’t had a definitive story in the way that some of the other villains have. Maybe if DC do another round of One Bad Day specials Mad Hatter will get his day in the sun.
@@SerumLake He does have a definitive story. It takes place in an issue of Joker Asylum: Mad Hatter (Joker Asylum is a series of stories about the arkham rogues, all narrated by Joker)
Tech was very creepy but also tragic. I strongly recommend it as it is a great mad hatter comic.
There was a good foundation to see how far into antics, depravity, or power they could have taken him, but in a world where Joker and Riddler once had trouble distinguishing themselves apart, and the Penguin is romping about, I guess it's fair another wacky parlor trick hat-wearing guy ended up on the cutting room floor.
Maybe there could have been an angle about the Wonderland spoof and hat collector swapping back and forth in sequence eventually coming to head with each other over royalties.
The red hair was a reference to the books as The Mad Hatter is often depicted with red hair and not simply because "Hey, it looks nice " but due to the dyes used in hat making at the time which contained mercury. Mercury exposure lead to mental instability, hence 'mad as a hatter'.
While keeping him a ginger in BTAS would have done well to reference the book as well as the actor who played him in the West series, looking back weren't a few of the BTAS villains red heads? Ivy, Riddler, wasn't the Scarecrow also a red head? I think they needed him to stick out more.... even though it could be argued that blond was used a lot too and-(error)
And as far as comparing Hatter to an incel, I know I'm going to get bricked for this but the Hatter had one big thing a lot of incels don't; TALENT. The dude was a fucking genius and had technical skills that even removing the villainy would have supported him as well as outside of his obsession with Alice he still took care of himself. Maybe this is just me thinking too much but Hatter's obsession and possession screams more than just a basic idea of an incel. He's a lot more tragic, understandable but when he crosses the line it's a massive 180.
He reminds me of those guys who unironicly have waifus but still somehow have their minds together to be the top in class...but then...that overlaps with incels and- (error)
God damn, it.
And yeah, it is sort of brow raising if he gets pissed at a person his solution is to get them to kill themselves. The other bad guys seem to do it via their own weapons but Hatter's like "I'll use my tools but they'll still do it on their own!" Why is this doof so dark?
Incels have talent, they just never branch outside their interests and what's easy to figure out what they are
That hatter isn't an incel because incels can't have talent or any positive traits is a weird take based purely on stereotypes and also just flat out wrong
He couldn't be an incel because the term didn't exist back then, just saying. Also he couldn't be one because with his cards he could have gotten any woman he wanted so that's not true either. Also he really did generally care about her, that's why he could have mind controlled her from the very beginning but he didn't, he wanted her the way she was.
@@senister14 Rapist incels are still incels
years later and people are still referring back to this incredible show :)
The cartoon did wonders for the Madhatter as a character, they gave him a genuine character arc that plays out in his eariler appearances, from his obcessive love for a girl called Alice, to giving Batman everything he ever wanted and then in the trial ep, he shows how far he is willing to go, just for one his ideal, but after that, he not used much, but then, not using a character much, can be a good thing as it makes them more intersting
I hate the direction they're taking him nowadays, making him kind of a pedophile
I agree, it's totally unneccessary. Having him be a stalker targeting an adult woman was creepy enough already.
BTAS legitimised mad hatter and arkham games made him into a realistic looking monster that he was
There’s an interview with Paul Dini on the website Animation Arena where he states that the inspiration for Jervis’s characterization came from a real incident in Silicon Valley a few years prior where a guy went postal in his office because a woman had rejected him, so Jervis here being a proto-incel is right on the money.
In at least two separate Batman properties that I know of the Mad Hatter has teamed up with Scarecrow and they kinda make an interesting duo, (The Long Halloween and the TV show Gotham) both of them target the mind in some manner, with The Hatter using mind control and the Scarecrow using his fear toxin, and they play off each other rather well
a quick note on the mad hatters comic book history I feel is important to mention, he made a brief apperance in the grapic novel a serious house on serious earth around the time of the 89 film and that showed him as a sort of sexual deviant so I think some of the influences to the Mad Hatters BTAS backstory can be tracked back there
Yes, very good point!
I wonder if it's also a nod to the theory about Lewis Carroll being a pedophile.
Yeah, I’m certain of it.
Am I the only one who noticed that they took the story of The Mad Hatter from Batman TAS and cannibalized it for Jim Carrey's version of the Riddler for Batman Forever?
could be possible. Joel Schumacher did watch btas at the time
Before there was Titan/Tighten . . .
there was BTAS' The Mad Hatter
2:25 I love that I read his lines in Roddy's voice literally as soon as I came back from another tab
I rewatched the episode, and I wonder if you could read the story as having an aspergers/autism allegory. I know everyone and their mother misdiagnoses autism these days, but I feeel the episode could be read with an interesting parable in mind: Jervis is brillaint but lonely, he's obsessed with children's media, he's rather awkward, he goes to extremes to get what he wants...
It's also a nice contrast to Batman, who modern reads have commented that he's flexible to a neurodivergent interpretation, and this analysis people make that his villains are often a dark contrast to him. Joker is chaos, the Penguin is a corrupted Bruce Wayne, Catwoman and Poison Ivy represent his fear of commitment to a relationship, etc.
That is actually a pretty good theory.
As someone with high-functioning autism (Asperger's, actually) I can absolutely see where you're coming from. The fits, the obsession, the escalation, it all... creepily reminds me of how I was as a child. Constantly misunderstood, withdrawing into my own world, not having many friends. Even today as a young adult, I still struggle with the last two. I can see Jervis Tetch having autism on some level.
Having said that, his behavior as the Mad Hatter is unacceptable. Understandable, but not acceptable. If anyone acted like that, autistic or otherwise, they would and should tightly face scrutiny and also get some help.
One of the most underrated villians in the rouge gallery, imagine someone with the technology to control your mind and you become powerless to his orders
Thanks to BTAS I learned about emotional intelligence and learned from the antagonist mistakes. Now that does not mean I haven’t had a bad day in my life and donned a costume and gas all of Gotham or some weird scheme just prevents me from making a pen stroke that I can not take back
Roddy McDowell, who had played Cornelius and Ceaser in Planet Of The Apes, and Peter Vincent in Fright Night voiced Mad Hatter in BTAS!
People are always Fear Lossing Free Will,It,s a Power that will always be Abuse.
A considerable number of BTAS villains got a considerable of fan-cred from the show.
7:18 I believe that the mentions of s**cide in basically only Mad Hatter episodes is because of a huge fear that Bruce has, which isn't really discussed in all varieties. Abandonment. A lot of stories of unrequited love are focused around the fear of rejection, but a lot don't know that when someone like the Hatter, whose never had another human in his life care about him, can get rejected, it blurs the lines of rejection and abandonment. He feels like he's been abandoned by the one human being who cared about him, and not just for his work. For certain people, that leads to a lot of s**cidal thoughts and even actions. They think they'll be abandoned again anyway, so, in their mind... why try?
I've been through an experience slightly similar to it and I'm just glad I actually had family and friends to lean on.
Thanks for sharing that observation.
@@SerumLake You're welcome. I will say that in some of my more serious work on my channel, I actually plan on discussing this topic in a more interactive format. Just can't really say how yet. I only have the first episode accomplished.
2nd appearance Mad Hatter think he playing Team Fortress 2
I think what really helps madhatteer hre is how he is given a stinctive overbite (rather than the bucteeth the comics version sometimes had) which was used to really empaphasise his mouth, which in turn gave him a distinctive cartoonish grin
Just sad how he was never going to be taken seriously by the people around him because of his appearance and odd personality, despite how ingenious and initially kind he was. The one "off" thing about his introductory episode I feel was Alice's boyfriend. Feels like we should have learned a tad more about him. Again, it's unfortunate because if you look at her boyfriend and you look at Jervis, you could see why Alice chose her BF. Like maybe if we learned more about the other guy, like just how much of a good person he might have been, I don't know. For example, maybe have a very brief scene where Jervis meets her boyfriend and he's incredibly kind to Jervis and Jervis doesn't care, further reinforcing that all Jervis really cared about was getting Alice. Because as it was, Jervis felt a bit too sympathetic to me. It wasn't until that later episode where he said I'D HAVE KILLED HER FIRST that we see his true nature. And it's also weird and kind of random that Alice's boyfriend breaks up with her and then proposes in such a short time. Makes you wonder what kind of man he really is. It seemed that having him apparently flat out break up with her provided too good of an opportunity for Jervis. Like that seemed unnecessary because now Jervis was with a woman who was technically single. Like they could have just had it seem like they were having problems with their relationship instead of a complete breakup and that Jervis was instead sneakily trying to get involved with her.
That's what made the story better, they were crafting a story. Plus what's wrong with sympathetic? All the best villians are.
@@senister14 do you think it'd be OK if the hatter had s//x with a brainwashed Alice
I always read Billy as picked because of two things:
1. His age, his design is incredibly soft for a supposedly masculine man on this show and his voice is a little lighter than most of the men. He, like Alice, seems to be on the younger side whereas Jervis appears to be somewhere in his 30's. This is why him getting nervous and defensive over the issue of commitment can be kind've forgiven. Alice is pretty quick to marry him when he returns, it's safe to say that by asking where their relationship was going, that's what she was getting at. As a young man, marriage, kids and being tied down can definitely seem terrifying. There's also little things like him anxiously returning a day later showing he's kind've an emotional individual, making massive decisions, only to immediately turn around and go "oh God oh God I messed up." That's a very "young man" thing to do.
2. He sacrifices for Alice in the end. He had a meltdown and broke up over the issue of commitment, so it's safe to assume Billy's scared of marriage. But he still makes the decision to propose because he doesn't want to lose her. He makes a sacrifice for his love. And even then, there's no entitlement there. He returns, with her favorite flower and meekly ASKS if she can talk to him. Meanwhile, Jervis forces Alice to sacrifice for him. Her job, her lover, her work friends, even her own mind. Not to mention, in a scene that parrallels Billy's return, he lovebombs her and doesn't give her the chance to respond. So, narratively, I think that's the writers' way of saying he's more ideal, even if he is kind've an emotional guy with a fear of commitment.
That reminds me: I really want to see Alice's husband get a fleshed out story in a DCAU anthology, complete with him lovingly raising their kids.
Remember that time he was found
Dead in his cell?
That was messed up.
If we’re talking about the same comic, his doctor claimed he died of a broken heart!
@@SerumLake batman found him
Knocked out with a smile on his face
In the cell.
@@nehemiahpouncey3607 ah, in the episode Make ‘Em Laugh!
@@SerumLake yep.
@@SerumLake that was creepy tho.
Mad hatter never smiled any better.🤣
I love his portrail in the Arkham games. It's different, but way scarier on accound of being completely and utterly insane, with no connection to reality. That version is also a pedophile, having periodical relapses into obsessions with specific people, usually young girls he designetes with the name of "Alice" and from his interviews with Hugo Strange.... there have been quite a few alices over the years. In Arkham Knight, he even starts speaking 100% in rhyme, and designates Batman himself as his next alice.
The Gotham Mad Hatter was even more disturbing since he had an incestuous obsession with his own sister, and it’s even implied that he sexually abused her in the past.
Then there's the Batwoman TV version's sister, who spoke entirely in quotes from Alice in Wonderland.
Shame later writers were of inferior stock...
Yet another utterly tragic villain brought to perfection by the writers. "Would not, could not... would not could not... could not join the dance..." Haunting, really.
Mad hatter is a reference to mercury poisoning from the making of those types of hats, so ya the autoyeet fits.
its so funny to me how he looks different in every goddamn frame, moreso than any other character
for the "Hat Fetish" Mad Hatter, all Batman would of had to do is toss him a spare and he'd have an instant fan boy.
That’s a very smart solution to a very unique problem…
Poor Hatter, If he'd used his mind control to have them turn themselves in to the police, he'd have has a MASSIVELY different outcome. Potentially a Mad Hatter hero? Alice becoming his "Lois Lane"
The episode where the Mad Hatter is using dolls to mind control rich people to give him money so he could buy and island and disappear is good. I understand that motivation as well.
Ever since watching "Perchance to Dream" I'll periodically have dreams where I try to read something but I can't, and the letters are moving around just like in the episode, and I am aware that I am dreaming. I am not sure if you really can't read something in a dream of if this episode put that idea into my head.
I can read in dreams, so I was really confused as to why Bruce said that.
"Wait, some people can't do that??"
@@HeliatroCipherIt's fairly common for text to be blurry in dreams
Could be worse. There's the false illiteracy lesson given in the end of Static Shock's "Where the Rubber Meets the Road".
4:01 Now knowing about the "hat fetish", the hat department here seems to be a clever reference.
I remember Bruce Timm mentioning that he based the BTAS version of the Hatter of someone who was obsessed with a female coworker and shot up the work place as a result
The new 52 versión is complete Psychopath
Jervis would have loved Reddit tbh
I gotta be honest; I love these videos and your coverage of the Btas characters, episodes and trivia
But hearing that the mad hatter is motivated by lust is beyond creppy
Yeah, I wouldn't say lust, but rather a twisted form of love. Like a yandere of sorts.
@@sponge5196 Mad Hatter is the ultimate Yandere confirmed, thanks random person off the internet
Was anyone else kind of put-off by the fact that Wayne Enterprises was apparently funding fucking mind-control technology?!
Not really. I'm the kind who's fascinated by such advances, and envious on how our world seems stagnant since the Space Race ended.
Would be cool to see a Batman with Mad Hatter as the lead villain in a future film. Perhaps an animated one?
Wish you would have mentioned the voice of the late, great Roddy McDowell, who really brought him to life in B:TAS... 😏
Good shout, Roddy was excellent in this role
Thank you! really love these BTAS videos
No, thank you for watching and letting me know that you like them. It encourages me to keep going.
@@SerumLake sure thing, I'd like to see more videos about this concept, how the animated series improved and promoted unpopular villains since then, when I was little Batman was all about the Adam West series, Tim Burton's movies and BTAS were a game changer, and the moment I fell in love with the character and villains, I found out about many cool villains thank to BTAS since I'd never read the comics until the 90s
A chimp named "Carol Lewis?" that's an oddly specific name. *googles* oh... ohhh noooo
He deserves to be a villain in a Batman movie. My choices to play the character are either Sharlto Copley or Bill Skarrsgard
I argue Gotham took the ideas presented in TAS and implemented them to a much darker scale.
Is it a coincidence that Lewis Carroll may in real life have had an unhealthy infatuation with Alice? The writers surely must have known this.
Oh 100%!
Carroll was literally an incel and died a virgin.
Not true but yeah they got based on that false accusation
The mad hatter made me remind of Wazzat from Yo-kai watch
For me Mad Hatter is the perfect villain for the sequel to Matt Reeves The Batman, they could subtitle it descent into madness or something like that as Gotham gets even worse, they just need to adapt this Mad Hatter and perhaps make some elements more explicitly horrifying
the 60s hatter/hat man would love tf2
Oh yeah, he would......lol.
Hav you done Scarecrow or Riddler yet?
I think a lot of people would be interested in videos about them regarding what BTAS did for them.
Riddler’s up next! Scarecrow is pretty low on the list because the BTAS version is pretty similar to the comic version
@@SerumLake Oh, good!
I hope we get to see Harley soon!
If I had a nickel for every time a superhero cartoon made for kids had a storyline about a light haired nerd gaining powers, which he uses to try and win over the female co-worker he has a crush on. Only for her to fall for another guy, which then makes nerd guy become a supervillain and use his powers to get revenge. Eerily predicting the rise of incel nerds and “nice guys” on social media preying upon women they feel a messed up sense of entitlement to…
I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s still weird that happened twice.
Who's the other fella?
@@michaelandreipalon359Tighten from Megamind
@@Brianna-eo8nu Ahh.
I love BTAS' depiction of the Mad Hatter, because it shows why his behavior is wrong in a subtle and entertaining way. Unlike today, where they would probably stop the show, look at the camera, and say, "Rape is wrong. Consent is sexy."
I'd really love if the Mad Hatter appeared as the main villain in The Batman 2. Maybe he could control people's minds with a new drug he created or some website related to Alice in Wonderland. He could be played by Daniel Radcliffe or Adam Driver.
Or he could be a cult leader like the real life heavens gate cult with a bit of MK ultra and turn it into a type of wonderland cult.
@@omarcarlos537 you are right, that's a more beluevable and realistic way of brainwashing people. He could also make his followers use drugs like Charles Manson did.
Amazing video
1:08 yo hold the phone. Is that Carl from ATHF as the queen?
😂
Yeah, tonight!
I just noticed he's the one character who doesn't have detailed ears. It makes him look a little bit more abstracted than everyone else in the show
The Animated series produced a lot of great villains.
Its kinda a shame that alot of them, never got their big break on the big screen or they are twisted into either a parody or a far right extremist.
One character i would actually love to have on screen would be the Ventriloquist and Mr Scar Face.
I think that character could actually be used as the main villain in a movie.
Making it more or a gangster movie.
Who got turned into a Far-Right Extremist?
Far right extremist? Wdym?
@@dikastederook6380 The Riddler.
The Batman 2022.
He was basically shown as a parody of what the director would consider a far right extremist.
Which is a shame because his animated series counterpart was much more enjoyable.
@@Erikjust Not wrong.
The Mad Hatter would definitely watch Andrew Tate
One thing about the 60s Hatter that always bothered me was that Batman could just make another cowl and give him the old one. But he never thinks of it
If I were him, I'd use the mind control device on myself for instant self improvement. That's a life hack right there
Why stopping at yourself? Try to use it on crooks and criminals to force them to live a healthy life, and try to do your best into having as many people convinced to socialize and show love to each other as possible, using mind control to make a better place.
@@lexcentrique2554 I don't know how ethical that is. I can do whatever I want to myself, but forcing other people to do the same is a whole different thing
@@christosgiannopoulos828hell I would do that on the most sick and deranged individuals first.
They serve no purpose so put them to work the most dangerous and difficult tasks first, then get rid of the monsters within society
@@christosgiannopoulos828there's nothing wrong with helping others make better choices to improve their lives.
@@senister14 lmao there us when it's blatantly controlling them gtfo
I like how they remodeled this backstory in the comics where he took growth pills that turn you mad because he was in love with an older schoolmate (Alice). Later, dressed as the Mad hatter, the adult Jarvis finds out where Alice lives, but when he sees she turned old, ugly and depressed, he strangles her with a cable and tells himself she wasn't the real Alice. At one point he also wants to recreate his favourite day, the day he and Alice went to a carnival, which was similiar to how he and Alice went to the wonderland park here.
Let's be honest, Mad Hatter could use a touch more sophistication. Although I agree that they really need to settle on an origin story for him.
They changed it yet again for the comics that came afterwards.
But the Mad Hatter from the book isn't sophisticated. He's a parody of the sophisticated gentleman. So of course Jervis is going to take that funhouse mirror joke and play it completely straight.
@@jordanloux3883 Personally I think if you want to expand the Mad Hatter, you'd have to distance yourself slightly from Alice and Wonderland.
Borrow inspiration from multiple sources.
The thing with Hatter is that he's too much of a parody. If you want people to engage with him, you have to expand his character beyond parody.
@@fictiontheorizer4253You really do not fucking get Jervis do you? The fucking point of tge character is that he is a deluded man who think he is The Mad Hatter from a fiction story and wants to create his own private wonderland. If you make him too "serious" you get edgy trash like what the writers did to Toyman in the 9os. If you can't Appreciate Tetch for who is he stopbresding Bat comics!
BTAS was so good. I actually think some of the limits placed on them by the censors actually helped them but I wonder what the stories could have been like if they could have been PG 13
Thank you!