The Laughing Fish

Dear Wal,

I have a little Batman trivia for you today.

The first Batman: The Animated Series episode I ever saw was "The Laughing Fish." This was when I was about six years old. Needless to say, it freaked me out. You might think the idea of smiling fish in Gotham River cheesy, but it's not. It's completely creepy and just a little terrifying.
"The Laughing Fish" begins with a group of fisherman bringing up a net full of fish who all have the Joker's face. The Joker has poisoned the river and the bay, so that every fish has the same sick little smile. Of course, the first thing Joker does is jack the TV, in order to force a certain executive, Carl Francis, to market the Joker's fish. Of course, Batman ("Glory-hoggin long underwear geek." Detective Bullock, gotta love him.) and company from the GCPD go to protect Francis from the Joker. Thankfully, Batman has a handy dandy antidote in his utility belt to save the guy from Joker's laughing gas before it's too late. But then the Joker threatens Francis' second in command at the company-Thomas Jackson. So Batman concocts this elaborate scheme to switch places with Jackson just in case. One part of the Joker's poison has already been introduced to Jackson, and the other part has to be given to him somehow. The idea was that the Joker would attack Jackson, who is actually Batman in disguise, instead of attacking the real Jackson who is dressed up like Batman. Things don't quite turn out that way. Joker poisons Jackson's cat, who runs rabid and attacks Jackson, even though he looks like Batman. That's when this happens:

As a kid, this totally freaked me out. I thought Batman was dead (foolishly) or worse, finally driven mad by the Joker. Then it turned out not to be Batman, and I was relieved. Granted, if I had been more observant as a child I would have realized that the hysterically laughing Batman wasn't the real one. However, when I was six I was even more oblivious than I am now, believe it or not. Later in the episode Batman had to fight a shark. That was pretty great.
Besides the shark fighting part, this episode has to be one of the most unsettling episodes of the animated series, simply because it's so bizarre. This scheme in particular highlights the Joker's insanity...he's trying to patent smiling fish and sell them to the public, as if anyone would ever buy a product endorsed by the Joker. The best part is, "The Laughing Fish" was adapted word-for-word from a comic book of the same name written by Steve Englehart. This run of comics is considered one of the first  to redeem Batman from the goofy, shark-repellent carrying character of the Silver Age and Adam West. In Engle's books, Batman is depicted as a much darker character in a much darker setting, returning him to the pulp fiction days of Bob Cane. Plus, the Joker was returned to the insane, maniacal killer that he's meant to be, and Silver St. Cloud was first introduced.

/endrant