Batman: The Brave and the Bold
The Mayhem of the Music Meister
“As I regale you with my story
you know you’ll have no choice
but to do my evil bidding
when you hear this booming voice!”
– Music Meister (Neil Patrick Harris)
This is the musical episode that you’ve heard about that was shown at San Diego Comic Con this year, and it was worth the wait. Well, to me anyways. I have a theater background, as well as a degree in it, so this was right up my alley. It hasn’t debuted yet on American TV, but aired a few days ago over in the UK.
Today, I see it found its way to YouTube and below my review is the episode yourself (split into 3 parts) in case you want to view it yourself.
Now, I am a bit biased towards something like this. I mean, we’ve seen Adam West’s Batman dance, but this is something entirely different all together. Neil Patrick Harris supplies the voice for the Music Meister (a villain that resembles the Fiddler) though instead he uses song to induce a trance instead of an instrument. There are some great musical numbers here and NPH does an excellent job showcasing his talent. For those of you worried, Diedrich Bader’s Batman doesn’t have a song, though Grey DeLisle as Black Canary nails it. Then again, are you really surprised by Ms. DeLisle’s extraordinary voice? You shouldn’t be by now.
There’s action, drama and a tad of romance thrown in this episode. Just when I thought this show couldn’t get any better, they throw something like this at me. Michael Jelenic (who has worked on the Wonder Woman and Legion of Super-Heroes animated programs) wrote four out of the six songs and they are sure to drive you batty, but, in a good way.
Author’s Note:
However, while they were linked to the official Batman: The Brave and the Bold Facebook Fan page, the episode has been since taken down. We apologize for those who didn’t get a chance to view it.
September 24th, 2009 at 11:07 am
That was fantastic. NPH continues to be perfection.
September 24th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I really like B: B&B. It’s goofy, but in the way that makes me smile. The stories are usually entertaining, the voice work is generally good (Bader holds his own very well despite not being Kevin Conroy), and seeing the B-list get a chance to shine is great. That the people who make this show are smart and savvy enough to get NPH and have some fun only adds to my feeling that Batman is in good hands.
September 24th, 2009 at 11:53 am
So, it’s a “Once More, With Feeling” in the DC universe?
That great. Since NPH has worked with Joss Whedon, it makes it OK, I suppose.
Anyway, it is nice to see a doncing Gorilla Grudd.
September 24th, 2009 at 11:54 am
… I meant “dancing”, of course…
September 24th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Great series! Brings back the fun of the 50s books without sacrificing the entertainment value for today’s fans.
September 24th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I lawled hard.
September 24th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Wopw! This episode was terrific!
September 24th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I don’t get his this is the season 1 finale if we’re already into the fall season and it hasn’t aired yet.
When is season 2 starting anyway? CN can be confusing sometimes.
September 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I’ll wait on watch on it my big ol tv. I love this series and I don’t wanna spoil the fun.
September 24th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Absolutely Adore this Huge congrats to the DC folks for approaching Once more with Feelings Awesomeness.
September 24th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
In the words of a great philosopher:
“That was TOTALLY WICKED!!’
September 24th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
This is already 110% better than the spiderman musical.
September 24th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Grey DeLisle was clearly a victim of Autotune here
September 24th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
“Grey DeLisle was clearly a victim of Autotune here”
You’ve obviously never heard her sing. She has at least one album out.
New awards needs to be created to give to this episode.
Freeze frame that scene with all the characters in little boxes – there’s a LOT of people who haven’t appeared yet. I saw Ralph Dibny, Punch and Jewelee, The Bookworm, King Tut, Wotan and a LOT more. Also check the list of names on the walls during the punk/NIN number.
September 24th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Pretty amazing imagination and an awesome treat to preview this online.
September 24th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
First episode I watched all the way through. Great stuff.
September 24th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
It’s gone! And I haven’t seen it yet! Where can I find this episode online?!
September 24th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Smooth. That vid was up for days until you guys posted it, now WB has it taken down.
September 24th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
“I don’t get his this is the season 1 finale if we’re already into the fall season and it hasn’t aired yet.”
Cable networks don’t follow the same season starts as broadcast networks. Season 1 of B&B began in November 2008. There are still 4 episodes of Season 1 to air; “When OMAC Attacks!”, “Inside the Outsiders!”, “Mayhem of the Music Meister!”, and the finale is “The Fate of Equinox!”
September 24th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
I watched the first vid yesterday, and because it was late, was going to watch the rest today!
ol well!!
I really enjoyed it!! (the first 8 mins anyway) I love musicals anyway (everyone watch Glee!!), but yeah, it was like buffy in that they couldn’t control it.
September 24th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
When is this gonna be on tv?
September 25th, 2009 at 3:54 am
Saw it on Tv a few days ago, it was strange yet brilliant and The Fate of Equinox! was a great finale
September 25th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Yeah, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to post the videos. Shame.
Still, it was pretty wicked! I got more of a Pied Piper vibe than a Fiddler vibe, but maybe that’s just the red hair.
September 25th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Hopefully Newsarama will own up and acknowledge to their mistake of actually posting an illegally uploaded copy of the episode.
September 25th, 2009 at 8:36 am
@SupesBat:
The link was distributed on the official Batman: The Brave and The Bold Facebook fan page. Go look. Here’s THEIR original text:
“Batman: The Brave and the Bold knows you’ve wanted it for a long time! “Mayhem of the Music Meister” is online ready for viewing in our discussion board tab! Shhhh… our little secret.”
Lan’s blog post was based on THAT.
The admins of the official B:TB&TB page at Facebook were clearly trying to stir up interest and excitement by pointing their 1300+ fans to the video. Lan simply blogged about that, which is our right to do. The video was three separate streams; there was no download or copying as there would be in a torrent link (which is something that we definitely do NOT run).
September 25th, 2009 at 10:54 am
But is that an official “Batman: The Brave and The Bold” page run by the staff of the series, or a fan-run page? If it’s a fan page then there’s no authenticity to what they do in the slightest concerning posting legal videos. I just come to expect better double-checking when it comes to Newsarama reports, be it blog posts, etc.
September 25th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
That is not an official site. When the videos they post are pulled by Warner Bros., that much should be obvious.
September 25th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Man, I can’t wait to see the last four episodes, especially the musical.
In case anyone is interested, I developed a B:TB&TB, Punch-Out styled boxing game for Warner Brothers.
http://dcbeyond.kidswb.com/games/batmanbrawl
(an advertisement may come up first)
It’s called BATMAN BRAWL! and you can fight as Batman and Green Arrow against a colorful cast of villains (Clock King, Gentleman Ghost, Black Manta, Owl Man). The opponents can also perform trick moves (Gentleman Ghost turns intangible) that you need to block against. Wildcat and G’nort are the cornermen!
Tried to make it as fun as the show.
September 25th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
First off, let’s all just take a moment and laugh at the hilarity of using the phrase “Shhhh… our little secret” on the Internet with anything other than blistering sarcasm.
OK, having said that, I can not wait for CN US to start running these episodes again. Americans are very impatient, and any time something runs in another country first, it will reach these shores, one way or another, well before the broadcaster wishes them to. The second season of Spider-Man, The new X-Men series, not to mention Doctor Who, SJA and Torchwood all ran elsewhere first, yet reviews and articles were posted reviewing them from Americans in under hours after their broadcast, yet well before they ran in the US. However did THAT happen?
I recall back in the day, the third Hitchhiker’s book was released in the UK MONTHS before it came out here – it was available at the next Sci-Fi con I went to a couple of weeks after the release, at outrageous import prices. I bought it.
We’re Americans. We don’t do “Wait” well.
September 25th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
got to admit that episode was hilerious kept seeing more of piper then the fidler though sad batman did not get to sing. not to mention loved grod and clock king singing hilerious
September 25th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
The reason this hasn’t been shown in the US is that CN is keeping good shows from us to try and promote their “CNreal” crapstravaganza. They figure we HAVE to watch something, so they give us the bad shows to try and boost their ratings. what they failed to take into account is that everyone who already knows about this episode is angry that it has been kept on the shelf for so long, and that we DO NOT WANT CNreal.
September 25th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
in the tone of Kanye West “The CN doesn’t like comic book fans” lol. Wait they do show SuperHero Squad…
Ok mebbe in doing that they also prove my point! LOL
Free Batman B&B!!!!!
September 26th, 2009 at 3:07 am
not to mention Doctor Who, SJA and Torchwood all ran elsewhere first
well they are british made so yeah we would get them first the day one of those programmes get run outside the uk before us is the day six million who fans go ballistic
September 29th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
The episode aired in Canada on Teletoon on Sept. 27th. Hilarious episode. It’s also worth re-watching to catch a few sight gags like the Antarctic explorer.
October 5th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
@Vinnie
In those who downloaded X-Men’s defense, Nicktoons was ready to hold a series until this summer, that started airing in Mexico and Spain, I believe they started in the summer of 08, The UK and Canada started in September, but in the US were about to wait until either April or May. The massive amounts of downloads made them realize that was a mistake and we ended up getting it months earlier then planned. So, if anything, downloading really helped the series in the end.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
@David Page:
\Oh you mean like Doctor Who: The Five Doctors. In your face UK! j/k
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