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Mitefall!
Season 3, Episode 13
Mitefall
Air date November 11, 2011
Written by Paul Dini
Directed by Ben Jones
Episode guide
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Summary

  • TEASER: In the year 1865, in a parallel universe known as 5501, Batman helps foil an assassination attempt on the life of President Abraham Lincoln by a steampunk armored John Wilkes Booth.
  • MAIN PLOT: Bat-Mite has grown weary of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, deeming its formula to be tired and repetitive, so he concocts a scheme to make it so bad that the network will have to cancel the show to make way for a darker one. Can Ambush Bug thwart his plan (saving Batman, Aquaman and everyone else) before it's too late?

Mitefall!

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MAIN EPISODE Featured Characters:

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Synopsis

1865, Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary enjoy a performance of My American Cousin, unaware that John Wilkes Booth has entered their private compartment. Booth prepares to shoot the President, but Batman arrives and disarms him. Undeterred, the assassin activates his steam-powered battle armor. While Lincoln gets his wife to safety, Batman tries to tackle Booth. He fails, but Lincoln grabs a fireaxe, cuts Booth’s steam line, and knocks him back. Batman recovers and they throw axe and Batarang together, causing Booth’s steam valve to explode. Once the assassin is subdued, Batman congratulates Lincoln and departs back through a portal to his own reality.

Gorilla Grodd leads an attack of controlled sharks on a floating ocean lab, but Batman and Aquaman arrive. As Aquaman launches a punch, Bat-Mite watches from his living room and notes how wacky and original the storyline is... 64 episodes ago. He complains about how formula the show has become since they learned that next incarnation of Batman would be more light-hearted. However, since the dark and brooding “Chill of the Night,” everything has gone downhill. Bat-Mite realizes that he won’t get a new dramatic show until Brave and the Bold is cancelled. The 5th dimensional imp begins contemplating ways to get the show cancelled. Bat-Mite begins his plot by introducing a cute child, Kiki, into the Batcave. She rides her tricycle through the Batcave and her mother, Helen, chastises her for disobeying orders. Batman, who has determined that Grodd has created a banana-transformation ray, has no idea that his reality has changed.

While Grodd launches an attack on Gotham City, Bat-Mite decides to introduce toy merchandising. Batman dons a new suit of battle armor and takes off in his Neon-Powered Super-Street Bat-Luge. As Bat-Mite plots the show’s downfall, the somewhat heroic Ambush Bug is exercising and watches the show. He realizes that someone has to stop the imp, and teleports away to save the day... after a word from the sponsors. Batman arrives in Gotham and Aquaman is there to greet him. Bat-Mite continues his plan by recasting John DiMaggio with Ted McGinley. Batman begins to realize that something is off but Aquaman 2 insists that he’s fine. Bat-Mite tunes into the audience to see if he’s won, but at least one child insists that Batman won’t let them down. Grodd and his apes take to the streets and start converting the citizenry into bananas. Batman activates his Neon-Powered Super-Street Bat-Luge and calls for extreme action. Batman leaps in and they attack the apes. Bat-Mite gloats in triumphant, but Ambush Bug teleports in and warns the imp that he’s playing with forces that he doesn’t understand. However, Bat-Mite announces that their universe will collapse bit by bit until everything is gone, and a new show takes its place. Ambush Bug refuses to accept defeat, noting that the show exists for more than just Bat-Mite’s enjoyment. Ambush Bug teleports to Gotham and tells Batman what is happening. When Aquaman 2 arrives, Ambush Bug tries to explain that they’re all fictional characters, and Bat-Mite is trying to turn Batman away from everything that makes him the Caped Crusader. They look to the sky where reality disappears bit by bit as viewers change their channels. Batman realizes they need to change reality back to the one that Ambush Bug knew: a winning combination of thrilling adventure and tongue-in-cheek fun.

Even the most dedicated viewers start tuning out, and Ambush Bug concludes that they need some senseless violence to attract an audience. He tells Batman to hit him and the Caped Crusader finally does. The audience begins tuning in again and Ambush Bug rams himself onto Batman’s fist. Aquaman 2 joins in as more and more viewers tune in, restoring the reality. However, once the immediate danger passes, Batman and Aquaman 2 run off to fight Grodd. Bat-Mite teleports in to warn Ambush Bug that he’s doomed to fail, but Ambush Bug refuses to accept defeat. He grabs Neon-Powered Super-Street Bat-Luge and attacks a gorilla with it. Bat-Mite warns that now it’s war and gives Batman a new toy merchandise costume: Alpine Ice-Climbing Batman. Next he summons Ace the Bat-Hound and his new nephew, Punchichi. Bat-Mite relocates Batman to sunny Malibu, California. Batman and Grodd fight it out on surfboards. As the final step in his deconstruction of the show, Bat-Mite gives Batman a pair of guns. Ambush Bug teleports to the Caped Crusader and tries to persuade him that he’s not who he really is. At first all looks hopeless, but Batman realizes that he would never use a gun. He wonders what the point is if none of it is real, and Ambush Bug tells him that what he does matters to the audience. Reality reasserts itself and everyone finds themselves back in Gotham. Aquaman 2 wonders if they’ve saved the show, but Batman says that all they can do is go out giving the audience what it wants. Together, the three heroes take on Grodd, defeat him, and reverse the transformation. Only Ted McGinley is left, still insisting that he’s Aquaman. Ambush Bug cleverly tricks McGinley into admitting that he’s really Ted McGinley, and the actor departs, admitting he doesn’t get the show. Batman wonders if they’ve succeeded In a studio boardroom somewhere, the executive producers inform James Tucker and Michael Jelenic that it’s time for them to give this version of Batman a rest. Bat-Mite sees them and realizes that he’s won, and starts clearing away his collection to make room for a new show. However, he begins to realize that there were a few good episodes and starts to miss Brave and the Bold. The promo for the new Batman show comes on, a CGI version with Batgirl as the main character and Batman as her friend. Bat-Mite figures that it’s not a total fail, because at least he’ll get realistic super-dramatic storytelling. Ambush Bug teleports in to point out that Bat-Mite isn’t a realistic super-dramatic storytelling character and that there's no need for a silly character like him in a plot like this. Bat-Mite’s reality begins to fade away and he realizes that it can end that way, and says goodbye to the audience just before he disapears.

Batman finds himself in the Batcave with all of his friends, enemies, and pretty much every single character that's appeared in the show from the last three years gathered for the wrap party. Ambush Bug tells him that he put the word out. Even dead heroes like B’wana Beast and the Doom Patrol return. While the Music Meister serenades the partygoers and storyboard artists take away the sets, Batman admits that it really is the end. However, Ambush Bug reassures Batman that is was a great run. he assures the audience that as long as there is evil to fight and innocents to be protected, he'll be there--and wishes everyone at home a good night. These final words end the series on a high note, and promises the audience that there will be much more excitement to come...one day.

Trivia

  • The comic book that Bat-Mite is holding is Detective Comics issue number 241.
  • The title "Mitefall" is taken from a multi-part cross-over story from the Batman comic books entitled Knightfall.
  • In television circles, Ted McGinley is known as the "patron saint of shark-jumping" by Jump The Shark founder Jon Hein, due to his historical tendency to join shows that are nearing the end of their runs. Bat-Mite even pointed that out when he used his powers to make McGinley replace Aquaman's voice actor in the Series Finale.
  • The nature and premise of the show is to focus on lesser-known heroes and villains of the DC comics. Bat-Mite, upon meeting Ambush Bug, is surprised to see him, pointing out that even with the show's premise, Bug is a fairly unknown character to be featured.
  • This episode is the most significant example of fourth wall-breaking: the entire plot focuses on keeping the show going, with an omnipotent character going out of his way to cancel it, even alluding to fans who have grown bored and unsatisfied with the show.
  • The party at the end features characters from the show's run who have actually been killed off, such as B'wana Beast.
  • The final shot in the series finale had Batman and his friends saying goodbye to the viewers where in the right corner the number of the stage in the back lot says ‘Stage 27’, referring to the 27th issue of Detective Comics, in which Batman debut.
  • At the end of the episode, during the final Goodnight party, the Music Meister is shown to be playing a piano rendition of "If Only", which debuted in the episode, "Mayhem of the Music Meister".
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