"Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero" Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Discuss this acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series animated feature - Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero!

Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero
Original Airdate - March 17th, 1998 - Video Release.

Written by Randy Rogel & Boyd Kirkland - Directed by Boyd Kirkland

Mr. Freeze returns to Gotham City to kidnap Barbara Gordon. Batman and Robin discover that Barbara's disappearance is all part of Mr. Freeze's plot to help his dying wife. He will do what ever it takes, even if it means the death of Barbara.

Comments?

 

[batE]

Hi, all,

I just watched Subzero last night, and there were things that confused me a bit. Namely, in the beginning, why did Mr. Freeze ice the submarine crew? And I know this is a naive question for a Batfan, but when he freezes someone, they're dead? Or just crudely cryogenically frozen? I never understood that . . . because if they do die when frozen, that'd make Freeze one of the most prolific killers in animated series canon. And he seems like not a bad guy (he did care for the little kid and those polar bears).

Also, are we to assume that Dr. What's-his-name (the guy who was going to do the transplant) died when the landing strip fell? I know it may be another naive question, but Freeze obviousl didn't die when he plunged into the water at the end.

Also, what was up with the animation? It looked weird in some places, almost like Claymation. I like the straight animation of PHANTASM. That movie rocked. Mark Hamill is a fricking genius. But I digress.


batE

 

[Samhaine]

He freezes people, they have a timeframe where they could be thawed. Otherwise, they're gonners.

You're right, he's not a "bad guy". He's a guy about revenge against wrongs done to him (except for in Cold Comfort.

The "good" doctor escapes on a motor boat before the oil rig collapses.

And the movie looks odd because it was a combination of 2d and 3d animation. In some places (the bike chase) it really doesn't fit.

 

[James Harvey]

Actually, the doctor was killed when that gigantic landing platform fell on him. Confirmed by the creative team.

 

[optimal321]

And Freeze freezes the sub crew because they knocked Nora over when they submerged.

 

[Bobby Boy 101]

I actually liked how the CGI was handled for the most part, i just didnt like the 'un-fluidness' of the regualr animation. babara's movements were stilted most of the action time

 

[Tim Drake]

I dunno I don't think the 3d animation was blended well with the 2d animation. Probably because it was newer then and DTV WB doesn't have the budget that Disney has to blend 3D Animation like Little Mermaid and Aladdin.

 

[Bird Boy]

I want this movie on DVD!

and we know freeze obviously didn't die, because we saw him in the end with a ice cast on his leg...

-BB

 

[Tim Drake]

Of course he didn't. I mean he exists in TNBA and even in BB.

 

[Karkull]

They Saved Victor Fries' Brain!

Speaking of SubZero, I have a theory about why Mr. Freeze's body deteriorated. If you watch the movie, you'll notice that, while in the Arctic, he spent a lot of time outside of his suit. Now, it was cold out there, but it couldn't have been that cold--after all, the temperature needed to keep Mr. Freeze alive would have killed that little Inuit boy. Over time, his body slowly began to thaw in the slightly warmer temperatures.

Second, it would appear at the beginning of the movie that he was eating some of the fish that he caught. I'm pretty sure that cryonically frozen people are frozen in time and don't require nourishment. If this wasn't the case then Nora would have needed food as well. Apparently, this also was a factor in his deterioration; after all, what would his body do with it?

Any thoughts? I really wasn't satisfied with the explaination given on the show.

 

[Joe Tully]

I don't really think that there's any good explanation. I mean, how does Noggin-Freeze breathe with no lungs, circulate blood with no heart, etc.

I try not to be too picky about stuff like that. I mean, superheroes aren't entirely realistic either. But Noggin-Freeze just crossed the line between cartoon-reality and just plain silly.

 

[Karkull]

I thought that Mr. Freeze's transformation into a talking head was inspired. One of the ways to cryonically freeze someone (after death) is to remove their head and freeze it--the assumption being that in the future there will be a cure for decapitation (as well as whatever killed him/her in the first place)...

However, the notion that his body could magically "deteriorate" after it was established that he was immortal in Deep Freeze was ridiculous. Yeah, he's immortal, until his shelf date expires...

 

[DerekPowers]

i thought the 2-d and 3-d animation worked very well. but one of the biggest problems i had was that dick grayson looked very different from his animated series counter part. i havent seen it in a while, but i think bruce had some problems too, but mainly dick just looked different from how he looked in tas. plus there was some bad animation in parts, like the parts w/ dick, but overall the animation was great.

 

[mosszonedotcom]

Is this why is Mr.Freeze becomes just a just a head in Meltdown? It seems like that explosion could have messed with him.

 

[optimal321]

Check out Cold Comfort from TNBA. I'll give you spoilers if you haven't seen the ep and want 'em.

 

[Stinky Cat]

sadly ive got NO idea..

 

[Karkull]

The creators passed it off as saying that his condition "deteriorated" since his BTAS appearances, but I think that it had something to do with him walking around without his suit on during and after the events in Subzero (it wasn't that cold out--he needs well below zero, too cold for people to be walking around with exposed skin). Simply put, he slowly defrosted; thus his head was removed from his dying body (apparently, cryonically frozen heads can survive detached from their bodies--why else would freezing just the heads be an option?) and attached to a robotic body.

 

[Tim Drake]

I think it has to do with his leg. He broke it in Subzero. Somehow it lead to a subartic infection that couldn't be healed by normal medicine and led to infecting most of his body. Its the theory I came up with in the Batman RPG that used to exist.

 

[DisneyBoy]

Well, in Cold Comfort he says "He accident that created me finally took it's toll", meaning that the stuff that made him unable to live out of a SubZero environment messed up his body in such a way that it would become more brittle with age. Though the suit increased his strength, his body without it was still weak. And after all the trauma it suffered, it just broke down. Call it freezer burn, or a disease, Victor had to lose his body and become a head.

 

[Beyond Batman]

Subzero is probably my favorite DTV Bat flick. I choose this one over the others simply because it's a combination of the old-school with the new. From what I understand, this movie was made before TNBAS was done, so it has a lot of underlining/foreshadowed new animation. Also, the older designs with a classic story is what makes me pick this one over the others. Plus, Mr. Freeze stories always seem to be the best... he's a favorite villain in my book.

This is the one DVD I can say I watch over and over, more so than the other Bat DVD's. Not to diss the other one's... Subzero is just my favorite. Which DVD is your favorite? I know a bunch of you are going to say they're all your favorite... but if you had to pick one, which would it be?