Welcome to the thirty-second edition of Adventure(s) Time, where we examine a classic animated series and an issue of its tie-in comic that follows a similar theme. This week's edition, following a suggestion from readers Antonio Canales and Gravity Falls Poland, looks back on a Batman: The Animated Series episode that features the return of what could be the show's most popular villain, and a direct sequel from the Gotham Adventures comic book series.

Airing on November 26th, 1994 during the Adventures of Batman & Robin era, "Deep Freeze" features the long-awaited return of Mr. Freeze, who had previously made only one memorable appearance during the earliest days of the show. Series architects Paul Dini and Bruce Timm provided the offbeat story, which features superb direction from Kevin Altieri.

The starting place for the episode is almost too odd for words -- according to urban legend, Walt Disney cheated death by having his body frozen in a cryonic chamber, awaiting the day technology would enable him to live again. So, naturally, that means a thinly veiled caricature of the mogul has to appear as a villain on the show, obsessed with the cryogenic technology that's halted Mr. Freeze's aging.

The plot has Mr. Freeze abducted from prison by a robot, the creation of theme park magnate Grant Walker. Walker is fascinated by Mr. Freeze's inability to age, and hires him to recreate the cryogenic accident from Freeze's origin, which will allegedly grant Walker immortality. Freeze has no time for Walker's nonsense and is ready to kill the eccentric when Walker unveils his trump card; as an investor in GothCorp, Walker knows the details of Mr. Freeze's origin, and has uncovered the frozen body of his beloved wife Nora Fries.


Mr. Freeze agrees to Walker's terms and constructs a new suit for his employer, while Walker goes about the business of addressing the cult he's somehow amassed. In the eerily sanitary arctic kingdom of Oceania, Walker will rule over his chosen few, biding their time until Gotham City is released from its five-year freeze and declared worthy of his followers' return. Batman and Robin, meanwhile, are investigating Freeze's escape, which means a quick cameo from inventor Karl Rossum, another figure from the show's past (previously in the early two-parter "Heart of Steel".) For a show that normally eschewed continuity, there's no shortage of callbacks for fans to enjoy here.


Ultimately, Batman and Robin discover Freeze inside Oceania and convince him that if Nora is ever revived, she could never love the man who helped Walker commit mass genocide. Freeze agrees, helping the heroes to foil Walker's plan. In the show's final moments, Walker is trapped in a hunk of ice headed for the bottom of the ocean, while Freeze adamantly remains in the collapsing ruins of Oceania. Content, as much Freeze can be, with the preserved body of his wife, the episode nearly has a happy ending.

Every aspect of this episode is simply strange. Reportedly, the producers were reluctant to do another Mr. Freeze story following his debut in "Heart of Ice," due to the perfect ending of the episode and the legendary status it quickly developed. Bringing him back with one of the more absurd plots ever witnessed on the series was certainly not what anyone would've expected.


Which doesn't mean the episode is a total loss, however. As unusual as it is to see such a serious, tragic villain stuck in a plot that feels like an early 1970s James Bond film, the episode isn't a total loss. Grant Walker doesn't have any obvious depth as a character, but the subtext of Walker presenting altruistic motivations to the world while in fact being colder inside than Freeze could ever be is well played. Freeze's indignant response to discover Walker wants the eternal numbness that's been forced upon him, while all Freeze wants is to feel again, is also one of actor Michael Ansara's best line deliveries as the character.

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The series, during its final days on FOX, had already moved away from the slower, more character-focused episodes in favor of more network-friendly action plots, so for viewers watching the shows week-to-week, the change in tone wasn't horribly drastic. Someone watching a Mr. Freeze-specific marathon today, however, would probably be left scratching their heads at the new approach of the series.

Just as Mr. Freeze appearances in the animated series were rare, readers of the tie-in Adventures comics were also unlikely to find the villain appearing in the books. Making one of his rare appearances in Gotham Adventures #5 (October 1998), the story "Polar Opposites" picks up two years after the events of "Deep Freeze."

Writer Ty Templeton and penciler Rick Burchett acknowledge the new continuity established in the two subsequent Mr. Freeze appearances in the opening; namely, that a revived Nora Fries has remarried, and Mr. Freeze is now a decapitated head, the rest of his body ravaged by his condition. (Some versions of the Disney myth have only Walt's head being frozen, which, as absurd as this sounds, might've influenced the decision to take Freeze in this direction.)

The opening pages establish that Mr. Freeze is being kept at a Wayne Tech facility, where what remains of his body will be studied to advance cryogenic research. Bruce Wayne has hired a cryogenics expert by the name of Dr. Francis D'Anjou to oversee the project, but on his first day, the facility faces an unexpected visitor.

Still clad in a variation of Mr. Freeze's armor and freeze gun, Grant Walker makes a shocking reappearance, smashing through a wall and declaring that "Icebergs melt, you know..." Walker's enraged, having learned that the process that transformed him and Mr. Freeze actually destroys bodies instead of preserving them.

Walker abducts Dr. Francis D'Anjou, injuring Bruce Wayne in the process, and takes D'Anjou to the remains of Oceania. Batman's crimefighting partners arrive, and to their shock, discover that Mr. Freeze is actually willing to help rescue the doctor. Why? Turns out Nora Fries has very specific tastes in men -- Dr. D'Anjou isn't only the world's leading expert in cryogenics, but he's also Nora's new husband.

With Mr. Freeze as their conspicuous ally, Batgirl and Nightwing sneak into the ruins of Oceania. The heroes discover the theme park is just as dangerous as the one created to honor Itchy & Scratchy, and are confronted by a series of death traps. Batgirl is trapped under a pile of debris, and not even a lecture from Nightwing convinces Freeze to help.

Aside from re-establishing just how cold Freeze can be, the plot complication allows Mr. Freeze to be alone with Grant Walker and Dr. D'Anjou during the story's climax. Walker threatens to kill D'Anjou if Freeze doesn't drop his weapon, and Freeze complies. Not because he cares about D'Anjou, of course, but because he can't stand the thought of Nora being hurt.

Freeze soon regains the upper hand on Walker, however, and has to be subdued by Nightwing before he kills the deranged mogul. Rationalizing that he's done what he set out to do, save Nora more heartache, Freeze detaches his head and scurries away on his robotic legs. Surprisingly, the man who talks Nightwing and Batgirl out of pursuing Freeze is Nora's current husband.

Just as love for Nora motivated Freeze to go against his instincts and save D'Anjou, her current husband finds himself in a position to repay that kindness, more for Nora's sake than Freeze's. As for Grant Walker, we leave him on the floor, recuperating from Mr. Freeze's attack. Presumably, Dr. D'Anjou will save his life anyway...which makes the villain's kidnapping plot make about as much sense as his plan to freeze Gotham for a half-decade.

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The Wrap-Up


Design-y

"Deep Freeze" features not only one of Eric Radomski's finest title card paintings, but also a quirky retro-design for Walker's main robot, which looks like something from the original Fleischer Superman cartoons.

Continuity Notes

Bat-Mite, the zany answer to Mister Mxyzptlk from Batman's Silver Age, makes a very unexpected appearance here as one of Karl Rossum's cutesy robot inventions. (His only appearance in the DCAU.) And, hey, even Mister Mxyzptlk sneaks into the background as another one of the robots.

Hey, I Know that Voice

Grant Walker is voiced by Daniel O'Herlihy, who played OCP's CEO "The Old Man" in the first two Robocop films. Character actor William Sanderson provides the distinctive voice of down-home robotics expert Karl Rossum. Sanderson previously appeared as J.F. Sebastian in the original Blade Runner, and as the non-Darryl brother Larry on the 1980s sitcom Newhart.

Over the Kiddies’ Heads

It's very possible an entire generation learned of the Walt Disney urban legend from this specific episode of the series. (It's not as if it's hard to guess who Grant Walker is supposed to be.) I'd love to know if Toon Disney dared to air this episode when it acquired the rights to Batman reruns, though.

Battle of the Evil Uncle Walts

I don't intensely dislike the character of Grant Walker the way some people do, but I understand where they're coming from. Realistically, Freeze's origin in "Heart of Ice" is never going to produce a worthy sequel. It's such a perfectly constructed story, boldly reinventing an existing character in a noble manner, with fantastic animation that utilized the designs perfectly, it will easily land in any fan's Top 10 list. And when you consider that it aired during the show's debut week of episodes, it's easy to see why the episode set an early standard for the series. So, when Freeze finally does return, the producers thought the tragic foe should be pitted against...a one-note Walt Disney parody? The tonal clash is severe.

But when the episode is judged on its own merits, well, the issue of just how nutty Walker is becomes hard to ignore, actually. Personally, I have issues with parodies of wholesome figures that just assume that they actively wish harm on the people who aren't like them. Just because Walt Disney was a genius at branding family entertainment doesn't mean he actively hated anyone who didn't fit into his clique, it's just easy to believe the worst about someone and assume such a thing. All that said, "Deep Freeze" is a fast-moving episode with some incredible action sequences, and as usual for Batman, the score and vocal performances compensate for some of the weaker plot elements.

When Mr. Freeze returned for "Cold Comfort," the producers didn't give a lot of thought to Grant Walker, clearly. While Walker believed that Freeze's condition granted immortality, "Cold Comfort" revealed just the opposite. So, with this apparent continuity problem as a starting point, Ty Templeton crafted a clever sequel. Upon learning that his mad scheme from his initial appearance is actually going to kill him, Walker behaves like you'd expect Walker to, and the audience is given a story that feels like it really could exist as an episode of the television series. This was one of the strengths of Templeton's stories; not only was he a huge admirer of the series, but he understood that fans buying the comics wanted stories that truly belonged to this continuity. Month after month, Templeton gave Batman fans exactly what they wanted -- sequels, answers to continuity concerns, and an overall tone that fit the show.

The continuity doesn't only work for nagging plot details, either. Templeton understands Paul Dini's version of Mr. Freeze perfectly. His pretense of being dead to emotion is in fact a cover, a defense mechanism he's developed to mask the deep affection he still holds for his wife. While the animated series only mentioned her new husband offhandedly, Templeton takes the small detail and builds a memorable, if odd, love story around it. Grant Walker might be just as much of a plot device in this story, but he serves a more meaningful role, allowing "Polar Opposites" to work as an unexpected amalgam of every Mr. Freeze story from this canon.

That's all for now. Thanks to Antonio Canales and Gravity Falls Poland for the suggestion. If you have any episodes of an animated series you'd like to see paired with its tie-in comic, just leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.