Batman Beyond (TV Series) Rats (1999) User Reviews

Come on ?? This isn't a bad episode !

[sander-vh · 7/10 · 4 August 2014]

I'm currently watching the whole Batman Beyond series and I've just watched the episode people told me to avoid ... Rats. And although this episode had some pretty weird moments i didn't like at all (like the idea that there is a rat boy hiding in the sewers... I don't like animal episodes - Cult Of The Cat, Monkey Fun - that much but Bruce Timm and his gang seems to love it... But if it's done well , it's done well off course) there is a lot i did like.

For instance I like that lunatic with the bomb (Mad Stan ??). He was a funny character and made me put a smile on my face on this otherwise very dark series. I also like the fact that Dana finally has some personality in this one. We meet her father (who doesn't like Terry) and she get some screen time too. At last I like the quiet moments in this episode. The scene where Dana is trying to escape the sewers was actually pretty intense.

In my opinion this wasn't a bad episode. I thought 'Joyride' was less interesting than this one. The rat boy was weird but he didn't get that much screen time. For the rest i thought this episode was pretty good.

7/10

Creepy.

[Animany94 · 8/10 · 7 February 2019]

Finally an episode in which Dana does something!

To be honest, I found Dana pretty boring both as Terry's love interest and as a character in general, but at least she throws some punches in this episode when she is abducted by a deformed stalker living in the sewers with his furry friends.

Despite Terry's and Dana's relationship is the overall focus in here we are also presented with one of those subjects that make the BB show good when it is brought up. We can think that the sewers polluted by radioactive waste made these giant rats and Rat Boy the way they are and that is very unsettling.

The creep factor in here is really high and is like a less impactful version of the earlier episode "Earth Mover". Since that episode is one of my absolute favourites from this show I call "Rats" less impactful because of a few letdowns. For example, Mad Stan seems out of place in this episode and even though Dana does more here, I can't take her that seriously after all the times Terry has let her down because of his secret identity.

But the time spent in the sewers were effectively creepy and Rat Boy was pretty cool.

Contrary to popular belief this is by no means a bad episode...

[bob_Sapp33 · 8/10 · 18 June 2019]

Actually it's a good one. Not one of the best, but still good. This episodes was a nice addition to the show and added another layer to an already dark, eerie, breathtaking batman beyond universe. It showed us that even the sewers are scary/eerie and the things that are potentially hidden there. Also it gave us another glimpse at how massive the city is if even the sewers are like mini cities. The atmosphere is pretty great and the episode is also pretty dark as well. The drama isn't bad either.

One of my favorites

[innocentunicorn · 9/10 · 4 March 2009]

Personally, I love this episode. It's a little bit creepy, but in a good way, and basically everything makes sense in the context. A little more development about Patrick would have been good, though... My favorite thing about this episode is that it's a lot more human and interpersonal than most of the others- the villain is human, albeit mutated, and his primary goal is to find companionship. The main focus of the episode is Dana and Terry's relationship, and how his being Batman strains it. I also thought Dana's father was a great addition and very realistic. Overall, I think this episode is very human, very realistic and very well done.

Spoiler: I have to disagree with the previous poster- I don't think Dana forgiving Terry so quickly is unrealistic at all. If you'd just been almost killed by a guy who was so obsessed with you he wouldn't let you exist apart from him, your boyfriend flaking occasionally probably wouldn't be too high on your list of worries. In fact, it might even be reassuring.

With the good comes the bad

[axopnk · 5/10 · 27 October 2007]

Batman beyond season 2 was an interesting season, mixing awesome episodes (lost soul, Bloodsport), to good episodes (once burned/joyride/splicers), to average episodes (earthmover) and now borderline average/below average episode.

What worked:

1. The entire "escape" scene with Dana had a very erie feel to it the entire time. Felt like something from SAW or a horror movie.

2. The very human feel to the episode felt good for a change. It's natural that a father would be concerned and even go to Terry's house to find out just what happened. The Terry/ Dana fight was also very real

3. The sewers itself felt erie, a lot of credit to the music score on this one. Very good.

What didn't work:

1. Virtually no character development of Patrick. No explanation of how he became able to control rats, how he gained his appearance etc.

2. I know the episode had to move on, but i thought it was cheap of patrick to turn on Dana so quickly. Most outcast cling to the things they like regardless of the other persons actions, thus becoming "annoying" ex. Like that weirdo back in highschool remember? So what if Dana didn't like him? It wasn't like she could do anything about it anyways so why try and kill her?

3. No explanation of Patrick's hybrid plant flowers.

4. Kinda unrealistic for Dana to just go to Terry so quickly. OK maybe initially but it's still a angle for Dana to attack Terry on because she could always use him as a focal point for how she got captured. So the whole "makeup" was way too quick.

5. Rats? Rats are probably the worst type of creature to use. It reminded me of the sewer king in the BTAS with his alligators. Only difference is the rats are not that intimidating as alligators and, again, no explanation in either of how a person could control such animals. Very unrealistic. Additionally, because there creatures are not robots/ rock men, batman couldn't even use any batarangs or other gadgets so it got boring just seeing him wrestle a giant rat. At least they didn't make it cheesy by having patrick be known as ratman. Ratman vs. Batman yeesh.

Overall this episode had some good elements to work with (horror/SAW type feel, realistic human nature, environment), but poor elements also (rats, little character development and some unrealistic human nature). This could be a episode you could miss but you won't really get that same horror type feel in other episodes