Baby-Doll is an episode of season 2 of Batman. It premiered on October 1, 1994.
Synopsis for "Baby-Doll"
After finishing a play, the actors get out of the theater through the back door and a young actor notices a little girl crying on the corner of the alley. He approaches her and tries to comfort her but as soon as he takes a look at the girl's face, he recognizes her but can't do much about it because he is attacked from behind and knocked unconscious.
A few days later, Commissioner Gordon calls Batman and Robin to discuss the recent abductions of actors that used to work on a past TV sitcom called "Love that Baby", in which the main character was a little girl by the name of Baby Doll, who was portrayed by Mary Dahl, an actress with a physical condition that prevented her body from aging and thus she looks like a child. Gordon informs them that until that moment, three of the main actors have been abducted and they start watching a documentary by Summer Gleeson on the current lives of the actors. After a while, Gordon informs them that he has placed some bodyguards for the youngest girl that was part of the cast and that hasn't been abducted yet, but that they're unable to locate Dahl.
At that moment, Harvey Bullock calls for backup as they have some trouble in the theater. The youngest woman of the cast is being abducted and the police can't cope with the situation. Batman and Robin arrive in time to stop the couple of thugs who are kidnapping the girl, but when they think they're safe, a big truck comes into the alley and makes its way by crashing against the police cars and the vigilantes. The woman is placed inside the truck and the thugs get away with her. Batman activates the Batmobile with his Utility Belt and commands it to follow the truck. However, he stops the car as he notices a little girl on the way and forces the car to crash against some crates on the street. The little girl is scared and looking for her mom and a few seconds later, a woman comes and takes the girl away. Batman recognizes the voice and when he talks to her, Baby Doll uses an exploding ball to create a smoke screen and get away.
Knowing that Dahl is responsible for the abductions, Batman and Robin go to Summer Gleeson and ask her a couple of her documentary episodes on the TV show where Dahl used to perform.
At that moment, the kidnapped actors find themselves in a recreation of the old set for the TV series and Baby Doll tells them that they are going to be a happy family again. With help of a couple of thugs and her personal bodyguard, Dahl prevents the other actors from leaving the place and she starts telling them what happened after the show ended and how her acting career wasn't working outside the TV series and so she decided to gather the crew together like the good old times.
Batman and Robin learn about the tragic acting career of Dahl and they realize that she might be holding a grudge against her peers for that. However, it was Dahl who decided to leave the TV series after the producers introduced a new character that upstaged her in camera. When she failed on other acting roles, she wanted to go back to the series, but the producers wouldn't accept her offer and the show was officially cancelled. Batman and Robin realize that Dahl hasn't kidnapped the actor who upstaged her and they deduce that he might be the next victim.
The next day, Spunky, the former actor and now musician is playing guitar on his garage when a woman crosses in front of his place with a baby carriage. She approaches Spunky and tells him to lower the volume of his music since her baby needs to sleep. Spunky tells her that he needs to practice, but from the carriage comes Baby Doll and uses knockout gas on him to capture the last member of the cast.
With the complete crew of the TV series, Baby Doll recreated the last episode of the series, where she celebrates her birthday, but this time, the actors are tied to the chairs and the candles of the birthday cake have a dynamite among them. Spunky is the one to blow the candles out and he grabs the dynamite with his teeth and tosses it away from them. When the dynamite explodes in the next room, it creates a big smoke screen and from it comes Robin, who was disguised as Spunky in order to save the real Spunky and to learn Dahl's secret hideout.
At that moment, Batman arrives at the scene and with Robin's help, they incapacitate Dahl's henchmen and untie the actors. Dahl runs away and tells her bodyguard to take care of the duo. Mariam attacks Batman and Robin with amazing martial arts skills. Batman uses his Batrope to tie Mariam's leg and knocks her out by tossing her through one of the set fake walls. Batman goes after Dahl and Robin stays to make sure that the actors get out alive.
Dahl runs away to a nearby fair, where she tries to merge with the people in the crowd. Batman tries to find her by looking from the highest point of the place, but there is too many people to locate her. Batman decides to drop down to let the people have a closer look of him and soon, all the people gathered around the booth where Batman was standing, allowing Batman to spot Dahl running towards a funhouse.
Batman tries to keep up with Dahl, but her little body allows her to get in small places and move faster than Batman. He tries to explain her that he understands that she must be feeling confused and that he wants to help her. Dahl doesn't believe him and she runs towards an abandoned house of mirrors, where she is overwhelmed by her own image duplicated in all the mirrors. Dahl walks to the final mirror, which reflects her as the adult woman she is and suddenly she feels joy. However, she realizes that is not the true and she notices Batman reflected on the mirrors. Dahl starts shooting all the mirrors until the only one left is the one with her adult image. Dahl breaks down and shoots that mirror as well and she keeps pulling the trigger, even when she ran out of bullets. Batman walks to her and takes the weapon from her hands in a gently way. Weeping and extremely sad, Dahl gets closer to Batman and mutters the catchphrase of her Baby-Doll character: "I didn't mean to"- as she hugs Batman's leg. Batman places a hand on her head and comforts the misunderstood Mary Dahl.
Appearing in "Baby-Doll"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Mary Dahl/Baby-Doll (First appearance)
- Miriam (Single appearance)
- Poison Ivy (Mentioned only)
Other Characters:
- Summer Gleeson
- Tod Baker (Single appearance)
- Brian Daly (Single appearance)
- Tammy Vance (Single appearance)
- 'Spunky' Spencer (Single appearance)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This is the 76th episode to be produced and the 74th to be aired.
Trivia
- No trivia.
See Also
- 3 Images from Batman (1992 TV Series) Episode: Baby-Doll
- Episodes of Batman (1992 TV Series)
- Images from Batman (1992 TV Series)
- Gallery for the Batman (1992 TV Series) series
Recommended Media
- None.
Links and References
Footnotes