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Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are holed up in a room at the Gotham Hotel, with Harley complaining about hiding out in a "rat trap" with no presents, no fun, and not even a Christmas tree which Poison Ivy refuses to get, stating that she will not support a mad campaign of botanical genocide that happenHoliday Knights is an episode of season 1 of New Batman Adventures. It premiered on September 13, 1997.

Synopsis for "Holiday Knights"

December 22

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are holed up in a room at the Gotham Hotel, with Harley complaining about hiding out in a "rat trap" with no presents, no fun, and not even a Christmas tree which Poison Ivy refuses to get, stating that she will not support a mad campaign of botanical genocide that happens around that time of year. Poison Ivy silences her partner's complaining with a pillow over her face, saying she's come up with a plan that will make this the happiest holiday ever.

At the Vreeland Estate, Bruce Wayne attends a Christmas party where he finds himself standing under the mistletoe and several ladies just dying to kiss him. Bruce politely backs away from the ladies, only to be accosted by one in the shadows who gives him one right on the lips. After he leaves the party, Bruce finds himself irresistibly drawn to one of the parked cars where in it he finds Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, ready to take him on a shopping trip where they get to have all the fun and Bruce gets to pay all the bills. It turns out that Harley used a special lipstick to kiss Bruce with so he can be hypnotized to do their bidding, as they did on their limousine driver. As the two girls notice the lipstick effect beginning to wear off, Harley applies some more on and tries to get Bruce to "give some sugar", but he backs away from them until he falls down an elevator shaft. Harley fears that they may have killed him, but then she realizes that she and Poison Ivy were going to kill him anyway, and they still have Bruce's credit cards to play around with.

As they travel on to the next store, the two girls see that they're now being followed by the Batman and so have the driver pull over into a toy store where they hide out on top of a stack of toys, taunting Batman and clobbering him as he climbs his way to the top. But as they try to make their getaway, Batman fires a grappling line around a giant Christmas tree and causes it to fall on top of them, pinning them to the ground. As he approaches his captives with a stern look, Poison Ivy tells Harley that she finally has "the stupid tree", which makes her partner somewhat happy.

December 24

At Mayfield's Department Store, Barbara Gordon goes shopping to buy her father a Christmas present while Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya are staking out as Santa Claus and an elf, trying to find the mysterious perpetrator who's been shoplifting the store. Barbara watches as Harvey does a poor job being Santa to a group of kids lining up to tell him what they want for Christmas. But as she turns and walks away, she notices a kid putting a stolen necklace into his jacket and then chases after him, grabbing him by the hand which ends up breaking off and slipping through her fingers like clay. Soon Renee and Harvey are alerted to a juvenile suspect, and they give chase to another young offender even as two more are spotted by security officers. The four kids then gather together and merge into one being that the people in Gotham know all too well: Clayface. Barbara then sees the malleable menace trash the store and quickly goes behind the clothing aisles to change into Batgirl.

Harvey and Renee aim their pistols at Clayface, telling him to hold it before he gets drilled. Clayface simply spits some clay at their guns, telling them that he can easily blend in with the crowd and make his getaway while he backs them into a corner, turning one of his hands into a sharp blade that he intends to use on them. Suddenly Batgirl charges from behind and kicks Clayface through a window, where he lands on the skating rink outside the department store, breaking the ice in his landing. Batgirl tells the people to clear the area before Clayface arises and slashes her from behind. Renee and Harvey sneak up behind Clayface, who appears ready to pounce on Batgirl, when they open fire on him. Batgirl tells the two police detectives to "shoot the Santa", which Renee picks up on easily and soon she and Harvey fire at the illuminated Santa above Clayface, causing the wire to fall into the water and shock him unconscious. After Batgirl departs, Harvey is ready to get a cup of coffee, but Renee says they need to uncover the evidence, which means Harvey's got to roll up his sleeves and pull it out of Clayface -- something which makes Harvey say "ho ho ho" with less enthusiasm.

December 31

In Commissioner Gordon's office, Batman and Robin watch as a football game is interrupted by a pirated broadcast by the Joker, promising "a countdown of victims" by the stroke of midnight unless "the dear Dark Knight" stops him first. The commissioner then shows them a police file on Dr. John Erickson, a pioneer of sonic research at Gothcorp, who was the only victim they found since the Joker's broadcast at noon. According to reports, he was working on a weapon that produces hypersonic waves powerful enough to kill anyone within earshot unless they're wearing special sound mufflers. Batman realizes that there's no bigger "countdown of victims" by midnight of New Year's Eve than at Gotham Square.

Around 11:40 PM, the Joker and his henchmen Mo, Lar, and Cur are busy setting up the hypersonic bomb that's scheduled to go off at midnight, with the police guards taken care of via Joker's Smylex gas. With the Clown Prince of Crime expecting Batman to show up, he reveals from under a tarp that he has stocked up on "party favors": dozens of Joker masks for the people to wear.

Around 11:55, Batman and Robin watch from the rooftops the New Year's Eve party in progress, with Batman certain that with murder on this scale, the Joker will be around to watch his handiwork. As they descend to street-level, they notice that all the people are wearing Joker masks, not only enabling for him to hide out, but also ensuring that his victims will "die with a smile". Climbing onto a truck to get a closer look with binoculars, Batman sees that the Joker and his henchmen are wearing the sound mufflers.

With only a few minutes left until midnight, Batman springs into action, knocking Joker in the back of the head with a batarang before he and Robin swoop down to take care of him and his henchmen. Joker knocks Batman in the back of the head with a pot of ice holding a champagne bottle, while one of the fallen henchmen grabs Robin by the cape. Joker taunts Batman by saying now he'll miss the big countdown, and soon they see the giant bell with the hypersonic bomb being raised up as people count down the final seconds before midnight. Quickly, Batman causes the Joker to hit himself in the eye with the champagne cork while he grabs the bottle and uses the champagne to short-circuit the boombox. The Joker manages to fire a shot that grazes Batman's arm, but he is too late to stop the short circuit from reaching the bomb and causing it to harmlessly explode, sending the bell falling right on top of him. The people cry, "Happy New Year", as they toss aside their Joker masks while Batman and Robin look at the fallen Joker, painfully crying, "ouch".

January 1

At a nearby restaurant, Commissioner Gordon gets a cup of coffee and waits for the Batman to show up, as usual. They both share a cup and make a toast, saying that hopefully they'll be able to do it again next year. As Gordon asks for a cheesesteak to go, he asks Batman if he wants anything, only to find him gone and with the check already paid. Gordon mutters that one of these days he'll beat Batman to the check. He puts on his coat and goes home as Batman swings by overhead.

Appearing in "Holiday Knights"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Mary McSweeney
  • John Erickson (Appears only as a corpse)
  • Joe

Locations:

Items:



Notes

  • No notes.

Trivia

  • This episode marks the first time - in any media - that Harley Quinn wields her signature oversized mallet.
  • The toy store where Batman finally captures Harley and Ivy is Wacko Toys, the same business that once employed the the Riddler in "Riddler's Reform".
  • Scenes of the Joker treating the city on the television were recreated and used in Return of the Joker.
  • All stories in this episode were adapted from Batman Adventures Holiday Special #1.


See Also

Recommended Media


Links and References

Footnotes

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