Baby Doll (Batman: The Animated Series)
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Mary Louise Dahl, aka Baby Doll, is a fictional villain in the Batman universe, invented exclusively for the original animated series. Alison LaPlaca initially provided Baby Doll's voice. In her second appearance, Baby Doll's voice was supplied by Saturday Night Live alumna Laraine Newman. She has only appeared in two episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.
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[edit] Biography
Baby Doll suffers from a disorder called systemic hypoplasia. Systemic hypoplasia causes its victims to cease aging at a certain point in childhood. Dahl stopped aging at approximately the age of six. As a result, she has the mental and emotional capacity of an adult, but the body of a child. At one point, Dahl was a successful actress on a family sitcom, That's Our Baby, but her fading stardom as well as the fact that no one takes her seriously as an adult drives her criminally insane.
Baby Doll first appears in an episode that ran towards the end of the first run of Batman: The Animated Series in an episode called "Baby Doll." In it, Batman and Robin are investigating the kidnapping of several actors, all of whom once starred on the sitcom That's Our Baby. She played a toddler whose catchline was "I didn't mean to." Initially, Mary Dahl is viewed as a possible target, but Batman soon learns that the woman may be more villainous than she looks. After quitting her sitcom, Dahl tried legitimate acting, but critics shunned her.
Twenty years later, Dahl — adopting her former show persona, Baby Doll — returns to kidnap her former co-stars and return them to the abandoned set where That's Our Baby was filmed in an attempt to recapture the happiness she had when she was on the show. Batman frees the actors from Baby Doll and chases her to a carnival. There, they enter a house of mirrors where Baby is confronted with a distorted reflection of herself that, in her mind, resembles what she would look like if she had a normal body. She then breaks down, giving a pained, rambling apology speech which ends with, "...I didn't mean to." Interestingly enough, she makes this observation to herself in the voice of an adult woman, in contrast to the childish, high pitched voice she had in the Baby Doll persona. Instead of attacking Batman, Baby Doll shoots the mirror.
After Batman: The Animated Series completed its run, a new and slightly re-vamped show called The New Batman Adventures aired. Baby Doll shows up in one episode of this series as well: "Love Is a Croc," in which she teams up with Killer Croc. In the end, Baby Doll betrays Croc when she realizes he doesn't love her. Baby Doll's capable villainous nature is shown when she, working as a receptionist, vents out on a drunk man in a hotel mocking her for her condition despite his wife's attempts to stop him, and she slams a book in his face.
[edit] Personality
Though small in stature, Baby Doll is quite dangerous. She carries a doll with a gun inside, that can shoot bullets through its eye socket. Occasionally, Baby Doll can be quite vulnerable and reveal the inner turmoil that has driven her to a life of crime. Other times, however, she can act quite spoiled and childish and endanger the lives of others. Baby Doll has been said to resemble a possible cartoon version of Shirley Temple.
Doll was obviously based off the psychopathic has-been child star, Baby Jane Hudson, from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. Also, her life story, including her disease, seem to have been partly inspired by Gary Coleman, another ill-fated child actor. However, in addition to being heavily toned down, Doll seems to garner more sympathy as a villain. This may merely be because she looks like a child, and it is easier to block out her murderous intents. Another perspective is that she has a rare, incurable and debilitating condition that precludes her from ever having a normal life as an adult no matter how valiantly she tries to earn one. The casual contempt Robin shows at Dahl's major attempt to be a serious actress by playing Lady Macbeth speaks to the kind of cruelty she seems to have found impossible to bear. The memorable surrealistic showdown with Batman at the end of her first episode, however, seems to suggest she merely wants a fantasy world, where she can be happy.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
Like many of Batman's enemies (as well as Batman himself), Doll has no superhuman abilitites. She makes up for this with her high intellect which makes her adept in crime. Her main features are a series of dangerous devices designed to look like toys (a gimmick no doubt inspired by the Toyman). In addition to her doll gun, she has been known to use bouncing balls with smoke-screens in them, a baby's bottle with knock-out gas, and explosive jacks. Unlike most rogues, however, Doll's insanity is a hinderance to her genius; she never makes her hide-outs hard to find and never even seems to factor Batman into her plans (which is probably due to her poor hold on reality). She once attempted to detonate a nuclear plant as revenge on Croc, well-aware that it would kill her (as well as thousands of people) as well.
Doll uses two voices to express herself, which in itself is unusual. Her predominant voice is that of her character, Baby Doll, a happy, chipper young girl. Of course, the happy child-like tone is rather contradictory to her true nature; at any time, she can attempt to murder someone while still sounding like a child. Although this is a facade, it may be that Doll has grown so dependant on her part, and the memories that accompany it, that she cannot just remove it from her dialogue.
Her true voice-that of an adult woman-is one she only uses when she is deathly serious. This is the true Mary Dahl, the woman behind the sweet little girl, the woman who has hidden behind the girl her whole life. As such, Doll usually uses it when she is close to having a psychological breakdown.
[edit] Trivia
- For some unknown reason, Dahl's goons in the episode "Baby Doll" resemble Gilligan and the Skipper from Gilligan's Island. This is at no point explained in the episode, but may be poking fun at the fact that the villain was formerly the star of a TV sitcom.
- Although Baby Doll is based off of Baby Jane, her appearance and stunted growth are taken off of an Infinity Inc. villain named "Baby Boom", a woman whose body stopped aging at childhood due to genetic experimentation on her as a fetus. They both dress alike and even have the same hair.
- Doll is the only rogue (aside from the Sewer King and Red Claw, who were not very popular) made exclusively for the first run of the show, who has not, to date, moved on to the comics. The other two were Harley Quinn, and Lock-Up.
- She has also never been seen taken away after defeat; the show never specifically states where she was imprisioned. Being insane, it seems likely she was taken to Arkham (though her "rehabilitation" was obviously poorly conducted; she's as bitter and vindictive as ever in "Love is a Croc").
- She bears a slight remsemblance to Elmyra from "Tiny Toon Adventures."
- The reason behind the fall of her sitcom - the introduction of a cute kid cousin who stole the audience's attention - parodies the T.V. phenomenon known as "Cousin Oliver Syndrome", in which a cute kid is introduced to a show to boost sagging ratings. The fact that That's Our Baby was starting what would become its last season when "Cousin Spunky" was introduced parodies the belief that "Cousin Oliver Syndrome" is a sign of a show jumping the shark.
