Beware the Gray Ghost

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“Beware the Gray Ghost”
Batman: The Animated Series episode
Episode no.	Season 01 Episode 018
Written by	D. O'Flaherty Tom Ruegger
Directed by	Boyd Kirkland
Original airdate	November 4, 1992
Episode chronology
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"See No Evil"	"Prophecy of Doom"
List of Batman: The Animated Series episodes

Beware the Gray Ghost is an episode from Batman: the Animated Series.

[edit] Plot

This episode starts out with a young Bruce Wayne watching an episode of his favorite hero, the Gray Ghost. The episode is started with main titles of the Gray Ghost episode. The name of the episode is The Mad Bomber. It starts out with a whirring sound, followed by the explosion of Piedmont Plastics factory. Which the Gray Ghost is then seen running into to find the cause of the explosion. The scene then switches to show the same whirring sound at the Gotham explosives, followed by an explosion. Batman is then shown on top of a building, watching as the police arrive. Batman then jumps off and scene switches to the Gray Ghost who is doing the exact same thing, despite having entered earlier. He is shown with the Piedmont Commissioner with a ransom note saying, "Pay up or pay the consequences! One Million in cash or the Piedmont Bank is next! Signed, The Mad Bomber" The scene then changes back to Batman with Commissioner Gordon who is holding a note with the same writing, except that it's the Gotham Bank in their case. The scene is switched back to show that a young Bruce Wayne has fallen asleep before the episode of the Gray Ghost ends, leaving the mystery of the Mad Bomber unsolved.

The present Bruce is then shown tossing and turning while sleeping, remembering the old episode of the Gray Ghost that he saw as a child, suddenly waking up and realizing that explosions were somehow connected to that episode, and realizes that he never saw the ending, due to having fallen asleep. Bruce then goes to a video store in search of a tape of the episode, but he is told that nobody has them; the prints were all burned to the ground in a studio and haven't been seen since. Bruce and Alfred go to a library looking at photos of past actors and finds Simon Trent, the actor who played the Gray Ghost.

Simon Trent is then seen in his apartment, his landlord is upset that he hasn't paid rent and warns Trent that it's his last chance to pay up. Trent is avoiding him, then gets a call from his agent and is told that he didn't get a part that he had auditioned for, since they see him more as the Gray Ghost and can't see him playing any other role. In agony over his predicament, Trent trashes his apartment in a rage. Later, he is seen at a toy store selling all his Gray Ghost merchandise to toy store owner and collector Ted Dymer, from there using the money to pay his rent. Trent returns home and falls asleep. When he wakes up all his stuff is back and his Gray Ghost costume is attached with a note saying to show up tonight at the Gotham Art School.

Trent shows up and is confronted by Batman who needs his help. Trent tries to run but is quickly blocked in the alley by Batman, who then tells him about how Gotham is being blown up and that it's connected to the Gray Ghost. Just then they hear the same whirring noise as before and Trent recognizes it but refuses to help Batman, then the Gotham Bank explodes and Trent runs. Batman is about to go after him but is forced to go to the bank. When Trent arrives at his apartment Batman is already there waiting for him. Trent then reluctantly gives him the tape of the Gray Ghost, Trent is the only person who has every episode of the Gray Ghost, though no one else knows about this.

After returning home, Bruce enjoyes watching the film and discovers that the cause of the whirring sounds and explosions were caused by remote controlled toy cars. Later on as Batman goes to the Gotham Library, which was the next hit of the Mad Bomber, he is able to stop the Library from exploding, but is then chased into an alley by the toy cars. Just as the toys are about to crash into the wall and explode, a rope appeared from the rooftop, Batman climbs up and avoids being blown up. When he looks up he is confronted by the Gray Ghost in full costume. Batman shows him a copy of one of the cars and Gray Ghost recognizes it as being one of the cars from the show. Batman is about to walk away to check it for finger-prints, but not before inviting the Gray Ghost to come along. They get into the Batmobile and are then chased by the toy cars. They are able to avoid them due to gadgets that the Batmobile contains, such as oil.

While in the Batcave Batman reveals that he got his ideas for the Batcave from the show, and Gray Ghost comments on how similar it is to the Gray Ghosts lair. Batman also shows him some Gray Ghost merchandise he owns and says that the Gray Ghost was his hero as a kid. When the finger-print scans are done it is shown that the prints belong to Simon Trent, Batman confronts Gray Ghost on this, Gray Ghost tells him that he had sold his toy cars and that the only person who has them is Ted Dymer the toy collector.

They both show up at Ted Dymer's store, he is now revealed to be the Mad Bomber and is then taken down by Batman and Gray Ghost without much difficulty, and the story is shown on the newspapers the next day. The episode ends with the release of the Gray Ghost videos and Simon Trent is signing them. It is mentioned that reruns of the show are being broadcast, he has been attached to a dramatic film that he hopes will boost his career, and the sale of his merchandise, now worth millions, has made him a wealthy man. One of his fans in line is Bruce Wayne, and after he gets his videos signed, he tells Trent that the Gray Ghost was his hero as a kid. Trent's interest is obviously peaked; since Batman said almost the exact same thing to him, Trent clearly suspects that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Bruce also says silently that the Gray Ghost is still his hero.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Kevin Conroy	Batman/Bruce Wayne
Bob Hastings	Commissioner Gordon
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.	Alfred Pennyworth
Mari Devon	Summer Gleason
Bruce W. Timm	Ted Dymer
Adam West	Gray Ghost/ Simon Trent

[edit] Trivia

• Bruce W. Timm is also one of the people who did character design and a producer of Batman: the Animated Series and is the visual basis for Ted Dymer. The video store clerk resembles Paul Dini, Timm's writing partner, who was quite heavy at the time (it is said he was inspired to lose weight after seeing himself caricatured as such on Tiny Toon Adventures).
• Adam West, who voices the Gray Ghost, played Batman in the 1960s. Timm and Dini have stated that they wanted West from the beginning to voice Simon Trent, but they would not have done the episode had he refused, since they feared he would be offended by an animated parody of his typecasting. West, however, was happy to voice the character; it has brought him newfound respect among Batman fans.
• The Gray Ghost's appearance is very similar to the Golden Age superhero The Sandman, The Spirit, and the pulp magazine hero The Shadow.
• This is the first time Batman takes someone other than Alfred or Robin into the Batcave in the history of the series.
• This is the only episode where Alfred's mustache is white instead of black.
• Although Adam West had a reasonable career following his stint on Batman (he was paid in royalties and does voice-work in animation), Simon Trent's financial troubles mirror those of the serial actor who played Captain Video in the 1940s.
• The Gray Ghost episode "The Mad Bomber" was episode 18. This episode of Batman is also episode 18.
• The Gray Ghost poster that shows a giant version of the hero standing above skyscrapers is an homage to the Shadow pulp cover for the story "Shadowed Millions".
• When Simon Trent (the Gray Ghost) is looking for the Mad Bomber reel in his closet, one of the other reels is called Terror in the Sky, which is also the name of a Batman: TAS episode. It can be found here: [1]
• This is Matt Hagen's first appearance. He is on the poster at the end of the episode.