Two episodes of the animated television series:
In "Deep Freeze," Mr. Freeze is busted out of prison
by an insane theme park mogul. The mogul desires Mr. Freeze's condition
in order to make himself "practically immortal," so he can oversee his
new project: a city of the future that will be proof against the icy apocalypse
he plans for the rest of the world. Freeze balks, but is swayed when he
is offered his cryogenically suspended wife as an incentive. Batman and
Robin must stop things before it is too late.
In "The Fire from Olympus," the head of Maximillian Shipping has gone insane. He has stolen a new energy weapon from a military contractor and set himself up as Zeus, hurling thunderbolts from his penthouse, his self-styled Olympus. Maxi-Zeus mistakes Batman for his brother Hades and attempts to cast him down from the heights, while Maxi's girlfriend attempts to talk him back to sanity. Unfortunately, there is an electrical accident in store for Maxi before Batman can cart him off to Arkham Asylum....
It seems a shame that some of Batman's other villains
have been given their own showcases on video while Mr. Freeze has to share
time with Maxi-Zeus. Oh, Maxi's episode is entertaining, but he's a second
tier villain at best. Mr. Freeze, on the other hand, has been reborn in
the hands of the Batman animators, transformed into one of Batman's front
rank nemeses. One wishes that "Hearts of Ice," which recounts Freeze's
tragic origins, were included on this tape. Before the animated series
got a hold of Freeze, his origin had never been recounted and he never
had a personality that was convincing--in any medium. Here, the animated
series outshines even its printed progeniturs. Michael Ansara's voice is
dead on perfect for Freeze. In the episode on this tape, the satire of
Walt Disney is absolutely savage--more savage than one would expect from
kid-vid (but then, The Batman Animated Series has only ever paid
lip service to its status as kid-vid). As for "The Fire from Olympus:"
it's entertaining (few episodes of this series are actually bad) and offers
the literate viewer much to enjoy (Maxi's girlfriend is named Clio, his
"Muse of History"), but juxtaposed against "Deep Freeze," it doesn't hold
a candle...