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» » Batman The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne (1992–1995)

Short summary

A sinister doctor uses his mind reading machine to learn Batman's secret identity and attempts to auction it.

Twice, Bruce looks through a drawer filled with tapes labeled with names of Dr. Strange's patients. In one shot, many of these patient names are connected with science fiction and fantasy. "Duane, Diane": a writer for the Batman series and an SF/fantasy writer. "Morwood, C": Duane is married to Peter Morwood. "Meach, Bet": Beth Meacham is a long-time SF fan and an editor at Tor Books. "Jetter, K": K. W. Jeter is an SF/horror author, and wrote the first "cyberpunk" SF novel. "Campbell" and "Johns, C" on adjacent tapes: John W. Campbell Jr. was the most influential SF editor ever. (The remaining tapes were "Vargas, Maria", "Taylor, Blair", and "Wayne, Bruce".) Another shot showed more tape labels. "Rogel, R": Randy Rogel wrote for Batman. "Rudish, P": Paul Rudish wrote for or did art department work for Le laboratoire de Dexter (1996), _"The Powerpuff Girls"_ (1998), and Samurai Jack (2001). "Smith, Dex": 'Dexter Smith' (q) did character design or layout on the series and Batman contre le fantôme masqué (1993).

The episode is based on the comics stories "The Dead Yet Live" and "I Am the Batman!" (Detective Comics #471/472, August/September 1977) by Steven Englehart and Marshall Rogers.

Michael Reaves originally wrote a sequel episode to this entitled "Mind Games" however, the episode was never produced.

This is the first episode to feature several members of Batman's rogues gallery working together. Until now each episode had featured only one enemy as a primary villain. This feat would later be repeated in Almost Got I'm" (1992) and Trial (1994).

During the plane crash (at 18min39sec) Joker imitates the famous Goofy holler from Disney cartoons.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Llbery
    This was a very entertaining episode, one of the better ones. Not only does someone - "Dr. Hugo Strange" - discover that Bruce Wayne is really Batman, but three famous villains all enter the story: The Joker, Two-Face and The Penguin. Wow, no wonder this was so entertaining.

    The story revolves around Dr. Strange and his invention, which is supposed to help stressed- out people. Executives and others go to his spa and the bad doctor extracts their childhood memories from them and then blackmails them over something they did as a kid. It starts with a prominent judge and then happens to Bruce Wayne, resulting in the evil doctor discovering Wayne is also Batman. He, then, offers this information to the highest bidder among those famous villains.

    How does Batman stop his identity from being revealed? How does Robin enter the picture here? What happens to all these crooks? Well, you'll have to watch as I won't spoil it. Suffice to say this is a great episode. Ones with the Joker's wise-guy comments usually are top-notch.
  • comment
    • Author: Preve
    -------BATMAN, The Animated Series.------- - The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne. -

    Feels so much like the old live action BATMAN adventures.

    -------NINE STARS OUT OF TEN-------

    We have a strange doctor whose name is Doctor Hugo Strange, who happens to be an expert in obtaining very sensible information from his patients as poor Judge Vargas that is haunted by a secret from her childhood. STRANGE gets the secret of Bruce Wayne´s double identity with a special machine that not only gets out of their conscience but gets into video the people´s most carefully hidden secrets.

    But Dr. Hugo Strange, once he knows this secret, instead of just blackmailing his patient, in this case Bruce Wayne, he organizes an auction with three of the most dangerous criminals and therefore, BATMAN´s die hard haters and foes to auction for the proof of the identity of the man under the bat costume.

    As in good old adventures of Batman, starring Adam West as both Batman and Bruce Wayne and Burt Ward as his best friend and ally Richard Grayson/Robin, they will have to come with a quick and effective solution before the identity of Batman is revealed to the highest bidder, or even worse, what if the three of them decide to cooperate to obtain the secret?

    An episode and story that feel so much like the old BATMAN show that you could almost listen to the classic "" na na na na na na na naaa BATMAN!!!!!! "" entry song during the whole adventure....nanananananananaaaa BATMAAN !!!!!!!

    Thanks for reading.

    IMDb Review written by David del Real.

    2017.
  • comment
    • Author: Fordrekelv
    Dr Strange is one of the less ostentatious villains; and indeed, 'The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne' is one I'd forgotten about over the years. But it's curious how this takes some rather serious subject matter (Strange's auctioning off of Batman's secret identity) and balances it nicely with the lighthearted tone of the arrival of Penguin, Two-Face and The Joker. I like that Strange was just sort of a conduit to bring in the heavier hitters.

    With Bruce's secret at risk and the overall plan to blackmail city officials, it's definitely a grand scheme. Something on the level of a Bond villain. And it's entertaining, too; Batman gets the upper hand ('natch) and the one-liners are solid. Some of the background art is very nice; it's not every day we leave Gotham for the desert.

    8/10
  • comment
    • Author: Vojar
    There's been a severe drought in good Batman episodes recently. "Robin's Reckoning Part 2" was a let down, "Night of the Ninja" was mediocre, and "Cat Scratch Fever" is probably the worst episode I've seen so far, just because it was so freaking boring. If you're wondering why I didn't write a review of "Cat Scratch Fever", it's because I had nothing to say about it. That's how pointless it was. But thankfully, this episode was really good and somewhat made up for those other episodes.

    Despite the plot summary, the episode is surprisingly funny. You'd think it'd be more tense given that Strange finds out Bruce is Batman, but the inclusion of Joker, Dent and Penguin send the tone in a more humorous direction. And I don't mind that, if anything I welcome it, mostly because the last couple of ridiculous episodes have been playing it dead serious. If you want a funny episode that also has a good story, look no further.
  • comment
    • Author: Felhalar
    Batman: The Animated Series

    One of the most successful and loved franchise of Batman, depicts the comic version at its best by going deep into the character's perspective rather than trying to cover-up or justify its sketchy tone. The animation is not only convincingly good but also seems like a lot of thought is invested on its cinematography which for the most part of it works on metaphorical way. Kevin Conroy seems the apt choice to be the voice of Batman (although not so sure about Bruce Wayne) and so does Robert Hastings for Commissioner James Gordon as it has the right amount of depth in it. A smarter approach by the makers by narrowing it down to only 20 minutes and get right to the point, keeping the audience engaged. It also brings in bigger cast like Mark Hamill to do the voice over of Joker, which is done with genuine passion and enthusiasm that is clearly visible on screen. Addition to that, the makers keep some of the villains under their sleeve and uses it as a trump card whenever felt necessary that helps in continuity and glue all individual cases as much as possible.

    Season 01

    It, being the longest and acclaimed season of it all since this is where the scrutiny began which got the series its Emmy too. Since the season covers up more than half of the series, it comes with larger expectations to fill especially on terms of character development; the key that helps the viewers last long and enthusiast throughout the course of it. Also, it takes a smarter approach on projecting more of newer character's perspective (mostly its the villain), as it helps to create the anticipated impact.

    The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne

    Just for Mark Hamill's impeccable dialogue delivery, it antes up its game and then rest of it is left to the long last visionary dream of encountering the finest baddies on screen in attempt to take down the protagonist.
  • Episode cast overview:
    Kevin Conroy Kevin Conroy - Batman / Bruce Wayne (voice)
    Loren Lester Loren Lester - Robin / Dick Grayson (voice)
    Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. - Alfred Pennyworth (voice)
    Bob Hastings Bob Hastings - Commissioner James Gordon (voice)
    Ingrid Oliu Ingrid Oliu - Officer Renée Montoya (voice)
    Mark Hamill Mark Hamill - The Joker / Jack Napier (voice)
    Richard Moll Richard Moll - Two-Face / Harvey Dent (voice)
    Paul Williams Paul Williams - The Penguin (voice)
    Ray Buktenica Ray Buktenica - Dr. Hugo Strange (voice) (as Raymond Buktenica)
    Carmen Zapata Carmen Zapata - Judge Maria Vargas (voice)
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