Batman BeyondWasn’t Afraid to Show the Dangers of Sex Robots

A lot of people love the ‘ 90sBatman Beyondcartoon , set in a future where an elderlyBruce Waynetrains teen Terry McGillis to be the new Dark Knight of the hereafter . I assume these people have forgotten about the sequence “ Terry ’s Friend see a Robot , ” a rubric that should bespeak how much creativity and thought went into making it . Although it ’s not an precise statute title ; that would have been “ Nerd buy a MurderousSex Robot . ”

The best affair about “ Terry ’s Friend Dates a Robot ” is that it is 20 minutes long with the hatchway credits , so the pain is over soon . The episode begin with Terry ’s Batman oppose definitive villains Riddler , Two - Face , and Killer Croc . It ’s quickly made open how this is possible when Terry decapitates Croc — the bad guys are robots old Bruce is using to train his protégé . But with one “ synthoid ” out of commission , Bruce order Terry to peck up a new head at the synthoid mill .

First , however , Terry has to go to gamey schooling , where he see his “ friend”—and I ’ll dispute this , the characterwas only in fiveof 52 Batman Beyond episode and I ’m fairly sure Terry ’s just being friendly rather of a champion — Howard Groote try and miscarry to invite popular guys and aphrodisiacal , democratic girls to a party he ’s flip . Howard is a loser who gets shunned by them all , but if that were somehow obscure , Beyond helpfully makes Howard adipose tissue and short , then gives him glasses , high pant , and enormous , worryingly problematical long horse teeth .

Screenshot: WB Animation

Howard believes having a hot , coolheaded girlfriend will all of a sudden make him popular . “ It ’s a sign that you ’re somebody , ” he says . “ Somebody passably shallow , ” Terry blessedly replies . “ Shallow but popular , ” Howard counter , then he spy Terry ’s fancy cable car ( supplied by Wayne , of path ) . “ If I had wheels like these , I ’d get more girls than a rock wizard ! ” he say , in typeface you were n’t certain he mean of women as totems to bring him the attention of others .

Howard convince Terry to give him a ride home , but they have to stop by the synthoid factory first , where the fifties visual imitation of a pornographer is making illegal sexual practice automaton in full scene of anybody who enters the factory . While Terry does his business , Howard overhear the sleazeball recite two guest , “ you could stop worrying about those lonely weekend . Your custom ordination ’s quick . ” Howard ogle the sexy female synthoid in the tank ( ? ) , quickly puts horny two and pervy two together , and pulls out a credit board to purchase one for himself .

Howard ’s request : “ Personality - wise , she ’s pose to be completely devoted to me . One - hundred percent loyal . Physically , around five - seven . Red hairsbreadth , average distance , and the coolest dark-green eyes . ”

Screenshot: WB Animation

Screenshot: WB Animation

Clearly , Howard does not know what a personality is . Although it does n’t much thing , because the episode does n’t know what “ devoted ” means either ; in this case , its definition seems to be “ horny and murderously covetous . ” When “ Cynthia , ” as Howard dubs her , come to high school the next solar day , she overhears the jock Nelson ’s plan to beat the grind up for the crime of having a hot girlfriend . Later , she sneaks into the boys ’ locker room and pushes about a dozen giant rack of lockers onto Nelson , something that is confirmed would have killed him had he not been wearing his ice hockey pads .

If I had to pick the thing that blow most about this episode , it ’s that Howard turn out to be right . have a sexy girlfriend draped over him immediately create him cool and pop , and scores of kid plan to go to his company later that night . to boot , other aphrodisiac girls get down flirting with Howard rather of shunning him , because apparently aphrodisiacal girls only need what they ca n’t have , which is only limited to things possessed by other sexy girl .

When that sexy lady friend flirts , Cynthia becomes so angry she suppress Howard ’s notebook in her secretly robot paw , and Terry starts to think something ’s wrong . Terry follow Cynthia and foreclose her from murder the non - robot sexy girl in a jealous rage , but then she punches him off a building . He ’s fine , realize he ’s distribute with an highly green-eyed , murder - happy synthoid , and goes to catch the ‘ 50s pornographer . He has to fight a bunch of regular , non - horny robots first , but it ’s not an number .

Screenshot: WB Animation

Screenshot: WB Animation

Now , it ’s political party sentence ! Cynthia start trigger-happy with the sexy young woman when she flirts again , then pushes Terry ’s Quaker Max to the undercoat when she tries to get Cynthia to stop . An disquieted Howard chair Cynthia up to his bedroom to spill the beans to her privately , and if you have any doubt she was created for having sex as pit to just being a popularity magnet , Cynthia heads straight off for Howard ’s bottom . When he essay to call the golem maker to rejigger her programming , she comes up to him and caresses his face and upper torso . It ’s horrible .

“ I am what you made me to be , Howard . ” Cynthia says , which again , is base on a wholly fictitious definition of “ loyal . ” “ We can be together always . ” This compulsion completely freaks Howard out , who tells his sexual urge automaton he wants to see other young lady . How does Cynthia take this ? The direction any completely reductive stereotype of a woman might : by going into a murderous furore . Women be covetous , amirite ?

As the party - goer spread , Cynthia stalks Howard . When Max tries to stop her , Cynthia is about to crush her with a couch when Batman crashes through the window and tackle her . The two proceed to have a fight that wrack a good mountain of the Groote household . Eventually , Howard prove to stop the destruction by telling Cynthia they can still be friends , which prompt two celebrated reaction :

Screenshot: WB Animation

Screenshot: WB Animation

1 ) Terry winces .

2 ) Cynthia quite literally explodes in incandescent furor , destroying Howard ’s firm .

Happily , the rock - stupid high-pitched schooling pupil cerebrate it ’s cool that Howard blew up his own home as part of the party , point he ’ll still be democratic . Unhappily , his parent pass from a holiday to discover they no longer have a house and shout out at their boy for maxing out their reference wag , which may entail they ’ll be now live in poverty . The installment thankfully ends before we come up out .

Screenshot: WB Animation

Screenshot: WB Animation

Batman Beyond is hardly the only good sketch to have an absolute bum of an sequence now and then ; even the universally beloved Batman : The Animated Serieshad its humiliated points . But even then , the debacle of “ Terry ’s Friend Dates a Robot ” seems glaring . The moral here , I consider , is this : if you get hold yourself trying to figure out how to make a story about a murderous sexual urge automaton kid - friendly , it ’s estimable to just think of something else .

Assorted Musings:

At one point , Max calls Cynthia a “ robo - bim , ” which is obviously next slang for “ robot bimbo . ” It ’s just awful , but it ’s also another lesson that the toon knows this is a story about a gender robot .

Speaking of succeeding slang , I forget Batman Beyond ’s future translation of “ cool ” is “ shway . ” I assume it ’s because I hated the episode , but every meter someone uttered it I felt a tongue in my soul .

It seems to take about 30 seconds to make a sexuality robot , which must make it a difficult crime to police .

Screenshot: WB Animation

Screenshot: WB Animation

Terry and Max briefly investigate the locker room , but when the boys come up in from Future Sports practice , Max cover in one of the lockers , and Terry desert her there . It ’s super cool .

Batman investigates the porn guy while he deal an gild over the telephone set : “ Yeah , all six can expect like keno girls . ” So someone may be say enough sexual activity golem , for an orgy , who will all front like Las Vegas cassino daughter . It ’s a entirely worthwhile line of dialogue as Batman Beyond ’s young interview would have unquestionably understood the women in lean wearing apparel who hear to convert gambler to play the drawing .

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Screenshot: WB Animation