BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES "Baby Doll" Reaction 

Many have said this about the episode but it's worth repeating. This story is so poignant, because it shows Batman, a man robbed of his childhood, empathize with a woman who can't escape hers.

What’s arguably even more tragic is that in one of the BTAS comics written by Bruce Timm it’s said that there was a hormone treatment that theoretically could have cured Marie but it had to be done by a certain age but her parents and agent never told her about it because it was more profitable for her to be an eternal child star.

My favorite part of the episode is the very end where Batman, with nothing but compassion, touches baby doll gently on the head, acknowledging her pain and suffering. Great storytelling.

The ending of this episode always gets me because in that moment of baby doll gazing at her reflection, us as the audience truly begin to empathize with her plight of her being confronted by all of her hopes and dreams for her life in that mirror that will never be, and her decision to destroy it representing her choice to finally let the dream extinguish. 😔

Batman empathizes because he at heart is a child trapped in a man’s body, as he lost any sense of a normal childhood when his parents were killed. Baby doll was an adult trapped in a child’s body. Never taken seriously as an actor, no hope of achieving romance/marriage or having her own family, not able to feel beautiful as a woman because she was stuck looking like an adorable child. It destroyed her mind and she was trapped by the world’s perception of her. Kind of a dark look into how this affects young child stars and how they try to grow out of their former roles or get stuck in it.

I’ve been waiting for you to tackle this episode. “Baby Doll” is one of my favorite episodes of the series. Baby Doll is an equal amount of crazy and tragic. The way her story resolves at the end is pure heartbreak. It’s kinda surprising she hasn’t made a proper introduction in the comics. A solid and underrated episode!

Baby Doll has to be one of the most tragic and emotional episodes as you really feel her pain of losing her chance at life because of her condition and desperately rekindle that happiness and joy by forcing them to pretend like it was the glory days, which I feel Bruce can kind of sympathise with as I feel like he understands the desperation to experience happiness again after tragedy and fates cruel hand takes it away

The closest disease remotely resembling Baby Doll's condition was hypopituitarism, a rare hormonal condition that affects the pituitary glands and stunts bodily developmental growth, causing proportional dwarfism.

One of my favorite sad Batman episodes. This show really tries to convey that all of Batman’s villains are like him: people suffering from a REALLY bad day.

"I didn't mean to...." That gentle hand he puts on her head DESTROYS me every time.

Oh, God, this episode. The ending breaks my damn heart, every time. The voice acting by Alison LaPlaca is superlative, there. The transition from the creepy, nefariously childlike "I didn't mean to...." from the rest of the episode, to that final, horribly broken and devastated "I didn't.... Mean to...." in her adult voice. Damn it, that hits me hard.

There is a woman named Shauna Rae that actually has basically the same condition. She also cant have a normal life because she is likewise stuck as a 10 year old. It was a aside affect of some cancer treatment she took.

This is up there with Almost Got 'Im! Also, there are actual people who suffer with conditions similar to Baby Doll. Gary Coleman was one of them. Like Harley Quinn, Baby Doll wasn't from the comics, but instead an original villain for the show. She reflects how Batman is a child trapped in an adult body, while she's the opposite.

The condition that Baby Doll has is real but not like that. It just prevents growth, not aging.

This is one of those dark mirrors to Batman episodes, Mary Dahl is essentially the same as Batman, someone who never got to grow up and live a normal life because of something out of their control. Hypoplasia is a thing, they added the Systemic in front of it to mean it was related to all of her system of organs and tissues instead of just a select one to not grow. Though there are several different conditions or illnesses that could lead to a person appearing childlike or underaged their whole life. Prime examples off the top of my head being Gary Coleman and Shauna Rae.

It exists. Gary Coleman from the sitcom Diff'nt strokes had it. This story was almost certainly inspired by him.

Fun fact: Kevin Conroy got to play a live action batman in the arrowvers Gary Coleman had the same illness like babydoll he looked like a child but he was a adult

I believe Baby Doll was gonna take them all out, including herself, with that explosion. Like a murder-suicide.

Oh, THIS episode 😢

Oh god this episode, so sad

This is one of the best episodes of the series. Mary Dahl's story is tragic as typecasting ruined her career, like it has so many celebrities.

I always thought it was a shame that Baby Doll never caught on as a recurring villain across Batman media. She's really got the makings of a consistently fun rogue.

I've always felt that her reflection at the end is a representation of how she feels she should be like on the outside. Body dysmorphia in other words. But no matter what she feels she should look like on the inside, she can never actually achieve it because of the condition she's been burdened with.

Gary Coleman and Emmanuel Lewis had something similar because unlike dwarfism, their bodies had better potion size. It not exactly not aging but if you are not previewed to their condition you might think that they are young.

That illness definitely does exist, there's a treatment for it, but it has to be done before puberty. There's a guy on youtube from somewhere like Dubai who has this (or something very much like it), he's in his late 20s but looks like he's about 8 or 9. I wish I could remember his name so I could look up what his actual condition is called.

Babydoll's henchmen are designed to look like the Skipper and Gilligan from Gilligan's Island. I'm old. 😂

Mirrors in fiction/visual media: a way to show the reflected person's state of mind or identity. The mirror showed Baby with new clothes and hair, so it wasn't just a stretched reflection. The mirror was real, so it probably displayed a distorted reflection like the others, but Baby "sees" herself as she imagines she would be at her age...with the help of the upscaled reflection. It probably warped her face in just the right way for her to see it, because the others don't change her perception this way. And as she gets close she sees her proper self as she touches it.

This is the episode people use to height Batman's Empathy. There Are real things were people age while not gaining height or never enter puberty and even one where you can be sensitive to sunlight and one where your whole body grows hair. there are real thing out there I just don't know the names.

One of the best BTAS stories out there; definitely one of the top ten, maybe even top five.

Eeeeee! This is one of my all-time favorite episodes! Thank you so much for reacting to this one!😊

ALISON LA PLACA played the voice of Baby-Doll!!! She played Rachel's boss in Friends named "Joanna"❤

Don't forget the underrated "The Batman" cartoon from '04.

I’ve been waiting for this one. Might be my favorite episode in this entire show.

I think the disease is real but I think the show might of changed it a bit, I’m not to sure. I do remember seeing a clip on RU-vid of this woman in her 20s or 30s trying to date but she looks like she’s 9. If it isn’t real, I think some dwarfs might be unlucky and look like they are very young. This is definitely one of the best episodes of the show.

1 of my favorite episodes 😢

The guy who played the actor that plays the father, I recognize him as Scrooge McDuck from the original Ducktales

Great to watch Batman the Animated Series on the first week of the new year Thanks Meg.🎵🎶🎼🎼🎶🎵

*Walker's music IS Phenomenal; especially love the deep drum that strikes 3 solemn times, when Baby runs out of bullets and is confronted by Batman. Before the stinger-line of "I didn't mean to", It shows the unrelenting force of justice that he represents. He emphasise, he feels your trauma, but your going to Arkham!*

Babydoll speaks to me in so many levels because I am in some way suffering the same fate as hers. I still look like a child physically speaking and it has caused me so much anxiety, anguish and many other negative emotions. One of the major experiences that marked me was like from 2 weeks ago on a Friday. A random guy was about to r*** in plain daylight while I was with my mom and my grandmother simply because I looked like a little girl. So, I totally get her feelings and her justified reason to become a villain.

There is nothing slavic about having a christmas tree, that comes from Germanic traditions

I recommend that you watch Batman Beyond only after you have finished watching The Adventures of Batman and Robin and have watched at least the first season of The New Batman Adventures. This way you will better understand the events in Batman Beyond. As for Justice League Animated Series, this one will take a little longer. Only after having finished Superman TAS, TNBA and Batman Beyond.

Thanks for the video meg! :)

10:54 I feel bad for baby doll with her age conditions, when she’s in her child form as an adult.

I don't know how real or frequent that condition is, but there is a live thriller type movie with the same idea called "orphan". Another reaction channel recently reacted to it. I first saw it just after high school, yrs ago.

This disease 100% exists.

She was born with systemic hypoplasia a rare condition that kept her from aging 2:19

Baby Doll Looks Like A Character From Looney Tunes Who Just Randomly Appeared In A Superhero Universe

One of my favorite episodes! The whole episode is amazing and the ending is simply too good

I'd say Baby Doll is similar to Gary Coleman. He was famous for the TV Show Diff'rent Strokes.

There are rare conditions that certainly resemble what Mary Louise Dahl has. I don't think they got the name of the diagnosis right, though. Definitely an underutilized character, I believe she was created for this show. I've always thought she'd make an interesting pairing with Clayface. Like most Batman antagonists, Baby-Doll is kind of a mirror to Batman, in a way. Batman has also kind of been derailed from growing up. Not in the same way, of course, but he's definitely still a child in some ways.

In case you don’t know Batman the animated series, Superman:the animated series, Batman: Beyond, Justice league, and Justice league: unlimited are all part of the same universe with a few in-universe feature films. The DC animated film universe started with Justice League: flashpoint and then ended with Justice league: darkseid war. It had another reboot and started with Superman: man of tomorrow. Batman long Halloween was the second film in the universe which you’ve already seen. This universe is about to end with the 3 part crisis on infinite earths film

This is sad because its really how her original comic debut goes on to be the sadness villain origin because she is delusional and depressed because of how she is not happy nothing compares to it the story is just amazing

What's the rendition of jump up superstar playing in the beginning?

I remember watching this when I was little and with killer croc was crying a lot. To never grow up, find love, have children, and being alone is incredibly tragic.

8:07 i believ it's because she would have rather died living her fanatsy than lived facing her truth. truly a villian i struggle not feeling sorry for

Her illness is a rare form of dwarfism that actually exists. People like Gary Coleman and Webster are some examples.

So glad to hear you will be moving onto Batman Beyond at some point. You might want to also check out a series called Static Shock. It’s one of the few DCAU cartoons focused on a hero of color. Keep the journey going!

never heard baby doll before this episode but this all made sad in end. the dad was voice of Alan Young he was Scrooge McDuck in duck tails.

Best episode in the series

For the dynamite scene, I do believe Mary's intentions were to die with her family as her final wish. We see her suicidal tendencies with the last scene.

I can't wait till Meg watches Young Justice! It's my favorite DC show, and one of my favorites in general. I think she'll love it

Can’t wait for you to get into the New Adventures of BTAS then Batman beyond justice league justice league unlimited etc. I can’t wait to see your reactions to those.

You had to watch Fox's Duet and Open House to catch the actress behind the voice of Baby Doll.

They went hard on this episode, I love it.

Hi Meg hope you are having an great and awesome day ❤

I remember this episode because Mary Louise Dhal was an actress in this show who’d turned to crime after quitting her tv series and putting others outta work and all because, Look At’Er , She’s got the body of a preteen girl & the voice of an adult woman .

Yeah do a Summer cosplay. Baby Doll has a great tragic backstory. By watching the clip of her show that she never knew about her face getting shoved in the cake.

The rare condition Baby Doll suffers from was the same with actor Gary Coleman, known for Different Strokes & his catchphrase "What you talkin' about, Willis?!" Cousin Spunky is based on Cousin Oliver, who had the same role/purpose in The Brady Bunch when one of the kid actors got older & wasn't longer "cute & adorable". The older Spunky actor is also based on the actor who played Cousin Oliver, Robbie Rist. He too became a musician & to my generation he will forever be known as the voice of Michaelangelo in the three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action movies! 😃 He also voiced Michaelangelo in a Casey Jones fan film by Polaris Banks 🙂

I mean there is a similar illness in real life. Gary Coleman had it. Remember him on different strokes. He was like in his teens or twenties when he did arnold.

Batman has so many layers. Omg!

Hey if it's not too much trouble I doubt you probably heard of this cartoon but it was one of my favorite cartoons I used to watch when I was 5 years old do you think you can do a reaction video to The Swat Kats I don't know what streaming service is on but it did get a release on DVD

I’m just watching this series myself and just saw this episode.

Went over my head as a kid.

I love this one. Scary af.

A man who was robbed of his childhood and a woman who was robbed of her adulthood.

This episode is yet another great showing of these writers picking or creating a very goofy villain concept and making it grounded, human, understandable and heartbreaking to watch. This episode is very well loved and even so I still think it does not get enough praise, for that voice actor alone!

13:42 if u r wondering who the VA Alison laplaca but in Batman new adventures she’s voiced by Laraine Newman I wonder why the studios didn’t bring the OG back to continue voicing her no shade to the new VA taking over just I wish they kept the SAME actress throughout the same universe and Alison deserves more VO roles she only has 3 the last 2 r just sexy girls from Johnny bravo n basically that’s it

Meg is becoming more like a Detective in this episode.

I feel like a lot of people miss the very dark implication that yes, that explosion would have killed everyone, Baby Doll included.

I dunno if the actual name of the illness is real but there's definitely illnesses where people don't age like that, there was a sitcom actor with that illness, and I've also seen clips of this girl on RU-vid who doesn't age

The best villains for Batman are the ones who need his help.

When i saw this episode in my childhood i couldn't believe someone like this could exist too. Then i met Hasbulla

Remember that Baby Doll is collecting the original cast... then the family dog turns up. Stuffed and mounted. Some horror reactions from the others around the breakfast table might have got the Batman series banned!

This is an episode I show people from time to time when they want to watch the show. It’s so great! The acting, the music, the animation, and the theme of the Episode is awesome. The only disease that’s similar to Baby Doll is what Gary Coleman had.

Baby Doll hates herself because she is considered a child by people who don't know her and she figures she can never escape a time that is long gone, whilst ironically acknowledging that playing that character was probably the best time of her life, since she was actually successful (though the episode also notes that the character of Spunky was introduced to boost ratings). She is forced to acknowledge that she will always be seen as the character she played on that tv show, as the episode clearly states that she wanted to become a dramatic actress but noone wanted to cast her in anything and she figured that it was in part because of how she looks to the rest of the world and because of how typecast she was at that point. The one success that she actually had was playing the Baby Doll character on that show so she acted like the character most of the time this episode because it likely felt reassuring to her. Part of it is also sad because it's clear that she also kind of feels that she HAS to act like that character because she's got nothing else outside of that. However, there are a couple of moments when she drops the facade and we get to hear the voice of a grown-up speaking, which is when she's trying to convey her actual thoughts and emotions. Those are not happy by the way in contrast to the joyful "Baby Doll" character she plays in front of other people. She gets sad and melancholic recounting the hard time she had finding work after her decision to leave the show where she at least had been SOMEBODY and how she missed having all those other actors around her, since they had known each other for a while. However, all the other actors were able to move on from that tv show. She wasn't and in this epsidoe also isn't ready to do so. This becomes clear when she angrily says that the show was real to her as she's talking to the person she believes to be "Spunky". In that same moment she also blames all her misfortunes on him because she has rearranged the events in her mind so that Spunky is to blame for everything when actually she was the one who put all the other actors out of work by walking off the show, ironically acting like a spoiled child when she was an adult and Spunky was a child actor who could not make any creative decisions about the show at all. Finally, she looks at herself in the funhouse mirror and sees what she desperately wants to be to everyone else but can never actually be in the eyes of the rest of the world. She knows that what she sees is who she feels she is deep down but it can never be a reality and so that image is just a cruel mirage taunting her, not only because of how she knows she looks to other people, but also because of the crimes she has now committed due to how she feels about her situation in life. Hence, she knows that the life she wants and needs could never be hers, even though she desperately wants it. So she expresses her hatred for herself by shooting the funhouse mirror.

Could you please tell us how you celebrate the solstice? Like the Slavic traditions that you celebrate?

Oof, this episode is a heavy one😢

I look forward to your reaction to the episode Love Is A Croc.

At last we hit one of the best ones again

Its true you can look it up

The disease exists but it doesn't exactly prevent ageing it prevents growth and puberty. So yea a adult with the stature of a child is going to look... Well rough and not be mistaken for an actual child.

I'm not sure if this is going to be a spoiler or anything. That's not my intention, but there's an episode in Justice League season two which is both the season final and, oddly, it also acts as the true final to Batman Beyond... there's something in that episode that may bring tears, though not in a bad way but it's an emotional and sad scene you will adore. (Just a suggestion, if you want to, it might actually be a good idea to concurrently start reacting to both Justice League & Batman Beyond at around the same time...)

This episode is one of those that there is no winning, just pain and marks the issue with most of villains: mental health 6:28 damn 😂 11:54 in a way it does

although she did team up with killer Croc

Imagine the world where Miriam became the big breakout villain, and Harley Quinn was a one-off henchwoman.

The Batman Animated series has the best villains. If movie companies had any courage, someone like The Ventriloquist could be a major villain. Or even Baby Doll could be a major sympathetic villain. Arguably, they aren't crazy like say Joker or Two-Face, but they are right on the edge, simply from life experiences. The Ventriloquist has a talent, but Ms. Dahl, she can act, but her looks don't fit the expected standards. They are tragic.

I believe Baby Doll models her condition, in the most general way after Gary Coleman's, but Coleman had a kidney disease that required steroid treatment that stunted his growth and facial features. Baby Doll's fictional condition implies an underdevelopment of several structures in her biology. But the theme of an actor that is typecast or severely limited due to appearance, role and, in both cases, medical conditions, might be where her character comes from. There is a genetic disorder that causes rapid aging, so the writers might have piggybacked off that idea. Out of everything in this episode, I really thought you'd connect to the acting dilemma - being typecast and trying to make it, create art, or just prove yourself and be diverse. But struggling and losing yourself.

If you were Catholic, you would also still have the tree up till mid January.

Think Baby Doll would make a great character of the comics, think "Chucky" but with less immortality and more brains

She has the same issue thay the actor that played Webster had.