Written by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Butch Lukic
Animation by Dong Yang Animation and Koko
Original air date : October 9, 1999
My rating: 4/5






Description: The story starts in the Gotham from the old days, where Summer Gleason (is that her correct name ?) announces on TV that Cyrus Vance, some guy who used to run a big company and whose body was dying, has placed his consciousness in a computer so that it keeps him alive. Many years later, his grandson puts him online again and Vance decides to find a host in which he'd "download" himself.
After taking control of Batman's suit, he steals it from the Batcave and uses it to kidnapp his grandson whom Vance has chosen to be his host. Terry, without the necessary outfit of course, makes the decision to keep fighting him and stops him just as he was going to complete the download.

Yes, this episode is fun to watch. It has lots of action scenes, including pretty funny ones, like when Terry loses control of the Batsuit and and stops controlling any of his moves. Another fun sequence appears at the end of the ep, when Terry fights the suit by himself, wearing only a belt and Nightwing's mask.
On the other hand it also shows that Batman is not only the suit, but the man inside, which fans had been discussing for hours all around the net.
Otherwise the bad guy is rather lame here. Ok, he looks very creepy on the computer but his origin definitely lacks something. Why exactly does he become a bad guy? To get a host??And I've seen much eviler villains than this one ( the Joker comes to mind=))
And the animation isn't that great: faces look often weird, especially Terry's. But the action is well rendered.
Oh and THE good point here is that the music perfectly fits in every scene of the episode. For once I was delighted to hear it!

So good plot, nice action, but the same problem that one always encounters in Batman Beyond: the bad guy's origin and his aim. Still a truly enjoyable episode!

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