We grow. We change. We realise we ranked some episodes of a children’s cartoon from the 90s incorrectly. After re-uploading the entire BTAS era of The Matt Signal, it’s finally time to fix some of those mistakes!

If you’ve been reading along you’ll have spotted a dozen or so [2023/2024 Edit] comments on episodes where I had grown to regret my placement of the episode in my rankings. I always felt bad about some of them but dreaded the admin work required to go back and fix over 100 reviews, so just let them stand.

I’m absolutely not going to go and edit the lists in each individual review, but I AM going to shift my final rankings around, edit the rankings in my Season Reviews, and throw in some [2024 Edit] comments on episodes that moved dramatically, linking back to this piece to explain why.

BTAS Season One Changes

Most of these are extremely minor moves, but the major ones are ‘Shadow of the Bat: Part I’ taking a tumble from 4th down to 9th, and ‘On Leather Wings’ jumping from 29th up to 20th. Likewise, ‘The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne’ has climbed from 41st to 34th.

These changes meant Paul Dini took a bit of a hit in the Writer Rankings, while Denny O’Neil fell off the Top 10 in favour of Mike Underwood. Elsewhere, Spectrum and Sunrise swapped places in the Animation Rankings. No changes to Direction or Music.

1. The Laughing Fish (-)
2. Almost Got ‘Im (-)
3. Heart of Ice (-)
4. Robin’s Reckoning: Part I (↑)
5. I Am the Night (↑)
6. Two-Face: Part I (↑)
7. The Man Who Killed Batman (-)
8. Perchance to Dream (-)
9. Shadow of the Bat: Part I (↓)
10. Feat of Clay: Part II (↑)
11. Joker’s Favor (↓)
12. Read My Lips (↓)
13. Harley & Ivy (↑)
14. Beware the Gray Ghost (↑)
15. Demon’s Quest: Part II (↓)
16. Robin’s Reckoning: Part II (↓)
17. Mad As a Hatter (-)
18. Heart of Steel: Part II (-)
19. Appointment in Crime Alley (-)
20. On Leather Wings (↑)
21. Two-Face: Part II (↓)
22. Pretty Poison (↓)
23. Shadow of the Bat: Part II (↓)
24. Feat of Clay: Part I (↓)
25. Vendetta (↑)
26. His Silicon Soul (↓)
27. Off Balance (↓)
28. Birds of a Feather (↓)
29. Eternal Youth (↑)
30. Heart of Steel: Part I (↓)
31. Never Too Late (↓)
32. See No Evil (↓)
33. The Clock King (↓)
34. The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne (↑)
35. Joker’s Wild (↓)
36. The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy (↓)
37. The Cat and The Claw: Part I
38. Zatanna (↓)
39. Day of the Samurai (↓)
40. Demon’s Quest: Part I (↓)
41. Mechanic (↓)
42. Terror in the Sky (-)
43. P.O.V. (-)
44. Christmas with the Joker (-)
45. Fear of Victory (-)
46. Be a Clown (-)
47. The Worry Men (-)
48. What Is Reality? (-)
49. Night of the Ninja (-)
50. Fire From Olympus (-)
51. Mudslide (-)
52. Cat and Claw: Part II (-)
53. Nothing to Fear (-)
54. Prophecy of Doom (-)
55. Tyger, Tyger (-)
56. Blind As a Bat (-)
57. If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (-)
58. Dreams in Darkness (-)
59. The Last Laugh (-)
60. Cat Scratch Fever (-)
61. Moon of the Wolf (-)
62. Paging the Crime Doctor (-)
63. Underdwellers (-)
64. The Forgotten (-)
65. I’ve Got Batman in My Basement (-)

BTAS Season Two Changes

The most extreme changes are ‘Second Chance’ and ‘Lock-Up’ taking big leaps up the list, and ‘Catwalk’ dropping a fair bit. Everything else is broadly the same.

These changes meant Gerry Conway, Marty Isenberg and Robert Skir rose in the writer rankings, while Randy Rogel, Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Brynne Chandler and Alan Burnett fell slightly. No changes to Directors, Animation or Composers.

1. Harlequinade (-)
2. Trial (↑)
3. Riddler’s Reform (↓)
4. Baby-Doll (-)
5. Bane (-)
6. Batgirl Returns (-)
7. Second Chance (↑)
8. A Bullet For Bullock (↓)
9. House & Garden (-)
10. Lock-Up (↑)
11. Catwalk (↓)
12. Deep Freeze (↓)
13. Harley’s Holiday (↓)
14. Make ‘Em Laugh (-)
15. Avatar (-)
16. Lion and Unicorn (-)
17. Time Out of Joint (-)
18. Sideshow (-)
19. Showdown (-)
20. Terrible Trio (-)

TNBA Changes

After already flipping the original positions of ‘Old Wounds’ and ‘You Scratch My Back’, I have lowered ‘Girl’s Night Out’ and ‘The Ultimate Thrill’. Most the of the rest is the same.

These changes meant TMS narrowly overtook Koko & Dong Yang, but no changes to Directors, Writers or Composers.

1. Mad Love (-)
2. Over the Edge (-)
3. Double Talk (-)
4. Legends of the Dark Knight (↑)
5. Judgment Day (↓)
6. Torch Song (↑)
7. Old Wounds (↑)
8. Sins of the Father (↓)
9. Girl’s Night Out (↓)
10. Mean Seasons (↑)
11. Growing Pains (↑)
12. Holiday Knights (↑)
13. The Ultimate Thrill (↓)
14. Chemistry (↑)
15. Joker’s Millions (↑)
16. Cold Comfort (-)
17. You Scratch My Back (↓)
18. Never Fear (-)
19. Love Is a Croc (-)
20. The Demon Within (-)
21. Animal Act (-)
22. Cult of the Cat (-)
23. Beware the Creeper (-)
24. Critters (-)

Rogues Roundup Changes

The most minor changes of all. Roxy Rocket & Nivens were too high, Lock-Up, Man-Bat and Talia were too low. Every other change is just accomodating those ones.

1. The Joker
2. Harley Quinn
3. Mr. Freeze
4. Poison Ivy
5. The Ventriloquist
6. Catwoman
7. Two-Face
8. The Phantasm
9. The Riddler
10. Bane
11. Baby-Doll
12. Mad Hatter
13. The Penguin
14. Clayface
15. HARDAC (and Randa Duane)
16. Ra’s al Ghul
17. Livewire
18. Calendar Girl
19. Firefly
20. Killer Croc
21. Scarecrow
22. Lock-Up (↑)
23. Roxy Rocket (↓)
24. Lloyd Ventrix
25. Rupert Thorne
26. Man-Bat (↑)
27. Mutant Leader
28. Count Vertigo
29. Clock King
30. Klarion (and Teekl!)
31. Roland Daggett (and Germs & Bell!)
32. Talia al Ghul (↑)
33. Nivens (↓)
34. Enrique el Gancho
35. Josiah Wormwood
36. Sid the Squid
37. Queen Thoth Khepera
38. Maxie Zeus
39. Jimmy ‘Jazzman’ Peake
40. Tony Zucco
41. Rhino, Mugsy and Ratso
42. Hugo Strange
43. Red Claw
44. Arnold Stromwell
45. Mad Bomber
46. Tygrus
47. Kyodai Ken
48. Condiment King/Pack Rat/Mighty Mom
49. Farmer Brown (and Emmylou!)
50. Grant Walker
51. Gil Mason
52. Nostromos (and Lucas!)
53. Cameron Kaiser
54. Dr. Dorian (and Garth)
55. Carlton Duquesne
56. Mad Dog
57. Ubu
58. Thomas Blake
59. Professor Milo
60. Romulus
61. Arkady Duvall
62. Sewer King
63. Boss Biggis
64. Montague Kane
65. The Terrible Trio