Episode Gallery: "Batgirl Begins" Part 1 (Season 3, Episode 1)
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| Original broadcast date: September 17, 2005 |
(The first three minutes of this episode is a “flash-forward” fight sequence that will play out in full in the following episode. For brevity’s sake, it will not be covered on this page.)
The episode proper begins with Temblor (a new original character created for this series) going on a destructive rampage through the Neugog Chemicals riverfront facility, using his large Vibro-Gauntlets to generate shockwaves and earthquakes that damage and destroy anything in their path. His destructive activities does not go unnoticed, and soon The Batman arrives on-scene to take Temblor down. After trading several blows back and forth with the Dark Knight, Temblor is forced to make a hasty retreat as the GCPD arrive at the Neugog complex.
Commissioner Jim Gordon also arrives at the facility, telling Batman that this was the third building Temblor has hit this week. Though Gordon is baffled by his lack of motive with these attacks, Batman believes Temblor is "work for hire", having removed a small communication device from the villain during their fight. Before their conversation can continue, Gordon's phone rings.
On the other end, Jim's daughter Barbara has called to inform her father that she won't be needing a ride home from gymnastics class. From the tone of her voice, Jim immediately knows that she has skipped practice (again), and assumes that she's out with Pamela Isley. While Barbara is busy on the phone, Pamela is picking a door lock. By the time the two Gordons end their phone call, Pamela has managed to open the door, and her and Barbara head inside the downtown Gotham headquarters of Chlorogene.
Though it's late in the evening, Chlorogene's CEO Ronald J. Dawson is still in his office, trimming a small potted Bonsai tree sitting on his desk. Suddenly, two masked figures burst into the room, one of which blasts him with a water gun filled with green goop.
The more vocal of the two hops onto Dawson's desk, showing him photographs of the neon-green liquid pollution his company has been pouring into the Gotham river.
The masked figure also wants to berate Dawson for his Chloro-Mulch mutated "Super-Vegetables", but instead simply takes his Bonsai tree and throws it to her silent companion. With a seemingly successful mission, the two make a mad-dash out of the office and through the building's security guard.
Now back on the city streets, it isn't long until the pair are picked up by Commissioner Gordon himself.
During the ride home, Jim asks Barbara what could have been so important that she decided to skip gymnastics, but Pamela quickly chimes in that she and "Red" were just out trying to make the world a better place... for plants.
Jim tells Pamela he's not against trying to save the Earth, he just doesn't like her extreme methods, as indicated by her juvenile hall records.
The car pulls up to the Isley residence, and a now-seemingly irritated Pamela gets out.
Inside the Batcave, Bruce Wayne has managed to reconfigure Temblor's communicator so that he can now intercept and track any messages broadcasted to it. Temblor, in his own lair, listens as his mysterious "boss" calls him. Using a voice distortion software on her laptop, Pamela Isley tells the thug that his new target is the corporate headquarters of Chlorogene from the comfort of her own bed.
As Pamela continues her conversation with Temblor, her mother calls to her from the other room, a call which Temblor hears. The hired henchman then inquires about his pay, unaware that the teenager has no intent to pay him at all.
Later that night, Temblor arrives at Chlorogene, only for Batman to already be there waiting. Before Temblor can activate his gauntlets, the Caped Crusader throws a small pellet from his utility belt which instantly creates a thick sheet of ice around Temblor's hand. The two continue their unfinished battle from their previous encounter, but Temblor once again runs off before the job is done.
Back in the Gordon residence, Jim is cooking dinner for him and Barbara, only for Barbara to get a call from Pamela.
Pamela suggest that she and Barbara go to Chlorogene's research labs and try some "persuasion" on their scientists. Not wanting her father to hear about this, Barbara quickly hangs up, leaving Pamela to venture to the laboratory on her own. Before Jim can finish frying his pork chops, he receives a call about Batman and Temblor's fight outside of Chlorogene. As he rushes out the door, Barbara begins to realize that maybe there's a connection between Temblor and Pamela.
In the Batcave, Bruce Wayne has managed to pin-point the exact location of where Temblor has been getting his messages from: a computer belonging to Pamela Isley.
At Chlorogene's research labs, Pamela has been caught and thrown out by security. Realizing that there is no other solution, Isley decides to call in Temblor to level the building to the ground. Batman listens in on the call as he takes off in the Batmobile to the lab, hearing Temblor complain to his "boss" about a glitch regarding his online payments to him. During their conversation, Pamela accidentally lets it slip that she is there at the laboratory.
As Temblor charges up his gauntlets, Pamela runs off inside the Clorogene building, leaving Barbara to deal with the thug on her own. Using her gymnastic skills, Barbara manages to dodge Temblor's swings and shockwaves until she's hit by a piece of concrete.
Temblor heads inside the laboratory, only for Pamela to be up on the second-story catwalk, (unsuccessfully) pushing pieces of equipment down towards the villain.
Temblor hits a support column with a shockwave, causing an overhead pipe to come crashing down on the walkway. Pamela loses her footing and falls onto an elevating platform, only to get pinned down by the falling debris.
Barbara Gordon finally enters the building, awestruck by the sight of The Batman in action. Suddenly, Barbara hears a cry for help coming from Pamela, still pinned to the lifting platform. Steel girders around her rattle, and Pamela's eyes go wide as she realizes one of the Chloro-Mulch canisters is dangling directly over her.
Though he is still occupied with Batman, Temblor notices Barbara running towards her friend, and sends out a shockwave that throws Barbara against the wall. Temblor gives the gauntlets an extra charge, but before he can strike the Dark Knight, Batman throws a bolas that wraps around the gloves and sends Temblor to the ground. The gloves accidentally go off, breaking loose the bottom of the Chloro-Mulch container. Pamela screams in terror as the mutated mulch rains down onto her, engulfing her pinned body in a cloud of dark green and sparkling red. Batman quickly throws a Batarang at the lift's control panel, causing it to elevate up from the emerald haze. Batman and Barbara look up in wonder, only letting out a sigh of relief once they hear Pamela coughing.
Paramedics and police arrive, and Pamela is loaded into an ambulance. Barbara asks her father if Pam will be OK, but Jim responds that they won't know until after a detox procedure. As the ambulance speeds down the road, the sleeping Pamela suddenly awakens, her eyes now a luminescent solid green...
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