The Story of the (Once) Missing 'Batman: The Brave and the Bold' Episode

 What happens when you push the Standards & Practices Department one step too far?

Batman: The Brave and the Bold was a fun Cartoon based on the Comic Book of the same name.
In it, Batman teamed up with a Hero (or Heroes) in a Silver Age (aka the 1960s) Adventure that would have wacky moments, strong action and a self-aware silliness not seen since the Adam West Batman Show.

The subject today is 'The Mask of Matches Malone,' the 17th Episode of Season 2.

  
So why am I watching it on the Season 3 DVD?

A conflict arises as Batman tries to stop Catwoman from stealing a magic artifact- that gives the wearer 9 Lives-, while Huntress and Black Canary are trying to stop Two-Face from stealing the same thing.

He gets away, setting up a conflict between the ladies.
Happy Woman's History Month!

Two-Face sets up a criminal Auction for the item, so Batman goes in undercover as Matches Malone, his go-to faux criminal nom de guerre.

During the battle, he gets hit on the head and, since he's a Cartoon Character, he gets amnesia.

Matches takes the artifact and begins a life of crime!

The trio try to get him to come to his senses, since Batman as a criminal is as effective as he is when he's a hero.  Also he's somewhat immortal (for the time being).

This leads to a Musical Number called 'The Birds of Prey' wherein they sing about how great they are compared to their male counterparts.

One line involves talking about how Aquaman is courageous, but he has, well, a small fish.

In the original airing, the line is punctuated by a single finger being waved.

That was the last straw and the Episode was NOT put on the Season 2 DVDs (it was released in 2 Parts).

An Edit was made for future airings wherein they cut to a fish tank instead (admittedly a creative edit).
This Version, by the way, IS on HBO Max, so the Episode isn't lost now...it just was for like a year.

If you want to know about the actual Story, Batman 'dies' as Matches and is back to normal.  It sort of makes sense (in a funny comic book kind of way).

That's it really.

If you're making a Kid's Show, don't try to get away with jokes about characters having small members, I guess.

Otherwise, you'll end up as a 'Special Feature' on a later DVD, hidden away for only weirdos like me to care about.

A simple reminder that Cartoon Shows/Episodes being pulled isn't a 2021 thing- it's a constant thing.