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Robin was the 1999 followup to Batman and Robin. It was much more successful than the preceding film.

RobinPoster

The Original Poster

It is rated PG-13 for Violence, Mild Language, and Disturbing Images.

(Please note: I do not own any of these characters, songs, settings, or videos.)

Development[]

Following the critics review of Batman and Robin, Warner Brothers looked for something popular about the film, and that was Chris O'Donnell as Robin. So they set to work creating a spinoff featuring solely the Boy Wonder. Joel Schumacher was rehired as director, with the promise he would make it less campy.

Cast[]

Chris O'Donnell as Robin (Dick Grayson)

David Henrie as Scarecrow (Jonathan Crane)

Unrevealed as Lady Shiva

Plot[]

Prior To Film[]

It has been one year since the last film. Dick Grayson is going to attend college but is having trouble adjusting to it.

In-Film[]

The story begins as an unrevealed character speaks to Lady Shiva. He says that just as planned, Bruce Wayne is preoccupied in Jamaica and Barbara Wilson is retired. However, he is unaware of the whereabouts of Dick Grayson. Lady Shiva replies she would be happy to: "Find the little birdie, make him sing- and break his wings."

Cut to GothamTech, where Dick Grayson is partying at night with other students. He is talking to a girl, when he gets a call from Barbara Wilson. She breaks up with him, says he's immature and will never grow up. As she hangs up Dick curses and tries to rejoin the party. However, he runs into the boyfriend of the girl he was talking too, and they get into a fight. The boy's gang joins in, yet Dick overpowers them all.

Dick is brought before the Headmaster of the School, who scolds Dick and tells him this is his seventh fight this week. After a long discussion, he agrees to let Dick stay at GothamTech, on the condition he takes private seminars with Professor Jonathan Crane. That night, Dick is in his bed when he hears a rustling outside his window, then gunshots. He then pulls a switch disguised as a bedpost, revealing his Robin Costume. The next second, Robin is swinging the rooftops, locating two crooks mugging a girl. He stops them, (tearing his cape in the process) and the girl flirts with him. Robin relishes it, until checking his watch and swinging back to his dorm, where he discards his cape ("I never liked capes anyway.") and goes back to sleep.

The next morning Dick attends his first seminar. Dr. Crane theorizes that Dick is overly stressed, and tries to hypnotize him. However, unwilling to let his identity be compromised, Dick remains awake throughout the session. Dr. Crane realizes he isn't trying, and tells him too come back tommorrow with an more open mind. Dick leaves, and Dr. Crane sighs.

Dick rushes down the hall, still seething from the way they're treating him like he's insane. He slams the door of his dorm, and flops onto the bed. All of a sudden he gets a text from Batman: "Trouble on campus, beware, do not-" Dick throws his phone into the trash, and wanders angrily around the university. He enters a small building, where he runs into a mute little girl. A boy who comes up behind her explains her parents were killed in front of her, and since then she has not uttered one word. The boy then explains how this is a campus-run charity, however the money will be cut off and soon this girl will be one of many homeless, disabled orphans. Dick's mind flashes to his parent's demise, and finds himself volunteering his family's life insurance.

He is woken in the middle of the night by a pretty girl in his room. Though he would normally treat her better, he's not in the best mood so asks what she's doing here. She says she's his new roomate. Dick shrugs it off and goes back to sleep.

When he wakes up the girl is gone. However, there is a new bed in his room. Dick takes a shower, and heads over to class where he spots the girl, who covers for his tardiness. At the end of class, she says her name is Visha. He then heads back to his sessions with Dr. Crane. They have another uneventful hour of Dick resisting. As Dick turns to leave, Dr. Crane shoots him with a dart containing an unknown liquid, which causes Dick's mind to shut down. Dr. Crane sits him down into a chair and asks him what he fears.

Dick wakes up in bed, where Visha is feeding him tea. She explains he collapsed during his visit to Dr. Crane. He stands up, says he is late for class and runs. Visha casually runs her hand aroudn the room, before flicking a switch. the Robin costume appears from behind a bookcase. She speaks into a phone, "I have found the bird."

A bit later, class lets out and Dick hurries out of class. All of a sudden, Visha, fully revaled as Lady Shiva attacks Dick. Dick is forced to fight her in his civilian guise. They are fighting when the fear gas kicks in, and Dick finds himself (in hallucination) in the classic Robin costume. He is a kid, and his friends are adults. He is treated like a ten-year old. People taunt him, and Dick tries to resist, but the drug is too strong. He collapses, as Lady Shiva beats him up. She is satisfied, until she sees how blank his eyes are. She then says "I've been robbed."

Dr. Crane is in his office, quietly reading, when Lady Shiva bursts through the window, dragging a now costumed Robin behind her. Dr. Crane acknowledges her without looking, saying "I presume you're not who you claimed to be?"

She introduces hereself and demands he cure the boy. Dr. Crane wheels his chair around, and says he never drugged him. Shiva whips off his mask and Dr. Crane understands. "His fears were so easy to manipulate. His childish mind is afraid it will stay that way forever." He reveals his experiements on fear, and says he is planning to use the entire city of Gotham as lab rats, starting with this school. Shiva repeats her command, and Scarecrow asks why. Shiva replies she needs warranted victory, not a pale imitation brought on by a delusional Scarecrow of a man. Dr. Crane says. "Scarecrow. I like it." and sprays her with poison gas.She collapses, as Dr. Crane wheels out a machine in which he places his canisters of gas.

Meanwhile, Robin is still trapped in his nightmare. He stumbles through his past aimlessly, trying to ignore the insults from everyone he ever loved. He runs into his parents which decay before his eyes, calling him a disapointment. Meaningless. Hopeless. As he sinks to his knees, his phone rings in the material world. Barbara Wilson leaves a message explaining she's sorry for what she said, she realizes it wasn't warranted. "You may be slightly immature sometimes, Dick, but you are also one of the bravest, most generous, men I know. I heard about what you did with your parent's life insurance Dick. That was the sweetest thing I think you've ever done. Well...call me back and maybe you can forgive me." As she hangs up, Dick's hand's tighten into fists.

A security guard is patrolling the perimeter of Wayne Enterprises when he hears a scream. He rushs to investigate it, and finds the entire group of people in the building screaming. Everything is utter chaos. He starts to signal for help when he is also affected by the gas. Dr. Crane steps out of the shadows, wearing a getup to resemble the Scarecrow. He grins gleefully, before calling for an elevator. As it opens, Dr. Crane is hit by a kick. Robin was waiting for him in the elevator.

The two struggle, but Dr. Crane manages to push Robin into the elevator. As the doors close, Dr. Crane plants a small bomb in the elevator, before scurrying up the stairs. Robin regains his composure in the elevator, and tries to dismantle the bomb. It doesn't work, and Robbin swears before steeling himself for the explosion.

Meanwhile, Dr. Crane finishes his machine. As it prepares to blanket the city, Lady Shiva reveals herself behind him, saying the boy gave her an antidote. They proceed to fight, with Shiva gaining the upper hand before the blast from the elevator begins to collapse the building. Lady Shiva is hit by falling debris and is knocked unconscious. Finally close to fulfilling his ultimate experiment, Dr. Crane pulls the switch. However, the explosion dameged the machine and it explodes. Dr. Crane finds himself a victim of a city's worth of nightmares, and he sinks to his knees, going insane.

Robin stumbles out onto teh rooftop, broken, battered and bruised. He is attacked by Lady Shiva, saying now is the time. Robin tries to warn her the building is still collapsing, but she forces him to using a bomb which causes her section of the roof to cave in. Robin tries to save her but she falls to her death. However, the strain was to much for the Boy Wonder, and he collapses.

Dick wakes in Gotham Regional Hospital. He is told he was a victim of the now imprisoned Scarecrow. Dick tries to figure out why he wasn't in his costume, to no avail. A few days later he is in his dorm room talking to Barbara Wilson on the phone while putting away laundry. He is telling Babs there is no way Shiva could have survived, while opening his closet, where he finds his Robin costume, bloody and broken. A note is pinned to it, saying "A Final Gift". Dick stares at it for a moment. Finally he manages to murmur "Or not."


Deleted Scenes[]

  • Bruce Wayne is in Jamaica, where a girl nudges him into a room alone. In teh room, however, she reveals herself as Lady Shiva and injects him with a toxin that will keep him busy for days. (This would have featured George Clooney.)
  • The seminars with Dr. Crane were done differently.
  • A longer scene where Lady Shiva first appears in Dick's classroom. They have a more romantic relationship, in this cut.
  • In this scene, the mute girl was identified as Cassandra Cain.
  • Similarly, Robin would have rescued a boy named Jason Todd from the collapsing building had Warner Brothers not interfered.
  • An alternate ending depicts Robin in the Batcave, featuring Clooney in his Batsuit. This, and practically all other Bruce wayne involvement was cut during a conference about the audience's reception to Clooney as Batman.
  • The final scene that didn't make the cut had the Scarecrow in Arkham Asylum, being treated by Dr. Harleen Quinzel.

Design and Setting[]

The story mainly takes place in GothamTech, a university located just outside of Gotham. It primarily consists of several victorian buildings, housing the different classrooms. Dick's dorm is a large room located at the top of the dorms. There are some scenes, however, in Gotham City. They reused the B&R set, but toned down the neon.

At the beginning of the film, Dick uses his costume from the previous film, but early in the film the cape is removed, and remains that way for a major part of the film. However, while under Scarecrow's fear toxin he wears a costume styled after the original 60's costume, and at the end he dons a new costume, the same color scheme as his current costume but similar to his ice costume.

Soundtrack[]

Song Performed By Played
RobinCredits

RobinCredits

Theme (Batman and Robin)

Unknown During Credits
RobinOpening

RobinOpening

Joker's Theme

Unknown During Opening Credits
RobinToxin

RobinToxin

Unknown During Toxin-Induced Dream (#1)
RobinRooftop

RobinRooftop

Title Music, [Batman Forever] SNES

Geoff Follin, Tim Follin, and Andy Brock During Robin's hallucinations while Barbara Wilson is speaking.
RobinFight

RobinFight

"Victory" (Batman Forever)

Elliot Goldenthal Rooftop Fight Scene

Reception[]

Robin was very well recieved, earning a 78% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and box-office sales of $450,000. Crtics praised it, saying "Despite retaining some elements that made the previous films infamous, [Robin] has a plot that honestly engrosses you, and may actually distract you from the very un-Burton settings."

Home Release[]

RobinBluRay

Wonder Edition

Robin was released April 2000 on DVD and Video. It fared well with audiences, generally selling out within two to three weeks. The Wonder Edition was released in 2006, featuring a DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and Digital Copy, all chock full of Deleted Scenes and other exclusive features. The wonder edition was very successful, and is $25.99 at retail in the US.

Sequels[]

Warner Brothers confirmed Robin as a trilogy following its box office success. The sequel's title has been confirmed as Robin's Wing.

Notes[]

  • Please note there are some inconsistencies in the timeframe.
  • Credit goes to XtraNormalGeek for the soundtrack idea. Thanks!

Other[]

Concept Art[]

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