Batman (the TV series)

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Each year I like to watch an entire TV series, starting on January 1st. This year, it's the 1960s TV classic, Batman.

I loved this show as a kid, and again when it was repeated in the late '70s, after what seemed like a very long absence. I don't remember seeing it again since then.

Until today! I have acquired all three series in a very nicely transferred high definition (BluRay) format. So:

1:01 Hi Diddle Riddle

It's a Riddler story. Frank Gorshin gives a fantastically over-the-top performance as the arch-criminal who likes to taunt his nemesis with puzzles. I never realised that Batman was in essence a comedy back in the '60s, but it definitely is. I have to say - Adam West's deadpan comic timing is spot on, especially as Bruce Wayne. Brilliant.

The plot is a bit silly. It's about Batman being tricked into a lawsuit, then Robin being kidnapped. But I can easily see why I liked it so much in my formative years. The Batmobile with the flames and smoke from its "atomic turbines", the batpoles behind the sliding bookshelves, from which Bruce and Dick somehow emerge in costume in the Batcave. The computer with all the flashing lights. It's all very colourful, as well. And preposterous, but deliberately, beautifully so.

Jill St. John, later the Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever is in it. Annoyingly she's shown in soft focus every time there's a close up of her, something that I would have thought was a bit redundant for a 1960s TV broadcast because usually, your telly would do that for you.

It really looks great in high definition. We're fortunate that it was captured on film and preserved so well, especially when you think of the British TV series from around the same time that were recorded on fuzzy black& white videotape, and / or subsequently wiped. Very few people can have had colour TV in 1966.

Anyway that was a highly entertaining 25 minutes. Today's instalment ended on a cliffhanger, so presumably I'll find out what happens to Robin tomorrow! There's actually more than a hint of darkness in the fate that it's suggested that The Riddler has in store for him.

There are 120 of these, so my Batman journey will conclude on April 30th.

[Slim]

1:02 Smack In The Middle

The Riddler story introduced in the first episode concludes. It's very meandering and a bit random, but that doesn't detract in the slightest. it doesn't really build on the plot set up in the first one. It just goes a bit bizarre and random. Again, Frank Gorshin as The Riddler is absolutely manic. Brilliant. The only other thing I can ever remember seeing him in is an episode of Star Trek.

There are some brilliant gags - Batman and Robin bursting out of the priceless "Mammoth of Moldovia", Trojan Horse-style. It's supposedly a priceless and extremely rare national treasure, but they more or less destroy it in the process. And best of all, Molly, played by Jill St. John, puts on a Robin costume and rubber mask and becomes identical to the Boy Wonder.

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There's a very impressive climax on a huge set with the usual KAPOW! ZAP! punch up and explosions aplenty.

Fun gadgets, as well. I especially liked the "mobile crime computer" in the boot of the Batmobile, with an automatic radio link to the Batcave and a punched card reader.

Great stuff.

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01:03 Fine Feathered Finks

Did I dream that? Did I somehow ingest hallucinogenic substances this evening?

This time it's the turn of The Penguin, newly released from the local penitentiary, to confound the Caped Crusader. It's just really, delightfully bizarre. The plot, if I can call it that, involves a fiendish plan to confound the forces of law and order with umbrellas. There are exploding umbrellas aplenty, and even a giant umbrella that descends upon the streets of Gotham City.

One brilliant moment - when Batman pulls the emergency u-turn lever in the Batmobile. The ensuing emergency 180 degree turn, complete with parachutes, is so obviously faked that it's absolutely hilarious. Intentionally, I'm sure.

Burgess Meredith is on fabulous form as The Penguin. I loved it.

There's a particularly dramatic cliffhanger, so it's a two-parter. Were they all two-parters? I'd forgotten that.

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1:04 The Penguin's a Jinx

Starts with an ingenious (though very silly) solution to the cliffhanger at the end of the first part. Then it's quite slow for the rest of the first half.

But there's an ingenious plot device - The Penguin and his gang enlist Batman's help in planning their next crime, by listening in on a bugging device while the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder are speculating what he'll do next.

But of course, the Fiendish Feathered One's plans are ultimately thwarted by the Dynamic Duo. There's a hilarious punch-up at the Penguin's hideout, in which Batman, Robin and the Penguin gang have a sort of sword fight with umbrellas.

Very, very entertaining.

[Slim]

1:05 The Joker Is Wild

Here comes The Joker, played with endearing over-the-topness by Cesar Romero. I must say all of the Batman villains so far - and we've had the main three - have been portrayed with exhilarating daftness by the thespians entrusted with the responsibility.

In this one, The Joker springs himself from prison. Literally.

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He then embarks on a crime spree in Gotham City. Naturally the Dynamic Duo aren't far behind, but at the last minute the Clown Prince of Crime and his lackeys get the better of them, and are about to unmask the pair live on television.

There's a particularly rubbish special effects moment when Joker and his gang break out of statues that they've (somehow) hidden inside, in a museum where some priceless jewels are kept. All we see is a little flash going off behind each statue, then the hidden villain emerges from behind it.

Still - good one. Can't wait to find out how Batman manages to prevent his secret identity being revealed.

Interesting that Cesar Romero had a 'tache under his white Joker make up. Not sure if that would have been noticeable on a telly in the '60s. I've just read that he refused to shave it off for the part: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Romero

"From 1966 to 1968, he portrayed the Joker on Batman. He refused to shave his moustache for the role, and so the supervillain's white face makeup was simply smeared over it throughout the series' run and in the 1966 film"

[Slim]

1:06 Batman Is Riled

The Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder escape from the Joker by setting off the sprinkler system (somehow. It's not particularly convincing). A few minutes later, the Joker manages to tie his nemesis up in confetti tape.

He's had his own utility belt made, you see, to match Batman's.

The Dynamic Duo's failure to bring the Clown Prince of Crime to justice inspires a crime wave in Gotham City. Worse - the Joker plans to steal an ocean liner! It doesn't sound like the most practical crime, does it?

Can Batman and Robin overcome the giggling fiend and restore the public's confidence again?

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

There's a nice overhead view of the docks at Gotham City in one scene. Curiously, the Empire State Building can be seen in the distance.

So we've had the three main villains now. The only others I remember from the TV series are King Tut and (of course) Catwoman. But there's a brief announcement at the end that next episode's villain is Mr Freeze - portrayed some thirty years later in one of the movies by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Thenop]

1:06 Batman Is Riled

The Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder escape from the Joker by setting off the sprinkler system (somehow. It's not particularly convincing). A few minutes later, the Joker manages to tie his nemesis up in confetti tape.

He's had his own utility belt made, you see, to match Batman's.

The Dynamic Duo's failure to bring the Clown Prince of Crime to justice inspires a crime wave in Gotham City. Worse - the Joker plans to steal an ocean liner! It doesn't sound like the most practical crime, does it?

Can Batman and Robin overcome the giggling fiend and restore the public's confidence again?

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

There's a nice overhead view of the docks at Gotham City in one scene. Curiously, the Empire State Building can be seen in the distance.

So we've had the three main villains now. The only others I remember from the TV series are King Tut and (of course) Catwoman. But there's a brief announcement at the end that next episode's villain is Mr Freeze - portrayed some thirty years later in one of the movies by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

[Slim]

1:07 Ice Instant Freeze

An old enemy of Batman bears a grudge because he has to live in a carefully controlled -50 degrees (fahrenheit, one assumes) environment. This apparently happened due to an accident in his sinister crime laboratory during a punch up with the Caped Crusader.

And he's back in Gotham city, to steal all the priceless diamonds (ice - geddit?) he can get his hands on.

Mr Freeze (for such is his name) wears a sort of temperature-controlled spacesuit and helmet. He carries a futuristic weapon that can both freeze objects (and people) and frazzle them, with a sort of laser ray. So the episode has a pleasing '60s sci-fi feel.

It's a pretty out-there tale, but of course it's supposed to be, isn't it?

There's a nice moment when someone gets zapped with the freezing weapon, then they fall over and we hear them shatter like broken glass off-camera. And at the crux of the episode, the Dynamic Duo get zapped frozen solid with the freezer ray as well. How are they going to get out of that one? Well .. I'll find out tomorrow.

Mr Freeze is played by Eli Wallach [EDIT: no, see next post], who gives a considerably less manic performance than the actors portraying the three previous villains. But for an actor best known for playing swarthy Mexicans in spaghetti westerns, he's pretty convincingly Germanic. Actually Wallach was a Jewish Pole by descent.

Some nice Batcave scenes in this one. I love the way that everything in there is labelled.

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01:08 Rats Like Cheese

Batman and Robin are thawed out, very carefully, in the super-hypotherm deicifier chamber (mark 7) of the Gotham City Hospital.

Freeze kidnaps Paul Diamante (diamond .. geddit?), a local baseball hero. He offers to trade him for Batman. The Caped Crusader readily accepts, because Diamante is the idol of millions of impressionable young lads. And he must live - to inspire the youth of today, who will be the men of tomorrow. It's all very noble.

He agrees to go to meet Freeze alone. But Robin secretly plants a homing device on his mentor, so he can follow.

To no avail, because the Boy Wonder gets captured as well. Freeze plans an icy death for them. And as long as the Cold-hearted Criminal stays in the deep-refrigerated part of his secret hideout, they can't touch him. How can Batman possibly overcome the Frigid Fiend?

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

Naturally there's a KAPOW style punch-up. It's remarkable how many times the two get punched in the face without ever getting bruised. I reckon Robin could take on Tyson Fury and emerge unscathed.

I liked this one, it's a fitting climax to a solid two-parter. And I think it owes something to the Bond movies, with a cold, urbane and sophisticated villain planning an elaborate death for the two crime-fighters. He even has dinner with them while holding them captive at his secret hideout.

By the way Mr Freeze is played by the English actor George Sanders in this one, not Eli Wallach as I claimed last time. Wallach portrays the Refrigerated Rascal in a later episode. Otto Preminger also plays Freeze in the series.

[dom]

Think that could well by my favourite spoiler comment ever! 

[Slim]

1:09 Zelda the Great

Every April 1st, a mystery criminal robs one of Gotham City's banks of the sum of $100,000. When it happens for the third year in a row, Commissioner Gordon decides to ask Batman for help.

There's a disturbing moment at the scene of the crime when a bank guard shoots the crook (the eponnymous Zelda) at point blank range, with very little provocation. She escapes, because she's wearing a bullet-proof vest. But it's really quite jarring. Surprisingly cold-blooded for a show that was watched predominantly (I would suppose) by kids.

Anyway - Zelda is portrayed by Anne Baxter. I don't actually remember the character but she did seem familiar. Anne was a screen actress of some repute, and she has a nice comic touch. I especially liked a scene in which she breaks the fourth wall for a sneaky chat with the viewer.

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Zelda is an escape artiste - a master illusionist. And she needs the $100k to procure an Inescapable Doom Trap from her secret inventor, an Albanian named Eivol Ekdal, to revitalise her act.

Batman tricks her into believing that the $100k she's nicked is counterfeit by planting a story in the press. So she has to come up with another plan .. the Dynamic Duo lay a trap for her, but she's ahead of them. She ignores it and kidnaps Dick's beloved Aunt Harriet!

And unless Bruce Wayne comes up with $100,000 in an hour, she has quite a grisly fate in store for the old girl, as you can see below. Again, a bit dark for 1960s kids' TV, isn't it?

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I quite liked Zelda. Not sure if she exists in the DC Batman universe (ie the comics). Probably not.

Can't wait to see if Harriet can somehow be rescued from the vat of burning oil. I think she will be. Just a guess.

We see the Bat Signal for the first time in this episode. Bruce and Dick notice it because they're outside with a telescope at the time. And yet the signal only works when it's cloudy.

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1:10 A Death Worse Than Fate

Well needless to say, Aunt Harriet doesn't end up being cooked in a vat of oil. There's a delightfully surreal scene in which Bruce Wayne (who's supposed to be stumping up the cash) and Robin communicate with her over a TV broadcast, while she phones in. Robin admits that the cash she's already nicked is real, not counterfeit - thereby effectively paying her off.

She does the decent thing and discreetly releases the old girl from a car at a street corner in Gotham City.

But there's a problem with the Inescapable Doom Trap that she's forking out $100,000 for. Her evil Albanian accomplice Eivol, despite having invented it, doesn't actually know a method to escape from it. So he contrives a plan to lure the Caped Crusader into it, so he can show them. Lateral thinking, eh?

But there's another twist. Two of Gotham City's criminal fraternity have paid Eivol an additional $100,000 for the privilege of "rubbing out" the Dynamic Duo. They have pinstripe suits, Fedoras and Tommy guns. Were these really de rigeur accessories for the organised crime fraternity by the mid '60s?

More importantly, can Batman and the Boy Wonder somehow escape the Inescapable Doom Trap, then avoid being "rubbed out" by the murderous gangsters?

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

One odd thing is that when Zelda and Eivol spy on the two costumed crime-fighters when they arrive at Eivol's secret hideout, they don't use secret cameras and CCTV. They use periscopes.

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Not a bad one. A brief announcement at the end announces that The Joker is back next time.

[Slim]

1:11 A Riddle a Day Keeps the Riddler Away

Despite a brief announcement at the end of the previous episode that The Joker would be back in this one, it's the turn of The Riddler to confound the Caped Crusader and his sidekick.

A visiting head of state called King Boris visits Gotham City. His arrival at the airport coincides with a disturbance, with a clue from the riddler descending from a balloon. When is a person like a piece of wood? I'll leave that one as an exercise for the reader, though Robin worked it out in about ten seconds.

Certain plot devices from the previous story are reused in this one. For example a homing device is implanted in fake jewellery, but The Riddler knows all along that it's a trap and discards it - just as Zelda discards a fake precious stone with a homing device from the scene of her crime two episodes ago.

Anyway, eventually the Prince of Puzzles kidnaps the King during a visit to a wine cellar. Somehow the King conveniently walks over to a trapdoor in the floor of the cellar. Most cellars don't have those.

But the King is only a pawn in the game, and for some reason chess metaphors are used liberally in this episode. He's merely the bait in a trap to lure the Dynamic Duo to an old water processing plant, where The Riddler captures them in a net, has them sprayed with sticky stuff, then ties them to enormous spinning wheels - part of the plant's machinery. Once set spinning, the centripetal force will tear their bones from their bodies!

The Riddler's accomplices are called the River Rats Gang. They behave like rodents and like cheese. At one point one of them offers King Boris a piece of cheese. "Not without a good vintage port", he replies.

There's a nice moment in the Batcave when the two crime-fighters use what could be thought of as an early version of Google Maps.

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Not too sure about the keyboard design. Could be a bit more ergonomic.

[Slim]

1:12 When the Rat's Away the Mice Will Play

Batman manages to get a cutting torch out of his utility belt and kills the motor that drives the huge spinning wheels that he and Robin are tied to, saving them from being whirled to death.

The Riddler and his gang have already fled the scene, so they think the Dynamic Duo are deceased. And they have a plan to extort $1 million, by threatening to blow up the Queen of Freedom monument (I think this is the Batman universe version of the Statue of Liberty) unless the city pays up.

Well, needless (and suffice it) to say, their plan doesn't work, because of course - the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder are still alive.

There's an odd plot hole in this one. The Pernicious Puzzler actually tells Commissioner Gordon that Batman is dead by telephone, after leaving the two crime-fighters to their fate in the old water works. And yet he later sends one of his gang to impersonate the Dark Knight Detective at Gordon's office, in a Batman costume. It makes no sense.

Still - quite a good one I thought.

I liked the girl who plays "Mousey", with an appropriately squeaky voice. There's nearly always a cutie villain's sidekick. Played by Susan Silo, who went on to have a successful and distinguished career as a voice artist, well into the noughties. She's 83 now.

I'm 10% of the way through these now .. still enjoying the kitsch campiness and colourful flamboyance at the moment.

[Slim]

1:13 The Thirteenth Hat

A villain best known as The Mad Hatter has been released from prison on parole, and he's out for revenge. Armed with a Super Instant Mesmeriser that flips out of his top hat, he overcomes and kidnaps the members of the jury who convicted him. And their hats. Conveniently, they all have hats. He has a thing for hats.

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But the prize he wants most of all is Batman's cowl. And once he has it, he plans to ensure the Caped Crusader meets a grisly fate in his hat factory. It has a rather dangerous looking shredding machine, and flailing knives. Batman testified against him at his trial, you see.

The Top-Hatted Trickster lures the Dynamic Duo to the studio of a notable sculptor, where he and his gang somehow get the better of the pair following one of their trademark punch-ups. Batman ends up covered in super fast hardening plaster. And that's the cliffhanger.

Well - it's a bit silly, and The Mad Hatter is not one of the classic Batman villains. But I quite liked it.