The Thirteenth Hat
“There’s been a kidnapping. And a hatnapping...”
Another episode and another new villain in Jervis Tetch, aka the Mad Hatter, played with splendidly camp aplomb by David Wayne. It’s instructive how all the villains so far, including Zelda (albeit with a gender swap) have been taken from the comics and this story is straight from an issue a few years previous. It may be 1966, and John F Kennedy may have supposedly caused the rapid fall of headgear from men’s fashion, but that needn’t get in the way of a good story- so Tetch can steal all the hats of the jurors who last convicted him. And their owners. And I love how everyone always refers to the hats being stolen before adding the owners as an afterthought.
Everything about this is awesome, up to and including David Wayne’s mannered pronunciation of “hat factory”. And even the rubbishness of this supposed death trap for Batman, in reality rather flimsy, just adds to the considerable fun. How can an episode consisting mainly of people being zapped by a Super Instant Mesmeriser pipping our of a top hat be anything but awesome? Even the extras are funny little characters, from the bimbo to the snobbish old lady insisting that “the communists” have something to do with this.
I suppose the cliffhanger could be better- quick drying plaster of Paris? But this is a splendid way to spend twenty-five minutes.
Batman Stands Pat
“I simply held my breath!”
Gaze upon the five words immediately above. Because they comprise Batman’s only explanation for how he survived being stuck in plaster of Paris for minutes on end. This made me laugh out loud, and from now on this episode can do no wrong.
The Caped Crusadets have had a bit of a rubbish detective week but finally work out what going on, coming up with a plan which even gives Alfred a bit of a fun comedy scene with another funny little character destined to be Tetch’s last victim. Batman seems almost manic in his determination to have the Mad Hatter “hoist on to his own petard”.
The concluding fight is one of the most well-choreographed we’ve seen, and more than usually entertaining. This has been one of the best two parters so far, and I’m hugely looking forward to seeing the Mad Hatter again- so far, only Zelda and the Riddler have been better.
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