Batman: The Joker's Last Laugh & The Joker's Epitaph

The Joker's Last Laugh

 "We're dealing with a perfectly normal robot."

You know what? I've never exactly dissed Cesar Romero's Joker, but for me this version of the character is no Riddler, Catwoman or Penguin, but with this splendidly witty two parter penned by the always superb Lorenzo Semple Jr I'm certainly warming to him. After all, at this point Batman hadn't been a dark character since his long forgotten earlier months, and the tone of this TV series is quite faithful to the comics as they were in 1967 and had been for years. I ought to remember that the same applies to the Joker, at this point a crook, not a psychopath.

And I'm certainly enjoying his two parters more and more- particularly when, as here, the character is allowed to be genuinely witty. And the script is hilarious- the Joker manages, onscreen, to "slip" a massive recording antenna into the Commissioner's trousers. Plenty of humour is wrung out of the science fiction robots- rumbled because they fail to laugh at a crap joke. The dialogue sings.The plot is just leisurely set piece after leisurely set piece while the script winks at us, but I for one have no problem with that. And Adam West is a comic genius yet again as a "desperate" Bruce Wayne.



The Joker's Epitaph

"Alert your anti-lunatic squad!"

Another twenty-five minutes of hilarious fun here as the cliffhanger is averted by Alfred pretending again to be Batman- and climbing up the side of a building with a Bat-rope. And then we have Joker, installed as deputy chairman of the Gotham National Bank for plot reasons, trying to blackmail Bruce Wayne in amusing schemes. But absolutely nothing is funnier than Chief O'Hara seizing a supposedly insane Bruce Wayne with his "anti-lunatic squad". I'm sure mental health facilities in '60s Gotham City were perfectly fine. Especially with this comedy German quack.

This is a perfectly formed pair of episodes that have given Cesar Romero something cool to do. I'm actually hoping to see the character again.

Batman: The Penguin’s Nest & The Bird’s Last Jest

The Penguin’s Nest

“Citizen, you may return to your harpsichord.”

With Frank Gorshin's Riddler suspiciously absent since the movie (a dispute over money?) it's clear by now, I think, that Burgess Meredith's Penguin is the cream of the remaining criminal crop. Catwoman has equal promise, but has only actully appeared twice in the TV series thus far and not really built up a head of steam, and Cesar Romero's Joker is not really in the same class. A script like this, penned by the splendid Lorenzo Semple Jr, only reinforces the Penguin's primacy.

The conceit is fun: the recently released Penguin is running a restaurant for the rich, but suddenly seems suspiciously keen to get arrested and sent to prison- a concept successfully mined for comic potential as a custard pie is thrown at the Commissioner- Neil Hamilton really is a superb comic actor, as I've been extremely remiss in saying. The scene with the Commissioner phoning "Batman" with Bruce in the next cubicle is equally hilarious.

Batman's eventual solution is funny, too- to arrest him on a petty offence and send him only to the police cells, an insult. But soon his plot becomes clear- a complicated forgery scheme with the forger neighbour to his permanent(!) cell. But the most priceless moment is where Warden Crichton tells Batman that inmates can easily access blank cheques to increase their financial skills- "Another first. Another one of your advanced penological techniques".

The cliffhanger is a little vague and overcomplicated. But still a superb episode.

The Bird’s Last Jest

“What about the underprivileged criminals..?”

So the cliffhanger resolution is... the Batshield and reversing the polarity of the cables. Hmm. Never mind, soo the Penguin's gang are all arrested and we have a very silly courtroom scene where Penguin quotes Emile Zola (I'm constantly impressed with the cultural references- you wouldn't get that on a similar show today) and gets himself released through verbal cleverness... but not to prison, as he so desperately wants.

So Alfred gets another secret mission with a forger's fingerprints hand painted by Batman. Apparently fingerprints can be forged this was but criminals never have a sufficiently steady hand as they are all "addicted to tobacco and alcohol". I love that.

The ending, with Alfred in a pie, is delightfully barmy with some typically absurd switching between the Caped Crusaders and their secret identities... and the conclusion is hilrious, with Penguin's forger friend being paroled as he heads to prion. A splendid pair of episodes.

Batman: The Devil's Fingers & The Dead Ringers

The Devil's Fingers

"The moment we've dreaded for years has arrived. This time, we're going to have to solve a case... ourselves..."

I am, to use a great understatement, not one for easy listening.  Give me Sunn O))) or Merzbow over anything "smooth" any day. Likewise, I'm not one for light entertainment as a whole. So, much as Liberace here is charismatic in two roles, a superb pianist, splendidly camp in an era where that was subversive, and is bloody good here, his world is not one I have any affinity for. I'm afraid I see the whole world of pre-rock 'n'roll popular music, from Frank Sinatra to Max Bygraves, as a dragon that desperately needed slaying. Yet, I'm told, these episodes of Batman were the most highly rated. This stuff was popular amongst people who hated rock music.

So I shouldn't like these episodes. I really shouldn't. Yet the on-form script by the returning Lorenzo Semple Jr, and a charismatic performance by a brilliant Liberace, have really won me over. I don't care about the silly twin brothers plot. What matters are the amusing details- most of all the comic genius of Neil Hamilton as he tries to cope with the fact that the Dynamic Duo are on holiday, ultimately resorting to pills before the Batphone rings. I'm also amused to see how Alfred, who a few episodes earlier claimed to be a Liverpudlian lad, now waxes lyrical about the Highland heathers of his childhood. Cue the bagpipes of doom, which seem to be the most fearful weapons of our baddies throughout.

Of course, Batman and Robin are on their hols at the start- in Dick's case hilariously wooing a young lady. This allows the other regulars more screen time and, as a bonus, allows the plot to progress a bit before the Dynamic Duo appear. There are amusingly subtle acknowledgements that Chandell may be a friend of Dorothy throughout, of course. In 1966, very much the Dark Ages, that was brave indeed. Part of me is amused by the fact Liberace once won a libel case based on the outrageous suggestion that he might be gay, but there's also a truly appalling side to a deeply homophobic society where that can happen.

This isn't an episode I was particularly looking forward to. But, much to my surprise, I loved it.


The Dead Ringers

"Nice singing, Robin..."

This is one of the most hilarious cliffhanger resolutions ever: about to be slashed to bit in a piano music cutting machine, they survive by singing the exact notes to avoid being cut into. As you do.

We then move on to the actual plot- Chandell plans to murder Bruce and Dick and marry the besotted Aunt Harriett for her money. Nicely, it gives the wonderful Madge Blake something more to do, and isn't the kind of story that would have been possible until we had come to know and adore Aunt Harriett. And she deserves that medal she gets at the end.

This two-parter, incredibly, without being my sort of thing at all, has managed to become one of my favourites. Top stuff.

Batman: The Penguin Goes Straight & Not Yet He Ain't

The Penguin Goes Straight

"Jumping jeepers- a bulletproof umbrella!"

It's taken a surprisingly long time for the Penguin to turn up for a second time but it's worth the wait. Burgess Meredith is clearly growing into the role and having enormous fun, and it's infectious. It certainly helps that this two-parter is co-written by Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Even the opening is fun- the intermission at a theatre where the theatregoers emerge for a "refreshing orange drink" only for socialite Sophia Starr to be robbed by a no good hoodlum, and promptly saved by a seemingly reformed Penguin, who even gets a "Pow". Has he indeed turned crimefighter? His teasing smugness towards the Dynamic Duo is certainly hilarious, as is their strait-laced frustration.

There's a bit of playing with the usual format- the initial chat with the Commissioner is via the "mobile Batphone", and we even see some hardline police interrogation techniques from Gordon and O'Hara. And it's great to get another undercover mission for Alfred, with Alan Napier getting a chance to show off his comic skills. And it's clever and fun to see our heroes being tricked into becoming fugitives from the law, for once.

Best of all, though, is the cliffhanger- an unwitting Commissioner and Chief (always a double act these days- whatever happened to Inspector Bash?) about to shoot a Dynamic Duo suspended from the ceiling. The narrator challenges us to think of a way out, and it certainly isn't easy.


Not Yet He Ain't

"Oh frabjous day! Callo, callay!"

Bulletproof shoe soles- that's a clever cliffhanger resolution.`And soon Batman- with a glass of milk- and Robin are plotting their comeback. And it's a clever plan involving a police chase and shootout in front of the police, seemingly ending in their deaths- and we (and Alfred!) are sort of left thinking they're dead for several minutes, not that we're fooled; we know the rules.

Commissioner Gordon's sympathies for the Batman, an unaccountable vigilante, really do reach extreme lengths, don't they? I rather think he script is encouraging us to raise an eyebrow here. The Penguin almost has a point.

But it's all, of course, a plot to let the Penguin reveal his real plans to a stolen and bugged Batmobile- the Penguin is rather dim not to suspect this, but who cares? After all, this is a story where the Penguin's plot is to arrange a wedding to a socialite only to escape with the expensive wedding presents, seeming rather pleased to still be a bachelor- are we supposed to see hints as to his sexual orientation? Whatever, the scenes of heavy rain at an indoor wedding are hilarious. Much like the gadgets in the Batmobile, with Batman in his Batcycle having fun tormenting the Penguin as he drives through his green screen landscape in the Batmobile.

This is a particularly fun two parter, and the Penguin is improving as a villain in my estimation.

Batman: The Joker Goes to School & He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul

The Joker Goes to School

“You... jailhouse lawyer!"

It's an unusual beginning this week, with Lorenzo Semple back on writing duties (yay!) as Batman takes an amusing look at the tropes of the American High School. The school, of which Dick Grayson is of course class president, is called "Woodrow Roosevelt". No doubt Theodore Wilson has a school named after him in Metropolis. Then we have Principal Schoolfield.

The Commissioner at first seems to be oddly jumping to conclusions that the Joker would necessarily be behind school vending machines to dispense money, but that progressive paragon Warden Crichton has just released him from prison. This is, naturally, a plan to introduce the young to the concept of easy money so they'll drop out and join crime gangs. Er, quite. I'm amused to see that, when Dick suggests this, he's reminded that he's the ward of a millionaire.

It's a fun episode featuring, among other things, a jukebox robbing a bar and a silly showoff stunt by the Joker to provide an alibi. And things get very interesting when Dick's fellow school council member Susie is revealed to be in league with the Joker's gang.

We have amusing scenes with Dick being at school- Batman first visits the Commissioner alone, so they can't quite begin the episode with the usual stock footage. And it's fun seeing Batman and Dick pretending, not very well, that they don't know each other.

What's this, though? Notorious do-gooder Batman telling Dick to fake a headache and skive off school? Tut tut. I for one am appalled.


He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul

“This life at best is one long, impractical joke..."

It may seem a cheat to resolve the electrocution fruit machine cliffhanger with a power cut. But, to be fair, it was foreshadowed in dialogue in last episode. It's also a certain topical reference to the contemporary power outages in New York. So fair play.

Batman is less than entirely feminist when he discovers Susie's connection to the Joker, suggesting to a shocked Robin that "It's an old story, I'm afraid. As old as Eve and the apple". Yes, Susie is a woman, and therefore biddable with trinkets. Well then. Very slight feminism fail there, but even in 1966 I suspect a raised eyebrow would be prudent here.

There's more fun as Dick tries to come across as a ne'er-do-well by putting on a leather jacket- after all, only delinquents and ruffians ever wear those. And it's also highly amusing when his story is spoiled by his being an obvious non-smoker. Almost as amusing as the revelation that Woodrow Roosevelt's basket ball are to pay "Disco Tech".

Less amusing is the suggestion that the Joker may have callously poisoned poor Susie dead with fake perfume when it became clear she'd been rumbled. This is where we see beyond the chuckling but essentially harmless thief to a potential nihilistic killer behind the facade- the Joker's indifferent reaction to her "death" is positively chilling. This has elevated the Joker for me, in his second appearance. Cesar Romero (and his moustache) has never failed to impress, but here we begin to see dark depths. 

A splendid two parter, then, a cut above the Joker's debut. So, next week, False Face...

Batman: Zelda the Great & A Death Worse Than Fate

Zelda the Great

"A loyal taxpayer stooping to such criminal methods...?"

You can tell Lorenzo Semple Jr is back: this two parter is the finest since the opening brace of episodes with the Riddler. It doesn't seem to be quite as popular because it features a one-off villain, but I don't care. Anne Baxter is the best guest baddie since Frank Gorshin, and this two-parter actually has a solid plot with a character arc for Zelda- there's nothing wrong with the usual formula f set piece after set piece, but it's nice to see a diversion from the usual formula so early on. We even have the Dynamic Duo initially summoned by the Bat-Signal for the first time.

It's an intriguing premise- $100,000 being robbed from a bank once a year by an escape artist in order to pay back the dastardly Albanian genius Eivol Ekdal- who is certainly a portrayal of a native of said Balkan nation from another era. Then again, the character of Zelda is certainly strong, clever and somewhat kickass, but also definitely a model of femininity from an era before the second wave of feminism. It's interesting, too, that our first female villain is our first one-off- and that, despite the namecheck, it isn't the more predictable Catwoman.

This is a fascinating episode as, although it also has the usual high camp fun pretty much constantly, it's the first time we see Batman being portrayed as a proper detective, and rather a good one. It's a fun little cliffhanger, too, with a ransomed and straitjacketed Aunt Harriet suspended over boiling oil...


A Death Worse Than Fate

"How could a woman stoop to such a trick?"

An interesting cliffhanger resolution via television here by the Commissioner ("Hello, criminals, wherever you are out there, do you hear me, criminals?"), as we are treated for quite a while to the sight of Bruce Wayne and Robin together in early scenes that make it deliberately silly that no one has guessed the Batman's secret identity.

It's also fun to see Alfred blaming himself for Aunt Harriet's kidnapping because of his addiction to "a certain television programme". But the fun soon turns to peril as Eivol Ekdal has devised an impossible trap for Zelda- with the way to escape to be provided by Batman and Robin. But all is well in the end, and without a fight, as Ekdal is downed by a Batarang and a tearful and slihtly lovestruck Zelda submits to the, er, "Bat-cuffs".

There's even a heart-warming little coda for Zelda. It's a shame Anne Baxter won't be returning to the role. This two-parter is an unappreciated classic.

What's this, though? The Joker? I though next week was going to be the Riddler?

Batman: Fine Feathered Finks & The Penguin's a Jinx

Fine Feathered Finks

"That pompous waddling master of fowl play..."

After the first two-parter we petty much know the format and it happens here for a second time- the intriguing opening followed by Gotham's police admitting they're unable to deal with this week's villain- the Penguin- leading to the Commissioner striding purposely towards the Batphone with another inspiring speech about how awesome Batman is.

We turn to a frustrated Dick, about to give in with his French verbs until Bruce rebukes him that "Language is the key to world peace". And it's in his deadpan delivery of such splendidly over-the-top goody goody talk that Adam West, already, is showing himself to be a legend. And Burt Ward, while nowhere near as extraordinary, is perfectly cast. It's incredible how much this series arrives so fully-formed in these early episodes.

Lorenzo Semple Jr deserves credit, too, for his hilariously deadpan script- based, as was last week's two parter, on a recent comics story, for this is a far more faithful adaptation of the mid-'60s comics than you think. And, after the sock footage of the Batmobile and the Caped Crusaders running up those police station steps. Here we discover the Penguin has just been released from prison- allowing Batman and his police friend to note with approval the "progressive" policies of Warden Crichton, and when Robin expresses frustration that such an unreformed miscreant has been let loose, he is naturally rebuked. Quite right too.

The Penguin is first glimpsed in his cell as we get to see the charismatic performance of Burgess Meredith- his performance is more mannered and less suggestive of hidden depths that Frank Gorshin's Riddler,  but the mannerisms of his larger than life Penguin are inspired. This is the definitive portrayal of a character that always was, let's face it, very silly indeed. And let us not enquire too closely into how a recently freed felon can afford to open an apparently legitimate umbrella factory.

Incidentally, Penguin refers to "the Batman", with a definitive article. This is surprising to encounter in 1966.

Little moments of silliness abound, such as the Batmobile's "emergency Bat-turn lever", while a bunch of exploding umbrellas are covered with asbestos in a crowded shop, bursting holes in it and presumably giving asbestosis to all present.

The cliffhanger is Bruce Wayne, unconscious, slowly moving into a furnace. Of course, none of the Penguin's gang suspect he's anything but an industrial spy, one of the gang lamenting "Ain't it a shame it ain't the Batman."


The Penguin's a Jinx

"What a drag it is being a famous movie star, and so rich!"

You have to give credit for it: this is a perfect example of a clever and satisfying cliffhanger resolution that really builds up the tension and doesn't cheat. And the Penguin's plan of bugging Batman in order to get ideas for crimes is so much fun we almost forget how very silly it is.

The high camp runs into overdrive with the appearance of movie star Dawn Robbins, lamenting how boring and dehumanising it is to be rich and famous. One could make a point about the objectification of women here, if one so desired, but I don't think this script is much interested in social commentary of more than the amused kind- perhaps a little conservative by default, but good-natured enough.

It's odd to see the Penguin using umbrellas to slide across the line in his kidnapping plot which don't use the handle to slide with, but he has a giant magnet and the Dynamic Duo (was that phrase invented by this series?) are hoist by their own utility belts.

Soon we get the inevitable concluding bout of fisticuffs, though, and all is safe again. But, alas, poor Dawn Robbins is consumed with an unrequited love.

This is such a pleasure to watch. I'm loving it.

Batman: Hey Diddle Riddle & Smack in the Middle

Hey Diddle Riddle

"I'll stand at the bar. I shouldn’t wish to attract attention."

Here we go, then.

I used to watch this on telly all the time in the '80s and early '90s, but it's been considerably more than twenty years since I saw an episode, Now I've picked up the whole series in the January sales, and I'm in for the long haul with this high camp classic.

This brightly coloured adventure serial, and its deadpan camp humour, seem miles away from the somewhat dark character that Batman has become. But the fact is that the noir early comics of '39 didn't last long, and Batman spent the '40s and '50s as a square-jawed do-gooder. Denny O'Neill's "darknight detective" version of the character didn't appear until the very end of the '60s. This series is a more faithful version of the comics of the time than you probably think.

This has all the charm and sense of fun that 1949's plodding Batman and Robin movie serial so clearly lacks. The first episode opens with a fun little introductory voiceover before we head straight into a splendid set piece with an exploding cake. Then... a riddle on a parachute. And we meet the hilariously square jawed Commissioner Gordon, with his comedy sidekick Chief O'Hara... and an Inspector Bash who seems just as prominent. Then we have, for the first time ever, Gordon looking grimly towards the Batphone, and their only hope.

We then briefly meet Alfred, Bruce Wayne, Aunt Harriet and, finally, Dick Grayson. And Adam West (like Neil Hamilton) is a master at playing things exaggeratedly straight as a man driven to fight crime after his parents were killed "by dastardly criminals". And for the first time we see the ultimate moment of high camp as the bookshelf slides aside to reveal a sign saying "Access to Batcave by Batpoles, and individual poles marked "Dick" and "Bruce". I'm already in love with this programme.

So many firsts... the Batmobile. Robin's first "Batteries to power, turbines to speed". The first (uninterrupted) climb up a wall. And, in the Riddler, our first villain- only a minor comics character in 1966 but made immortal by Frank Gorshin's incredibly nuanced performance riding the exact line between comedy villain and dangerous psychopath, whose laughter is just the right side of unhinged and whose latent hint of violence never quite crosses the line. Meanwhile, Batman pauses just before they jump through a window t gently upbraid Robin on pedestrian safety.

And then- a '60s nightclub in all its glory- and Robin is left outside because he's underage. Molly flirting with Batman. And, most awesomely of all, Batman doing the very dance that Pulp Fiction would have Uma Thurman homage 28 years later. I don't even care if the first ever cliffhanger is a bit rubbish.



Smack in the Middle

"Don't you know that crime never pays?"

I like the recaps with the stills and the excited voiceover. I also like the extraordinary tension between Frank Gorshin and Jill St John, she of Diamonds Are Forever and the first of many femme fatales whom Batman will hope to reform. Her little subplot is laugh out loud for us watching adults- our first sight of her dressing up as Robin with the Riddler comes across very much as a sex game, and Gorsgin has the Riddler juuuust the right side of a menacingly sexual leer, stopping just short of hinting at sexual violence.

Batman's effortless seeing through Molly's disguise is, of course, deliberately silly, as is her falling into the Batcave's nuclear core (ah, those days before Health and Safety), which makes no sense whatsoever but isn't supposed to.

After a bit of riddling and misdirection we finally get Batman and Robin shooting the Riddler's goons- and our first experience of seeing words like "Krunch!" on screen. The Riddler gets a suitably ambiguous exit, Bruce mopes a bit over Molly and we end on, er, some algebra.

So that's the formula. And a splendid formula it is- to the kids, just like the old movie serials with lots of set pieces and added colourful villains. But it's the truly magnificent high camp script from the great Lorenzo Semple Jr, and the equally splendid performances, that make this so extraordinary.