Batman: The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra

"A Batfight seldom takes more than forty seconds, and they're already half an hour late."

Now this is more like it. It will never be one of my all-time  favourites, it's extremely cheap-looking, and all the ersatz "arch-criminals" are both underused to the point of undermining the characters and far too easily defeated, but the wit and the fun are back.

We first meet alchemist Dr Cassandra and her sidekick husband Cabala (both played by minor Hollywood stars) as they use invisibility to rob a bank that's "so conservative it pays no interest at all", and the silliness remains at that level- right to the point of a gun that turns our Terrific Trio into two-dimesnsional beings, aka cardboard cutouts. This is splendidly silly, and results in Batgirl being introduced to the Batcave.

The misuse of the arch-criminals is unnecessary and jarring, although I love that Gotham Prison has an "arch-criminals' wing". And the Batfight in total darkness is hilarious. After last episode's disaster, the series may well be regaining its mojo just before the last ever episode...

Batman: The Joker's Flying Saucer

"Holy known unknown flying objects!"

Oh dear. Only last episode I was rejoicing that, while this season is clearly under-budget and, on the whole, under par, it is nevertheless capable of reaching real heights. It is also, alas, capable of real lows, and this third-from-last episode is a real stinker. The sort of episode, in fact, which can tempt one to mention shark jumping. And this is the last episode of the Joker and, indeed, of any recurring villain.

Cesar Romero's Joker was never my favourite villain in Batman: Frank Gorshin's Riddler, Penguin and both Catwomans (Catwomen?) outshine him. And Romero, admittedly, is only my third favourite Joker. Fourth, if you count Conrad Veidt. But I liked him, and he deserves a much better swansong than this.

High concept episodes are fair enough, but this episode takes the theme of a silly flying saucer hoax and does absolutely nothing interesting with it. There's no wit or metatextual fun to speak of, just broad attempts at humour, although admittedly the Joker asuming Alfred must be a "mad scientist" is quite funny. Not even stock footage of the Batcopter can save this cheap, tawdry and funny episode.

Batman: I'll Be a Mummy's Uncle

"I'll build an indestructible empire that no one will be able to destruct!"

Every episode of this last run is the last gasp of something or someone that we will miss. This time it's King Tut making his last appearance, in a triumph of an episode crammed with magnificent one liners. Yes, Stanley Ralph Ross is on writing duties again.

This is twenty-four minutes of pure fun. It's nonsense, of course: Tut's plan is to acquire land next to Wayne Manor and then drill sideways in order to grab some priceless "Nilanium", accidentally hitting the Batcave after which farce ensues. The Aswan Dam, still under construction in 1968, gets a topical mention. And, although Bargirl is sidelined somewhat, this is a splendid bit of storytelling, filling the time available to perfection.

We even get a delightful scene in which Barbara, as Batgirl, rings Batman, as Bruce Wayne. The Dynamic Duo casually run a three minute and then a two minute mile. And, of course, Victor Buono is comic gold as ever. Tut will be missed. And we're so very close to the end now...

Batman: Louie’s Lethal Lilac Time

“Tell me something, Batgirl. How did you get out of that cat?”

“With my Batgirl vat-opener.”

Louie the Lilac gets a second appearance, which is surprising- I assume both episodes were filmed back to back? He’s an odd one; a relatively ho-hum character that is elevated by a nicely menacing little turn from Milton Berle.

They may be running out of ideas already- after trying to corner the flower market, he’s now doing the same with perfume. But the episode nevertheless manages to be funny and entertaining- I love how Louie needs a whole menagerie of animals kidnapped from the zoo, all of which are just off camera whenever they are nearby. We also get parallel pieces of farcical fun as Barbara Gordon nearly seems the Batphone flashing, while her own secret passage in her flat is nearly found by a random workman sent by neighbours complaining about the noise of the revolving wall.

The episode revolves around the conceit if Bruce and Dick being captured and the Caped Crusaders therefore being unavailable, until of course they get to use their special pills which contain full Bat costumes. This is wonderfully bonkers. Much like the episode itself. This third season, I think I can say by now, is looking a little tired. But it’s still got it a surprising amount of the time.

Batman: Catwoman’s Dressed to Kill

“You better leave the crime fighting to the men!”

There is, of course, no doubt that the much-missed Julie Newmar is the definitive Catwoman. Bt that isn't to say I can't admire other portrayals, and Eartha Kitt's more aggressive version of the character here is excellent. If we can't have Julie, it's good to have an actress who has put her own stamp on the role. Sadly, though, I suspect the dropping of the sexual tension between Catwoman and batman is due to the pthetic racial politics of the time. Black lives, in 1967, were seen to matter very little.

Once again, though, a Catwoman episode is written by a Stanley Ralph Ross, and this is a good 'un. The programme's splendid high camp flavour is much in evidence, with much gentle skewering of sexist attitudes both within the fashion industry and beyond- the above quote is joined by many other over-the-top lines, and we have a delightful scene in which the Dynamic Duo refuse to enter a ladies' dressing room after Catwoman and her henchmen flee inside, and when forced to enter because Batgirl is in peril they close their eyes- all played dead straight by West and Ward. This is delightful.

We even have the main threat of the episode being Catwoman's plot to steal the priceless relic of a tiny European kingdom which could lead to war, and America therefore having to support said microstate for years; I rather suspect our scribe has seen The Mouse That Roared.

All this, and we get hippie Alfred. One of the finer recent episodes.

Batman: The Unkindest Tut of All

"Luckily for us, she's an Egyptian bibliophile...

Oh. There I was, merrily criticising this season's poor start and diagnosing the single episodes as the cause, being far too rushed to demonstrate and of the high camp and winks at its own tropes that have always made Batman such a joy. So, naturally, the very next episode comes along and proves that it is indeed possible to squeeze lots and lots of high camp fun into twenty-four minutes.

It helps, of course, that Victor Buono is back as King Tut, this time posing as a soothsayer of crime as a successful plot to discover the location of the Batcave, and that Yvonne Craig, whether as Batgirl or Barbara Gordon, is showing herself to be every bit as good at deadpan, square humour as Adam West. But, essentially, the episode is a triumph because Stanley Ralph Ross' script simply sings.

Tut is back because he was "hit by a brick at a love in". There's a delightfully crowbarred-in reference to Alfie. Batman tries to ask Batgirl out on a date after she utters the sweet words "I was only doing my duty as a citizen". And many, many more, at last giving the whole regular cast some great material to work with so we can see yet again how well they deal with this kind of material.

So, yes- the new format can work. Let's have more episodes like this please.

Batman: A Horse of Another Colour

"I did a little extra-curricular crime detecting while Dick Grayson was doing his homework."

Well, that, if you forgive the lamentable lack of a cliffhanger, was rather splendid. In fact, suspiciously so. I'm now convinced that the problems we've seen this season can be laid entirely at the door of the decision to move largely to standalone single episodes. Not only, at a time when the budget has been cut, does it needlessly increase costs by demanding new costumes and sets each episode, but it takes away the main attraction of the show. Batman is awesome because of its high camp silliness, its deadpan riffs on the absurdities of its own tropes. There's not much time for all than in twenty-four minutes, but in two episodes there's penty. Because this two parter, while perhaps not quite being the best ever, has brought all the fun back again, made possible by having time to breathe.

Hence we get to enjoy Barbara Gordon being the ridiculously sensible and goody-goody librarian, and Penguin looking for a buyer for his stolen folio of parasols in the "Saturday Review of Parasols"- and failing yet again to notice "A.L. Fredd".We get some more priceless dialogue between Penguin and Lola. And we get the silliest horse race imaginable.It's all enormous fun.

But we end with a massive hint that the next (single) episode will feature the splendid King Tut- but will we have enough time in one episode to enjoy this fun character...?

Batman: The Sport of Penguins

"I pray for the day when Gotham City is safe from that mocking mountebank."

Phew. This episode is much better, and holds out some hope for this third season after its wobby start- and it manages to do this while being centred around the theme of horse racing, the most boring subject imaginable.

I still have doubts about the new format, but the fact that this is a two parter (although the fact the show is now weekly sadly seems to mean no cliffhanger, which is silly and disappointing as they still try to tease us without one) makes the whole thing less rushed and allows some of the high camp silliness which is the whole point of this series- hence we get the Caped Crusaders' surreal and ridiculously random reasoning ("holy non-sequitors!) which lead them to the glue factory, and Penguin gets lines like "If it's that priceless, I can get a good price for it on the black market", and his haggling at the glue factory is hilarious.

It's also nice that he remembers Barbara jilting him at the altar (actual continuity!), and leaves a ticking trap for her- and I love Barbara's po-faced outrage at his attempted theft in the library. We also get the amusing Ethel Merman as Lola Lasagne, a fairly small time villain with a small time scheme, but an amusing one.

On a personal note, I'm glad these two parters are more loosely connected than before; from this week onwards my weekdays are even more insanely busy than before and a short episode of Batman is something I can hopefully blog where time is absurdly short, so I'll stick to one episode at a time unless things change- on other days, I'll continue to blog Deadwood with films, as usual, at the weekend. I want to keep this blog up; it's strangely relaxing for me after these long days.

Batman: Ring Around the Riddler

"Returned to tease, taunt and torment us again..."

This second episode, it has to be said, with its reentlessly studio-boubd scenes, is where the budget cuts really start to show. It's also becoming clear how difficult it is, especially with a third semi-lead, to tell a story in twenty-four minutes, much as I admire some of the economy of storytelling here- as we begin with Batgirl ringing the Commissioner (her father!), who rings Alfred, who in turn summons the Caped Crusaders, with the entire montage done in silence.

The story is a fairly low-stakes tale of the Riddler getting in on the act in the boxing tacket, getting prize-fighters to throw fights. That's it. Despite the sheer number of riddles, the character hardly gets seen at his most memorable- but all is forgiven, because the prodigal Frank Gorshin is back, after taking a whole season off for mysterious reasons. He is, of course, magnificent, and there will never be a better Riddler. But it's sad that Gorshin's (and the Riddler's) time on the show should end with such a whimper. This third season will contain a lot of sad "lasts".

The episode has some lovely touches- I love Barbara Gordon's relationship with her doting father, and how she has a parrot to talk to, cleverly allowing the character to talk to herself. It's also nice that we get such an extended preview of Joan Collins as the Siren. But ultimately, if it were not Frank Gorshin'slast appearance, this would be a forgotten episode.