"The Minstrel's Shakedown/Barbecued Batman?": Ironic that an episode featuring a singing, rhyming villain is the first 2-parter in the series whose titles don't rhyme. (There are four more of those coming up this season, and the rhyming titles are abandoned altogether in the third season.) I wonder why part 2 wasn't something like "Batman's Takedown" or "The Minstrel's Breakdown."
Anyway, the Minstrel's medieval gimmick is a bit weak, and repetitive coming just two weeks after the Archer; it's like they were creating villains that would let them raid Fox's historical-costume warehouse. (Indeed, King Tut returns next week.) But other than that, he's a really effective villain, with his electronic tricks and his rather ruthless blackmail scheme. This is a surprisingly modern story, with a high-tech terrorist manipulating the stock-exchange computers and broadcasting demands on live television, and with Batman using a UAV drone to trace the signal. (Although the Green Hornet also had a VTOL camera drone in his arsenal.) It's also one of the less farcical, more seriously played episodes they've done -- albeit with some gags, like Phyllis Diller showing up as the janitor.
This was a good episode for the supporting cast, too. Alfred had a lot to do (I think they've really beefed up his role this season), and we saw a lot of Gordon and O'Hara. The bit where O'Hara started asking suspicious questions about Batman's true nature and Gordon chewed him out for it was surprising. For a moment there, O'Hara was channeling his fellow Irish-stereotype character, Hornet's Mike Axford, in accusing the masked crimefighter of being up to no good. Imagine if we'd seen this side of him more often -- it makes him a more interesting character. Unfortunately, O'Hara didn't get to do much in the final fight except get knocked out at the start and just lie there until it was over. (Would've been cool to see Commissioner Gordon get his licks in too.)
The Minstrel was exposed and defeated a bit easily, though -- kind of an anticlimax. Still, that's two strong stories in a row. I remember thinking the second season wasn't as good as the first, but so far it's holding up fine.
Interesting that Batman referenced the Clock King among his past foes, since we won't be seeing that episode for three more weeks. Maybe these were aired out of production order, which was quite common in '60s TV. Then again, Catwoman was mentioned long before her first appearance, and Clock King was a pre-established comics character.
By the way, I always thought the Minstrel's song was original to the show, and it was only comparatively recently (in the past decade or so, anyway) that I discovered it was an old standard, "The Wandering Minstrel." Even though Robin actually names the song in the first episode. I guess I figured it was only a known song within the show, like the Batusi.
Wonder Woman: “The Man Who Could Move the World”: Another wartime-legacy episode. A good try to acknowledge America’s mistreatment of Japanese-Americans during the war, but undermined by its very stereotypical portrayal of Ishida and the fact that he was completely wrong about the imagined injustice he sought to avenge. Not to mention Diana blowing off the whole atrocity with “That’s why pencils have erasers.”
It was also a bit of a gyp to have WW saved by the mind-enhancing machine overloading, rather than letting Steve actually make a difference for once. But I suppose the idea was that it was her superhuman resistance that caused the overload. If so, it wasn’t conveyed well.
Lots of anachronisms here. All the supposedly vintage wartime Wonder Woman dolls and books and posters are clearly modern merchandise, with the doll dressed in WW’s second-season uniform. WW herself is even wearing her current outfit in the wartime flashbacks (although I suppose it’s possible that she changed the design sometime between 1942 and the end of the war).
And it turns out I was wrong -- the “Belt of Strength” is still removable. Though it’s harder to tell that it isn’t of a piece with the rest, so that might still make it harder for bad guys to pull it off.
And wow, that was the most random, pointless funny-banter ending I can remember seeing. Just some stream-of-consciousness stuff about baseball? They couldn’t think of anything better?
Anyway, the Minstrel's medieval gimmick is a bit weak, and repetitive coming just two weeks after the Archer; it's like they were creating villains that would let them raid Fox's historical-costume warehouse. (Indeed, King Tut returns next week.) But other than that, he's a really effective villain, with his electronic tricks and his rather ruthless blackmail scheme. This is a surprisingly modern story, with a high-tech terrorist manipulating the stock-exchange computers and broadcasting demands on live television, and with Batman using a UAV drone to trace the signal. (Although the Green Hornet also had a VTOL camera drone in his arsenal.) It's also one of the less farcical, more seriously played episodes they've done -- albeit with some gags, like Phyllis Diller showing up as the janitor.
This was a good episode for the supporting cast, too. Alfred had a lot to do (I think they've really beefed up his role this season), and we saw a lot of Gordon and O'Hara. The bit where O'Hara started asking suspicious questions about Batman's true nature and Gordon chewed him out for it was surprising. For a moment there, O'Hara was channeling his fellow Irish-stereotype character, Hornet's Mike Axford, in accusing the masked crimefighter of being up to no good. Imagine if we'd seen this side of him more often -- it makes him a more interesting character. Unfortunately, O'Hara didn't get to do much in the final fight except get knocked out at the start and just lie there until it was over. (Would've been cool to see Commissioner Gordon get his licks in too.)
The Minstrel was exposed and defeated a bit easily, though -- kind of an anticlimax. Still, that's two strong stories in a row. I remember thinking the second season wasn't as good as the first, but so far it's holding up fine.
Interesting that Batman referenced the Clock King among his past foes, since we won't be seeing that episode for three more weeks. Maybe these were aired out of production order, which was quite common in '60s TV. Then again, Catwoman was mentioned long before her first appearance, and Clock King was a pre-established comics character.
By the way, I always thought the Minstrel's song was original to the show, and it was only comparatively recently (in the past decade or so, anyway) that I discovered it was an old standard, "The Wandering Minstrel." Even though Robin actually names the song in the first episode. I guess I figured it was only a known song within the show, like the Batusi.
Wonder Woman: “The Man Who Could Move the World”: Another wartime-legacy episode. A good try to acknowledge America’s mistreatment of Japanese-Americans during the war, but undermined by its very stereotypical portrayal of Ishida and the fact that he was completely wrong about the imagined injustice he sought to avenge. Not to mention Diana blowing off the whole atrocity with “That’s why pencils have erasers.”
It was also a bit of a gyp to have WW saved by the mind-enhancing machine overloading, rather than letting Steve actually make a difference for once. But I suppose the idea was that it was her superhuman resistance that caused the overload. If so, it wasn’t conveyed well.
Lots of anachronisms here. All the supposedly vintage wartime Wonder Woman dolls and books and posters are clearly modern merchandise, with the doll dressed in WW’s second-season uniform. WW herself is even wearing her current outfit in the wartime flashbacks (although I suppose it’s possible that she changed the design sometime between 1942 and the end of the war).
And it turns out I was wrong -- the “Belt of Strength” is still removable. Though it’s harder to tell that it isn’t of a piece with the rest, so that might still make it harder for bad guys to pull it off.
And wow, that was the most random, pointless funny-banter ending I can remember seeing. Just some stream-of-consciousness stuff about baseball? They couldn’t think of anything better?
