Batman's third and final season begins with the debut of the Yvonne Craig as Batgirl in the episode,
"Enter Batgirl, Exit Penguin."
Among other changes, the two-part format was dropped, with most episodes being standalone stories, usually ending with a teaser for the next episode. What's odd is that the 2-parter was no longer the standard, but it did not vanish completely--even adding in a 3-parter (the "Londinium" story).
As mentioned last week, the Aunt Harriet character was reduced to a couple of cameos (hence Robin's
"holy missing relatives" remark), since actress Madge Blake was in declining health.
Comics legend Carmine Infantino provided insight on the creation & addition of Batgirl to the TV series:
"...producer William Dozier called Julie (Schwartz) to say he thought the show would do better by introducing a new female character. I guess they got a great response to Catwoman, but she couldn't be in every episode. Julie and I got together to create Batgirl. It was Julie's idea that she be Commissioner Gordon's daughter. He asked me to design what she would look like in and out of costume. I also designed her motorcycle.
Gardner Fox wrote the first story, "The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl," which I drew, and it ran in Detective Comics #359. I enjoyed drawing Batgirl even more than Batman. The TV people liked my designs and adopted them for the show."
What should have been an explosive addition to the series turned out to flop across the board, usually given a good amount of blame for hammering that final nail in the Bat-coffin.
Instead of making Batgirl a crime fighter capable of believably standing up to villains as well as Batman & Robin, William Dozier--probably suffering from some sexist perception issue--had Yvonne Craig be little more than an add-on that overdosed on sass and other behavior that was already becoming outdated by the fall of 1967.
Worst of all, this costumed super heroine did not engage in any real fights.
At best, she hit villains with thin, wooden planks or crates, delivered the occasional high kick, but her fighting was nowhere near the action staged for seasons 1 & 2. It was close to nonexistent. As a result, any scenes with her in the mix was like watching two different programs trying operate in the same scene, but clearly not gelling.
That lack of real physical action was an anachronism on a series that was defined--in part--by its big, and frankly violent, flashy fights. They were part of the payoff for audiences, so to add another costumed hero, only to have her not live up to the super-heroic expectations
Batman established, only provided more reason to abandon a series that was already on the downslide.
We must remember that the 1960's played host to significant changes in the portrayal of women--especially in action / adventure series. More than just the occasional guest starring role, major series would see women begin to hold their own in conflicts with men. Whether it was
Honey West (1965-66), or Cathy Gale & Emma Peel from
The Avengers (their run: 1962-68), women were hardly the damsels in distress, only waiting for the male leads to sweep in and save the day.
Even
Get Smart's 99 occasionally dealt blows or a chop to male adversaries. If a sitcom did not have a problem.....
Further, the source--the comic book Batgirl--was launched as a woman more than capable of going toe-to-toe with men, as seen in the panel sample--
If the mishandling of live action Batgirl was not bad enough compared to the comics, only months after
Batman's cancellation, the first animated version of the character (Filmation's
The Batman / Superman Hour) had her in full-on fights (above). So, anywhere one looks--the comics, cartoons and other TV series with action heroines, there was more than enough cause for Craig's Batgirl to stand among them. Unfortunately, Yvonne Craig's Batgirl was reduced to act like a giddy schoolgirl from 1950, who just so happened to wear a bat costume.
