Batman: I already covered the dreadful "Louie the Lilac" when they showed it
a few months ago, so I'll skip to:
"Surf's Up! Joker's Under!" Oh, brother. I suppose there's a case to be made that this is a fun parody of '60s beach movies, but I'm not a fan of '60s beach movies, so I've always found it clumsy, pandering, and stupid. How in the heck does the Joker think that being King of the Surf will in any way translate to the conquest of Gotham City and the world? He's gone from being a devious mastermind to just plain loony. And he has a machine that can steal people's knowledge and vigor, and all he can think to do with it is learn to surf? Why not use that machine on Batman while he has him captive? And Gordon and O'Hara's random decision to go undercover as beach bums is more pathetic than amusing.
The low budget is also quite blatant here. Looking at the bargain-basement "turned into surfboards" cliffhanger in the middle, I realize that part of the reason they largely dropped the deathtraps is probably because they just couldn't afford to build them anymore. They could barely afford walls on their sets. The climax is also hampered by the need to have all the action described by the spectators, although it is kind of funny that both Batman and the Joker go out surfing in their full costumes, plus swim trunks.
The main thing that makes this episode worthwhile is that
amazing bathing suit Yvonne Craig wears in most of her scenes. It was pretty daring for '60s TV. The Joker's henchwoman Undine looks pretty fantastic in her bikini too.
Wonder Woman: "Spaced Out": Oh, look, it's Rene Auberjonois as a thief. Kind of a clumsy plan to smuggle the jewels out -- the kind that's likely to lead to a comedy of errors. And what a coincidence that Auberjonois just happened to send the stolen crystals to the guy Diana knows.
Hold on... Paragon Studios is bringing back its
Space Quest series? In 1979? That has a familiar ring to it. Auberjonois's casting was kind of prophetic. (Although they later said that it had already had movies and was returning to TV, so it's about eight years ahead of
Star Trek.)
Okay, so Wonder Woman apparently has the power to fall faster than a vase. How the heck does that work?
Oh, a
Logan's Run mention. It's not all fake shows after all. I guess they were able to do that because both shows were on CBS. (And had been contemporaries, although the LR series ended nearly a year before this episode aired.) Later on we see some
Star Wars costumes, but only in stock footage from an actual con, as you can tell from the scratches on the film. And one of the masquerade costumes is the Metaluna mutant from
This Island Earth -- I wonder if it's the actual costume pulled out of storage. If so, it's deteriorated enough to look like a cheap fan replica.
Hold on... is the musical score using the
Blaster Beam? If so, that's another Trek connection.
Man, that "Black Avenger" mask is hideous. This is supposed to be a successful show?
Oh my god... wait, wait, what is this? Robby the Robot is... just a guy in a suit? Nooo!!!! All my cherished illusions, crashing down around me!!! Why, why, whyyyyy???
At first, it looked like this was going to be mocking SF fandom. Diana seemed to have a rather contemptuous attitude at the beginning, and Sylvester was way too stereotypically nerdy. (Which is a shame. His "C6 Society" dedicated to space colonization is clearly a riff on the L5 Society, which deserved to be treated with more respect.) But that aside, it turned out to be a fairly decent portrayal of the convention experience, at least for the era, and it had a fun, if predictable, climax. (The whole thing about the climactic chase disrupting, and being seen as part of, the costume contest was also done in
The Guild and probably quite a few other shows.)
