Being an accessory to lots of crimes that weren't successful doesn't strike me as something that would earn you the reputation of being a master criminal, never mind the numero uno master criminal.
The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
I was replying to your "despite not actually committing any crimes" line. He's always conspiring with criminals (to set them up), so he would be considered committing crimes.
But he wasn't actually committing them, which is where I was coming from.
He's like J Jonah Jameson, only he does it to himself. 
Now there's a What If they should have made. "What if JJJ became Spider-Man?".He's like J Jonah Jameson, only he does it to himself.
They actually may have done that. I remember a What If with four or five short stories where different people got the spider bite. Betty Brant and Flash Thompson were two of them, but I forget who else.
Never mind, there were only three stories and the third was John Jameson, not JJJ. I wonder if they still do What If. The last I remember, they just did one-shots related to major events.
The Green Hornet
"The Frog Is a Deadly Weapon"
Originally aired October 7, 1966
I thought the frogmen would turn out to be a lame gimmick like the guy swinging on the rope in the warehouse, but they were put to decent use. This episode wasn't bad overall.
Barbara Babcock--apparently her first of two appearances as a ladyfriend of Reid.
In contrast with sister show Batman, we get a glimpse of the Hornet unmasked in costume, followed up with him changing clothes in the back of the limo. The costume change scam was a clever use of the secret ID.
When they emphasized Casey tossing her widowed shoe into the bay, I assumed it would figure into the plot, e.g., it would have a homing device in it or something.
So, um...the Hornet leaves our main villain of the week floating face-down in water and says he'll call Scanlon to pick him up...?
*******
Batman
"Zelda the Great"
Originally aired February 9, 1966
Bulletproof vests aren't that effective, that the hood would just shrug off gunfire like Superman...but maybe in the larger-than-life world of this show.
Gordon practically shaming his officers before he calls Batman is getting old...they're just being used as straw men at this point.
Our last two-parter took part in July...and now it's April. If this were Trek, imagine the endless debates about viewing order....
Batman plants stories in the paper without even needing to be the publisher...he even gets to use TGH's stock footage of the presses rolling!
Zelda walking in with a cloud of gas reminds me of the Question. He might have made a good subject of a late-60s TV adaptation, if he'd been on anyone's radar at the time....
I'm not sure what to make of the criminal duo. It seems to send a message that behind every great female criminal is a man. Also, note Zelda's invocation of "feminine intuition," well before Batgirl came along and made it part of her crime-fighting repertoire.
*******
Looks like Decades will be getting into the spirit of the season--The October 23-24 Binge will be a Thriller:
Hope they follow-up with another Dark Shadows Binge...guess I'll find out Monday-ish.
*
"The Frog Is a Deadly Weapon"
Originally aired October 7, 1966
I thought the frogmen would turn out to be a lame gimmick like the guy swinging on the rope in the warehouse, but they were put to decent use. This episode wasn't bad overall.
Barbara Babcock--apparently her first of two appearances as a ladyfriend of Reid.
In contrast with sister show Batman, we get a glimpse of the Hornet unmasked in costume, followed up with him changing clothes in the back of the limo. The costume change scam was a clever use of the secret ID.
When they emphasized Casey tossing her widowed shoe into the bay, I assumed it would figure into the plot, e.g., it would have a homing device in it or something.
So, um...the Hornet leaves our main villain of the week floating face-down in water and says he'll call Scanlon to pick him up...?
*******
Batman
"Zelda the Great"
Originally aired February 9, 1966
Bulletproof vests aren't that effective, that the hood would just shrug off gunfire like Superman...but maybe in the larger-than-life world of this show.
Gordon practically shaming his officers before he calls Batman is getting old...they're just being used as straw men at this point.
Might have made more sense if they only resorted to the signal after the phone went unanswered.
Our last two-parter took part in July...and now it's April. If this were Trek, imagine the endless debates about viewing order....
Indeed, and it fits right in with other indications that the Dynamic Duo and their foes have been around for a while.
Maybe Batman trusts the GCPD to valet park the Batmobile...?
Batman plants stories in the paper without even needing to be the publisher...he even gets to use TGH's stock footage of the presses rolling!
Zelda walking in with a cloud of gas reminds me of the Question. He might have made a good subject of a late-60s TV adaptation, if he'd been on anyone's radar at the time....
I'm not sure what to make of the criminal duo. It seems to send a message that behind every great female criminal is a man. Also, note Zelda's invocation of "feminine intuition," well before Batgirl came along and made it part of her crime-fighting repertoire.
Including Zelda breaking the fourth wall with her commentary on Batman's trap while spying on it with binoculars.
A little too convenient that her alternate scheme just happened to involve Aunt Harriet....
*******
Looks like Decades will be getting into the spirit of the season--The October 23-24 Binge will be a Thriller:
Hope they follow-up with another Dark Shadows Binge...guess I'll find out Monday-ish.
*
Last edited:
Agreed.
...who never gets enough credit for being one of the most attractive guest stars of this series and TOS.
GH is a serious guy. That was the one of biggest contrast between TGH and Batman. Although early on, Batman had its share of grim moments, like the gangster crossfire death in the Zelda episode, Molly falling in the Batcave reactor (the pilot) and Catwoman seemingly falling to he death in her first story.
A screenwriting tool to reinforce how the threats are beyond the skills of average police officers. At this early stage in the series, it was still necessary for the uninitiated among TV audiences.
60's culture was barely warming to superheroes and super-spies..I'm not sure the Question would have worked in that decade--perhaps the 80s would have been the first time such a concept would have found acceptance.
The series presented the opposite: The Catwoman, Ma Parker, Black Widow, Marsha, the Siren, Dr. Cassandra & Nora Clavicle never had any male as the force / reason for their criminal plots or success. Even Lady Prudence broke away from Lord Ffogg and Lady Peasoup in an attempt to take control of the crime.
If not Batman and/or Robin, the audience needed another known character to fall into the trap. The flaming oil (very much inspired by the serials) was one of the best, non-super death traps in the series, the kind that would be nearly absent from the next two seasons.
Terribly underrated series, usually considered the anthology bronze medalist after The Twilight Zone & The Outer Limits.
But the way the scene is played, I don't get the impression that the villain is supposed to be dead...and he just got knocked in the water, so he could have been saved. They just play it like they left him unconscious on land or tied up. They talk about letting Scanlon pick him up...not a hearse.
Makes it all the more of a misstep for their first female villain, then.
But why not go after Dick Grayson himself? They don't know he's busy being Robin. It's like they know that she's a dependent NPC of Batman and Robin.
Except that the plot of "Zelda the Great"/"A Death Worse Than Fate" was based on a Batman comic book story in which criminal inventor Eivol Ekdal was partnered with a male magician. The main element they had in common was the set piece with using Batman to test the new death trap -- that was actually the first part of the comic, and Ekdal and the magician went on to commit other crimes afterward -- but the partnership between the male magician and Ekdal was pretty much the same as shown in the episode. So that aspect of the story wasn't about gender. If there was a gendered element to the show's version, it was that Zelda was more remorseful and redeemable than her comics equivalent.
^ I'd read that in your review and should have acknowledged it...but that doesn't stop the gender switch from sending a bad signal.
i hope so too. though this year i hope they can show more episodes and not start over. i love Dark Shadows but i've seen the Barnabas introduction arc way too many times.
agreed. i really enjoy Thriller.
I'm under the impression that that block of episodes (about six months' worth, I believe) is all that they have. I'll be happy if they run it again, because I didn't have the opportunity to catch them all last time. This time I'll DVR the thing.
Nice. That's a great show. I've got the complete series on DVD.
Batman
"A Death Worse Than Fate"
Originally aired February 10, 1966
A telethon to negotiate a hostage situation is a cringeworthy bit of business. And why is the newscaster b&w while the live footage of the negotiators isn't? And of course, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson hanging out together should spark some realization...but you have to roll with the secret identity implausibilities on a show like this.
Alfred helps find a clue...albeit a planted one.
So Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson have met Zelda previously...the choice of hostage makes a bit more sense in that light.
The Dynamic Duo are about as bad as the Daily Planet staff, the way they walk into obvious traps together. They deliberately don't let us see what they're using to try to break through the glass/plastic, but it sounds like they've got Bat-Power Drills in their utility belts....
We do indeed get a couple of dead gangsters in this one (I think this was mentioned just yesterday in a different thread)... but in good Imperial Stormtrooper fashion, note that the thugs aren't shown during or after the shooting, just the mummy coffins. It seems like that crossfire would have been a problem anyway...they couldn't have expected the Dynamic Duo's bodies to absorb all of the bullets from their tommy guns.
*
"A Death Worse Than Fate"
Originally aired February 10, 1966
A telethon to negotiate a hostage situation is a cringeworthy bit of business. And why is the newscaster b&w while the live footage of the negotiators isn't? And of course, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson hanging out together should spark some realization...but you have to roll with the secret identity implausibilities on a show like this.
Alfred helps find a clue...albeit a planted one.
So Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson have met Zelda previously...the choice of hostage makes a bit more sense in that light.
The Dynamic Duo are about as bad as the Daily Planet staff, the way they walk into obvious traps together. They deliberately don't let us see what they're using to try to break through the glass/plastic, but it sounds like they've got Bat-Power Drills in their utility belts....
We do indeed get a couple of dead gangsters in this one (I think this was mentioned just yesterday in a different thread)... but in good Imperial Stormtrooper fashion, note that the thugs aren't shown during or after the shooting, just the mummy coffins. It seems like that crossfire would have been a problem anyway...they couldn't have expected the Dynamic Duo's bodies to absorb all of the bullets from their tommy guns.
Didn't they establish in a later episode (the one where the Joker finds the Batpoles) that they could turn off whatever changes their costumes?When Robin went down the Batpoles already in costume, did he get a second costume put on over his costume once he reached the bottom?I've always wondered what's supposed to be going on between the library and the cave.
*
I think the costume-change shutoff lever was introduced in the movie.
And judging from the trailer, it looks like the upcoming Return of the Caped Crusaders animated movie will show us the costume-changing mechanism in action.
Huh...I'm actually sorry to hear that...some things are better left to the imagination, especially after so many years.
Yep. A random hostage would not add tension or pressure on the heroes; its sounds like that would the Duo callous, but that kind of plot works--at least on this show.
Dark Shadows it is for Oct. 29-30. Looks like they might be picking up where the last binge left off (after they'd looped back to the beginning of the Barnabas storyline and gotten partway through their evident block of episodes).