Monday, December 17, 2018

Batman 66 - Episodes 93-96 Reviews

Finishing up the final two parter of the second season sees the return of an icy customer with a new guise along with the first two episodes of the third season debuting another hero and a different format for the show.

2x59: Ice Spy


Like Catwoman by the time we get to the third season of this show and Poison Ivy on Gotham, sometimes you just need at least three actors to play your baddie. For his last appearance on the show, Mt Freeze is now played by Eli Wallach and this time around, he's got a willing female accomplice in ice skating queen Glacia Glaze along with a messenger seal (who is just adorable) in order to hold the city to ransom once again before shoving both Batman and Robin into a vaporizing pipe pump cabinet for the cliffhanger of this story. There's also a brief cameo from the Carpet King, representing the last Bat climb for the season as well. 7/10

2x60: The Duo Defy



After 60 episodes (and I'm genuinely flabbergasted this second season amount to that many episodes), it was time to bring things to an ending. This would be the last time the show would be just the Dynamic Duo and had things been a little different, this could've also been the ending to the series had a certain pitch not persuaded ABC to pick it up for a third run. While Freeze does get a brief chance to make Gotham a little colder, he is easily defeated by his own seal being used against him at one point while the last scene had Bruce, Dick and Alfred playing with cars, courtesy of Harriett. It's a decent enough ending for the second season. 7/10

3x01: Enter Batgirl, Exit Penguin



For the show's third season a few noticeable changes were made here. First of all, was the massive reduction in episodes and the use of single part stories, but the latter still had lead ins to the next story as the Riddler made a brief cameo at the end to set up his return in the next episode. The biggest change however was the addition of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) with the character being added into the revamped opening titles while Barbara found herself the unwilling would be bride of the Penguin and Alfred mistook as the priest slated to marry them. Craig's addition to the show is a stroke of genius with Batgirl feeling like a natural inclusion into proceedings as the Dynamic Duo find themselves grateful for her help as well as a bit curious as to her real identity. The show did need a prominent female presence at this point in it's life span and no better than Batgirl. 8/10

3x02: Ring Around The Riddler



Hinted at in the opening episode, the Riddler finally came back with Frank Gorshin reprising the role for the first time since the first season/1966 Movie and it was like he was never gone from the part. This time around, the Riddler is kidnapping a prize boxer Kid Gulliver and getting him to throw the fight while also taking Batman on in the ring itself with hilarious results. There's also Batgirl popping up a few times, scuppering some of the Riddler's scheming while the Dynamic Duo also enlist Barbara Gordon's help at one point in the episode. The episode also nicely sets up Joan Collins Lorelai Circe/Siren (who vocals have no effect on women), who despite allying herself with the Riddler has her own plans for Commissioner Gordon as the ending for this episode showed. 7/10

Next blog I'll delve into The Wail Of The Siren, The Sport of Penguins/A Horse of Another Color and The Unkindest Tut Of All.

No comments: