Romero's Joker, in movement and expression is truly a marvel to behold. His laughter's both maniacal and menacing. Short of murdering someone, at the drop of a hat, I feel he really embodied the true spirit of the character. And it isn't hard to notice how he relishes playing "The Clown Prince Of Crime". As with some other guest villains, such as Frank Gorshin as "The Riddler", Cesar really gave his all to the show, helping to make it the pop classic it's come to be.Thanks for the post.
I mean, this *is* the "true spirit" of the Joker of the comics of the time. He's a dour killer in his first few appearances in 1940 and then psychotic when he comes back in the '70s after a layoff, but the Romero Joker is the same as the '50s and '60s comics Joker and similar to the rest of Batman's villains of the time: a guy who commits crimes built around a gimmick.
" Wait...we must shut off the gas and pump it out!!!, some passer by might get killed !!". Joker thinks kindly of strangers while he hates Batman and Robin.
the voice, the eerieness, the body language, and such touches as the gracious bow and the pirouette while gloating. CR's performance was the one all other Jokers (including TAS) based themselves on.
This actually was an interesting cliff-hanger.I did think that the Joker meant water at first, but when I saw the "Deadly Gas" sign I thought how would they breathe? Caesar Romero does the character of the Joker justice. I love his music when he is the villain. .
Joker never did like being incarcerated. They heard all his jokes before in the pen. The old smoke stack gag, oldest trick in the book. Smoke and mirrors the jokers bag of tricks.
"First we must shut off the poisonous gas and pump it out. Some passer-by might get killed!" I love this show. Villians may park in front of fire hydrants or deface public monuments, but they'd never go so far as to kill someone who wasn't directly associated with the law.
I can nit-pick here. In Penguin's first appearance, he put Bruce Wayne, thinking he was an "industrial spy", on a conveyor into a furnace, not even knowing it was Wayne, let alone Batman. When Mr. Freeze first appeared, he did freeze-blast a butler/servant. It was later mentioned that he survived, however. Zelda _threatened_ a lethal trap for Aunt Harriet, unless a ransom was paid. Joker, though, in the second death-trap of his zodiac crime spree, did include his ex-moll Venus to be eaten by the giant clam. Still, with the Joker's gas chamber, he didn't want to harm someone he had no grudge against, but we see that "the law" was not the criminals' limitation. End of nit-pick.
Adam west was hilarious at 3:47 ,when Joker orders them into the smokestack and the goon hands Batman the extra bullrope he responds "thank you" and walks into the smokestack.
@@chrissteele1362 I like the part when they are tied up and going to walk into the smoke stack. The thug hands Batman the end of the rope, and Batman says " thank you" , then He, and Robin step inside.A polite crime fighter to the end
I find it funny how Batman & Robin get to the top of the chimney and just sit there. Robin: "Strange there leaving now we have to find them again" You guys were up there watching for 30 seconds. Plenty of time to get down attack or jump on the van
This is easily the most creative cliffhanger of the Adam West Batman series! A great poem as the Duo are caught, an ingenious deathtrap and a brilliant escape!
The Joker's makeup and hair looked great in this episode, best of the series, I think. Even the magenta suit looks better here. I miss Caesat Romero's nuttiness...
@WayneGrayson I didn't realize they wrote the Minstrel episodes as well....BOTH (this and Van Johnson's character) both sang to Batman & Robin right at the trap scenes as well
Cesar Romero IS the Joker. He owned that part. The man was an actor from Hollywood's past. Very talented. His Joker laugh was legend , " Wooooo Ha Ha!!!". I read he did that laugh when he first saw his costume in wardrobe. The director asked what was that? Cesar just said " I was looking at my costume and found it funny , so I laughed." The same laugh became the Joker laugh.So in the Joker episodes the laugh was used. Cesar Romero put energy, and classic style into his portrayal as The Joker.A Batman Classic. 1966-1968.
such extra added touches...that back to back climb seemed real, the Joker's chanting while the pair are roped, the Joker showing a heart (!) by worrying the gas may injure a civilian, that incredible slide down the rope and the only time we see the parked batmobile emit a blast of fiery exhaust on departing.
Joker's henchman at 02:14 was Norman Alden who played a German officer in one episode of Hogan's Heroes and was the father of "Polly" on My Three Sons in the early 70s.
Kudos all around! Robin at his best ever...though you can tell that it's just their stunt doubles in the first shot of them climbing out of the gas. I also like the henchman at 2:18-2:21 with the hat over his eyes, who says, "We owe it to the criminal WOILD!"
It's too bad Batgirl wasn't added until the show's third season;the sight of Batgirl falling into the Joker's trap and being captured along with Batman and Robin would had been priceless. How would Batgirl had escaped? After Batman and Robin climbed out of the smokestack, Batman would throw down his batrope to Batgirl and pull her out of the smokestack.
If Ceasar Romero was still alive, he would've made a great boss Carl Grisson in the 1989 Batman. Plus I would've loved to see a young Johnny Depp as Dick Grayson/Robin, the Boy Wonder. As far as who was the best Catwoman goes, here's my list from least to best. 5, Lee Merriweather-Didn't play the role but once in the movie, she was at best, OK. 4, Michelle Pffiffer-Very athletic and mysterious. But, for me, all her roles from Grease 2 to now, there was always something sorely lacking in her performance. 3, (This will piss a lot of ya'll off when I say this) Julie Newmar-She had the look, the poise and the attitude. But, I got sick of her falling in love with Batman all the damned time...Mostly when she was caught by him after the fact. 2, Halle Berry-A tortured young soul finally wakes up and says to the world "Enough is enough!"? My kind of lady. Besides, the best/worst cats are BLACK! And not just in the suit. And finally, my No. 1 best pick as Catwoman. She only played her for a season , but what a season! Plus I got to see her and Yvonne Craig (As Batgirl) in skin-tight vinyl? Take me on home God, it don't get any better than this. She was black...through and through as all bad cats should be. She had a better body than Julie Newmar, far more attitude than Michelle Pfeiffer, much prettier in the face than Lee Merriweather, and Halle Berry claimed to have taken pointers from her when she played her. In short, one could say, she absolutely PURRRRRFECT for the role. None other than the late but still great, sassy but sexy, that fiercely but ferociously foxy feline femme fatale, EARTHA KITT! And anybody that disagrees with me, you're only LYING TO YOUR OWN DAMN SELVES! Tell me none of you fellas didn't get a rise in your Levis' when you heard that woman purr for the first time? Tell me at one time or another that you didn't try to get your girlfriend/fiance'/wife to do that when you were making out with her. Oh, you may have had Julie Newmar in your head while you were holding her, but you wanted her to sound like Eartha Kitt while you were enjoying her. For me (And I am not ashamed to admit this.), we couldn't keep enough charmin in the house when she played (Correction: When she WAS!) CATWOMAN!
@@JENDALL714 " Quick Robin, to the Batmobile, we've got to get these Bat - patents to the patent office so I can use the word " Bat" with every thing I use"!.
I absolutely LOVED this show growing up. Now I see Robin is kind of a fancy boy with a ridiculous costume but whatever, nothing beats the hours upon hours I spent pretending to be Batman after watching that week's episode. Thanks for posting.
adam west wasn't fat, he was just average build, imagine if mike henry of 60's tarzan fame was batman, since he was originally cast as batman or he was wanted by the producers of batman, talk about being able to fill out that leotard batman costume! whew! lyle waggoner audition for the role but couldn't do the campy acting so he wasn't cast.
mbblover Actually, watch the last episode of "Batman", the one with Zsa Zsa Gabor as the villain. This is the only time that Adam West was shirtless in the entire series, and he looked to be in great shape and was toned (by 1960's standards). It was the suit.
Joseph Beck You are absolutley right. Dark Knight Trilogy, pfff, more like CSI Chicago Trilogy. Generic crap. Nolan's ''Joker'' is just boring generic dude.Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson and Mark Hamill are true Joker trio, not this rip off Jeff the Killer and Tattooed freak from Suicide Squad. Actually, ANY Joker from cartoons and games are better than Ledger and Leto.
@@MidgetPlayingGames Heath Ledger is overhyped garbage, and what are you doing here anyway? It is the 60's series that made Batman and Robin famous globally.
