I was a kid when I last saw an episode and only really remember them climbing buildings and talking to people. Didnt they also meet Lurchfrom the Addams Family?
Don’t forget the Joker trying to turn Batman and Robin into human surfboards so that he could use them to win the surfing contest.
I was pretty young, but I remember that this episode, and in particular when Robin says “Holy Human Surfboards Batman!”, is when I realized that the show was a comedy and not a normal superhero show. Wasn’t the premise of this episode that the Joker was trying to fit in with the hip surfing youth so he could corrupt their minds into joining his criminal enterprise?
Batman and Robin are summoned to the Commissioner’s office to hear a witness statement from an elderly woman. She says that she was in Gotham Central Park when she was confronted by a flying saucer landing in the bushes, and some little green men from Mars emerging and speaking to her in an incomprehensible language. She claims that she does not know what the aliens meant (“How should I know? I don’t speak Marsish!”), and that she only came forward because she saw it as her civic obligation to do so.
Batman’s remark (paraphrased): "Yes, it is the duty of every citizen of Gotham City to report sightings of little green men emerging from flying saucers in Gotham Central Park!
“Gotham Municipal code Three Zero Five, point 2, section A, subsection iii.”
P.S. The elderly woman was actually a confederate of the villain of the week, but I can’t recall if it was the Riddler or the Penguin.
The Lord Fogg episode where the office of Ireland Yard’s inspector is an obvious redress of Commissioner Gordon’s office. “Yes, after awhile all of these law enforcement offices look the same.”
Batman spelling out his name over the phone. “B-A-T-M-A-N.”
The Catwoman has Batman and Robin tied up in a giant frying pan where the sun’s rays will soon burn them to a crisp.
I was watching a Batman marathon on TV a few years back, and one of the episodes ended on a cliffhanger: some villain had planted a bomb on the Batmobile, rigged to go off when the speedometer hits 60 mph. Batman gets called to stop a crime, and as Batman and Robin are leaving the Batcave, Robin says, "Hurry, Batman! We’ve got to stop (whoever it was) Of course the voiceover is building up the tension as we watch the speedometer needle steadily climb upward, and leaves the viewer anticipating an explosive conclusion… but I thought, there’s no WAY that bomb goes off; Batman’s not gonna break the speed limit! Sure enough, the start of the next episode, Batman levels off at 55 mph, prompting Robin to say, “Batman, we can go faster than this, can’t we?” To which Batman replies something to the effect of, “See those signs on the side of the road, Robin? The speed limit is 55 mph, and we must obey the law, for everyone’s safety.” Classic.
I too was initially disappointed by the show because I had expected it was going to be a more serious thing. Only in re-runs did I get any of the jokes and my favorite was one of the “Holy (something)!” Exchanges:
Batman and Robin were about to be done in in some way that I can’t recall but it involved butter or margarine or some such.
Robin: “Holy oleo, Batman!”
Batman: “I didn’t know you knew how to yodel.”
I was old enough to know that they were joking around, but young enough that none of it seemed shocking. I loved the times when they were walking up the side of a building and a random celebrity would lean out of a window and swap a few comments with them. Sadly, I don’t remember any of those lines.
My Dad was completely disgusted with the show. It was part of the Media Conspiracy to undermine America by mocking heros and the police. It wasn’t bad enough to be forbidden (unlike the Smothers Brothers), but we had to be reminded as often as he noticed us watching it.
Relax, Citizen, return to your harpsichord.
That was awesome for me. I was a kid, and just thought Lurch played a creepy piano in a creepy way. Only Batman was smart enough (in my mind) to know all the varieties of historical musical instruments.
Likewise, i never understood the camp … until:
Batman: When is a clock like a railroad.
Robin: When its 2 minutes to 2:00
Batman: How?
Robin: Toot Toot Toot
Batman: Excellent work, old chum.
I was like wha .. how is that excellent … oh, wait, this whole show is a spoof? So that’s why the Joker has a mustache under his face paint? Is that why in the first episode, when a bimbo falls into the Batcave nuclear reactor, Batman say, “What a way to go-go”? It all cam to me. Or at least, that’s where it began to fall into place.
[QUOTE=FrankJBN;15950912So you subscribe to the theory that Gotham is indeed NYC? Because prior to 1974, only New York had a 55mph highway speed limit. Good call.[/QUOTE]
Well, remember that the mayor of Gotham was Mayor Linseed (the real mayor of NYC at the time was John Lindsay) and the governor of the state was Gov. Stonefeller (the real NY state guv at the time was Nelson Rockefeller).
Batman and Robin are tied up to planks by Catwoman, and suspended over a pit of hungry tigers. Robin tilts his head to look up at her and declares “Catwoman you are NOT a nice person!”
In the pilot, Batman and Robin make it back to the U. N. to rehydrate the world leaders who instantly pop back into place and resume their arguing exactly where they had left off. As they debate and yell at each other, Robin something to the effect “Maybe we should leave them to their good work” and starts to walk out the door. Batman, being wiser, says, “Let’s not be so conspicuous.” And then they walk over to the window where they climb out with their bat ropes.