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Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Chase

Doctor WhoIn this mostly comedic six-parter, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are vacationing on the desert world of Aridius when they find themselves on the run from the Daleks, who have invented their own time vehicle. After a number of brief stops, ranging from the Empire State Building to the Marie Celeste to a haunted house full of robots, the Doctor is forced to make his last stand against the Daleks – at least for this season of the series – on the planet Mechanus, where he loses two companions and gains a new one.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Richard Martin
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Robert Marsden (Abraham Lincoln), Hugh Walters (William Shakespeare), Roger Hammond (Roger Bacon), Vivienne Bennett (Queen Elizabeth I), Richard Coe (TV announcer), The Beatles (themselves), Jack Pitt (Mire Beast), Gerald Taylor, Kevin Manser, Robert Jewell, John Scott Martin (Daleks), Peter Hawkins, David Graham (Dalek voices), Ian Thompson (Malsan), Hywel Bennett (Rynian), Al Raymond (Prondyn), Arne Gordon (Guide), Peter Purves (Morton Dill), Dennis Chinnery (Albert Richardson), David Blake Kelly (Captain Briggs), Patrick Carter (Bosun), Douglas Ditta (Willoughby), Jack Pitt (Stewart), John Maxim (Frankenstein’s Monster), Malcolm Rogers (Dracula), Roslyn de Winter (Grey Lady), Edmund Warwick (Robot Doctor), Murphy Grumbar, Jack Pitt, John Scott Martin, Ken Tyllson (Mechanoids), David Graham (Mechanoid voices), Derek Ware (Bus Conductor)

Note: Peter Purves plays the part of Morton Dill in an early episode of this serial, but then later joins the regular cast in the role of stranded astronaut Steven Taylor.

Broadcast from May 22 through June 26, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Time Meddler

Doctor WhoThe Doctor seems to calmly accept that Earth space pilot Steven Taylor, stranded on the planet Mechanus, has stowed away aboard the TARDIS following their harrowing adventure with the Daleks. The TARDIS arrives on 11th century Earth, and despite all evidence to the contrary, Steven refuses to believe that he is now traveling in a time machine. The Doctor receives a warm welcome from the locals and quickly determines that he has arrived in 1066 A.D., just prior to a Viking invasion of Northumbria. But something is amiss – the chanting of the monks in a nearby monastery seems to slow down, as if it has been recorded. Steven and Vicki have a run-in with another local, finding a 20th century watch on his wrist. It soon becomes apparent that someone else capable of time travel is here, someone who has no ethical qualms with a little bit of historical tampering. The Doctor sneaks into the monastery and finds that a tape player is indeed responsible for the music…but he is then trapped, a prisoner of a lone Monk who seems to have a wide array of anachronistic technology, including his own TARDIS. Now, in the shadow of a great historic battle, the Doctor and his friends must try to wrest the timeline back from the Monk’s machinations.

written by Dennis Spooner
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Peter Butterworth (Monk), Alethea Charlton (Edith), Peter Russell (Eldred), Michael Miller (Wulnoth), Michael Guest (Hunter), Norman Hartley (Ulf), Geoffrey Cheshire (Viking Leader), David Anderson (Sven), Ronald Rich (Gunnar)

Broadcast from July 3 through 24, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

Galaxy Four

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Steven and Vicki, exploring the latest destination to which the TARDIS has brought them, encounter a primitive robot which Vicki nicknames a Chumblie. While it seems harmless enough, it soon indicates that it wishes the time travelers to follow it – and makes its wishes even more clear by demonstrating its ability to vaporize a nearby bush. Two statuesque, armed women ambush the Chumblie, and then take the Doctor and his friends prisoner for themselves. The TARDIS travelers are brought before Maaga, the self-proclaimed leader of the Drahvins. Maaga tells the Doctor that the Chumblies are the robotic servants of the vicious Rills, another alien expedition visiting this planet. Ever since the Rills revealed that the planet is just fourteen dawns away from destroying itself, the Rills and the Drahvins have been at war. The Rills’ ship is the only vehicle capable of leaving the planet in time, and the Drahvins intend to take it for themselves – with the Doctor’s help, which they secure by holding Vicki hostage. When the Doctor visits the TARDIS to see how much time this planet has left, however, he discovers that the Rills and Drahvins have less time than they thought to settle their differences.

Season 3 Regular Cast: William Hartnell (The Doctor), Maureen O’Brien (Vicki), Peter Purves (Steven), Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet)

written by William Emms
directed by Derek Martinus
music not credited

Cast: William Hartnell (The Doctor), Maureen O’Brien (Vicki), Peter Purves (Steven), Stephanie Bidmead (Maaga), Marina Martin, Susanna Carroll, Lyn Ashley (Drahvins), Jimmy Kaye, Angelo Muscat, William Shearer, Pepi Poupee, Tommy Reynolds (Chumblies), Robert Cartland, Anthony Paul (Rill voices), Barry Jackson (Garvey)

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist.

Broadcast from September 11 through October 2, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Lost In Space Season 1

The Reluctant Stowaway

Lost In SpaceOctober 16, 1997: with Earth suffering from extreme depletion of resources, the race is on to colonize planets in nearby star systems, starting with a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. The Jupiter 2 is prepared for launch, to be crewed by the Robinson family – Dr. John Robinson, Dr. Maureen Robinson, and their children, Judy, Penny, and Will – and the pilot, Major Don West. With the stakes so high, sabotage is almost expected, and indeed a saboteur has snuck aboard the Jupiter 2, one Dr. Zachary Smith, who has programmed the robot to destroy the Jupiter 2 with all hands aboard at eight hours into the mission. But Smith is as inept as he is evil, and is stuck aboard the ship when it lifts off. While trying (and failing) to convincingly explain his presence to the Robinsons when the Jupiter 2 goes off course, Smith now has to undo his own act of sabotage…or become a victim of his own plot.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by S. Bar-David
directed by Tony Leader
music by Johnny Williams

Lost In SpaceCast: Guy Williams (Dr. John Robinson), June Lockhart (Maureen Robinson), Mark Goddard (Don West), Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson), Billy Mumy (Will Robinson), Angela Cartwright (Penny Robinson), Jonathan Harris (Dr. Zachary Smith), Hoke Howell (Security Guard), Tom Allen (Inspector), Fred Crane (Alpha Control Technician), Don Forbes (TV Commentator), Bob May (Robot), Brett Parker (Security Guard), Ford Rainey (President), Hal Torey (General), Dick Tufeld (Robot voice / Narrator), Paul Zastupnevich (Bearded Foreign Correspondent)

Lost In SpaceNotes: None of the guest stars, except for Jonathan Harris (who is credited in every episode of the series as a “special guest star”), are credited on screen. Don’t let “received wisdom” convince you that Lost In Space is a giant ball of interstellar cheese; the show is actually quite forward-looking in some areas, including John Robinson’s use of a multi-directional jet gun during his spacewalk, very much like the one recently used by U.S. astronaut Ed White during the first NASA spacewalk earlier in 1965.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Out Of The Unknown Season 1

No Place Like Earth

Out Of The UnknownEarth was destroyed 15 years ago, after the solar system had been colonized as far as the moons of Jupiter. Bert, one of the last people to leave Earth for Mars, became more or less stranded on Mars, traveling between Martian settlements and repairing things for the locals. When the call goes out for men to colonize Venus, Bert is torn between his peripatetic life on Mars, which affords him both a living and leisure time, and the urge to rebuild a new world in the image of Earth. But it is only when Bert arrives on Venus that he learns that all of human history will play out in the building of this new world – even the worst parts. And if he starts a revolution, he may not be long for this, or any other, world.

adapted by Stanley Miller
from a story by John Wyndham
directed by Peter Potter
music by Norman Kay

Out Of The UnknownCast: Terence Morgan (Bert), Jessica Dunning (Annika), Hannah Gordon (Zaylo), Joseph O’Conor (Freeman), Alan Tilvern (Blane), George Pastell (Major Khan), Jerry Stovin (Captain of Spaceship), Vernon Joyner (Carter), Bill Treacher (Harris), Geoffrey Palmer (Chief Officer), Roy Stewart (Security Guard)

Out Of The UnknownNotes: The works of writer John Wyndham would inspire many future genre productions, including the BBC’s adaptation of Day Of The Triffids and ITV’s Chocky series. Norman Kay also provided the incidental music for the first Doctor Who story, An Unearthly Child, in 1963.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

Mission To The Unknown

Doctor WhoA ship from Earth, piloted by three Space Security Agents, lands on the jungle world of Kembel for a scouting mission. Their recce soon turns into more than they’d bargained for – the local flora is capable of infecting humans and turning them into mindless killers, and one of the Agents is gunned down by his fellow officers in self-defense. Worse yet, they learn that the Daleks are massing a secret strike force on Kembel. The metallic monstrosities are planning to overrun Earth’s entire solar system, subjugate the human race, and from there take over the entire universe. In the end, only Space Security Agent Marc Cory is left alive, and he’s dying, infected by the mind-controlling vegetation of Kembel. He manages to fire off a distress signal to Earth – not a plea for help, since he will be dead by the time help can arrive, but a warning: prepare for an invasion.

Order this story on audio CDwritten by Terry Nation
directed by Derek Martinus
music not credited

Cast: Edward de Souza (Marc Cory), Robert Cartland (Malpha), Jeremy Young (Gordon Lowery), Barry Jackson (Garvey), Ronald Rich (Trantis), Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Gerald Taylor, John Scott Martin (Daleks), Peter Hawkins, David Graham (Dalek voices)

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist. This is the only episode of Doctor Who in which neither the Doctor nor his companions appear.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Out Of The Unknown Season 1

The Counterfeit Man

Out Of The UnknownA long-haul space mission to and from Ganymede is taking a toll on its all-too-human crew. One of the ship’s navigators dies from what appears to be the stress of being away from an earthlike environment, while the ship’s doctor suspects that Wescott, one of the crew, is not human, but an alien being that has assumed his physical form. The doctor begins sowing the seeds of suspicion among his own crew, and soon Westcott is a pariah among his crewmates, and the suspicion spreads. How inhuman will the crew become in trying to prove a shipmate isn’t human?

adapted by Philip Broadley
from a story by Alan Nourse
directed by George Spenton-Foster
music by Norman Kay

Out Of The UnknownCast: Alan Davion (Dr. Crawford), David Hemmings (Wescott), Charles Tingwell (Captain Jaffe), Peter Fraser (Donnie), Anthony Wager (Jensen), Keith Buckley (Scotty), David Savile (Gerry), Geoffrey Kenion (Dave), Barry Ashton (Frank), David Munro (Ken), Hedger Wallace (Commander), Lew Luton (Officer), Derek Martin (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Myth Makers

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is suitably bemused when the TARDIS lands him in the middle of a fight on the plains of Greece, where his appearance fatally distracts one of the two combatants and convinces the other that he is Zeus. Vicki and Steven watch helplessly as the surviving warrior, Achilles, tries to recruit “Zeus” in his quest to topple the city of Troy. More of Achilles’ countrymen appear, led by Odysseus, who doesn’t believe that the Doctor is Zeus, and he is taken prisoner. Steven insists that Vicki, still nursing a sprained ankle, remain in the TARDIS while he goes to help the Doctor. Faced with no choice, the Doctor decides to masquerade as a god, proving his “powers” with foreknowledge of events to come in the Trojan War. The ruse works too well, though – his captors decide that he’s too valuable to let go, but at least they grant him some hospitality. When Steven tries to come to the Doctor’s rescue, he is captured and brought before Agamemnon; to save Steven’s life, the Doctor claims him as his own personal “sacrifice to Olympus”, promising to make him disappear at the dawn of the next day at his “blue temple”…but when the appointed hour comes, the temple – the TARDIS – has vanished. The Doctor and Steven are declared spies, and fast talking is required to save their necks from Agamemnon’s sword for impersonating a god. The TARDIS has in fact been spirited away, and now lies within the walls of Troy. Cassandra admonishes the Trojan soldiers for bringing an unknown object into the city, warning that she has foreseen that a “gift” from the Greeks will result in the fall of Troy. Vicki emerges from the TARDIS, where she too claims to have knowledge of the future. She is given the name Cressida, and Cassandra immediately objects to having competition in the prophecy field. To recover the TARDIS and Vicki intact, the Doctor must propose an outlandish plan that may just prove Cassandra’s grim predictions correct…

Order this story on audio CDwritten by Donald Cotton
directed by Michael Leeston-Smith
music by Humphrey Searle

Guest Cast: Cavan Kendall (Achilles), Alan Haywood (Hector), Ivor Salter (Odysseus), Francis de Wolff (Agamemnon), Jack Melford (Menelaus), Tutte Lemkow (Cyclops), Max Adrian (Priam), Barrie Ingham (Paris), Frances White (Cassandra), Jon Luxton (Messenger), James Lynn (Troilus), Adrienne Hill (Katarina)

Doctor WhoBroadcast from October 16 through November 6, 1965

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist. An audio recording of the entire story is available. Barrie Ingham has two unusual distinctions: for many years, he was the only actor to be seen in both the TV series and in one of the Peter Cushing Doctor Who movies. He also later guest starred in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This story marks the exit of Maureen O’Brien as Vicki – whose age is established as being in her late teens – and the introduction of Adrienne Hill as Katarina.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Daleks’ Masterplan

Doctor WhoAs Space Security Agent Bret Vyon and a fatalistic colleague search for their missing comrade Marc Cory on the planet Kembel, little do they realize they’re about to become the first witnesses to the beginning of a Dalek invasion of Earth’s galaxy and solar system. Vyon escapes with his life, but his radio transmitter is destroyed, leaving him unable to warn Earth of the impending danger. The TARDIS lands on Kembel, and when the Doctor steps outside to explore, he is ambushed by Vyon, who takes the key to his timeship. Vyon enters the TARDIS and tries to coerce Katarina into operating the controls, but Katarina – still new to the TARDIS – can’t help him, and Steven attacks Vyon and lets the Doctor back in. The Doctor secures Vyon in a magnetic security chair which holds him immoble, and returns to his explorations outside, spotting Daleks nearby. Vyon helps Katarina cure Steven of his poisoning, while the Doctor infiltrates a nearby spaceport where the Daleks are gathering. He impersonates one of several visiting delegates, and discovers that the Daleks – with help from the traitorous Mavic Chen, guardian of the solar system – plan to unleash a weapon called the Time Destructor. When they find the TARDIS door ajar, the Daleks force Katarina, Steven and Bret Vyon out of the time machine, and the former TARDIS travelers have to steal a ship from the spaceport. Vyon intends to leave the Doctor behind, but the Doctor manages to get aboard as the ship takes off – having stolen the valuable taranium core that would power the Time Destructor. The Daleks pursue, forcing the ship down on the prison planet Desperus, where two prisoners hijack the ship as it takes off again. The criminals take Katarina hostage and barricade themselves into an airlock, but the girl bravely sacrifices her own life to open the airlock, killing the hijackers in the process. The Doctor and Steven are stunned, but continue racing toward Earth to warn humanity of the Daleks’ plan.

Mavic Chen beats them back to Earth and has the Space Security Service declare Vyon, Steven and the Doctor traitors to the human race, but the three travelers haven’t taken quite the path Chen expected, and elude capture. Chen assigns special agent Sara Kingdom to track them down and eliminate them, unaware that she is Vyon’s sister. Vyon leads the Doctor and Steven to a friend of his, only to discover that this friend is in Chen’s employ and is also in on the conspiracy to hand Earth over to the Daleks. Sara Kingdom arrives at the scene and guns down her brother in cold blood, continuing the pursue the other two. She pursues them into a laboratory where a matter-transmission experiment is taking place, and all three are transported through space to the planet Mira. The Daleks follow the travelers to Mira, where Sara experiences a change of heart as the murder of her brother sinks in. But her realization is almost cut short by a new threat – Mira’s invisible and lethal indigenous life forms. When the Daleks corner the time travelers, those creatures offer an opportunity to escape. The Doctor, Sara and Steven commandeer the Dalek ship and leave Mira. As the Dalek ship follows a pre-programmed course back to Kembel, the Doctor makes a fake taranium core. He uses it to bluff his way back into the TARDIS on Kembel, handing it over to the Daleks at the last minute. But despite the fact that the travelers still have the real taranium core, the TARDIS takes them someplace else inhospitable, with a poisonous atmosphere: 20th century Earth.

When the Doctor investigates, he is mistaken for a homeless man, discovering that the “poisonous atmosphere” is merely that of polluted 1966 London. Steven and Sara have to act fast to rescue the Doctor from police (who are, after all, merely looking after “their” police box) and escape back to the TARDIS. They then wind up materializing in a Hollywood studio during a film shoot, and a brief but maddening chase ensues between the time travelers and the filmmakers. The TARDIS then takes them to the volcanic planet of Tigus. Not only are the Daleks lying in wait, having discovered that they do not possess a real taranium core, but so too is the Meddling Monk, an interfering fellow Time Lord the Doctor and Steven left stranded in 1066 A.D.. The Monk tries to exact his revenge by locking the Doctor out of his own TARDIS, but the Doctor uses a special property of his ring to gain entry. With both the Monk and the Daleks in hot pursuit, the Doctor and his companions make a quick escape to ancient Egypt, but their reception is anything but friendly there – a possessive Pharaoh lays claim to the TARDIS.

Followed to Egypt by the Monk, the Doctor realizes that the stakes are now higher and he’ll have to use the real taranium core as a bargaining chip. When the Monk ensures that Steven and Sara are captured by the Daleks and suggests they use the two humans as hostages, the Doctor is forced to hand over the core to the Daleks. His friends returned to him (and having once again sabotaged the Monk’s TARDIS), the Doctor races back to Kembel, where Mavic Chen’s ambition grows to the point where the corrupt leader no longer thinks he needs the Daleks. They solve this problem by swiftly exterminating Chen and activating the Time Destructor. When the Doctor realizes how the Daleks’ ultimate weapon will work, he decides to run for the safety of the TARDIS to wait out its effects, for the weapon will quickly destroy itself and all those around it. Tragically, Sara does not live to see the Daleks’ grandiose plan fail.

Order this story on audio CDwritten by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Tristram Cary

Guest Cast: Jean Marsh (Sara Kingdom), Brian Cant (Kert Gantry), Nicholas Courtney (Bret Vyon), Pamela Greer (Lizan), Philip Anthony (Roald), Kevin Stoney (Mavic Chen), Michael Guest (Interviewer), Julian Sherrier (Zephon), Roy Evans (Trantis), Douglas Sheldon (Kirksen), Dallas Cavell (Bors), Geoffrey Cheshire (Garge), Maurice Browning (Karlton), Jack Pitt (Gearon), Roger Avon (Daxtar), James Hall (Borkar), Bill Meilen (Froyn), John Herrington (Rhynmal), Terence Woodfield (Celation), Peter Butterworth (Monk), Roger Brierly (Trevor), Bruce Wightman (Scott), Jeffrey Isaac (Khepren), Derek Ware (Tuthmos), Walter Randall (Hyksos), Bryan Mosley (Malpha), Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Gerald Taylor, John Scott Martin (Daleks), Peter Hawkins, David Graham (Dalek voices), Clifford Earl (Sergeant), Norman Mitchell, Malcolm Rogers (Policemen), Kenneth Thornett (Inspector), Reg Pritchard (Man in mackintosh), Sheila Dunn (Blossom Lefavre), Leonard Grahame (Darcy Tranton), Royston Tickner (Steinberger P. Green), Mark Ross (Ingmar Knopf), Conrad Monk (Assistant Director), David James (Arab Sheik), Paula Topham (Vamp), Robert G. Jewell (Clown), Albert Barrington (Professor Webster), Buddy Windrush (Prop Man), Steven Machin, Jack le White (Cameramen), Paul Sarony, Malcolm Leopold (Keystone Cops), Harry Davies (Make-up Man), William Hall (Cowboy), Jean Pastell (Saloon Girl), M.J. Matthews (Chaplain)

Broadcast from November 13, 1965 through January 29, 1966

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Batman Season 1

Hi Diddle Riddle

BatmanAn exploding cake delivered to the Republic of Moldavia’s pavilion at the Gotham City World’s Fair signals the return of the Riddler, and the Gotham authorities call Batman into action. The Riddler leaves enough clues for the Dynamic Duo to find him at a prestigious art gallery, and when Batman and Robin arrive, they think they see the Riddler holding the gallery’s proprietor up at gunpoint. But it’s all a setup, and the Riddler sues Batman for assault and slander – but he’s not after the million dollars named in the lawsuit. The Riddler wants to force Batman to reveal his true identity to all. And just in case that part of his plan doesn’t work, the Riddler manages to drug Batman and kidnap Robin…

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Lorenzo Semple, Jr.
directed by Robert Butler
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Jill St. John (Molly), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler), Allen Jaffe (Harry), Michael Fox (Inspector Basch), Damian O’Flynn (Gideon Peale), Ben Astar (The Moldavian Prime Minister), Jack Barry (Newscaster)

Notes: Though ’60s TV Batman tended not to dwell on the details of what happened to Bruce Wayne’s parents (as established in the comics), this episode makes a rare reference to Bruce’s parents being murdered, and states that this is his motivation to fight crime. Robert Butler had, over a year prior to Batman’s premiere on ABC, directed the rejected pilot episode of a series which would return to challenge Batman’s popularity in the fall of 1966.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 1

Smack In The Middle

BatmanThe Riddler, obsessed with revealing Batman’s secret identity, alters the appearance of Molly, a member of his criminal gang, to resemble Robin, and sets a trap for Batman to “rescue” Robin. But back in the Batcave, Batman has already figured out that this isn’t the real Robin; Molly tries to escape and falls into the Batcave’s reactor to her death. The background noise in a call from the Riddler leads Batman to Robin’s true whereabouts, but the Riddler escapes yet again. Robin thinks he has some clues about the Riddler’s next target, but Batman has other ideas…

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Lorenzo Semple, Jr.
directed by Robert Butler
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Jill St. John (Molly), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler), Allen Jaffe (Harry), Michael Fox (Inspector Basch), Damian O’Flynn (Gideon Peale), Ben Astar (The Moldavian Prime Minister), Jack Barry (Newscaster)

Notes: BatmanSetting a pattern that would last through the end of the show’s second season, the second part of this cliffhanger aired on Tuesday, with the first part having aired on Monday. Batman aired twice weekly on ABC until its third season, at which point it became a weekly show.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 1

Fine Feathered Finks

BatmanA strange, but seemingly harmless, giveaway of umbrellas heralds the release from prison of another of Batman’s most fiendish foes, the Penguin. But rather than robbing the store where this event takes place, the Penguin is a no-show, confounding the Caped Crusaders. Batman discovers that three new umbrella factories have opened in Gotham City since the Penguin’s release, one of those factories owned by a Mr. K.G. Bird. Batman decides to plant a bug in the factory, but he does so in plain clothes as Bruce Wayne…and is promptly captured.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Lorenzo Semple, Jr.
directed by Robert Butler
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Burgess Meredith (The Penguin), David Lewis (Warden Crichton), Walter Burke (Sparrow), Lewis Charles (Hawkeye), Alex D’Arcy (Shop Owner), Robert Phillips (Cellmate), Johnny Jacobs (Asst. Shop Owner)

Notes: BatmanIf the Penguin’s furnace is burning at 10,000 degrees or hotter, it’s actually burning hotter than the average temperature of the surface of the sun – but the temperature does match up with what the most recent scientific studies estimate for the temperature of the Earth’s core, meaning that the Penguin’s furnace may go a very long way down (!). This is the first of many appearances by Burgess Meredith as the Penguin.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 1

The Penguin’s A Jinx

BatmanBruce Wayne is able to escape the Penguin’s clutches and return to the Batcave, but little does he know that the Penguin is listening to the Dynamic Duo as they try to figure out what the Penguin’s next target is, and how he intends to pull off the crime. They unwittingly give him the idea of kidnapping a Hollywood starlet visiting Gotham City and holding her for a ransom. But Batman is listening as closely as the Penguin is – perhaps closer.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Lorenzo Semple, Jr.
directed by Robert Butler
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Leslie Parrish (Dawn Robbins), Burgess Meredith (The Penguin), Dan Tobin (Mr. Jay), David Lewis (Warden Crichton), Walter Burke (Sparrow), Lewis Charles (Hawkeye)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 1

The Joker Is Wild

BatmanOne of Batman’s deadliest foes, the Joker, literally springs himself out of prison and embarks on a new crime spree in Gotham City, leaving clues to confound the Dynamic Duo. They foil the Joker’s museum heist of precious jewels – just – but when they follow the next clue to unmask the Joker at the Gotham City opera, the master criminal springs his trap: it’s all been to lure Batman and Robin so the Joker can unmask them.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Robert Dozier
directed by Don Weis
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Cesar Romero (The Joker), Nancy Kovack (Queenie), Jonathan Hole (Museum Attendant), Merritt Bohn (Assistant Warden), Dick Curtis (The Inebriate)

Notes: BatmanGrappling with Batman himself instead of simply ordering his henchmen to do it, the Joker – in his first TV appearance – is clearly one of Batman’s more dangerous enemies. This marks Cesar Romero’s debut in the role of the Joker, and as is generally well known, he refused to shave his carefully-cultivated moustache for the part, instead opting to have it grease-painted over. (It’s still quite visible in many shots.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 1

Batman Is Riled

BatmanA furious fight ensues before the Joker can unmask Batman and Robin on live TV, but during this fight, Batman discovers that the Joker has his own utility belt, modeled after Batman’s own indispensible crime-fighting gear. In their next fight, the Joker swaps Batman’s belt with his own, leaving the Dynamic Duo helpless to catch him. With a well-publicized appearance to attend, and Gotham City’s media questioning their competence, Batman and Robin are certain that they’re walking into another trap set by the Joker.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Robert Dozier
directed by Don Weis
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Cesar Romero (The Joker), Nancy Kovack (Queenie), Jerry Dunphy (Newscaster), Al Wyatt (Henchman #1), Angelo de Meo (Henchman #2)

Notes: BatmanThe Joker’s crime wave in this episode and the previous one is described as the worst in Gotham City’s history. (It’s only the sixth episode of the series.) The Joker is sent back to prison, but returns to cause Batman trouble again within 10 episodes.

LogBook entry by Earl Green