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Batman Season 2

Shoot A Crooked Arrow

BatmanA felonious marksman known as the Archer fires an arrow into stately Wayne Manor, releasing a knock-out gas that renders Bruce Wayne and the other occupants of the mansion unconscious. The Archer and his cohorts steal Wayne’s millions from a hidden safe, handing them out to the poor of Gotham City. Now the problem for Batman and Commission Gordon becomes one of image: will the police and the Caped Crusaders find themselves up against public opinion trying to capture a villain who claims to be trying to help the poor?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Stanley Ralph Ross
directed by Sherman Marks
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), Art Carney (The Archer), Barbara Nichols (Maid Marilyn), Robert Cornthwaite (Allan A. Dale), Doodles Weaver (Crier Tuck), Loren Ewing (Big John), Archie Moore (Everett Bannister), Robert Adler (First Poor Person), Heidi Jensen (Second Poor Person), Kitty Kelly (Third Poor Person), Dick Clark (himself)

BatmanNotes: The skyrocketing popularity of Batman (and the success of its brief detour onto the big screen) led to the introduction of celebrity cameos, often in “climbing the Bat-rope” scenes; many of these involved stars of Batman’s stablemates on the ABC network, such as Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 2

Walk The Straight And Narrow

BatmanNarrowly escaping the Archer’s trap, Batman and Robin set about laying a trap of their own, namely planting information that they’re certain will reach the Archer about a heist target he can’t resist. Even when he seems to be a step ahead of the police and the Dynamic Duo, Batman sets out to make sure the Archer’s plan won’t stay afloat.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Stanley Ralph Ross
directed by Sherman Marks
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), Art Carney (The Archer), Barbara Nichols (Maid Marilyn), Robert Cornthwaite (Allan A. Dale), Doodles Weaver (Crier Tuck), Loren Ewing (Big John), Vinton Hayworth (Marshall Roland), Steve Pendleton (1st Armored Car Driver), Lee Delano (2nd Armored Car Driver), James O’Hara (Policeman), Myrna Dell (Pedestrian)

Notes: Scenes of Batman and Robin climbing into the Bat-Boat and heading out to sea were lifted directly from the Batman feature film; this is also the case for all future appearances of the Bat-Boat and the Bat-Copter, as obtaining new footage of either in action was beyond the budget of the television series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Green Hornet

The Silent Gun

The Green HornetAfter informing police that he knows something about his father’s death, a young man is murdered in plain sight before the eyes of 20 people, shot at point-blank range…and yet no one around him heard the shot fired or saw a muzzle flash. This catches the attention of Daily Sentinel publisher Britt Reid, who spends his off hours fighting crime in the guise of the Green Hornet, his faithful butler and martial arts expert Kato at his side. When another murder is committed, the Green Hornet and Kato begin closing in on likely suspects, including rival organized crime bosses. They both want a gun that can kill without being heard or seen…but only one of them has it. And they both have it in for the Green Hornet.

written by Ken Pettus
directed by Leslie H. Martinson
music by Billy May

Green HornetCast: Van Williams (The Green Hornet), Bruce Lee (Kato), Wende Wagner (Lenore Case), Lloyd Gough (Mike Axford), Walter Brooke (District Attorney Frank Scanlon), Lloyd Bochner (Dan Carley), Kelly Jean Peters (Jackie Cameron), Ed McCready (Detective Olson), Al McGranary (Minister), Breland Rice (Policeman), Charles Francisco (Al Trump)

Notes: Not so much a spinoff of Batman as a new show taking place in what may or may not be the same “universe”, The Green Hornet – based on a 1930s radio serial – was made by many of the same personnel as Batman, and was intended to be a bit more gritty and less campy than its superhero stablemate. If The Green Hornet is a spinoff of anything, it’s actually a spinoff of a fellow radio show, The Lone Ranger, as both were created by George W. Trendle, whose original radio scripts specified that Britt Reid is the son of Dan Reid, the Lone Ranger’s nephew.

Green HornetThis TV adaptation was also the western audience’s introduction to rising martial arts star Bruce Lee, who performed his own stunts (and, by many accounts, inadvertently but repeatedly injured stuntmen in fight scenes). By the end of the show’s single season on the air, the popularity of Lee and his character threatened to eclipse the show’s nominal star. Despite that popularity, since ABC scheduled it on Friday nights against the more established series The Wild Wild West, The Green Hornet was cancelled early in 1967.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Time Tunnel

Rendezvous With Yesterday

The Time TunnelSenator Clark arrives to take stock of the top secret Project Tic-Toc, a staggeringly expensive, vast underground complex built around an experimental time travel device known simply as the Time Tunnel. The civilian manager of Project Tic-Toc, Doug Phillips, gives Senator Clark the guided tour, but Clark’s presence unnerves project scientst Dr. Tony Newman, who has poured his entire life into the project. Determined to prove that it does work, Newman appoints himself the first human time traveler and sends himself back into the past. Radiation imparted by the use of the Time Tunnel allows Project Tic-Toc technicians to track him back into the past, where they can see and hear that he has arrived on the ocean liner Titanic…mere hours before its destruction. Doug volunteers to travel back in time to help Tony escape, but the only way off the Titanic for the two men is a further trip via the Time Tunnel to a time and place they can’t predict.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Harold Jack Bloom and Shimon Wincelberg
story by Irwin Allen, Shimon Wincelberg and Harold Jack Bloom
directed by Irwin Allen
music by Johnny Williams

The Time TunnelCast: James Darren (Tony Newman), Robert Colbert (Doug Phillips), Michael Rennie (Capt. Malcolm Smith), Susan Hampshire (Althea Hall), Gary Merrill (Senator Leroy Clark), Lee Meriwether (Dr. Ann McGregor), Wesley Lau (Master Sgt. Jiggs), John Zaremba (Dr. Raymond Swain), Whit Bissell (General Heywood Kirk), Don Knight (Grainger), Gerald Michenaud (Marcel), John Winston (The Guard), Brett Parker (Countdown Technician)

Notes: The latest of Irwin Allen’s 1960s science fiction series, The Time Tunnel premiered on ABC one day after the broadcast premiere of Star Trek on rival network NBC; it ran concurrently with the final seasons of Lost In Space and Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. Though Allen’s big screen work is often synonymous with epic disaster scenarios, his treatment of the sinking of the Titanic is relatively tame, primarily for budgetary reasons; building the cavernous, The Time Tunnel$130,000 Time Tunnel set (or is it a giant prop?) consumed much of the pilot episode’s budget, forcing Allen to fall back on reusing footage from the 1939 film Titanic (which, handily enough, was also produced by 20th Century Fox). Ironically, co-star James Darren would, decades after his trips through the Time Tunnel ended, return to SF TV in another iteration of the Star Trek franchise, as holosuite Rat Pack crooner Vic Fontaine in the later seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Darren also co-starred with William Shatner in T.J. Hooker at a point in his career where his focus was switching from acting to directing.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 2

Hot Off The Griddle

BatmanA string of burglaries leads Commissioner Gordon to summon Batman and Robin to his office: Catwoman has returned to Gotham City, and may be planning to restart her criminal career in grand style. Following the trail of clues – including a curiously cat-like dance that has captured the imagination of the young and young-at-heart across Gotham (including Aunt Harriet) – leads the Dynamic Duo into a trap, where Catwoman intends to turn up the heat on her nemesis.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Stanley Ralph Ross
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), Julie Newmar (Catwoman), Jack Kelly (Jack O’Shea), Buck Kartalian (John), George Barrows (Charles), Charles Horvath (Thomas), Edy Williams (Hostess)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 2

The Cat And The Fiddle

BatmanWhile Batman and Robin set their sights on escaping the Catwoman’s trap, while Catwoman herself sets her sights on the target of her next heist: the Gotham State Bank. Batman isn’t far behind her, but this time Catwoman has more than one escape plan up her sleeve…but will she put herself in danger mortal just to get away from the Dynamic Duo with the loot?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Stanley Ralph Ross
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), Julie Newmar (Catwoman), Jack Kelly (Jack O’Shea), George Barrows (Charles), Charles Horvath (Thomas), George N. Neise (Douglas Cramer), James Brolin (Driver), David Fresco (Zubin Zucchini)

BatmanNotes: Yes, it’s that James Brolin, in the first of three guest shots on Batman. He later appeared in Westworld, Capricorn One, Marcus Welby M.D., The Amityville Horror, and Hotel, among many other TV and film appearances.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Time Tunnel

One Way To The Moon

The Time TunnelTony and Doug time-travel into the future, appearing in the cargo compartment of the first attempted American manned mission to Mars. The added weight of the time travelers almost prevents the rocket from reaching escape velocity, and once they’re discovered by the crew, they’re immediately suspected of sabotage. The crew argues over options, ranging from aborting the mission and returning to Earth, to dumping the two stowaways into space to die. Senior officials from the space agency are rushed to the Time Tunnel control room in Arizona to observe and advise…and one of them is a younger version of one of the Mars ship’s crew, unable to account for his apparently treacherous future behavior…

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by William Welch
directed by Harry Harris
music by Lyn Murray

The Time TunnelCast: James Darren (Tony Newman), Robert Colbert (Doug Phillips), James T. Callahan (Navy Ensign Beard), Ben Cooper (Nazarro), Warren Stevens (Major “Doc” Harlow), Larry Ward (Colonel Kane), Whit Bissell (General Heywood Kirk), John Zaremba (Dr. Raymond Swain), Lee Meriwether (Dr. Ann MacGregor), Wesley Lau (Master Sgt. Jiggs), Barry Kelley (Vice Admiral Killian), Ross Elliott (Dr. Brandon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Green Hornet

Give ‘Em Enough Rope

The Green HornetThe Daily Sentinel publishes an artcle about racketeering operations in the area, and one misplaced word draws a libel lawsuit from one of the men named in the article. While Britt Reid prepares to fend off the legal action, he suspects something else is going on – the Green Hornet and Kato, who the police and press (including one of Reid’s own reporters) identify as criminals – will have to infiltrate the insurance fraud racket to discover who’s really involved and shut the operation down.

written by Gwen Bagni & Paul Dubov
directed by Seymour Robbie
music by Billy May

The Green HornetCast: Van Williams (The Green Hornet), Bruce Lee (Kato), Wende Wagner (Lenore Case), Lloyd Gough (Mike Axford), Walter Brooke (District Attorney Frank Scanlon), Diana Hyland (Claudia Bromley), Mort Mills (Alex Colony), Joe Sirola (Charley), David Renard (Joe Sweek), Jerry Ayres (Pete), Ken Strange (Big Bruiser)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 2

The Minstrel’s Shakedown

BatmanAs businessmen and investors across Gotham City reel from live news coverage of a stock market meltdown, the news broadcast is interrupted by the friendly face of a singing minstrel…who, after a song, demands a thousand dollars a week from all of Gotham’s investors to prevent a repeat of the stock market crash. Batman discovers that the computers at the stock exchange have been bugged and decides to wait for the Minstrel’s next move…but the Minstrel is also patiently laying a trap of his own for the Caped Crusaders.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Francis & Marian Cockrell
directed by Murray Golden
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), Van Johnson (The Minstrel), Leslie Perkins (Amanda), Remo Pisani (Bass), Norman Grabowski (Treble), Del Moore (TV Newsman), Army Archerd (Putnam), John Gallaudet (Cortland), Eddie Garrett (First Broker), Herbert Maass (Second Broker), Stu Wilson (Third Broker), Phyllis Diller (Cleaning Lady)

BatmanNotes: Phyllis Diller (1917–2012) goes uncredited on screen for the show’s latest celebrity cameo; she had just launched her own series, the short-lived Phyllis Diller Show, on ABC just one night before Batman’s new season premiered. Army Archerd (1922–2009) made numerous acting appearances, but was also a columnist for Daily Variety for over fifty years, and produced the People’s Choice Awards telecasts for many years.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 2

Barbecued Batman

BatmanTrapped by the Minstrel and his backup band, Batman and Robin have to find a way to get off the menu and get back into the chase. Though the Minstrel is a master of electronic surveillance, he underestiamates Batman’s abilities in the same area. Batman only has a short time left to outmaneuver and unmask the Minstel and restore confidence in the Gotham Stock Exchange…and perhaps then the Minstrel will sing a different tune.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Francis & Marian Cockrell
directed by Murray Golden
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), Van Johnson (The Minstrel), Leslie Perkins (Amanda), Remo Pisani (Bass), Norman Grabowski (Treble), Del Moore (TV Newsman), John Gallaudet (Cortland), Eddie Garrett (First Broker), Herbert Maass (Second Broker), Stu Wilson (Third Broker), James O’Hara (Policeman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 2

The Spell Of Tut

BatmanThe theft of a string of amber beads – leaving behind far more valuable baubles – puzzles Commission Gordon and Chief O’Hara. The clues, however, add up to one thing: King Tut is at large once more, planning a new scheme to take over Gotham City. The amber beads contain ancient Egyptian scarabs whose bodily secretions, combined with other chemicals, can create a formula capable of weakening the will of whoever drinks it…and Tut intends to unleash this potion upon Gotham City as a whole, after testing it on Robin. But the Boy Wonder would rather take his chances against Tut’s hungry pets…

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Robert C. Dennis & Earl Barret
directed by Larry Peerce
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), Victor Buono (king Tut), Marianna Hill (Cleo Patrick), Sid Haig (Royal Apothecary), Michael Pataki (Amanophis Tewfik), Boyd Santell (Sethos), Rene Paul (Man of Distinction), Peter Mamakos (Royal Lapidary), Van Williams (Green Hornet), Bruce Lee (Kato)

BatmanNotes: Holy superhero supergroup! Van Williams and Bruce Lee are this week’s “window cameos”, appearing as the Green Hornet and Kato. The Green Hornet series had begun its single-season run on ABC just a few weeks prior to this episode. The two characters would return for a more substantial guest shot the following March.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 2

Tut’s Case Is Shut

BatmanBatman is able to break Robin out of his predicament, and the Dynamic Duo regroups to the Batcave to plan their next move. King Tut and his cronies, in the meantime, advance their plan to introduce the scarab concoction into Gotham City’s water supply, subjugating the will of the entire population of the city. When Batman and Robin see Commission Gordon become a mindless subject of King Tut before their very eyes, they worry that it’s too late. When Robin sees the same happen to Batman, he knows it’s too late.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Robert C. Dennis & Earl Barret
directed by Larry Peerce
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), Victor Buono (king Tut), Marianna Hill (Cleo Patrick), Sid Haig (Royal Apothecary), Michael Pataki (Amanophis Tewfik), Boyd Santell (Sethos), Peter Mamakos (Royal Lapidary)

BatmanNotes: When you want flamboyant, exotic villainy, you want to cast Sid Haig. Perhaps best known for his stint as Dragos, the primary enemy of Jason Of Star Command, Haig has also appeared on Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, The Six Million Dollar Man, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, Automan, and Sledge Hammer!, among countless others, with big screen roles in THX-1138, Diamonds Are Forever, Kill Bill Vol. 2, and more.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Green Hornet

Crime Wave

The Green HornetA daring heist on an airplane still on the tarmac is blamed on the Green Hornet – after all, his calling card was literally left at the scene of the crime. Britt Reid is stunned when a letter, postmarked over half a day before the heist, is delivered to him, describing the crime in detail. The sender, a man named Marcus, claims to have a computer that can predict crimes before they happen, and provides Reid with a detailed account of another crime yet to be committed. Marcus is almost certainly the perpetrator, but coming up with evidence to that effect will prove difficult…unless the “criminal mastermind” known as the Green Hornet tries to horn in on Marcus’ action. Marcus, of course, wants the loot from his crimes to himself, and tries to set the Green Hornet up for a fall…but the Green Hornet and Kato don’t need a crime-predicting computer to know when they’re being set up to take the fall.

written by Sheldon Stark
directed by Larry Peerce
music by Billy May

The Green HornetCast: Van Williams (The Green Hornet), Bruce Lee (Kato), Wende Wagner (Lenore Case), Lloyd Gough (Mike Axford), Walter Brooke (District Attorney Frank Scanlon), Peter Haskell (Abel Marcus), Sheilah Wells (Laura Spinner), Gary Owens (Newscaster), Jennifer Stuart (Stewardess), Dee Carroll (Woman), Ron Burke (Joe), Wayne Sutherlin (Clown), Jack Garner (Guard 1), Ken Strange (Guard 2)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 2

The Greatest Mother Of Them All

BatmanGotham City’s annual Mother of the Year presentation ceremony descends into chaos as Ma Parker and her crime family rob everyone present at gunpoint, getting away with all of the attendees’ jewelry and purses. Commissioner Gordon is eager to put the Dynamic Duo on the case, but just as they’re being brief on Ma Parker’s lengthy rap sheet, the Gotham City Police corner Ma Parker and her gang in their backwoods hideout. Batman and Robin arrive to help, capturing one of Ma Parker’s sons as the rest of the gang escapes. Using Batman’s crime computer, they deduce where Ma Parker will strike next, again nabbing one of her sons. The pattern repeats until Ma Parker and her daughter, the last remaining members of the gang at large, are arrested, and all are taken to the Gotham City penitentiary. As Batman and Robin drive away in the Batmobile, they wonder…was ending Ma Parker’s criminal reign just a little too easy?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Henry Slesar
directed by Oscar Rudolph
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), Shelley Winters (Ma Parker), Tisha Sterling (Legs), David Lewis (Warden Crichton), Michael Vandever (Mad Dog), Peter Brooks (Machine Gun), Robert Biheller (Pretty Boy), James Griffith (Trusty), James O’Hara (Policeman), Kirby Brumfield (Truck Driver), Lyzanne La Due (Nurse), Fran Ryan (Chairlady)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Batman Season 2

Ma Parker

BatmanBy allowing her sons and other gang members to be captured one-by-one, Ma Parker has slowly infiltrated and taken over the Gotham City penitentiary: there are more of her men there than there are actual prison wardens. One of them has left a little surprise for the Caped Crusaders under the hood of the Batmobile, set to detonate when the speedometer hits 60 miles per hour, but they haven’t counted on Batman’s conscientious observation of the posted 55mph speed limit. When Batman discovers the dynamite under the hood, he returns to the prison, but still doesn’t discover Ma Parker’s plan. It takes a bomb blast and a bank robbery in downtown Gotham City for Batman to realize that the inmates are now controlling the prison…and when he and Robin arrive at the prison, Ma Parker’s expecting them.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Henry Slesar
directed by Oscar Rudolph
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), Shelley Winters (Ma Parker), Tisha Sterling (Legs), David Lewis (Warden Crichton), Michael Vandever (Mad Dog), Peter Brooks (Machine Gun), Robert Biheller (Pretty Boy), James Griffith (Trusty), Lee Meriwether (Catwoman)

BatmanNotes: Though the theatrical movie between seasons can lay claim to being the first all-star villain team-up against Batman and Robin, Catwoman’s (uncredited) appearance here marks the first hint of such a joining of forces in the TV series. The Joker and the Penguin are said to be in solitary, but Ma Parker opts to leave them there so they know she’s running the prison now…which also handily means that the show’s guest star budget isn’t blown wide open in the middle of the tenth episode of the season! The prisoner number on Legs’ uniform looks suspiciously more like her costume measurements than the numbers on any of the other prison uniforms.

LogBook entry by Earl Green