“Surf’s Up! Joker’s Under”
Written by Charles Hoffman
Directed by Oscar Rudolph
Season 3, Episode 10
Production code 1714
Original air dates: November 16, 1967
The Bat-signal: The World Surfing Championship is coming up, and it’s going to be held at Gotham Point. Barbara’s old friend Skip Parker is a favorite to win the championship, and she watches him ride a wave and compliments him on his form. The Joker shows up in his Jokermobile with two henchmen, Wipeout and Riptide, and he radios his moll, Undine, at the Hang Five, a surfin’ hangout run by Hot Dog Harrigan. (The radios actually are in the shapes of hot dogs, for whatever reason.) Riptide and Wipeout put Hot Dog in a bag and then send Undine to tell Skip there’s a phone call for him. Skip enters the Hang Five and Joker gasses him and takes him off to his secret HQ.
However, Barbara sees Skip being kidnapped, and calls her father, who calls Batman. The Dynamic Duo take the Bat-copter to Pelican Cove and then walk from there to Gotham Point just like normal people. (Landing the copter on the beach is dangerous and ostentatious. Also, they don’t have footage from the movie of the copter landing on a beach.)
Joker has Skip tied up and hooked up to a Surfing Experience And Ability Transferometer, which will transfer all of Skip’s surfing knowledge to Joker.
After an hour of useless surveillance of the Hang Five, Batman and Robin return to the Batcave and consult the Bat-computer, which points them at the Ten-Toe Surf Shop, which is long abandoned, as being Joker’s new hideout.
But Joker’s ready for them, and he, Riptide, Wipeout, and Undine all throw sea-urchin spines at them, leaving them vulnerable to Joker, who ties them down and leaves Riptide and Wipeout to turn them into surfboards. They escape that trap and chase the henchmen off, then rescue Skip, only to discover that Joker stole his surfing mojo.
Batman sends Robin back to Wayne Manor to change back into Dick, and return with his surfboard. Joker’s prowess has scared off all the other competitors, but Dick enters Batman (on behalf of Bruce, who’s the head of the surfing commission, because of course he is) so that there’s an actual competition.
They surf, and while Joker finishes first, Batman wins on points. Then someone finally notices that Hot Dog is in the trash can, and Joker and his people beat a hasty retreat. However, his attempt to hide in the Hang Five fails, as Dick and Barbara ran into the locker rooms first and changed into costume.
Fisticuffs ensue, and Joker is wiped out (har har). Skip is restored to his old self and all’s right with the world—although there’s a theft of Her Majesty’s Royal Snuffboxes in Londinium that will likely garner our heroes’ attention…
Fetch the Bat-shark-repellant! The Bat-copter makes a triumphant return, while Alfred has reprogrammed the Bat-computer to provide pictures instead of punch-cards. Batman uses a portable ultraviolet Bat-ray to ignite the resin and make his surfboard covering explode. (How he made Robin’s explode is left as an exercise for the viewer.) Best of all, we get the Bat-shark-repellant, as Batman uses it to keep a shark away from the competition.
Holy #@!%$, Batman! When the Bat-computer gives our heroes a picture of two bare feet, Robin mutters, “Holy ten toes!” When Joker and his crew hit them with sea-urchin spines, Robin cries, “Holy pin-cushion!” When they’re turned into human surfboards, Robin on-the-noses, “Holy human surfboards!” When they escape that trap, Robin yells, “Holy detonation!”
Gotham City’s finest. Gordon and O’Hara go undercover as surfers on the beach named Duke and Buzzy, wearing the world’s goofiest sunglasses, and totally miss Hot Dog in a trash can, even though Hot Dog signals them repeatedly.
Special Guest Villains. Cesar Romero makes his first third-season appearance as the Joker. He’ll return, teamed up with Catwoman, in “The Funny Feline Felonies.”
No sex, please, we’re superheroes. All the extras this week are in bathing suits, as are several of the regulars and guest stars. It’s probably the most exposed flesh on any Batman episode, with a good chunk of it coming from Sivi Aberg as Undine and Yvonne Craig in a very sexy one-piece when she’s Barbara.
Na-na na-na na-na na-na na.
“A funny thing, isn’t it? That I know more than you’ve forgotten.”
–Joker getting all philosophical on Skip after stealing his mojo.
Trivial matters: This episode was discussed on The Batcave Podcast episode 56 by host John S. Drew with special guest chum, Dan Greenfield of 13th Dimension.
The surfing footage was all taken from the surfing documentary The Endless Summer.
Johnny Green and the Greenmen appear as themselves as the green-haired band performing on the beach. Green also was one of the musicians who played on the show’s theme song, and the band was still together as of last year (though their web site hasn’t been updated since 2010, they do have a Facebook page).
Riptide is played by Skip Ward, who was William Dozier’s first choice to play the title role in The Green Hornet, a role that eventually went to Van Williams. Based on his acting here, I’d say that the right choice was made in the end.
Sivi Aberg (Undine) previously appeared as Mimi in “The Devil’s Fingers” / “The Dead Ringers.” John Mitchum (Hot Dog) previously appeared as Rip Snorting in “Come Back, Shame” / “It’s How You Play the Game” (and also had a recurring role as Hoffenmueller in F Troop).
Pow! Biff! Zowie! “Cowabunga! Begorrah!” There are a few things to like about this episode. There’s the hilarious visual of Batman and the Joker wearing their baggies over their costumes. There’s Gordon and O’Hara undercover as elderly beach combers and doing the worst job ever. There’s the Bat-shark repellant. There’s Yvonne Craig and Sivi Aberg in bathing suits.
Yeah, that’s about it. It’s pretty much the same dumb plot we’ve already gotten in “Ring Around the Riddler,” “The Sport of Penguins” / “A Horse of a Different Color,” and “Louie, the Lilac.” Like Riddler and Penguin, Joker is taking on a sport to master in order to, like Louie, win over the youth of Gotham as a stepping stone to greater power. It’s less clear how, exactly, winning a surfing championship will lead to Joker’s plans for world domination (at least Riddler and Penguin had some cash attached to winning, and Louie actually actively tried to recruit the flower children), but then this is a guy who invents time machines and devices that can transfer someone’s surfing skills and athletic ability, yet hasn’t become incredibly rich selling these things to the highest bidder. Go fig’.
Joker runs away because he’s accused of kidnapping Skip and Hot Dog—but everyone knew he’d kidnapped Skip. So why was he even allowed to enter the race? Why didn’t Gordon and O’Hara—sorry, Buzzy and Duke arrest him right off? Why did Hot Dog finally being let out of the garbage can make the Joker scared when his more well known kidnap victim was standing right there?
And how come the surfboard that Riptide and Wipeout encased Batman and Robin in was thinner than their bodies could possibly have fit? How did Batman’s portable ultraviolet ray affect Robin’s surfboard? Why did nobody fix the left ear on Batman’s cowl that was very obviously falling off after the surfing competition?
Cesar Romero does the best he can with the material—even when he’s standing around pretending to surf in front of a bluescreen, he’s a delight—but this is just an incomprehensible mess.
Bat-rating: 2
Keith R.A. DeCandido has never gone surfing a day in his life.
Oh, brother. I suppose there’s a case to be made that this is a fun parody of ’60s beach movies, but I’m not a fan of ’60s beach movies, so I’ve always found it clumsy, pandering, and stupid. How in the heck does the Joker think that being King of the Surf will in any way translate to the conquest of Gotham City and the world? He’s gone from being a devious mastermind to just plain loony. I mean, Batman and the Penguin competing for a mayoral race is terrific comedy and satire, but when you’ve sunk to the level of a surfing competition, that’s just not trying very hard anymore. What’s next, a dance marathon?
I like the show better when there’s a sense of real stakes to it, however absurd the situation. Something where Batman and Robin are in danger of their lives, where Gotham in in danger of the collapse of law and order or the destruction of the financial system, things like that. The great thing about this show is that it worked as serious adventure for kids and satire for adults. If it’s just an out-and-out spoof, then it’s lost something.
Plus — the Joker has a machine that can steal people’s knowledge and vigor, and all he can think to do with it is learn to surf? Why not use that machine on Batman while he has him captive? And Gordon and O’Hara’s random decision to go undercover as beach bums is more pathetic than amusing.
The low budget is also quite blatant here. Looking at the bargain-basement “turned into surfboards” cliffhanger in the middle, I realize that part of the reason they largely dropped the deathtraps is probably because they just couldn’t afford to build them anymore. They could barely afford walls on their sets. The climax is also hampered by the need to have all the action described by the spectators, although it is kind of funny that both Batman and the Joker go out surfing in their full costumes, plus swim trunks.
I agree with Keith that the main thing that makes this episode worthwhile is that amazing bathing suit Yvonne Craig wears in most of her scenes. It was pretty daring for ’60s TV. The Joker’s henchwoman Undine looks pretty fantastic in her bikini too.
Yeah, the storyline here is just unfathomable, especially all that needless shuttling back and forth between the beach and the Batcave. A few years ago, I read a breakdown of one of the earlier script drafts that showed how many plot points had been exercised by the time the episode made it to air. We’re talking about twice as many, which makes me wonder if this wasn’t one of those episodes that was solicited as a two-parter and then whittled down.
All that said, this is still one of my favorite third season episodes, just because the images attached to it have become so iconic. Like dancing Batman in the pilot and the shark fight and bomb sequence in the feature film, surfing Batman and surfing Joker are now such touchstones of the 66 era that no amount of shoddy writing can get in the way. Plus, don’t you got a little bit of a lump in your throat when Batman wins the competition through safety mindedness and good sportsmanship, assets the utterly mercenary Joker just isn’t programmed to recognize?
And if that makes me sound like too much of a Boy Scout, then man… Undine. And Barbara. Five stars just for them.
This was the first episode that, even as a kid, I remember feeling embarrassed to watch. Just totally cringe-worthy.
For what it’s worth, Romero apparently said this is his most hated Joker episode, too.
But the upcoming Londinium “epic” is going to make this look like an S1 episode. You’ve got my word on that.
Add my voice to the chorus of people who think this episode is primarily worth watching for Yvonne Craig’s swimsuit.
Joker’s plot was very much one of his goofiest ones, hearkening back, to me at least, to the season two “Pop Goes the Joker.” In that one, no one ever explained just how Joker could have known that his vandalism of the paintings he and his henchmen trashed would be considered improvements, to the point where he not only increased their value to art collectors, but could then pass himself off as a daring new artist to the incredibly gullible Baby Jane Towser. At any rate, I too often wondered just how Joker thought being popular with the surfer crowd was going to translate into them giving him complete control of Gotham City.
Although I also did like the part where, prior to the fisticuffs, Dick and Barbara enter the locker rooms from the beach and both emerge at the same time in costume, giving each other very quizzical looks. That was a hoot.
David: “Pop Goes the Joker”/”Flop Goes the Joker” made sense because of the rise of pop art and abstract art in the 20th century, of which that two-parter was actually a very clever satire.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Yes, thankfully a supervillain using the populist ways of celebrity to achieve world power is a loony, far-fetched tactic that could never happen in the real world. Silly show.
@6/krad: I still think “Pop/Flop” was the episode that turned the Joker from the devious, dangerous mastermind he was before into the buffoonish lunatic that he would be throughout the third season. It’s not quite as dumb or frivolous as his third-season stories, but it’s a step in that direction.
You’re making it too generic, Arthur. This is a supervillain using a single city’s surfing contest to achieve world power; that’s not comparable in any reasonable sense to the actual situation you’re describing, and especially not as a purposeful step in a plot for world domination.
Because ‘reasonable’ is what we demand when we watch a man dressed as a Bat fighting a clown? Sure. But it just so happens, many ancient world leaders rose to power via local surfing contests. Strange but true.
@10/Arthur: Ah, yes, as shown in the historical epic Surf Nazis Must Die.
One of the best documentaries ever made!
I know it marks me as deeply uncool to say so, but I like this episode. It’s not going to make my top ten list for the series or anything, but it’s hilarious, especially the dialogue. I mean, if you can hear Stafford Repp’s delivery of “Cowabunga! Begorrah!” and not even crack a smile, you might be medically humor deficient.
And to those who say this episode is just too ridiculous to be any good, I direct your attention to “The Joker Goes to School”/”He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul,” in which the Joker buys a vending machine company and uses its products to seduce teenagers into a life of crime with cups of silver dollars and fix a high school basketball game (which is apparently so important that bookies in Las Vegas are taking action on it). Oh, and there’s a bit where he tries to assassinate Batman and Robin with an armed jukebox that he previously used to rob the bar it’s stationed in, which no one thought to remove or even unplug. So I would venture to say there is ample precedent for Joker episodes having chronically silly plots.
The one thing I don’t like is the guy who plays Skip. Jesus, is he a bad actor. He just sucks the energy right off the screen every time he delivers a line.
@13/Craverguy: Of course the Joker’s plots are silly; this was a comedy show. But there was always an element of menace to his plans as well. Promoting juvenile delinquency is a pretty serious matter, and there was a time — at least back in the ’40s, judging from some Superman stories I’ve read or heard on radio — when society was concerned about penny-ante gambling machines in stores being a serious threat to the nation’s youth, corrupting them into a life of gambling and crime, similar to later concerns about video games and the like. And disgracing a sports team in order to fix a game is a pretty legitimate kind of crime; it’s only the trappings of how the Joker goes about it that are frivolous. The Joker stories in the first two seasons tended to be like that — there were some genuinely nasty crimes under the veneer of clownish absurdity, including mass theft, kidnapping, extortion, counterfeiting, and even what we’d now consider terrorist attacks on the city’s water supply.
But this plot is silly all the way down. “Steal surfing knowledge. Win contest and the adoration of young surfers. Mumblemumblesomethingsomething RULE THE WORLD!” There’s just no way to get there from here. It’s one thing to win the support of impressionable teens by tempting them with easy wealth and corrupting them to follow you into a life of crime. It’s another to think you can turn them into willing servants of evil because they’re impressed with your ability to shred.
Nah, I’m sorry, but that doesn’t wash. Getting henchmen by giving out free silver dollars in a vending machine and thereby causing people to drop out of high school requires the teenaged targets to be every bit as thick as recruiting surfers to support your quest for world domination because you won a surfing contest. And I certainly wouldn’t put encouraging high school students to drop out in the same category as kidnapping, extortion, counterfeiting, and terrorism.
And let’s not forget that, although his plan in “Pop Goes the Joker”/”Flop Goes the Joker” eventually evolved to include art theft and kidnapping for ransom, that was all opportunistic after the art world embraced him. Initially, all he was interested in doing was vandalizing some paintings for giggles.
Face it: early season Joker could be as ridiculous or as hardcore as the writers needed him to be.
@15/Craverguy: You’re talking about the surface details. I’m talking about the underlying premise of the crime. Just think about it in the abstract, if you heard the concept unconnected to Batman ’66: An older criminal mastermind, known to be guilty of crimes including kidnapping and attempted murder, is discovered to be lurking around a high school, offering children money, stolen merchandise, and other temptations with the goal of recruiting them into organized crime. He’s even giving perfume and jewelry to the head cheerleader so she’ll be smitten with him. Can you really tell me that doesn’t sound like something that could be taken seriously? This is what I’m saying. Most of the villains’ crimes in the first two seasons had some genuine stakes to them, a sense of danger under the absurdity. They weren’t just goofy nonsense like surfing contest victory = world domination.
As for “Pop/Flop,” as I already said earlier in the thread, that’s the point where I believe the Joker’s characterization started to degenerate toward the frivolity of the third season, for exactly the reason you suggest — because it’s where his clownish inanity became an end in itself for him, rather than just the cover for a far more focused and devious criminal mind.
I was rewatching The Thin Man last weekend, and finally realized Cesar Romero is Jorgenson. Without a single “Woo hoo!”, I never recognized him.
As a not very good surfer I have of course seen all the surfing clips from this one. They are, as mentioned, iconic.
There is great surf on Long Island, and in other areas near NYC. All over the northeast coast in fact. The problem is, it’s most reliable in the winter. The lineup in Ocean City Maryland yesterday was packed, but the water temperature was in he low 40’s. Fahrenheit. Everyone was wearing full suits with hoods, gloves, and booties. So Batman, assuming the was wearing a BatWetsuit, would’ve been fine. The Joker would’ve been off to Gotham Hospital with a nice case of hypothermia
I personally think that this story shows why the Joker is a pretty serious threat, and is key to his character. You can never tell whether the Joker is in a surfing mood or a blowing up hospitals mood until he is in the middle of doing it. That is because, to the Joker, there is no difference between the two activities. Plus it is a goofy fun story and I like goofy fun.
@19/random22: You can project that idea onto this episode if you want to, sure (although the 1960s Joker would never have blown up a hospital — that would’ve been excessive even for the 1940s or 1970s Joker). But my point is that the writing of the episode itself, or indeed the entire third season, does not succeed at portraying the Joker as an intelligent or threatening antagonist.
What a lot of modern fans don’t realize is that the idea of the Joker being insane didn’t really come along until the ’70s. In his original 1940 appearance, he was actually quite a solemn figure, his deformed “grinning” appearance creating an ironic contrast with his cold, cruel malevolence (inspired by Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs). After a while, the Joker began to be written with more of a sense of humor in line with his clownish appearance, but it was a persona he adopted for his crimes. Of course he became a lighter, more comedic figure in the ’50s and ’60s, but was just one more standard bad guy with a colorful schtick; there was even a ’60s comics story in which the Joker pretended to be insane so that he’d get institutionalized as part of a criminal scheme, but Batman and Robin knew he was faking his insanity and ultimately exposed his fraud.
And that’s the Joker that Romero played in the first two seasons — a criminal genius who put on a flamboyant act but whose japery masked a keen, malevolent mind whose plans were more calculated than they appeared, making him a worthy foe for a crimefighter as brilliant and resourceful as Batman. But “Pop/Flop” and “Surf’s Up” treated the surface act as if it were the reality, making him just a loony guy coming up with ludicrous schemes and acting on whims. And he comes off even worse in the upcoming Catwoman team-up, but we’ll get to that in time.
“yet hasn’t become incredibly rich selling these things to the highest bidder.”
My understanding the Joker already is incredibly rich. It’s a long standing tradition of the character he almost always has money to burn (often literally!). The comics explain he only gets henchmen despite how absurdly risky the job is because he pays them incredibly well. He’s shown as having hidden money stashes all over Gotham City, and he even has been displayed as rich enough as to pay Lobo of all people millions for his services. When the animated universe actually made him lose his money, it repeteadly stressed it was a very big deal for him, something he was fully unused to (hence his despair in ‘Joker’s Millions’ and his mad bid to kill Superman for Luthor in ‘World’s Finest’). He pays the best lawyers in Gotham City, too.
The Joker always has lots of money to spend in crazy schemes that would bankrupt any other supervillain. For him, getting money is easy.
In this iteration of the character, if one really wants to get there, it might even help explaining why he gets idiotically short sentences– he bribes the courts that badly.
Back when I considered actually watching this show, I looked up some footage on YouTube beforehand. This is the episode that came up. Needless to say, seeing the Joker surfing against Batman was all I needed to make the decision not to watch any more. I know it’s supposed to be comedy, but stories like these make zero sense.
@22/Eduardo: Then you’ve picked one of the worst episodes of the show as your only example — as if the only clip of Star Trek you’d seen was from “And the Children Shall Lead” or “Turnabout Intruder.” Batman and TOS not only aired more or less contemporaneously, but they followed similar trajectories, dropping off seriously in quality in their third seasons.
I think another big difference between the School episodes (or even “Pop/Flop”) is that they established the Joker’s nonsensical plots had at least a chance of working – the schoolkids really did start listening to him, the art world genuinely respected him, etc.
Here, he just invents a mad-scientist machine, kidnaps a guy, loses a surfing contest to Batman, and… that’s it. At no point does his endgame seem to have a snowball’s chance of actually happening (most of the beachgoers don’t seem to give two hoots about him, regardless of his surfing mojo or lack thereof). You’re pretty much left wondering if anything would’ve turned out different had B&R (& BG) not shown up at all.
And even in a parody Batman show, that’s really not something you should be wondering.
rubberlotus: Well, all the other contestants do drop out, but that’s mentioned so briefly that it’s easier to miss — and your larger point remains a good one….
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
This episode got me thinking, as a kid, about how the whole transfer of knowledge thing would work, and, of course, the body must actually be trained for the knowledge to do any good. Even IF, and it’s a huge, far out “if” such a machine were possible, the talents and ability/agility of a 6′ male in his early twenties would not translate to a less-in-shape older male in his, if I’m being generous, fifties. It’s why I cannot buy similar concepts on Sense8 and the like.
wiredog Thanks for reminding me! We used to go to Gilgo Beach on Long Island where my partner surfed. First place I saw the ocean as a teen. God times.
I’ll admit I’ve always enjoyed this one as a guilty pleasure in the ‘Spock’s Brain’ mode, but can’t deny that it’s really dumb and nonsensical, even by Batman 1966 logic standards, in terms of the script.
What is fascinating from a production standpoint, and I suppose it reflected the mores of the industry at the time, is that ‘bad girl’ Sivi Aberg is allowed to show her navel and ‘good girl’ Yvonne Craig is not. However, photos taken on set prove that Yvonne did have a bikini at the shoot–the powers that be apparently chose not to film her in it for the episode.
A question here: are we sure that the Joker has invented the Surfing Experience And Ability Transferometer (and, for that matter, the time machine from the prior episode), or might he just be buying/renting/commissioning gadgets from other people for his own use? We know, after all, that Batman has his Batmobiles custom-built on contract, and there are stories (of varying degrees of canon-status) about specialists who have gone into business supplying and repairing costumes or other accessories for the superhero/villain community. The Joker certainly has some mad-scientific genius — specifically in the realm of his trademark gases and toxins — but I don’t think any of his incarnations have ever been portrayed as being technological wizards on the order of Lex Luthor, which is what he’d have to be to create gizmos as varied as those we see him use in this and other episodes.
Then too, now that I think of it, Joker — in this or any other version — is also perhaps likelier than any other Bat-villain to lie to his public, claiming credit for inventing a particular gadget even if he merely bought it off the rack at VillainSource.
@27/J.P. Pelzman: First, you have my eternal gratitude for linking to that Yvonne Craig bikini picture. Holy too hot for TV! (The bikini’s even in her Batgirl costume colors!)
It’s surprising that the navel was the issue, since the black one-piece shows what I’d consider a startlingly daring amount of cleavage for the era, even with the black bow toning it down somewhat. I’m surprised the producers and censors didn’t consider that even more risque than a bare navel.
@28/John C. Bunnell: Whether the Joker invented the device or just obtained it, it’s still hard to believe he couldn’t think of a more profitable use for it than stealing surfing ability.
@29/CLB You’re welcome, Christopher. You make a good point, but I suppose the bow and the mesh were enough in the eyes of the producers/censors to lessen the amount of cleavage shown. I know that was a big concern back then, but the navel also was a hot-button issue for censors. (Ducks)
Look at how they gave Lee Meriwether’s bell-bottoms on That Which Survives that top flap to cover the navel.
@30/J.P.: Yeah, I know how sensitive they were about navels, but my understanding is that it was outright forbidden to show the undersides of the breasts. Between the two, underboob was considered far more “obscene.” That’s why it’s so surprising that they’d allow that black one-piece at all.
@31/CLB Interesting point. I knew about the top cleavage but not the under cleavage being such a no-no. Looking at promo photos of Yvonne from the shoot, I guess as she moved around, the swimsuit moved with her. So on some shots, some under cleavage is showing, on other shots, very little.
Krad: well, I get that the Pop/Flop two parter was intended as a send-up of the modern art world. But my question is how on Earth the Joker could have possibly known that his vandalism of those paintings in the opener would have been taken that way by anyone. It seemed like, when the art world pronounced his “work” as wonderful, he was just as surprised as anyone else in the room was. Of course he was quick to take advantage of it when it happened, but he clearly didn’t expect it. So that would mean there was no apparent motive for him to do so other than vandalism just for vandalism’s sake.
Regarding where he got the Surfing Ability Transferometer gizmo: I kept waiting for an episode where a villain called the Inventor or some such (and there was such a villain in one mid-1950s Batman comic) would take credit for coming up with these gadgets and then selling them to other villains. I could see a lot of Penguin’s umbrellas being such an inventor’s work, as well as Black Widow’s gadgets and the Deep Secret Extractor that Minerva used in the series finale.
And yeah, the third season writers did return to that well of villains using sporting events as the springboards for their crimes quite often. Boxing in “Ring Around the Riddler”, horse racing in “The Sport of Penguins”, and then surfing in this Joker outing. I half expected Mr. Freeze to show up and try fixing a ski event.
Still, for all its other faults, anyone who can’t understand why I still watch that episode can be answered in three words: Yvonne Craig Swimsuit.
Yeah, I also have to be grateful for hte Yvonne Craig bikini picture. As for the Joker’s plan:
Step #1: Steal underpants.
Step #2: …
Step #3: PROFIT!
MaGnUs: I don’t think the Joker’s plan was that coherent………………
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Yeah, I think it wasn’t…
After Batman and Robin free themselves from the surfboard trap, the Joker’s henchmen flee, and then Batman and Robin find Skip and release him from the workbench where he was stashed. Skip goes to look for Barbara (neither Batman nor Robin bother to tell him that she’s not there; Gordon told them she had to go back to the library). Then, Batman tells Robin to take a taxi or the subway to Wayne Manor, to return as Dick in his car and to bring his surfboard. Well, gee, how long does that take? Because Riptide and Wipeout don’t catch up to the Joker to tell him about all of the escapes until after Dick has returned. Where were they all that time? And apparently, Batman also took the time to repaint Dick’s surfboard yellow and slap a Bat-emblem on it! The surfboard Dick brings is red with two white stripes down the center. That’s not what Batman uses in the contest.
When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite episodes. Now, as an adult, I realize it was entirely because of my teenage crush on Barbara and the sight of her in that swimsuit (if she had shown up in that bikini, they probably still would be trying to revive me).
All in all I thought that this was a (mostly) realistic episode. Keep in mind that in season 3 they were generally limited ot a single 1/2 hour episode, which limited the possiblities for plot- and character development.
That winning a surfing contest could be leveraged to acheive world domination makes sense in the context of Gotham City as Center of the Universe central to the premise of every episode, so winning the contest here would be more valuable than doing it in Cali or Hawaii.
The “surfing ability transferometer and vigor reverser” has yet to be invented in real life even 50+ years later, but keep in mind that they didn’t have anything on the order of the Batcomputer then even at MIT or Cal Tech.
The only thing in this episode that really didn’t make sense was when the Dynamic Duo was encased in plaster, these “human surfboards” were way thinner than their actual bodies. How is that possible?
Joker definitely invented his “magic box” time machine. They even bring up his previous career as a hypnotist to try to justify it (when, in its original form, it just freezes people in place).
I’m fairly sure he says he invented the surf knowledge tranferometer as well.
I have the same questions. Chief among them being why not program this machine to transfer literally ANY other type of knowledge and patent it? People could go through medical school in seconds. Parents could transfer experiential knowledge in an instant. Just like the time machine, not only would he get rich, he would change world history.
By the by, I don’t think they used “blue screen” in 1967, it’s probably rear projection.
@39/Mychael Darklighter: The bluescreen traveling matte process had been in use in motion pictures since The Thief of Bagdad in 1940 (alongside other traveling matte techniques such as the sodium matte process used in The Birds and multiple Disney fims). It was less common in television, but it was routinely utilized in Star Trek for starship shots and other things. However, you’re correct that Batman relied on rear projection instead.